Monroe, Marla - The Edge of Night [The Protectors 3](Siren Publishing Classic)

by Marla Monroe

  “They’re at a bar called The Ugly Duck. It sounded rowdy over the phone, so stick close to me. You have any trouble, you bring it to me and let me take care of it. You can’t afford to get into a fight with anyone,” he told her.

  “Don’t worry. I don’t plan to get in a fight.” She smiled a tremulous smile.

  “Sometimes you don’t have to do anything to end up in a fight in a place like this.”

  She climbed on behind him and hugged up close to him. The feel of her breasts pressed against his back stirred more than his cock. He couldn’t afford to become attached to her. She would be having another man’s baby and leaving soon. All he was doing was protecting her against the baby’s father until she could get somewhere safe and have the baby, nothing more. Right, he thought to himself. That was going to happen.

  Chapter Eight

  Amanda climbed off the bike and removed her backpack. She unbuckled the helmet and handed it to Morgan as soon as he held out his hand. She couldn’t help but tremble at the sight of so many bikes surrounding them in the parking lot of the bar. She’d never been around bikers before, much less a gang of them. There had to be thirty or forty people inside that little building. She’d never be able to breathe, much less walk, without touching someone. The tiniest of fears began to build inside her gut. She couldn’t do this. There were too many people in there.

  “Whoa there,” Morgan said, catching her as she swayed. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t think I can go in there,” she said in a small voice.

  “Why not?”

  “It’s too small, and there are too many people inside.”

  “It will be okay. Just give it a try, and if you can’t handle it, we’ll leave and get a room for the night.” Morgan smoothed a lock of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear.

  “I’ll try, but I don’t do well in tight places, and I’m already antsy,” she warned him.

  “Good enough. Let’s go. Remember, stay close to me.”

  “Don’t worry,” she murmured as they approached the building.

  Morgan pushed open the door and ushered her inside. He kept a hand on her waist at all times. She made sure that some part of her was touching him at all times. The inside of the building looked larger than it had on the outside. There was more room than she had first thought. Morgan pushed his way through the milling crowd to the back of the building, where several pool tables were being used.

  Twice, she felt a hand give her ass a quick squeeze, but she didn’t acknowledge it or say anything to Morgan. It wasn’t worth a fight. She’d been felt up before. It wouldn’t be the last time either. Instead, she concentrated on sticking close to him.

  “How are you doing down there?” he asked just before they got to the pool tables.

  “Fine.”

  She didn’t elaborate, as they were stopping in front of a table with two men and three women. She had a feeling they were the top dogs in the bunch—gang, whatever.

  “Rock, good to see you.” He bumped fists with a massive-looking man who had to weigh over three hundred pounds.

  “Ace, how you doing, man? Heard you were in a bad wreck last summer.” Morgan turned toward the other man at the table.

  He was thin and lanky, with long, stringy blond hair. He smiled, and she noticed two teeth missing, wonderful.

  “Doing okay. Got a couple of plates and screws in my body now, but nothing’s changed,” the man he’d called Ace said.

  “Who’s the bitch?” the one named Rock asked.

  “Mandy, meet Rock and Ace.” He put his arm around her and hugged her tight to him. “She’s mine. All mine.”

  “You know we don’t do exclusives, Morgan. What gives?” Ace asked.

  Morgan didn’t let go of her but wrapped his hands around her and placed one of them on her belly. “She’s pregnant.”

  No one said anything for a few minutes. Then Ace started laughing. A beat later, Rock joined in. Amanda didn’t dare say anything, but she wondered what was so funny. She didn’t have long to wait to find out.

  “Morgan, man. You’re supposed to wear a raincoat, man. Didn’t you learn anything in the army?” Rock asked.

  “Sometimes the gear springs a leak.” He shrugged.

  Ace shook his head. “Man, how you handling it after losing your wife and kid?”

  Everyone grew quiet. Amanda didn’t blink and didn’t look up at Morgan, afraid it would show that she didn’t know about there being a child. All he’d told her was that he was a widower.

  “I don’t dwell on it,” Morgan said quietly.

