by Debra Kayn
She couldn't face the punishment if he stayed away from her. Her heart pounded. He was the best thing in her life. She lived each day afraid he would stay away or even worse, send her away.
It didn't take a genius to know there were two kinds of people in the world. Those who loved forever and those who loved—or maybe couldn't love—and left. Her mom left her with strangers. Nene sent her away. Karla would eventually push her away when she became an adult. From the moment Chief walked into her life, he'd stayed, and she wanted him in her life forever.
"I'm sorry." She kissed his whiskered cheek.
"Johanna," he said, her name dragged out of him.
He looked at her differently and even sounded weird. She'd really scared him.
She kissed him again, twining her fingers in his beard. "I'm so sorry. Don't be mad. Please. Don't be mad and leave me."
His hands lowered to her neck. She swallowed, wanting him to keep holding her. It'd been too many years of not knowing what tomorrow would bring or if she'd wake up in a stranger's room for her to forget about her past.
She couldn't remember where her real mom lived or what school she'd gone to when she was in grade school. But, she remembered what it felt like to be left.
"Please, don't be mad." She pressed her lips against his mouth. His hands tightened on her neck, lifting her face. Her body trembled trying not to cry out loud and his lips softened. His lips moved. His lips pressed against hers, so startling, she gasped and pressed closer.
A tight tingle unraveled inside of her and warmed her stomach. The sensation a caress after the awful emptiness of crying. She'd never experienced anything like it.
Half scared. Half excited. She wanted the feeling of belonging when she kissed him to keep going and going.
She scooted her bottom on his lap to get closer, and he lifted her by her upper arms and stood her on her feet, breaking the kiss.
Shoved out of the cocoon he'd created, she shivered, unable to gather her thoughts. Had he kissed her the way Karla and Nene kissed him? Or was it the kind of kiss she'd witnessed Lindsay and Ashley's mom giving her friends when they left the house?
She wrapped her arms around her middle wanting to contain the feelings. She knew. Deep down, she knew what kind of kiss that was, and she was sure it shouldn't have happened with Chief.
She knew she wanted to do it again.
She was sixteen. He was forty-two years old. Old enough to be her father.
But, he wasn't her father.
They weren't even related.
He'd taken her away in the night and gave her to someone else to raise. For the last eight years, even when she moved out of Nene's house and in with Karla and the boys, he'd sheltered her from everyone
She liked kissing him.
She wanted more.
"I'll take you home on the motorcycle and have a member of Brikken come get your car." He refused to look at her.
She grabbed his hand, refusing to let him walk away without her. Out of the ditch and back up on the side of the road, she threw her arms around his waist, stopping him from getting on the Harley.
"I won't go to Homecoming. I won't go out with Lindsay and Ashley for the rest of the year." She closed her eyes as she let his beard cover her face. "You can beat me and —"
"Don't tempt me," he whispered gruffly, rubbing her back.
She closed her eyes in pleasure. His reply bounced around inside of her leaving her all kinds of confused. He sounded as if he wanted to hurt her, but she'd pleased him.
Something colossal passed through her when she'd kissed him, changing her. Chief looked at her differently, and she could barely breathe because she understood that look. But, she couldn't grasp what it meant or if it was true.
He liked her kiss. He liked it a lot, and she clung to that knowledge because she wanted him in a way that she could keep him forever. Like the way Nene kept him around, and Karla was still in his life.
He stopped touching her. "Let's get you home."
She held on, refusing to let him go, and tilted her head, looking up in his face. Unsure how to deal with the way he'd made her feel, maybe she'd done everything wrong. "Are you mad at me?"
He looked over her head into the field. Weariness settled in his eyes. Her already fearful mood turned to worry about him. When she was younger, she always crawled into his lap when she sensed club business wore him down. He never spoke of his troubles, but he never stopped her from hugging him to make him feel better.
