Undaunted: Knights in Black Leather

by Ronnie Douglas

  But now that she had been hired, she was off-limits to him—and not to Noah.

  In their whole lives, they’d never let a girl truly come between them, but she wasn’t like other girls. Zion glanced over at Uncle Karl’s door. He packed his cigarette, tapping the tip on the edge of the table to tamp down any loose tobacco, and lit it. The ritual of it was comforting, almost as much as the soothing feel of taking a long drag. He kept saying he was going to quit, but today wasn’t going to be the day that happened.

  “Double Jack,” he said from halfway across the bar. It was quiet enough that Mike heard him even though Zion hadn’t raised his voice. “And turn on some fucking music. It’s like a church in here.”

  Then he returned his attention to the pool table while he waited for his drink.

  Chapter 6

  I’D FILLED OUT all the necessary paperwork while Uncle Karl made small talk. He seemed nice, maybe a bit more grandfatherly than I’d expected of a bar owner, but that wasn’t such a bad thing. He stressed that most of the patrons were regulars, but this wasn’t a “private club.” I wasn’t sure what the difference was, but it seemed important to him that I understood that detail.

  I nodded.

  Someone tapped Uncle Karl’s door lightly before pushing it open.

  Seeing Noah step inside the tiny office probably shouldn’t have surprised me. Zion was there, and they were cousins—and both motorcycle riders—so it was logical for him to be here too. It just hadn’t occurred to me. The world felt smaller here in Williamsville to begin with, but add in the bikers, and it seemed to shrink even more.

  Noah stopped just inside the door and dropped his bag on the floor next to Uncle Karl’s massive metal desk. “Sorry to interrupt—” he started. Then he noticed me. “Aubrey?”

  “Hi.” I looked down at my hands where they were folded in my lap. Not one but both of the bikers I’d met were here now. I felt even less comfortable with Noah after his attempt to ask me out when we’d met on campus. I pushed away a stray thought about Zion’s reaction to that invitation.

  Uncle Karl looked from Noah to me. “You know Dash?”

  “I met him when—”

  “School,” Noah interrupted quickly. “I met her at school.”

  “All these years, and you still lie badly, son.” Uncle Karl leaned back in his chair, folded his arms over his chest, and leveled a fierce look at Noah. “Try again, boy.”

  “She was stranded at the fair, and Killer gave her a ride. I saw them there.”

  “And?”

  “Then I saw her at school,” Noah said. “We talked. I offered her a ride. She didn’t show.”

  “I didn’t say I would,” I interjected.

  Uncle Karl stared at him skeptically but said nothing. He looked at me. “So you met Killer before today too? Any reason you didn’t share that fact?”

  At that, I felt worse. It hadn’t seemed like the sort of thing to open an interview with, but now it looked bad—like I was hiding things. That hadn’t been my intention, but I could see how it would seem that way. I looked at Uncle Karl and explained, “It was a ride. I got drunk at the fair because I was having a lousy day, and he rescued me. It doesn’t paint me in the best light. I don’t drink, though. I mean, that was the second time in my whole life and—”

  “Breathe,” Uncle Karl said.

  Nervously, I nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “Not you who should’ve spoken up,” he said. The look he sent toward the closed door and then to Noah made me revise my assessment of him from grandfatherly man to aging badass. I wouldn’t want to have anyone look at me with the irritation in his eyes.

  “Noah and Zion were both perfect gentlemen when I met them and then today when I saw Noah on campus,” I said in a quiet voice, half-afraid that I was about to lose the job I’d just taken but not willing to let the boys take blame for doing something wrong. I took a gulp of air before adding, “I need this job. I’m sorry if I made a mis—”

  Noah cut in again. “You didn’t, but there are people who are going to be off-limits if you work here. Killer doesn’t do the knight thing, so that and his silence out there . . .” He shrugged and then looked at Uncle Karl. “You did tell her that rule, right?”

  “I was getting to it,” Uncle Karl snapped.

