by Rye Hart
I tried to stifle a groan as his voice hit my ears. I whipped my gaze up toward him, taking in Luke’s shining eyes. He pulled out the chair next to me and sat down without even asking permission, and Ana was already giving him the stink eye.
“Ana,” Luke said. “You look wonderful tonight.”
“Luke,” she said. “You look like you could use a refresher course in manners.”
My eyes darted over toward the door, and I saw Rhett come in with Tommy. His eyes were scanning the floor like mine had been only moments before, but now I hoped he didn’t see me. Now, I cursed the fact that we were sitting in the middle of the floor. Everyone saw that Luke Thomas was sitting next to me, leaning a little too close and smiling a little too broadly.
My eyes connected with Rhett’s as I watched his expression fall.
This was not good. Between that note and this circumstance, I knew what he was thinking. He was thinking there was something brewing between Luke and me for the night, and that was not the case. I tried to scoot my chair away from Luke a bit as I pleaded with my eyes for Rhett to come over, but instead, he led Tommy away to a different table.
Shit. This wasn’t good.
“Isn’t that the douchebag that broke your heart?”
I whipped my head back around to Luke as I watched him follow my line of sight.
“Rhett something, right?” he asked.
“Don’t worry. She’s got plenty of douchebag sitting right next to her,” Ana said.
“Yes, that’s Rhett, the guy I dated in high school,” I said.
“Didn’t he, like, cheat on you or something?” Luke asked.
I darted my eyes over to him as I scooted my chair further away from him.
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” I said. “Let’s just have some dinner.”
“Whatever you want. You look beautiful tonight, by the way,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said.
We got our food, and I ate it as fast as I could. Ana was trying to diffuse the tension growing at the table, but Luke was determined to make this a spectacle. Every time Rhett looked over, Luke tried to put a move on me, pulling my chair closer to his and trying to kiss my cheek. I finally had to get up and tell him I wasn’t feeling well to put some distance between us. He offered to escort me back to my room, but Ana interjected and told him she could escort me back and that his services wouldn’t be needed.
Then, she shot him a nasty look.
“What the fuck’s his problem?” Ana asked.
“He’s just Luke; nerdy awkward Luke. What can we get into tonight?” I asked.
“How do you feel about the casino?” she asked. “We could play the penny slots or something.”
“Sounds good to me. Anything to get me away from that damn dinner,” I said.
“Come on. I’ll show you where the casino is.”
We made our way to the elevator and took it up to the casino floor. There were card games and slot machines, dice being rolled, and roulette being played. There were flashing lights, the music was cranked up and members of staff walking around in tuxedos and brightly-colored costumes.
But when I turned a corner to explore the place, Luke was standing at the other end of it, staring back at me.
“Ana,” I said as I backtracked. “Ana, where are you?”
I looked around, trying to find my best friend.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Where did you go?” I asked.
“I’m right here. Don’t get your panties in a—”
Her eyes fluttered over my shoulder, and I chanced a look behind me.
“Is that motherfucker following us?” Ana asked.
“I don’t know. I really don’t,” I said.
“Come on. Let’s weave through some aisles and then dip into the elevator,” she said.
Ana took my arm, and I went wherever she led. We bobbed and weaved, getting completely lost in the maze of lights and sounds. We timed it right and stepped into the elevator just as Luke came out of the casino.
He turned and looked at me as the elevator doors closed.
“Fucking creep,” Ana said.
“Ana,” I said, giving her a look. “Stop, he’s totally harmless.”
But then, the elevator doors shot back open. Luke smiled and stepped in, allowing the doors to close without pressing a button. I could feel the irritation coming off of Ana in waves and I was silently willing her not to say anything.
“I’m not feeling very well,” I said.
“You wanna go back to the room?” Ana asked.
“Yeah. I think this is a room service and rest kind of night,” I said.
“Allow me to escort you back. I want to make sure you’re okay,” Luke said.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I said as I looked behind me.
“Really. If something happened to you or something, I’d want to be there to help,” Luke said.
“Look, creep. She’s got it. Okay? Just go away and stop following us,” Ana said.
I shot a look toward Ana, but she shot me one right back. The elevator door opened on the fourth floor, and Ana dragged me off and down the hallway.
“What are we—?”
“Shut up and keep walking, okay?” she asked.
The elevator doors shut behind us, and I turned around. No one was there, not even Luke. And I sighed with relief as Ana dragged me over to the stairs.
“The last thing we needed was for that asshole to know what floor we were staying on. Now come on. We’re walking the last two flights.”
“You could’ve been a little nicer, you know,” I said. “Luke was just trying to be a gentleman.”
“He was being creepy,” Ana said. “Anyway, did you really want to go back to the room?”
I thought about it for a minute, suddenly tired. “Yeah, actually, I do. Once I said room service and a movie, it sounded pretty good. You don’t have to stay with me though, you can go find some fun to get into.”
“And leave my bestie to wallow in whatever you find to wallow in? Not a damn chance,” she said.
I sighed as we reached our room, but I was silently glad that she would be staying. Lord knows I couldn’t be trusted to be alone with Rhett right next door.
