by L. M. Reign
_____________________
Cole
I follow closely behind her, catching the eye of one of the Mongrels’ club members, Vicious. He jerks his chin towards Mila and I glare at him, letting him know she’s with me.
She’s mine.
A nasty smile splits his features and anger boils beneath the surface.
Fuck is he doin’?
She didn’t acknowledge me until Milo did, staring at me as I stood behind her. I watched her pucker her lips and kiss his hand, saying something in that fucking language again.
The fuck?
Mila moves to stand at the opposite side of his corner, her stance mirroring mine. Not knowing that her surliness did fuck all to diminish the blood pumping to my cock.
Hearing her speak in a different language earlier roared it to life. The way the words seemed to roll off her tongue with ease got me thinking about the other things she used to do with that tongue.
“The damage you did to my tongue will have me talking with a lisp,” I tell her, rolling over to face her naked body. We were at Rocky Point again, wrapped up in the blanket I brought with us.
“I didn’t bite your tongue,” she said, laying back and staring at the stars. “You, sir, bit your own damn tongue.”
The absolute truth, but it was definitely her fault.
She was on top of me, shoving her tongue down my throat to shut me up when I tried to argue about asking her dad to help me with college. She distracted me by getting naked and pulling my shirt over my head as she kissed her way down, tantalizingly slow, before unbuttoning my jeans.
She pulled me out and stroked my length a few times before wrapping her lips around it, taking me in as far as she could. She bobbed her head a few more times before releasing me with a loud pop. Slowly licking me up and down, she whispered, “I want you in my ass,” which made me bite my tongue so hard it bled.
The air horn sounded, and Rook came out of his corner with his fist lifted. He wasn’t swinging madly like he normally did. He really wants that bike. He moved his feet, attempting to lure Milo in a circle. Irritation filled his eyes when Milo didn’t follow.
Diesel claps me on the shoulder, pulling me towards him. “Vicious is fightin’ for her,” he gestures towards Mila across the ring.
“Who’s he fightin’?”
“King.”
Pulling some bills from my pocket, I shove them in his hand. “Tell Shadow to put me in with Vic.” Diesel nods and disappears.
I make my way over to stand behind Mila. Leaning down, I tell her, “The underdog is next.”
“Who?” She doesn’t take her eyes off of Milo.
“Me.”
“Why?”
“Winner’s choice,” I couldn’t keep the smugness from my voice.
She whips around, poking a finger at my chest. “Don’t you dare.”
I smirk, pulling her finger to my lips and kissing it before she jerks away. Glaring, she turns her attention back to the fight.
Rook squares his feet, ready to put some weight behind his punch. Milo blocks and slams his fist into Rook’s face. Blood spurts from his nose, but he keeps circling him. Not taking his eyes off his opponent for a second. Rook managed to clip Milo’s jaw before receiving several blows to his torso. Milo shoved Rook back, giving him room to recoup. Knowing it wasn’t a fair fight.
“We need to call Doc,” Brass yells from behind Ness, as we watch Milo pin Rook’s arm when he swung. Pushing forward on his elbow, threatening to snap it. He stares at Mila and she taps her ear, giving him some kind of signal. Apparently, it meant knock-him-the-fuck-out because that’s exactly what he did.
_____________________
Mila
Milo stared at me, questioning if he really should show no mercy. Instead of snapping his arm - which I really wanted to do - I tapped my ear and he nodded. Delivering a single blow behind Rook’s ear. His equilibrium faltered before he fell to his knees. Milo lets his arm go and he hits the mat with a resounding echo just as the air horn sounds, declaring my brother the winner.
Milo’s getting a new Ness.
Club members collect an unconscious Rook from the ring before another man steps in. His back covered with rockers, branding him for the Mongrels MC. He does a slow spin making the crowd erupt into cheers before stopping in front of me, pointing a lone finger my way. His intention clear.
“Better hope Ace wins,” Brass comes to stand between Ness and me.
“If he doesn’t, that Mongrel dies,” I issue my warning clearly.
“You’ll start a war if he does,” Brass voices with reason.
