by Debra Kayn
Each of them nodded, knowing they couldn't talk in front of Ingrid about club business. They'd gone their whole life supporting each other. He trusted they'd cover his ass.
"I'm riding home." Wayne slipped on his gloves. "Call if you need me."
"I'll follow you." Chuck slapped Glen's shoulder as he walked past him. "Thad? You coming?"
"Yeah, I'll be out in a second." Thad stopped in front of Glen. "I called Hanley. It's been quiet at the Peterson house."
Ingrid leaned against Glen. He put one arm around her and held the other one out to Thad. "Thanks, bro."
Thad left the house. Alone with Ingrid, he needed to keep her busy. The fewer questions Ingrid asked, the better. It'd already been a rough day, and the following days wouldn't get any easier.
"How about I make you a grilled cheese." He rubbed her back. "You barely ate the burger Chuck brought to you."
She shook her head. "I don't feel like eating. I can't even move. My body is just...ugh, I feel beat."
"Then, run upstairs." He patted her ass. "Let me shut everything off down here."
She looked over her shoulder as she took the stairs. He nodded, knowing exactly what she needed, and gave her permission to relax.
He shut off the lights in the living room and took his keys out of his pocket and dropped them in his helmet by the door. In the dining room, he opened the sliding door and found the cat at his feet.
"Get in here," he muttered.
The cat shot past him into the house and zipped up the stairs. He locked the door. Leaving the kitchen light on, he went upstairs, skipping the bedroom, and headed straight to the bathroom. He turned on the bathtub faucet and started filling the tub. Looking in his cabinet and on the shelf, he found nothing a woman would enjoy. No candles, no smelly stuff, no bubbles.
He needed nothing extra to get clean but a bar of soap and shampoo. But, Ingrid deserved pampering.
Ingrid stuck her head in the room. "Are you going to take a shower?"
"Nope." He crooked his finger and motioned her in.
She stepped up to him. He lifted the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head. His gaze fell to a black lace bra that lifted her breasts and left the tops of the mounds uncovered. It wasn't one of the bras from Target. She must've found that one at her parents' house.
He drew his finger down her cleavage. "I know exactly what you need."
She placed her hands on his stomach. "What would that be?"
"A bath."
She gawked. Her mouth opened and shut. He chuckled and unbuttoned her jeans, whipping them down to her ankles. She had on too many damn clothes.
Chapter 35
Glen sat on the edge of the bathtub and turned off the faucet. Ingrid stood behind him, stripped bare. He held out his hand, and she clasped onto him, lifting her leg and stepping into the warm water. She lowered herself to her bottom and slid her ass along the porcelain surface until the water reached her neck, and the top of her bent knees stuck above the waterline.
The temperature of the water relaxed her muscles. A sigh of pleasure escaped her. She'd lost her shyness about being naked when she used the female showers at the homeless shelters and in the summer when she had no time to think about her pride and used the river for a quick dunk and wash.
Glen's gaze on her body intensified. She caught her lip at the sudden tightening between her legs. She couldn't be self-conscious around Glen when it was apparent he appreciated her body. She liked to please him.
"The pictures of you at your parents' house look nothing like you." He raised his gaze to her eyes. "You were beautiful before, and you're sexier than hell now."
"I'm too skinny." Under the water, she sprawled her hand on her stomach, aware of her hip bones protruding.
"Easy enough to eat whenever you want now." He reached into the water and weighed her breast in the palm of his hand. "Nothing small here."
Her grandma had been a big breasted woman. Her mom used to laugh that it skipped a generation and Ingrid had inherited the blessing. His touch accelerated how fast her body was warming. Glen had her looking at herself as a woman for the first time.
Evan never made her feel beautiful. She'd been too young and inexperienced when they started dating to understand the difference between a man's attention and love. Out on her own, having witnessed the dynamics of the homeless men and women, she quickly learned the difference between commitment and lust.
"Hey?" Glen removed his hand from her breast. "Where did you go?"
