Riding the Line (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation)

by Winter Travers

  I shrugged and poured milk over the cereal. “I guess toast and cereal is better than nothing.”

  He plopped down next to me. “Bro, I don’t think cereal qualifies as cooking.”

  “We got food and shit in the freezer. Someone just needs to make it.” Not that I was going to be the one to do it. Or Indiana.

  “We ate all of the meals Meg made for us before she left,” Pie grumbled.

  “Coffee,” Reva mumbled behind me. “Need coffee.”

  Pie shot up and blocked her path to the coffee maker. “Only if you cook us something other than cereal.”

  “Bro,” Hero called. “Did you just demand for my girl to make you breakfast?”

  Pie shrugged. “I’m a desperate man, Hero. I can’t live on cereal and pizza alone.”

  “How about you learn to cook for yourself and leave my girl out of it?” Hero ran his fingers through his hair and pulled Reva to his side. “Now, you can pour her a cup of coffee while she sits down and relaxes.”

  Reva rolled her eyes and pushed away from Hero. “Thank you for defending my honor, but nothing stands between me and coffee. Not even Pie.”

  She moved toward Pie, her arm raised to slug him in the shoulder, and then she quick moved like she was going to punch him in the nuts. Pie flinched and crouched to protect himself.

  “Psych…” Reva laughed. She stepped around him, not laying a finger on him, and grabbed the coffee pot. “Amateur,” she laughed.

  “Bro, taken down by a chick,” Hero laughed.

  Reva pointed a finger at Hero. “You better have taken notes. Don’t mess with me when it comes to coffee.”

  Hero held up his hands. “You got nothing to worry about when it comes to that. I need my coffee just as much as you do.”

  A couple of girls milled around by the couch in the common area while Reva poured Hero a cup of coffee. They both sat down at the table.

  “Ugh, are we really having cereal again?” Indiana groaned.

  I twisted in my chair and looked up at her. She was still in her pajamas, and her hair was piled on top of her head in a haphazard mess. She looked like she had just spent the night having crazy sex. Thankfully, I knew that wasn’t true since she was sharing her room with two chicks. Although…maybe I didn’t know everything about Indiana.

  “There’s shit in the freezer if you know how to cook,” Pie drawled. “It seems no one here knows how to.”

  “I do. I’ve been bugging Frost to let me go to the store to buy food, but he won’t take me,” she stated.

  Pie tipped his head to the side. “Are you implying that you know how to use the kitchen for more than grabbing milk or cereal, and Frost has been preventing you from doing it?”

  Indiana rolled her eyes. “Give me half an hour, and I’ll knock your socks off, Pie-y.”

  “Pie-y,” Hero chuckled.

  Pie clutched his hand to his chest. “I will accept that name as long as you walk out of that kitchen with more than a bowl of cereal.”

  “Just stand there and watch,” Indiana mumbled. She strolled into the kitchen and opened the freezer.

  “Is she really going to make us something eat?” Pie asked, amazed.

  I shrugged. I really didn’t know much about Indiana. She had been bugging me to go to the store, but I didn’t know if she actually knew her way around a kitchen. She might be a gourmet fucking cook and was about to blow our socks off, or she could be delusional and just as bad as the rest of the girls. “I guess we’ll have to wait twenty-nine more minutes and find out.”

  “If she can cook, you better watch your back, brother. Pie is going to be hot on her heels,” Hero warned.

  Reva smacked Hero’s shoulder. “Stop it. I doubt Pie is going to fall in love with Indiana just because she can cook.”

  Hero sat back in his chair and draped his arm over the back of Reva’s chair. “Babe, I think you underestimate Pie’s love for food. He didn’t get that name because he likes apples.”

  Pie tapped his nose and smiled wide. “She’s mine.”

  Like fucking hell, she was. Indiana may not even be close to being mine, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to be with Pie. “Good luck, Pie-y,” I chided. “Pretty sure that lame nickname she gave you already put you in the friendzone.”

