She turned on the light and blinked blearily as she moved towards the mirror. The light was bright, stark and unforgiving and she could see the smudges of her make-up all down her cheeks. She ran the faucet and wet the corner of a flannel before she dabbed at the streaks and cleaned her face. Even though she had been wearing her make-up for over twenty-four hours, her skin was still soft and dewy underneath. She smiled. She knew why she looked so good. It was because of Jonny and of the wild afternoon of passion they had experienced. He had pleasured her in ways she could never even have dreamed possible.
She went back into the bedroom and pulled her dress on over her head before she headed for the door of the motel room. She opened it wide and looked out over the parking lot and down the walkway that ran the whole side of the building. She spotted him straight away, sitting in the dark with his boots kicked out in front of him and the trail of smoke drifting up from his cigarette.
“Jonny?” she called. And he turned to her and smiled.
“Come here baby,” he grinned.
She walked towards him over the cold sandy ground in her bare feet and when she got to the bench he pulled her to him so she was on his knee.
“What a day,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek.
“One of the worst and also one of the best,” she teased.
“I second that,” he winked.
“They sat together under the stars, wrapped in each other’s arms as the blur of trucks and cars flashed past them on the freeway. It was one of the most calming experiences of Eve’s life, just sitting with the man she was falling for, completely at peace after the crazy day they had had together. She almost couldn’t believe that everything back at the motorcycle club had happened. And the previous night when she had witnessed the murder in the alleyway near the warehouse was like a distant memory. In a way it was like it had taken place only in a dream.
“How long have you been out here?” she asked as she lightly kissed the tip of his ear.
“About half an hour,” he said as he exhaled a plume of smoke up into the night.
“Have you had any word on Mack?” just saying his name made her shudder when she thought of what could have happened to her.
“I’m waiting for a call,” Jonny flicked the cigarette and it bounced across the ground.
“And then what?” Eve’s ears pricked up as she listened intently.
“And then we go home,” he smiled.
“Really? Just like that?” she couldn’t believe it.
“Mack and the rest of the outlaws are all going to be behind bars by the morning,” he smiled. “And then I’ll make sure you’re home safe and no one will ever harm you or come looking for you again.”
She looked into his eyes and she knew that he was telling her the truth. This incredible man had already saved her once and now he was vowing to protect her for as long as she needed him to. Eve suddenly had the feeling that she would need him forever.
“So, everything is going to be okay?” she said with a grin as she clasped her hands together.
“Yeah babe,” he smiled and pulled her into his chest again. “Everything’s going to be just fine.”
They made their way back to the motel room and fell down on the bed together to rest for the remainder of the night when Jonny’s cell phone suddenly sprang to life. He reached out and grabbed it and pulled it to his ear.
“Walker?” he said before he waited for the person on the other end of the line to speak. “Umm hmm. Okay, great. Thanks.”
He hung up and rested the cell back down on the side table.
“So?” Eve asked impatiently.
“So…” Jonny sighed. “Looks like Mack is in jail and won’t be getting out of there for a very long time. They’re not posting bail and he’s looking at a minimum of twenty years.”
“Wow,” Eve exhaled.
Twenty years behind bars. What could be worth risking that for?
“So we can go home?” Eve leaned up on her elbows.
“Yep,” Jonny smiled. “Or…” he trailed off with a mischievous grin on his face and Eve knew what he was going to say. “Or we could stay here a little longer? I’m certainly in no rush.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and Eve felt the familiar beginnings of desire rising within her. She looked down at Jonny lying next to her and at his beautiful physique and tanned chest.
How could she say no to that?
“I’m sure we could figure something out.” she licked her lips as he leaned in for a kiss.
As they rolled towards one another and started to become tangled up in each other’s limbs, Eve felt as if she had finally found happiness. She couldn’t wait to get him back to the city with her and for them to start a new life together. She had the feeling that everything was going to work out because they were bound by more than desire for each other… they were also bound by danger and the fact that Jonny had saved her life. He was responsible for her now, and she could sense his obligation. It made her feel so safe and cared for, it was the most wonderful feeling.
It had been a crazy start to the year, one that she had in no way expected, but one that she was glad she had experienced even if it had at times been traumatic. She looked up into Jonny’s eyes and smiled. He made her feel complete and whole. He was what she never knew she had been missing, but now she knew she didn’t want to ever live without.
He was her savior.
Her protector.
She knew she was about to start the wildest ride of her life with him by her side. The New Year had brought with it some life changing moments already, but she wouldn’t have changed any of it for the world.
THE END
GUNNER
A Forsaken Riders Standalone MC Romance
Book 4
Samantha Leal
Copyright ©2016 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Table of Contents
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10.
1.
