by Jayne Blue
He was brave and sure, his broad shoulders blocking the sunset. God, he was everything. It was as if the axis of my world shifted and I was drawn into his orbit. The pull between us was just that strong. It had happened so fast, but felt so right. I drowned in his kisses. He consumed me in body and soul. We were a tangle of limbs and clothes pushed to the side. I grew instantly wet as King slid his fingers beneath the crotch of my panties.
“I love you,” he whispered, and I almost didn’t hear him beneath the rage of the surf. I did though. It was impossible. It was too soon. But, I felt it too.
Veronica, you can’t outrun this.
For once, I didn’t want to. I spread my legs and let King plunge into me. He was huge, hot, hard, and all for me. My teeth knocked together with the force of his thrusts, but it still wasn’t enough. I wished for a way to make him part of me so I could forever draw strength from him. He could be fierce and tender all at once, and it rocked me to my core. He made me break every rule I’d set and all the barriers I’d constructed to protect myself. I was remade in King’s arms...reborn. I could believe for a moment that all of the horror I feared was behind me for good. Maybe it was. Because that day on the beach was the closest thing to heaven I’d ever known. We fucked beneath the setting sun and it felt like I’d just learned to breathe again.
“Come for me, baby,” he said. “I want to feel you around me.”
And I did. He commanded my body as he bared my soul. I was his. He was mine. I could guard my heart tomorrow, but tonight I would just live.
My orgasm poured from my center, doubling the stars in the sky. I rode wave after wave of pleasure as King redoubled his pace. His brow furrowed and he hitched inside of me as his own release came. I clawed at his back and wrapped my arms around his legs. I wanted all of it. I wanted to own him. He let me. As his hot seed spilled inside of me, the world stopped spinning, and I felt more still than I had in years.
Later, he held me close as we watched the moon rise and the tide roll out again.
Chapter Eleven
King
For three days, I got to keep Thea all to myself. It was as close to heaven as I’d ever been. We spent the mornings taking breakfast by the beach. Later, she’d put on a bikini and head out to the water. I wanted to take her to the clubhouse to meet the rest of the guys, but she wasn’t ready yet. I didn’t push it because we’d found some kind of magical cocoon here at the beach house, and I wasn’t ready to spoil it.
She spent her afternoons scouring the internet looking for estate sales and other things she wanted to decorate my house. In just the couple of days she’d worked on it, she’d done magic. She had a flair for the tiniest details and took her time asking me questions about what I liked and what I wanted. She found the perfect couch at an auction the day before to fit in the living room. She found a few paintings for the wall that fit me. She found a hundred-year-old farm table and set it up in the garage so she could refinish it. Thea knew how to make the space feel like my home for the first time since I’d built it. Before, it had just been four walls and a spectacular view, but it was still just the place I laid my head at night. Somehow, Thea managed to breathe life into the place. I’d told her designing was her calling. It really was. Until now, I hadn’t understood she was an artist.
I wanted to give that back to her. I wanted to make it so she could rule her own destiny and do this for a living. She needed a shop of her own, and I hoped I could convince her Emerald Point was the perfect place to start one.
In the evenings, she was all mine again. Thea was insatiable. Anytime I touched her, her body responded as if she’d been born for me. I wondered if she was. We fit perfectly. She liked it rough when I did. I liked it gentle when she did. For the first time since I got the word that my old man had died, it felt like a weight lifted from me.
But, there was still a darkness around Thea. Some secrets she just wouldn’t reveal, and that was okay for now. She seemed content the way things were, and that was just fine with me. The only time I saw that little frown crease her forehead was when I took a call from Mickey. He finally found the last part he needed to fix the Knuck’s engine and promised the thing to me in no more than a week. Before that happened, I had a question for Thea that I was almost afraid to ask.
I wanted her to stay and move in with me permanently. One of the surf shops on the boardwalk had gone out of business the season before and the building was vacant. I had an idea brewing about what could be done with it, but until I moved a few other pieces in place, I kept it to myself.