  Rock must have realized that it was still awkward because he changed the subject, sort of.

  “So, Mandy, where did you meet up with Morgan here?”

  “Truck stop.” She didn’t elaborate. Morgan could if he wanted to.

  “Tyler around?” Morgan asked.

  “Over in the corner with Bubblicious. You remember her, don’t you?” Ace asked.

  Morgan squeezed her arm slightly. She could tell he was fighting something. She didn’t have to be told twice that Bubblicious was someone he and Tyler had shared in the past. No doubt he was disappointed that there would be no sharing around her. Because she wouldn’t allow it. If he were going to fuck her, he wasn’t dipping his dick in anyone else at the same time. She’d tell him that, too. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to, though.

  Morgan steered her toward the back of the bar and a corner behind the pool tables. There in a booth sat the man she remembered from the truck stop with his arm around a buxom blonde bimbo who was almost sitting in his lap.

  “Hey Morgan. ’Bout time you showed up,” he said. Then he noticed Amanda, and his eyebrows rose.

  Morgan shook his head slightly, and Tyler shoved the bleached blonde off his lap.

  “How about getting us another round of beers?” he asked.

  “Yeah, sure. How long you need me to be gone?” she asked in a bored voice.

  Tyler looked at Morgan. Morgan smiled at her. “Give us about twenty minutes.”

  She shrugged and sauntered off, waving at everyone behind her with an ass that didn’t stop shaking.

  “Have a seat,” Tyler said, pulling his legs in so there would be room beneath the table.

  “Quick and dirty, Tyler,” Morgan said.

  “Is there any other way?”

  He leaned forward as they scooted into the booth across from him. Morgan pushed her in first so she was against the wall.

  “This is Amanda, to be known as Mandy here. She’s pregnant, and her ex-boyfriend is trying to make her have an abortion. She’s on the run, and I’m helping her. She’s my woman while we’re here,” he explained quickly.

  “No problem. I’m in. Want me as a second or just backup?”

  Amanda quickly looked up at Morgan. Morgan sighed and seemed to think long and hard about it.

  “Morgan?” she asked with a tremor in her voice.

  “Not like that, Amanda. Just for show to give you more cover,” Tyler said softly.

  “He’s got a good point, Amanda. With both of us, it will be harder for Guy to get to you, and it will soothe some ruffled feathers among the others,” Morgan explained.

  “Nothing is going to happen you don’t want to happen,” Tyler told her.

  “Tyler.” Morgan didn’t sound like he was okay with that.

  “Okay, so maybe you’ll let me watch sometime?” Tyler asked with a grin.

  “Is he always like this?” she asked.

  “Sometimes he’s worse.” Morgan squeezed her shoulder, then stretched out his arm along the back of the booth to rest across her shoulders.

  “Did I give you long enough?” Bubblicious was back with two drafts.

  “Sure did, Honey,” Tyler said. “Meet Mandy. Mandy, this is Honey.”

  “Hey there,” the other woman said with a suspicious look on her face.

  “Hi.” Amanda didn’t have a clue what to say to the other girl. In effect, she’d just taken her m
an away from her, and she didn’t even want him.

  “Um, bathroom?” she asked no one in particular.

  “Come on. I’ll take you. I gotta pee, too.” Honey stood up again and waited.

  Morgan looked at her, then nodded and scooted out to let her get out. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but she couldn’t wait around. Instead she grabbed Honey’s hand and tugged her.

  “Come on. I’m gonna wet my pants,” she told the other woman.

  Once they were away from the men, she let Honey lead her toward the bathrooms and inside, where there were three stalls—all in use.

  “You look like you really gotta go. I’ll let you take the first one that opens up,” Honey said.

  “Thanks.”

  Amanda wasn’t sure she was going to make it. This immediate need to pee was about to take its toll on her. She didn’t think that came until farther along in the pregnancy. The last stall opened up, and she hurried inside. Honey set herself up outside her stall and talked to her, much to her annoyance.

  “You’re going to take Tyler and Morgan away from me, ain’t you?” she complained.