  Pie flipped me off. “You know, I don’t fucking care what she calls me as long as she makes me food.”

  “I can hear you,” Indiana called. “Like, every word, I can hear you.”

  Reva covered her mouth and snorted.

  Pie folded his arms over his chest. “I’m just making my intentions clear,” he called.

  “Well, that’s nice, but I’m not really in the market right now for a hungry biker, Pie-y,” Indiana called.

  “Burn,” Hero hissed.

  Pie pointed at me. “That’s a burn to you, too, brother. She’s not in the market at all.”

  “I didn’t say that,” Indiana clarified.

  Reva’s jaw dropped, and Hero slapped me on the back. “I think you just might have a chance, brother,” he whispered to me.

  I smiled smugly at Pie and flipped him off. “So sorry, Pie-y.”

  She hadn’t exactly given me a green light, more like a yellow light. But that was better than nothing.

  *

  Chapter Five

  Indiana

  Wow.

  Talk about a stocked freezer. The past few mornings, I had been basically starving because I was just sick and tired of cereal. I hadn’t known I could have walked into the kitchen and make whatever I wanted.

  Meg was the normal cook around here, and I didn’t want to step on her toes even if she wasn’t here right now.

  Normally, by the time I had woken up, there was always coffee and cereal set out. Now that I knew I could wander into the kitchen and cook my little ass off, things were going to change.

  There was even a drawer with a bunch of potatoes and onions in it. I had only ever seen Meg, never spoken to her, but I heard rumors of her amazing cooking skills. And by the looks of the stocked kitchen, they weren’t lying.

  I was in Heaven with everything she had in this kitchen.

  Today, we were going to have scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and maybe even sausage if I felt like making it. Pie was going to be in love with me when he saw what I was about to whip up.

  Nothing extremely impressive, but it was a million times better than cold cereal.

  “What are you smiling for?”

  I whipped around with a dozen eggs in my hands. “Jesus,” I gasped. “You scared the hell out of me.”

  Frost leaned against the entryway of the kitchen and folded his arms over his chest. “I thought you could hear everything?”

  I frowned. “I meant I could hear when you guys were talking so loud. Not when you’re sneaking up on me like a biker ninja.”

  “Biker ninja?” Frost laughed. “Gotta say, I’ve never been called that before. Think I could add that to my resume?”

  “You need a resume when you’re a ninja biker?” I chided.

  He shrugged. “Probably not. I guess it’s always good to have, though.”

  I shook my head and turned back to the fridge. “I thought I had thirty minutes before you guys started invading the kitchen.” I grabbed a loaf of bread and set it on the counter next to the stove with the eggs.

  “Thought I would come in and see if you needed any help.”

  “How are you going to help me when you don’t know how to cook?” I laughed.

  “I figure I can chop some shit for you or something.”

  “Maybe you should add that to your resume, too. Chopper of shit,” I suggested.

  “I can only do that if you let me help you.”

  I set the potatoes I had grabbed from the drawer on the cutting board. “Well, start with this shit to chop.”

  “Potatoes?” he asked.

  I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Yes, potatoes. Then when you finish those, you can mince up an onion.” I grabbed an oni
on and set it next to the potatoes.

  “Whoa, whoa,” he laughed. “Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. That’s a lot of shit chopping.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe we should stop calling everything shit.” I grabbed a knife and set it next to the potatoes. “Try not to cut any of your digits off. Pie is expecting a gourmet meal.”

  “Fuck Pie,” Frost grumbled. He grabbed the bag of potatoes and ripped it open. “He’s only in it for the food.”

  I laughed and crouched down to find a frying pan in the cabinet. “At least he is upfront about it.” I grabbed two fry pans and set them on the front burners. “I changed my mind. Start with the onion first.”

  Frost dropped the potato in his hand and reached for the onion. “This shit is going to make me cry, isn’t it?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.” It totally was.

  One onion and ten potatoes later, Frost had dried his eyes and made it through the chopping.

  I dumped a glug of olive oil into the pan and waited for it to heat up.