When I came out of the shower, Thea wasn’t there. I tucked a towel around my hips and walked to the patio. I found her with a cup of coffee in her hands leaning over the railing as she watched a pelican dive for his morning meal. God, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. She wore an old pair of cutoff jeans that showed just a hint of her ass as she bent over. With her hair tied back in a ponytail she looked simple and perfect. That was another thing I loved about her. Thea was low-maintenance. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her wear makeup. She didn’t need it. The light hit her in just the right way, making it look as if she had a halo around her. As I edged closer, I noticed something new about her. Thea’s hair was a dark brown, almost black, but at her temples in the sunlight, it was growing in blonde. She’d dyed it.
“Hey, baby,” I said, sidling up next to her I slid an arm around her waist and pulled her against me. My cock grew stiff almost immediately. She wasn’t wearing a bra and her wine-colored nipples showed through.
“I love it here,” she said.
“I love having you here.” It was in me to ask her to move in right then and there, but I waited. She’d been the most at ease I’d ever seen her and I wasn’t ready to spoil it.
“There’s a place I want to check out in Destin today. Do you want to come with me?”
I kissed her and smoothed the hair away from her face. She beamed when she looked up at me and it twisted my heart with joy. “It’s going to be gorgeous. Let me take you for a ride up the coast.”
She screwed her face up. “I’m looking for end tables, King. How are we going to bring them back on your Harley?”
“I’ll have ‘em delivered or send one of the prospects back with a truck later.”
“Mmmm. You think of everything.” She rested her head against my chest.
“Before we do that, though, I want to take you to the Den. It’s time you meet the rest of the guys. They’ve been asking about you.”
She lifted her head and peered up at me. “Exactly what have you been telling them?”
Laughing, I squeezed a fistful of that round, perfect ass of hers and got a squeal from her that sent lust racing through my veins.
“They’re gonna love you, baby. And they’re my family. You’re important to me, so you’re important to them.”
She stiffened in my arms like she always did when I turned things serious. She was getting better about it, but her reticence was still there. When I kissed her, she softened.
“Come on,” I said. “Get dressed and we’ll ride in. We’ve got church in an hour, but it shouldn’t last long. You can hang out in the bar and get to know some of the other girls.”
“Church?”
I looped my arm around her shoulders and we walked inside together. “Just what we call club business. Like I said, it shouldn’t take long, then we’ll ride out to Destin and look at end tables.”
I thought she’d argue. Thea had been reluctant to head to the Wolf Den with me since we got here. It was as if she needed time to get used to going against her instinct to wall herself off even from me. Letting the rest of the G.W.M.C. in was a huge step. Today though, she seemed willing to take it.
The lot was full when we pulled up to the Wolf Den. Years ago, when the charter started in Emerald Point, the place wasn’t much more than a pole barn along the beach. Since we’d gone legit, we remodeled the place and expanded it. The Den was a local hotspot and generated the bulk of the income that sustain
ed my entire club. We brought in up-and-coming bands on the weekends during the height of tourist season. It was a place to be proud of, but it hadn’t been easy. We had a good thing going here and there would always be someone wanting to rip it away.
It was just before the lunch crowd when we walked in. Liza, our floor manager, waited at the hostess station as we walked in. Her face brightened when she saw me and she came out from behind the podium to give me a bear hug that lifted her off her feet. Thea took a step back and her mouth dropped.
Liza was a lot to take in. At six feet tall barefoot, she wore four-inch stiletto boots with the rest of her uniform: hot pants and a tight tank top with the Great Wolves wolf’s head logo on the front. There’d never been anything between us, and lately, she was Shakes’s girl. Liza peeled herself off of me but kept her arm wrapped around my shoulders. I knew she was testing Thea a little. She looked her up and down and smiled.
“Liza Peters, this is Thea Clark.” Thea flinched a little when I said her name, just like she always did. Liza caught it too but widened her smile as she extended a hand.
