Blood & Bones: Judge (Blood Fury MC Book 3)

by Jeanne St. James

  “There’s a joke in there somewhere... A redhead, a blonde and a black and blue haired woman walk into a bar...” Trip laughed.

  “Those women ain’t a joke, though.”

  Trip sighed. “No, they ain’t.” He turned and studied Judge for a moment. “Once you claim Cass, we’ll discuss that other shit, but not ‘til then. Don’t wanna make plans that might not pan out.”

  “Yeah.”

  “She’s only been in town a few weeks. Give her a chance to settle in. Her sister’s here and if you keep giving her good dick, you might convince her to stay.”

  “Ain’t good. It’s fuckin’ great. Tongue, too.”

  Trip laughed again. “Take your word for it. Now, gonna go have a shot with our newest brother and get shit-faced. You comin’?”

  “Fuck yeah.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Cassie stepped through the front door of what Judge had called “The Barn.” It truly was a two-story barn that looked like it had been restored into a ski lodge or a rustic country bar.

  Besides the inside looking cool, it was unexpected.

  The circular stone see-through fireplace sitting in the center of the room caught her eye first. The interior walls were rough wood boards just like the outside. The floors made of wide, worn planks. Various motorcycle items and signs decorated the walls. And the Eagles’ song Take It Easy filled her ears.

  Like at Crazy Pete’s, the crack of pool balls could be heard above the music. But out of the two tables only one had a couple of men, both wearing cuts, playing a game of pool. She didn’t recognize either of them.

  She pursed her lips as she noticed Dutch, a local garage owner and member of Blood Fury who she met at Crazy Pete’s, passed out on the other table with an empty whiskey bottle knocked over next to him. Only, he wasn’t alone.

  Sprawled on top of the older man, like a blanket, was a naked woman. Calling her a woman was debatable since she barely looked legal, but it was hard to tell and Cassie wasn’t getting closer to inspect her or ask her age, even if she had been awake. But she couldn’t imagine Trip, the club’s president, would allow underage girls—or boys, for that matter—to hang out at a party like this.

  She hoped she wasn’t wrong.

  She wasn’t sure where Judge was, but he had texted her just before closing Pete’s and told her to come. He gave her the address on County Line Road to plug into Google Maps on her phone, since she’d only been out there that one night when they first hooked up and wasn’t quite sure where the farm was located.

  Crazy Pete’s had been busy, so she was exhausted and questioned whether coming here was a good idea. But being tired paid off. With Sunday Night Football on the big screens, and tables full of patrons who were being especially generous with Christmas coming up, she had earned a huge wad of cash in tips. And while she was happy about that, she needed to sit down and put up her aching feet.

  After getting Judge’s invite, she had texted the babysitter and asked if she would stay the night. Melanie said she would, but, of course, those extra hours would dip deep into Cassie’s hard-earned tips.

  Like Judge, Trip and Stella were nowhere to be seen, but then, it was after two-thirty in the morning. They were probably in bed, as were most people at this hour.

  Exactly where Cassie should be. Back at the house, checking on Daisy and taking a hot shower to relieve her tight and sore muscles before crawling in between the sheets.

  But, instead, here she stood, just inside a motorcycle club’s clubhouse, the sudden awareness of how her life had changed so drastically smacking her upside the head.

  Loss of a husband. Loss of financial stability. Loss of their family home. Loss of her stable job. Loss of her hometown.

  Loss of her parents’ emotional support.

  The only thing that remained constant in her life was her daughter, her sister and her brother-in-law.

  Everything else around her was new. Judge, a job at a bar, and spending time with bikers. Bikers! Both at Crazy Pete’s, in her bed, and now at a barn outside of town.

  Utterly crazy.

  It also proved just how quickly things could change. Not by choice, her life’s motto had become “expect the unexpected,” so nothing should surprise her anymore.

  Even so, she needed to buckle-down, figure out her path and give Daisy some stability. Her daughter came first. Always would. Which meant, a bit of guilt was eating at her for wanting to see Judge instead of going straight home to her little girl.

