Faith (The Fast Love Collection Book 1)

by Watkins, TM

  “Oh I intend to.”

  He chuckled and started thrusting again, the momentum faster than before. My body flushed with a fast building orgasm, Archer's intense frown and panting was a serious turn on.

  “You there?”

  I nodded, my body arching back against his arm.

  “Me too, come with me?”

  “Yes.” I moaned.

  Having Archer inside of me made me a molten mess of hormones regardless of how close to finishing he was but watching his mouth go slack as a croaky groan escaped him tipped me over. His body stilled, driven deep into me.

  Lost eyes caught mine, pulling me to his body again he held me tight, a shudder of ecstasy rippling through him. Desperation burned as his lips crashed against mine, clinging to the last of the orgasm. Our encounter was cut short, the sound of a car coming down the track caused a flurry of movements and giggles.

  As Archer opened the door again, I picked up the items on the seat and took a wary look at the young couple in the car.

  “Is this some kind of known hotspot for outdoor fucking or something?”

  Archer shot me a cheeky smirk and a shrug, shutting the door. Rounding the car he ignored my shocked face and moved a little quicker.

  “I am appalled Archer. You brought me here to get into my pants.”

  “Baby, I could do that anywhere. I brought you here for the view and to eat ice cream.”

  He slipped the gear in and pulled away, leaving the love birds to their misbehavior. Stopping at the intersection he looked at me and my unimpressed face, crossed arms and death stare. Shaking his head he turned onto the road, laughing.

  “Honest Rox, spur of the moment thing. You were just looking so damned pretty and then you popped the button, well I was never going to be able to turn away from pleasing you.”

  Tilting his head, he pouted with sad eyes. I sighed and relented on the death stare.

  “So where's this great place for lunch?”

  “It's about half an hour down the road, bit of a trek but totally worth it.”

  I nodded quietly and turned to the view out my window, the road snaked along the coast line and offered an unmarred view of the ocean. The sun sparkled on the water, still looking incredibly calm.

  A warm embrace roused me from the idyllic view, our fingers laced together as we cruised down the open road. Turning back to him I smiled when he took a tentative glance, offering his own smile. It was a little restrained but it was happy.

  Something deep within me sat up and took notice. I couldn't escape the niggling thought that I wasn't reading into this enough. There was no one that I could really consult about this, aside from my parents who weren't really pro-Archer at the moment. Eddie and James were new in their love, if it was that. And of course Eddie was the queen of the fabled lands of the men's room so he didn't really know much about long term love.

  We were flying blind here and it was scary.

  “Jacqueline.” Archer said, breaking the silence.

  It had been blissful, even if it was a little awkward. Now I was dealing with a woman's name. One that went by another name as well. Mother. This I wasn't expecting though that was rather foolish considering we'd visited her grave this morning.

  “Five years ago she started getting really tired, she was in pain but didn't tell anyone. It was too late, they could have operated but it was only going to give her a few more months so she said no. She wanted to spend time with her family, doing as much as she could while she had the strength. Dad even took time away from the club, can you believe it?”

  He scoffed as if it was something truly unbelievable but for someone who had never experienced a lifelong love, I suppose it could seem unrealistic.

  Archer's eyes darted to me, seeing the sympathetic and understanding girlfriend he offered a slight laugh, one that was filled with a lot of pain.

  “Think he knew her time was up, quit his job and just hung around the house. He never said much about it you know, just that she was fine, taking one day at a time. We'd go and see her every day, ignoring her calling us a pest, she was only joking. Then one day dad rings and says that the nurses are coming over earlier than scheduled and to come over in the afternoon. I get there in the afternoon and the damned nurses are there, at their usual time. He'd fucking lied and she was gone.”

  I understood the animosity now, Archer believed that his father knew his mother was about to die.

  “Was he protecting you?”

  Archer shrugged, not turning from the view of the road.

  “You know, I'd like to believe that he was.” I said softly, unsure of how he'd take it.

  His hands gripped the wheel tight, with a heavy sigh he nodded. One tiny step towards accepting that sometimes our parents do things to shield us from damage. We may not always agree with it, but they do it to lessen the burden and in this case, Mathias had done it to stop them from watching their mother die. It wasn't the greatest of situations but I couldn't find fault with it. Archer said they went and saw her every day so it wasn't as if they hadn't seen her in a long time.

  I could honestly say that I wouldn't know what to do in such a situation. Be protective or expose them to the vision that would always haunt them?

  “Kel was a mess, went missing for days after the funeral. Just got worse after that. He seemed to have some kind of death wish, trying to find someone to blame for a death that wasn't caused by anyone. Him and another member found a couple of new recruits for a rival club and gave them a good working over. A week passed, we were all walking around on egg shells, waiting for the retribution. By this stage I'd had my falling out with dad and walked away, packed my shit up and moved into a gated unit complex. I'd paced the floors for days, trying to ignore the voice in my head that was calling me chicken shit. Hiding wasn't helping me so I got on my bike and went back to the clubhouse. Made an almost peace with my father, we weren't really at odds with each other but there was a distance that I'd caused by walking away like that. Kel had calmed down a little but was still on edge. At the end of it I walked away, still not happy with life but found it a little easier. I went back to my little hole in the wall, it wasn't much better than a jail cell. I'd barely walked to the front door when my neighbor called out to me, asking if I'd heard about the gun fight on the other side of the city. He didn't know that I was in a club, I told him I was a weekend warrior. So that's how I found out my brother was dead. Damned news report on the television.”