“Thea! Oh, good Lord. King’s been talking you up for weeks. It’s damn good to finally meet you. Are you hungry? You come on over with me and sit. We’ve got a lot to talk about. King said you’ve got an eye for design. I’ve got a million questions if you’ll let me pick your brain. Did he tell you we’re looking to redesign the stage and dancefloor? Is that something you’ve ever done?”
Thea threw her head back and stared at me as Liza steered her away from me and toward the bar. She’d just been sucked into the cyclone of Liza’s questions, and I knew it would keep her busy for at least an hour. Liza shot me a wink as she took Thea by the hand.
“King!” Gordo and Shakes were waiting in the back of the bar. They held the door to the conference room open and waved me toward them. Shakes craned his neck as he watched Liza walking with Thea. Business would come first, then I’d bring Thea in to meet the crew.
Nash did things differently than most other clubs we knew of. Our table was round so no one sat at the head of it. He was our leader and no one questioned that. Under his hand, we’d come out of the dark days and criminal shit we used to have to do to make ends meet. But, he listened and took counsel from everyone here.
Today, he looked tired as fuck. He wore his hair clubbed back and shaved at the sides, but he had bags under his eyes and Puck nudged him in the shoulder when I walked into the room.
“Fuck, man,” I said, reaching over to slap Nash’s hand. He stood up and thumped my back. “You look like hell.”
Nash smiled. “I haven’t gotten more than two solid hours of sleep since the baby came.”
My face split into a wide grin. “Harper had the baby? Fuck, man, why didn’t you call me?”
I took my seat beside him. “Sounds like you had some shit going on of your own,” Nash said. “And you’re here now. You can come over later. Wait until you see him. He’s huge. Weighed almost ten pounds.”
I rubbed a hand over the stubble on my jaw. God, he looked like hell, but Nash looked good too. I was the last person to think he’d ever settle down, but it changed him in all the best ways. He was a good man and a decent father. As he pulled out his phone and showed me pictures of his new son’s fat, round cheeks I realized something with the same impact as an anvil hitting me straight in the chest.
I wanted this. I wanted the chance to be a good man and a decent father. I wanted to erase what had been done to me and start over with a son of my own. Laughter rose from behind the bar just before Shakes shut the door. It was Thea’s laughter. Liza had worked her magic and put her at ease.
Thea. I wanted all of these things with her.
After a few more congratulations, we got down to business. It was all good news. Sales were up here at the bar and we seemed to have put the trouble from last year behind us. As I looked around the room, I knew I wasn’t the only one here having different thoughts about the future. Someday soon, Shakes might want to make an honest woman out of Liza. She was good for him. He was brash and gruff, but she didn’t take any shit from him. She kept him on his toes. Nash’s wife had helped smooth out his own rough edges, and fatherhood grounded him and gave him new purpose.
“What about your meeting with the Saints?” Nash asked, drawing me back to the present.
I took in a hard breath. “It went good. They sent Axle. I’ve got no reason to think he’d be anything but straight with me. I told him to keep extra eyes along the coast and he listened.”
“You take any heat for being there?” Nash asked. I knew Shakes and Luce would have filled him in on the outlines of what happened, but I’d had the chance to look Axle in the eyes.
“He was twitchy on that. I didn’t ask about shit I shouldn’t know the answer to, but if I had to guess, the Saints are under some scrutiny. Axle was real careful about not wanting anyone to know he sat down with me. The diner where we met wasn’t packed or anything, but we drew some eyes. He didn’t like it.”
“Shit,” Nash said. “I sure as fuck hope the Saints aren’t about to start shit with the Hawks up near Laredo. Those are the only eyes that would make him act like that. That’s not good. If the Saints have trouble in their own backyard, that’s going to make them vulnerable to the cartels again. He say anything specific?”
I shook my head. “Nope. But, the vibe was there. I can reach out to him again in a few weeks if you think we should.”