"Not mad at you, bug. You did nothing wrong. This one is on me." A deep sigh rippled through him. "We need to go. I got shit to do."
Not quite believing him, she got on the motorcycle behind him. The familiar rumble underneath her butt a comfort after how the night turned out. She peered over at her car. If Chief took away the things she liked, it wouldn't be enough punishment for what she'd done. He'd spent a lot on the car—Olin told her how Chief paid extra to order one with midnight blue paint that it almost appeared black.
She'd ruined his present in one careless moment because she allowed herself to get upset about not going out on a date with a boy. A boy.
In her heart of hearts, she knew if Brian Stoffield kissed her, it would never compare to Chief kissing her. Rubbing her lips against Chief's vest, she remembered how soft and yet firm his mouth was on her.
Knowing no one would ever be able to make her as happy as Chief gave her a lot to think about.
OUTSIDE KARLA'S HOUSE, Chief took his wallet from his back pocket and handed over a few one-hundred-dollar bills. "Help her pick out a pretty dress."
"You changed your mind about letting her go to the dance?" Karla narrowed her eyes and scrutinized him. "Why?"
He sensed Karla's confusion. Except for a few problems with his sons that he'd had to deal with personally, their mother usually took responsibility for the kids' day to day lives.
"Don't question me, Karla." Chief pulled a hair band out of his pocket and tied his hair behind his neck. "Things could change fast for you."
"As you well know, if you make that decision. If you lay down the law on me, I will come up even stronger." Karla stepped closer to him. "Do not mess with the young lady's head in there or you will regret it. She's not one of the whores who hang around Brikken waiting for some attention from you."
He lifted his eyebrow. "Waiting?"
"I'm only—"
"Crossing the line, Karla." He rounded on her. "If Johanna wants to go to the dance, let her go with her little boyfriend. I'm giving her that."
"You need to give her more freedom." Karla's forehead wrinkled. "What I see you do is wro—"
"Shut your mouth, woman." He raised his hand. "Take care of her. Love her. That's your only job. Fuck it up, and I'll be done with you."
He walked toward his motorcycle more tired than an hour ago. It'd been years since Karla stood up to him. Her lecture was misplaced.
His relationship with Johanna was of no concern to her. All Karla had to do was keep her opinion to herself. She had a roof over her head and took care of his two youngest sons. In a couple years when Olin and Thorn moved to the clubhouse and if she wanted out of the agreement, she was free to go.
If he wanted her to have a judgment about his life, he would plant his ass in the house every fucking night. He had no desire to tie himself down to one woman.
He sat his Harley, making sure Karla went back inside the house and caught Johanna sticking her hand between the slates on the blinds hanging from her bedroom window, and closing the glass.
His chest tightened. She'd eavesdropped on the conversation between him and Karla.
He started the motorcycle and rode away. Nobody knew or could convince him Johanna understood what was happening between him and her.
Until tonight.
He'd felt her reaction to the kiss. The moment it went from innocence to awareness. The slight shift of when her body led and her mind slowly caught up to what was happening. His hands tightened on the handlebar. That con
nection and hunger had been there, buried below the surface, masked in goodness, and only hidden because of Johanna's age.
She would no longer be able to control the feelings building inside of her, and it killed him to know he needed to step back and let her grow, to experiment, to bloom into the woman she was meant to be without him helping her along the way.
Chapter Six
The raging beat of Johanna's pulse through her ears only added to the noise of the music blaring and the voices shouting in the clubhouse. She stared across the room. More and more lately, every time she came onto Brikken property unannounced, she found some bitch hanging off of Chief.
Tonight, Michelle Hillard leaned in front of Chief and brushed her breasts against his face. Infuriated, she pushed her way past everyone blocking her way until she stood within five feet of the skank.
Without any thought, she tossed the pop out of her Solo cup onto Michelle's back.
The startled scream and scrunched face of the bitch in front of her brought a smile to Johanna's face.
