Bad Apple (The Uncertain Saints MC #4)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  People started to leave, and the only ones left, by the time I thought it sufficiently clean enough, were my brother, Peek, the president, and his wife, Casten and his wife, Mig and his wife, Apple and me.

  “Thanks for the help,” Apple thanked me genuinely.

  I shrugged and picked up a new bottle of lemonade from the cooler, then sat on the only open seat, which happened to be the fireplace ledge.

  Apple started to lean against the mantle, but I moved over slightly, giving him room to sit next to me.

  Although it was a tight fit, he didn’t complain.

  “Thanks,” he grunted.

  I nodded, too busy smelling him to say ‘you’re welcome.’

  “I think we should go on a fun run two weeks from now,” Peek boomed, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “We haven’t gone on one in a couple of months, and now that everyone’s finally free of babies and shit, I want to go. To Arizona.”

  “What’s in Arizona?” I found myself asking.

  It’s not like I was invited to go.

  In fact, I hadn’t ever been on the back of a motorcycle.

  My brother was too scared of the possible consequences of me falling off during one of my ‘fits’, as he liked to call them, that I never bothered asking him anymore.

  I peeled the label off my bottle, completely forgetting that I’d even asked a question until the room got silent around me, finally making me pull my head up in confusion.

  They were all staring at me.

  Even the newbie.

  “What?” I mumbled.

  My brother was the one to answer.

  “Mr. Prospect here just asked you if you wanted to ride with him to Arizona,” Ridley teased, making it sound like he knew I would turn him down. “And to answer your question, nothing’s in Arizona. We just like to go to different places and see the sights.”

  My brother’s face looked so superior, so sure of himself, that I wanted to knock him down a notch.

  He was always doing that, acting like he knew what was best for me, and it was suffocating.

  So I put my foot into it.

  “I’d love to,” I turned my head to see Apple staring at me expectantly.

  His eyes showed surprise, and then satisfaction…and then worry.

  He looked over at my brother, then back to me.

  “Am I missing something?” He asked.

  I grinned.

  “No,” I smiled. “Not anything important.”

  “You’re not like a psycho or anything, right?” He asked for confirmation.

  I shook my head.

  “Not the last time I checked,” I baited.

  “You’ve checked to see if you’re psycho?” He tilted his head slightly.

  I shrugged.

  “I’ve taken a few of those quizzes on Facebook that make you pick a bunch of pictures and answer random questions. According to them, I am not a psycho,” I returned.

  Chuckles rose around the room as Apple and I sparred back and forth, but then I made a faux pas of sorts.

  I asked about his name.

  “So, tell me about your name,” I broke in. “Is it a family name?”

  I hadn’t meant it as anything but what it was. A fucking question.

  Did Apple take it like that? No.

  He took immediate offense to the fact that I would question where he got his name, automatically assuming that I was being rude.

  “My name came from my mother, thank you very much,” he muttered, standing up. “If y’all don’t need anything else, my Pop’s all by himself tonight.”

  Peek automatically nodded, and I was left wondering what in the hell just happened.

  “Ummm,” I floundered. “Do y’all think I’m still invited this weekend?”

  Annie, Mig’s wife, giggled.

  “No,” she snickered. “I don’t think you will be.”

  I snapped my fingers.

  “Damn,” I moaned. “The first time I get an invitation by someone that has all his teeth and it’s rescinded within the hour.”

  Laughter followed that comment, but I wasn’t feeling very ‘laughy’ at the moment.

  I was actually hurt.

  I always went out of my way to be nice to people and to have someone think I was purposefully being mean didn’t sit well with me.

  But when I got up to follow Apple outside, he was gone, and all that was left was the smell of burnt rubber and a wallet.

  ***

  “Thanks,” I said to the cabbie. “I’ll catch a ride with my friend.”

  Carl, the cab driver of the only cab company in town, didn’t hesitate and pressed his foot to the gas pedal.

  I watched the cab until I could no longer see the tail lights, and then I turned to stare in wonder at the house in front of me.

  I saw the goats almost immediately.

  They were in a pen set up to the left of the house, which was also where the dogs were laying down.

  The moment I caught sight of them, they bolted up and started barreling towards me.

  I braced myself, waiting for the inevitable impact of the huge polar bear-like dogs, but it never happened.

  When I finally opened my eyes that I hadn’t realized I’d closed, I saw both dogs, sitting on their rumps, staring at me.

  Their tails were swishing in the dirt as they waited for some signal that I wasn’t privy to.

  Then I heard the whistle.

  Following the sound, I saw the man I’d come there to see.

  “You dropped your wallet,” I informed him. “It was on the ground next to where your bike was parked.”

  “How nice of you to bring it to me,” Apple drawled, sarcasm thick in his voice.

  My eyebrows rose.

  “I’m sorry if I offended you,” I apologized. “It was never my intention.”

  He blinked, surprised that I’d willingly offered up an apology.

