by A. J. Norris
“I’m not slinging drugs, Vera. I’m just delivering some items. That’s it.”
Vera looked up at him, deep into his hazel eyes. “You lied to me.”
He averted his gaze for a moment before returning it. “I didn’t lie, technically. I…I just didn’t think to…it’s how we make a living, Vera.” Gone was his confident MC air.
“By being arms dealers?”
“By doing what would get done, even if we backed off. It’s what the Ironside Sinners do, V. I wasn’t lying when I told you we don’t get mixed up with drugs and trafficking women.”
“So you just supply the dealers and the pimps? That’s all?” she asked sarcastically.
His lips tightened. “We don’t deal with ‘dealers and pimps.’ We sell to the other MCs. It keeps us neutral and away from the hard stuff. It stops us from being involved in turf wars.”
“How noble.” Vera wanted to pull her hands from his grasp, but couldn’t.
“What do you want me to say? This is my life, V. These guys are my family. When I left here, I had nothing more than a backpack of clothes and a little bit of cash. They took me in, taught me the way of their world, and I fucking excelled, V. I rose through the ranks and I love it. I love my MC and I won’t give it up.”
She felt tears welling in her eyes as he spoke. “I’d never ask you to.”
“But I feel like you’re going to make me pick.”
“Pick? What are you talking about?” It was making her head spin. She was sad, angry, heartbroken…a mixture of tumultuous feelings that stormed in her chest. “You don’t live here, Heath. You’re selling this farm and going back to…hell, I don’t even know where you live, now.”
“Harrisburg, but that’s not the point. I’m not selling the farm, V.”
“Then what are you doing?”
He took a deep breath. “I own it outright. The guys want to use it as a stash house.”
Vera gasped. “You’re going to fill Jem’s house with guns?”
“No, no…the old cellar out by the barn. It’s been voted on and it’s done.”
Several tears slipped down her cheeks. It was all too much. “I have to go.”
“No, V, please stay.”
“I need to go home.” She stood, breaking free from his grip, and began striding round the small room, picking up her scattered clothing and shoving them into her bag. Her vision was blurred and she struggled to find her skirt.
He stopped her, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face into her hair. “Come with me…when I leave. I’ll be going back to Harrisburg in two days.”
“What about your precious cargo?”
“I have business to take care of at the clubhouse. Not all of us are going to Pittsburgh.” His voice was muffled and his grip was tight. “Just come with me. We can come back in a few weeks and sell your house, or you can keep it for all I care. We’re good together, V.”
“But you…you sell guns…” Vera sobbed, dropping her bag to the floor and crying into Heath’s chest. “You do all these illegal things and you want me to get involved with it?”
“Never, V,” he responded fiercely. “None of the wives or girlfriends get involved. Your hands would be clean.”
“But yours wouldn’t.” Vera closed her eyes and pulled away for the final time. She picked up her bag. “I can’t do it, Heath. I can’t condone this.”
“I’m not asking you to love the MC. I’m not asking you to love what I do. I’m just asking you to love me.”
Vera opened her mouth, but only a strange, strangled sound fell out. She turned on her heel and dashed from the room, gliding down the stairs and through the living room, not stopping to say goodbye to the several men who lounged on the overstuffed couches. The sun was beginning to rise when she reached her Jeep and she was glad that there weren’t any motorcycles blocking her in.
“V, wait!” Heath came running across the lawn, a pained look marring his face. “Don’t go. We can talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” She unlocked the door and threw her bags in.
“I don’t like to beg, V, but I will if that’ll get you to stay…to come with me when I leave.” His hazel eyes were wild. “Don’t do this again, V. Don’t leave me waiting.”
“I can’t,” she rasped, getting into the car and starting it up.
As she was pulling away, she could see Heath in the rearview mirror, standing in the yard of his childhood home, looking utterly heartbroken.
Chapter Five
“It’s okay, Vera,” Rebecca crooned, offering her another spoonful of ice cream.
Vera took it like an obedient baby bird, rubbing at her puffed eyes. “It’s not okay. Nothing’s okay.”
“I don’t want to be a bad influence…” She trailed off, practically begging Vera to ask her to go on.
Vera knew that game, and she wasn’t playing. Instead, she snatched the carton from Rebecca’s hands. She had gotten a drop on Heath’s Ironside Sinner’s shirt. Vera hadn’t taken it off since fleeing the farmhouse.
Rebecca rolled her eyes. “As I was saying, I remember doing this same thing when…back when he left. I remember coming over when you got your mom cleaned up and sitting here on this same couch, eating ice cream and watching you cry your eyes out.”
“So?”
“He said he loved you, Vera.”
That statement hurt. It made her heart lurch unpleasantly and she stuck the spoon into the melting rocky road, putting it on the coffee table. “No, he didn’t.”
“He might as well have. He has your name tattooed on his arm. He’s spent every day with you since he’s been back, he—”
“We had sex, Rebecca. That’s hardly a declaration of love.”
“Do you love him, Vera?”