“Sounds like your problem,” I shrug.
I don’t give a fuck.
“Who’s that?” Dash asked.
“That’s Vicious. Sergeant at Arms for the Mongrels. True to his name.”
“Hail to the King” by Avenged Sevenfold began to blare from the speakers as Cole stepped inside the ring. The low lights revealing his shirtless body, perfectly toned tatted pecs, and a beautiful torso piece of a reaper with hands covering the eyes, ears, and mouth. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Sweat clings to his slim, tight abdomen, a happy trail leading down to a cut ‘V’ peeking out from the waistband of his boxers.
Unlike Vicious, he doesn’t showboat. He just stares my way, giving me a curt nod. Milo comes to stand beside me, holding his jaw.
“Move your hand,” I turn to assess him. “It’s swelling. You did good.”
“Thanks,” he takes his clothes from Ness and starts getting dressed as the air horn sounds, drawing my attention back to the ring.
“What are they fighting for?”
“Your sister,” Dash informs him.
“Bastard,” he snarls, glaring daggers at Cole.
I stand, enraptured by the way his body moves. Confident and smooth with each punch he throws. Cole wastes no time circling his opponent. He goes straight for stomach shots while taking a few hits himself. I start critiquing his performance.
He’s too open.
Vicious delivers a blow to Cole’s gut, causing him to hunch over slightly. Instead of giving Cole time to recuperate, he takes advantage of his weakness and shoves him against the ropes, raining down punch after punch on Cole’s upper body, catching his face.
Fuck.
“C’mon, Ace,” Brass whispers from behind his hand.
“MURDER HIM!” Ness yells above the music and the crowd. Brass laughs at her, moving closer.
“You’re a wild one,” he circles an arm around her waist.
“You know it!” She screams over the crowd, focusing on the fight.
Blood begins to pour from unknown cuts on Cole’s face as he musters the strength to shove Vicious back before punching him in the left shoulder with his left hand and delivering a grisly blow to his face with his right hand.
“Southpaw!” Someone yelled.
Vicious stumbles, disoriented, shaking his head. Cole returns the favor and takes advantage of his weakness. He delivers several blows to Vicious’ face before upper cutting his jaw, sending him backwards. He lands with a chilling thud. The crowd explodes into a frenzy.
“YES!” Ness jumps up and down, giddily. Brass tightens his arm around her for stability.
“Better him than Vic,” Brass murmurs. I nod, understanding his meaning. “C’mon,” he leads us through a frenetic crowd gathered around Cole’s corner as he steps down from the ring, clutching his ribs.
“Fuck him. He can’t just claim you. You don’t have to do this, Mi,” Milo reminds me.
“I know,” I shove through, making my way to him. Asher is beside him, holding a towel and a bottled water. He ignores her, coming straight to me. Asher throws me a dirty look and I ignore it, focusing on the bloody man before me.
“You need to learn how to fight,” I tell him, looking over his wounds.
“Maybe you can teach me,” he suggests. I shrug.
“How does this winner’s choice thing work?”
�
�Depends. You plannin’ on honorin’ it?”
Leveling him with a steely glare, I jut my chin out, holding my head high. “Unlike you, I don’t run away.” He winced at my words. “What do you want from me?”
“I’ll let you know,” he moves to cup my cheek and I refrain from jerking back with all these eyes on us. Playing the lucky female while he lays his forehead against mine was increasingly difficult as all those memories flooded back. “First, I need to get fixed up.”
“I’m going to need alcohol,” I say through a tense smile before poking his bruised rib. He winces, his lips curling into a smirk.
Chapter 7
Cole
The last several days were mostly uneventful as Syn slowly began to integrate themselves within our club. Milo and Dash split their time between helping us with the build while running their own operation out of our clubhouse.
We were also ten thousand dollars richer, which meant coffers were full and Bodi was happy. All that was left now was for them to start staying at the clubhouse. It took a few days for ol’ ladies to get the rooms upstairs ready.
It’s also been a few days since I’ve seen Mila. She’s been busy at Lotus and is either gone when I swing by or with a client. We haven’t talked since the night we stood shoulder-to-shoulder and watched the tree light up the square, since she fixed me up.
