by Riley, C. L.
To make things worse, it had been almost a week since the youth center fire, which led me to believe we could expect another attack any day. Bones had increased security and manpower at all our businesses and was keeping families on lockdown, something no one liked.
“You fucking her?” Grinch broke into my thoughts like a burglar into a bank vault.
“You asking so you can tell the prez or cause you care?”
With Bones and Doc dealing with the dead Guardian, it was a good time to catch up with my friend. I wasn’t sure how much I should tell him.
“Your pops ain’t stupid, and neither am I. You like this girl. She likes you too.”
“If you say so.” I didn’t let on how much his observation pleased me. I sure as hell hoped she liked me. “What about you. Got your eye on a certain stripper?”
Grinch ignored me and kept walking, using his high beamed flashlight to light up the overgrown path. I just chuckled, shaking my head. We were such a communicative pair. Two emotionally stunted bikers, not the best conversationalists when it came to sharing feelings about females. He must have agreed, because the subject was dropped.
Eager to get back to Olympia and the kids, I was shocked by her icy greeting. Even stranger, were the boys’ haunted expressions. They looked lost, staring at nothing. When we’d left, the mood had been borderline festive. Not now. It was anything but.
Picking up on the atmosphere, Grinch turned right back around and headed for the porch, where I knew he would light up his nightly cigar, leaving me to deal with the latest family crisis.
“How’d the coloring go?” I decided the kids would be easier to deal with than Olympia. “Can I take a look?”
Joey glanced at JV, but neither moved. “Okay…did you guys get into trouble? Something you want to tell me?”
Olympia answered for them. “I think maybe the question should be is there something you, Bryce Richards, want to tell me? Then I will decide how much trouble you’re in.”
Holy fuck. This was not good. She was using my given name, never a good sign.
“Joey, take your brother to the spare bedroom and watch TV. I’ll get you when it’s time to go.”
I knew things were really bad when the kids hurried to obey me without complaint.
“You want a drink?” I headed to the kitchen. There was no way we were having this conversation, whatever it was about, without a glass of Jack. I poured one for us both.
She accepted it and gulped it down, before moving to the couch, where she perched on the edge, flipping through the photos Bones had provided. The photos I thought would give her the peace of mind she’d been lacking. They’d somehow done the opposite.
When I joined her, she scooted away, making sure our legs didn’t touch. Fuck. This was even worse than I’d first imagined.
Handing me a picture, she finally leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest, a smug look distorting her features.
At first, when I saw her in her hot little cheerleading number, I grinned. I remembered the outfit and that day at her house well. It had been the first and only time I’d seen her in her cheer gear. I wasn’t sure why this particular image had her so fired up. I also wasn’t sure why it was in our couples only shots. It took me a minute to figure out why she was upset.
Shit. Shit. Fuck. She was supposed to have been a white trash whore with multiple boyfriends, pregnant at fifteen. Girls like that typically weren’t stars of their schools’ cheerleading squads. Still, there had to be more than the photograph alone causing this reaction.
At last I met her gaze. “I’m not sure I understand. You wanted to do a photo shoot. Pretend you were a cheerleader, babe. Having dropped out of school in ninth grade, you never got a chance. It was your dream, you know.” I tried to seem sympathetic without looking like I pitied her.
Her smug look morphed into an ugly sneer. If silence could slap someone across the face, her silent stare qualified as the face-slapping kind. I waited for an actual crack against my cheek. She never raised her hand. Instead, her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes reddened and filled.
“I had more memories tonight. One that clearly showed we weren’t romantically involved when I was fifteen. I also remembered another fire, where my mom…” she choked down a sob.
“Fuck, babe. I’m so sorry about your mom.” I didn’t know what to say. I had no clue how much or what exactly she’d remembered, but things were unraveling fast.
