by Nicola Jane
“Come pick me up, Blade. I’ve got no cash on me and I left my bike at the Windsor,” he grunts. “I’ve text you the address.”
I drive around Knightsbridge, standing out like a sore thumb, looking for this damn house Lake’s at. Not only am I driving one of the club’s beat-up cars, I’m wearing shades because my eyes aren’t ready to see daylight just yet. People stare with distrusting eyes.
I find the place and drop Lake a text to say I’m outside. I wait five minutes, but he’s still nowhere to be seen. I rush up the white stone steps leading to the white glazed door and knock. If he’s gone back to sleep, I’ll kill him for dragging me out of my bed. The door swings open and Sunshine takes a surprised step back. She’s wearing a man’s shirt that just about covers her behind, showing off a large flower tattoo she has running up her thigh. I ball my fists. She’s gorgeous with her dark hair thrown up on top of her head and last night's makeup staining underneath her blue eyes.
“O-oh, Mr. X,” she stammers, stumbling on her words. Hearing her call me that makes my cock twitch.
“Sunshine. What’re you doing here?” Please don’t say you’ve had sex with Lake, I think to myself.
“I live here,” she says. “With my housemate.” So she’s stunning and rich.
“I got a call to pick my brother up from this address.”
She blushes. “He’s a little busy,” she says. “Do you want to come in and wait?”
I nod, stepping in when she holds the door open wider for me. This place is unreal, like something you’d see on that TV show Anna loves, where they look inside the homes of the rich and famous. Somewhere in the distance, I can hear the screams of a woman in ecstasy. “They’ve been making that noise for the last ten minutes. I’m sure he must be almost done,” she says, smiling shyly, and I suppress my grin. Clearly, she hasn’t been shown a good time.
“Nice place,” I say.
“Thanks. Sara’s place, but I rent a room,” she explains. “Coffee?”
I nod, then take a seat at the breakfast bar and watch as she turns away to make coffee. There’s fresh bruising on her lower leg. “What happened to your leg?” I ask, and she looks down at it, then shrugs. “That’s a big old bruise for you not to know,” I add.
“What are you, a cop?” she asks, grinning.
I laugh. If only she knew how much I hate the cops. “Not even close.”
“I know what you are. Travis told me,” she says, stirring the coffee and handing it to me.
I smirk. “And what did lover boy tell you exactly?”
“That you guys are dangerous. You’re in a biker gang,” she says, leaning against the breakfast bar beside me.
“And yet you invited me into your home,” I say, placing my coffee on the table.
“I told you, I’m a magnet for danger,” she says, smiling.
The sounds from upstairs are getting louder and Sunshine laughs nervously. “So, did he tell you to stay away from the big bad bikers?” I ask. She nods slowly and her eyes follow me as I stand. I place my hands either side of her, caging her in again. I want her at my mercy, and when I move my face towards her, I like the gleam that shines in her eyes, like she’s daring me to kiss her. “You’re a stupid woman for not listening,” I mutter, then our lips crash together in a hungry kiss. My hands grip her peachy arse, grabbing a handful of the flesh and pulling her against me. She hooks her lower leg around mine and I feel the heat of her against my straining erection.
“Tils, have you seen my shirt?” yells a man's voice from upstairs. I pull back, looking down at her in confusion. She smirks back at me.
“Yeah, I’ve got it on,” she shouts back. I step back from her and watch as her hands go to the buttons on the shirt. “You want it now?” she asks.
“Yeah, I gotta get a shower and get out of here,” he says back. She makes quick work of unfastening the shirt, keeping her eyes on mine the entire time. It falls open, revealing black silk panties and perky, naked breasts. She passes me and heads out the kitchen, smiling.
“Did I mention, I like a bit of danger,” she whispers.
Chapter Two
TILLIE
Christ, I’m a wanton whore. I bury my head in my hands. It’s like all sense leaves me whenever Mr. X is around. What the hell was I thinking, kissing him like that in the kitchen when Travis was right upstairs? I groan.
