by Unknown
“Fine, but be in church tomorrow, Slick,” Bone called after him as he began storming to his bike.
“Yeah, yeah.” He headed home and maybe he wondered what Raven was doing, but it didn’t mean anything.
The next day as Raven was helping the women make pies for the bonfire party tonight, Raven stared at Mia as she pulled a pie from the oven; she looked so domestic that Raven felt like she barely knew her friend anymore. It wasn’t that she’d never seen her friend look like this, she had. It was just after being away, things were different. She’d spent most of last night crying over Travis and trying to convince her brother she didn’t need to see a doctor.
Now she was sitting in Mia’s kitchen with Charity, Molly, Katie and Racheal. She’d arrived a few minutes ago to find them all here with Mia.
“So, I bet it was nice being rescued by Travis. He’s a lot nicer than the other men. I think it’s because he’s been out of the club for so long. When we were dating I loved that about him. He was so easy going,” Charity was saying.
Raven was a bit shocked by what she was saying. Travis was anything but easy going. Half the time he’d been a total jerk. The only time she could remember him being nice was when they were sleeping or the night he’d made love to her. She wondered if Travis had been in love with Charity. That made her stomach plummet. Then another disturbing thought occurred to her. Did he still love her?
She stared at the other woman for a moment, realizing that their hair was almost the same color and Charity was only a bit taller than her. She wasn’t as thin but she wasn’t much larger than Raven. Had Travis been thinking of Charity while he made love to her, she wondered, feeling sick.
“Yeah, he’d be a hell of a lot nicer than Trick.” Katie laughed.
“Bitch, anyone’s nicer than Trick!” Charity teased.
“Hey, don’t be dissin’ my man! He might not be nice but he’s still mine.” Katie shook a spoon that she’d been eating the leftover filling from at her.
“Stop you two. Poor Raven’s been through a trauma and she doesn’t need you two acting like five year olds,” Molly told them
Charity smiled at Raven. “Again, I bet it was nice traveling with him. He’s so fun.”
Raven wanted to stab her in the eye with the fork that lay in front of her. She refrained but she shrugged. Travis had been a dick most of the time. Well, he’d talked like a jerk anyway. He’d done nice things for her, but when he spoke, the man ruined it. “He was okay, I guess. Not fun though,” she finally said.
Charity frowned and Katie stared at her with surprise. “He wasn’t nice to you?” Katie asked.
Raven stared at her hands for a moment, then looked up at the other women. “I think he was upset that he had to come rescue me.”
“Wait, are you telling me he was a jerk?” Charity asked.
“Um. Sort of,” Raven told them.
“Sort of?” Mia asked as she set two more pies into the oven to bake.
“He did nice things, but then he kept calling me princess and acting like a jerk.”
“Wait, him calling you princess was him being a jerk?” Katie asked.
“Err, it was more how he said it than what he was saying,” Raven said haltingly.
“Oh, I get it. Like when Bone gets that smartass tone! I hate that,” Molly exclaimed. Molly was rubbing her large belly as she spoke. Racheal turned to her with a twinkle in her eye.
“Tiny gets that way when he’s talking to Mara, sometimes.” Racheal was referring to one of her two twins. Apparently Tiny didn’t get along with Mara. He did with Lacy, her sister. Racheal’s twins were about two months old now and she and Tiny were very happy despite Tiny’s dislike of what he termed Mara’s bad attitude. Raven thought it might just be the fact that she had a queasy stomach and seemed to throw up on him often.
“Wow, I can’t believe it. I have never seen Travis be anything but a gentleman. I guess it was the stress of the situation maybe?” Charity said looking at Katie, who shrugged.
“I guess,” Raven replied, feeling a bit depressed. She wanted to just go home and cry all over again over the big jerk.
“Huh, that’s odd though. Wonder if he’ll be nicer to you now that you’re back here and not being chased by the Headhunters,” Charity muttered, smiling at her.
