Man of the House: A Dark Bad Boy Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  But I was a good soldier, and I kept my dick where it belonged.

  “So where you been?” she asked me.

  “Dallas,” I said. “Been scouting out the Snake Spit and all that.”

  She nodded. I assumed she knew all about the Snake Spit and the war; probably hard not to know about it if you spent any time in the clubhouse.

  “Heard about it,” she said. “They’ve been pressing down from Dallas, trying to snatch turf.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “And your daddy wants to push back.”

  “You men,” she said, smiling, “always doing the hard thing.”

  “What else is there to do?” I asked, grinning. “The easy thing ain’t no fun.”

  She laughed and stood up. “You’re right, you know.” She turned and walked off, and I couldn’t help but stare at her ass.

  As she left, I realized that I hadn’t spoken to her in at least a month. She’d been around, but we just hadn’t been talking much. I’d been busy with the war, worried about the Mezcals, the Mexican MC gang in Texas, joining up with the Snakes. Then there was all that shit with Ford and Caralee and the Rebels MC going down. For a while there, shit was crazy, all blood and excitement.

  And as the Demons MC enforcer, I had plenty of that blood on my hands.

  But ever since I’d gotten back from Dallas, things had been quieter. The Snakes and the Mezcals were planning something, we were sure of that, but the Demons had their own plans.

  I glanced at Janine as she walked across the bar. I wondered briefly what her life was like, what she’d been doing during all this madness.

  But I quickly let that thought go.

  Better not to think about her; better not to get involved.

  My only priority was the damn club.

  3

  Janine

  Larkin thought I didn’t know what was going down with the club, but I wasn’t blind.

  I’d spent my whole life around the club. My daddy was a founding member, and my adopted dad was the president. I lived and breathed the Demons MC.

  So when they were at war, it was pretty easy to notice. The boys were all amped up and there was a level of anxiety happening in the clubhouse. Then all that shit with Ford and Caralee happened, and that was a nice distraction for a bit. It was nice to see two people who clearly loved each other finally come together.

  You didn’t see it that much, not in a violent place like the Demons MC clubhouse.

  I glanced across the room and caught Clutch looking at me. He quickly looked away, and I smiled to myself. I had talked to him earlier that night for the first time in a while, and he’d seemed like he couldn’t wait for me to get away from him.

  I did not understand that man. One second he was smiling and laughing, letting me sit in his lap, and the next he was acting like he barely knew me.

  Which suited me just fine. We’d been like that for ten years, one second talking up a storm and the next pretending like we were practically strangers. Ten years and I felt like I both knew him and didn’t know him at all.

  “You hear about the shipment?” Sara asked me.

  I shook my head. “What shipment?”

  “Apparently some shipment of something from down south got stolen,” she said. “Larkin thinks it was the Mezcals.”

  “That would make sense,” I said, nodding. “But it’s not really our business, is it?”

  Sara shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s all the boys are talking about.”

  Sara was new to the club, just another drifter girl looking to make sense of her life. The Demons MC attracted that kind of girl, a girl that needed strength and danger to feel alive.

  “Maybe, but if they hear you talking about it, they’ll be pretty quick to toss you out.”

  “How come you can talk about whatever you want?” she asked me.

  She didn’t know who my father was, of course. She’d only been around for a few weeks. As far as I could tell, she had an eye for Noble, one of the regular boys.

  “I’m just special,” I said, grinning at her.

  I looked up as something big and heavy leaned up against the bar next to us. “You ladies need a drink?” Dow asked, smiling at us.

  “I’m okay,” I said.

  “Me too,” Sara answered.

  “Aw, come on,” Dow said, looking at Sara. He was clearly into her big, round eyes and bigger, rounder tits. “You sure you don’t need another? This is on me.”

  “She said no, Dow,” I said. “How about you fuck off?”

  He looked at me for a second and seemed like he was about to say something, but he thought better of it. “All right then, Janine,” he said, and walked off.

  Sometimes, I hated having Larkin as a dad. I wanted the guys to treat me normal, like everyone else. No other girl could get away with saying something like that to Dow or any of the guys, but I really was special.

  Because they were all afraid of my father. It was so frustrating.

  “Okay,” Sara said, “you’re not telling me something. How did you talk to him like that?”

  I sighed and decided to tell her. Might as well. She’d figure it out eventually. “Larkin is my father.”

  She cocked her head. “Seriously? The president?”

  “Yeah, well, he’s my adopted father.”

  “Holy crap,” she said. “You’re the president’s daughter.”

  “Yeah,” I said, sighing, “sure am.” I sipped my drink, looking down at the bar.

  “That’s really cool,” she said. “Guess that explains why you get away with everything.”

  “Sure does.”

  Sometimes I wished I wouldn’t get away with it. Sometimes I wished someone would put me in my place. I glanced up at Clutch again, caught him looking again, and watched as he quickly looked away.

  Sometimes I wished Clutch would get up off his ass, come over to me, and throw me to the floor. His strong arms could rip off my clothes with ease, and I’d moan as he slowly pressed his thick cock between my legs.