Shaking the past out of her head, she sat up, moving closer to him. "Thank you."
"For?" He scooped up water in his hand and poured it over her shoulder.
"Most days I feel like I've lived two lifetimes and have done things other people will never imagine having to do." She stroked his upper lip, easing the spasm. "When we're together, I feel like everything is new. The feelings you give me. The way you take care of me. You're giving me a bath, Glen, and at this moment, it's the most wonderful thing there is...besides you."
His gaze softened, and he grunted. "Let's make it even better."
He slipped his hand under the water and between her legs. Her knees fell to the sides of the tub as his fingers manipulated her pussy, finding her clit. She looked at the front of his jeans and found him hard. The proof that she pleased him intoxicated her.
The top of the water splashed against the undersides of her breasts. Glen leaned over more and slid a finger into her pussy while rubbing her clit with his thumb. She moaned at the fullness and watched the lines at the corner of Glen's eyes deepen. He watched for her reaction, fed off her body responding to his touch.
She moaned and her neck arched.
"That's it." Glen widened the circles between her leg.
She squirmed, needing to move.
"You were made for me, Blue. Look at you." He leaned forward and kissed her.
His tongue dipped. His finger dipped. She swallowed his moan, and that low vibration echoed through her and she came in his hand.
Glen pulled his mouth away, his eyes shining bright with arousal. "I'm not done yet."
She grabbed onto his leather vest and hoisted herself to her feet on weak legs. "Then take more."
He stood, undoing his belt, and loosened his jeans enough to pull his thick, hard cock out. She took his place at the side of the tub and gazed up at him. "Can I?"
Glen put his hand on the top of her head and guided her lips forward, fisting the base of his dick. She opened her mouth and licked around the head of his cock. His fingers massaged her head, and she closed her eyes at the same time she closed her lips around him and sucked. She stroked him with her tongue, adding pressure, and took more of his length.
"Jesus," he whispered.
Her lazy, content smile tightened around him, and he trembled. His hand stroked down the back of her neck, and his breathing grew heavier and faster. She bobbed her head back and forth, loving the closeness.
His cock slipped out of her mouth. She blinked her eyes open and looked up in surprise at him moving away. He scooped her off the tub and carried her wet body into the bedroom. She landed on the bed and watched him roll a condom on. She reclined to her back and opened her legs for him.
He settled on top of her and thrust his cock into her pussy with one lunge, arching his back. She hooked her feet behind his thighs and wound her arms around his.
"Locked me down," he said with a groan.
She heard him but had no idea what he meant, so she held on. Her body already responding to him again, she used her hold on him to thrust her pelvis off the bed and meet each of his thrusts.
Their quick breaths matched the slapping of their bodies. Her lower stomach constricted and her pussy spasmed before the jolt of pleasure released inside of her.
Glen plunged and ground himself against her, shuddering as he came. Her body melted against the bed. She couldn't even lift her hand to touch him and fought to keep her eyes open.
He kissed her softly. "L
ove that, too."
Glen rolled off her, removed the condom, and fastened his jeans again. Then, he returned to bed, pulling her naked body against his fully clothed one. She put her cheek on his chest. He hadn't said he loved her or was falling in love. He loved that.
She loved that, too.
"Don't you want to take your clothes and boots off," she whispered, ending with a yawn.
He tucked her closer, rubbing her back. "No, I want to be ready."
Ready? She swallowed hard. For a moment, he'd made her forget the danger that waited outside his house.
Chapter 36
Wayne, Thad, and Chuck sat on their motorcycles in the lot, ready to start work at Port Loaders. Glen swooped around and rolled to a stop in perfect alignment for a quick exit. One call from Ingrid during the next eight hours and he'd use comp time to leave.
He shut off the engine. "Anything?"
"No sight of him." Thad hung his helmet on the handlebar. "Kingsley knows we're watching and between the three of us on his ass while you're covering Ingrid, Evan's decided to lay low."
