“Thanks,” I whimper as I step inside.
There’s a lot of bikers in here for a Thursday afternoon. Some glance over at me and then do a doubletake when they see me, probably wondering what the hell I’m doing here.
I’m starting to wish that I didn’t wear my flowery summer dress. Jeans and a t-shirt would have worked better.
A skeevy-looking woman with big blonde hair that should have been left in the ‘80s is grinning at me from a table.
Please don’t…
She gets up and walks over, looking half-drunk. Her blue eyes appear to be excessively heavy as they droop down, half-closed as she stumbles on her way over. The only think perky about her are her huge fake breasts.
“What have we got here?” she says with a slur as she walks right up to me.
My whole body goes rigid as I freeze. She grabs a piece of my hair and lifts it up. “Fresh meat,” she says and I get a whiff of beer on her hot breath. “Wouldn’t mind a piece of this myself.”
“Leave her alone, Barbie,” a waitress snaps as she walks by with a tray of empty beer bottles. “The hardware store is across the street if you’re so desperate for a screw.”
“Fuck you, Stella,” Barbie says with a sneer. I take a breath of relief as she heads back to her table, which has three bikers at it.
I quickly follow Stella as she heads toward the bar. She’s pretty with long black hair and kind green eyes.
“What are you doing here?” she asks me as she puts the tray on the bar. “You look like a lost little kitten?”
My eyes widen in panic.
She laughs and puts a comforting hand on my arm. “Go sit at the bar and I’ll get you a drink. Just watch out for the lions, little kitten. They’d love to devour a sweet girl like you.”
An empty feeling forms in the pit of my stomach as she empties the bottles off her tray and leaves to find more.
With my pulse racing and my brain begging me to flee, I head over to a barstool in the corner of the bar and sit down.
A creepy-looking guy with a bad haircut and an even worse face comes slinking over with a grin on his leathery lips.
“Hello, beautiful,” he says in a slithery voice. “I’m Steve, but the girls in town call me The Fuckmaster.”
Oh god.
I stare down at the grooves in the bar—carved long ago by some drunk with a key—as panic starts to build. He sits down on the stool next to me and I can confirm that he smells as bad as he looks.
“The back of my pickup truck has your name on it,” he says as he licks his lips.
“Oh no,” Stella says as she grabs Steve by the ear and yanks him away from me. He hollers as she pulls him off and then kicks him in the ass. “Stay over there and leave the poor girl alone.”
“I was just talking to her,” Steve says in disbelief.
“Oh, is that right, Fuckmaster?” Stella says with a hard stare. “The only woman who calls you that is your mom because you’ve been fucking everything up since you were born.”
He huffs out a breath and waves a hand at her before retreating to the other side of the bar.
“Thank you,” I say with relief. “I guess I’m not used to being around lions.”
“He’s not a lion, sweetie. He’s more of a baboon. Those are the lions.”
I follow her gaze to the men coming out of the office. There’s a silver fox in a suit and a giant man beside him. They’re talking to some of the bikers in low voices that I can’t hear.
“That’s Troy Conley in the suit. Most powerful man in the town.”
I thought the most powerful man in the town was my father. At least according to him, he is.
Stella goes behind the bar and pours me a drink. I’ve had sips of wine before, but nothing like what she’s making me. I lose count of the number of bottles she pours in, and am nervous to try it when she slaps it in front of me, but I’m pleasantly surprised that it’s really fruity, sweet and delicious.
“That one is on the house,” she says as she begins to wipe down the bar and counters. “After that, you got to pay. Just don’t drink too many of them or you might end up in the back of Steve’s truck.”
I shiver at the thought and it makes her laugh.
“What’s your name, kitten?”
“Daisy,” I answer.
She laughs. “I think kitten sounds more threatening than Daisy.”
The door opens and my eyes dart over to it. I nearly spit out my sip of drink when I see the man I’m looking for walking in.
My breath seizes in my lungs as I watch him shake hands with a couple of guys. His right eye is swollen and black, there’s a cut in his lip, and a gash along the top of his left cheek.
Tears start to sting the back of my eyes and I have to struggle to hold them in. I hate seeing him like this. All bruised up and in pain. It hurts even more knowing that I was the cause of it.
But he doesn’t seem to mind or even notice and it makes me wonder just how tough he is.
My eyes start to roam down his hard muscular body and I get all warm inside as desire takes hold.
A smirking laugh rips me out of my daze and I turn to see Stella giggling at me. “See something you like, kitten?”
I guiltily drop my eyes to the bar and she taps my hand.
“Is he a lion?” I ask with a gulp.
“That there is Simba himself,” she says as she leans on the bar and admires him with me. “Prince of the Heartlands. Killian Conley, son of our fearless leader, Troy Conley.”
“Killian,” I whisper under my breath, enjoying the way it feels on my tongue.
I like that I have a name to put to his gorgeous face.
“Wonder what happened to him?” Stella mumbles as she watches him approach a table of bikers. “His father Troy went after him last night. I guess he got a beating from Dad.”
He got a beating from dad alright, just not the dad she’s thinking of.