“What’s wrong?” asks Sara, breezing into the kitchen. She’s finally broken her three-month dry spell of no sex and she’s been on cloud nine since her man left this morning. “Oh Christ, you didn’t have sex with Travis, did you?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I’m proud of myself on that front. He slept in the spare room. He tried to get in my bed, but I was strong.”
“Well done, Tils. About time you kicked him to the kerb.”
“But I kissed the biker.” I wince.
“Me too,” she says, popping a grape into her mouth and winking.
“I practically threw myself at him. I’ve never behaved like that before, but something about him makes me wanna screw up the rule book and be free,” I say.
“So, let go for once. You’re always so uptight. It’s not a bad thing, Tillie,” she says, laughing.
“It is, Sara,” I mutter. “When I relax and drop my guard, I get hurt.”
“And if you never relax and drop your guard, you’ll never meet anyone. Anyway, chances are, we’ll never see them again, so don’t worry about it.”
Monday morning soon rolls around. It’s Sara’s day to start late, which left me to open up and serve Mr. Benson. He’s always waiting at the door on Mondays to get his toffee.
I’m stacking the sweet jars in the window display when I see him—Blade. He’s across the road, staring at me. My heart beats out of my chest and I cringe when I think about my behaviour Saturday morning. Not only does he think I’m an easy whore but a cheating one at that. I gave Travis his shirt and when I returned to the kitchen, he was gone, waiting outside for his friend. I look up again and he’s at the door, entering the shop, and I climb down from the display. “Your usual?” I ask, my tone breezy.
“Where’s your friend?” he asks, his eyes darting around.
“At home.” I grab his liquorice and begin to place it in a bag. “My name’s Matilda, by the way, but everyone calls me Tillie.” It’s only right I introduce myself properly seeing as we shared saliva. “But I like Sunshine too,” I add.
“I don’t want the liquorice,” he mutters. He looks serious. “I gotta stay away from you, Matilda. No more sweets, no more nicknames, no more seeing you. Don’t turn up in the bars on Queens Road. Stay away.”
I stare open-mouthed. Christ, was the kiss that bad? “Okay,” I say.
He nods. “Good. Great. Right, well, I’ll be off then.” He moves towards the door.
“I didn’t cheat,” I blurt out and he stops.
“Don’t tell me anything,” he mutters.
“I’m sing—” I begin and he growls. I stop talking, pressing my lips together. I've never been growled at before, not by a human anyway.
“Don’t tell me. It’s none of my business and I don’t need to know.”
“But I didn’t want you to think I was a whore. It was out of character for me to behave like I did,” I explain. “You send me a little crazy.”
He marches towards me. It startles me, and I move back until I hit the counter. His hand goes into my hair and he tugs my head back so I’m looking up at him. “You gotta learn when to stop talking,” he hisses. His lips brush mine and I instinctively open for him. His tongue sweeps my mouth and I groan. His kiss is strong and possessive. My toes curl in my shoes until they ache and my fingers turn white from gripping the counter behind me so hard.
“Goodbye, Matilda,” he whispers against my mouth.
My eyes stay closed until I hear the door open and close. I watch him as he rushes back across the street, throwing his leg over his motorcycle, and riding off without a backwards glance.
My
grandmother calls into the shop a few times a week. She’s seventy years of age and retired last year, but she loves this place and it’s still her investment, so she likes to check up on it.
“Nan, when you met Gramps, did you feel butterflies in your stomach?” I ask. She’s told me the story of her and my grandfather a million times, but it still makes me smile, and I’ll use any excuse to hear her talk about him with a look of pure love in her eyes.
“When I first met him, no,” she says, smiling. She takes a seat on the stool placed beside the serving counter. “He grew on me, then the butterflies lasted all our marriage,” she says proudly. “Married at eighteen. That’s forty years of marriage before he passed.”
“I hope I marry someone who makes me as happy as Gramps made you,” I say.
