by A. J. Downey
“So, you are in trouble,” I said against his shoulder, voice muffled.
“I won’t talk about it,” he said. “It’s club business, but I swear to you, you ain’t gotta worry about a thing,” he said, drawing back to look at me.
I searched out his hazel eyes and wanted so badly to believe with the sincerity that shone in them but… Ben had been just as fervent, just as convincing, something like a thousand times over and yet here I was, only spared the divorce by his death, and a whole other shattered family left behind him.
I hated myself for it, in a way, the fact that I swallowed all of my misgivings and chose to believe him… for now… but I wasn’t done digging. I needed to know what they were doing. I couldn’t be with someone smuggling illegal drugs or worse, people over the border and The Sacred Hearts? They had such a reputation… had been involved with cartels… I nodded and Jared smoothed a hand over my hair and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“Let’s head to the beach, huh?” he asked, and I nodded again.
We went back to our trailer, finished our ice cream, got changed and gathered our beach blankets and towels.
At the beach, the ol’ ladies and women of the Western Washington chapter were in a tight knot, their boys off throwing around a frisbee.
“Mom, can I join ‘em?” Marc asked.
“If it’s alright with them,” I said nodding.
“Of course, it is!” Jared declared, and I gave him a kiss.
“You guys go on. I’ll get us set up,” I said, and they left me with their things and jogged off to join the game.
Little Bird and Raven got up to help me. Aspen, coming across the sand from the direction of the restroom, hurried to help. I set up with them.
“Why the long face?” Dahlia asked from behind her big, bug-eyed sunglasses, her body gleaming with oil where the retro pinup yellow, blue, and white bikini didn’t cover.
“I overheard something,” I said, deciding to make the brave leap with these women and hoping it didn’t backfire.
“Oh?” Marisol sat up, her interest definitely piqued.
“I may have it recorded,” I said. “Hang on.”
I brought up the video at the go-kart track and played it, the girls all huddled around my phone giggling at the boys when the woman’s voice, Carly I think her name was, came out from my phone. The girls around me all froze.
Marisol lit off in a string of colorful Spanish curses.
“Do us all a favor and delete that,” Dahlia said, and she suddenly looked ashen beneath her tattoos.
“On one condition,” I said finally, already bringing up the command to delete the video while they watched.
“What’s that?” Raven asked, looking apprehensive.
“You ladies let me in on what’s going on. I know you know something, and I don’t want to be in the dark anymore.” I deleted the file, and they all exchanged worried looks.
“We know,” Marisol said.
“We always know,” Aspen said and looked unhappy. “Even when we don’t want to.”
I nodded and said, “So what is it?”
They all looked scared and a little guilty.
“It’s no offense,” Dahlia said. “We like you—”
“A lot, actually,” Marisol said with a sniff.
“We just don’t want to lose our men, either,” Raven said unhappily.
“Look,” I murmured. “I…” I looked across the sand at Jared who leaped and caught the frisbee flung by someone else. He laughed and knocked shoulders with Marc, and I felt nothing but fear for him.
“I think I love him already, and Marc and I have already lost so much. I don’t know if we could bear it all over again so I just need to know… should I stay or should I go? Just what are they smuggling – hell, don’t even tell me what, just promise me it’s nothing like heroin or worse… people.”
“No, no! It’s nothing like that!” The girls all traded alarmed looks.
“Listen, let me tell you how I met the club,” Marisol said, and she took a deep breath.
Her story was eye-opening to say the least. I stared at her wide-eyed for a very long time and thought about just yesterday and what Jared had done to secure the medicine I needed for Marc, and that had only been a minor inconvenience due to the federal regulations.
“I… I’m shook,” I finally declared. “I have never been so underprivileged as to even consider…” I stared across the sand with what had to be a veil lifted off my eyes at these rough men and holy shit… “Marisol,” I said. “Out of all of us, you have to know the most… how can we help?” I asked.
“The short answer is we can’t.” Dahlia leaned back in her lounge chair and sighed. “This is all club business, and the women aren’t supposed to get involved for a reason.”
“Dios mios, we’re involved,” Marisol said, rolling her eyes.
“Whether the menfolk like it or not, Marisol is right,” Raven declared.
“I can’t lose D.T., so I feel like we’d better do something,” Kestrel declared, her hands fluttering to her abdomen.
“I agree. Sometimes it’s better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission,” Aspen declared.
“So, let’s put our heads together and figure it out.” Raven looked at each of us in turn. “We are strong, capable, women.”
“Starting point,” I said. “What do each of us know?” I asked.
“Point of fact, we shouldn’t be saying any of this around any open lines or phones and we need to figure out our own code if we do happen to have to text or say anything near an open line,” Dahlia said, leaning forward.
“Looks like we’re all in,” Marisol said grimly.
I looked back at Jared and Marc and said, “I’ve finally gotten a taste for what it’s like to have the family for my son that I always wanted him to have. Yes, I’m in. We can have drinks at my house next week after we get back. We’ll figure everything out from there. Until then?”
“Gather what information you can,” Dahlia said, looking across the beach blanket at me and I nodded.