“Sit still,” she told me as she cleaned the cut above my eye.
“I can’t. Fuck! It burns,” I jerk away from her, not getting very far on the hood of her trunk.
“You wanted to fight. Stop being a fucking baby,” she tells me as she digs through the bag she pulled from her car. She leans in close and I could feel her heat against my torso. I put my hands on her hips, pulling her closer to me. She tenses before reaching up and tangling her hands in my hair, bringing us a hair’s breadth away. I thought I’d get to taste her sweet lips again. Instead, she jerked my head back, holding me in place as she cleans my cut.
“Don’t do that shit again,” she warns me, jamming her finger into my bruised rib.
“Fuckin’ stop,” I growl at her, clutching my side.
“Fuckin’ stop,” she mocks me, making me smile.
“Why? You turned on?”
She scoffs. “Nope.”
“If I put my hands in your panties right now, you’d be dry?”
“Who said I was wearing panties?” She teases me. Alcohol always did disarm her. I laugh, slowly roaming her svelte figure with my eyes. Focusing on the way her skin must feel.
So soft and smooth.
“Let’s find out.”
“No time. Your face is done,” her glassy eyes bore into mine. “I’m going to reset your nose.”
“No. You’ve had some drinks. Tomorrow,” I pat the hood of her car softly, beckoning her to sit with me.
“No. I’ve got shit to do tomorrow,” she slowly feels along my nose for the break. “You’ll only need one adjustment right... here,” she pops it back into place.
“Son of a fuckin’ bitch!” I almost kick her. “A little fuckin’ warnin’, Mila!”
“All done,” she says, sweeter than saccharine as she packs her stuff back into her bag.
We also haven’t talked about scoping the supplier yet, but we will soon. I’ve been going straight to the garage every morning to work on the Bobber and doing rounds on the merch right after.
“Shut up the shop. Bodi called church.” Rook tells us, lowering the hoist.
“It’s one in the fuckin’ mornin’. What the fuck?” Brass throws a wrench on the table.
“I’m going to crash hard tonight. Your sister has kept me up the past two nights,” Dash tells Milo.
Mila’s been with him?
“The fuck did you just say? You fuckin’ her?” Pushed to my limit, I shove Dash and get in his face.
Not backing down, he gets right back in my face. “You must have a death wish, brother. What the fuck is wrong with you?” He pushes my shoulders, his voice low and threatening.
“Back off, Ace,” Milo gets between us, pushing us apart.
“He’s fuckin’ your sister and you’re okay with it?” I back off and throw my hands in my hair.
I’m going fucking insane.
His eyes go dark and he gets in my face. “What my sister does is her business. It only becomes my business when deadbeats like you leave her with hi-”
“Milo,” Dash stops him with a shake of his head. “Not yours.”
“That was different,” I seethed. “I left because I loved her.”
Milo scoffs. “Past tense. Don’t make me beat your ass again. You’re fucking pushing it. Move. On.” He pokes a lone finger at my chest.
He’s right. I know that I should leave her alone. I just can’t release the grip I have on her or escape the one she has on me.
“Don’t rub it in, ‘Lo,” Rook touches the side of his head, looking like he has PTSD. “And quit actin’ like ya have a license on her pussy,” Rook hollers, going to the office.
“Look, can we stop talking about my sister? I’m starving and I’m fucking tired. We’ve got church. Let’s get this shit over with.”
Waiting for the others to arrive, I can feel Milo’s stare from across the table, turning my attention to him. He starts muttering in that fucking language to Dash, drawing his eyes to me.
Fuckin’ prick. He’s dead. Fuckin’ dead.
“Mila do that?” Dash asked, eyeing a new addition to Brass’ sleeve.
“Yeah, man. She’s pretty good. Lotus needed her style. People bookin’ up for this shit.”
“You actually let her ink you? Man, she must be magic or somethin’ because you hated that bitch.” Rook yawns.
“We agreed that if I didn’t like it, I got to shoot her. I like it.” Brass shrugs, holding up his arm for inspection. Milo and Dash laugh as if the agreement was absurd.