I can’t seem to take my eyes off his broad shoulders as he has a word with the guys.
“I gotta get back to work,” Stella says as she grabs her tray. “If you want another drink, just holler.”
“Thanks,” I whisper as I keep my eyes on Killian.
Killian’s father Troy pulls him to the side and I lean in to eavesdrop on what they’re saying.
“What the fuck happened to you?” his father asks. “Russians?”
“No, Dad,” he says with a shake of his head. “Just a drunken brawl with Matty. You know how he is.”
His father groans. “I expect more from you than this. Did I not make it clea—”
“It was just some harmless fun,” he interrupts. “College boys from UCLA over on a weekend drinking trip. No harm done.”
His father doesn’t look too happy.
“Here,” Killian says as he hands over some documents.
“What’s this?”
“The deed to the gas station. And three more possible locations.”
His dad’s brow furrows as he starts rifling through the papers. “You got it? How?”
“I had to break some legs… Kidding! I offered him an extra ten percent to hand it over.”
Troy looks impressed as he looks at his son.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Killian says with a heavy breath. “I’m done now. I want to be clean too.”
“What changed?” Troy asks.
“Everything.”
My skin starts tingling all over as I watch him in awe. Everything changed? I couldn’t possibly be the catalyst… could I?
I’m so distracted that I don’t notice Creepy Steve walking back over.
Now that Stella has left me alone, he slips onto the barstool and gives me what I think is supposed to be a sexy look, but it looks like he’s constipated more than anything else.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you and me in that truck,” he says as his eyes drop down to my breasts.
“That’s funny,” I say with a gulp, “because I haven’t been able to stop th
inking of you getting run over by a truck.”
He laughs and then puts his hand on my knee, making me cringe.
“Get your hand off me.”
“Why?” he asks as he leaves it there. “Are you afraid that you like it?”
“I don’t like it,” I say a little louder and with a little more force.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Troy giving Killian a nod of approval and then disappearing inside the office with the papers.
Steve takes his free hand and touches my cheek, making me cringe. “Do you like this?”
“No,” I say and I push his chest with both hands as hard as I can.
He tumbles backward off the stool and then gets up with a furious look on his face. The whole bar bursts out laughing at him and he glares at me like he’s ready to make me pay for making him look like a fool.
I jump back as he raises his hand to slap me, but the slap never comes. Something else comes instead.
A blur collides into Steve and smashes him into the bar. I gasp when I realize it’s Killian. He’s gripping Steve’s wrist with one hand and the other hand is wrapped around his neck, choking the pervy life out of him.
“You touched my girl?” Killian hisses into his face. Killian looks outraged. He looks livid.
I feel a pang in my chest and start to breathe quicker as I watch. Did he just call me his girl? I look around, expecting to see a beautiful girl nearby, but there’s no one around but me.
“I asked you a question,” he says as he lets go of Steve’s wrist. He punches him hard in the stomach twice and then pushes him onto the bar as everyone watches.
“Kick his ass,” one of the bikers yells.
“Give him a haircut,” another one yells and then everyone laughs.
Everyone but Killian. He looks murderous.
Seeing him so territorial over me, so protective and possessive, sends a thrill shooting through my veins. This should be a warning sign to leave, but it’s just making me even more attracted to him. Even more intrigued.
“Killian,” Troy says in a deep booming voice.
Everyone turns to see the club’s President standing in the middle of the bar with a disapproving look on his face.
“Did you already forget our little talk just now?”
Killian glances at me and then slams Steve’s head into the bar hard. He lets him go and the creep slithers to the floor where he belongs.
“No, I didn’t. But let me tell him and let me tell everyone in town. If anyone looks at my girl,” he says as he puts a possessive hand on me and pulls me closer. “Anyone looks, talks, or touches what’s mine… they’ll end up at the bottom of the desert. Got it?”
Everyone looks away, except for his father, who looks more confused and perplexed than anything.
Steve grunts as he gets back up and walks over to Killian’s father. “Thanks, Troy,” he says as he clutches his stomach. “I was just talking to her all nicely.”
Out of nowhere, Troy throws a hard punch and cracks the pervert right in the jaw. He falls back with his hands in the air and lands unconscious on the ground as everyone laughs.
“Get this fucking creep out of here,” Troy says as he shakes out his hand and disappears back into his office.
I turn back to Killian and he’s staring at me in awe. Like he can’t believe his wide eyes.
Everyone goes back to what they were doing now that the bouncer is dragging Steve out and the show is over.
But for us, it’s just the beginning.
We have a lifetime ahead of us…
Chapter Five
Daisy
My hands are shaking as we sit down beside each other.
His brown eyes are so intense and they look even more breathtaking up close. The dark around his eye caused by my father’s fist is making the bright color pop even more.
He runs a hand through his light brown hair and his sleeve creeps up his round bicep, showing me even more of his tattooed skin. I’ve never been into tattoos much, but now, after seeing Killian’s sexy inked-up arms up close, I’m all-in for ink.