“I don’t know,” she responded honestly. Heath was so easy to love, but she found it hard to ignore his lifestyle, which was so different from the one she was building for herself. Hours in bed together was hardly enough to build a future on, but she couldn’t ignore the distressing feeling in her gut that a future with him was exactly what she wanted.
“He wants you to go with him. For real this time. He wouldn’t ask if he didn’t mean it.”
Vera flopped backward, holding a pillow tightly against her chest, hoping to quell the pain. “How would you know?”
“Because he told me,” she admitted quietly, looking away.
“Because he told you…” Vera repeated slowly. “Why didn’t you tell me that hours ago when you got here?”
“I ran into him this morning at the gas station. He looked like a mess and asked if I had heard from you. I guess you blocked his number?”
Vera silently nodded.
Rebecca continued, “He wasn’t going to harass you about it. But he told me that he was going to be at the barn at noon tomorrow, waiting for you. And if you decided not to come, he wouldn’t bother you again.”
She bit her lips, trying to fight the fresh wave of tears. “I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you want to do? I’m not asking what you should do, or what the responsible things to do would be, but what do you want, deep down? Really, truly, want?”
Vera’s answer was simple, too simple. But it was true. And she answered with a single word.
“Him.”
When Vera pulled up to the farmhouse, it looked deserted. Gone were the loud bikes, and the louder bikers. The yard was littered with tire tracks and she drove over them, stopping beside the barn. Leaving her backpack, which was filled with some clothes and whatever small objects of sentimental value she could shove in the limited space, in the car, she quietly walked up to the barn door, her legs feeling unsteady. She gripped the rusted metal handle of the door and pulled to slide it open, but it didn’t budge.
Vera stepped back, hearing nothing but wind and birds. She was alone and Heath was gone. She had come promptly at noon, but it was apparently still too late. She slumped back against the barn and slid dow
n to sit on the ground. There were a great many emotions welling within her, and Vera didn’t know if she should scream or sob. So, instead, she did nothing, just closed her eyes and focused on gaining the strength to rise up.
“V? You okay?” Heath asked her.
Vera’s eyes flew open and she peered up at him, shadowing her eyes with her hand. “Heath, you’re still here?”
“Of course I am.” He held out a hand and helped her up. It felt warm and sturdy beneath her fingers.
She slipped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against the soft leather of his MC vest. She held him tight. “I thought you left.”
He rubbed her back and threaded his fingers through her hair. “I wasn’t going to leave without you. I made that mistake once and I wasn’t going to make it again.”
“But what if I didn’t come?”
“I knew you would.”
She felt herself smile, feeling relieved to hear the faintly amused sound of his deep voice. “That’s cocky of you. But where’s your bike?”
“On the other side of the house. I washed it this morning.” He pulled away and looked down at her, grinning. “Don’t tell me you really thought I bailed on you?”
“Maybe a little,” she admitted.
He cupped her cheek with his hand and pressed his lips to hers. “I couldn’t do that to you. Besides, you’re here now. Come on, let’s go before you change your mind.”
“What about my car?”
“Rebecca will take care of it,” he assured her, taking her back to the Jeep and watching as she reached in to grab her backpack. “She told me she has a spare key.”
“How much do you guys talk?”
“Enough to make sure you came today,” he retorted. “And I see you’re traveling light. Good.”
“Rebecca said she’d send me anything I needed until I could come back and properly pack.”
The shiny black motorcycle was just where Heath had told her it would be. He had added two side bags to his bike. Her backpack quickly disappeared in one before Heath turned to her.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. His hazel eyes studied her carefully, seemingly looking for any hesitation.
She pulled her long hair into a high ponytail and put on the black, cat-eye sunglasses she had stowed in the back pocket of her jeans. Then she grinned in a way to show off all her teeth and placed her hands confidently on her hips. “Do I look ready?”
Heath answered her with a swift kiss before swinging his leg over his bike and holding it steady for her to climb behind him. “Come on, everyone’s waiting for us at the first checkpoint.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Vera laughed, feeling lighter and freer than she had in years. It was a new beginning, the one she should have had six years earlier. She snaked her arms around his waist. She was practically bubbling over with excitement. “This is so crazy.”
“No, V, it’s not crazy,” Heath told her, making the motorcycle roar to life. “This is where you belong. Welcome to the world of the Ironside Sinners.”
About the Author
Kelsey McKnight is a university-educated historian from New Jersey. Her first books, The Scottish Stone Series, take readers through the bustling streets of Victorian London and into the lush hills of the Scottish Highlands. Her second project, a contemporary romance titled The Non-Disclosure Agreement, features a bad boy politician and the small town girl that could change his ways. When she’s not writing, Kelsey can be found reading, blogging, drinking too much coffee, spending time with her family, and working on the two non-profits she manages.
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https://www.facebook.com/KissAtMidnight/
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Website:
https://kissatmidnight.wordpress.com/
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https://www.goodreads.com/Kelsey_McKnight
Off Limits
By Bella J
Chapter One
Jonny
My life consisted of three things: the cage, fighting…and winning. I hated rules, and hated following others. That’s why these nights of blood and sweat and toxic tension was what I lived for.
