by Karen Renee
“Sandy was right about you,” Brute muttered, and I could feel Har’s anger electrify the room.
“Sandy doesn’t know shit. Get the fuck out of here before I break your goddamned neck.”
The look on Brute’s face made me think he was going to foolishly say something more, but he tossed the covers back and I was forced to watch his naked body leave the bed and then the room. I wasted no time following him out of the bed, and hustled my ass to the bathroom.
Over an hour later, the Biloxi brothers were mounting up, left and right, and Har followed me to the driver’s side door of my car. He held his hand out to me, palm up.
I shook my head at him. “You’re not on your bike for this long ride?”
“I’m with you, so hand over the keys. Been wantin’ to drive this vixen, since I saw it out here.”
“Not happening, Harm,” I said with steel in my voice.
He arched an eyebrow at me. “You let Roll behind her.”
I snorted. “Yeah, but he’s got sixty pounds on you. I can—”
“You don’t stand a chance of taking me, chick.”
Be fun to try, I thought.
“After last night, that look in your eyes needs to fade, Trix, ’cause it’s right. We would have fun, you try to take me.”
Shaking my head and sighing, I said, “Just get in the damn car.”
He stepped into my personal space, and I got a good whiff of his sandalwood cologne.
“You get in. I’m takin’ the first half and you can drive your Vixen the rest of the way into Jacksonville.”
This was bullshit. Another damn man behind the wheel of my car. Ugh.
We had just crossed the Mississippi state line when, from the driver’s seat, Har said, “I’m sorry about Brute surprising you this morning.”
“Seems he surprised you, too, so don’t worry about it,” I muttered to the side window.
There was a lengthy pause. “So, you never really said if you were cool with being Roll’s woman.”
It was a good thing he was driving and had his attention divided. I wanted to snort at the idea of being Roll’s woman, but I needed to keep at least a few things to myself. The problem was if I said nothing, that was certain to tip Har off to something being wrong.
“I’m cool with it,” I lied. “It’s just a little weird that it took him so long to claim me.” That was not a lie, even if I knew why it took so long.
“You nearly took the words out of my mouth, babe. I’ve always wondered why he hadn’t done it long before now. Though in so many ways you didn’t force his hand.”
My body tensed at his choice of words, but I managed to hide it from Har. “What do you mean, I ‘didn’t force his hand?’”
I wasn’t sure Har knew what drove me to Biloxi to begin with, so I was on pins and needles waiting for his answer.
He looked at me for a moment with a bizarre facial expression which did not help my tension. When he finally spoke I had to make sure I didn’t exhale in a relieved whoosh.
“I mean, you never gave any indication that you were up for grabs, babe. The night you were with me excluded.”
I sighed. “Not so sure that should’ve held him back.”
He made a skeptical sound. “But why would he claim you, when you’ve been so damn available?”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. A few minutes later Har said, “For being a hard-core biker babe, you seem to have forgotten how men like Roll are wired.”
I shot him a glare. “You’re men. You’re not ‘wired’ that much differently than other men. Just require more open road than most others.”
Har laughed. “We do, but the kind of women that get our attention are tough inside and out. You damn sure have that goin’ on, but even though we’re lookin’ for tough, we’re also lookin’ for a woman who needs what we got to give.”
I snorted. “I’ve never given Roll any sign I didn’t need what he has to give.”
“Sometimes it’s not about you, woman. It’s about the brotherhood and the other men knowing that he’s being called on to give what he can to the woman he claims.”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure that’s all there is to it, Har. It wasn’t always me being available, just so you know. He was good at dangling a carrot in front of me to keep me around, inline, whatever way he wanted me to be.” God knew he never needed me in any way!
“So you were always cool with being used?”
My head whipped toward him. “I wasn’t being used.”
“He did what he had to to keep you ‘around, in-line, whatever way he wanted you to be.’ Sounds like being used to me, even if that’s a harsh way to put it.” Har stated.