“Precisely what I was going to say,” I said.
“Anyone spills this to Mav, I swear to fucking God, I’m cunt punting you into next week,” Dahlia declared and most of us broke into smiles and a bit of laughter.
“I’m surprised you’re not fighting against this tooth and nail,” Kestrel said, and Dahlia smiled into the sun.
“I know when the boys are outmatched and need an assist, especially Maverick. We grew up together. He’s stuck on this one,” she said.
“My house, next week, leave your phones in your cars,” I declared.
“Sounds good,” Aspen said with a nod, and I could tell that she, like me, didn’t want to be in this position and yet… here we were.
24
Glass Jaw…
“Shit, this has to be the easiest church we’ve ever held,” Dump Truck said, grinning like a fool. He was taking this whole news he was about to be a daddy like a fucking champion but on the flip side, his Little Bird was awfully fragile and a bit needy as a result. I couldn’t blame her. It was a lot being a mom. I saw it with Cadence every day. I had to grin too. It was because of Cadence things were so smooth this time around.
“You can thank my lady for that one,” I said. “Seems like she and the rest of the girls hit it off really good at the beach. She’s got ‘em all over at her place.”
“Thank fuck for small favors,” Mav said and sighed. He’d had to have a talk with the other presidents about loose lips sinking ships, which is never a pleasant convo to have. Less so when it turned out that Carly was the girlfriend of one of the other VP’s. Not for long, though. Sounded like that slipup right there torpedoed that relationship.
I felt bad for River, I really did, but a broad like that was absolutely a liability.
I’d kept a careful watch and an even more careful ear out where Cadence was concerned but she had my back. Dahlia had even let me know that she’d talked to the rest of
them and had deleted the video of me and Marc at the track because it’d caught the audio of Carly mouthing off.
I knew how much that must have hurt her, losing the recorded memory, but I couldn’t tell you how much faith it put in me where she was concerned that she’d done that for me.
“Well, brothers. We got any ideas on how, or where to go from here?” Mav asked.
“As far as I can tell, Manny’s place is burned,” Dump Truck declared, and that was something I think we all knew but didn’t have the fucking heart to say out loud.
“So, what needs doing then?” Deacon asked.
“That’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, now, isn’t it?” Derry let out a gusty sigh and leaned all the way back in his boardroom chair.
“How much does he still got stashed?” Nine asked.
“A lot,” I said. “Enough to get us through for two or three months but…” I sighed. “Can’t get that amount of supply out on short notice on the bikes, and if we go up there now?”
“Way too sus,” Maverick agreed.
“I would sure as shit hate to cut my losses on that much product,” Dump Truck said.
“I think all of us can agree on that,” Maverick declared.
“Not just for the money out of our pockets,” Cipher said.
“But for all those people,” Blackjack finished for him.
“Fuckin’ feds,” Fish muttered and there were a bunch of mutterings that swept around the table.
“All I can think to do is shut it down and wait for the Federales to get tired. Let them piss off back to wherever they fuckin’ came from,” Maverick said.
“Yeah, but how many are gonna fuckin die without those meds in the meantime?” Major asked.
“Too many,” I said. “But I don’t see another way, either. We can’t help anyone ever again if we’re locked up for life.”
Mutterings and assents went around.
“So, is that it then?” Fenris demanded.
“Do you see another way?” Maverick asked.
A heavy silence hung over the chapel.
No, I thought to myself. No, we do not.
I didn’t go home. I rode to Cadence’s, pulling around back and feeling only slightly shitty I was crashing her girls’ night.
I went to the back door and knocked. She answered after a few moments.
“Hi!” she called out, laughing, a glass of wine in her hand. I smiled up at her and said. “Hi,” back.
“I know I’m interrupting, but I just really wanted to see you. Mind if I crash here? I can just fuck off to your room and let you ladies be.”
She cocked her head, searched my face and asked me, “Everything okay?”
“No,” I answered with a bit of a scoff. “But they will be. Shit’s just extra heavy right now.”
She nodded slowly and murmured, “Get in here.” I slipped in past her to five sets of questioning eyes from the kitchen.
“Hi, girls.” I waved tiredly at Dahlia, Marisol, Aspen, Kestrel, and Raven.
“Hey, you alright?” Dahlia asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Don’t let me interrupt. I’m just gonna crash here,” I said, and I went into the kitchen.
“Want a beer?” Cadence asked behind me.
“Yeah, that might be good until I can have you,” I said.
“Gross,” Marc said from the bottom of the stairs, and we all had a chuckle at that.
Cadence handed me a beer out of the fridge and raised an eyebrow at Marc. “Soda please,” he said, and she handed him a bottle of something with a pink label.
“Thanks.” He went back upstairs double time.
“Too much estrogen down here,” Aspen said with a wink.
“Not for me, but g’night,” I said, moving past the counter and dining room where they were mostly gathered.
“Hey!” Cadence called, stopping me. I turned, and she came up and kissed me.
I smiled at that. “You’re something else, you know that?” I asked.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Dahlia said with a smirk. The rest of the girls giggled.
“And on that note, I’m out,” I said, and they all laughed.