It was humid, the stench of sweat and dirt hanging thick in the air as men psyched themselves up to do what they came here to do—fight.
I fucking loved it—the thrill of fighting, the rush of winning, and the ultimate satisfaction of ruling the cage. This was what made me feel alive, what made the blood in my veins simmer with excitement. My strength, my fighting skills, and the ability to shut off my humanity while making my opponent bleed was exhilarating.
While locked in the cage adrenaline surged through my veins, my fists balled while I never took my eyes off the target. The asshole in front of me was my first fight of the night, and by the looks of it, he wouldn’t last much longer. One more good punch and he’d be flat on the ground. Butcher was what he called himself. Butcher? My fucking ass.
With an eye already swollen shut, blond hair shiny and greasy with sweat, his face covered in blood, Butcher stepped forward and took a half-assed swing at my face. I took the gap and made the punch, my fist colliding with Butcher’s jaw. The sound of bone cracking filled my ears, and by the way blood spat out of his mouth I knew it was over.
He spun around, his eyes rolling back in his head just as he landed on the ground like a lifeless corpse.
Lights out. Goodnight, motherfucker.
The crowd erupted, screaming, shouting, cheering, and chanting my name. Steele. Yes, that’s the name everyone down here knew me by. Down here I wasn’t Jonny Kade. I wasn’t the guy who owned his own tattoo shop down on Main. Here I was Steele, undefeated and respected.
Bloody and sweaty, yet basking in my sweet victory, I stood up straight, wiping at my nose with the back of my hand. The metallic taste of blood coating my tongue only added to the exhilaration that coursed through my body. The cage door opened, and when I stepped out, a feminine body slammed into mine.
“Way to go, Steele!”
I stumbled a little as Val threw herself onto my side, wrapping her legs around my waist, her arms clutching my shoulders. “You fucking rock, man!”
With an arm around Val’s waist, I held her up, and turned around, smiling and relishing in the excitement over my win. This was my kingdom, my people, and I ruled this goddamn underground. Everything was just damn perfect…
But then I saw her.
Everything around me went on mute. Instantly I had tunnel vision, her face the only thing I saw, my focus point in the midst of all the chaos and violence. There was no one else, just us…me and her…and the history we shared.
“Peyton.” Her name rolled off my lips in a soft whisper, like it still belonged there, like five years never passed with us being apart. A dull twinge inside my chest turned into a pounding ache the longer I stared at her. Every second that passed, our eyes locked on one another, the memories I’ve tried to bury for so long all came rushing back in one giant cluster-fuck.
What in the name of ever-loving fuck is she doing here?
“What do you say, Steele? Want to go back to my place?” Val placed her palm on my cheek and traced her tongue up my jaw. Normally I would love such a direct gesture of a guaranteed lay, but while I stared at the familiar face of my past hidden within the crowd, I didn’t give a shit about Val’s blatant offer to shag.
Removing my arm from around Val’s waist, I put her down, never taking my eyes off Peyton. The way Peyton scowled back at me, I knew she recognized me. I’ve seen that look on her face before, the hurt that glimmered in her ice-blue eyes. It was five years ago in her bedroom, right after I realized that she was one mistake I couldn’t make.
Without thinking twice, I started toward her. The entire way, we kept our gazes locked. People from the crowd slapped me on my shoulders, congratulating me on my win, screaming and cheering, but I just had eyes for the blonde woman in front of me. Images of her beautiful fac
e, of the goodness that always surrounded her, plagued my mind with every step I took. Back then, she was everything I wasn’t. Pure, innocent, good…and naïve.
The second I broke through the crowd, standing a few feet away from her, I froze. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I could have stopped my gaze from traveling over every inch of her body.
Wearing a black mini off-the-shoulder dress that hugged her body perfectly, and black stiletto heels accentuating the long, sensual curves of her legs, this woman wasn’t the Peyton Miller I remembered. She was no longer my best friend’s eighteen-year-old sister who had innocence painted all over her pretty face, and forbidden stamped all over her ass. Oh no. Peyton Miller was all grown up, filled out in all the right places, and had temptation written all over her body. Jesus Christ, she looked like sex on heels.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, pushing her one leg out to the side. “Jonny Kade.”
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. The sound of my name on her lips did things to me…like make my cock twitch. “Peyton Miller. You look”—I glanced down her body one more time before looking back up at her—“different.”
She narrowed her bright blues at me. “Is that meant to be a compliment?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
“I see nothing has changed. You still suck at giving compliments.”
I cocked a brow. “From where I’m standing, I can assure you a lot has changed.”
“I’m sure.”
There was no way I could’ve missed the slight sneer in her voice. Not that I blamed her. After what went down the last time we saw each other, I’m surprised she even acknowledged me at all.
I took a step forward. “What are you doing here, Peyton?”
Uncrossing her arms, she pulled a hand through her long, lush blonde curls. “I’m here with Liam.”
“Your brother’s here?”
Just then an arm wrapped around my shoulders. “Jonny Kade, you motherfucker!”