Bullet: An Alpha Male MC Biker Romance (Steel Knights Motorcycle Club Romance Book 2)

by Ivy Black

  It was an odd sentiment coming from someone who had just given me sound long-term relationship advice, but her lack of good experiences had colored her view when it came to herself. “Avery’s not like that,” I said. “I’ve never met someone who presents a more genuine version of themselves, and honestly, I think he’s just a little too thick to do anything other than that. Don’t get me wrong, Avery is incredibly intelligent, like it’ll shock you, but he’s also kind of a dope. That’s why the only thing he can do is present his most honest self. It just comes naturally. I think it’s a virtue more than a flaw.”

  “You know, I kind of got that sense with him,” Seneca said. “Maybe that’s why I’m staying away from him. If he’s so good at just purely being himself, the last thing he needs is for jaded ol’ me to come in muddying things up.”

  “Well, I’m in no position to give advice, so I won’t, but if you ever need someone to put in a good word for you with him, I’ve got you covered.”

  She smiled at me. “Thanks.”

  We sat for a few more hours, enjoying a couple more cups of coffee, and then we decided to go our separate ways for the day.

  “This was fun,” Seneca said. “Can we do it again sometime?”

  “Yeah,” I responded, “I’d like that a lot.”

  With that, she kicked on her bike and pulled off onto the road, leaving a wake of good old-fashioned Arizona dust behind her, bound for the bar for a long day of prospecting, and I decided to play hooky and go home to rest for my date. It wasn’t just going to be a fun-filled day of rollercoasters and junk food, but I was actually going to try my hand at Seneca’s relationship advice and see exactly how Celia felt about us.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Celia

  Due to the fact that Hoppa, Arizona was a smaller town, there were no theme parks located within the city limits. Bars and restaurants were about all one had for entertainment there, although there was also a mall and a movie theater, but anyone looking for any actual thrills had to travel to the nearest big city. Hoppa was about three hours from Phoenix, Arizona’s capital, but about halfway between Hoppa and Phoenix, was the smaller, but still bustling city of Anukasan, which meant eagle in Lakota. It had just debuted a new theme park and Harry planned a date to go and check it out.

  That meant two things for which I was very excited.

  The first, was that I was going to get to saddle up against Harry for a little over an hour as we made our way to Anukasan. I was well aware of the fact that it was Harry and his bike that got my father killed, but whenever I was on his bike, he handled it like a champ and there was little I loved more than the wind in my hair while I had my arms wrapped around Harry’s waist. Most rides in Hoppa felt too short to me since everything was so close, so the long ride would be refreshing and welcome.

  The second was the fact that we were going to a theme park specifically. I was a thrill-seeker by nature, but Hoppa didn’t have many thrills. Harry had been a huge thrill for me the past couple of months, but I was excited for a chance to turn my guts inside out. It’d been since before my dad died that I had been to a theme park and I was really looking forward to it.

  When we were finally pulling into the parking lot of Thrills and Spills, the electric energy was buzzing all over me. We were greeted with a sprawling image of their headlining attraction, a massive rollercoaster called The Underworld that spanned from one side of the theme park to the other and featured a terrifying, upside-down trip through a submerged segment of the ride. My stomach bottomed out looking at the cars at the top of the coaster taking almost a straight vertical dip from the summit of the ride above the theme park sign, and down until they were disappearing beneath the earth.

  Harry pulled into a parking spot and turned off his bike, looking back over his shoulder at me as he did it. “I can’t wait to ride that fucking thing.”

  “You and me both,” I screeched. “Let’s go!”

  After getting tickets at the front gate, we passed into the bustling amusement park. There was jubilant music barely audible over the distant screams and hums of people chattering all around. Harry took my hand and locked our fingers together, kissing the back of my hand as he did it, and my heart leaped. I closed my eyes for a quick moment to resolve myself.

  I could not get caught up in Harry the way I tended to.

  I’d even packed a picture of my dad in my purse to keep me on the right track. Harry had a way of striking right to my center, and if I wasn’t careful, I’d find myself getting swept up in enjoying the day and forget my goal: to find a way to destroy Harry.

  “Okay, do we just head straight to The Underworld to start out?” Harry asked. “It’s probably got a long wait time, and if we start out there, we can double back for a second ride before we leave.”

  “Absolutely,” I said with a laugh, and we were off.

  I’d look for a way to destroy Harry for sure, but I was going to enjoy some amazing rides while I searched.

  As expected, the wait time for The Underworld was close to an hour. I knew it’d be worth it because just as we were approaching, a group of people were deboarding the ride, and at least half of them turned around and got right back in line. It made my skin sizzle with anticipation. Harry pulled me into the line, and once we had moved far enough that we weren’t constantly walking and more standing, he brought me around to stand in front of him. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and dropped his head to my face to give me a kiss on the cheek. On instinct, I turned my head so that the kiss would strike me on the lips instead. I burned at the gentle feeling of his tongue brushing just against my bottom lip before we parted.

  He smiled as he pulled away. “You tricked me.”

  “You act as if you don’t like it,” I replied.

