I watched the motel from the cover of the ivy. The guys were all around, lying in bushes for cover. It was muddy in spots, and the drizzle of rain was pretty constant, but no one was complaining, not even the California guys. We’d been here for an hour with no movement. There was a light on in the room, so we assumed someone was home.
“Let’s give them two hours,” I said as I watched the motel room through my binoculars. “Maybe Christophe will need to get a soda or something from the vending machine. If he doesn’t come out in two hours, we’ll move in.”
It had taken me a lot longer to convince Miri than I had anticipated. But at least she didn’t make me say why I was having her stay with me. The whole situation was fucked up, but I somehow liked the fact that she was sleeping in my bed at the club, waiting for me to come home—even if we weren’t gonna sleep together.
Our waiting for Christophe paid off. Thirty minutes later, the door to the motel room opened, and a small figure slipped out. Christophe. He should have been in bed, but instead we followed him around the corner of the building to a vending machine.
“Skeeter?” He looked from me to the other men in the circle. His child eyes looked at these guys with fear.
I knelt down and got on his level, just like Miri had instructed. “Hey, buddy. These are my friends.” I introduced the guys. Not sure if that helped or made it worse. “You know I’m your pa, right?”
“Uncle Davide said we are waiting on the test results,” he said. “But you’re my pa, and I’m gonna go live with you.”
“That’s right,” I said. “We got the results back, and you’re my kid. It’s time for you to come live with me.”
Christophe nodded solemnly. This was going better than I thought. “Can I go get my stuff and say goodbye to Amy and Uncle Davide?” he asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “You can see them another time. It’s getting kinda late, so we need to hurry now.”
For a second he looked like he was going to cry, but then he took a deep breath and turned into a little man. “Yeah, okay.”
The ride in the van from the motel back to the clubhouse was easy enough. Christophe put on a brave face and tried to pretend like it was an adventure. Thank god, because I didn’t know what I would have done if there were tears.
When we got back to the clubhouse, Christophe and I were the last ones out of the van. I opened the door to the bar and steered Christophe inside. I was pretty sure my kid had been inside a bar before, but sometimes the sight of all the guys in road gear could be frightening. I kept my hand on his shoulder.
“Miri!” He took off running toward the bar. So much for Christophe being afraid.
She bent down and gave him a huge bear hug. Her curly brown hair mingled with his reddish brown. “Boy, have I missed you, kiddo.” She released him from the hug, and her eyes flicked up to me, but then she focused back on Christophe. “How are you doing?”
He yawned. She laughed.
“You wanna sleep with me tonight?” I asked Christophe. “We’ll have a sleepover.”
I picked him up. At nine, he was a little old, but he was my kid, and it felt like the thing to do. I caught Miri’s eye and tilted my head toward the staircase. I wanted her to come too.
She nodded, and we all went upstairs, like a family. Me, the kid, and Miri. It was damn nice.
I put him in the guest bedroom. He went to sleep pretty easily—sleeping in a new bed was probably routine for him. After he zonked out, I closed the door behind me. With Miri crashing in my room, I would share the bed with Christophe in the guest room, but I had one more thing to do.
“Hey,” Miri said. I was surprised to see her waiting for me in the hall. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a hug.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt,” someone said from behind me.
I set Miri back down on the ground and turned to find one of the California guys, Little Bill, standing in the hall.
“Maori and I were looking for a phone number tonight.” He looked at Miri and back to me. “Maybe someone looking to party.”
Everyone in the Horde was drug-tested pretty regularly, so he wasn’t looking for blow or other kinds of drugs. He was looking for sex.
“Yeah, sure.” I turned to Miri. “Why don’t you head to bed? We’ll catch up in the morning.”
She pursed her lips and stalked off.
“You’re in trouble with your girl?” Little Bill asked, laughing.
“She ain’t my girl.” I didn’t want to explain my situation to him. “So, you wanna hook up tonight? Let me call someone.”
Asia was more than happy to come on down with a few of her friends. By the time I got the girls introduced to Maori and Little Bill, I was drained as hell and headed upstairs.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Miri
Jean Luc knew how to hug. When he held me, the world shrank, and I melted into him, and we just became one person. But after our hug, he went off with one of the guys, and I stayed upstairs, thinking about what Bettes had said earlier. They always went to their old lady or to their whore. Which one was I? Frankly, I had no idea.
When I heard boot steps in the hall, I opened the door. It was Jean Luc.
“Hey.” He nodded to me. “I’m gonna go crash. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Wait.” I grabbed his arm. He looked back at me, waiting. “Where are you going to tonight? To your whore?”
I clapped my hands over my mouth. After tonight, first sneaking out of my bedroom window like I was a teenager and then waiting around for him to come back, I was on edge.
I waved my hands and gave a sort of hysterical laugh. “I shouldn’t have said that. It’s none of my business. Just go to bed.”
He grabbed my hands and stopped me from flapping. “What are you talking about?”
“Your friend downstairs, he wanted a hooker, didn’t he? Bettes said that after tonight, you would either go to your old lady or your whore. She said after stressful jobs like tonight, you guys came home wanting...” I couldn’t say it. Wanting to screw. Wanting to get your rocks off. “Just wanting.”