She wished that the woman wasn’t so darned nice, then she might be able to hate her. Raven didn’t want to think that Travis had just used her for sex because she was there when he really wanted this woman instead. Maybe that was why he was so cold the next morning. With a sigh, she wondered what dwelling on it would do other than depress her.
“Lets talk about something else please. I don’t want to talk about what happened anymore,” Raven told them.
“Oh, you poor dear, of course. I didn’t even think. I can be such an idiot sometimes,” Charity said.
“I wonder what Pearl is planning for tonight. From what I hear it’s a doozy. Do you know what it is, Racheal?” Katie asked as she licked more filling from the spoon she held.
“Nope, but knowing my mother, it will be entertaining. She plans to give Bear a present and knowing her, it’s likely to be something like a live bear or something equally as strange.” Racheal laughed, her lips stained blue from the berries she’d been eating.
Katie laughed. “I can’t wait to find out what it is. When Mae told me that we’d all find it entertaining, I wanted to string her up by her toes and poke her till she told me. Only Trick came in and distracted me with those bedroom eyes of his,” she grumbled, earning laughs from everyone except Charity, who began gagging. Trick was her brother after all.
“That’s disgusting,” Charity told them, wrinkling her nose.
“Okay, ladies, let’s take this into the living room,” Mia told them. Katie and Charity led the way still arguing. Racheal and Molly followed them laughing. Raven sat on the stool for a moment. She felt Mia hug her from behind. “Are you okay? I can tell that something is bothering you. I know that you’re not ready to talk about it but when you are, I’m here. You know that, right?” Mia asked her as she let her go.
Raven turned around, her eyes stinging. “I know. It’s not about what happened…or the things I did.” A shiver passed over her as she remembered being forced to touch Viper. “It’s just-- I-I don’t know,” she finally stuttered out. She wanted to tell Mia about Travis and their last night together, but she didn’t want to at the same time. It was too raw. Like what had happened with the Headhunters was.
Mia nodded. “When you’re ready.” Mia linked her arm through hers, dragging her into the living room with the other women.
Chapter 15
Travis leaned against the wall talking to Duck while they waited on the rest of the men to arrive. He’d wanted to go over to Marcus and Raven’s this morning to talk to her but when he’d woke this morning, Tank had been on his doorstep demanding help with a errand. He’d only gotten back an hour ago and now he was here waiting for church to start. He was hoping that he’d be able to talk to Raven tonight at the bonfire.
“Good, you’re all here,” Bone said as he, Tiny and Tank entered. The club had been waiting on them so that church could begin. From the grim expressions on their faces, this wasn’t going to be a fun meeting. Bone took his seat at the head of the table while Tank and Tiny sank into their own chairs.
“Before we get into the new development with the Jackals, I’d like to introduce you to our newest patched member. Many of you already know him and his history with the club, but some of you don’t. He helped the club for years before his mother got sick and we were about to give him his patch back then. Now he’s helped the club again and we’re giving the man his patch because he earned it. We all know that once you join the club there is really only one way out.” Bone held out the leather cut he’d been carrying and Travis reached out taking it.
“Death,” the men in the room said in unison.
“Right. Slick, welcome back. We’re glad to have you back where you be
long, with family,” Bone said.
For some reason, he felt a little choked up at the feel of the leather sliding over his hand. “Thanks,” he said quietly.
“Don’t thank me, you earned it.” Bone watched as he pulled the vest on over the t-shirt he was wearing. Feeling like he was finally home again, he leaned back against the wall. “Now, back to business. The fucking Jackals are at our door again. We found forty or so of their men hiding out in an abandoned warehouse about twenty miles south of here. We’re planning to hit them in a few days. Over the past few months we’ve taken out most of their club. Somehow they’re like rats and more of them keep popping out of the woodwork.”
There was a general grumble of discontent from the group and men shifted in their seats. None of them were too happy about the Jackals running around their territory. They all wanted them gone because of the drugs they ran, and now them hooking up with the Headhunters was not something they wanted to deal with near their homes.
