by B. B. Hamel
Despite his smiling, Jetter was a killer at heart. He used his personality to blind people to that fact, but I never forgot it. Back when he was a Demon, Jetter was known as a cut-throat motherfucker, and that was the man I’d always remember.
“Girl came to us for protection,” Larkin said. “She claims the Snakes killed your boy.”
Jetter frowned. “Sounds unlikely.”
“It’s the truth,” I said. “I know the girl from way back. She’s not a club slut, not a part of this. She wouldn’t lie.”
Jetter nodded, looking at the shorter man. He just shrugged. “Say you’re telling the truth,” Jetter said. “This could mean war, you know.”
“Not our war,” Larkin said.
“Could be. You’re holding the girl.”
“Not our war,” he repeated.
Jetter sighed. “I want her,” he said.
“I claimed her,” I said. “She’s fucking mine now.”
Jetter looked surprised. “Claimed her? You’re fucking kidding me.”
“It’s true,” Larkin said. “The girl is Ford’s, like it or not.”
Jetter laughed, shaking his head. “This is some fucking bullshit, Larkin.”
“Here’s the deal: We’re leaving now; you can figure out your own business.”
Jetter sighed. “I’m not so sure about that.”
I felt Clutch and Spoil tense. I put my hand on my pistol, staring down the short man, who only gazed at me and smiled softly.
“No need for bloodshed,” Larkin said. “We’re protecting the girl, but you can speak with her.”
“Tonight,” Jetter said.
“Our place. Bring your boys. You can speak with her as long as you like.”
Jetter stared down Larkin for a minute and then nodded. “Fine. We’ll figure out this shit then.”
“Fine.” Larkin nodded at us. “Boys.”
We turned and walked out.
It was never easy to turn your back on bikers, but I knew they’d never shoot. The Demons would crush them like fucking bugs if they ever tried to step out on us, and they knew it.
But it concerned me that Larkin was letting Jetter speak with Caralee. I didn’t want her anywhere near some murderous fuck like Jetter. She really wasn’t a part of our world, and she had no clue how to act around a man like that. “Girl will be fine,” Larkin said as we got on our bikes, looking at me. “You’ll be with her the whole time.”
I nodded at him. “Yeah, I will.”
“Come on.”
We kicked our bikes into gear and headed back toward the clubhouse.
My mind was spinning faster than my tires. I hated that Caralee was going to be around Jetter, but I knew I could keep her safe if I was around for it.
What worried me more, though, was the relationship between the Snake Spit and the Rebels. We hadn’t known they were dealing with each other, and that was a problem. We needed to know what was happening with our neighbors at all times, and this felt like a huge fucking mess.
Things were getting complicated, and fast. I needed to be on my game if I was going to keep Caralee safe.
Fortunately, this was the sort of shit I truly fucking loved.
Chapter Thirteen: Caralee
It was a tense hour while the guys were gone. None of the other Demon members acted like it was a big deal, but I could tell there was a ripple of concern beneath everything they were doing. There was a tension in the room that nobody was acknowledging.
And it would have been pretty awful if it weren’t for Janine talking my ear off.
“And anyway,” she said, “that was how I ended up stripping for a year.”
I shook my head. “Wow. Crazy story. Your uncle sounds like an asshole.”
She laughed. “He’s not so bad. Kicking me out was the best thing he ever did.” She cocked her head at me. “How’d you end up hanging around a bunch of bikers, anyway?”
I frowned at her. I wasn’t sure how to explain it, or if I even wanted to. What had happened between me and Ford was one of those things I never really told anyone about.
If it weren’t for that night with Ford, I probably wouldn’t have loved motorcycles as much as I did. And if I didn’t love riding on the back of a bike, I probably wouldn’t have ever met Rod, or wanted to spend so much time with him, or ignored the fact that he was in love with me.
Strange how long, twisting strands could bind people. One decision could lead to the next, and one day you woke up after a long series of choices wondering exactly which one made you into the person you’d become. Though the answer was probably all of them and none of them.
“What’s wrong?” she asked after a minute. “You look like I just asked why your dog died.”
“Sorry,” I said, smiling. “It’s just a long story.”
“Sure. I get it. Tell me sometime if you want.”
“Okay,” I said.
Just then the door pushed open. Larkin, Clutch, Spoil, and Ford all walked back inside.
The relief was almost palpable. Men nodded to them as Clutch and Spoil walked over to the bar. Larkin headed back into his office, and Ford came directly for me.
“Caralee,” he said. “Janine.”
“Hi, Ford,” Janine said, smiling. “You boys up to no good?”
“As always.” Ford’s eyes never left mine.
“Well,” Janine said, “I’ll leave you two alone.” She stood up and walked off, heading over toward the bar.
“What happened?” I asked him.
He sighed. “Not much worth telling, if I’m honest.”
“Tell anyway.”
“Rebels know we have you somehow.”
I was surprised. “Is that bad?”