End of Sneak Peek. Would you like to know how this continues?
Click Here: One More Time: A Second Chance Romance
5 BIKERS FOR VALENTINES
PROLOGUE
Breakfast with the Grove brothers was already getting interesting. By now, all five were watching my every move.
My eyes were fixated on Nick, who was starved for something other than eggs and bacon and I had a feeling I’d soon find out what that was. The midnight blue tint of his eyes darkened even further with lust, and caused a spark to set off in my toes.
He scanned my body as Tyler got up from the table, leaving his coffee behind and stalking toward me.
My gaze followed him as he stood up in front of me, stepping in between my legs as he cupped my blushing cheek.
I nuzzled into his hand, and the air in the room changed on a dime. I heard Nick get up and pad over to me, taking my coffee mug from my hands. I tilted my lips into Tyler’s hand and pressed a kiss to his palm, and then I felt Nick’s hands come down on my shoulders.
Tyler swiped his hand over the kitchen table, scattering the remains of breakfast to the floor, before he yanked me from the chair. His hands were all over me, ripping my pajamas off my body. I felt Nick’s hands on my ass, squeezing it as his lips attached to the back of my neck. I felt my body heating with electricity as their skin grazed mine.
I slid to my knees as I kissed down Tyler’s body. His muscles jumped for me as my hands raked down his sides. I felt every one of his chiseled muscles pulse underneath my touch as I sank to the floor. He was now dripping for me, lurching toward my mouth and begging to be between my lips. I wrapped my hands around his thighs and pulled him close to me.
I felt Tyler’s hands wrap tightly in my hair as
Nick perched himself behind me.
“Hold on,” Nick said. “I want to taste you.”
I heard chairs moving and the table shifting before Nick slid underneath my thighs. His hands traveled up my body, squeezing my breasts as I moaned. I grabbed Tyler’s cock and wrapped my lips around it, causing a groan to fall from his lips.
Then, Nick pulled my pussy down onto his lips.
“Oh shit,” I said. “Holy fuck.”
Tyler’s hand guided my face along his cock as my hips rolled into Nick’s lips. I reached around and sank my nails into Tyler’s tight ass, causing him to thrust forward. I raked my nails down his thighs as Nick sucked my clit between his teeth, causing my legs to grow weak.
“I got you, Kitten” Nick said.
His arms held me up as I braced against Tyler. I could feel myself quickly approaching my end. My eyes rolled back as my throat clamped down around Tyler. I moaned and whimpered. I was trembling against them both, riding Nick’s face with no shame as I enjoyed the wave of an intoxicating orgasm rushing through my body.
“You taste so fucking good,” Nick said.
His vibrations sent me over the edge. His tongue pressed into my clit, riding me through my orgasm as Tyler pulled his cock from my mouth. I moaned into the room, crying out Nick’s name as I shook. Tyler’s hand was holding my hair, pulling my gaze up to his.
“You’ll moan my name before this is all over.”
I had a feeling he wouldn’t disappoint.
CHAPTER 1
Not tonight.
I don’t need this shit tonight.
What started out as a slow afternoon was quickly turning into a wild night at The Skull. In just five hours, I’d already yelled for the bouncers to break up three bar fights between drunken asshats fighting over purely senseless shit. I was losing my damn mind and voice.
Unlike most evenings when I work through the chaos with polished grace, tonight’s serving of ridiculous crap was working my patience in a royal way.
Thanks to the current state of my personal life I didn’t have the tolerance to deal with the bull that came with my bartending gig.
Luckily though, I knew how to use the pistol stashed below the counter.
Special announcement dicks: I’m not afraid to pull the bitch out.
A low-key evening to help me get away from all the bullshit happening at home was all I asked. That’s what everyone was going to give me, whether they liked it or not.
I’d worked at The Skull for a little over two years. It was the only place willing to hire someone without work experience and the owner didn't give a damn about my age. I was now a nineteen-year-old, slinging beer and whiskey in a biker bar to save up money to fund my own dream.
What was my dream?
I was going to be a badass biker street wear boutique owner.
I was determined.
I was driven.
Mostly, I was hungry.
To say that I’d grown up in an unstable household would have been an understatement. I had to make my own way through life ever since I could remember. My passion for clothing design gave me a break from Emma’s screwed up world, and into a fantasy of leather and lace.
I was raised around bikes and bikers my whole life, and drawn to the unique style. It wasn’t for everyone, but it sure as hell was for me. I lived for the daisy dukes, the tattoos, and the motorcycle memorabilia that came with the lifestyle. It was a world that brought me comfort, and a fashion sense that allowed me to be myself, without limits or boundaries. It was an attitude I rocked, a moral code I lived by, and now I wanted to make it my contribution to the world.
I wanted to have a clothing store as well as a patch shop, where I could take in people's leather and lace and bring it to life. I wanted to reach out to a community I admired, and offer quality clothing at an affordable price. These were my people and I wanted to cater to them. Where most people were put off by the biker life, I was exhilarated by it.
There were just two things stopping me: lack of money and those damn demons in my head telling me how much of a fool I was for trying to amount to anything.