Michelle's big mouth repeatedly opened and closed as if drowning. Johanna stepped forward, challenging the other woman. If acne scars and sagging tits made someone beautiful, the older woman should be on the cover of Biker Girls.
"Take your ass and go bother someone else." Johanna swept her arm out and pushed Michelle to the side.
Standing in front of Chief, she ignored the names aimed at her back. She'd grown up in the Brikken clubhouse. Strong women showed no weakness and the weak ones become prey for those unafraid to fight to get what they wanted. The later the party went, the men silently encouraged the arguments, fistfights, and hair pulling.
From witnessing the hierarchy with the women of the club, she'd concluded that every scrap, insult, and challenge centered around stroking a man's ego and had nothing to do with the females involved.
That's probably why Chief sat in the sofa chair stroking his beard, his gaze hot and bothered, and aimed at her.
Titillated from the power she held, she cocked her hip. "I need to talk to you."
"Busting in here and interrupting me isn't the way to go about it." He dropped his gaze down to her breasts, her hips, and back up to her face. A habit he'd begun lately that warmed her insides, no matter how much he hurt her with his absence.
Over the last two years, he'd pulled away from her. He seemed not to care about curfews, dates, skipped days at school any longer. Whatever rule she broke went unnoticed by him. If she wanted to see him, she had to show up at the clubhouse — and more often than not, she found him giving his attention to another woman.
At eighteen years old, she only wanted to pull him back to her, and nobody could stop her. By law, she was an adult. In a month, she'd graduate high school.
"I want to stay at the clubhouse with you." She loosened her lips and pouted, falling back on being cute to get her way with him. "Please."
"We've already discussed this." He widened his thighs and tilted his head, looking her over. "You're not going to be a club whore, no matter how you dress."
"I don't want to be a...whore." She dropped between his legs, kneeling on the floor, and put her hands on his thighs. "I want to be with you."
"I've got Karla, Nene, and any woman around here I want." The muscles of his legs under her hands tensed.
Encouraged, she whispered, "But, you'd have me. I-I can have sex, give blowjobs, and —"
"What?" He lifted one brow. "What can you do for me that no other woman can do, bug?"
She'd run out of ideas. Over the last couple of years, she'd self-educated herself on sex and how to please a man. None of her knowledge involved actually having sex yet. The internet was filled with information, and that was as good as doing it herself.
"I can love you." She caught her lower lip between her teeth.
His gaze softened, and he cupped her cheek, rubbing his thumb over the corner of her mouth, popping out her bottom lip. "You keep being you, Johanna. Finish school. Let Karla take care of you. Because someday, I'll be taking you up on your offer and when I do, I'm not fucking going to let you go and you're going to wish you had these days when you could walk into the club, mouth off to the whores, and not get decked."
Filled with the first sign of hope she'd received from him, she leaned forward and hugged his waist. Cocooned between his legs and pressed tight against him, she closed her eyes and inhaled the leathery scent of him. After months of him walking away and not having time to spend with her, plus Thorn telling her today that Chief would ban her from the club once she graduated, she clung to the hope that she was right.
Soon, Chief would pick her to be his woman, and she'd never leave him. He'd keep her forever.
"Promise?" she whispered.
He stroked her hair. "Maybe I should make you promise. People grow up, their opinion changes. What you feel now might not mean that much to you in a few years.
She grabbed his leg. "You have no idea how I feel about you."
"Tell me."
She stared into his eyes. "You'd have to be inside my body to understand. It hurts me but it's also the best feeling in the world, and I never want it to stop."
"Will you stop hurting if I let you stay for a bit?" he asked.
She nodded, afraid of saying any more in case he changed his mind.
"Then, stay for a while, bug."
She stayed between his legs and sat her butt on the floor. As long as she was here, no other woman would be allowed near him.