“Can’t tell.” He stared at me, this gorgeous, intense stare. “They were dealing with this other club from Dallas called the Snake Spit. They’re pretty big, maybe our biggest rival in the state. Anyway, seems as though the Snakes blamed you for the killing.”
“I didn’t,” I said fiercely.
“I know that,” he responded, “and so do they. Or at least I told them.”
“So what now?”
“The Rebels leader doesn’t believe our story. He wants to meet with you.”
“When?”
“If you’re up for it, tonight.”
I looked at him, frowning. “What will it be like?”
“I’ll be with you the whole time. We’ll be right in here. He’ll ask you stuff, whatever. It’ll be okay.”
“Okay then. If you think it’s safe.”
“Unlike that dumb shit you used to hang out with, I’m not about to put you in any bad situations if I can help it.”
I frowned at that. “Why do you keep saying that about Rod?”
“Because you don’t take a civilian along with you on a drug deal.”
“He wasn’t a bad guy,” I said, feeling that anger inside me. “He loved me. He was trying to impress me.”
“Makes him even fucking stupider,” Ford said. “The pathetic asshole was trying to impress a woman with his drug deal, and he ended up getting himself killed and her in deep shit. Sounds like a dumbass.”
I stared at him, the anger flaring up inside me. I hated the way he talked about Rod, as if he hadn’t just been murdered.
“Stop,” I said angrily. “Stop talking about him like you knew him.”
“You’re right, I didn’t know him.”
“I know I’m stuck with you,” I said, not able to stop myself, “but that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said, smirking. “The way you look at me says otherwise.”
“Stop talking shit about Rod. He was a good guy.”
He looked at me silently for a second and then smiled softly. “Yeah, okay,” he said. “As soon as you admit how bad you want me to fuck you.”
“You’re an ass.”
“Maybe, but it’s the truth. I can see the chills run down your spine every time you think about my cock slid
ing deep between your legs.”
I leaned back, crossing my arms. “I think you’re mistaking my disgust for desire.”
“Not a mistake I’d ever make, sweetheart,” he said, grinning that huge, mind-bending grin. I wanted to wipe it off his face, if only to touch those lips.
And I hated that I couldn’t stop thinking about kissing him hard, biting his lip, pulling his hair, letting him slap my ass and grab my hips hard.
“Come on,” he said, standing up. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Where are we going?”
“Back to my place.”
“Why?”
“Because we have a few hours to kill. You might as well try to settle in.”
I sighed, standing. “Okay, fine.” We headed back toward the door. He waved to a few guys as we pressed outside, walking down toward his bike.
“I get the bedroom,” I said as we climbed on and he handed me the helmet.
“I was thinking we both get the bedroom.”
“Not a chance. You can have the couch.”
He laughed as he started the engine, the roar drowning out any other noise.
I pushed on my helmet as he slid out into traffic. I held onto his body, my own mind at war with itself, torn between wanting to share the bed and wanting to get far, far away from him.
Although we weren’t even married yet, I was already looking forward to my divorce.
Chapter Fourteen: Ford
As we tore down the highway, wind whipping through my hair, I felt her suddenly start tapping against my back, signaling for me to pull over.
What the hell could she possibly need? I pulled off at the first rest stop I saw, figuring she needed to piss or something.
“What’s up, princess?” I asked her.
She gave me a dirty look. “We need to go back to my apartment.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why would we do that?”
“I forgot my laptop.”
“You can live without it.”
“No, I can’t.” She crossed her arms, and I recognized the look on her face. It was pure, stubborn anger, and it meant that no matter what I said, she was going to do whatever she wanted.
I could fight it all I wanted, but what did it matter? We were going to her apartment one way or the other.
I decided to just make it easy on myself.
“Fine,” I said, “but we have to make it a fast trip.”
“I just need to grab it.”
“Let’s go.” I kicked the engine to life as she got back on.
The meeting with Jetter kept playing in my mind. On the surface, things were civil between our two groups, but everyone knew better than that. Jetter and the Rebels had been itching to get a piece of our action for years, ever since Jetter had taken over and become their president. He was an opportunist, and he would turn his back on us the second it benefitted him.
More than that, it seemed like he knew something we didn’t. He seemed almost confident in our meeting, which was probably not surprising, but he had just lost a man. He was almost cavalier about it, almost like it didn’t matter so much.
The only person in the world who knew what had happened was sitting on my bike with me, probably mentally preparing herself to marry me. Worst of all, she couldn’t even begin to understand what was happening around her.
Maybe she hated me, although I wasn’t sure why. If anything, I had every right to despise her. Because of what had happened between us, her father had thrown me in prison and she hadn’t so much as written me a letter. And here I was willing to sacrifice my damn freedom for her just to keep her protected from the bad motherfuckers who wanted to do her harm, and she was acting like I was some asshole.
Damn girl thought the world revolved around her pretty little head. Truth was, I wanted to fuck her cunt so bad, I was beginning to think that was true. The way my dick strained toward her every time she was around meant maybe she actually was the center of the damn universe.