Screw you, demons! I’ll show you.
So I had to stick it out at this dingy bar long enough to save up the money I needed.
“Emma! Throw me a drink!”
Rolling my eyes, I bent down beneath the bar and grabbed a beer. My mother was here, and not for the chance to visit her daughter at work, or to commend her for working her ass off to make ends meet. No, my mom had other things to worry about, like the young men at the bar. Gross, I know.
I was over my mother’s cougar ways. She was a forty-something-year-old woman trying to lure in twenty-something-year-old boys who had hard-ons for easy women in leather. She came in here wanting free drinks because her daughter worked behind the damn bar, and if I didn’t get her free drinks, then I conveniently found myself locked out of the fucking house.
“I’ll put it on your tab!” I said as I slid the beer down to her.
But all she did was laugh, like I had cracked a funny joke.
She was already talking with a poor young soul who didn't even look old enough to be in the bar in the first place. She was smiling and leaning on his shoulder, as he settled his hands on her hips. It was disgusting. The woman had no business preying on young men the way she did. She was desperate, and she was drama, and she was the reason why I took all the hours at the bar – that plus my goal to start my shop.
There were days when I never even slept. I would volunteer to come in during the morning hours to clean and set up. Then I would bartend all through the night. It would get me out of the house, earn me extra cash, and get me closer to finally moving myself out of the hell hole I was living in. If things went my way, then I would purchase a building that had a secondary loft over it, and I could live right above my business. It was my dream, and thanks to years of saving up I was so close I could taste it.
“Gimme a shot!”
I panned my gaze up and saw my mother sitting on a stool in front of me. She was back for more liquor.
“You got any cash?” I asked.
“You know the drill, sweetheart. Put it on my tab,” she said with a wink.
I wasn’t ready to fight with my mother tonight. I had already worked that morning, and I needed a place to sleep tonight, so I poured her a shot for free.
“Come on. You can do better than that. I know my only child won’t just leave me hanging” she said.
One shot became two, and two became four. I could see my manager already giving me looks, so I made it seem as if I was actually putting it on her tab. I went over to the register and punched it in, sighing as I looked at the total. My mother had already racked up close to thirty dollars in drinks I knew she wouldn’t pay for, and if I wasn’t careful, that bill would come out of my paycheck.
She tossed it back and swallowed it down. I saw her eyes scanning the crowd, probably looking for that hot piece of young ass she had her hands on earlier. He was standing in the corner with some other woman, and I saw the fire in my mom’s eyes flare up. This poor boy had no idea whose attention he had attracted, and I found myself watching as my mother drunkenly stumbled over to him.
But my entertainment was interrupted by a voice I wanted to hear.
“Mom at it again?” Lindy asked.
“Sweet fuck, I didn’t know you were working tonight.”
I threw my arms around my best friend before drinks started being called out for us to make.
“Mackie called in sick, so here I am. And not a moment too soon, I see.”
Her eyes were looking over at my mother who had slipped herself between the young girl and the guy who had his hands on her earlier.
“That poor boy doesn’t know what he’s in for,” I said.
“Maybe she won’t cause a scene tonight,” Lindy said.
“My mother causes a scene every fucking night,” I said as I started grabbing drinks. “It’s just what happens.”
“So! Where are we with our clothing store bank account?” Lindy asked, trying to steer my mind away from my mother and her drama.
“Once you make your deposit for the month, we can start looking around for shops to buy.”
“Are you fucking serious?” she asked. “We’re there? Finally?”
“Yep. Checked the account yesterday when I made a deposit. Between the two of us, we’ve raised one hundred and thirty thousand dollars.”
“Once I make my deposit,” she said.
“Yep. Once you do that,” I said, grinning.
Lindy was going in with me on the clothing store. We were best friends since we were in middle school. At the bar, she was another under-aged girl who looked decent in a tight leather top and short-shorts, which meant she would rake in tips as well as men who would come to drink our disgusting concoctions. She loved the idea of an affordable biker-wear store, especially since leather jackets and the lace-up shoes were always so damn expensive everywhere.
The two of us had worked our asses off to save up the money we had. We never splurged on ourselves, and never spent a penny that didn’t need spending. We didn’t have credit cards, and we drove piece of shit cars that barely got us to and from our jobs. That’s the only way we’d been able to save up so much money in only two years. Well, that, and the money Lindy always seemed to accumulate from her various boyfriends over the years. She was a trooper.
Lindy was also the girl who could fix anything, from busted up laces and beat-up motorcycle helmets, all the way to motorcycles themselves. If it was in the biker world, she could fix it. I wanted her not only as someone I could trust to help run the place but as someone who could help open the patch shop I would eventually implement.
“You girls still talkin’ about that stupid shop?”
And my mother was back.
“Hello, Gracie,” Lindy said.
“Your top’s too tight,” my mother said.
“No luck with the guy in the corner?” I asked.
“Cock’s too small.”
“Fuck, Mom. Seriously?” I asked.
“You fucking asked. Keep your mouth shut if you don’t wanna know.”