  “I want this job,” I told them both. “That’s why I’m here.”

  Uncle Karl looked at me skeptically and said, “If you take up with any of the Wolves, you’ll need to quit. Wolves have particular expectations of our women, possessive, and it makes working here a bad idea. You can flirt all you want, but if you’re exclusive with anyone in the club, you can’t work here. Three-date maximum with any of the boys wearing club colors. It’s pretty straightforward, but if you have questions on it, you ask me.”

  I met first Noah’s and then Uncle Karl’s eyes as I said, “Here’s the thing: I’m here to try to make a little money. I have to pay tuition and not be a burden to my grandmother.” I paused and squirmed a little nervously, trying not to be rude but needing them to understand. “Maybe you’re used to girls looking for a husband or boyfriend or something, but that’s not on my schedule. I can smile, talk, and serve up drinks, but I have no intention of getting tied down to anyone here.”

  “That so?” Uncle Karl asked in a curiously flat tone.

  “It’s not that I object to bikers,” I added quickly in case I’d offended him. “I just don’t date at all.”

  “At all?” Noah echoed.

  I nodded once.

  Grinning now, Uncle Karl pushed his chair back. “Well, you’ll be a breath of fresh air around here. Come on, then. Let’s get you a few bar T-shirts. Then Mike can show you the way we do things. We’ll start you out on tables and shadowing him behind the bar.”

  “Now?”

  He gave me a challenging look. “Unless you got somewhere else you need to be tonight.”

  “No. Tonight works. I just need to call and tell my grandma where I’ll be so she doesn’t hold dinner for me.”

  Uncle Karl nodded once and then looked at Noah. “Talk to Killer.”

  Then he turned back to me and, in case I hadn’t caught what they’d been saying already, he stressed, “Killer’s a Southern Wolf, Aubrey, and”—he held up a hand as I opened my mouth to object— “I know you said you weren’t looking, but the boy could charm the panties off a nun.”

  I folded my arms over my chest. “Fortunately for all of us, then, I’m not a nun.”

  Uncle Karl looked at me and shook his head. “Killer’s a good boy.” He inclined his head toward Noah. “Both of my boys are, but if either one of them gives you trouble, just tell me and I’ll step in.”

  “Thank you, but I think I can handle them just fine. I’ve yet to meet a boy able to charm me out of my panties.”

  Noah’s attention snapped to me again. “Ever?”

  “Sorry, Noah. You missed the interview part of the meeting,” I said lightly.

  Uncle Karl guffawed.

  I rolled my eyes and walked to the door. People focused far too much on sex. I didn’t get it. Never had. Never would. At least that was what I was telling myself, despite those strange moments the night I met Zion. I was mostly convinced that the whole lust thing was just a mix of alcohol and circumstance. Now that I was employed at the bar, I couldn’t test that theory—no matter how much I wanted to every time I even thought about Zion.

  Chapter 7

  AS I STOOD just outside Uncle Karl’s office with Noah, I immediately sought out Zion with my eyes. I didn’t mean to, but I couldn’t seem to not look. I felt a jolt when I saw that he was watching us surreptitiously, and I had to admit that he was even better-looking than in all the fantasies I’d had since we’d met. I wanted to apologize—for talking to Noah, for taking the job, and for being so drunk that he’d needed to help me. I wanted to tell him that I was glad I could talk to him. Now that I worked here, I could even flirt with him, and it was all safe. I smiled widely at the thought. This was
perfect. I could enjoy the intense way he watched me without having to risk any consequences, and obviously, he wouldn’t object. This was his bar, his MC, so they weren’t my rules.

  Zion met my eyes and quirked one brow, much like the older biker had when he’d caught me looking at Zion earlier.

  “Aubrey?”

  I jerked my attention away from Zion and looked up at Noah. Unlike the others, Noah was wearing a jacket without an insignia on it.

  “Are you a Wolf too?”

  “No,” Noah said quietly. “My dad was . . . He was their president, actually, and Uncle Karl raised me. I’m not a Wolf, though.”

