by Winters, KB
“Bullshit, Chance. He’s been hanging around all this time, all this fucking time, and then he just left because you stuck a blade to his throat? No fucking way.”
He was probably right. “He’s gone now, so what do you want me to do? Hunt him down and put a bullet in his head?”
“Yep. Make sure he’s gone. For good this time, Chance.”
“I will.” I had to. This was on me, and I couldn’t let Leon keep on harassing me and making the MC look bad. “I promise.”
“I know,” Curt said and dug into his mile-high pile of thin sliced beef. “Eat up, I got lunch plans.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Didn’t you just come from dinner plans?”
“Nope. Breakfast plans.” The shit-eating grin he flashed told me everything I needed to know about his morning plans.
It kind of pissed me off all over again, thinking about how easily he and the others were able to get a little ass around here. My only hope at this point was to start wearing floral dresses and showing up at one of the two dozen churches in town on Sunday morning.
I snorted a laugh to myself. Like that would accomplish anything other than a wasted morning of discomfort. Not that my thoughts were all that comfortable right now anyway, bouncing from fairness to Slayer and back again. It was all one and the same in my mind, and I needed just stop thinking about it. There was nothing to do about it but put those memories in my flick bank and move on.
Curt wiped him mouth with a napkin and gave me a long look. “What’s eatin’ you Chance? You’ve been distracted lately.”
I played with a forkful of barbecue. I didn’t want to have this conversation. “I have not.” I didn’t get distracted, not how he meant. It was too dangerous, and I liked my danger controlled. “What have I missed, Curt? Have I screwed up anything? Forgotten anything?”
“Nothing. Shit, it’s just a feeling I’m getting. You can talk to me, Chance.”
If only he knew what was on my mind. But I couldn’t let him in, couldn’t tell him about Slayer. “I know. And if there was something to talk about, you are literally the only person I would come to.”
He frowned. “Brick will be devastated to hear that.”
“Doubtful.”
Our plates were as empty as they would get and we stood, tossing a few bills on the table before we made our way out into the warm Texas sunshine. “What are you up to today, girl?”
“Don’t know. Gonna go for a ride to clear my mind, see what’s behind the fog.”
“Enjoy. Stay safe.” Curt hopped on his bike and took off one way, and I went the other, letting the open road soothe the rattled parts of me. The parts that were hesitant to deal with Leon because of our history, and the way he came back from his time in the Army a different man. The other parts of me that were totally fucking shook about the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about a certain long-haired biker.
What the fuck made Slayer so special? He was a man like any other. Expendable. Replaceable. Not remarkable, at least not beyond his size and his zest for pleasing a woman. After Leon, I promised myself I wouldn’t get lost in a man—would never ever get so wrapped up in a man or a relationship that I forgot who the fuck I was.
And look at me.
A half dozen or more incredible, really fucking incredible, orgasms later, and I’m looking for ways to keep fucking him. Like a fiend.
Am I any better than Leon?
Maybe not, but there was a big difference between us. I was trying to fight it. Hard. Leon seemed to want to lean into the bad shit.
“Speak of the fucking devil.” An hour of pavement was behind me and I’d started to relax, enjoying the miles upon miles of farms and ranches, cows, horses and even a few goats as the land flew by.
But my mistake—again—was relaxing. A blue and orange bike had been behind me for the past few miles, but I didn’t think anything of it since we hadn’t passed any exits. Yet.
But now, two exits later, and I’d recognize that wobbly lane change anywhere. Leon. He used to be one of the best riders I’d ever seen, flashy and capable, making even his big cumbersome Harley seem lightweight. If I hadn’t been so busy climbing the MC ladder, maybe I would have seen that getting rid of the big Harley in favor of a sportier style was the beginning of the end.
Now he was less than ten feet behind me, and there was no goddamn way I could relax with Leon so close. I pulled over at the empty rest stop that still showed signs of ongoing construction. I parked my bike and removed my helmet before Leon could do the same.