  Frost dried his hands on the kitchen towel and tossed it over his shoulder.

  That man standing in the kitchen with a towel draped over his shoulder was a surprisingly sexy sight to behold. He was like a kitchen bad boy, ready and willing to do whatever I asked of him. Well, whatever I wanted him to chop, at least.

  “Your pan is smoking, darlin’.” He nodded to the pan with a smirk on his lips. “Not much of a cook, but I think that’s not a good thing.”

  I twisted the dial on the stove to turn down the burner and moved the pan off the heat for a second. “That just means the pan is ready.” And too hot.

  “So, sleep okay last night?”

  I eyed him warily. “As well as one can sleep while sharing a bed with someone else. Pam’s a snuggler.” I wrinkled my nose and grabbed the bowl of chopped onions. I dumped them into the pan and moved it back onto the heat.

  Though I had laid awake for an hour trying to figure out what I was going to do about Royal. I had a plan, but I didn’t think it was the greatest one. And, I didn’t know if I was going to get very far with it.

  The man standing by me was the reason it wasn’t going to work.

  Pie had been joking about pursuing me because I could cook. Frost’s disapproval of Pie’s statement wasn’t a joke at all.

  Frost watched me.

  Not just since I had moved into the clubhouse. When I danced on stage, I could sense when he was in the club. I could easily search him out, and his gaze would never waver from me.

  It wasn’t a creepy gaze, though.

  It somehow made me feel grounded. It made me feel safe.

  Not that I ever really felt like I was in danger since I had started working at Sultry Knights, but it was like Frost gave me a calm I didn’t know I was missing.

  “I thought you guys were going to rotate sharing the bed?”

  I shrugged and stirred the onions. “We were, and then Julia said she has a bad back and all this bullshit. I just sleep with Pam because I just don’t want to listen to the complaining.” I set down the spoon and grabbed the package of sausage. “Not like this is going to last forever, right? I’ll be back in my own place soon.”

  Frost grunted. “Someday.”

  I managed to fit two packs of sausage into the other pan and turned on the heat under it. “You think that is going to be enough?”

  There were a lot of us in the clubhouse, but I didn’t know if everyone was going to eat.

  “Make what you want, darlin’. Cooking for everyone isn’t your job. If it’s gone, then they’ll either have to make something themselves or grab a box of cereal.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” I mumbled. Half of the girls never ate breakfast in the first place, so I wasn’t going to bend over backward to make food that was just going to go to waste.

  “Got plans for the day?”

  I froze mid-stir of the onions. He was on to me, and I hadn’t even set my plan into motion. “Uh, maybe?”

  Just a quick drive to Florida to rescue Royal and make sure Grit stayed his ass down there, too.

  “How’s the food coming?” Pie yelled.

  I rolled my eyes and got back to stirring the onions. It was almost time to add the diced potatoes. “It’s going just fine,” I called back. “You really think he wants a gourmet meal?” I asked Frost softly.

  Frost shrugged. “Who cares what the hell he wants. Beggars can’t be choosers, darlin’. He gets what he gets, and that’s it.” Frost cringed. “Jesus, I just sounded like my parents.”

  I giggled and grabbed the cutting board with the potatoes on it. “It all happens to us eventually.”

  “Your parents still around?” he asked.

  I shook my head and carefully dumped the potatoes into the pan. “They both passed away a couple of years ago.”

  “Brothers or sisters?”

  I shook my head again. “Nope. It’s just me.”

  “Sorry, darlin’.”

  I shrugged. “It’s all good.”

  It wasn’t anything to be sorry about. Mom and Dad both smoked like chimneys when they were younger, and it caught up with them. Daddy was the first to go, and Mom followed a year later. Lung cancer got them both. That, of course, didn’t stop me from being a smoker, though. And, like most things in my life that were bad for me, I didn’t know how to quit them ‘til I was too far gone. Like Grit for example. Thankfully, I had woken up and got out of Destin before it was too late.

