A Twist of Fate

by Michelle, Christine

  “What is this?” Kane asked when he showed up at my apartment. “Jesus, you look incredible. It’s like sweet and sassy southern meets biker chick, and you fucking rock it!”

  I couldn’t help my giggle in response. “You like?”

  “I’m in love,” he corrected before realizing what he had just implied.

  I laughed it off after watching his eyes go alarmingly wide. “It’s okay. I know what you meant.”

  “No, I don’t think you do. I love the look on you, G. That’s not all though. I love everything about you.”

  I pulled him in close, inhaling that gorgeous mix of sea and leather that clung to him like a second skin. “Kane,” I whispered in his ear after going up on my tip-toes to do it. “I’m a bit in love with you too,” I admitted on a whisper. His arms clamped around me before he sealed his lips to mine in a kiss that damn near melted my panties off.

  “Best thing I’ve heard all day, sweetheart.”

  “Best thing I’ve said all day,” I teased him.

  He smacked me on the ass as he released me from the stranglehold he called a hug. “So what’s up with the outfit? As much as I love it, I’m getting mixed signals. It looks like you want to ride, but then it really doesn’t.” He teased back as he grabbed hold of the long skirt.

  “I pulled the end of the long skirt up and tied it in a knot high on my thigh. I do want to ride, and this skirt is pretty versatile for that.”

  His smile dimmed some and the playful gleam in his eyes went with it. “Are you sure you want to try again tonight?” I knew what he was getting at. We’d each confessed our feelings out loud tonight. That was a huge step. I’m sure he was worried it would all be ruined if I couldn’t handle the ride without having a damn panic attack again.

  “I’m ready. Let’s hit the beach and watch the moon rise over the water for a little while.”

  “Whatever you want, G.” His words held a reverence that stilled my heart and kept it beating all at once. I believed him. Kane Youngblood had made himself at home in my life, and now I couldn’t imagine a day without him in it. He took hold of my hand, pulling me to the door of my apartment, and then we descended the steps on the way down to my fate. Either I was going to get on and ride this damn motorcycle to the beach with him, or I would have to face the fact that it was not going to be in the cards, and no matter what our feelings for one another were, I wasn’t sure our relationship would survive me not being able to ride with him.

  I made sure to secure my skirt well and scoot my front forward until it was basically plastered to the back of Kane. He didn’t seem to mind one bit. “Love feeling you all up on me,” he all but growled out as he reached over and cupped my thigh in his hand. He squeezed and then slid his hand down, tracing his fingers over my bare calf as he went. Then he started up, checked traffic, and pulled out once there was a large enough gap that it wouldn’t frighten me. For the first time, I didn’t feel that crippling fear. I closed my eyes, took in the scent of ocean, leather, and the man in front of me, letting all of the goodness wash away everything else. The last dregs of the day’s sun still cast warmth on my upturned face until we picked up a little speed and then the wind blew all my cares away.

  Instead of being taken back to the crash, I stayed firmly seated in the present. My fingers dug into the flesh of Kane’s abs and one of his hands came down to caress my leg once more. His touch kept me anchored there, and before I knew it, we were rolling up to a little known beach access point. There wouldn’t be a gaggle of tourists lounging about or playing loudly on the beach. This spot was a favorite local’s haunt; quiet, and kept clean by those who enjoyed its use.

  When Kane finally stopped the bike and cut the engine, I just sat there and hugged him a moment longer before I hopped off. “I did it!” I managed to get out in between hopping around like a maniac. Kane just sat there on his bike and grinned my way, taking it in. “I did it. I told you I could.”

  “Babe, I never doubted it.”

  “Really?”

  “What have I always said?”

  I lowered my voice in an attempt to copy his deeper tones. “You’ll do it when you’re ready, and I’m a patient man.”

  He threw his leg over and hopped off the bike, placing his helmet on the handlebar before he came chasing after me. “That’s right, G. You were ready, and now I get to help you celebrate!” I was already half way down to the water by the time he caught up. Once we made our way down to a spot just beyond the place where the waves rushed to shore, we sat with my back to his front as Kane wrapped his arms around me and we just got lost in being there with one another.

  Before long, he pulled his phone out and queued up a song. When Luke Bryan’s I Don’t Want This Night to End started playing, I laughed. “I still can’t get over the fact that my big, bad tattooed biker man loves his country music.”

  “Hey now!” He teased as he reached down and pinched my exposed thigh. “I am still from South Carolina. If we ain’t riding bikes, we’re cruising in our big trucks, drinking beer, picking up chicks, and complaining to our dogs about how the woman we really want took off with our favorite guitar.”

  “Wow! That’s a whole damn story,” I teased.

  “That’s a country song, baby,” he tormented back.

  I leaned over a bit and turned my head in order to capture his lips as the song played on, mixing with the sounds of the waves meeting the shore and the gulls looking for a place to sleep for the night along the beautiful sandy beach. His lips captured mine and sent pangs of need through my body as his tongue greeted mine in a dance we had become all too familiar with. It was usually where things ended for us. I turned in his arms until I was facing him, my legs straddling his and wrapped around his waist as I did. “I don’t want this night to end either. I think he might be on to something with that song,” I finally told Kane as I came up for air.