  He shook his head. “I’m not acting like that at all. I liked it. Let’s do it again.”

  He leaned in and kissed me again, and then I leaned my head back against his shoulder as we slowly crawled our way through the line. We discussed a few different things during our wait, including everything going on at the club with the expansion.

  In an attempt to keep myself from getting too attached to Harry, I was choosing not to tell him too much about myself, but I found that I loved watching him talk just as much, so it wasn’t really helping. If I was going to find some way to destroy Harry, I was going to need to do it soon. Being with him felt too good, and within the hour that we had to wait to ride The Underworld, I’d completely lost sight of my mission and was just happily enjoying my date.

  The Underworld was as terrifying and exhilarating as we’d expected, and the fun continued. From tilt-a-whirls, to rollercoasters, to flying swings rides, Harry and I did loops around the park, riding everything we could get to. We stopped for food here and there, but we were like children in that we barely wanted to stop long enough for anything other than the rides.

  About two hours into our trip, Harry managed to convince me to get on the slow-moving boat ride through one of the mountains that the theme park was built at the base of. It didn’t seem like his speed, but once we were on the ride, he slid close to me and kissed me on the lips before quickly moving down to my neck.

  “Do you think they have cameras watching this ride?” he asked in a dark, seductive tone, and heat seared through my body instantly.

  He didn’t wait for a response, but instead ran a hand up my leg, under the base of my shorts. Gathering the gist of where he was going, I threw my leg over his and moved my hand over to start undoing the button of his jeans. The ride was just long enough for giving one another hand jobs.

  Or so we thought.

  Harry had already pulled an orgasm out of me, but my divided attention left me behind the ball bringing him to one. We could see the light of the end of the ride approaching, and it was looking like I wasn’t gonna get him to the end before the ride ended it for us.

  “Just stop before we get caught,” he huffed as I pulled.

  “Nope, you started it,” I
replied, then after looking around to make sure no staff were watching us immediately, I bent over and closed my mouth over him.

  In the back of my mind, getting him finished before we re-emerged into the light of the day was key, so I moved at a fast pace. His hands found the back of my head, and after already getting him close with my hands, it didn’t take long. I enjoyed the taste of him for as long as I could before he let out a quiet groan and exploded in my mouth. I made sure I’d properly cleaned my mess before coming up, then tucked him away and buttoned his pants. Our boat coasted back into the light and my heart was beating faster than it ever had. We just made it.

  “Holy shit,” I said, setting my hand to my mouth and laughing. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

  He fell out laughing next to me. “I did not plan for you to go down on me.” He started to smack his own face. “Fuck. I need to stop thinking about it or I’m gonna be walking around hard the rest of the night.”

  Neither Harry nor I could stop laughing as the ride docked back at the start and we were released from the boat. We took the fact that we weren’t approached by any security guards as confirmation that we hadn’t been caught being naughty, and linked hands to make our way to the next ride. Harry dragged me to him and wrapped his hand around my waist and gave me a kiss on the forehead. It was almost unfair how happy I was.

  I’d never had so much fun in my entire life.

  “Celia?”

  I looked over my shoulder and there was a group of people walking in the opposite direction. They turned to face me, and I noticed it was a bunch of my friends from college, including Laura. She hadn’t mentioned going to the theme park, but then again, neither had I.

  “Wait,” one of my friends, Bryce, said. “Are you… Is this… Is this guy your boyfriend?”

  “Celia with a boyfriend?” another, Anna, added. “No way.”

  “Yeah, come on, Celia doesn’t date. Not seriously anyway,” my friend Sharee told them.

  Laura gave them all different glares before looking back at Harry. “Don’t listen to them.” She stuck out her hand. “Hi. I’m Laura, Celia’s roommate. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  Harry shook her hand. “Nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you as well.” He looked at me. “Hey, spend a few minutes catching up with your friends. I’m gonna run to the bathroom.”

  “Okay,” I said, and Harry turned around and walked toward the nearest bathroom.

  “All right, spill,” Sharee said. “When you dumping this one?”

  “Yeah. I’m shocked you’re even out in public with him,” another of my friends, Cydney, said. “Is it like a sugar daddy situation?”

  “No, idiot, sugar daddies are way older or ugly or something,” Bryce snipped and then laughed. “If he’s young and good looking, it’s not sugar daddy, it’s just… daddy.”

  Everyone fell out laughing and my face burned with embarrassment. Harry meeting my friends was not part of the deal. I wanted him to know as little about my actual life as possible.

  Because this was all just a ploy. Nothing real.

  “He’s not really much of anything. I don’t have to dump him because it’s just casual to begin with,” I explained.

  Laura crossed her arms. “Are you still on this?”

  “I’m not on anything. Harry is great, but it’s not like… a thing. We’re really closer to being friends with benefits than we are to being anything else.”

  My heart sank as a body stepped up and stood next to me. I looked over and Harry had returned from the bathroom, much quicker than I was expecting.

  He definitely heard me.

  “Well,” Laura said, “we’ll go and let you guys get back to your… time. Call me later, C.”