I glared at him with my nastiest side eye. “Leon, what the fuck?”
He flashed a lopsided smile but it didn’t reach his bloodshot eyes that were the size of pinpricks. Deep purple skin formed craters under his eyes. His clothes were dirty and slept in, but he kept that smile in place. “Hey babe,” he said in a voice meant to be sexy but grated on me like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“Don’t fucking hey babe me, Leon. Why are you following me?”
“Was I? I thought we were going for a ride.”
“What the fuck are you smoking?” I held up a hand. “Actually, I don’t want to know.”
He pulled his leg across his bike and strolled toward me, ignoring the way I stepped back and gripped my helmet just a little tighter.
“Come on baby, don’t be like that. I’ve missed you.” His lips puckered and I took another step back when I caught a whiff of his day-old breath.
“God, I’ve missed your body,” he said. “Those tits.”
He reached out and moved so fast that before I knew it, he actually squeezed my left breast. My helmet flew up as if it had a mind of its own. It smashed the side of his head and sent him to his knees.
I pointed one finger at him. “Don’t. Fucking. Touch. Me.” I glared with all the hate I could muster just to make sure he got the point. Clearly.
“I’ve tried real hard, Leon, to respect what we once were to each other. And every fucking day you make me regret it. Guess what? I’m done.”
He was just some guy making trouble for the MC. No more. No less.
“You don’t mean that.”
I absolutely did, and I nodded to let him know I meant business. I reached behind me until I felt the cool handle of my favorite piece and wrapped my hands around it.
“I do mean it, Leon. You made your choices, and I’ve made mine.”
It would be so easy to just end it right here and toss him in a dumpster. It’d take some time on my own, but there were no people or cameras around.
“You chose the MC.” He said each word like it was a curse, spitting them at me.
“I did. You didn’t.”
Just as I pulled the gun free, an eighteen-wheeler pulled in. Ruining the moment.
“Now it’s time we both start living with the consequences of our choices, Leon. Leave Oakley, in fact, leave Texas altogether.”
He shook his head and stood up, legs still wobbly. “I won’t ever leave, Chance, not without you. You’re mine. Forever.”
I glared at him and backed up until I was at my bike.
“That’s where you’re wrong Leon. One way or the other you will leave Oakley.” We stared at each other for a long minute, a million different conversations going on in that extended moment that said so much, pleading and begging on both our parts. Memories. Love. Fights. Hate. The drugs.
“I guess we’ll see about that.”
We wouldn’t see about a damn thing. I got on my bike and headed home where there was wine, pizza and Netflix waiting for me. Next time I saw Leon, things wouldn’t go so well for him.
Chapter Fifteen
Slayer
“Peaches find anything yet?” I stood in the middle of the kitchen, heavy-lidded eyes on Gunnar’s face with my arms crossed.
He shook his head, but it was the woman herself who spoke. “Peaches is right here, and of course I found something. Who do you think I am?”
I shrugged and dragged my feet over to the coffee pot, despe
rately in need of Martha’s special blend of strong, black and bitter.
“I think you’re a computer genius, Peaches, but you haven’t said anything so I figured…never mind.”
“Figured what? Say it.” She motioned for me to speak my mind and instead I took a long sip of the piping hot liquid, letting it slide down my throat. I gave it a few seconds, hoping the jolt of energy I craved would come faster only because I needed it to. “Go on,” she insisted.
“I figured you’d want me to talk to Big Poppa.” I practically spit out my coffee, but the deranged look on her face was well worth it.
“You have a death wish?” She flashed an evil smile that said payback was a bitch. “Big Poppa my ass. Rocco McNally. Born and raised in the state of Washington. Recently divorced after a decade of marriage. Works as an accountant at a marketing firm. No criminal record.”
“None?” My gaze went to Gunnar, confusion swimming in my eyes because I swore he told me his mom got around. A lot.
“Some seemingly stand up guys pay for it too, Slayer,” he spat the words at me, angry. “She said she had no clue. Begged me not to judge her, so I didn’t. Why should we even believe this motherfucker?”