  But then I said something stupid.

  “It’s not like I knew you were so sensitive about your name, or I would’ve never brought it up,” I continued.

  I could never just stop while I was ahead.

  It didn’t matter what I was doing.

  Gambling and up a hundred and fifty bucks? I’d bet it fucking all and then promptly lose it.

  Every single time without fail.

  I was running ahead of schedule? I’d stop at the donut store before work. Then I’d get distracted by all the pretties and end up being ten minutes late.

  That was how my life ran, though.

  I was that person that never knew when to shut up. Add on top of that, I’d been drinking the entire night, and it ended up being no bueno for me.

  “So, if you sent your cab away, how do you expect to get home?” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  I looked at my watch.

  “Actually…my brother and I only live about a five minutes’ walk down the road from here,” I pointed in the direction. “Didn’t you know that?”

  He shook his head.

  “No,” he grumbled, obviously upset at that news. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Apple!” An older man’s voice called from inside the house. “Where’s the coffee you bought?”

  I raised a brow at him.

  “Yeah, Apple. Where’s the coffee you bought?” I teased.

  Apple’s eyes narrowed.

  “Go home.”

  Chapter 2

  I’d call you a cunt, but you don’t have the depth or the warmth.

  -Apple’s secret thoughts

  Apple

  She got all the way to the end of the driveway before I came to my senses.

  Sighing, I looked at the dogs.

  “Guard,” I ordered, pointing at the chicken coop and goat pen.

  The dogs left almost immediately, just like they were trained to do.

  I, on the other hand, didn’t want to do what I was trained to do. />
  I wanted to go to bed.

  I’d had a long ass day and an even longer night thanks to some hunters that thought it’d be funny to destroy a bald eagle’s nest.

  Which meant I’d gotten to the club party late and then had to do shit duty.

  I’d been hungrier than hell having missed breakfast and lunch, and the guys thought it’d be funny to make me eat last for my inability to show up on time.

  I’d arrived about two minutes before the curly black haired woman, belonging to none other than my biggest non-supporter in the entire fucking club, Ridley fucking Walker.

  Turns out, my first erection in months came from his sister.

  Fucking perfect.

  “Well, you gonna let her walk home by herself or what?” My father barked from the doorway.

  I flipped the old man off and started walking down the one lane dirt road that doubled as our driveway.

  I turned the corner of my driveway, heading in the direction that I’d seen her turn, and stopped when I saw she wasn’t anywhere in sight.

  “Hey!” I called out loudly. “Where’d you go?”

  Nothing happened for a long moment, and I used the time to walk even further.

  Then a muffled curse, followed by the sound of leaves and sticks crunching had me looking to the side to see the woman coming out of the woods, buttoning her pants as she came.

  “Sorry,” she apologized. “I had to pee.”

  “I can see that,” I replied dryly. “Come on. I’m tired and ready to go home.”

  She came into step beside me, her hands buried deep down into the pockets of her jeans, making the thin material covering her pretty ass seem even tighter.

  “Full moon,” she broke the silence after a couple hundred yards. “I’m lucky.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because I walk nearly everywhere. A lot of times it isn’t as light as this,” she shrugged, her reply was brief and answered nothing.

  I turned just my head to study her, seeing her long curls just barely touching the arch of her back.

  “Why do you walk everywhere?” I asked snidely. “Don’t have your license?”

  I couldn’t tell you why I was being such a dick. However, I’d spent the entire night with the girl and then she’d gone and said my name like it was a dirty word…just like her fucking brother.

  She didn’t answer.

  Her eyes were settled on the road in front of us, making it known, without words, that she didn’t want to talk about why she did all the walking that she did.

  Touché.

  I had my own touchy subject that I’d warned her off of already tonight.

  I’d give her the change of subject.

  “I don’t date,” she said suddenly.

  My brows squeezed in confusion.

  “Uh,” I mumbled. “Okay.”

  We reached her door, and I winced when I saw the lights on inside.

  “Your brother’s gonna kick my ass you know,” I told her.

  “Why?” Her brows furrowed.

  I snorted.

  “A, because he doesn’t like me. Two, because he doesn’t like me,” I explained seriously.

  “My brother’s suspicious,” she amended. “And he doesn’t hate you. If he hated you, you’d be treated like my other brother.”

  “And how’s that?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Like a common criminal,” she licked her lips. “Ridley keeps him under surveillance, and he doesn’t get to come around me, him, or any of the club members.”

  “Hmm,” my mind started to race. “Interesting.”

  She nodded.

  “He’s not here,” she informed me.

  “Okay,” I said, my eyes following the movement of her finger as she brought one manicured finger up to her mouth and bit lightly on the nail.

  “Do I have to spell it out for you?” She rubbed lightly on her bottom lip.

  I rebalanced my weight on both feet as I readied myself for whatever was going to come out of her mouth next.

  I wasn’t disappointed. It was quite shocking, to say the least.

  “I want you to fuck me,” she burst out.

