by Ami Van
“Let me grab my master key from my room and I’ll meet you in his,” Maddox says.
She gives him a nod and continues walking, hands in the pocket of her hoodie. She didn’t see Tucker anywhere. Nor did she see Dakota, Tristan or even Atticus. Kyle sees her though and he was walking over. He reaches her and instead of saying anything, he walks quietly until they reach Austin’s room.
The door was closed but unlocked. She opens the door and a fraction of her heart hoped to find him sitting inside. But it was empty. It was dark...and it was empty. She steps inside, alone. Kyle opted to stand in the doorway. His shadow casted by the light from outside of the room.
She turns to flip the switch and a lamp on the nightstand lights the room. Not too bright. There was a framed picture on the wall. The picture of her, Maddox, and him on the day they officially bought the place.
Maddox had two duffel bags of clothes and his chopper that day. Austin had two backpacks of clothes and his decade old sports bike. A Yamaha. She’d only had one backpack of clothes and another smaller backpack of sentimental things left at the farmhouse before they sold it. She didn’t even know how to ride a motorcycle at the time let alone own one. She’d rode on the back of each of their bikes whenever they moved.
“When we found this place, it was empty and run down, you know?” she says to Kyle. She wasn’t even sure if he was listening. “We camped out here for a week even before we realized it was for sale. This clubhouse was a barn before. Staying at the main house would have attracted attention with two bikes parked out front.”
Kyle doesn’t say anything. She walks over to Austin’s messy bed and begins making it the way he liked it made.
“Even after we made the offer to the agent, we didn’t tell her that we were already staying here. We didn’t have anywhere else to go and we didn’t want to spend a dime for the motels in town. Maddox was worried that we wouldn’t have enough money to survive the year if we weren’t thrifty.”
She picks up a pillow and fluffs it.
“Austin went into town every day and did side jobs for this mechanic who advertised that he was an expert in all things two wheels. Turns out the guy didn’t know shit so he was giving the work to Austin.”
“He must’ve done well to put together a place like this and a huge house like that,” Kyle speaks for the first time.
“It was decent. We got by okay with Maddox’s budgeting. We always had three meals a day and a hot shower. But when we finally got used to the idea of the placing being home, we wanted to actually make it a home. Or at least, they wanted to it be a home for me, I guess. Maddox got in touch with some of his old army buddies and they gave him a loan. He used the money to start day trading and investing and he’s really freaking good at it, Ky. He can do it from just about anywhere. He and Austin assured me that I don’t ever have to worry about money. I still don’t believe them though.”
“I’d believe them if I were you,” Kyle tells her. “They both seem to have genuine intentions where you’re concerned. They take good care of you.”
“Like a family should,” she says quietly.
“She’s stubborn,” Maddox says from behind Kyle. Kyle steps out of the way for him to enter. “She’s never had her card declined anywhere and her ATM Daily Withdrawal limit is in the high four-figure range and she still doesn’t want to believe it.”
“What happens now?” she asks. “I-I’ve never been to a normal funeral before.”
“We’ll give him a proper send off,” Maddox says. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.”
“I want to help. I can’t let you do everything Mad. You’re always doing everything for us.”
And it was true. Maddox is only 39 but he’d treated both her and Austin like his kids. Austin used to joke and say that the two of them were holding Maddox back from having real kids of his own because they were such assholes to him.
“I don’t want you getting overwhelmed. We can afford to spend extra so we don’t have to oversee everything ourselves,” Maddox says, trying to reassure her. “Come on. Let’s lock this door and head back.”
CHAPTER 19
Minx
Maddox walks back to the house with her. She sees the three bikes parked out front. Dakota’s, Tucker’s and Atticus’s bikes. She didn’t even know they’d been gone.
Inside the house, the three were in the kitchen. Dakota walks towards her and her heart was in flutters. He stops in front of her and she’s craning her neck up at him.