We tore back into town, heading toward her apartment building. Finally, I parked out front and she climbed off the bike.
“Hold it,” I said to her. “Stay with me.”
She frowned. “It’s safe. This is my place.”
“It’s not safe. This is your place.” I grabbed her arm. “Stay with me.”
She went to protest, but I wasn’t playing games. I pulled her along behind me, ignoring her angry complaining.
We pushed through the front door and headed up the stairs. As soon as we turned onto her landing, something felt off to me. I wasn’t sure what.
“Hold,” I said to her, stopping.
“What?”
“Something’s weird.”
“Looks fine to me.”
We walked slowly down her hall. As soon as we got close to her door, I spotted it.
The thing was standing slightly open, as if someone had broken it in and then just propped it shut.
Instantly I pushed Caralee back and pulled the gun from my jeans.
“What?” she hissed, shocked.
“Someone was here,” I said. “Stay.”
I crept forward and pushed the door open. It swung in easily. Caralee gasped, stepping back against the wall.
Inside, her apartment was a damn mess. Whoever had been in there had torn the place to shreds looking for something. I couldn’t be sure if they were still there or not, so I crept quietly inside, keeping my gun ready.
I checked the main room, the bathroom, and the bedroom, but it was all clear. Whoever had been there had obviously left a while ago.
“Caralee, come on in,” I said.
She stepped through the door, staring around wide-eyed.
“Oh my god,” she said.
“Looks like they got here earlier,” I said.
“They destroyed it.”
I shrugged. “Just made a mess is all.”
She began to pick through the stuff, looking completely devastated. “I can’t believe this.”
I leaned against the door, closing it, and crossed my arms. “Find your laptop. We don’t want to be here.”
“Ford, they went through my stuff.”
“I know they did. But hurry. We have to go.”
She moved through the space in a daze, like she was shell-shocked or something. She went into her bedroom and came out a minute or two later with her laptop.
“They didn’t take anything,” she said.
“Probably don’t have what they were looking for.”
“And what’s that?”
“No clue, sweetheart. But we better roll.”
She nodded silently and followed me back out. I kept my gun ready until we were back at my bike.
The devastation in her apartment had clearly shaken her. She held on tight as hell as we sped back toward my house.
Frankly, it was bugging me, too. Why would they toss over her apartment searching for something? She was just a witness to a murder. I couldn’t imagine they’d need anything she had other than her actual self. So why not just sit in her place and wait for her to come back to grab her?
Unless they knew we were protecting her. That was pretty likely since Larkin wasn’t being shy about broadcasting that fact to all the other clubs in the area. Maybe it was just a warning message to her, meant to scare the shit out of her.
If that was the case, I guessed it had worked. She’d been white as a sheet as we’d left her apartment. What had happened with her friend probably seemed like a distant, bad dream, and everything after like some crazy story happening to someone else. But seeing her apartment like that, well, maybe it had made her reflect on things.
We made our way back to my place and were climbing off my bike fifteen minutes later. The relative seclusion of my house had always made it seem so much safer, but I pulled out my gun anyway, making sure nobody was around.
My door was intact. I unlocked it and pushed inside, and the place looked fine.
“Safe,” I said to her.
�
�Really think they’d come for me here?”
“Can’t say, honestly. We should try to be safe at least.”
She nodded. “What now?”
I shrugged. “Get yourself settled. We’ll have to head back to the clubhouse in a couple hours for your little meeting with Jetter.”
She nodded and disappeared into my bedroom.
I walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer, cracking it open and taking a long pull. I hadn’t bargained for her taking over my whole damn place. I sat down on my couch slash bed and stared at the wall, thinking and drinking.
She came out a few minutes later, got a beer from the refrigerator, and sat down next to me on the couch. We sat there in silence, drinking together. I looked at her from the corner of my eye and noticed her staring blankly ahead of her. I loved the way her lips parted slightly just before bringing the can to her mouth.
I wanted to crush my body against hers. I wanted to press her down onto the couch and strip her clothes off slowly, make her watch me as I licked her pussy until she screamed. I wanted to fuck her deep, slow, and then rough and rougher. God, I got so fucking hard just sitting there thinking about bending her over the couch and fucking her tight pussy.
I wanted to make her mine. Yeah, I’d fucking claimed her, but she wasn’t mine until I got every inch of that sweet cunt.
I wasn’t doing anything to hide my growing bulge. She glanced at me and I grinned at her.
“Seeing my apartment like that,” she said, “that made it more real.”
“Wasn’t real before?”
“I don’t know. I guess it was. But that proved people are really after me.”
“Good,” I said. “You’re beginning to get it then.”
“What’s going to happen to me? How long do I have to keep hiding?”
“Don’t know,” I said honestly. “For as long as it takes for all this shit to blow over.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
I laughed, taking a long pull on my beer. “Believe me, princess, it always blows over.”
“But how can you know?”
I looked at her, grinning wickedly. “I’ve been here before. Been in a war before. Shit like this comes up, we deal with it, and soon enough something else comes up.”