“I don’t believe him at all, but he knows he’s risking life and limb to get this close, which means he believes it. Maybe we ought to find out why.”
It was harder to convince people that they believed something wrong than anything else, which meant we had our work cut out for us.
“Anything else, Peaches?”
She shook her head, copper curls flying, her movements jostled Stone awake. “None. No debt. No trouble. Just a boring old dude who wants me to kick his ass for trying to take my girl away.”
Though she hadn’t given birth to Maisie, Peaches protected her just as if she had.
That’s the part that worried me. I said, “I can go take care of this right now. Say the word Gunnar.”
“I appreciate it, Slayer, but we have to face it. Eventually.”
“I hear you. I fucking hate it, but I hear you.” That didn’t mean I would take this lying down though. “Anyway we can dirty him up just in case we need to?”
Peaches leaned forward and patted my cheek. “I love the way you think sometimes. It’s too bad you’re such a slut, or I’d spend my free time finding you a woman.”
She had no way of knowing just how much her words had conjured up the image of a certain dark-haired beauty with a potty mouth and a sinful body. “I don’t need a woman.”
Especially one with ties to another MC. That shit was a big no-no and there was nothing in the world good enough for the kind of shit that could bring.
Peaches snorted a laugh and took a sip of juice with an exaggerated sigh. “Your mouth says one thing, but your eyes say another. It’s okay, I’m patient.”
“Crazy, that’s what you are. Instead of matchmaking, let’s find out everything there is to know about Rocco. Even reaching out to the former Mrs. McNally if we need to.”
“Let’s see if we need to first,” Gunnar added, amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Isn’t it your day off?”
I nodded. “And?”
“And usually you’re balls deep in some woman this time of day,” Peaches added with a smirk. “Are you on antibiotics, or do you want to watch the little guy so I can have some grownup time with my man?”
Ugh, that was the last fucking thing I wanted to think about, no matter how hot Peaches was. “I might have said yes, but now I have to book an appointment to scrub my brain of the last fifteen seconds.”
“Very funny.” She stood and put Stone in my arms, the cute little fucker looked up with a wet grin, two little teeth sticking out.
“Maybe a little baby time is just what you need to remind you what could happen with all those ladies hanging off of you.”
I shook my head and laughed. “I’m always safe. Always.” Except there was a time in the very recent past where I wasn’t as careful as I usually was. Several times, in fact.
“All it takes is one time. One little sperm and bam, a little Slayer on the way by Random Barbie No. 283432.” She flashed a grin and stroked my beard in a gesture so motherly it could have been Martha doing it.
“Thanks for taking the little guy, Slayer.”
How did this happen exactly? “Where’s Maisie?” I asked to change the subject.
“Sleepover with the Sheriff’s granddaughter,” she said and headed out of the kitchen with a smile, Gunnar at her feet. Then they were both gone, and it was just me and Stone and my wayward thoughts.
No, not wayward thoughts. More like reckless thoughts, because that’s what they were. Any and all thoughts of Chance were reckless because they only made me want what I couldn’t have. What I knew I couldn’t have. And that just pissed me off. A full week since I left her bed, and sometimes I swear I could still smell her scent on me, hear the way she moaned when I licked her. The way her eyes lit up when she sucked me off. It was bad.
Really fucking bad.
No woman was worth this amount of head space, especially one who already belonged to another MC. Okay she didn’t belong to them, she wasn’t anybody’s old lady, but that just made it worse. She was all the way in, committed. Loyal. There was nothing to be done about it so I needed to just fucking stop.
It was a fucked up situation, and the worst part of all was that I just couldn’t stop thinking about her. Chance. Ella Mae.
Whatever her name was, I pushed it and her face and her body, far from my mind.
Stone made some incoherent baby noises to draw my attention, and I smiled down at him.
“What I need is the perfect distraction.” And as soon as grownup time was over, I’d head to one of the bars in the area and find a woman to warm my bed for the rest of the night.