  “See, country music is everything that is right in this world.” I rolled my eyes at that, but I couldn’t disagree with the sentiment.

  “I want you,” I managed to break away from another kiss long enough to get those words out.

  “You have me, G.”

  “No, I mean I want you.” I emphasized the word he needed to understand in the moment. He took a moment to glance around. It was just us, a few seagulls, and some crickets singing their last songs of the night.

  “We’re out in public where anyone could see us, G. I don’t think that’s the way you want to remember our first time together.”

  “Baby,” I cooed. “No one is going to see a thing, and all I want to remember is that this was the best night I’ve had in forever, and I just want to make it better.”

  I lifted off of him for a moment in order to remove the panties I was wearing and untie the knot that had kept my skirt from blowing all over the place while we rode. Then, I moved back into position with my legs wrapped around him and core exposed to the thick bulge behind his jeans.

  “Jesus, Gretchen,” he hissed as I rolled my hips and applied enough pressure to tease him. My fingers fumbled beneath my skirt for a moment until I finally managed to get his button undone and the zipper pulled down. “G, are you sure?”

  My mouth sought his out in an answer to his question. “I’m sure, but if you want to stop, we will,” I challenged him before nipping at his swollen bottom lip again.

  Kane didn’t have anything else to say then. Instead, he pulled his wallet from where it had been tucked in his back pocket. He removed a square wrapper from inside and immediately started pulling that wrapping off of the condom it contained. No time was wasted before he had it on and his arm wrapped back around my middle while the other held onto my waist. “You sure about this?”

  “Please,” I hissed as I arched my upper body back and pushed my middle to meet his. When we connected the way I needed us to, I sank down onto him and sighed out at the feeling of being so filled up. “God, yes,” I whispered into the wind.

  Kane pulled my top down a bit, rele
asing my breast from the tank and immediately dipped his head to take the peak into his mouth. He suckled there, taking his fill as I slid slowly up his length and then dropped back down, filling myself with him over and over again. As my climax rolled through me out of nowhere and overwhelmed my system, Kane helped guide my movements as I rode him there on the beach underneath a burgeoning moon with the waves crashing in the background as the soundtrack to our lovemaking. We came together under the early evening stars in a moment that I wished I could freeze-frame. It was a snapshot of my life I never wanted to forget as long as I lived.

  “I am so in love with you, Kane Youngblood.”

  His head dropped to my shoulder as he planted a kiss at the base of my neck. “I’m in love with you too Gretchen Teirney. There’s no going back from here, only forward with me.”

  “As long as we’re doing it together,” I whispered as he held me close for a little bit longer.

  Chapter 19

  Membership

  Kane

  Crow was gone. They had moved the bastard to the new Jacksonville Chapter down in Florida. He still wasn’t forgotten though. I kept my eyes and ears peeled for anyone who might be in contact with him.

  “Normally, we surprise prospects when we patch them in, but I need to set a few things straight with you first, so you, unfortunately, don’t get the element of surprise.” Merc spoke with the usual authority he did when he handled club business. Part of me was still daydreaming about my date with Gretchen last week. We had been damn near inseparable since, so you’d think I’d be dreaming about any of those other encounters, but no. That night, her riding with me, then riding me on the beach. That shit was etched firmly in my brain, and I couldn’t stop thinking of it for the life of me.

  “Are you paying a damn bit of attention to what the fuck I’m saying over here?”

  “Sorry,” I managed to get out and turned my focus back to the man who held my future in his hands.

  He simply chuckled. “I’m guessing from the glazed look and dopey grin you’ve been sporting the past few days that things finally progressed with your woman?”

  “They have,” I explained and Merc shook his head at the dopey grin that was no doubt back in place on my smug fucking face.

  “Jesus, another one bites the dust, huh? Always thought the next generation would settle later than the last, and for the most part you all have, but I gotta tell you, I always imagined someone among you would wait until their late thirties at least.”

  I just shrugged at him. “When you know shit’s good, why take the chance of walking away from it and not having it again?”

  “That’s the damn truth. Don’t you ever forget it.”

  “Don’t plan on it. What was it you needed to set straight with me?”

  “Crow’s gone.”

  “Know that already.”

  “Smartass. Every meeting since you started prospecting, I always ask what everyone thinks of you. In the beginning, most of the older crew didn’t know what to do with you. You would have been booted out on your ass if I had dared to even think of a vote back then. Lately, the only hold out against you was Crow. The rest were all willing to vote in your favor. You know if it’s not unanimous, you don’t stick around.” I nodded my head in agreement. I had read the bylaws. The Aces High MC had some pretty stringent rules around prospects and how one became a brother. A unanimous vote among the active, voting brothers in the club at the time the vote is called is one of those necessary things.

  “Well, I couldn’t call an official vote until he was gone, but we managed to get it done this morning. You were voted in as a brother.” He took a moment to allow me to digest that.