“It’s probably harsher that I’ve hopped-to the past eight years.”
He chuckled and my temper flared.
“What the hell’s so funny?”
“Cereal-girl, you couldn’t have dubbed yourself with a better name, baby.”
“Still nothing funny here,” I said to the window.
He reached out and squeezed my thigh. “What’d I tell you when we met? ‘Trix are for kids,’ babe. That silly rabbit’s any rabbit at all, he responds to a carrot and ‘hops to’ when it, or somethin’ like it, is on offer.”
There was that heaviness in my chest, but this time the weight extended into my heart. Maybe I’d go back to ‘Patti’. Wasn’t like I didn’t respond to either.
I sighed. “You sure you can’t have a prospect ride bitch on your bike? Thinkin’ I wanna catch Seventy-five north and not stop until the Canadian border.”
Har belly laughed. It was some time before he got to chuckles, but when he did he spoke through them. “Christ, are you funny. And not just because you got the cojones to suggest I let any man‒ brother or not ‒ ride on the back of my bike.”
“Saw nobody else in a cage, Har.”
“By design, Trix. What you don’t know is that I sent a prospect out half-an-hour before us, and he’s towin’ my bike. Now, why the fuck would you go to Canada?”
I shrugged, but his eyes were on the road. “Cause it’s far, and as far as I know, it’s at the end of Seventy-five.”
He shook his head. “Downright criminal for a bitch like you to let those gorgeous tan legs go pasty fuckin’ white.”
My legs? Gorgeous? He must have lost his mind.
“See the cat’s got your tongue, but don’t you dare argue with me about that. You’re gorgeous, inside and out. He dicks you around more, I’m gonna know about it.”
I wanted to ask how he would know, but my mouth asked, “Why?”
He shot me a sideways glance before turning his gaze back to the highway. “’Cause I shoulda come back. Which means I dicked around, too. Difference is, I wouldn’t dare use you, or vice versa.”
Had I been used over the past nine years? In the beginning that might have been true, but then again, Roll had been upfront. He wasn’t going to commit, so in no way did I expect exclusivity. The thing was, I never saw him with any other women, either. If he was with other chicks, he never did it at the clubhouse or other Riot MC events. That wasn’t any form of solace for me though, because until the other night, I knew Roll kept an apartment, so he could have easily been tapping willing ass at his own place. Knowing I wasn’t going to tie him down, I never put any effort into trying to figure that shit out. Now he’d been forced to claim me, and I didn’t want it. I got what I wanted for all of two hours before that bubble burst.
Yep. My gut was right a few months back. I needed to exit the Riot MC way of life, pronto. The question was how would I pull it off? What I knew was that I had the next four hours or so to figure it out.
Roll
Walking into the clubhouse while tearing at the collar of his dress shirt, Roll vowed he would never again complain about the whack of cash Bernstein and Logan required for their retainer. Not only had the arraignment for Roll gone very quickly, all charges were dropped. Bernstein and Logan were the best defense firm in the area and had th
e best investigators on retainer. They found the man who assaulted the three Devil Lancers who accused Roll and Volt. Additionally, Kim had regained consciousness Sunday, and when Heathen was not in the room, she advised authorities that it was, in fact, her husband who had beaten her so badly.
As his eyes adjusted to the dimness of the common room he saw Mallory was lounging on a sofa with Neil. He did a quick scan of the room to be sure Rainey wasn’t with those two women. No way did he need to take more shit from any of the women, but definitely not Rainey.
After giving the ladies chin-lifts, he ambled toward the back but heard Mallory mutter, “Well, that was quick.”
“Thank fuck,” he muttered back, and left them to it.
He had the key in the lock of his room when Blood stopped next to him. “Volt told me what you two are doin’.”
Roll lifted an eyebrow at him.
“Shoulda gone before a vote, brother.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Thinkin’ you should be tellin’ our president this. Not me.”