  “Um, I’m with Morgan, and if he, uh, wants Tyler, then I guess I can’t say much, can I?”

  “Nope. They’re the boss,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “They won’t leave you behind, will they?” Amanda asked, feeling guilty now.

  “Naw, I’ll hook up with one of the other guys. I just prefer Tyler and Morgan. They know how to treat a woman. You know what I mean?”

  “Um, yeah. I do.” She opened the stall door and walked over to wash her hands.

  When she turned around, Honey was gone, and all the stalls were empty. Where had everyone gone? She checked each one to be sure, then shrugged and walked out of the bathroom to return to where Morgan was talking with Tyler. Honey was nowhere to be seen.

  Amanda had only made it a few steps from the restroom when a hand grabbed her upper arm and pulled her into a hard body that smelled like cigar smoke and stale beer.

  “Where you think you’re going there?” The owner of the voice bent down and sniffed of her neck. “You smell good enough to eat.”

  “Um, I belong to Morgan—and Tyler,” she added quickly, thinking two would surely dissuade him.

  She was wrong.

  “Seeing as you’re all alone over here, I don’t think so. I’m thinking you’re belonging to me now.” He bit her shoulder, and she yelped, trying to pull away from him.

  The man laughed and tried to shove a hand under her shirt to get to her breast. She stomped on his instep, but with boots on, it only pissed him off. He jerked her back and grabbed her jaw with his hand.

  “You better learn your place, bitch,” he said and leaned in to kiss her.

  She managed to scream out Morgan’s name before the other man’s mouth smeared across her lips. With how he had her jaw between his fingers, she couldn’t even bite him. She didn’t have to worry, though. Almost before it started, it was over with. Morgan grabbed her and pulled her away from the man as Tyler landed a blow to the man’s jaw.

  “Did you tell him who you belonged to?” Morgan asked her.

  “Yes. I told him I belonged to you and Tyler.”

  Morgan smiled and hugged her close to him.

  “She’s fair game if she’s by herself,” the other man said, holding his jaw where Tyler had hit him.

  “Not when she tells you she belongs to someone else,” Tyler said and popped him on the arm with his fist.

  “Bitch.”

  “Our bitch,” Morgan corrected him. “Don’t make me mad, Carl.”

  The other man shook out his arm and walked off toward the bar.

  Morgan turned her around to look at him. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just shaken up is all.”

  Tyler put an arm around her and walked with them back to the booth.

  “Why didn’t you come back with Honey?” Morgan asked.

  “She left me. I figure she’s a little pissed because I took her men from her.”

  “Shit. Should have thought about that.” Tyler leaned back against the back of the booth.

  “You have a room yet?” Morgan asked Tyler.

  “Yeah, you ready to head back there?” Tyler asked.

  “When does Rock plan on heading into Cavern, New Mexico?”

  “He wants to ride through Albuquerque tomorrow and stop in at Lacey’s Bar, spend the night, then on to Cavern,” Tyler told him.

  “Yeah, let’s call it a night. Amanda is tired. I can tell.”

  “Amanda can talk,” she complained.

  “But she shouldn’t when she’s around the other bikers,” Morgan cautioned her.

  “Fine.”

  Tyler led them through the throng of bikers to the door. Once outside, Amanda felt like she could breathe again.

  “Amanda, I need you to ride with Tyler back to the room. We have to make it look like we really are sharing you.” Morgan gently pushed her toward Tyler. “I’ll be following right behind you.”

  Amanda opened her mouth to refuse, but saw the men standing outside the bar watching them. She plastered a fake smile on her face and turned and wrapped her arms around Tyler. He laid an arm around her shoulders and led her over to where his bike was parked. Just before she turned away, she thought she saw anger on Morgan’s face. Then it was gone as if it had never been there. And maybe it hadn’t.

  Tyler handed her a helmet and made sure she had it secure before he climbed onto the bike. He waited as she climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  “You okay back there?”

  “Yeah, just fine.”

  “We’ll be there before you know it,” he told her as he started the bike.

  “I’m not going to be shared, Tyler,” she told him as she leaned in.