Glen checked his phone. "There's an hour until he's due to work. I'll call during my first break and find out if he showed up. If he's there, I plan on going once the air horn blows to pick him up as he walks to his car."
Wayne swung his leg off the Harley and stood. "I want all of us with you. We go in as a club and walk out together."
The five-minute start air horn blasted. Glen looked at his phone one more time, assuring himself that Ingrid was taken care of by Pauly, and her boss would also call if there were any threats.
He fell into line between Wayne and Thad with Chuck behind him. "I need somewhere for Ingrid to go once she's off work until I finish with Kingsley. Since Hanley's protecting the Petersons, I'm going to call him later and find out if he thinks he can handle watching Ingrid until the job is over."
"Why the hesitation?" Thad stopped a few feet away from the line of workers at the security gate.
"Ingrid." He lowered his voice and turned his back to his coworkers and addressed his MC brothers. "She knows something is up."
"You told her?" Wayne shook his head. "Fuck, man..."
"No, but she's paying attention. Twice this morning, she asked about what plan I was talking about last night with you guys." Glen scooped a few sunflowers from his pocket and popped them in his mouth, pushing the seeds to his cheek. "I don't trust her to stay put where I tell her to stay if she believes I'm in trouble. All Evan Kingsley needs to do is threaten someone she loves, or if she feels her parents will be safer without her, she'll react before thinking. I'll need to make sure Hanley understands that he'll need to hold her there."
Chuck moved in closer. "She's young. I'm sure Hanley knows how immature females act. We've searched for hundreds of them, and he's helped us enough times to know. Girls are impulsive, and their bad decisions get them in situations they're not ready to handle."
"Not Ingrid." Glen cracked a shell between his teeth. This whole time, not one of his MC brothers had confronted him about having a relationship with someone twenty years old. Until now.
"Bro..." Thad raised his brows. "Don't ignore the obvious."
"Fuck off." Glen pointed at Thad's chest. "This has nothing to do with her age."
Wayne stuck out his hand, stopping the conversation. "Until we see what you see in her, you need to let us know how to deal with the situation."
The muscle in Glen's lip spasmed, and he willingly took responsibility for Ingrid. It'd be easier for everyone if he dealt with Kingsley himself, but he was glad for the club's support. If shit went south, it'd take all of them to get their asses out of there and stay alive and not get arrested and sent to prison.
The final air horn blared as Glen swiped his card through the scanner. All four Notus members separated going to their foremen for the daily cries sheet. He skipped the normal bullshit session with his coworkers as the work day started and jumped right into moving his first car onto the deck of the ship to spray the undercoating on the vehicle.
He exited the car, put the mask over his face, and waved his hand for the painters to do their job. During the five minutes of spray time, he loosened his jaw and relaxed his mouth. If he failed to get control of himself, there would be no justice brought down on Kingsley.
For as long as he remembered, he'd fought for control. He tried to hide the muscle damage from the surgery on his lip. Not that it bothered him, but from an early age, he'd discovered that others focused on the twitching. It wasn't the added attention, but his inability to control his own body that had him finding ways to move his lips to camouflage the odd movement—which came more frequently when he was tense, or his adrenaline ran high.
Because the damaged muscle was out of his control, he chose to develop habits such as whistling, lipping a toothpick, smoking, chewing, breaking sunflower seeds. When he became addicted to the habit, he quit cold turkey, enjoying the struggle to break something he could control. Over and over, habits kept his mind busy and off the never-ending muscle spasms.
"Clear." The painter pulled back the air hose. "Turn on the dryer."
Glen ripped off the mask and tossed it in the garbage can. He walked over to the wall and typed into the laptop used to record the cries.
"Hey, Steele. Ever think of teaching Shaw how to use a computer?" The day-shift foreman tossed another key at him.
He caught the cardboard tag on the ring and put the key in his pocket. "Good luck there. Wayne's set in his ways."