  She didn’t lead up to it or anything, just blurted that shit out there.

  Which might’ve been why I couldn’t think of anything to say to that.

  “I’m…” I hesitated.

  “You’re a pussy,” she crossed her arms, brows raised.

  My eyebrows lowered.

  “That’s certainly not what I was going to say,” I informed her. “Which you would’ve known had you not interrupted me.”

  “Most people finish their sentences in a timely manner,” she countered stiffly.

  She was getting pissed.

  Interesting.

  “Desperate much?” I asked her. “You have to proposition guys that don’t want you in an attempt to get what you want?”

  Her mouth dropped open in affront.

  “You’re shitting me right now, aren’t you?” She gasped, hurt evident in her voice.

  “Yes,” I lied, contrite. “But you surprised me is all. And I’m not a pussy.”

  “Well, what are you?” She sniffed primly.

  “Honestly?” I hesitated.

  She nodded.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m trying to get into a club that my father thinks’ll be good for my PTSD and anger management,” I answered. “And to do that, I need to not piss off the members; for example, your brother.”

  Her mouth thinned.

  “My brother’s already let you know that he doesn’t like you. What’s sleeping with his sister going to change?” She bit out.

  I paused, unsure how to answer that.

  “Well…” on one hand she was correct. He wasn’t going to hate me any less if I slept with his sister.

  I did find her attractive.

  Extremely attractive.

  She was gorgeous.

  And I’m not talking in a girl next door kind of way. I’m talking about a ‘keep her locked down in baggy pants and a sweatshirt’ kind of way and still beat the men off with a stick.

  She’d be hell on the heart, that was for sure.

  Her long, black curly hair came to about mid back, and her porcelain white skin seemed almost luminescent under the light of the moon.

  She had long legs that looked fucking superb in those tight jeans she had on, not to mention the black Jack Daniel’s t-shirt she was wearing, cut up in that fashion that women seemed to like nowadays, was only accentuating her curves.

  And what little denial I tried to hang on to by the tips of my fingers slipped away, leaving only one thing on my mind.

  I couldn’t pass this opportunity up.

  Not after I’d been lusting after the woman for so long, even though she didn’t know that.

  “You really want this?” I crowded her so close that she started backing up out of reaction.

  She licked her lips, and then nodded.

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “Or I wouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “You know who I am?” He queried. “You’re not intoxicated and asking for things that you shouldn’t be asking for in this condition.”

  She laughed in my face.

  “Oh, honey. Now you’re just trying to think up an excuse to back out, aren’t you?” She mocked me.

  I reached for her wrist and yanked her to me, pulling her so hard and fast that she had no other recourse but to slam up against me.

  “Does it feel like I want to back out?” I asked her, grinding my cock against her leg.

  She licked her lips, eyes flared, and shook her head.

  “Nope,” she said almost casually, even though her breaths were coming in shallow pants, clearly showing me she was anything but not affected.

  “What is it you want from me?” I pushed her, letting my breath play over her lips.

  We were s
o close that the irises of her eyes looked like huge pools of liquid green, and when she went to lick her lips, her tongue brushed my lips.

  My eyes flared, and hers seemed to absolutely melt, desire filling up those liquid depths.

  “I want your cock,” she breathed, leaning herself forward until our lips brushed. “But you already know that.”

  “Nothing else?” I asked.

  She shook her head.

  I smiled then and went to work on the button of her jeans.

  The thing about our neighborhood was that we were in a fairly secluded area.

  The Caddo River was a little over half a mile away from my place, which was at the end of the road.

  There were only four other houses on this street, and Kitt’s was the second to last one, next to mine.

  Meaning, there was going to be no one else coming by here for quite a while.

  I also didn’t have to worry about her brother coming home, because I was supposed to be at the clubhouse early for a meeting.

  The others were staying the night.

  Me being the prospect meant I didn’t get the opportunity to do that.

  I was expected to leave late, be there early, and be on time.

  Something that I’d already failed at today, but with this woman in my arms, at this moment in time, I found myself not caring quite so much.

  She inhaled quickly when my cold fingers met the warm skin of her belly.

  Her eyes showed no reluctance as I unbuttoned, then unzipped, her jeans.

  And, all the while, her eyes stayed connected to mine, I let my fingers slip into the gap in her pants, nearly inhaling my tongue when I felt how wet she was.

  The lips of her sex were drenched, and I knew instantly that this wasn’t something that’d just started happening. She had to have been wanting it all night.

  “How long have you wanted this?” I whispered, walking her back until her knees met the bumper of Ridley’s truck.

  She leaned back and bit her lip, letting me know without words what I’d already suspected.

  My fingers delved between the lips of her sex, sliding down with little effort until I met her entrance.

  A whimper escaped her throat when I plunged my middle finger inside.

  My cock jumped at the way her tight pussy clutched at my finger, and I just knew that when I got my cock inside of her, it’d feel fucking divine.