“Thinkin’ you know I already did. I just don’t understand why you didn’t let us all know that when this shit started hittin’ the fan.”
Roll took in a deep breath to keep his cool. “At the time Trixie got caught up in this shit, I hadn’t floated the idea to Kim or Volt. No way I had time to wait on the swing of a gavel.”
“Better to wait on a gavel to swing than to swing the ass of a new-found sister into the fray.”
Roll stepped away from his door to face Blood fully. “As far as we know, Heathen thinks I’m fuckin’ his woman. Until I get word back from Kim about what he does or doesn’t know, I haven’t swung her out there.”
Blood’s lips pursed with skepticism. “If you say so. Most men don’t beat their bitches that badly for steppin’ out on ‘em.”
Roll shook his head. “Most men don’t use an innocent woman to send a message, using the inside of her fuckin’ forearm to do it either.”
Blood turned his head away and a muscle in his jaw tensed before he turned back to Roll. “Just be careful, man. Abby’s checkin’ with her friend where Kim’s at, gonna try to get her to call Abby with an update.”
***
Roll watched as Trixie pulled her Camaro into the forecourt and felt acid churn in his stomach. He knew Blood had arranged for the Biloxi chapter to take care of Trixie, but he did not know that Har would be doing that personally. That meant Roll was not the least bit prepared to see Har sitting alongside Trixie in her car.
Once out of the car, Trixie scanned the brothers, and her gaze slid right by him as if he were just any other man.
This shit was fucked up and was getting more fucked up by the hour.
Har unfolded from her ride, and held Roll’s gaze.
“We got problems?” Roll rumbled.
Har’s eyebrow twitched, as did his lips, but the man did not answer.
Trixie propped her arm on the top of her door and leaned toward him. “I know you’re not directing that damn question at him and not me.”
Right out of the gate, she was bustin’ his balls and callin’ him on his shit. Damn, but he loved that about her. Plenty of other men couldn’t stand that shit in their women, and wouldn’t put up with it, but somethin’ about it made Roll’s motor hum. At that moment, though, he did not need her stickin’ her nose in business between brothers.
“Get your ass over here, woman.”
“No.”
“Trixie, I told you—”
“I am not doing what you’re ordering me to do. Hell, I’m not yours. Not really. You only claimed me because you were forced to claim me.”
Roll’s chest tightened when he saw the look Har shot between the two of them. With his eyes on Trixie, Har muttered, “You didn’t tell me that.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Trixie
No, I didn’t tell Har that, and I didn’t for a few reasons. First because I was pretty sure he would react the very way he was right now, which was to say, Roll being forced was equal to his claim being null and void. Second, because I didn’t think he needed to know that. The third reason I didn’t mention it was because, deep down in a place I didn’t acknowledge very often, I knew Roll never got himself forced into doing anything.
Admitting that last probably meant that I had flown off the handle for no good reason, and high-tailed my ass to Mississippi for nothing, but I couldn’t see it that way. Roll should want me for me, and no matter what made that happen, I didn’t want it to be forced on him.
Har closed the passenger door of my car, and that brought me back to the situation. I noticed he was stalking forward and away from the car. The Biloxi brothers had stopped their bikes a good ten feet away on the driver’s side of my vehicle. My door was still open, and my gut told me this was my chance, so I took it.
I slid into the driver’s seat, started her up, and slammed my door as I quickly reversed out and nearly pulled a donut trying to shoot through the open front gate.
Har could be heard shouting behind me, and I noticed he and Roll were both trying to run after me, but it was useless against a V-8 engine.
I engaged my cell which was still hooked to the hands-free dock. Scrolling to Janie’s contact information, I called and she answered on the second ring.
“What’s up, Trixie?”
I sighed as I took a right onto Blanding Boulevard. “I hate to ask this of you, but can I hide out at your place for a while? Roll and another…person are going to be following me, and I need time to get away from them and all this bullshit.”