  I rubbed his shoulder, hoping that with a small amount of affection would release a little tension. It was a long shot but it was one that was worth taking.

  Chapter Eighteen

  My eyes widened at the sight of one rather large seafood platter. The menu said that it would feed two but I believed that it would feed a whole lot more. Even Archer was a little surprised at how much food came out.

  The restaurant was sitting atop of a small cliff that overlooked the beach and the sea. Here the waves crashed to the sand, the white caps were rolling to the beach in vast numbers.

  We were sitting out on a deck that over looked a beach below, a few families had set up on the sand and the sounds of laughter and shrieks from the children were oddly comforting. A view into the future. As crazy as it sounded, I think the thought of having a child was slowly growing on me. What would happen between Archer and I was still very much up in the air but if today was anything to go by, things would be good. We were opening up, slowly learning about each other. Things that were club related were still a touchy subject but at least now I wasn't met with a scowl, just a frown and no answer. I'd get there, only because I knew that it wasn't that I couldn't know about it, it was because he wanted to ignore the past.

  “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-eight in a few hours.”

  I stared blankly at him, the words barely registering. He chuckled and picked off another prawn.

  “You're kidding, right?”

  He shook his head, more interested in peeling out
the edible part of the prawn.

  “Why didn't you tell me?”

  “I just did.” He returned.

  “No, I meant before this. I could have gotten you something.”

  “Naked in bed together is more than enough.”

  Archer paused for a moment and then grinned darkly.

  “And being naughty of course, that's a given.”

  Well duh.

  “Can't believe you left it to a few hours before to tell me.”

  “I've had a trying few days Rox, give me a break. Moved house, got a girlfriend and managed to knock her up, had dinner with my old man and my dead brother's family, something I haven't done in a really long time. Kind of in a weird head space at the moment, you know?”

  “Sure.”

  I said nothing more, his mood shifted slightly and I didn't want it to progress into something that was negative. Our late lunch was going well, I didn't need it ruined by a stupid fight.

  “So what was your name?”

  He looked at me as the food rolled around in his mouth.

  “Rails.” He finally offered.

  “Why?”

  “First ride I hit the guard rail and my old man said it was a sign. Kellen said it wasn't a sign it was a rail as in guard rail and it stuck.”

  Warily I continued, curiosity was a killer. I wanted to know everything about him but he was really hot and cold with giving information over.

  “And what about your father and Kellen?”

  “Kel was called buck because he hit a rock and got thrown off the bike, like a bucking bronco. The old man's called striker, likes to throw a punch or two now and then.”

  I nodded, a little placated in my quest for knowledge. Rather than the constant push, I'd take little nibbles here and there and hope that he'd always be happy to talk.

  Comfortable silence hit the table as we continued to devour the amazing platter of fresh seafood. We made a fair dent in it, I sat back feeling so full I was beginning to wonder if I'd overdone it. Archer had a huge appetite, consuming the majority of what had been eaten. I'd picked my way through, taking it easy on my unsettled stomach.

  Waddling back out to the car, Archer seemed rather amused by my slow walk and complaints of regret.

  “One day you're going to explode with a lot of fat. Do you realize how much you eat?”

  He shrugged and opened the door. “Growing boy.”

  When he sat behind the wheel, he turned side on and looked at me.

  “So now what?” I asked.

  “Wanna get inked?”

  I stared at Archer, bewildered as I waited for my mind to find one answer. Rattling between yes and no, it seemed that any form of an answer was a long way off. Archer chuckled and turned the engine over, pulling the car out of the car park.

  “Maybe I'll get a little one and you can sit with me, decide once you've seen it in real life.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Shit yeah but you'd get used to it. The skin kind of goes numb after a while.”

  Oh. Not as convincing as I'd hoped it to be though I wasn't so foolish as to believe it wouldn't hurt.

  As far as distractions went, this one was by far the most distracting. Instead of thinking about the possibility of being pregnant, I was thinking about how much pain I might be in if I decided to get a tattoo.

  When the thought of the pain had increased to the point where it was too unbearable, I decided that I wasn't getting one, no matter what.

  Then, I was thinking of what I would get if I decided to get one. I couldn't decide so I believed it was a sign that I was not to get one.

  It wasn't in my nature to be so flippant with such a life altering decision. I was the kind of person that would think about it and weigh up the options, write down the pros and cons of the idea and decide based on the list.

  If I had a list, it was scattered in my crazy mind, obliterated with yes I will and no I won't, of how romantic it was to get tattoos together and of how it was a permanent mark on my body. By the time we got to the shop, Archer was shaking his head, the grin was a mile wide and I couldn't help but wonder why.

  “Finished deciding yet?”

