Devil's Angels Boxed Set: Bikers and Alpha Bad Boy Erotic Romance

by Joanna Wilson

  But the photos wouldn’t prove anything unless he could also figure out where they were taking the barrels. Only problem was there was no way he would have time to get back to the club, get a vehicle, and follow them. Even if he could, it would be a big risk trying to follow them on these back roads without being seen.

  For the first time since this whole affair had started, Manny didn’t know what to do. Losing the leverage of a storage building full of dead bodies was a real blow, especially considering that he still wasn’t exactly sure what was in the other units. Drugs, guns—it had to be something big enough to kill over. Xander was in over his head this time, but without enough info on the operation, Manny wasn’t going to get the revenge he craved.

  The trucks pulled away and Manny ducked down to keep from being spotted by any headlights. His only evidence was driving away, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. He could call the cops, but by the time they got around to raiding the other storage units, Xander would have moved whatever was kept there to another secure location.

  Manny was stuck. He pounded his fist angrily into the ground. When he couldn’t hear the trucks any longer, he got up and dialed Rex on his cell phone.

  ***

  Ellie couldn’t stop laughing. Her heart was pounding so hard it almost hurt, but she felt light as air and…soft. Thighs still shaking from the power of her orgasm, she was finally able to calm down a little and the laughter toned down to small rounds of giggling. By the time Rex got back from cleaning up and dealing with the condom, she was coming down off the high and ready to be let out of her bindings.

  With her hearing back to normal, she could hear him moving around the bathroom, running water then shutting off the light as he came out. His fingers were gentle as he untied the knots around her ankles. He caressed the skin there, making her smile softly.

  He was a study in contradictions, her Rex. He seemed much older than his age most of the time, the result of his harsh childhood. Yet, despite the violence and uncertainty of his upbringing, he was kind and caring. There was a deep belief in her soul that knew beyond doubt that he was a good man.

  The calluses on his hands told the story of how hard he worked. Technically, he was the boss, but he never hesitated to get his hands dirty and help out. He was loyal to a fault, even though the people he was loyal to didn’t always have his best interests at heart.

  His protective nature showed in his worrying about her safety. He could have easily walked away and left her to find a way out of the mess she had gotten herself into. He made her feel safe, and not just in this situation, but in general. “Safe” was something she couldn’t remember feeling before.

  When her legs were free and he’d inspected her flesh to his satisfaction, she felt him move back between them. Using a warm washcloth, he began to wipe the nearly dry fluid off of her body. He was so gentle, so careful. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and this time it wasn’t from laughter.

  “I can do that, if you’d untie my hands,” her voice was husky with emotion. Hopefully he would think it was from all the screaming she did earlier.

  “I want to do it,” his voice matched hers, low and husky, softer than usual.

  She let him. When he was done, he took the cloth back to the bathroom and moved to the head of the bed to untie her arms. He kissed her right wrist once the knot was free, and placed her arm across her belly. Reaching across, he untied the left and gave it the same treatment.

  Finally free, she reached up to take off her blindfold, and surprised when he swept her up and settled her by his side, tucking her into the curve of his body, her face in the crook of his neck.

  “Rex?”

  “You trusted me,” his voice came out rougher than he wanted, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to say more, but the words were stuck behind a giant knot in his throat. He ran his fingers up and down her arm, raising gooseflesh.

  Moving her head slightly, she pressed her lips to the sensitive flesh under his jaw.

  “When haven’t I?”

  That was it. The moment that all the remaining pieces from years of anger and hurt and fear fell away. It took his breath for a moment. He wasn’t a man for poetic words, but he found himself wishing he was so he could give them to her. He would have to settle for doing the best he could.

  “I’ve never known anyone like you. Being around you seems to make a person want to be better. Do better.”

  She smiled against his skin. “I’m not half of what you’re making me out to be, Rex. I have my faults. My secrets.”

  His head came up a little so he could look down at her. “Secrets, huh?” His tone was teasing and his heart felt light. He didn’t want to let her go. Didn’t want to move or think about what could happen in the future. For once he just wanted to be here in the moment.

  “Deep, dark secrets that would make your skin crawl,” she teased back, poking him in his ribs and laughing when he jumped like it tickled.

  “Bodies in the closet–” he began, interrupted by the sound of his cell trying to vibrate its way off her dresser. It was nearly midnight and he wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone other than Ellie. When it stopped vibrating and then immediately started up again he began to worry a little.

  “Get it, Rex. What if something happened?” Ellie moved out of his arms and gave him a light nudge.

  Snatching the phone up, he managed to get to the call right before it went to voicemail. It was his Dad.

  “Is everything alright?”

  “Well, no. Why else would I be calling you in the middle of the damn night?” There was definite annoyance in his Dad’s tone.