  Silence lingered while I stirred the potatoes around, then crouched down in front of the cabinet and found the matching lid to the pan. I slapped it onto the potatoes, lowered the heat, and turned the sausages that were browning nicely.

  “I was thinking I would take a ride down to the lake later, if you want to come.”

  I glanced over at Frost and smiled. That sounded nice, but later, I planned to be out of town and headed to Destin. “Uh, maybe?”

  He nodded.

  Son of a bitch. What the hell was I going to do? I needed to get to Destin, but how was I going to do that with Frost literally next to me all of the time?

  Maybe talking to the Knights and seeing if they could help me was the best idea. I mean, the worst they could say was no, and I would just be back to figuring everything out on my own.

  “Uh, so,” I stuttered. “I was a…”

  Jesus. What the hell was I even trying to say? I have a friend who got herself into some scary shit, and now I need you guys to pull whatever strings you have to help her. Her being a woman you have never met and probably won’t ever see again after we save her.

  Easy peasy, right?

  I cleared my throat and chanced a glance over at Frost. He was watching me carefully from hooded eyes. He could sense something was off. It wasn’t like I was some master manipulator who could act like nothing was wrong when my world was actually spinning off its axis at the moment.

  “What’s going on, darlin’? You’ve been acting different since last night,” Frost drawled.

  Lord Jesus. I knew it. “Uh, well, I’m just kind of worried about a friend of mine back home.”

  There was a very partial truth. I didn’t need to drop the bombshell of my ex being in town and also that my friend was kidnapped by her baby daddy. Nope, didn’t need to mention that just yet.

  “What’s going on with her?”

  I finished flipping the sausage and moved the lid from the potatoes onto the pan with the links. “Uh, well, she broke up with her boyfriend, and now, she’s pregnant.” See, there was another sliver of the truth. Drop the truth like breadcrumbs, and it wouldn’t sound so shitty.

  “Damn. That’s a shitty situation.”

  I laughed nervously and stirred the potatoes. Understatement of the year. “Yeah. So, I’m just trying to figure out a way to help her.”

  “She from around here?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “Uh, no. Back home.”

  “And back home would be where?”
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  “Not really home anymore, but Florida. South Florida,” I elaborated.

  “How are you going to help her seeing as you’re here?”

  And this was where my plan could take one of two ways. “Uh, well…” I finished stirring the potatoes and moved the lid back on them. I grabbed a large bowl and started cracking eggs. We were going to need a lot.

  “Something tells me things are going to get either complicated or crazy with your next words.”

  Oh, boy. He had no idea.

  Might as well just get my shit out there right away. “I need to go to Florida now. Like, as soon as I’m done scrambling these eggs, now.”

  “Those are some plans for a Saturday afternoon,” King drawled.

  I jumped back from the stove and screeched. I hadn’t even noticed he was in the kitchen. “Sweet Jesus.”

  “I’d much rather make a run for Vegas, though.” King leaned against the kitchen door frame, just like Frost had done earlier. What was with these bikers standing around like they owned the place? It was like they took classes to look intimidating and sexy.

  “Uh, me, too,” I replied sheepishly. “Unfortunately, Royal lives in the opposite direction of Vegas.” Destin was no Vegas.

  “Darlin’, what the hell are you going to do in Florida for your friend? Just call her and talk it out,” Frost insisted.

  Oh, if only things were that easy. Could I really make my way to Florida without having to tell Frost or the Devil’s Knights what was really going on with Royal?

  King and Frost both studied me. How in the hell did they appear to be reading me like an open book?

  “What kind of trouble did your friend get herself into?” King asked.

  “Pregnant by her ex,” Frost explained before I could even open my mouth.

  “Hey,” I scolded. “I’m the one telling the story here.”

  Frost rolled his eyes. “No, you’re not really because I know there is a whole hell of a lot more going on than what you are telling me.”

  I pursed my lips and growled at Frost. “Stop that.”

  “Stop what?” he asked.

  “Acting like you know me when you don’t me, but you seem to know me just by looking at me. Stop that. And reading my thoughts,” I rattled off.