  “Okay, bye,” I replied. Bryce, Sharee, Cydney, and my other friends said their goodbyes and then they all walked away. I could feel the anger permeating off of Harry, but instead of addressing it, I pointed off toward a ride we hadn’t been on yet. “Should we head down this way next?”

  “Celia,” Harry started, and I knew I was in trouble. “Let’s find a spot to sit.”

  I got a horrible, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Okay.”

  We walked to a bench nearby that wasn’t occupied and didn’t have many people standing right nearby and sat down. Harry was quiet for a long time, and I didn’t press the issue because I was already worried. Why did I feel dread like my boyfriend was about to break up with me and shatter my heart? I wasn’t in love with Harry. My relationship with him wasn’t real. He was a means to an end. That was what I kept telling myself, but I couldn’t shake the feeling away.

  “Why did you say that to them?” Harry asked. “That we’re closer to being friends with benefits. Is that really what you think?”

  “N-no…”

  “Then why did you say that? Are you embarrassed to have me meeting your friends? You know my friends. You’ve had whole conversations with Avery.”

  “No, I’m not embarrassed of you,” I replied.

  “Then what? I don’t understand why you would say that, aside from it being true,” he said. I was struggling to find an answer, and he took advantage of my silence to keep going. “Look… I was going to wait to ask you this until after the date, but I’ve been getting this feeling from you. That feeling, that what you said to them is exactly how you feel about us. I’m not trying to pressure you or anything, I just need to know that we’re, you know, going somewhere. That I’m not just a friend with benefits.”

  My throat knotted up. What I wanted to say to Harry, more than anything in that moment, was that he was so much more to me than a friend with benefits, but he shouldn’t be that, so I didn’t. My mind reeled for something better to say, but nothing came to mind. I opened my mouth to just try and force something out, anything out, but nothing came.

  Harry’s head dropped in defeat and I knew that I’d messed up. “Harry…”

  He held up a hand. “Don’t. At least you didn’t ghost me this time.”

  Ouch.

  “I don’t—”

  “Can you get a ride home with Laura and your other friends?” Harry asked.

  Despite the fact that I was trying my hardest to keep them back, tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. “Yeah, I can.”

  “Okay. See ya.”

  Harry stood up and I watched in pain and frustration as he walked away from me. When he was gone and I was convinced he wasn’t coming back, I pulled out my phone and called Laura.

  “Hi,” she said, and the tone of her voice suggested she already knew things had gone south. “I’m guessing that conversation didn’t go so well.”

  “Nope,” I responded. “Do you have room in your car?”

  “Yeah, of course. Where are you?”

  “I’m back by where we were all standing,” I said. “On a bench.”

  “Okay, sit tight, I’m on my way.”

  I watched all the other couples walking around as I sat, and it made me sick to my stomach. What was I doing? This was why I wanted to end things with Harry to begin with. The more time I spent with him, the more I liked him, but I wasn’t supposed to be liking him. Opening the flap of my purse, I reached in and fished out the picture of my dad. His smiling face sent a wave of emotions washing over me.

  Was this really what he wanted? Would he be happy knowing what I was up to? If I told him I was falling for the guy who killed him, what would he say?

  “Hey.” I quickly shoved the picture back into my bag as Laura approached and sat down on the bench next to me. My head dropped to her shoulder and hers fell onto my head. “We had enough cars that the people who rode with me could go with others, so we can leave whenever you’re ready.”

  “Okay, thank you,” I replied.

  “What happened? Why did you say that stuff? You know it’s not true. I’ve never seen you glow the way you have been these past few months since you met Harry. You’re obviously falling for him. Why are you resisting it s
o much?”

  I couldn’t tell her the truth, but even the truth didn’t feel totally like the truth anymore. “I don’t know.”

  “What did I say about not running from it if it feels good? Does it feel good?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  No words came out of my mouth. There were so many problems, I couldn’t quite put my finger on the one that was causing me the biggest issue. I’d have to figure out a way to patch things up with Harry and then once I did, I’d have to bring this thing to a head before the situation got any worse. I was so close to falling in love with him, that every additional day I spent with him risked me throwing everything away to just be with him for real.

  And my dad and godfather deserved better than that.

  “Can I bring him to your place?” I asked.

  “I already told you that you can. I’ll leave and you can use your key to get in. I’ll go out with Cyd that night so you can have the place to yourself.”

  “No,” I replied. “Well, yes, if things go well and you could make yourself busy, that’d be good, but I want you to be there at first. Have dinner with us. I want him to know I’m not embarrassed for him to know the people I care about.”

  Laura smiled. “Deal.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Bullet

  Hoppa’s Taphouse had a happy, electric energy flowing through it as I rode my bike into the parking lot around eight o’clock. There were people spilling out of the bar and into the parking lot, and tons of couples were dancing, flirting, and enjoying themselves.

  I hated it.

  Frustration must have been emanating from me because everyone I got within fifteen feet of, stopped having fun and just stared at me quietly. In my mind, I was keeping my cool pretty well, but the second I pushed through the door to enter the bar, everyone nearby, including several of the members all stopped what they were doing to turn and look at me.