  “What happened?” Rex was anxious as he pulled on his jeans. “Are you hurt?” Distracted and worried, he didn’t hear Ellie come up behind him, dressed in her robe.

  “No, I’m not hurt. Just pissed off.”

  “Are you going to tell me why or do we have to play twenty questions?” Running a hand through his hair, Rex let relief rush over him. As long as his Dad was okay they could deal with anything.

  Ellie could hear every word Manny said. The obvious relief in Rex’s stance was comforting. Then she heard Manny say something that turned her blood to ice.

  “He moved all the bodies out of the storage unit. I couldn’t get back to the club in time to follow. They’re all gone, Rex.”

  Ellie gasped loudly. Rex turned in time to see all the color drain from her face. She ran from the room and into the bathroom, getting to the toilet before her stomach emptied itself.

  “Shit. I have to go, Dad,” Rex dropped the phone but could still hear his Dad talking, his voice getting louder and louder. He ignored him. Ellie was more important right now.

  He found her with her head pressed against the cool porcelain of the toilet. She was crying softly.

  “Ellie?”

  “I heard him. He said—he said bodies, Rex. Plural. Oh, God.” She leaned back over the toilet as her stomach heaved emptily.

  Kneeling down beside her, Rex waited for the last of the dry heaves to end. “Ellie, I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have had to find out like that.” He reached up and turned on the faucet, helping her to stand so she could rinse out her mouth.

  Palming water, she filled her mouth over and over, trying to rid herself of the taste of vomit and fear. Her stomach rolled with it still. She grabbed the mouthwash bottle, poured a generous amount into her mouth, and swished vigorously. As soon as she spit it out, she began to sob.

  He couldn’t stand to see her crying so hard. Helping her up, he carried her back to the bed and cradled her, letting her sob against his chest. Slowly, the tears began to ebb and she was down to hiccupping breaths.

  “I knew he was bad–” Tears threatened again and she had to pause and breathe deeply before continuing. “How many? Do you know?”

  His eyes closed. This was a conversation he didn’t want to have with her. Not now, not ever. “I don’t know how many, Ellie.”

  “But it’s more t
han one?” She pulled away, wanting to look into his eyes. “More than five? Ten?” Her voice kept rising, panic and fear taking hold.

  Rex wrapped his arms tightly around her. “Don’t do this, Ellie. I am never going to let him get close to you. Never.”

  “He’s a killer, Rex.” She pulled away again, anger eating into the fear. “He’s a killer and you and your dad knew. You knew and you didn’t tell me.”

  Dread settled into his gut. “No, I didn’t. I was afraid to tell you.”

  “You should have told me. I had a right to know,” she pulled out of his arms completely and curled up against the headboard, wrapping her arms around her knees. “That explains why you were so overprotective. It didn’t make sense before, but now—now it does.”

  “I was wrong. I should have given you all the information that night,” he got up off the bed and began to pace. His chest felt tight and that knot of fear and dread was growing. She’d put her trust in him only to find out he didn’t deserve it after all.

  “Yes, you should have. I needed to know. I believed you and Manny when you said Dad was dangerous, but this—this is beyond what I thought he was capable of. That could have been a big mistake.” Her voice was calmer, her breathing becoming more regular. She knew being this upset with Rex was slightly irrational, but her emotions were spinning out of control.

  “Look, Ellie, I realize you’re upset–”

  “Don’t finish that sentence. All my life, people have been telling me that their lying to me was for my own good. I’m an adult now and I deserve to be treated as such.” When Rex tried to speak again, she cut him off with an angry, slicing gesture of her hand. “No, just don’t. I need you to leave, Rex. I need time to think some things through.”

  “No. Ellie, I won’t leave you here alone when Xander–”

  “Xander isn’t going to come here tonight. So go. Please. Before I say something I might seriously regret later.” It bothered her that her temper was making her irrational. Like a part of Xander was alive inside of her. The thought made her stomach lurch.

  Seeing that he wasn’t going to be able to rationalize with her at that point, Rex gathered his clothes and got dressed. He would leave her house but he wasn’t going far. He’d give her a little time tonight, then in the morning they would talk it out and she’d see that he only wanted to protect her.

  Ellie watched him with dead eyes. She was spiraling out of control and didn’t want anyone here to witness it, especially Rex.

  “I’ll give you time to think, Ellie. I can only imagine what’s going through that head of yours, but if you think this is over, whatever this is between us, then you’re wrong.” He tossed his jacket over his arm and walked out of her bedroom, then out the front door.

  The minute the door closed, she fell apart.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ellie Thorn was done crying. Friday night had been an emotionally charged night that had seemed to last forever. She hadn’t been able to sleep without Rex by her side which had made her emotional instability that much harder to deal with. When she wasn’t crying, she was so angry that she shook with the need to lash out at something or someone.

