by Stacey Lynn
“As long as he doesn’t lose his head about his ex and shoot the wrong man again.”
I ground my teeth together to keep from snapping. Bull could be a dick when he wanted to. But Ryker was family, and he was just as invested as the rest of us. In part, I hoped this would provide his own needed absolution.
“His head will be clear.” And maybe, it’d bring him home.
Until then, seeing as how we still didn’t have a clue where Sporelli was hanging out and what their plans truly were, Bull had ordered the club on lockdown. It’d be for a week before we headed to Sturgis, the country’s largest motorcycle rally. With the timing of the rally and Nordic Lord Charters from all over the country coming in to party, we’d have dozens more men nearby and at our backs when we needed them. Sporelli wouldn’t know what hit him.
It sounded easy.
It wouldn’t be.
Men would be lost on all sides. Hopefully, it would end up with the least amount on ours. I refused to focus on the downside.
It gave us one week to prepare, and one week to chill and party like hell at Sturgis. And when the time came… we’d be ready.
I checked my text and felt relief settle in me when I saw Ryker’s text telling me that he and Liv were on their way. I texted him right after the meeting letting him know about the lockdown. I didn’t know if he’d stay at the club, but I knew he’d at least bring Liv back. They had twenty minutes to pack her bags and get her ass here.
I grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed outside to wait for them. I was halfway done with my first beer when a small hand hit my knee and I felt her weight slide onto the table next to me.
I removed her hand and didn’t look at her. “What do you need, Missy?”
Her hands went to her lap and she shifted on the table. “There’s no need to be a dick to me, Daemon. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I didn’t either. You know how this works.” I was being a dick. But the last thing I wanted was Liv showin’ up and thinkin’ there was something going on that wasn’t. And wouldn’t. Now that I had Liv back, and had gotten a small taste of her, I wasn’t screwing it up.
“I miss you,” Missy said and her voice was shaky.
I dropped my head and turned to look at her. Slowly, my hand reached out and cupped her cheek. “Your dad do this to you?” I asked, smoothing my thumb over the purple bruise on her left cheekbone.
She didn’t need to answer. It wasn’t the first time the asshole had marked his girl. Fucking prick. The one good thing my dad taught me was that a man wasn’t a man if he raised his hand to his woman. Real men didn’t need to beat their women into submission. We paid attention to what they wanted, and we gave them what they needed before they realized they needed it. We loved them and cherished them. In return, those women would make their men feel like fucking kings. Conquerors. Capable of anything. Always sounded like simple shit to me.
When I was a kid, I wished he would give the same speech to Bull, but at least he was man enough never to hit his little girl.
Missy’s dad on the other hand was a straight up drunken asshole pussy prick.
“You gotta get out of there, Missy,” I said and pulled my hand away just as I heard the rumble of my old rusted out truck pull into the lot.
I looked up. My stress left my shoulders seeing Liv and Ryker pull in safely. The men guarding the gates shut and locked them once the truck was in the lot.
Safe. She was safe. I felt like I could breathe again.
“Maybe I will,” she shrugged and frowned. She wouldn’t. I doubted she was strong enough to pull away from her old man. Some cycles were bound to be repeated. “I didn’t mean to hit on you; I just miss your friendship. You’ve helped me with a lot of shit over the last few years and I appreciate it.” I hadn’t done anything except screw her and let her have a quiet place to sleep occasionally. She hopped off the bench next to me and smiled. She looked so freaking innocent. “You’re one of the good ones, Daemon. I hope you know it, and I hope Liv remembers it.”
Then, she turned tail and headed straight for Liv. My eyes shot open. That was all I needed. A bitch-fight in the parking lot. Missy wouldn’t. I frowned as soon as I saw her walk up to Liv. I could see Missy’s hands shaking before she said something. Liv nodded at Ryker and he shrugged and headed toward me. Then, Liv’s arm wrapped around Missy’s shoulders and they headed toward her car.
“What the hell is that about?” I asked Ryker when he was close enough to hear me.