  But that would never happen. For one, he was way off-limits, as was every guy in the Demons MC. And for seconds, he was one of the biggest assholes in the whole club, a real playboy. He wouldn’t risk getting his balls cut off over me since he had a new girl practically every other night.

  “Must be nice,” Sara said.

  “Yeah, sure is.”

  I frowned down at my drink and thought about all the reasons that it really wasn’t.

  A few hours later, most of the place had cleared out. Sara was gone, and I didn’t much expect to see her again. She just didn’t seem like that kind of girl. I was sitting in Larkin’s office in the back of the clubhouse.

  Larkin was a hard man. He was cold and calculating, and he had one of the most intense and serious looks you could ever imagine. But underneath that exterior, Larkin was a good man and had always done right by me. He did his best to raise me and to protect me, and he’d even tried to keep me away from the Demons at one point.

  That didn’t last very long, of course. I was back in the clubhouse within a week.

  “I hear you’ve been talking to that new girl,” he said to me.

  I shrugged. “She’s nice.”

  “I hear she’s been talking about the war.”

  “Hard not to, since everyone else is.”

  He gave me a look. “Janine. Be careful. We don’t know her yet.”

  I sighed, smiling. “Come on Dad, you know me. I’m a good judge of character. I told you Caralee would be worth keeping around, didn’t I?”

  He grunted. “Yeah. That worked out fine. Still, be careful what you tell her.”

  “I haven’t told her anything,” I said. “Actually, I told her not to talk about it.”

  “Good.” He leaned back in his chair, and I could see the stress clear as day on his face. “You heard about the shipment?”

  “Sara mentioned it, sure.”

  “That’s a real pain in the ass,” he said. “A real pain. This war is ge
tting worse and worse every day.”

  “What happened?”

  “Mezcals squeezing our drug supply from the south; that’s all,” he said. “Not something we didn’t expect. Still inconvenient.”

  The Demons were involved in all kinds of business transactions. They owned a few real businesses, the clubhouse bar included, but for the most part they dealt in drugs and guns. They bought the drugs from South America in bulk and distributed to dealers throughout the Austin area. It was a good business and was one of the big reasons the Demons were able to grow as large and as strong as they had.

  Part of that business was built on a good working relationship with the Mexican gangs, especially the Mezcals. But the past few weeks had shown that the Mezcals were done playing nice and had officially taken the side of the Snake Spit MC.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked him.

  He rubbed his temples. “Sorry. Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

  “You know you can tell me these things, Dad.”

  “I know, honey,” he said, “but this isn’t for you to worry about.”

  “Club business,” I said, smiling.

  “Yeah,” he grunted, grinning. “Club business.”

  I stood up, stretching. “Tell me what the plan is for the war, at least,” I said.

  “We got some ideas,” he said slowly. “Some stuff I’ll talk to you about soon. Important stuff.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Why not tell me now?”

  “It’s not finalized, and I don’t want to lay it on you just yet.”

  “Okay,” I said, nodding. “Sure. Whatever you want.”

  “Head home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Okay. Night.”

  “Night.”

  I walked out of his office, curious. He usually told me what was going on with the club, if at least just to have someone to talk to about it. He knew where my loyalties were, and he knew I would never tell the other boys anything he said to me.

  But that was the first time it felt like whatever he had to say had something to do with me directly. It was strange, and I couldn’t shake it.

  I left the clubhouse and found my car. I drove a little Mustang Shelby GT, a beautiful old car that Larkin gave to me when I turned twenty. I fired up the engine and headed home.

  I lived alone in a little apartment just outside downtown Austin. It was a fun area, full of young people, although I didn’t feel like I belonged. They were all college kids, and I never went to college. I graduated high school, but mostly because Larkin forced me to.

  Otherwise, I took care of myself. I didn’t need school and didn’t much care about it. I had a job and I had the club. So far, that had been enough for me.

  I was just like everyone else involved with the Demons. The club was my life, and my life was the club.

  I tossed my keys onto my kitchen table as I walked into my little apartment and smiled at its familiar smallness.

  “Club before everything else,” I whispered to myself and headed to bed.

  4

  Clutch

  A phone rang early, too damn early.

  I woke up, my head foggy, and grunted.

  The phone just kept ringing.

  “Shut that thing off,” I said to the girl in my bed.

  She shook her head. “It’s yours, baby.”

  “Oh shit,” I said, realizing she was right. I quickly grabbed my phone and flipped it open. “Yeah?”

  “Clutch.” I recognized the voice instantly: our club president, Larkin. “I need you to come in early.”

  “Okay, prez,” I said. “How early?”

  “Now.”

  “Okay,” I said, getting up. “Be there in ten.” I hung up the phone.

  The girl looked up at me. I couldn’t remember her name, and I really didn’t give a shit. In the cold light of morning I realized how empty the night before had been, picking her up at the fucking bar, bringing her back to my little apartment, and fucking her brains out. She smiled at me.

  “Got time for another round, baby?” she asked. “I’m still sore from last night, but in a good way.”