Marv hunched over the bar top and poured himself another whiskey. It had been a long night, and he still didn’t know how long the last trucker was going to be there. He was sat near the front of the stage, a cigarette clamped between his teeth and a lazy trail of smoke curling up into the air. He’d been there for nearly two hours after coming in late with a couple of other regulars. But Marv had never seen this guy before. He was new to Red X and he was certainly getting well acquainted with the girls. Especially Destiny, who was currently snaking her hips around the pole in front of him and unhooking her bra to reveal the large swell of her breasts.
Marv snorted and rolled his eyes. When he’d hired Destiny, what he had really wanted was a barmaid, but for some reason most of his strippers had bailed on him over the past few weeks and he was only left with her. A dumb brunette from Ironhill, the next town over and ten miles away across the desert.
The trucker spread his legs wider and reached up to his mouth and took the cigarette between his fingertips before he exhaled a long plume of smoke up into the air. It caught in the glare of the spotlights and made it look as if the whole room was up in flames, smoke billowing out around them and leaving a dense cloud hanging in the air.
Destiny reached for her panties and hooked her fingers into them. For a broad who hadn’t worked a pole or a stage before she had come to Marv, she was doing alright. She looked at home there and she certainly wasn’t shy of showing this guy everything she had. She lifted her leg up and balanced her heel onto one of the speakers before she pulled her panties down and Marv realized she was fully naked, flashing her perfectly shaved box for th
e whole club to see. He almost choked on his drink and found himself spluttering whiskey across the wooden countertop, totally shocked but also turned on.
It had been a long time since Marv had had a woman… what he wouldn’t give to bend Destiny over the bar and slip himself inside of her. He reached down and grabbed at his crouch, feeling himself getting hard just at the thought.
Destiny bent over so her pert ass was right in front of the trucker’s eye line, and she ran the tip of her finger all the way down her delicate crease. Marv found himself averting his eyes. Almost ashamed that he was looking at her that way…
Almost…
When Destiny had finished her dance she bowed to her lone member of the audience and blew a gentle kiss over her naked shoulder before she stepped down from the stage and slipped into her red silk robe. Even though it had been a slow night takings wise, she had done her best and Marv was starting to take notice of what a good little worker she was.
Maybe I’ll have to give her a bonus, he thought to himself with a dirty smirk.
“Can we shut off now Marv?” Destiny asked as she sat down, breathless in front of him, her robe gaping open just enough for him to glance a close up of her erect nipple.
“Do we look fucking closed?” he asked her with a slur.
He’d been drinking since 6pm and it was now close to 5am. Eleven hours on the booze and he had come out of the other side of drunk, but he could still barely string a sentence together. He had too much on his mind to stay sober. Sober lead to thinking, and thinking made him want to go out back to his office, open his safe, take out his shotgun and put it in his mouth and pull the trigger.
Marv was in such deep shit.
And now it didn’t seem how much he swam against the tide… he was never going to make it back to shore. He knew he was done for.
Destiny crinkled her face in disgust at him and turned on her heel and began to walk back towards the changing room doors. Marv watched her leave. The sway of her hips was almost hypnotic, like she was charming him into an easy sleep.
The only thing that stopped him from flopping down on the bar top was something Destiny did… as he watched her, he was sure that she turned her head slightly and winked at the trucker still sat on his own at the front of the stage.
Marv sat up straight and squinted. She was looking at him alright, and she was disappearing through the double swing doors out into the corridor and down towards the dressing room… It was as if they were old friends, like she’d known him her whole life and she was giving him an affectionate wave before she headed off for the day.
Something wasn’t right.
Marv squinted through the darkness and tried to focus through the glare of the flashing lights from the red, pink and blue strobes being projected out of the stage. The trucker had turned to follow her. He too was watching the way her hips danced and he had a little smile on his face. One that was warm and affectionate. One that suggested intimacy…
Seeing him from that angle it suddenly hit him… Marv was sure the guy was in fact familiar. When he had walked in with the regulars, he could have been sure that he had never seen him before, but now, looking at him smiling towards Destiny… he knew that wasn’t so…
This guy wasn’t a trucker at all… he was a biker… the cap and ripped up jeans and flannel shirt had thrown him. This guy, whoever he was, was there in disguise.
Marv felt his gut tighten.
Even through his drunken haze, he could sense that something wasn’t right.
He got to his feet, trying to silently get to the front door. If he could only sneak out and make his way around the back to the office, he’d be able to lock himself in there and get his gun. Or, grab his keys, jump in his truck, and get the hell out of there.
As he stumbled out from behind the bar he was both drunk and nervous, and he knocked off a stack of dirty glasses which came crashing down to the floor. The noise of the smash broke through the music and he knew he’d fucked up. He could feel the guys eyes on him from the front of the room, and Marv’s heart began to race with the tension.