Bone began to talk about teams to watch the warehouse because he wanted to keep an eye on it to see if there were more of them before they went in to take them out. They’d work in shifts of five to prevent the Jackals from running before they went in to take them out.
Bone talked for another hour, setting up the teams and making sure that everyone knew their timetable. Tank broke up the meeting with a joke that no one stayed to hear. Travis hoped as he filed out behind Duck, who was grumbling about that giant idiot that Travis assumed was Tank, that he’d get to talk to Raven tonight. He’d missed holding her last night, although he’d never admit it.
Raven stood in the shadows by a tree watching Travis with a sweetbutt. The woman was petting him, her hands running up and down his new cut as she exclaimed about how sexy it made him look. Travis laughed and flirted with the woman. He leaned forward whispering something to her and that was all she could bear to watch. She had to get out of here.
She turned away with her stomach in knots and her eyes stinging with tears as she headed up toward the main clubhouse. She didn’t want to know if he slipped off with the woman to go have sex. Raven wasn’t sure she could handle it. The way she felt, she might just attack the woman and rip her hair out. She’d almost attacked her for just touching him a moment ago. If the woman had sex with him and she knew about it, she didn’t know if she’d be able to stand it. She knew that she didn’t have a right to feel possessive of him but she did.
She was very likely in love with him. She’d realized it last night when she’d ached for him to hold her. She’d never felt like this about any other man before Travis but she was constantly thinking of him despite his rudeness. She was angry that he didn’t seem interested in her after they’d had sex. She was moving these thoughts around in her head like chess pieces. As she neared the clubhouse she saw Log had just walked up and was smiling at her.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked, taking in the tears which she reached up to wipe off her cheeks.
“Nothing, I was just thinking,” Raven told him.
“Couldn’t be good thoughts if you’re crying.”
“They weren’t,” she told him but didn’t elaborate. As nice as Log was, she wasn’t about to tell him that she was upset over Travis letting another woman touch him. No way was she embarrassing herself by telling him that. Log fell into step beside her as she climbed the steps to the wrap-around porch.
“Where are you headed?” he asked.
“I was going to see if any of the girls were here at the clubhouse. It seems they’re not.”
“Ah, well then I’ll keep you company until they are.”
“I don’t really need a keeper, Log,” she told him wearily. The man surely had better things to do.
“Humor me.” Log grinned boyishly at her. She smiled; he was a tough nut to crack but once you got to know him, he was funny. At least it meant she wasn’t alone. Even though it was still early and the party hadn’t really gotten rowdy, it was nice to have someone she knew wouldn’t hurt her around. After what she’d gone through with the Headhunters she was looking at these parties in a new light.
“They’ll likely be here in a bit. Want to play cards?” Log asked pulling a deck out of his pocket, making her eyes narrow. Why was he carrying around cards? she wondered shaking her head.
“Sure, what do you want to play?” she asked as she sat down on a bench near the wall of the clubhouse.
Log wiggled his eyebrows. “Strip poker?”
Raven couldn’t help it, she threw her head back and laughed. He just looked so hopeful. “Never going to happen,” she told him with a shake of her head.
“Damn, figured it was worth a shot.” Log leaned on the wall next to her still holding the deck of cards as he grinned at her.
Travis had just gotten away from the grabby sweetbutt. He hadn’t wanted to be a jerk. He’d teased and flirted with her even though he wasn’t at all interested in her. No, his mind was filled with a certain blonde china doll who made his dick harder than a lead pipe.
He’d been looking for her for over an hour now and it was beginning to piss him off that he wasn’t able to find her. She hadn’t been anywhere he expected her to be. He’d decided to head over to the clubhouse to see if she was there and she’d better not be inside that clubhouse or her brother was going to lose vital parts of his anatomy.
He walked along seeing the men fighting in the makeshift ring and hearing men call out bets. There were sweetbutts and old ladies dancing by the bonfire and although he’d missed these parties, he was just not in the mood for this tonight. He wanted to talk to Raven about the other night and then head home, maybe with her in tow.