  In a short amount of time, the bearded, tattooed biker had somehow crawled beneath her skin and, even more surprising, she was finding that something about him soothed her soul. Which was desperately needed after all the turmoil and upset she’d been through in New York.

  High-pitched female giggling coming from her right drew her attention. She hadn’t realized there had been a female lying naked on the bar at first because of the male bodies blocking her view. But, yes, there certainly was a woman on the bar and those men—two wearing Fury cuts, the other two not—were doing shots off her naked body. Or at least, that was what it looked like from where she stood. She wasn’t sure she should move closer to make certain she was seeing it right. As long as the woman was consenting to it—and by her laughter, it sure sounded like it—then it wasn’t her business. Was it?

  And none of the men were Judge.

  Thankfully.

  Though, if it had been, did she have any right to be jealous? They’d only known each other for three weeks, if that. She had no claim to the man. And she wasn’t even sure if she wanted him in that way.

  But still...

  She was relieved it wasn’t Judge licking salt off the woman’s breasts, sucking tequila out of her belly button before plucking a lemon wedge from her pussy with his teeth.

  Cassie grimaced. Well, that seemed extremely hygienic...

  She hoped that method of serving tequila shots didn’t become a weekly “special” at Crazy Pete’s.

  She sighed. She needed to find Judge. He had to be there somewhere. She hoped if he had left, he would’ve texted her first. He wouldn’t have made her drive out to this farm in the middle of the night for nothing, right?

  She stepped away from the door and headed to the left of the fireplace to avoid the bar since it was clear Judge wasn’t in that mix. And as she rounded the fireplace and passed a knocked-out Dutch and company to her left, she saw movement in the back corner of the barn.

  Her step stuttered, her heart thumped, and her feet froze in place.

  She rubbed at her eyes. Was she so tired that she was seeing things? Did these types of things really happen in this place?

  Apparently so, if what she was seeing wasn’t her imagination.

  Ozzy, who she had also met at Crazy Pete’s, sat on one of those bus benches that lined the walls with his jeans down around his boots. He gripped a handful of long dirty blonde hair in his fist as the head, attached to that hair, rose and fell in his lap.

  That alone should be enough to make Cassie think twice about being there. But wait, there was more!

  Dodge—yes, Dodge, who she had to work with and look directly in the eyes when she did—stood behind the same woman, who was on her knees and bent over, as he was fucking her. Her denim skirt was pushed up and her top pushed down until they were gathered at her waist. Dodge was also smacking the woman’s ass as he thrust into her.

  As if in slow motion, Ozzy’s gaze rose and caught Cassie’s. He shot her a warm, welcoming smile, released the nipple he was pinching and lifted that hand in a greeting toward her.

  Before she could catch herself, she automatically lifted hers to return the wave. She quickly dropped her hand, broke eye contact and scrubbed her sweaty palm along her thigh.

  What was she doing? Why was she even here? This wasn’t normal at all! Why would she want anything to do with people or a place like this? Where they shared women in public. Where the sex wasn’t special at all and women were treated like...

  Objects.


  Toys.

  Sex toys.

  These weren’t her people. She didn’t know who they were.

  It surprised her because she had no idea Trip and Stella were a part of something like this. She thought the MC was a club, a group of men who rode motorcycles and were friends, not a sex free-for-all.

  Would she even want her daughter to be around this? To see this?

  She needed to leave.

  As she turned, she noticed a door propped open at the back of the building and, from what she could see, it led to a long, dimly lit corridor. Where it went, she had no idea and wasn’t about to find out.

  But her eyes narrowed on dark figures down that hallway. She could make out two people—a male and a female, the man not nearly tall enough to be Judge—pressed against the wall. And like the rest of the women she’d seen so far, she wasn’t being held there against her will.

  Cassie grimaced as she stood watching the woman down that corridor get nailed to the wall. Nope, she wasn’t struggling to get free at all.