  “How did you know?”

  “You were silent and you'd frown and then smile, sneer and twist those pretty lips, biting them and generally making this man really, really horny.”

  He leaned over and kissed me once, soft and quick before he got out of the car. I'd quickly learned to sit and wait, to not even open the door. I wondered how long this would last before he got sick of it. Maybe I'd be the one to crack first.

  Archer opened the door to the shop, the buzzing sound was a little quieter than I'd expected.

  “Afternoon rails, who is your friend?”

  The fellow behind the counter was a narrow bodied, middle aged man that was in what appeared to be like a uniform. Black bowling shirt and jeans, the same as the other guy who was doing a tattoo on a young woman. Her friend was sitting on a chair beside her, watching the ordeal.

  “Hey Glen, this is Roxy my old lady.”

  “Charming.” I muttered under my breath.

  Archer ignored me.

  “Rox, this is Glen. He does all the ink for the club.”

  “Hey.” I nodded at him.

  Glen offered his hello nod with a smile that was a little devious. When he turned I looked down, hoping that nothing was on show. Thankfully the headlights were off and we were not showing anything.

  “Climb on Roxy.” Glen said as he gestured to the long padded table.

  “Oh Archer's...”

  I looked at the man who was now eying off the rack of clothes, ignoring the conversation.

  “I guess not then. Look Glen, I'm not really sure about this.”

  “Oh, you're a virgin.”

  “Pardon?” I said rather shocked.

  “Ink virgin. It's okay Roxy, we can do something real small if you like. What do you think?”

  Glancing at the young woman who was laying on her back, getting something done on her lower abdomen, I thought about it with a lot of seriousness. Something inconspicuous would be ideal, something small would be great. At least then I could say that I'd done it. Who knows? Maybe I might like them. I liked looking at Archer's and I had a tendency to drool over inked guys rather than the non-inked variety.

  “Sure, small. Maybe a book or something, the inside of my wrist might be okay.”

  Glen looked at me a little confused.

  “Roxy is an author, she writes romance books.”

  “Yeah?” He said rather happily. “My old lady reads romance, maybe she's read yours.”

  “Possibly.”

  An office chair was pulled out and offered to me, along with a padded bench for me to rest my arm on.

  “This will be easier seeing as you're getting it done on your wrist, take a seat.”

  Archer helped himself to the long bed like table, sitting on it with a smug grin. Somehow he'd managed to get me to go first, I was still trying to figure it out. Glen was setting up, putting out little pots of ink. I looked at the drawing he offered. An open book with the pages rising up, turning into birds that were flying away.

  “Yeah, that's pretty cool.”

  “Good.”

  The image was pressed to my wrist, transferring onto the skin.

  “Okay Rox, brave and all that nonsense.” Glen offered with a cheeky grin.

  Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and waited. The buzzing started and the pain seared through my arm.

  “Ow.” I muttered, not impressed.

  It was more than just ow. We could say that ow was just the forerunner to a whole lot of wincing, ouches, general complaints and pinching Archer's leg until he moved. But at the end of it, I was okay. I survived. For all that I'd been a little vocal about it, I was just messing around.

  After I was patched up and given a list of do and do nots for tattoo care, I got up and waited for Archer to take a seat. Instead he got off the long table and t
alked to Glen as he moved to the front counter.

  “Aren't you getting one done?”

  “Yeah, Glen's just looking for the pattern I'd left here.”

  “Found it.” He crooned, turning from the filing cabinet against the back wall. “Did you just want the outlining today or do the whole thing? How much time have you two kids got?”

  My phone rang, removing it from my bag I looked at the screen and wondered why Alexis was calling me.

  “That's my agent. I might be a while so you might as well do the whole thing.”

  I pressed the screen to receive the call, crossing the room to take the call as I looked out the window.

  “Alexis.”

  “Afternoon Faith, how's the hunk doing?”

  “Great.”

  I turned and looked at said hunk, rolling his sleeve up. Glen put the image onto the skin, a continuation of his arm piece. Archer was slowly inking his way down his arm.

  “Good.” She crooned. “Hopefully a little loving will help the flow. I've emailed some dates for you to go over, check if there's any conflicts that I've forgotten about. Have you heard when your sister will be back?”

  “Not anything definite.” I said a little perplexed. “Dates for what?”

  “Promotional tour Faith, we discussed this. The dates are only tentatively booked so if I've double booked you over a birthday or something you'll need to let me know.”

  Maybe not a birthday as such, maybe a birth day. Holy crap, my life has just gotten complicated. A book tour, how did I miss her saying that one?

  I looked at Archer who was already being tattooed, sitting there as if the pain was nothing. He was a freak. I offered a weak smile as he looked up at me, his own gleaming smile was hard to miss. The man was happy and after the shitty beginning of the day he needed to end it on a high, especially given that tomorrow was his birthday.

  Far out, how could I tell him that I was going on a book tour, probably gone for a month. This was not good and I couldn't tell him tomorrow, it would making his birthday a depressing one. So when could I tell him? And what if I was pregnant, could I still go on the tour given that it wouldn't happen for a few months yet?