He was sure that she’d be willing after they talked. He was thinking about asking her about how she was settling back into life with the Red Devils after her stay with the Headhunters.
As he stepped out of the darkness near the clubhouse, he saw her. Her head was thrown back, her eyes sparkling, and her lips parted in a smile as she spoke to another man. His hands tightened into fists and his guts clenched. Log had better get the fuck away from her before he fucking killed the man.
Travis stormed onto the porch. “I need to talk to you, Raven.”
She turned to stare at him, her eyes darkening as they clouded with anger. He didn’t know what the hell she had to be angry about. She was the one flirting with another man. He didn’t want to think that less than ten minutes ago he’d been doing the same with the sweetbutt because that had meant nothing. He flirted with every woman.
“We’re busy. You and I can talk later,” Raven told him, her eyes narrowed.
She thought that was all she had to say to make him walk away? That wasn’t fucking happening in this lifetime, he thought grimly.
“Now, Princess,” he growled through his clenched teeth.
Her eyes widened and she began to say something but Log injected himself into the conversation. Travis turned his glare on the other man.
“She said not now. Why don’t you go over to the fire and chat with the girls over there. Might help your mood, Slick.”
Travis felt rage begin pounding through him. The motherfucker had not just told him to go get laid, had he? If he thought that Travis was leaving him alone with Raven, the man had another thing coming. He wasn’t leaving Log alone with her. That wasn’t happening tonight, hell, any night for that matter.
He wasn’t in the mood to get laid anyway, at least not unless he somehow got Raven alone. Then all bets were off because he wanted back inside her like he wanted to breathe.
“My mood doesn’t need any help, Log. I just need to talk to the Princess. Why don’t you head over to the fire so that I can?” Travis bared his teeth in a frightening grin.
“Maybe the lady doesn’t want to talk to you,” Log said stepping towards him, standing toe to toe with him. Travis heard the roaring sound in his ears; he was about to show the stupid little shit why he was in this club when Raven spoke.
“It’s fine, Log. We can play cards in
a bit. I’ll talk to him.” She stepped between them, her hands on Travis’s chest as she pushed him away from Log. She didn’t want the two men to fight. Travis reached down, taking her wrist in his hand, tugging her towards the clubhouse.
“You heard her, later,” Travis growled over his shoulder as he towed her inside and up the stairs.
Raven wondered what the hell he was doing. She followed him silently, looking around the clubhouse as she was dragged up the stairs. She saw that the party hadn’t really gotten rowdy yet and thankfully everyone was still clothed. Travis stopped at a door, poking his head in and then he was slamming it shut and moving to the next one. He repeated this three times before he shoved her inside the last one he’d opened.
Raven stepped into the room turning to face him. Her hands clenched into fists and her blue eyes burned with anger.
“Who the heck do y--” she began to demand of him, but before she knew what was happening she was being pressed against the wall and his mouth was on hers. She tried to push against his chest to stop him because she wasn’t a pushover and the man had just been flirting with another woman.
“Raven…Princess,” he groaned against her lips, his tongue invading her mouth when she tried to speak again. She couldn’t help herself. She found her hands pulling at his leather cut as his mouth moved down her neck nipping and sucking. She let out a keening cry as his lips found the hollow of her throat and sucked.
His hands cupped her ass, pulling her into the thick ridge of his hardened cock. She began sliding her hand under his shirt finding his smooth washboard abs. Her fingers slid over the hard ridges in wanton need. He groaned and pulled away, tearing her shirt up and off.
“Wait, not here,” Raven moaned. They needed to stop; he was using her for sex again likely because she looked like Charity.
“No, now,” Travis growled, his mouth moving to take the tight peak of her breast.
He was almost crazed with need that rode him hard. He’d been nuts thinking of her letting Log touch her. When she’d told Travis that they were busy he wanted to murder the other man. He felt almost feral from the need that raced through his veins. Now that he had her alone he was desperate to claim her, to mark her.