JETT WALKED INTO THE clubhouse, looked around, and headed straight across the room where Chief sat overlooking the members partying and having a good time. Chief kept his hand cupped on Johanna's head, content for the first time in months. Her ass had landed on the floor hours ago, and she'd nestled her head on his lap, snuggling right up to his crotch. She'd fallen asleep between his legs and damned if he had the heart to wake her.
Her outburst over Michelle entertaining him hadn't come as a surprise. He'd witnessed Johanna's temper more lately as she became aware of what the women were here for. His happy and laidback bug was jealous and had no restraint when her emotions were played with.
That was probably his fault. He let her have her way too often over the years.
"Mom's looking for Johanna. She was supposed to be home two hours ago." Jett glanced down at Johanna and fisted his hands. "You take her?"
He petted Johanna's head. His sons knew Johanna belonged to him.
His boys grew up indulged within Brikken. Sex whenever they wanted, an engine between their legs, and the ability to take whatever they wanted, including women.
He'd kept Johanna for himself. Jett, Olin, and Thorn would work through the change of status of having Johanna in their home, a part of the family, to understanding that respect would be given to her when she became his woman.
"She's always been mine." He looked his son in the eyes. "As my son, you'll make sure nothing happens to her when I'm not around to protect her."
Jett's mouth hardened. Johanna's breathing warmed his balls, and he stilled his hand on her head, cradling her, not wanting her to move. He'd sit here all fucking night to have her near him.
"You got a problem with that, son?" he asked.
"Your business."
"Remember that." He inhaled deeply. "Call your mom. Tell her you'll escort Johanna home in an hour, so she doesn't worry."
"She's got school tomorrow. Mom's gonna be pissed. It's almost midnight." Jett hooked his hands under his armpits.
Jett had his mother's thick, brown hair. The same way he could read Karla's mood in the way she held her mouth, he spotted Jett's irritation in the white ring around his lips where tension remained high.
"She'll be well rested and be able to take her final tests before she graduates." He motioned his chin. "Now, get out of here."
Alone in a room full of members, noise, bullshit, and drinking, his bug slept like an angel because he'd allowed her into his space. It took so little to make her happy, at a cost to h
im. An amount he willingly paid.
She wasn't ready for sex. Yet.
She wanted comfort and affection. She wanted to love and be loved. She wanted the security of having someone in her life who wouldn't leave. She wanted him.
And, he'd made sure she wanted all those things. He'd made her needy and starving for affection. It was the only way he could seal his future.
Knowing she needed to wake up and be able to drive the ten minutes to Karla's house, he caressed her cheek, letting his finger wander to her mouth. He rubbed the moisture on her bottom lip and a primal urge to order her to unzip his jeans came over him.
He already ached, but he couldn't force Johanna off him and go seek another woman who would fuck him. His time with her, one on one, was far and few between since he'd let Karla have her way regarding letting Johanna grow up and mature at her own rate.
Johanna had accepted her feelings toward him at a young age. He'd made sure she never doubted how he felt about her. If she'd given up on him, she never would've shown up offering to have sex with him.
He slipped his finger between her lips. Her tongue balked at the invasion and then shyly accepted him inside her body. She sealed her mouth around him, and her tongue sucked, pulling him in.
"Jesus Christ," he mumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open as the assault of pleasure hit him.
Playing with her, he pulled his finger, and she whined before sucking harder, drawing him back into her wet warmth.
He let her suck and used his free hand to sweep her hair off her face, needing to see her. Her plump lips lazily pulled on him. At any little movement from him, she worked harder to keep him in her mouth. He watched the rosy flush stain her cheeks as her lashes lay still against her high cheekbones.
Fucking gorgeous. Even as a child, she'd been beautiful, and he'd tapped into what she'd become as she matured. It'd been hell watching her grow into her body. The way her hips moved. The way her breasts grew, swayed, bounced and remained in constant movement opposite her body. She walked with purpose. All long-legged strides and no awareness of the many heads that turned in her direction.