He looked over his shoulder at the girls talking by the door to Missy’s car and shrugged. “Hell if I know.”
I scowled at them and then moved over when Ryker climbed on the table.
“I head back tomorrow for the rig.”
“You didn’t come home last night.” I ignored the fact that he was leaving. He’d come back. I knew he would.
“Had an appointment; didn’t go so fuckin’ hot, not that I thought it would.”
I nodded and stared at the ground. Ryker didn’t know anyone in town. An appointment that didn’t go well could only mean he tried to meet with Faith. “You comin’ back to help?”
“Two weeks, brother. I’ll be here.”
I didn’t want to spend any more time dwelling on shit that was just going to pull us down. Life had gotten too complicated in recent weeks, but besides Liv sleeping next to me, the one good thing was that Ryker was back. I bumped his shoulder and nodded toward the club.
“You wanna act like we’re still twenty and go get drunk and shit?”
Ryker climbed off the bench and grinned. “Fuck yeah.” He walked inside and I waited until Missy’s car had pulled out of the lot and Liv was walking back to me before I followed him in.
I had my girl and my brother. The rest of all the shit going on could be fixed.
“Where the hell’d you go today?” I asked, throwing an arm over Liv’s shoulder. She winced slightly, but then relaxed.
“Just to see Gunner,” she smiled and skirted out from underneath my arm. When she was a few steps ahead of me she turned around and grinned, walking backward with her hands lifted out at her sides. “Wanna get me drunk tonight?”
Party with my family? Fuck, yeah I did.
“Lead the way, woman.”
My shoulder stung like a son of a bitch, and I was astounded that Ryker left Gunner’s new shop with all of his fingers intact and without a cast on any of them. I was glad he’d been there for me. He let me hold his hand, squeezing through the pain of the damn needle as it burned my skin, permanently etching a reminder on my back of everything I’d gone through.
The slow burn of liquor down my throat did shit to numb the pain like I’d hoped it would. As much as it hurt though, and as terrified as I was of needles, I had needed to do it. As sad as I was, I had woken up determined to move on. To put the shit I couldn’t change behind me, and to live the way I wanted to.
The club wasn’t as busy as it normally was. Due to the lockdown, all the club bunnies had been kicked out, all with the exception of Vicki. It felt more like a family gathering and one that somehow, I didn’t mind being a part of.
I was sitting at the bar, having a drink with Jaden and Finn when Marie walked up to me, smiling sadly.
“How you doin’, honey?” Her arms wrapped around my shoulder and I leaned into her embrace. My throat tightened and I cleared it.
“I’m okay,” I mumbled into her shoulder. My eyes began to burn but her arms held me tighter. “Pretty drunk,” I admitted. She laughed softly and rubbed her hand down my back. I winced from the pain in my shoulder.
“Ain’t anything about this life, easy,” she whispered into my ear before pulling back. “But we’re all here for you. You get that?”
I nodded. I got it. I got it from the way my hospital room had overflowed with flowers. I got it from the meals all the old ladies had dropped off at Daemon’s house over the last two weeks. I got it from the new iPad my dad had dropped off earlier in the week, loaded with dozens of my
favorite books and music and videos.
Their support had been overwhelming and surprising. And it was all playing a small part in helping put me back together.
“Let’s get you drunk,” Jaden said, sliding another shot my way.
It was my fourth. Or tenth. I wasn’t sure anymore. I knew that the last time I stood up, the room rocked back and forth until I sat my ass back down. I hadn’t moved since. I saw Marie look over my shoulder and then I felt a warm hand on my lower back.
“I think she’s had enough.”
I frowned into my filled shot glass and ignored Daemon’s stern warning.
“Just one more.”
I threw the shot back before Daemon could take it out of my hands. He had watched me all night. When he wasn’t next to me, his eyes were on me. I could feel him from across the room when he’d been talking shit with the other men and shooting pool.
He spun me around on my stool and bent down so we were at eye level with each other. “You done now?”
I felt like I was on one of those old school merry-go-rounds. I smiled. I could even feel the lazy muscles in my cheek have a hard time pulling my lips up into a grin. My head dropped. It was heavy and the move was slow.