  Maybe these women didn’t have it wrong. Maybe it was Cassie who needed to pull the stick out of her own ass.

  These women were free to come and go. They chose to be there. They chose to do the things they were doing. No one seemed to be forcing them.

  In truth, she had no right to judge.

  Absolutely none.

  Consenting adults and all that.

  And, anyway, was she any better? She had been sleeping with Judge only two doors down from her own daughter. Not just once, but a few times.

  Even with questions about her own morality, heat flickered in her belly at the thought of Judge taking her against the wall the same way that man, whoever he was, was taking that woman.

  It looked hot and spontaneous.

  Spontaneity had never been her thing. But with this new life she was building, maybe it needed to be.

  Apparently, predictability and having normal life expectations—getting married, having a child and working hard—had been a mistake. Or at least, living a boring, typical life had made her oblivious to changes going on beneath the surface of her marriage. Or lack of marriage.

  Judge was certainly not typical or boring. And nothing surrounding her right now in this barn was normal, that was for sure.

  Where the hell was Judge, anyway?

  She dug into the pocket of her winter coat, grabbing her cell phone so she could text him. If he didn’t answer, she was leaving.

  As her fingers moved across her keyboard, she saw more movement out of the corner of her eye. Lifting her head, her heart seized as Judge came out of that hallway with his head tipped down and was talking to a woman with short, dark hair, who hung onto him with an arm wrapped around his waist.

  As he walked, the woman with heavy, dark makeup had her face, wearing an inviting expression, lifted to him. He was so focused on her, he didn’t notice Cassie standing there, her phone dangling precariously from her fingers.

  “Yo!” came a male shout from the bar. When Cassie’s head spun in that direction, she saw Cage giving Judge a look but pointing at her.

  Judge’s head slowly swiveled from Cage to Cassie, his brow dropping low and his mouth turning downward. He jerked the shorter woman’s arm from around his waist and said something to her quickly as he began taking long strides in Cassie’s direction, leaving the other woman in his wake.

  Oh no.

  Nope.

  She didn’t want to hear any damn excuses from him.

  He came from the back of the building, which she could only assume had private rooms, and had a woman hanging on him. She didn’t care if it was or wasn’t what it looked like.

  He texted her.

  He wanted her to come here.

  He wasn’t even around when she got there.

  He came out of the back with another woman.

  Why did that piss her off?

  Why did that make her stomach turn?

  Why should she even care?

  Because, damn it, she did.

  But she wasn’t the type of woman who would be spread naked across the bar or bent over a bus bench between two men or have sex in a hallway where anyone could see it.

  She wasn’t one of them at all.

  Didn’t he know that?

  Shoving her phone into her pocket, she spun on her heels and practically sprinted toward the exit. As she reached for the handle, a sob bubbled up her throat, but she quickly swallowed it back down.

  Strong arms hooked her around the waist, and she was yanked against a tall, hard wall of muscle and leather.

  “Know what you’re fuckin’ thinkin’, but you’re wrong.” Cassie’s heart pounded in her throat at his low growl in her ear. “Believe it or not, glad you’re here, babe.”

  Babe.

  That was new. The overwhelming smell of pot and whiskey permeated from him.

  “Are you?” Damn the shake in her voice.

  His arms tightened around her waist, immobilizing her against him, and his beard and potent whiskey breath tickled her cheek. “Wouldn’t’ve told you to fuckin’ come if I didn’t want you here, Cassie.”

  And that was true, but... “Are you excited to see me, or did she give you that?” If he denied he had an erection, she would elbow him in it. Then there’d be no denying what pressed against the small of her back.

  “You think I fuckin’ want her?”

  She was glad he couldn’t see her face when she asked, “You ever sleep with her?” And, damn it, her voice broke asking that.

  She shouldn’t feel betrayed that he was touching another woman, even if it was the woman who had her arm around his waist and not the opposite.