I knew when I was outmatched and five on one weren’t odds I was in favor of. Still, I went into Cadence’s room with a smile.
I shut the door, drowning out their conversation to a low hum and their bright giggles and fits of laughter to a dull roar.
I stripped down to nothing and crawled into bed, plugged in my phone on her charger and took a swig of my beer. I fucked around on the book of faces and yet, before I knew it, I was opening my eyes, the house dark and silent, the bed shifting beneath me as Cadence drew close into my side.
“Hey, sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” she said softly.
“No, it’s alright,” I said, voice gravelly with sleep. “I’m glad you did.”
“You looked so tired when you came in,” she murmured and kissed me softly. I smiled against her lips and nodded slightly.
“Exhausted,” I confessed.
“Sleep, then,” she whispered, and I put my arms around her and held her close.
“K, I love you,” I said groggily. It just slipped out. I didn’t even think about it.
She froze for a moment in my arms, and I was about to curse myself when she murmured, “I love you, too.”
It was like she put my soul to rest. I slept like a fuckin’ baby after that.
I woke up to her lips wrapped around my cock, looking down the length of my body into those hallowed green eyes. Her lips wrapped around me as she slid my dick across her velvet pink tongue had me swallowing mine.
I made a strangled noise in the back of my throat as she smiled around me and slid me to the back of hers and holy fucking shit, I loved the way she gave head.
It was fucking porn-star worthy but sensual at the same time. She was making love to me with her mouth, and it had to be the hottest thing I had ever encountered. Definitely, watching her go down on me took the top spot on hottest, sexiest, and most meaningful sexual encounters I’d ever had the pleasure of being a part of.
I gathered up her hair gently and held it so I could watch her, and heat curled through me, making me groan. I breathed, letting the feeling of her mouth on me carry, washing over and through me until I didn’t think I could take anymore.
I wasn’t one of those guys that could come easy from a blowjob, but Cadence had me close, so very close.
Fuck!
“Slow down, baby,” I ordered, voice tight, and she was such a good fucking girl. Always did just what I told her when we were like this, and it just made everything that much hotter.
“Aw, yeah, just like that, just like that,” I murmured and traced some of her hair behind her ear as she bobbed eagerly, sucking me so sweetly.
“Come up here and ride me,” I ordered gently, and she worked me in and out of her sweet, sexy mouth a time or two more before moving to comply.
She was completely nude and looked like a goddess wreathed in the muted morning light filtering through her bedroom curtains.
She straddled me, an unreadable look in her eyes that was oh so very serious as she lifted my throbbing cock off my stomach and situated it at her entrance.
“Condom?” I asked.
She cocked her head slowing and asked me, “You want one?”
“No,” I answered her honestly.
“Okay, then,” she said and slid down over the top of me and Jesus Christ!
She was so wet, so fucking hot and slick and she took the length of me at this sharper deeper angle like a fucking champ. Her body meeting mine, my cock nestled inside of her, so deep, so perfectly deep, and I panted, fighting not to go off too soon.
She put her hands on my chest, her eyes closed, her head tipped back slightly as she savored the sensation of me inside her bareback like I was. God, she was beautiful like this – breasts perfect and heavy in my hands as I teased her nipples with my fingers, hair loose and wild, framing her face. Her bea
utiful face bearing a stricken look that was at once beatific, as though having me inside her raw like this was the way she’d found God and holy Christ, she had no idea how hot that was to me.
I smoothed my hands down her sides from her breasts, thumbs following the curve over her hourglass shape as she began to move, grinding her hips, keeping me seated deep inside of her and oh, God; oh, fuck!
I grunted and pulled her down onto me even tighter as she writhed against me, as much for her own gratification as for mine, and damn I was desperate to hold off. I wanted her to come with me inside her. I wanted to feel that warm gush and her ripple around me so bad, and I was determined to hold it for as long as it took.
I took a hand from her hip, licked the pad of my thumb, and delved it between us at the top of her sex, finding that little rosebud, teasing it as best I could and delighting when she threw her head back and moaned like some sort of wanton sex goddess.
I loved that in the month or two of us getting serious that she had really begun to let go. She’d gone from nervous and anxiety riddled anytime the clothes came off, to bold and sexy, just as willing to take what she wanted as much as she’d been to give me what I asked. She was so sweet, so sexy, so smart and cool.
God, I wanted to keep her for all time. I wanted the time I had her like this to never end. I wanted to burn every moment of watching her stiffen above me, listen to her cry out, and feel her shudder against me as her pussy rippled around my cock while she came.
I wanted to just live and exist in this moment for all fucking time with her.
But life? Life didn’t fucking work like that. It never did, and I had to face the fact that each and every time like this with Cadence in my arms, on my cock, wrapped around me, on me, under me as I laid her on her back… that it could be the very last time, leaving me with just the memory of her to sustain me in lockup.
I turned her on her back, and thrust deep, raising her leg, pressing a hand behind her knee, and driving into her in long, smooth, even strokes.
She panted, grabbing at me, pulling my mouth to hers, desperate to kiss me, and I lost my shit.