The thirty-second timer went off on the dryer. Glen opened the car door and slid into the driver's seat. The undercoating now in place to protect the car from the salt in the air as it was shipped overseas.
The guide pointed to the top deck of the ship. After three sharp turns, he pulled onto the ramp, followed the markers, and reversed into the allotted parking spot. Wrapping his fingers around the edge of the door to protect the paint, he slipped out and walked the loop around the deck to start the process all over again.
He'd parked three brand-new vehicles on the ship headed out of the country when the air horn went off signaling the first ten-minute break of the day. On the top deck, he walked over to the rail and took out his phone. He'd left it on vibrate while he worked despite the no-personal-cell-phone rule. Nothing would stop him from answering if Ingrid needed him.
He called her. She answered after the first ring. "Hello."
"Hey, Blue."
"I was going to call you earlier, but Pauly said I shouldn't bother you because it wasn't an emergency but it feels like it's important and —"
"Ingrid?" He paused, letting her catch her breath. "What?"
"You'd tell me if you have something planned, right?" she asked.
"What kind of plans?" He leaned against the railing and looked down at the public walkway. "Like who is going to pick you up after work?"
"No, it's more important than that, and it doesn't feel right when you don't give me a straight answer." She lowered her voice. "Do you plan on going after Evan, cause last night I got the feeling that you and Notus Motorcycle Club have decided you're done protecting my parents and me? I need to tell you if that's what you're planning, it's a bad idea."
The cords in his neck tightened and he tilted his head side to side. "What are you talking about?"
"You know." The connection on the cell became muffled. "Don't. Do. Anything."
An older woman pushing a shopping cart along the trail along the riverbank stopped beside a garbage can chained to a post. She reached down inside the hole in the top and rummaged through the bin. He inhaled deeply struck angry knowing it wasn't that long ago that the homeless woman could've been Ingrid. Had she gone through the garbage looking for food? A pop can to recycle for the five cent return? Cardboard to stay warm?
"No worries, Blue. I called because we got a call to help out on a search for a missing teenager after work." He rubbed his hand over his face and turned his back to the homeless woman below and continued to li
e. "I'm going to pick you up at Pauly's and take you to your parents' house. Hanley will be there to watch over you."
"Oh..." She hesitated. "Okay. Yes, you need to help the family find their child. I'll call my mom and let her know to expect me. She can tell Mr. Hanley."
"I'll call Hanley." He looked down at the ramp. "Listen, my break is over. I'll call you during lunch. Everything going okay there?"
"Yeah. I sold a bike, and there's been a steady stream of renters coming in."
"Good." He walked to the ramp. "Stay close to Pauly."
"I am."
"Talk to you later." He disconnected the call and called Hanley. The ex-military man's conversation stayed short and to the point. After solidifying the plan to drop Ingrid at her parents after work, he slipped his phone back in his pocket.
Chuck jogged over. "What's up?"
"Everything is set up." He wiped his forehead on his shirt. "While I'm taking Ingrid to her parents after work, I'll need everyone to head to Beaverton. I don't want Evan slipping by us. Keep him in sight, and I'll join you as soon as I can."
"Will do." Chuck slapped Glen's back and jogged off in the opposite direction.
All he had to do was make sure Ingrid and her parents made it through the day. He'd take care of the rest. And then finally, Ingrid could go on with the life she deserved to live.
Chapter 37
Ingrid slid off the back of the motorcycle. Glen joined her in the driveway of her parents' house and patted her ass. "Do you have the phone I gave you?"
She lifted her purse. "Yeah."
"Listen to Hanley." He cupped the back of her neck. "Make sure you eat something."
"I will." She wrapped her arms around him, under his vest. "Are you sure you'll be back in time, so I don't have to spend the night alone?"
"I don't know how long it'll take, but as soon as I'm done, I'll pick you up." He kissed her upturned lips.
She pulled back. "Done?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, the search. When we're done."
"You know where the kid is?" She tilted her head.