  Even so, she didn’t like that deep-seated hurt. She had felt it once before, before she lost almost everything. She was about to lose again. And disappointment once again saturated her down to her bones.

  She had to remind herself she came to Manning Grove to collect herself, straighten out her life, not complicate it even further.

  Judge, his club, and his way of life was a complication.

  “Ain’t gonna lie, fucked her in the past, but...” His jaw shifted and he growled, “I sleep with you, Cassie, and there’s a fuckin’ difference.”

  Oh, was he getting a little angry? Good.

  “Is there?” She pulled free from his arms and spun on him, pressing her hand to his gut under his cut. “Tell me what the difference is.”

  “Cass... Was in the head takin’ a piss and she followed me in.”

  Why was he avoiding her question? “And you let her.”

  “Had my fuckin’ dick in my hand and was pissin’. Walked out soon as I was done. She followed me out and offered herself up. Told her you were comin’ and she needed to land in someone else’s bed tonight.”

  “If you didn’t know I was coming, would she have landed in yours?”

  He set his jaw. “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Fuck, baby.” With his eyes narrowed, he shook his head. “You don’t fuckin’ get it, do you?”

  “Get what?” She flung her hand out. “What don’t I get? What’s going on in this place? How you guys just fuck women whenever and wherever? I can’t imagine tonight is the first night of this type of party. It’s pretty eye-opening, actually.”

  His jaw moved again like he was grinding his teeth. “You’re fuckin’ right. It’s not the first goddamn time and won’t be the last. It happens a lot. It’s a fuckin’ celebration. This is the way we celebrate.”

  This is the way we celebrate.

  So, this was normal to them. To him.

  The whiskey smell on him was so overwhelming, it made her nose wrinkle. “Are you drunk?”

  “Don’t gotta drive, baby, so fuck yeah.”

  She’d never seen him intoxicated before. Not even on the nights he’d hung out at Crazy Pete’s, waiting for her to finish her shift.

  “My apartment’s upstairs around back. Remember it? You followed me home that night.
That first night we spent together.”

  She didn’t need a reminder. She’d never forget.

  “You ghosted before I could show you the place. Remember that, too? I fuckin’ do. But if you want, will give you a fuckin’ tour now before you ghost this time.”

  Before you ghost this time.

  That still bothered him. Or it could be the alcohol talking.

  Either way, she should be leaving. “Not sure I want a tour right now. Not with what I’ve seen so far tonight. We could come across more surprises I don’t need to witness. It’s bad enough I won’t be able to look Dodge in the eye ever again. Doesn’t seem like anyone’s shy.”

  “Yeah, nobody’s shy here, Cass. The point of life is to fuckin’ live it. That’s what we’re doin’. There ain’t a right or a wrong way, long as no one’s gettin’ hurt.”

  Long as no one’s gettin’ hurt.

  Problem was, seeing that woman with her arm around Judge hurt.

  “Do you do this type of stuff?” She waved her hand toward the bar and then the bench where the woman was sandwiched between two bikers, except Dodge had now switched places with Ozzy.

  “Now?”

  She looked up at him, her mouth gaped open. “Ever.”

  He rubbed a hand over his mouth and stared at a spot above her head.

  Well, that answered her question, so he no longer needed to. She lifted a palm when he tried. “Never mind. Why did you want me here, Judge?”

  “Wanted you to see this part of my life. To know what it’s about.”

  “For what reason?”

  “Just in case.”

  “In case of what?” she prodded.

  “In case you decide to stay in Manning Grove. And this is the part you ain’t fuckin’ gettin’... In case you decide you wanna stay,” he grimaced as if what he was about to say was painful, “with me.”

  Once again, she found herself gaping up at him. Stay with him? “Stay with you? In what way? I thought... I... I wasn’t expecting you’d want more than what we have.”

  Especially after seeing the casual sex tonight. It had cemented the realization that might be all they had. Something fun but not serious.

  The problem was, after getting jealous about that woman made her realize it had become more serious for her than it should have.