  I thought about what Uncle Karl had said, and then I clarified, “So you wouldn’t be forbidden for me to date, but Zion is.”

  Noah nodded again. “Killer will understand you agreeing to go out with me.”

  “I wasn’t agreeing to go out with you,” I clarified in an even lower whisper.

  “Yet.” He grinned at me.

  I shook my head, but I couldn’t help smiling at him too. I wasn’t immune to his charms. If I’d met Noah first, who knows?

  I walked over to the biker I had met first. Without his jacket in the way, I could see tattoos on his biceps. I could also see the muscles I’d felt when he carried me to his Harley and when I’d been pressed up against him as he took me home. Zion had the build of a fighter, lean and muscular, with the ability to look like he was considering eating a person’s still-warm heart.

  I’m not sure I’d have ever spoken to him if not for his helping me with Quincy. Even now, I found him intimidating. I reminded myself that he’d been sweet, gentle almost, when I’d met him.

  “Hi.” I held out my hand. “I’m not sure we did this part properly the other night. I’m Aubrey. They say your name is Killer.”

  “Zion,” he corrected. “You should still call me Zion.”

  He took my hand in his, but instead of shaking, he lifted it and kissed the air above my knuckles. His eyes held mine the entire time, and I felt my pulse race. All that touched my skin was the warm brush of his breath, but it felt far more intimate than almost anything I’d ever experienced.

  “Aubrey is starting work here tonight,” Noah said from behind me. He’d obviously followed. “She’s a student over at WCC too.”

  “I know that,” Zion said in a voice that was a lot less friendly than Noah’s.

  The two men stared at each other, and I felt like there was an entire conversation going on that I couldn’t hear. The rest of the men in the bar were watching us, and I wondered just what they expected.

  “Are you working tonight, Dash?” Zion asked finally, his voice oddly calm.

  “No. Just dropping in to see if Uncle Karl needed anything before I go over to the house. You?”

  “You both work here? Doing what?” I asked.

  “Dash here is a bouncer when he’s not at school,” Zion said with a chill I couldn’t miss. “I don’t work here, but I spend a lot of time here off the clock, so if you ever need anything . . .”

  “There are plenty of people around to ask,” Noah finished. He stepped closer to his cousin. “Killer, here, is like a big brother to the barmaids. Many of the Wolves are. We protect our own.”

  “ ‘We’?” Zion scoffed, stepping forward too so they were close enough that it looked like a fight was about to happen. Zion’s arms hung loosely at his sides, but his expression as he stared at his cousin was far from friendly. “You’re not using that word right, cuz. I’m sure you’ve already told Red that detail. You don’t have the same rules, so don’t act like you have a right to claim the privilege of being one of us. All or nothing. You keep choosing nothing.”

  The look Noah gave him was filled with even more fury. “I’ve been a member of this family my whole life—”

  “Dash’s father was a Wolf,” Zion cut in, glancing at me. “But he doesn’t know if we’re worth—”

  “Killer! Dash!” Uncle Karl yelled.

  The two men straightened up, but they didn’t step back or look away from each other for a moment. Then Zion reached into his jacket. When he pulled out his hand, he was holding a pen and a business card. He wrote something on the card.

  “If you ever need anything”—Zion held out the card with the extra digits scrawled on it—“I’ll be here . . . and I meant what I said the other night. Just say the word, Red.”

  I tensed. My belief when I’d walked out of Uncle Karl’s office had been that Zion was going to be safe now. As he stood there propositioning me without anyone else knowing what he meant, I realized that I had been so incredibly wrong. There was nothing safe about him.

  And there was no way to lie to myself. I was almost criminally tempted by him. I’d considered this moment since I woke up the morning after meeting him, but the rules of my new—and much-needed—job meant that the most I could have with him was three dates. I wasn’t the sort of girl to have a one-night stand . . . or a three-night stand, for that matter. Zion was firmly off-limits if I intended to keep this job, and I needed the money too much to pick a “what if” with a man over a reliable way to handle the cost of being newly on my own.