“No. No. For now, let’s just trust Axle that the Saints can take care of their own shit for now. No reason to borrow trouble we don’t have to. Anything else we need to know about?”
When I looked up, Nash’s eyes sparkled as he gave me a shit-eating grin. “All right, motherfuckers. Yeah. Her name’s Thea. I met her in Crystal Falls and she’s something special.”
“Goddamn,” Shakes said. “I never thought I’d see the day, my brother. You gonna ask her to stay?”
I ran my thumb along the grain of the oak table. Then, I met Shakes’s eyes. “Yeah. I am.”
Nash whistled then reached over to squeeze my shoulder. “Then, she really must be something special. But I know you, man. You’ve got a look in your eye. What’s the trouble?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and blew out a breath. Damn, I didn’t think the guys would pick anything up from me that quickly. For as much as I’d been telling Thea I could read her face, I’d forgotten how well the guys at this table knew me.
Rubbing a thumb along my chin, I shook my head. “Nothing, man. At least, I think it’s nothing.”
“King,” Nash said. “What’s going on?”
For the first time in my life I felt pulled in two directions. This was my club, my family. Every man at this table would die for each other, and some of us already had. I felt a new, fierce loyalty to Thea I couldn’t deny. Giving voice to the thing nagging me about her felt like a betrayal. But, as I looked into Nash’s eyes and the rest of the crew, I knew I had no choice.
“She’s scared of something,” I said. “And she’s been running from something. Somebody hurt her in her past, badly. I want to make it clear to her that she’s got me and the club behind her if she ever needs it.”
Nash expression hardened. “You got any idea what she got herself messed up in?”
I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Not specifically, no. But I understand a side of her she tries to hide. It’s a familiar kind of pain to me.”
The postures around the table shifted. Every one of these men knew just how badly I’d suffered under my old man. They’d been the ones here to pick me up and close ranks around me.
“I get it, man,” Nash said. “If you care about this girl even a tenth of what I feel for my wife, it would drive me crazy to think anything ever hurt her. But, she’s not telling you shit?”
“She’s scared,” I answered. “And she’s been on her own for a long time. Fuck, I understand what that feels like too. I know it’s a big ask, but I gotta ask it. She matters to me, man. I want that t
o be enough.”
Nash sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. “We gotta be careful, King. You of all people know why. We’re good right now, but this shit won’t last. Whether it’s shit getting stirred with the Saints on the other side of the coast or more of it here, you know trouble will come one way or the other.”
Fierce anger rose inside of me. “You telling me no? You saying Thea’s on her own?”
Nash raised a hand. “Fuck no, man. Calm down. No. I’m not saying that. I’m saying figure out whether this girl has enemies that might want to hurt us. You just met her. Now’s the time to be extra cautious about who we bring close. But, I’ll tell you right now, I don’t care who she’s mixed up with, anyone comes after her while she’s with you, we’re not going to let that slide. You know that.”
My heart settled back into my chest. He was right, of course. It was the thing that had nagged me about Thea from the start. It was dangerous for me not to know exactly what kind of baggage she had. The club had to come first, always. Still, even as I nodded and shook Nash’s hand, I knew I’d keep my promise to Thea. No one would hurt her as long as I was around.
We spent the next half hour discussing the more mundane part of running our businesses. Things were good, better than ever, and that settled me. Just as Nash hit the gavel and ended the meeting, there was a soft knock on the door. Liza walked in. The noise from the bar rose and fell as she stepped inside and closed the door. She walked over to Shakes and he put his arm around her waist.
“Everything good out there?” Nash asked.
Liza gave a thumbs up and tousled Shakes’s hair. “It’s going to be a huge night, receipt-wise,” she said.
“How’s Thea?” I asked. “And where’s Thea? You haven’t scared her off yet, have you?”
Liza answered me with a cool smile. “I like her, King. She’s kinda quiet, but she’s taking it all in. Plus, the fact you haven’t scared her off yet makes me think she’s gotta be tough as shit.”