“That boy you’ve been running around with won’t make you happy,” she says, her face stern. She’s never liked Travis, and she’s always been a good judge of character. “He’s the type of boy your mum would have dated back when she was a teenager. Always the bad boys,” she adds, shaking her head.
I smile. “I told you, we don’t date these days. It’s not called dating, Nan.”
She rolls her eyes. “Your generation is ridiculous. You’re either dating or you’re not. I bet boys made this stupid rule up so that they can see lots of girls at once.”
I smirk. “Probably.”
The door opens and Sara breezes in. She kisses Nan on the cheek. “Good morning, beautiful people.”
“Why is she so happy?” asks Nan suspiciously.
I lean closer like I’m conspiring. “Because she got some ‘you know what’ at the weekend.”
Nan smirks. “And is that with a boy she’s dating?”
I laugh. Sara shrugs out of her coat. “Nan, no one dates these days. If you mention the word ‘date’, men run a mile. These days, we say that we’re talking.”
“And was it just talking you did with this new boy?” asks Nan.
Sara fans her face dramatically. “Oh, Nan, there was nothing boy-like about this one. And I most certainly did not sit talking. With some men, you have to let them see the goods so they keep coming back.”
Nan scoffs. “In my day, you kept some bits back to keep them wanting more. Now he knows about the goods you have on offer and he’s had them. What's to come back for?”
“Some goods are worth a second visit,” says Sara, wiggling her brows.
“Madness. That boy’s never coming back, sweet girl. The only time you’ll see him again is if he can’t get it elsewhere because now he knows where he can get it easy.”
Sara’s mouth falls open. “Nan, don’t say that.”
Nan kisses her on the cheek. “I speak the truth, you know that.”
“He’s not a nice man, anyway,” I say. “He’s in a biker gang,” I add, grinning at Sara because now she’ll get a lecture on her choice in men. Sara scowls.
Nan stares at us for a while. “Biker?” she eventually asks.
“Yeah, you know,” I say, “drives a big shiny bike. Hangs out with loads of others and they all wear the same jacket. Trav told me to stay out away from them, that they’re trouble.”
Nan nods sternly. “I hate to agree with that waste of space, but Travis is right about that. Stay away from them. Nothing good will come from hanging around with the MC.”
“MC?” I repeat. “What do you know about it?”
Nan holds her handbag to her chest and stands. “More than I should. Motorcycle gangs have been around for a long time. I’ve never met a good, honest one yet.”
BLADE
Charlotte smiles at me from across the clubhouse. She’s hot, but I’ve been there once before. After saving her from Cobra’s shit show of a club, she came back here to the Kings. That’s when we discovered she was the little sister to one of my brothers, Lake. Since I found that shit out, I’ve stayed the hell away. Lake’s laidback like me, but he wouldn’t appreciate me tapping up his sister.
“You not tempted to go back there?” asks Chains. I shake my head. “Not even in secret?” he pushes.
“No, brother. I don’t shit on my brothers like that.” I wince when I realise what the fuck I’ve said. “It was different with you and Leia,” I say quickly. Getting the Pres’s sister pregnant wasn’t a smart move, but Riggs is over that now . . . almost. “Sorry,” I add.
“Don’t be. But if you keep passing women up, you’ll end up alone,” says Chains.
“Told you,” I mutter, “I’m not after an ol’ lady. I like sharing my love around.”
Chains rolls his eyes. “You can’t sleep around forever, Blade. Someday, you’re gonna need to settle down.”
“Why?” I ask. “Where in the law does it say I have to marry and settle down? I can live like this forever. You’re just haters because you miss this life,” I say.
Leia joins us, holding her new baby against her chest. Motherhood suits her. Chains kisses her and takes the baby. It’s weird as fuck to see him with a kid. “I wouldn’t swap this life for yours,” he says. “I have everything I need right here.”
“You just haven’t met the right woman,” says Leia. My mind automatically thinks of Tillie, but I crush that thought straight away. Yeah, she’s hot, but she ain’t wifey material and I ain’t met a damn woman yet who comes close. She’s in my mind cos I haven’t managed to get her in my bed yet. I need her out my system so I can forget about her and move on.