Chapter Sixteen
Ella Mae
“I don’t know, Toni, maybe we should just go somewhere else?”
I sat in my friend Antonia’s car outside The Barn Door, my heart thudding in my chest, and my stomach doing somersaults behind my barely there masquerade-themed outfit.
Toni nodded and handed me her favorite leather and rhinestone-studded flask.
“I’m totally sure. This worked out perfectly. You can get over the mystery man you refuse to talk about with someone new, and I can find some sexy cougar to lick me until Dex shows up!”
Antonia used to be one of the Ladies of Buckthorn with hopes of being made someone’s old lady but it never happened. She fell in love with a civilian and our friendship was all that remained of her time with the Lords of Buckthorn.
I laughed at her excitement. “You guys do like to keep things interesting, don’t you?”
“You have no idea, Ella! Two kids with all kinds of activities and obligations. Yeah, we try to enjoy ourselves when we can.” She tossed her blonde hair back and laughed. “I can’t wait to see who Dex shows up as tonight!”
I rolled my eyes. “Is there such a thing as too much role playing?”
“Not when you’re at risk of losing yourself in the roles of wife and mother. Tonight I get to be young-ish, sexy and wild. A woman. Just a horny fucking woman.”
It was more the look in her eyes than her tone that sold me. I nodded my agreement.
“All right. We’re already here and you’re right, this might be the best place for me.”
A sex club was never something I would have considered. Not because I was a prude or anything, but because I didn’t need a lot of kink to get off. I appreciated a bit of spanking, choking, and hair pulling. Hell, I’d even let Leon tie me up a time or two, but it wasn’t necessary, so I kept my distance. But tonight I would keep an open mind.
“You mean Mr. Unforgettable didn’t rock your world and ruin you for future men?”
She arched a blonde brow at me and puckered her hot pink lips before turning to the mirror to put on her mask. The theme tonight was Kinky Masquerade, and we both dressed the part.
“He totally rocked my world but he’s no
t an option.”
I’d dedicated more of my free time to finding a loophole than I would ever admit to anyone, but I had. One final idea was playing around in my mind, but it sounded insane to me so saying it out loud wasn’t an option. Yet.
“Then I’m really fuckin’ sorry it didn’t work out, Ella. But if anyone can find a way, it’s you.”
I appreciated her saying, so but it was time to give up that idea, even if I was playing with fire by messing around in Slayer’s backyard.
“Do you think the peacock and black feathers are too much?”
I arched a brow at Toni and laughed. “You’re asking the woman in all white with red fucking feathers? I’m not sure which of us is crazier.”
She laughed again and we got out of the car, shook our feathers, and hooked our sparkly purses over our shoulders. Toni wrapped her arm in mine as we made our way to the door. “Who gives a shit, babe? We’re looking hot as shit, we’re gonna get tipsy as fuck and bang out some orgasms tonight. Right?” She held up her fist with a stubborn look on her face.
“Fuckin’ A right,” I told her and bumped her fist.
“That’s my girl.”
After an easy but surprisingly high-tech entrance, we were inside the club. The lights were dim and the music was loud. Really fucking loud and pumping an electronic beat mixed with some kind of classical music. It should’ve been fucking offensive, but it kind of worked, thanks to the steady throbbing beat that made me want to move my hips.
This place didn’t look like it was run by bikers and definitely not a bunch of military vets. The whole décor was true to theme, dark and sexy, but right out of those BBC period dramas, if they aired on a porn channel.
“This place is…wow.” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice.
“I know, right?” Toni had to shout over the music as we pushed up to the bar. “What are you drinking?”
I looked at the specials and howled. “I’ll have the Wet Knickers.”
She laughed. “If you’re lucky, you’ll lose ’em altogether.”
I shook my head at her joke, but I kept my head moving because my pulse had kicked up and my skin heated up. Not a lot, but just enough to notice. “If I lose them in this outfit they’ll toss me in jail.”