He opened the door to my room. “In here. We’re gonna talk about this now. Right now.”
I slunk into the room and sat on the bed. “I shouldn’t have said anything.” I slid back against the pillows. “Look, let’s just go to sleep, and we can do this in the morning.”
“Nope.” He sat on the edge of the bed and started unlacing his boots. “I’m shot to hell, but we need to talk before I crash out. So spill it. Tell me why you think I have a whore.”
“That guy downstairs obviously knew you had someone to call for the evening.” Even though I hadn’t planned on this, maybe it was time to get it all out. “So, whore or old lady, which is it?”
He gave a low whistle. “Bettes sure does talk a lot.” He kicked off both of his boots and joined me lying against the pillows. “I know you know what we did, so I’m not gonna beat around the bush. Sometimes when we come back from a run, we like to let off a little steam. That usually involves wives and girlfriends. When you’re single, like me or like Little Bill, that often involves prostitutes.”
I went very still. Very, very still. I didn’t realize Bettes literally meant prostitutes when she said whore. “You pay women for sex?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, it’s not like that. The situation is beneficial to us both. Services exchanged for money. She knows we’re not involved. I haven’t even called her since we started things.”
I traced the hideous floral pattern on the comforter while my mind was working overtime. “So there is one specific girl?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse.
He sighed and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. Then he sat up and turned to me. “Yeah, there’s one specific girl. You.�
� He grabbed my hands. “I didn’t really give a shit about anyone else before. And while I’m pouring my fucking heart out, how the hell could you not tell me you had just left a relationship?”
He looked at me, and I could barely meet his eyes. “I was a fool, walking in to your office with flowers. Thinking a girl like you would want a guy like me.” He shook his head. “But I’m just your damn rebound guy. If you’d told me up front that’s all you wanted, it wouldn’t have hurt so bad.”
A tear burned a trail down my cheek. He’d cared, and I hurt him.
Jean Luc turned his head and stared straight ahead. I tried to hold his hand, but he didn’t move, just left his hand on the blanket, so I covered it with mine.
“You’re not just someone to help me get over Pete,” I explained. “It was my feelings for you that made me realize what a real relationship could be. But then you took everything Pete said at face value. Why did you think you were the rebound guy? I think after our night together, it’s pretty obvious that you mean more to me than just a good time.”
“Are you sure?” He was quiet for a long moment. “Because if I’m not the rebound guy, then that means you care about me.”
“I do care about you.” I curled against him and laid my head on his shoulder. He covered my hand with his, and we snuggled together. Closing my eyes, I waited for Jean Luc to respond, but his breathing became shallow and even and then there was a light snore.
Just as I was drifting off to sleep, Jean Luc stirred. He murmured something and turned his head back and forth. He frowned, and his eyes moved underneath his eyelids. It must be a nightmare, like the night he ended up on the porch wrapped in a blanket.
Propping myself on my elbow, I wondered if I should wake him up. His eyes opened halfway.
“Why, Miri? Why me and not him?” he asked.
I kissed his brow. “Because there is only you. It could only be you.”
Chapter Thirty
Skeeter
The bed bounced and shook me awake. Miri sat next to me and held out a cup of coffee. She was dressed in her pajama shorts, but she’d swapped the big sweatshirt for a tight tank top and no bra. I could see her hardened nipples through the material. I stretched and felt my dick rising. I’d fallen asleep in my jeans, but it was still noticeable.
“You want some?” she asked. She’d been holding the mug for a while as I ogled her tits.
“The coffee?” I clarified. I wanted something, all right. “Yeah. Where’s Christophe?”
She tilted her head to indicate the room next door. “Still asleep.” She shifted so she leaned against the pillow with her legs crossed at the ankles. “I’m going to assume that Christophe’s presence here at the clubhouse means he’s with you permanently—and that Davide is very angry. So what happens next?”
I took a long pull on the coffee. “You’re right, Davide is gonna be pissed as hell.” I closed my eyes and let the coffee warm up my brain. “Since he thought you were my girlfriend, he will definitely be on your tail. I put you in his line of fire; I need to protect you until he’s gone. We’re gonna stay here until I know he’s left town.”
Just her, me, and Christophe hanging out in the MC clubhouse for a few days. I smiled to myself—it sounded like heaven.
After putting the coffee on the nightstand, I grabbed her hips. “Come here, babe.” She straddled me, and I held her hips off my cock just a little. “Do you remember that night at your office? The night you were drinking vodka?”
She braced her arms on my shoulders and leaned down. “I remember that night.” Miri bent down and whispered in my ear. “It was the first time I knew I really wanted you.”
Then she rubbed her pussy against my jeans. Just like my fantasies.
We were of the same mind because she started to pull my zipper down until my cock sprang free.
I caught her lips in a kiss, and we both tugged my jeans and her shorts off in record time.
“I want you on top,” I said. Her eyes widened. This was new territory for her, and I grinned. “I get to be here for all of your firsts.” I folded my arms behind my head. I wanted a show, a show of her learning how to ride a man for the first time.