  “No, thanks,” I said. “I’m leaving. Don’t be here when I get back.”

  She made a face. “No need to be an asshole.”

  I got dressed and ignored her. I tossed on some jeans, a T-shirt, and my vest with the Demons patch. I strapped on my gun, assuming I was going to need it. The girl just watched me from the bed, her eyes dripping sex.

  I paused at the door before I left. “If you steal anything, I’ll kill you. Got it?”

  “Fuck you,” she said.

  I grinned at her. “You’d like that.” I turned and left.

  I didn’t need to be an asshole to her, but it didn’t matter. Women liked me, always had. I didn’t have trouble finding one woman after the next to bring home and fuck. I was good at it and always left them wanting more, but I never gave it to them.

  That just wasn’t my style. I lived a fast, hard life and didn’t have the time or space to let anyone inside it. They were a warm body for a night, a hard, intense fuck, and then they were gone.

  I couldn’t be nice the next morning. I’d let too many dumb girls think I was going to call them again by doing that. No, it was better for both of us if I was a dick. It just hammered home the truth that I was never going to bring her home again, if we ever even saw each other.

  I got outside my beat-up place and found my bike. I hopped on and took a second to look around. I lived in a shit neighborhood in a shit apartment building, and it suited me just fine. I was barely there anyway. I mostly just used it to sleep and shower. Otherwise, my life was at the club.

  I fired up my bike and rode out, the wind whipping through my hair.

  I got to the clubhouse in ten minutes. I parked the bike and hopped off. There weren’t many bikes parked out there; I recognized Larkin’s and a few other council members’, but that was it.

  Probably too early for most of the boys to show up, let alone wake up. We were a hard drinking bunch, and as such we tended not to be a morning crowd.

  I pushed in through the front door and immediately spotted Larkin sitting at the bar. He had a plate of food in front of him and was sipping a big mug of coffee.

  Larkin was a scary man: intense, powerful, and a great leader. He’d singlehandedly taken the Demons from a minor gang to one of the biggest in the country. It was because of him that we had so much power.

  I’d been a part of it. Maybe not those early wars, but a lot of the stuff later on. Some guys claimed seniority, but I didn’t give a shit about that. The club was my home, and that was all.

  “Morning, boss,” I said to him.

  “Morning. Take a seat.”

  I pulled out the stool next to him and sat down.

  “Coffee?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  Larkin nodded at TomTom, the pledge who was working behind the bar that morning. He returned with another mug of hot coffee, which I drank gratefully.

  “Bet you’re wondering why I called you in so early,” Larkin said.

  “Yeah,” I said, “I am.”

  “You have fun last night?”

  I shrugged. “Sure. Went to another place with a few boys. Nothing special.”

  He nodded thoughtfully and took another bite of food. I watched him chew and swallow, the silence deafening.

  “I have a job for you, Clutch,” he said.

  “Name it and it’s done.”

  He looked at me. “I need you to be Janine’s bodyguard.”

  That stopped me in my tracks.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Janine. My girl. You need to be her bodyguard.”

  I screwed up my face. “Why?”

  “I have something going down, something big, and it involves her. I can’t say more than that, but she might be in trouble. I need you to make sure she’s safe.”

  I nodded slowly, not sure what was happening here. It was
very unusual for us to be a bodyguard, especially a high-ranking enforcer like myself. It was even more unusual for Larkin to want one of the boys to be around Janine.

  “Okay, boss,” I said. “I can do it.”

  He nodded. “Good. She has work today. Get to her apartment and don’t leave her side until I tell you to.”

  “Got it.”

  He pushed me a slip of paper. “Her address.”

  I pocketed it. I went to get up but hesitated. “Why me?” I asked him.

  He shrugged. “You’ve been around a long time, right, Clutch?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “I feel like I’ve watched you grow up in this club. You’re like family.”

  “The club is my family,” I said.

  “You’re about her age; you two seem friendly enough. Not too friendly,” he added, giving me a look. “You’re good at what you do. Competent, serious, smart. I trust you.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Thanks, prez. I won’t let you down.”

  “I know.” He turned back to his food and began to eat again like I wasn’t even there.

  I turned and left the club, my head spinning.

  Bodyguard to Janine? Acting as a bodyguard wasn’t an easy gig for anyone, but acting as a bodyguard to the princess of the bikers was going to be even worse.

  Not to mention I couldn’t keep my fucking eyes off her in the best of circumstances.

  My mind flipped back to the night before. I’d kept looking at her, sitting there with that new girl, Sara or something like that. The way she moved, smiled, laughed, it all made my fucking cock hard as hell. I wanted her and was fascinated by her strength. She was a biker chick through and through, down to her core.

  But she was off-limits, incredibly off-limits. And now Larkin wanted me to follow her around, protect her, keep her safe, all that shit?

  I almost wished he had trusted someone else, but he hadn’t. He trusted me with this, and I wasn’t going to let my club down.

  I got on my bike and kicked it into gear, tearing ass out of there and heading toward the address on the piece of paper.