Daemon growled. “Yeah, you’re done now.”
I snorted and then fell into his shoulder. “I’m wasted.”
“I know,” he said and then his hands were around my back and under my knees. “Let’s get you to bed.”
With another lazy grin, I raised my heavy hand and said good-bye to Jaden and Finn and Marie. All of them laughed at me.
“Go to hell,” I slurred and then nestled into Daemon’s arms as he carried me down the back hall to his room. My eyelids grew heavy and I closed them, breathing in the smell of leather and smoke against Daemon’s chest. “You smell good.”
“You reek like gin.”
“And tonic. And limes.” I licked my dry lips and felt the rumble of Daemon’s laugh against my cheek.
In his room, he laid me down on his bed and began taking off my shoes. I let him. Mostly because I liked the feel of his large, warm hands on my skin. Also, because I couldn’t move. The ceiling above me spun in slow circles.
I barely had the energy to lift my hips when Daemon reached for my denim shorts and pulled the zipper.
“You’re fuckin’ trashed, Liv.”
I responded incoherently. He chuckled and then I jerked when I felt his lips on my stomach. He pressed them down firmly right above my navel. My body responded, arching into him. My hands flopped to his hair and held him there. His chin wiggled back and forth on my skin and I squirmed from the tickling sensation of his goatee on my stomach.
The move made me put more weight on my shoulder. I groaned and rolled to my side. Even in my drunken state, I could feel the pain radiate from my shoulder down my arm.
“What the hell, Liv?”
I clenched my teeth together. “I got something for you today.”
“What is it?” he asked, but his hands were already slowly lifting my shirt. I hadn’t worn a bra and I knew Daemon had noticed earlier. No way could I have a bra strap over my shoulder. “Oh, shit.”
I grinned, barely, but kept my eyes closed. One of Daemon’s fingers outlined the bandage on my shoulder I hadn’t yet removed. In slow movements, Daemon helped me sit up and then gently removed my shirt.
“Lay on your stomach,” he said and helped me roll over. I felt his fingers at the edges of the tape. “Let me take this off.”
As if he was unwrapping a present, or trying not to hurt me, he removed the tape. He let loose a quick breath before he growled, “I’m going to kill Gunner for this.”
“You don’t like it?” I turned my head and slowly opened my eyes. He spun in a circle and then the three of him I saw melted into one. One very pissed off Daemon.
As his fingers traced my reddened skin, I knew he was moving below the tattoo and not on it. It still hurt my bruised flesh.
“It’s too soon. Shit. You still have stitches.” He shook his head back and forth once. “Gunner shouldn’t have done this. Not yet.”
“I can be pretty convincing. Do you like it?”
He leaned forward and I saw him take it all in, even in the darkened room. Slowly his fingers traced my skin again. I felt goose bumps flare up everywhere and Daemon smiled. I knew what he was seeing. The opened wire birdcage just to the right of my spine along with the words, “I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself”, written in an elegant script and curved line that ended with a blackbird flying free, just below the stitches on the bullet’s exit wound on my right shoulder.
“I wanted to remember,” I mumbled through my swollen and thick tongue. “But I’m so tired… of running and fighting. I just wanted to show you that I wanted to stay.”
I felt Daemon’s warm lips on my skin. His lips trailed the skin on my back, on my spine, and over to my right shoulder blade, lower than where the bird was inked into my skin. “It’s beautiful. And perfect for you.” Then he sat up and pressed a hand to my lower back. “Let me wash it for you.”
I nodded my head and then buried it into my hands. I was almost passed out when he came back with warm paper towels. He washed my skin and applied a cream before kissing every inch of my back. I felt his erection press into my backside, barely coherent, but awake enough to know he was turned on.
“Daemon,” I moaned softly and rocked into him. His hand went to my hip and stilled me.
“You can’t expect me to not be turned on with you naked in my bed, Liv.”
I think I said something. I wasn’t sure. I felt Daemon climb off the bed and the cool air hit my back. Then everything went black.