“She’s growin’ on you,” Rook jokes. “Shit, she’s like a fuckin’ fungus. She’s growin’ on me.”
“Did you just call my sister a fungus?” Milo asked.
“Yes,” he continues. “She cooks like a damn pro. Gave me a thing of chili she made the other day. Who ate it? My fuckin’ name was on that pot.”
“Me. Fuck your name,” Bodi answers making us laugh at Rook’s sulking face. “First order of business,” he lowers himself into his chair, looking like shit. He partied too hard last night. “The drugs. They safe?”
“Yeah. We did rounds before it got dark. All accounted for,” Diesel reports.
“Good, we’ll need to move that soon. Ace, set up a line in Lockdale. Take Diesel with you. See if Damien wants to buy. If not, then call Chino.”
“Got it,” I light my cigarette.
“Rook, what do ya got on the build?”
“Almost done. Needs a few more fittin’s, minor touches, and we can deliver it. It’ll be done in time for the Winter Bash.”
“Tie up that loose end. Get it done and out of my garage in two days. Next, the meetin’. We set?” Bodi lights a cigarette.
“Yeah. Everything's set. Ness said Mila has some info for us about their people. Those girls have been pullin’ double duty between the shops and the ninja shit they do. Said Mila has some stuff to share with us.” Gibbs leans back in his chair.
“Good. Brass, pull Mila in soon. They settlin’ in?”
“Yeah, Mila’s skills are top notch. Cash flow is up at Lotus. Five grand in the coffers,” Brass reports.
“Ness?” Bodi turns to Gibbs.
“She’s good. Threatened to beat one of our high school shoplifters to death. I don’t think he’ll be comin’ back,” Gibbs laughs.
“Good. Ace, supplier update?”
“We’ve been focused on the build, so we got nothin’.”
“Mila has some leads on that,” Milo says casually.
“I’ll get with her tomorrow.”
Bodi takes a long drag from his cigarette, narrowing his eyes on me. “You do that and get back to me. I want somethin’ on
these fuckers before we step on their turf. Brass tell Bloom to start preppin’ for a party this weekend at the Dark Horse. We need to celebrate the nomads.” He tilts his head towards Milo and Dash. “Let the girls out of shop duty to help the ol’ ladies.”
“You got it,” Brass replies.
Bodi slams the gavel down and everyone starts to leave. “Ace, hang back.” I sit down, waiting to speak until Diesel closes the doors.
“Yeah?”
“We have a loose end to tie up with Mazzy’s second, Hurst.”
“I thought I took care of ‘em?” I think back to the last time I saw Hurst. The night I killed him and dumped his body in the ravine.
“He’s tellin’ anyone that’ll listen that we are responsible for Mazzy’s death since he roughed up Sadi. Take care of ‘em.”
Fuck.
“Also, we need to start figurin’ out how we’re goin’ to pit Syn against the dagos. Heard you won Mila the other night. Use that to figure out a way.”
My stomach churned at the thought of pitting Syn against the Italians now I know that Mila will be involved.
“Got it,” I say, my tongue heavy in my mouth. Rocks settle in my stomach and I leave the room. I see Brass and jog over to him. “What time will Mila be in tomorrow?”
He tilts his head over towards the bar top. Mila, Ness, and Asher are gathered around Ma. “Afternoon. Why?”
I stare at Ma’s hand on hers and panic bubbles in my chest.
Fuck.
“Book me an appointment,” I call over my shoulder. Mila’s panicked eyes meet mine as I head towards them.
_____________________
Mila
“Let’s go in there,” Ness paves the way to the clubhouse. Reluctantly, I follow, unsure of whether or not we should go inside. Milo texted and told us to come. And to bring our stuff. We were officially moving in with the bikers.
It was late, and I had no intentions to sleep. Insomnia is a little bitch and wouldn’t let me if I tried.
I make sure to keep the marvel out of my eyes when we walk in, but my curiosity gets the best of me as I stand in the place that’s been home to Cole - Ace - all these years.