“Are you ever in luck,” she all-but-purred into my car. I waited her out, and she continued. “Trent was finally served the divorce papers, and my father had an investment property recently vacated, so I’m here now. Not much here, but you’re welcome to hang. Best of all, if Abby or Andrea gets put on the spot about where you and I might be, they genuinely won’t have any idea.”
I grinned as I put my seatbelt on. “That’s great news for you, about getting out from under Trent’s unbearable thumb, but tell me this place isn’t at the beach.”
She chuckled. “Nope. You know where Club Continental is?”
My spine went a little straighter because that was a pretty ritzy area. “Uh, yeah.”
“Well, get your ass over here, it’s a condo on the top floor of the Continental Palace condos. Call me back when you’re here, and I’ll buzz the gate for you.”
She hung up before I could tell her a condo at the Club Continental was not a regular old investment property. I forced myself to shove those thoughts aside because Roll might’ve known I was headed to my father’s place a week ago, but no way would he or anyone else expect me to be hanging around the freakin’ Club Continental.
Knowing Roll and probably Har and many other Riot brothers would be hot on my ass, I felt like a sitting duck on Blanding, so I hung a left on Collins Road. Gunning the engine, I prayed there were no cops on the two-lane winding road. My back-road ways didn’t stop there though. Once I was headed south on Highway 17, I took the scenic route to Janie’s by turning left again, and rolling down River Road.
Strangely enough, no bikes caught up with me, and I realized I was going to dodge the Riot MC after all.
***
“I know it’s only lunch time right now, but I ran to the grocery store and picked up some provisions.”
I twisted in the comfy patio chair I was sitting in on the balcony to see Janie carrying out a bottle of white wine, two stemmed wine glasses and a grocery bag. It looked precarious in her grip, so I moved to stand, but Janie shook her head.
“Don’t you move, lady. I got it, even if it looks like I don’t.”
She set the bottle down, then the glasses, and took a bucket of wings out of the bag. Then she pulled out a pre-made garden salad.
I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Wine and wings? Really? You do know beer goes better with wings.”
Straightening from the table, she grinned at me. “I was pr
etty sure you would say that, which is why I picked up a six-pack of Sam Adams.”
I shook my head at her. “You really didn’t have to do all this, Janie.”
She threw a hand out and waved it down at me. “Of course I did. Let me go grab some paper towels and the other stuff.”
“The other stuff?”
“Yeah. I picked up nearly all of the ‘Toes’ food group. You know, Fritos, Tostitos, Doritos and a bag of Cheetos.”
I did a slow blink with it on the tip of my tongue to tell her she was crazy, but when I opened my eyes she had already bolted back into the condo. She was back in a flash with a roll of paper towels and four bags of junk food.
As she set it all down, I stood. “I’ll go get the beer. Do you need a corkscrew?”
“Nope. It’s twist-off.”
Here I thought Janie was too high-class to drink wine from a twist-off bottle, but it showed what I knew. I wandered into the condo and marveled at how nice it was, even as an empty shell. It was open-plan and the river could be seen from the kitchen as well as the living room. The breakfast bar separating the kitchen and living area was gray granite, as were the countertops in the kitchen. It coordinated well with the stainless steel appliances. Opening the fridge, I saw another bottle of wine, a block of cheddar cheese and the six-pack were the only things in it.
Looked like I owed Jackie and Andrea a big thank-you, because I don’t know what I would’ve done if Janie hadn’t befriended me after Jackie’s baby shower back in December. I grabbed a beer and my keys with the beer-bottle opener on the chain.
When I was settled on the balcony and grabbing some wings, Janie speared me with a look. It gave me just enough time to brace.
“After the things that happened with Andrea, I decided I like Roll quite a bit. I haven’t even met him officially, but he damn sure did right by my girl. However, you’re becoming my girl, too, so your payment for using my soon-to-be pad as a hideout is to tell me what on earth is going on with you and him. You told me about his sterility, but something else is up.”