She froze. “What do I do?”
I grinned. “Whatever you want.” I rubbed her thigh.
Running a light finger over my chest, Miri licked her lips. My cock bumped against the heat of her, and I groaned. I wanted it now, but if she wanted to explore, I was happy to suffer through it.
She bent over and kissed my chest. I couldn’t help myself—I moved one of my hands to cup her round ass. Sliding between her cheeks, I brushed my fingers over her skin until she shivered.
She nipped playfully at my neck. “Mmmmm, fun. But not quite what I had in mind.” She shifted and sat on her knees, grabbing my dick. Positioning it in her pussy, she looked at me, questioning. “Like this?”
“Wait, hold on.” I held her hips above me. “We need to get a condom.”
“What if I just want it to be the two of us?” she asked, licking her lips. “Nothing in between.”
The heat of her pussy nearly burned my cock—I wanted to be inside her.
Slowly, she inched down. I didn’t push, didn’t strain, just waited and watched for her to slide down. She bloomed like a goddamn flower as she took in my cock. Lower and lower, her knees splayed apart as she opened herself. Finally, she was fully seated and so fucking tight around my dick I thought I’d explode.
“Like this?” she breathed.
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard, trying to keep my shit together. “Now move. Find the spot where I stroke you the best.”
Her brow furrowed, and I laughed. She flexed her hips forward and lifted a little, then sank back. Tilting her hips back, she rocked, sending chills all over my body. Fuck, if she didn’t find her spot soon, I was gonna explode before she did.
“It all feels good. How will I know?” she asked.
I groaned. She was right, it was all fucking good.
“You’ll find it,” I assured her, gripping the bedpost. “Just keep going.”
And she did.
She leaned back and arched, displaying her tank-top-clad tits perfectly.
She moaned, “This. This.”
She moved above me, slightly tilted back, using my hard dick to get herself off. I fucking loved it. When she was just about ready to explode, I licked my index finger and found her clit. My hand was tight between our bodies, but I had just enough room, and it was exactly what she needed.
She rode me, stroke after stroke, until she cried out and her tits quivered. Her pussy gripped me tight as she came, and I remembered that we hadn’t used a condom. Shit. Just as I was starting to hit the end, I pulled her off me. She cried out in protest but just sat on her knees and watched as I finished myself off with one stroke of my hand.
“No condom,” she whispered, her eyes big. “I’m sorry, I forgot.”
“Come here.” I motioned for her to lie next to me. “It was my responsibility too; I could have gotten one.”
“I liked the way it felt without one,” she admitted, laying her head on my shoulder, and I stroked her arm. “How would you feel about another kid?”
I kissed the end of her nose as she snuggled closer to me. “I don’t know. Never really thought about it,” I replied, imagining a daughter with Miri’s curls. My breath caught a little. Me and Christophe and Miri and our little girl. There’d be holidays and homework and dinner at the kitchen table. We’d be a family—and it didn’t scare the shit out of me. Not one bit.
I pulled away and propped myself up on my elbow. “I wanna try a relationship, Miri. I know it’s a long shot, but I think we can do it. What do you say?”
“Yeah.” She grinned. “I want to try too.”
Then my fucking phone rang. W
e both groaned.
“Voicemail,” I muttered and pressed a button so the damn thing would stop ringing.
“It’s getting late anyway.” Leaning over, she kissed my cheek and gave me a mischievous grin. “I need you fresh for tonight.”
She was right. We had a lot more firsts I wanted to watch her explore, and I needed to get my shit together. I gave her beautiful ass one last, long caress and then sat up.
One message blinked on my phone. Louisiana phone number. Shit. It was Davide. While Miri got dressed, I listened to the voicemail.
“Wait until I find you and your bitch. You owe me forty grand, Jean Luc. You can either pay it with cash or with your life. But one way or another, I’m gonna get what’s mine.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Miri
I spent most of the day with Krista and her daughter. Bettes went home, and Krista showed up around after lunch. I think they wanted to make sure there was another woman in the clubhouse at all times, to make me feel comfortable.
So far, Christophe had been eager to spend time with Jean Luc. There were no tears or problems between the two of them, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t last. Christophe had left the only parental figure he had ever known to come live with Jean Luc. Bumps in their father-son relationship were definitely ahead, but so far things were going well.
Krista and I chopped onions and peppers in the big kitchen at the back of the clubhouse while Jean Luc and Christophe were cleaning a chain on his motorcycle.
“It’s my grandma’s recipe.” She explained her special sausages-and-peppers recipe while she worked. “But I changed it up a little so it has a little more spice.”
“Hey, Miri?” Jean Luc called from the door. He and Christophe were covered in streaks of motor oil. They had spent the morning with a few of the other guys doing maintenance on their motorcycles.
“Hey, guys.” I stifled a laugh. Christophe was wiping his hands with a rag, exactly like Jean Luc. Jean Luc quirked his eyebrow. I was pretty sure he realized that he had a much smaller mirror image copying his every move.
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