  I straightened my shoulders and said, “You don’t know me. I could be a bitch.”

  Zion flashed me the smile that he’d surely used to remove those nuns’ panties. “I know enough to want to know a lot more.”

  Despite every bit of common sense I knew I had, I silently took the card he was holding out. Zion was deadly when he really turned on the charm, and right now, he was aiming it at me. All my fantasies of the past two weeks weren’t even close to right. He was more tempting, more dangerous than I remembered.

  He held my gaze for a moment, and then he turned and walked away without another word.

  “Aubrey?”

  I pulled my attention away from the doorway where Zion had just exited and looked at Noah. “What?”

  He let out a sigh and dragged his hand through his hair before saying, “Killer’s actually a great guy. I’d trust him with my life.”

  “So . . . what was”—I waved my hand in the general direction of where they’d been standing—“that about, then?”

  “That was me trying to keep him from seducing you,” Noah said. He looked down at me. “You seem like a nice girl, Aubrey. Killer’s my family, and he’d do anything for the Wolves, but despite him stepping in with Quincy the other night, he’s not someone you should trust.”

  Although I had no practical room to argue, I did trust Zion. He’d had more than one opportunity to take advantage of me the night we’d met, but he hadn’t—even when I’d all but thrown myself at him. He might be trouble in a lot of ways, but he’d made me feel safe that night. Today . . . safe wasn’t what I felt, but I didn’t think I knew the words for the tangled mess inside me. What I did know was that I instinctively trusted him.

  After a moment, I shook my head and walked toward the bartender. “Mike, right?”

  The bartender nodded.

  “Karl says you’re supposed to train me how to do”—I gestured at the bar—“what you do.”

  “Handle drunks and sell booze?”

  “I guess.” I smiled.

  “Well, come on back then.” Mike lifted the bar flap and gestured for me to come back. “Let’s get you trained up right. You’ve already dealt with the worst of the young’uns, and you seem to be faring fine. Put your stuff in the back room, and come out when you’re ready to work.”

  I went through the door he pointed toward and found myself in a cramped room accessible only to those behind the bar. It was more of a glorified closet than an actual room, but it had a pair of well-worn chairs that I assumed were for breaks. I tucked my bag into an empty space on a shelf before I fired off the promised text to Ellen and made a quick call to Grandma Maureen.

  When I rejoined Mike, I took a moment to survey the bar. I hadn’t spent any actual time in bars, and there was something surreal about starting to work in one. I could enjoy conversations wit
h interesting people, but not have to drink or seem like I wanted to be picked up. In fact, Uncle Karl’s rules protected me from the latter worry. Aside from keeping me from exploring the pull I felt toward Zion, the terms of my new job seemed sort of perfect to me.

  “Ready?” Mike prompted.

  I pulled my attention away from the wide, mostly empty bar and walked over to stand beside Mike.

  Once I was at his side, he explained, “Dash doesn’t usually bother the girls, but Killer beds most of the barmaids eventually. I swear half of them take the job just to get one of those boys to notice.”

  I folded my arms over my chest and leveled a gaze at him. “I had no idea they were here. One of the girls at school sent me in for a job. I’m here to work, not get laid.”

  “All right, then,” Mike said. He started opening the coolers that lined the area behind the bar. “We sort the beers by domestic and import. Coldest in the front, so when you stock, you fill from the back. When you sell, you pull from the front.”

  He went on like that, and I steadily got a sense of which drinks were where, which liquors were most popular, and the way the register worked.

  A FEW HOURS later, I was exhausted but proud of myself—and at ease in my new job. In the short time I’d been there, I’d seen hugs, arm clasps, shoulder pounds, and a woman lifted into a hug and spun around like she was a small child. I hadn’t come to the bar looking for more than a job, but there was a warmth there that felt very much like family already. I hadn’t realized how much I craved that kind of easy affection until now.