  “I know.”

  He gunned the motor and pulled out of the parking lot. Amanda looked back over her shoulder and saw Morgan right behind them. She smiled and turned back around. It would be fine. He wasn’t going to leave her with Tyler.

  Chapter Nine

  Morgan had to fight to keep from jerking her back from Tyler when she wrapped her arms around his waist. She was only doing what he’d told her to do. Still, he didn’t like it. He didn’t know why he even had a right to care, but he didn’t want any other man’s hands on her. That included his best friend, Tyler. He hadn’t minded when Tyler danced with his wife before or hugged her. They’d never shared her, but it hadn’t bothered him for Tyler to touch her. Why did it bother him for Tyler to touch Amanda, who wasn’t his wife and was carrying some other man’s kid?

  He climbed onto his bike and made sure he was ready when Tyler pulled out. He adjusted Amanda’s backpack on his back and wondered how she was managing to ride with it pulling on her like it did. He needed to see about transferring some of her stuff to his saddlebags. She didn’t need so much pressure on her back.

  Tyler pulled into one of the better hotel chains and stopped outside one of the rooms. Morgan pulled up next to him and cut the engine before climbing off the bike. He immediately helped Amanda climb from behind Tyler. The other man got off the bike and pulled out a key card. He opened the door, and the three of them walked into the room with Tyler leading the way. The room had two queen-size beds, a couple of club chairs, a mini-fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker.

  “It’s clean and quiet. I picked the back side for that reason. As far as I can tell, we don’t have anyone on either side of us for at least three units either side,” Tyler told them.

  He pulled off his jacket and tossed it onto one of the chairs. He toed off his boots, then grabbed a beer out of the fridge.

  “So what’s the story?” he asked no one in particular.

  “Um, which bed is yours?” Amanda asked Tyler.

  “The one by the outside door,” he told her.

  “You need to rest?” Morgan asked, walking over to where she stood next to the other bed.

  “Y
eah. I have a little bit of a headache. I think a nap would do me good.”

  “Come on, then. Let’s get you comfortable.” He sat her on the foot of the bed and pulled off her boots.

  When he unbuttoned her jeans, she balked. “What are you doing?”

  “You’ll rest better without all these clothes on,” Morgan insisted.

  “But he’s here?” she whispered.

  “He’s going to see you naked before it’s over with anyway, Amanda. We’re staying together.” He looked her in the eyes. “He isn’t going to touch you. I promise. Okay?”

  Amanda swallowed around a lump in her throat, but nodded her head. She was obviously uncomfortable with the idea, but Morgan wouldn’t let another man touch her if he could help it. Somewhere along the way he’d pledged to keep her safe, and he would do just that.

  She didn’t fight him when he removed all her clothes except her panties and pulled back the covers for her to climb into the bed. He covered her back up and kissed the top of her head.

  “Get some rest, baby.”

  She was asleep almost before he finished tucking the covers around her. The riding was wearing her out. Maybe they didn’t need to ride with Rock’s gang. Maybe they needed to ride just the three of them. He’d talk it over with Tyler and see what he thought.

  * * * *

  For the next hour, they tossed ideas back and forth trying to come up with the best plan to keep Amanda safe and get Guy, her ex, off her back.

  “I still think we need to find out if he’s still after her or not. Let him know where she is. Then move and see if he shows up.”

  “She saw his goons outside the truck stop where we split up.”

  “You’re really stuck on her, aren’t you?” Tyler asked.

  “She’s important to me, and I made a promise that I would keep her safe.”

  “I think it’s more than that. I think you’ve fallen for her,” Tyler insisted.

  “Bullshit,” Morgan growled and stood up to grab another beer from the fridge.

  “Whatever.” Tyler stood up and walked over to where Amanda lay sleeping. He stretched out on the bed and laced his fingers behind his head.

  Morgan saw red and was just about to grab the other man and tear him off the bed when it hit him. Tyler was playing him, showing him that he was interested in her in more than just a passing way. He growled and planted his hands on his hips, staring down at his best friend.