When I woke up, I was wearing a grey Nordic Lords T-shirt and my underwear. I was under Daemon’s covers in his bed at the club.
And Daemon was gone.
That was the first thought I had before the searing pain in my shoulder, and the accompanying pounding in my head, made me try to close my eyes and go back to sleep. It didn’t work, but when I opened them again, I smiled at the glass of water and pain pills on the nightstand next to the bed. I had missed it before, but let out a small laugh when I saw the note. “Drink me.”
I did. Willingly and quickly.
Then I threw on a pair of yoga shorts from the bag I packed in my overnight bag and went in search of coffee. And maybe bacon. Toast. Anything that could fix the jackhammer pounding against my skull.
When I hit the club’s main room, two things caused my jaw to hit the floor. One—the amount of women and children and men spread out all over the place. I hadn’t seen all the kids the night before, but in the early morning, it looked like I had missed one hell of a slumber party. People were curled into each other all over the place in sleeping bags and blankets.
And two—Daemon, banging in the kitchen behind the bar. Not caring in the least that the racket he was making could wake up at least twenty people. I shuffled into the room, watched him, my hip leaning on the doorway, and my arms crossed over my chest.
He was only wearing jeans. They had holes in the back pockets and faded knees from wear. They were unbuttoned at the top, giving me the perfect view of the ‘V’ shaped muscles that seemed to point into an arrow, disappearing into his jeans.
I swallowed my tongue before I went in search of coffee.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked as I walked by him.
He had a spatula in one hand, a coffee mug in the other, and a wide grin on his face. He pointed the spatula at me. “Not sure I’ll ever get sick of you wearin’ my shit.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m pretty sure you put me in this.”
“’Cause I like it.” His lips curled around the rim of his coffee mug and he took a sip before setting it down. Everything smelled delicious and my stomach rumbled.
“Breakfast for me?” I took a seat on a nearby stool and watched him. “Smells good.”
“Was gonna bring it to you in bed. Didn’t expect you to be up yet.”
>
I grinned. “You’re so romantic.”
He smirked and flipped a stack of French toast onto a nearby plate. Then he plated the bacon and fried eggs before he slid a plate to me.
I shoveled mouthfuls into my face like I hadn’t seen food in years before I noticed that Daemon was staring at me.
“What?” I asked around a mouthful of the most delicious French toast I’d ever consumed. So good, with a hint of vanilla, just like Daemon’s mom had made for us when we were kids.
“When was the last time you shot?”
“My gun?” He rolled his eyes. I shrugged. “I don’t know. A few years, I guess. I went to a range in Minneapolis a few times, though.”
“When you’re done eating, we’re going to practice.” I opened my mouth to ask him why, but Daemon stopped me. “We’re headed to Sturgis in a week and then shit’s gonna get crazy for a while.”
“Because it’s been calm recently?” I raised an eyebrow and took a bite of bacon.
He ignored my sarcasm. “I don’t want you without anyone on you while we’re gone, and I know we’re in lockdown now, but I need to know you can handle yourself if something happens.”
I glared at him, only slightly offended. “I’m pretty sure I remember being a better aim than you.”
“I’ve had more practice recently.” His low, darkened voice sent shivers down my spine. It was just one more reminder of the man he’d become.
“Fine, I don’t mind shooting.” Daemon seemed to exhale and I saw tension fall from his shoulders. We finished our breakfast in silence and then cleaned up right as the crowd piled in the living room began stirring for the morning.
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was absolutely insane. Based in a small town in South Dakota, every year the town quadrupled in size, if not more, when bikers from all over the country rolled into town. There were hundreds of different clubs. Some were one percent outlaw clubs like the Nordic Lords and some were hobby clubs. Celebrities and rockstars who were typically surrounded by paparazzi and the glamour of Hollywood, roamed the streets with men and women who lived their lives by their own code of conduct and loose morals. Motorcycle enthusiasts of all ages joined in the mayhem. Even people who didn’t like motorcycles but were curious about the atmosphere, joined the thousands that descended on Sturgis.