She surprised me and continued, “I asked the boys a couple of related questions. You should have seen their faces. They were oozing guilt, if that’s even possible. Whatever lies you’ve told, you have involved them. That’s unacceptable and unforgiveable.”
I sighed, running my hand through my hair. “What do you want me to do?”
“You could start by telling me the truth.”
Olympia
Before Boone had a chance to explain, his father returned with Doc, insisting we all pack up and head to the clubhouse compound. He’d told the ATF that Boone was on a road trip to Seattle but had returned and was ready to talk. More lies. On top of that, they were expecting visitors from the enemy bike club. As VP, Boone’s presence was required at this meeting. In addition, it seemed my supposed father-in-law now deemed the underground fortress safe enough for me to return to. I hoped he was right.
As for my newly acquired awareness, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do yet. I was too exhausted and overwhelmed to make a rational decision, especially without all the details more memories would provide. And regardless of the lies, the fact remained, there was an arsonist who had tried to kill me, and if my recent memory was accurate, he’d managed to murder my mother.
My heart swelled with pain for a woman I couldn’t remember but was somehow connected to through my grief. She wasn’t the only person I was grieving. In the short time I’d been with Boone, I’d fallen for him, hard – head-over-heels hard.
I was in love with a lying, cheating, bastard-of-a-biker, who, despite my anger, I still wanted to be with. My betraying body was addicted to Boone’s domineering ways. I’d also grown incredibly fond of the two young boys who called me ‘mom.’ Crap. I didn’t know what to believe.
Unwilling to be with Boone in the car, I chose to ride back with Doc, who’d driven solo. Boone and the boys followed in the rusty car we’d escaped in, with Grinch and Bones bringing up the rear. I wondered if we’d be forced to crawl through the secret tunnel again, dragging the decomposing corpse with us. Please no!
Respecting my sullen mood, Doc left me alone to brood.
I drifted along in that strange, semi-conscious realm right before sleep’s embrace. There, I was flooded with more memories. At first, they came so fast and were so disjointed I couldn’t make any sense of what I was seeing. I ignored the urge to alert Doc and took deep breaths, allowing the visions to form, and letting them ebb and flow, slowly revealing my forgotten life story.
Key points flashed like neon signs in my mind: I was rich, very rich; My dad was Seal Cove’s mayor; I was engaged to an ATF fire investigator, Conner Mills; I’d had a love hate attraction to Boone since high school; someone had indeed tried to kill me in a fire; I’d been hopelessly lost and injured in the forest; Boone had saved me, offering his protection along with a list of lies; and…oh no! Not that!
Yes, that. He’d stolen my virginity.
No, he hadn’t stolen anything, my mind quickly corrected. You willingly gave yourself to him, even when he’d attempted to resist. Now I understood why he’d wanted to wait.
Oh. My. God.
It was all so obvious now. The clean sheets, hot bath, my way-too-tight pussy; I wasn’t a two-time mother. I was a freaking twenty-two, not twenty-eight, year old virgin…or at least I had been before Boone.
I was tempted, in that moment, with memories slamming into my mind, to leap from the car. We were traveling at a slow enough speed through the dark forest; I’d likely survive the jump, but then what?
Putting a
final stop to the jumping idea, the vehicle bumped and shimmied over a patch of rough terrain; a good reminder there were no guarantees. And quite frankly, I didn’t want to die or end up injured again. There was no way I was providing my husband with an easy way out of this mess.
Oh, God…what was I going to do?
I wanted to cry, scream, rant; mostly I wanted to kill Boone Richards for playing with my body, my heart, and my entire life.
Why had he lied to me? What was his purpose in all this? He’d wanted to get even and punish me, but why? Sure, I’d been a bitch to him and everyone else – okay, maybe a huge bitch, but…
It didn’t matter why. He’d made a fool of me. I knew what I was going to do, for now anyway.
Absolutely nothing.