He wiped the corner of his mouth and rubbed his eyes. And just when he was about to turn and face up to whoever this man was, he was aware of someone walking in through the front doors ahead of him.
Tanner.
He was clad in leather, a cigarette tucked behind his ear and the flames from his dragon tattoos licking the side of his neck.
“I’m here to collect, Marv,” Tanner said as he slung an empty bag down on the bar top. “Go and empty the safe.”
Marv’s mouth was so dry he couldn’t open it to speak. He wanted to tell Tanner that something was wrong, that there was someone else there who was going to be the death of them both, but he couldn’t make the words form.
Tanner shrugged and shoved Marv on the shoulder. The Forsaken Riders had never been ones to take tardiness, especially when it came to money, and the last thing Tanner had wanted at nearly 6am was having to come down to the filthy Red X and collect debts.
“T… Tanner,” Marv stuttered.
But it seemed as if he was too late. Tanner’s eyes had already settled on the man by the stage and his mouth was agape, his breath sharp in his throat.
“Well, well, well,” the voice came from behind Marv. “Ain’t this just perfect...”
The trucker took off his cap and revealed his skin head and Marv recognized him at once. He was from Ironhill and one of the Iron Riders MC. He felt his blood run cold.
“What the fuck…” Tanner whispered.
Marv could see in his eyes that Tanner could sense what was about to happen, but it still all seemed to happen in slow motion…
As the main door of the club burst open, so did the double swing doors that led down to the dressing rooms. Even though the back door had been locked… Destiny was down there and it hit Marv instantly that she must have betrayed him… she must have unlocked it and let them in…
Within seconds, the whole of the club was swarming with the Iron Riders, all of them brandishing guns and all of them ready to settle a score that had been turning bad for years.
“Don’t,” Tanner began but he stopped when each and every one of the mean looking men around him lifted their guns and aimed them at his head.
“Now,” the trucker in disguise said, “Which one of you is going to go first?” he had a wicked grin on his face, and both Marv and Tanner could tell that he wasn’t joking.
They knew they were going to die.
As the bikers opened fire and bullets rained down across the main room of Red X, Marv tried to dive behind the bar but hot pain punctured him all over his body.
His dying thought was of Destiny… how that little bitch had tricked him and the others into making her one of their own… She’d betrayed them all… she’d ruined the club and damaged the Forsaken Riders.
As his soul slipped away, Marv hoped he was heading to a better place, even though he knew he definitely didn’t deserve it.
His time as the owner of Red X, and his time on earth, had come to an abrupt end…
2.
Six Months Later
Courtney wiped her forehead and turned to look at the midday sun. It was too hot for words, and as she lifted the crate of glasses high up onto her hip, she sucked in her breath as she made her way towards the back door. Even though she had been doing this job for the past four months, it hadn’t got any easier. Her body felt broken in so many ways, and even though she was in charge, she knew she couldn’t keep it up forever.
“Court,” King called from behind her with a mischievous look on his face, “Are you slacking?”
She rolled her eyes at him and knew that if she had free hands she would have flipped him the bird. He sat back against his bike whilst he rolled a cigarette and watched her struggling. King loved to wind her up for fun, but today she wasn’t in the mood. The day was hot and she was the only girl working the shift, getting the club ready for the busy Friday night ahead.
Courtney had never known the club as Red X, but she had been told many stories about it. She’d heard all about the greasy jerk of an ex-owner, Marv, who had met an untimely end along with one of the bikers, a much loved member of the brotherhood. She looked up at the sign that was glinting just down the highway, with a big blue arrow pointing towards the building.
Tanners.
That’s what it was called now, and it was all Courtney had ever known it to be. Named after the Forsaken Riders fallen brother and as a symbol of their strength. She had heard whispers and rumors of how a rival gang was to blame, but she never really dared ask for fear of getting herself in too deep. Courtney was still a single girl, she hadn’t been claimed by any of the club and she didn’t want to suddenly find herself in a position where she couldn’t just pack up and leave. She liked knowing that she had options, and ignorance to what really went down within the Forsaken Riders charter was what afforded her that. She played dumb so that she could leave if things got too heavy… and since she had arrived in town, that’s exactly how it had felt.
Since she had come to Slate Springs, the bikers had been her only friends, and they all felt like brothers to her now, even if they still mainly remained a mystery. But she quite liked it that way, she didn’t want to know too much about what went down behind the closed doors and in their whispered meetings. She knew something big was happening, and this was mainly one of the reasons she was at the club in the first place. Something bad had happened and the club were trying to put things right. They’d hired all new staff, all new girls and completely changed the place from what it had once been.
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