“What are you doing here?” he asks in a deep throaty voice that rumbles through me, giving me goosebumps.
I swallow hard as I look at the cut on his lip, wondering if he can still kiss with it.
“Same thing you were doing last night,” I say in a low unsure voice. I’ve never had a boyfriend before and I’m not used to putting myself out there like this. I’m not usually one to stick my neck out and be vulnerable. All of this is new territory for me.
“I had to be near you,” he says as he stares at me like I’m some kind of angel. “I couldn’t stay away.”
“I know the feeling.” My cheeks get hot as he smiles. He has really nice teeth.
“I’m Killian,” he says.
“I know.”
He smiles.
“I’m Daisy.”
“I know.”
The air fills with electricity as we stare at each other, unable to say all of the intense words and feelings tearing through us.
“I want to apologize for my dad,” I finally say.
He shakes his head. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
“Still,” I say with a wince. “It must have hurt.”
“I’d do it over and over again if it meant seeing your beautiful face.”
Stella returns behind the bar and plops a beer down in front of Killian. She smiles at me before turning back to him.
“I warned this little kitten that this place is full of lions,” she says. “But I didn’t realize she was in with the alpha of the pack.”
“She’s mine,” he says in such a possessive way. “If you see anyone go near her, you tell them that she’s Killian’s girl.”
I can’t help but grin at hearing him call me his girl. I like it.
“I’ll put the word out,” she says before giving me a wink and disappearing.
“She’s nice,” I say once she’s gone.
“One of the good ones,” Killian says before taking a sip of his beer.
I watch his lips press against the bottle and feel my pussy start getting hotter. I clench my thighs together and shift on the stool.
Killian notices and his breaths start coming out deeper and heavier as if he can smell my arousal wafting up to his nose.
“So, are you in a… motorcycle club?” My heart starts hammering in my chest, not knowing if I’ve crossed some sort of imaginary line.
“I’m part of the Heartlands, yeah,” he says with a nod. He doesn’t seem upset or offended. I feel like he’ll always tell me the truth and that I can already ask him anything I want to know.
“And what is that exactly?”
“We’re a brotherhood. We love and support each other and of course, we ride together.”
“Are you… criminals?” I almost choke out the last word.
He takes a deep breath as he picks at the corner of his label on his beer. “We’re trying to go clean.”
“Oh,” I say as my eyes drop down to his jeans. I never thought I’d be attracted to a criminal before, especially with my father being the Sheriff, but there’s something about him that I can’t deny. There’s good in him. I can tell. He might just need a loyal girl to help bring it out.
“I just bought a gas station. And I have plans to buy more.”
“That’s good,” I say with a smile. “Congratulations.”
“It’s just the start, kitten. I’m going to have a real estate empire when I’m done and I want you by my side.”
I can feel my eyes widen. “You do?”
He nods with a grin and I feel my insides turn to jelly.
“How do you think your dad is going to feel about that?”
I gulp. “I think he’d have a problem with it. He hates anything on a bike.”
“I think he’d kill me if he knew what I had planned for you.”
“What do you have planned for me?”
He doesn’t answer. He just gives me a s
exy grin, which charges the air even more.
“You live with your old man?”
I shake my head. “I live with my mom in California. I’m just visiting my dad.”
“What do you do there?”
I start rambling on, telling him about my mom and college. I hate school and I already want to quit even though I’m only one year in.
“You want to quit school and end up like her?” he asks, pointing to Barbie who’s now sitting on some guy’s lap. He looks like a human Shrek.
“No,” I say with a laugh. “I’d like to run my own business. I started an online shop when I was a teenager and made some good money until I closed it down to go to college. I liked it.”
“What did you sell?”
My cheeks start to redden in embarrassment. “It’s stupid. I made fizzy bath balls in my garage and sold them.”
“What the fuck is a fizzy bath ball?”
I laugh and he smiles while I tell him all about it. I felt so alive when I was running the business, but then I went to college and it was all such a letdown. I’m dreading going back. I felt like I was learning and growing much more from running my own company than I am now.
“I’ll tell you what,” he says as he places a hand on my knee. It sends floods of warmth rippling through me. “We’ll run the empire together. King Killian and Queen Daisy.”
I smile as he grins at me. “How can I turn that down? I’m in.”
“Come,” he says as he hops off his barstool. He offers me his hand and I take it.
“Where are we going?” I ask as I get to my feet.
He’s so big. I barely come up to his chin.
“I’ll show you our first property. The first of many.”
Stella is grinning at me as we walk outside. It’s a warm sunny summer day and I can feel the excitement building inside of me.
“Wait a second,” I say as I dig my heels into the dirt. “We’re going on that?”
Killian is pulling a huge monstrous chrome chopper from the pack of them parked along the bar.
“What did you expect?” he asks with a sly grin. “You’re at a biker bar after all.”
“Right, but… I’ve never been on a motorcycle before.”
“And I’ve never been in love before, kitten. There’s a first time for everything.” He gets on and then pats the seat behind him. “Come on. I’ll take you on your first ride.”
Killian: Heartlands Motorcycle Club Page 3