  “Shit!” I scrubbed my hand over my heart a few times, as if the gesture would make that news sink in deeper somehow. “I honestly never thought it would happen.”

  “Yeah, well, that makes two of us. Now, I know you won’t be a prospect anymore, so the dynamics you’re dealing with are going to change. The relationship you have with each of the brothers in this club will shift to something different too. I need you to not let that shift affect what we’re trying to find out here. You’re patching in as a brother, but I still need your help with cleaning house.”

  “You think it was more than just Crow?”

  “I know that fucker never works without backup. The fact that he recruited a club whore to do his dirty work don’t sit well either because he has a shit opinion of women. Something isn’t right here. I just haven’t been able to put it all together. Need you to keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground.”

  “That will never change,” I informed him as I stood.

  “Good, well, in that case, you need to be back here by seven. Shit’s going to be set up, and you’re officially going to get patched in. Bring your woman, and if you have a property patch to put on her back, bring that too. We’ll make it one big celebration.”

  Telling Gretchen that I was going to be a regular member of Aces High was not something I was looking forward to. She already accepted the prospecting, but somewhere in the back of her mind, I honestly think she was hoping that was where it would end. Hell, I thought that it would end there too. Then I got to know the men of the club. Merc took me in and gave me a purpose beyond slinging ink. Deck had become a good friend too, and along with him came his Army buddy, Joker. They were starting to feel a bit like new pieces to my family. I wasn’t sure I’d be ready to let it go even if I had cracked the shit wide open and found who was really behind what happened to T-Bone.

  I couldn’t dwell on it now though, I had to get to Gretchen and let her know about the celebration tonight with me patching in, and the fact that I needed her to wear my property patch when that happened.

  It didn’t take long for me to get to her apartment. I was zoned out the whole way thinking about all the ways this could possibly go down. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  Gretchen was standing on the sidewalk when I pulled up. I tipped my head to the side and took her in. She was in another pastel colored skirt and top combo with her hair pulled up in a messy knot on her head. Little wisps of white blond hairs floated down around her face and blew around slightly in the breeze. It was nice to see her out of all the black she had taken to wearing for so long. Unfortunately, the collar she had been wearing was still part of her daily wardrobe. The fact that I’d seen her naked a few times now clued me into the reason she wore the damn thing so religiously. She had a pretty gnarly scar on her neck from when she went down on the bike. It was something that might be able to be fixed by a decent surgeon, or inked over by a talented artist. I just happened to know one who could work wonders with scar tissue too. Zeke had been training me to do it, but he was the best. It was something I had been meaning to talk to Gretchen about, but had put on the back burner because I didn’t want her to slide backwards again with her grief and processing everything.

  “I had something to talk to you about,” I told her as I got off the bike and grabbed one of the two bags she had been carrying. “You go shopping?”

  “I just went to pick some stuff up to make for dinner.”

  “Ah, do you think it’ll keep for tomorrow?”

  “Considering I just bought everything fresh, yeah.” Gretchen eyed me skeptically then. “What’s going on? You look really nervous.”

  “That’s because I am. Something happened today that I need to tell you about, and if I’m being honest, I’m not sure how you’ll react.”

  “Let’s get this stuff upstairs first then.” We did just that. I followed her up the stairs and helped put her groceries away before we sat down on the couch that took up the only living room space of the tiny apartment.

  “There’s a party tonight at the clubhouse,” I started.

  “Do you have to go work? If so, you know that’s fine. I’ll just watch a movie or something.” I hated that she was so understanding, because once she found out I wouldn’t have to pull stupid prospecting duties or hours any longer, she would
be happy. At least, right up until I told her why I no longer had to worry about those hours.”

  “Thing is, I’m no longer going to be a prospect.”

  She watched me for a few minutes before responding. “No longer a prospect, but not leaving the club either. They’re patching you in?” I nodded my head. “And you’re accepting it?”

  “That’s the plan. I’m so close to finding out who…” She stopped me there.

  “It’s not just about finding out who was behind everything anymore though, is it?”

  “No, it’s not. I’ve grown to like quite a few of the guys there too.”

  She smiled at me then. “Well, I knew that would happen. As much as I hate the idea of the club because of what it cost Toby, he still used to talk about everyone. There were very few people who he didn’t like or trust, but for the most part, those guys were his brothers as if they had been by blood.”

  “I didn’t understand that concept before. I have it with Zeke and Sul, but I didn’t think anyone else could get under my skin in that way.”

  “I’ll stand by you if that’s what you want,” she told me, though her voice was low and she wouldn’t meet my eyes with her own.

  “Gretchen, it’s more than that. If I patch in tonight, it’s not just me patching in. I’ll have a property patch for you to wear too.”

  “What?” The one word was screeched out. “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” She didn’t answer and just stared at me. It wasn’t like she was looking at me though, more that she was seeing through me and right into her past. “You said yourself that Toby vouched for most of the guys. You know why I’m doing this.”