“You should be in bed,” he says quietly. His hand brushing her cheek with the back of his fingers.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Come on. I’ll take you up.”
He takes her by the hand and she’s following him through the house and up the stairs until he shuts the bedroom door. She stands still. Not really knowing what she should do, not really knowing where they even stood at this point. She didn’t really know much of anything anymore. But she steps into him and wraps her arms around him anyway.
He was hard and warm. And when his arms fold around her, she got exactly what she needed. To feel like she’d just disappeared.
“I know it hurts right now. You’ll get through,” he says, rubbing her back.
“Are you staying the night?” she asks, wanting him to. Needing him.
“If you let me,” he says. “About earlier...I’m sorry about what I said. You...you just drive me fucking crazy sometimes...all the time, actually.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to.”
“I don’t even think you know what you do to me,” he tells her. “Let’s get you into bed.” He was pulling her toward her side of the bed.
Her side. How did they even fall into this routine?
She takes her hoodie off and slides in as he holds the covers up for her. She can hear him taking off his clothes as he heads for the other side. She can feel his warm skin and his briefs when he slides in next to her.
“It’s going to be a rough week, Mercy. I’m here when you need me.”
“I wish I were big and strong, like you. I can do some real damage to whoever did this to Austin.” She’d do more than just damage.
“You’re perfect the way you are. Small and strong. Beautiful and good.”
“Liar. I’m far from perfect. You’re pretty close though.”
He chuckles. “Close to those ones you read about?”
“Oh god,” she says, thankful that it’s dark.
He laughs and then pulls her right up to him, wrapping an arm around her with her face pressed up against his chest. She can hear the steady beating of his heart, almost immediately lulling her like the sound of a ticking metronome.
For a moment, the heartache was bearable. Not gone but not overwhelming. She can breathe without her chest feeling like it was going to cave in. As her eyelids droop, heavier and heavier with weight, her mind gets lighter and lighter. She feels her lips pucker against Dakota’s chest ever so softly.
“I love you,” she remembers whispering so softly so he wouldn’t hear before she let’s sleep take her under.
◆◆◆
It’s the night before the funeral and it seems eerily quiet. The clubhouse, though full to capacity with some even opting to pitch tents and camp right outside of it, wasn’t at all rowdy or noisy. No one was belligerent drunk though there was drinking. There were at least ten barbeque grills always grilling and cooking since before sundown.
The past few days leading up to tonight had been a whirlwind of pain, tears and then numbness. Sometimes all within an hour. Both Maddox and Tucker had kept their eyes on her. She felt guilty though. Guilty that it took Austin’s death to bring her and Tucker closer. It shouldn’t have been that way.
But even with the two of them tending to her, she felt like there was something they were both keeping from her. Every time she’d asked Dakota if there was any news about who might have done this, he would tell her not to worry about it. That she needed to get her mind straight for the
funeral. She had a feeling it was club involved. She knew...Reapers. And it only made her feel more guilty.
Tomorrow will be the first time Maddox was going to let her see Austin...this way. Not breathing. Not talking shit or teasing her. Not teaching her something new about bike maintenance. Not smiling his warm smile. It would be the last time she was going to get to see him at all. There weren’t going to be anymore western movie nights. No more of him cooking up his famous chili. No more of her and him looking up recipes together for Sunday dinner.
“Maddox,” she calls out randomly.
She was sitting on the couch in the clubhouse next to Tucker. Dakota on her other side with his hand resting on her leg. Maddox was in a chair across the coffee table nursing his bourbon. Atticus was in another.
“Yeah,” Maddox answers, giving her his attention.
“It was me,” she says. “Austin wasn’t the one that snuck me out of the motel that night when you took us to Disney. I went to the bar alone and Austin heard me leaving.”
Maddox cracks a grin. “You think I didn’t know that?”
“What? How?” she asks. All these years, he’d known?
“I was the one that told Austin to go after you. I wanted some big boy time with the red headed desk clerk,” Maddox tells her with a huge grin.