I step out for air because being around my brothers and their ol’ ladies is becoming depressing. Charlotte steps out after me, smiling seductively. “You avoiding me?” she purrs.
“Hell yeah. You turning out to be Lake’s little sister was not in the plan, kitten,” I say.
“I never did thank you for helping me find my brother,” she says, stepping closer and placing her palm against my chest. I hesitate before removing her hand.
“No thanks needed. You’re off-limits being Lake’s sister.”
She pouts. “A biker with morals?”
“A biker who loves his balls attached to his body,” I say, smirking. I head out of the club to avoid temptation. Riggs needs to get us some new girls around here.
Chapter Three
TILLIE
The shop door opens and I lift my head from the counter. It’s been a long week and making it through to Friday’s been a hard slog. I’m greeted with a huge bouquet of flowers, and a voice from behind them says my name. “Yep, that’s me,” I say.
The delivery guy places the bouquet on the counter and pokes his head around with a huge smile on his face. “Sign here,” he says, thrusting a clipboard at me. I sign the delivery note and hand it back.
“Nobody sends me flowers,” I mutter,
“You’d be surprised how many times I hear that a day,” the guy says, grinning as he leaves.
“Whoa, when did we turn into florists?” asks Sara as she places us each a coffee onto the counter and touches the petals of a beautiful pink lily.
I pluck the little white envelope from the bouquet. “For me,” I say, waving the card at her.
She rolls her eyes. “Travis must have cheated,” she says, arching her brow.
“He can’t cheat, we’re not together, remember.”
“You’ve been hooking up for longer than the maximum period to still class as just hooking up. When months turn to a year, it’s a relationship.”
“Christ, don’t say that,” I mutter, ripping open the envelope.
I read the note, and my eyes widen. “Oh my god,” I mumble.
Sara snatches the note and reads it aloud. “Do you believe in love at first sight?” She turns the card over. It’s blank. “It doesn’t say who they’re from.”
“I’ve got a secret admirer,” I say.
“Do you think it’s the biker?” she asks, and I shake my head. He doesn’t seem like the flowers and romance type of guy. “I’m so jealous.”
I spend the rest of the afternoon smiling, because who doesn’t love flowers? It was
the boost I needed to feel good. A bit of male attention is just what I need right now to help me move on from Travis.
We get home and I pour us each a large glass of wine. We’ve decided to hit the town tonight and celebrate my new secret admirer. Sara’s spent the day going through my social media accounts to try and figure out who it could be. All I know is, if he treats me to flowers that probably cost my month’s rent, then I want to meet him.
“Wear the short dress you got last week in the sale,” suggests Sara.
I hold up the dress and screw my nose up. “It’s short, too short.”
“Then why’d yah buy it? I’ll wear a short one too,” she pleads, and I sigh. Give me shorts or jeans any day, but dresses make me feel uncomfortable. I bought it in a moment of madness. “Wear ankle boots if you’ll feel less weird,” she suggests.
An hour later, we’re out the door and heading for our favourite wine bar. It’s still a little early and the bars are filled with office workers celebrating the weekend. I spot Travis and groan. “Why’s he in here?” I whisper, ducking into a high-walled booth. “He doesn’t usually drink around these parts.”
Sara goes to the bar so I can stay hidden. I watch Travis and I’m not surprised when a blonde female joins him, kissing his cheek and taking his hand. This is exactly what I needed to see to make me realise he uses me. It’s not like I didn’t know it, but seeing it with my own eyes is a reality check. When Sara returns, I nod to where Travis is now thrusting his tongue into the girl's mouth. “What the hell!” she hisses, standing.
I tug her back down. “Leave it. We’re not together and I was doing the exact same thing a few nights ago.”
A man approaches the pair and shakes Travis’s hand before walking off. It’s a blatant drug deal. That explains why he’s in the high-end bar—he’s catching the workers who are looking for some light relief after a hard week in the office.