I was going to stay and pretend I’d been confused by the memories, convincing Boone I wasn’t angry, not anymore. Then I’d find a way to make him pay for what he’d done. When the time was right, I’d throw him and his stupid biker buddies to the feds or their enemies, maybe both.
A picture of Joey and JV invaded, threatening to derail my get even plan. Was I willing to toy with two young boys who obviously adored me in spite of their father’s deceit? What about the old ladies and other kids? Everyone had been so kind. Had they known my true identity?
I wasn’t ready to consider those questions. Not yet. I’d allow the Soul Scorchers to protect me while I figured out the smartest and safest way to destroy them, from the inside. I’d do my best to avoid unwanted casualties, but I couldn’t make any promises. War was war, after all.
I was fighting to win back my pride and the life Boone had ripped from me.
You didn’t like that life. You even wished on a star for something new, something different and exciting.
“Shut up!” I hissed, silencing the betraying inner voice that was suddenly intent on confusing me more.
Doc shot me a questioning look.
Ignoring him, I stared out the window. It didn’t matter how much I liked or loved anybody or anything. Nobody made fool of me. I’d keep up the Sally-charade until it no longer served my purposes. In the end, Olympia would emerge victorious. I always did.
Boone
The minute we entered the compound, the kids were surrounded by their friends. I wasn’t surprised. Everyone was up late, one of the many issues with lockdowns. Schedules were pretty much shot to shit. A few of the old ladies wandered over to greet Olympia, who was at least friendly, if not a bit reserved. I couldn’t expect more. I was lucky she wasn’t hunting for a meat cleaver.
I had no idea what memories had surfaced, but whatever they were had thrown a wrench in the progress we’d made at the cabin.
Keeping her in sight, I found Spyder hunched over his laptop, fingers flying.
“Boone, what’s going on?” He paused to look up at me.
“Thanks for the pictures, man.”
“No problem. They looked just like the real thing, huh?”
I couldn’t complain about his talents in the realism department. He had a knack for all things computer related, including mad design skills. It was the addition of one picture he needed to explain. “Why the cheerleading photo? That one got her all riled up.”
His eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
I explained, and Spyder was clearly puzzled. “I never put that photo in the envelope.” He eyed the room suspiciously. “Someone added it. They must have.”
Following his gaze, I scanned the large recreation area. The room was slowly emptying as families headed off to bed. A few of the brothers were slamming straight shots with Twila and two other club girls, at a table in the far corner.
“No way,” Spyder said, shaking his head, noticing where my gaze had landed. “None of them had a clue what I was working on. Unless…”
“Unless what?” I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Twila has been getting pretty cozy with Crusher this week, and he’s been unhappy with you. He’s gotten a ton of random calls from fighters wanting to face the champ. You heard he got in the ring again, right?”
Not sure where Spyder was heading with his explanation, I nodded for him to continue.
“What you might not have heard…he didn’t last long. Lost by TKO, in less than two minutes.”
That didn’t sound like the Crusher I knew. The man might not be the best negotiator outside the ring, but he was one hell of a fighter, or he had been. “He’s a brother. He wouldn’t share our business with a whore. He knows better.”
“You’d think so, but he’s been drinking heavy again and sleeping with Twila most nights. He’s even hinted at making her his ol’ lady.”
Shit. I can’t go away for a minute. And Bones wonders why I don’t take vacations.
I didn’t plan to deal with the situation right now, but it would have to be addressed sometime, and soon. We couldn’t have private club matters gossiped about like front page news. That was the type of thing that got people hurt, thrown in jail, or put in the ground.
Seeming to sense my scrutiny, Twila glanced my way but immediately lowered her gaze. Gripping Crusher’s arm, she giggled at something he said, shrilling louder than necessary.
I hated to make the comparison, but sometimes it felt like we were in the middle of a perverted high school drama. Now was one of those times. If the implications weren’t so serious, I might have found the situation amusing.