“Oh you fucking ass!” she says, laughing. “Then why did you get so pissed off at us?”
“Because y'all weren’t supposed to get drunk AND start a damn bar fight and Austin wasn’t supposed to get arrested,” he answers.
“Yeah...well, there is that,” she admits with a laugh.
She looks around the clubhouse and every wall, every piece of furniture, every song on the jukebox had a piece of Austin. It held a piece of all three of them. The first few days had been rough, being surrounded by all the memories. But now, it was comforting. Like a security blanket that he was still here.
“I’m gonna have to reupholster all the furniture,” she mumbles. “I don’t even want to think about what’s been done on them.”
“Reupholster?” Tucker asks her.
“Yeah. It’s my thing. I like it. Reupholster old furniture,” she tells her brother.
“She’s good at it and she makes decent money too. There are a few interior designers in the area that contracts out to her for specific pieces,” Maddox says. “All the furniture in the clubhouse was redone by her.”
“That’s fucking cool. How’d you get into that?” Atticus asks.
“When we started putting the main house together, we didn’t have much money to buy new furniture. We’d spend the weekends riding around town and picking up stuff that people had thrown out or stuff at garage sales. Nothing matched,” she says looking at Maddox. “There was one of those arts and crafts stores in town that was shutting down and had everything on clearance. I grabbed a bunch of fabric and materials and just went from there.”
“The house is really nice,” Atticus says. “This whole place is great.”
“Probably the first real home I’ve ever had,” Maddox says.
Even with her sitting right next to Dakota, she sees a slender arm slide over his shoulders, down over his abs and right toward the crotch of his pants but he grabs the wrists and throws the arms off from around him before it reaches its target.
She didn’t have to look to know who the arms belonged to. Kendall. Even during this time of grief, the bitch had been relentless. Still snickering and sneering at her every chance she got. Still giving her the catty remarks behind her back.
It was getting ridiculous and it was crossing the line. She stands up and turns around to face the slut and immediately saw red. Everyone has a boiling point. Hers just zoomed past that the minute she saw the bitch wearing Austin’s riding jacket.
“Take it off,” she says through gritted teeth. “Get your skanky ass out of his jacket right now, you fucking slut!”
She didn’t care who was watching. She didn’t give a shit who heard her and she sure as hell didn’t give a shit about any MC rules if there were any.
“It’s not like he’s going to be using it anymore,” Kendall yaps at her.
She was over the back of the couch and on the bitch in a split second, taking both of them right down to the ground. Of course, being the bitch that she is, Kendall immediately went to grabbing and pulling her hair.
Her fists just kept connecting to Kendall’s head and face. The frustration, the anger, the pain...it was all thrown into each punch.
Kendall was taller than her. Had more weight and probably more muscle too. She may have landed more than a handful of hits but the bitch pushes her off easy enough.
“Is that all you got!” Kendall yells at her.
“Fuck you!” she screams back and immediately grabs one of Kendall’s wrists and quickly positions herself to put her in an armbar. For a second, it felt like Austin was in her corner telling her exactly what to do.
Austin loved Brazilian Jiu jitsu. He was a fanatic about UFC and they’d taken many classes together. And right now, it felt like he was coaching her. It felt good. It felt so amazing to be able to defend herself. As if she wanted Austin to know he didn’t have to worry about her anymore. And she kept going and twisting on that arm.
Kendall was screaming now. Screaming from the pain. Screaming for help. Just screaming.
“Back the fuck up, sluts!” she yells at the approaching two girls who looked ready to stomp on her. “Come closer and I’m gonna snap this bitch’s arm!”
“STOP! STOP!” Kendall was screaming and crying. She wasn’t sure if she was screaming for Taylor and Jessa to stop or if she was screaming for the pain to stop.
“The two of you go and pack this slut’s things right now! I don’t give a fuck where you take her but she’s no longer welcomed on MY property! Do you fucking understand me, Kendall?!”