  By the time dawn had started changing the color of the sky, she was calmer. She got up and made coffee; she tried to follow the routine of her life before Rex had come into it. While the coffee brewed she checked emails and answered the important ones, leaving the others for another time. She wasn’t much in the mood to read letters from her fans or see what the reviews said about her newest release.

  It bothered her that her normal routine—a routine that she enjoyed until Rex—seemed boring. She missed his early morning banter and the way he would find some way to tempt her with sweets—or bacon. She missed sharing coffee with him on the patio and making plans for the day which never happened because they always ended up back in bed.

  Shaking off thoughts of what she was missing, she focused on working on an outline for her next book. After a couple of years writing straight erotica/romance for women, she was dying to branch out and combine the erotica with something a little darker. A mystery plot with high stakes, a little violence and some big emotionally charged moments.

  Basically, her life recently. In college, they’d pounded home the fact that a good writer is usually writing what they know. How she ended up writing erotica was still a mystery to her. It wasn’t like she had any real experience to base her sex scenes off of—until Rex.

  When she was a teenager, her mom had been very open about discussing sex, love, and men. Not because her mom had been one to sleep around; it was quite the opposite. Now that she knew what she had been through with Xander, her mom’s aversion to getting into another relationship made sense. She made sure that Ellie was well-informed and as equipped as possible to navigate the differences between being in love and being in lust.

  In some ways, despite the lifestyle that her parents had engaged in while she was a child, Ellie was more reserved than a lot of the women her age that she hung around. Her friends were more open and wild than she was; a fact they reminded her of often.

  Ellie had no trouble leaving most of her sexual experimentation to her imagination. She always thought that eventually she would settle down and, with the right man, discover all the thrills that she wrote about in her books.

  There was definite doubt that her mom’s teachings on the difference between love and lust had taken root. The pain she was feeling right now, the way she missed Rex—lust wasn’t supposed to leave you feeling raw and broken when it walked out the door.

  ***

  “You look like hell warmed over.”

  Rex wasn’t ready to deal with anyone, especially his dad. Trying to sleep in the cramped cab of his old pickup hadn’t improved his mood any. “Thanks. Is Randy heading over to Ellie’s?”

  “He is. What happened last night? You hung up on me and never called me back—” Manny turned, following after his son when he went back out the door and headed around the corner of the club. “Hey, what happened?” He reached out a hand and put it on his son’s shoulder only to have it angrily shoved off.

  “She overheard you on the phone. I didn’t think to see how close she was standing and when you said…” Rex stopped at the foot of the stairs and sat down hard on the bottom step, head in his hands. “You should have seen her face. It made me sick to see her so upset.”

  “She kicked you out, huh?” Manny sat down next to his son, clasping his hands and letting them dangle between his knees.

  “You think she was angry when you decked her? Well, that was nothing. She was full on pissed off.”

  Turning his head so he could see his son’s face, Manny saw the light of desperation and fear in his gaze. “You’re worried she isn’t going to forgive you for keeping the truth from her.” It wasn’t a question, he could read the thought like it was written on a piece of paper.

  Rex hung his head. “Yeah, yeah I am.” He got up and began to pace off his frustration. “I don’t know what it is, but I can’t walk away from her.”

  Manny smiled, something he didn’t do often enough. Seeing his son suffering wasn’t funny, but realizing why he was suffering made him happy. Deep down, he was a ‘Happily Ever After’ guy.

  “You know, when your mom left I was pretty messed up. What did I know about raising a kid? Nothing, that’s what. I relied pretty heavily on letting you do whatever the hell you wanted and then punishing you after the fact. I was no parent. Ellie’s mom stepped in a few times and tried to help me, but I didn’t listen.” Manny tapped his forehead. “I got a pretty thick head and I don’t like anyone telling me I’m doing something wrong.”

  Rex had stopped his pacing and was staring at his dad like he’d grown a second head. He didn’t know this man. Prison usually made men like Manny harder, meaner, and less willing to show any emotion at all. So, what was all this?

  “You and Ellie were thick as thieves back then. The only time I saw you smile was when you were with her, playi
ng like a normal kid, not a care in the world. That’s why I made sure that you two were together as often as possible. I might not have known jack about raising a kid, but I knew that Ellie made you happy.” Manny got up and stretched, knees popping. “Here in the past few days, I’ve seen that happiness come back to your face.”

  Walking away, Manny threw out one last thought. “Someone like Ellie—she’s worth fighting for.”

  For the longest time, Rex just stood there, taking in what his dad had said and wondering when the hell he’d stepped out of reality and into an episode of The Twilight Zone.

  ***