“You okay?” Olympia’s soft voice startled me. She was the last person I expected to be concerned about my wellbeing. “Hey, Spyder,” she added.
His cheeks reddened and his top lip curled up.
What the fuck? I wanted to knock the silly grin right off his face.
“Where do we sleep tonight?” Olympia asked, not waiting for me to answer her first question.
“I have another room down here. And no, I’m not well. I’ve had better days and nights; but you already knew that.”
For a second I thought she was going to smart off, but she managed to keep whatever thoughts she had to herself. I had no doubt she’d give me a piece of her mind, once she got me alone.
“Spyder, see what you can dig up. I don’t want to accuse anyone of something so serious, but I’ve got a bad feeling.” I was getting pretty fucking sick of all my ‘bad feelings.’
He just nodded and focused again on his computer, a sure sign he was done with the conversation.
Spyder preferred computerized communications over talking. Sometimes I couldn’t blame him. Talking and dealing with people was no simple task. Olympia was teaching me that on a whole new level.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said, shocking me. “I’m not sure what exactly I remembered. I guess I overreacted.”
“Come on. Let’s go to bed.” I didn’t know how to respond to her apology. She’d thrown me so far off track; I was almost afraid to say anything at this point.
I was relieved when she let me guide her by the elbow down one of the two passages, leading to the bedrooms. Mine was near the end of the corridor, by the tunnel we’d escaped through. I hoped we wouldn’t be crawling through the dirt again anytime soon.
She cast a wary glance toward the exit, her thoughts mirroring my own. At least we agreed about something.
Once inside, I kicked off my boots and yanked my shirt over my head, desperate for a shower. I still hadn’t responded to her apology, and she watched me expectantly.
“So, I wanted to be a cheerleader?” She gave me a sweet smile, breaking the silence.
Taking a deep breath, I launched into a longer version of the lie I’d told earlier, explaining how she’d dropped out of school in ninth grade, and we’d stolen a cheerleading uniform so she could do a photo shoot. This time she soaked in the story and didn’t argue at all, much to my surprise.
Olympia was full of surprises tonight.
I’d expected a barrage of questions and accusations. Instead, she was demure and trusting, not at all like the Olympia I was used to. Even the Sally version w
as inquisitive and suspicious, not so easy to give in and give up. Only when it came to sex did she give me complete control.
Too tired to worry about her sudden surrender, I found a towel and strode to the bathroom, but only after planting a long wet kiss on the lips I had come to love. She tangled her hands in my hair, almost making me forget my shower. If I hadn’t felt so filthy from fishing and touching a body, even with gloves, I would have fucked her then and there. Make up sex could be so satisfying.
Shit, sex with Olympia was always satisfying. She was perfection in that department. She might be a horrible cook and difficult to deal with, but her combined innocence, enthusiasm, and desire to explore while pleasing me, had my dick alert and ready.
“Don’t go anywhere,” I called over my shoulder before shutting the door.
Olympia
Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it. My acting job is just beginning.
That thought prompted a shiver of anticipation. Playing Submissive Sally would be an Oscar worthy role, one I’d play with perfection.
What wasn’t perfect was my make-believe, Boone-assigned name. Why the hell did he choose Sally? Couldn’t he have at least come up with something more modern? The only Sally I’d ever known was my third grade, classmate’s pet pony.
Too bad we couldn’t do a reality TV show. Move over Kardashian Clan!
I realized just how ridiculous my line of thinking was when I heard voices raised outside our door.
This lifestyle was dangerous and unpredictable. Something I’d be wise to remember. There was a fire-fiend ready to burn down our town, a biker war brewing, and earlier we’d fished a body from the river. We were on lockdown, for God’s sake. I needed to get a grip and keep my mind focused on surviving.
“Boone! Get your ass out here!” A fist thudded against the door. “Now! You motherfucker!”
I backed against the wall, my heart stampeding, and all thoughts of my scheming replaced with adrenaline-laced alarm.