She had to give the girl some props. Kendall was actually thinking about her choices. But then again, she probably assumed Tucker wasn’t going to kick her out.
“Go get her shit!” Tucker hollers at the two girls who actually looked shocked before running off.
“Let me go!” Kendall gets out one last demand.
She eases up on her wrist before using her foot to shove the bitch away far enough for her to stand up.
“Take it off!” she yells at Kendall again. Surprisingly, the bitch complies, crying as she slips the jacket off and over her strained arm.
She steps up and yanks the jacket out of Kendall’s grip
Now that the drama was over, she can see people moving about, continuing on with their business as if nothing happened. Kendall, of course, walks right over to Dakota. The man actually had the brain to swipe away at Kendall’s outstretched uninjured arm.
Maddox was standing next to her and taking Austin’s jacket from her hand.
“It was the one hanging over his bike in the garage,” Maddox tells her quietly.
“Come on, short stack. Long day tomorrow,” Dakota says, taking her away from the clubhouse. Quietly and quickly, he was escorting her back to the house. Once inside, he throws her over his broad shoulder and was taking the steps two at a time to get to her bedroom.
CHAPTER 20
Dakota
“You’re fucking crazy,” he says to her once he sets her back on her feet. Crazy in a way that had his dick hard and straining against the zipper of his jeans.
Without a word, she was grabbing him by his beard and pulling him down to her lips. Her hands were then immediately in his hair, scraping his scalp with her nails till he had goosebumps. She takes his bottom lip in between her teeth, tracing her tongue over it, unleashing a growl deep from within his chest.
Her hands were under his shirt, and he’s taking off his cut before putting it onto the chair where it sits nightly for the past month. She was working fast. Her hands already down at the zipper of his jeans when he breaks their kiss to pull his tee over his head and letting it fall to the floor.
His hand was in her
hair next, pulling it back by a fistful, forcing her to bend upwards so that he can devour her mouth.
Once his zipper was undone, she was pulling her lips away. She was pushing him toward the bed as he steps out of his boots and then gets rid of his jeans. She shoves him down onto the bed. Sitting on it, he was still a few inches taller than her. With the curtains pulled back, the room was illuminated by the moonlight. It reflects off her eyes, giving him the impression of mischief.
She was undressing herself, her eyes never leaving his face. It was like a striptease. She was moving fast yet painstakingly slow at the same time. Once her shirt was off, she was slipping out of her tight jeans, her perfectly round ass spilling over the top of the jeans when she slides it down. Her black lace thong nearly lost in between those perfect ass cheeks.
Her fingers were at the clasp of her bra. He can hear the tiny snap of the hook before she lets it slide off her arm, letting it fall to the ground. She turns around and faces him. Stunning him in to silence. Fuck! She was so goddamn beautiful. He pulls her closer, bending his head and taking one nipple between his teeth immediately.
Her fucking moan had him fisting his dick to ease the ache while he teased and licked and sucked on her breasts. Soft, beautiful, creamy and plump breasts. They filled his large hands perfectly. For a moment in time, he thought he might have been able to come just by sucking on her tits.
“Getting greedy, Dakota.” Her voice teases him. Seducing him. She’d never been like this before.
She pushes him off of her. And then, she was down...on her knees. Fuck yeah! She’d never done this before either.
“Sit back and watch,” she challenges him.
“You bossing me around?” He tips her chin up to look at him.
Her eyes, round and mischievous, greets him in the most amazing way. And her dimples. Those god damn amazing dimples.
As if she wanted to purposely make him go clinically insane, she was tapping the tip of his dick lightly to her soft, plump lips. He watches, barely keeping control. When he sees the drop of his pre-cum string from her lips, he immediately fell back onto his elbows, breathing heavily. When her lips wrap around him, his breathing went from heavy to a near stop. And when she takes his dick in to the back of her throat and swallows, his heart stopped beating too.