BAD INFLUENCE: A Dark Bad Boy Romance

by Callie Pierce

  That was when Rocco told him about Jasper and his boys stirring up trouble in his hometown.

  “You didn’t hear about anyone stealing from him, did you?” Cobra demanded. He didn’t want to go looking for a fight, but he wasn’t going to have the bastard who’d taken so much from him having free run of his town.

  “No way. Jasper’s massacred people for less. He’s got a reputation. But he could be keeping it quiet too, to keep people from getting ideas.”

  Cobra slid his hand to the .22 pistol holstered at his side. The hard lump was there; he felt reassured. “You sure Hog can handle the run for me?”

  “Yeah, man,” Rocco reassured him. “He don’t mind. You sure about this?”

  Cobra nodded. “Thanks for the info.” He clasped Rocco by the forearm and met the man’s eyes. He’d saved Cobra more than once, and he’d been the first of the Devils to treat him like a full member rather than a newbie or outsider.

  “Any time. Just don’t come back with a bullet in your back.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Cobra watched Rocco kick-start his bike and head off. He drew another cigarette from his cut, deciding that one more before hitting the road wouldn’t kill him.

  He took the first drag deep into his lungs, trying to absorb the meaning of his decision. Likely he was going to confront Jasper, or at least a few of his men. A risky move, but things were different now.

  He wasn’t some young, scrawny kid. And he wasn’t alone. He had the Devils behind him now. Whatever he needed, whenever he needed it, his brothers would be there, ready to stand by his side.

  He exhaled slowly, watching as the smoke concentrated into a thick, opaque cloud before dispersing.

  He was going home.

  Chapter 3

  Ashleigh

  Ashleigh just stared at Alex, thoughts flying through her mind like startled birds. He was alive. He was here. He’d possibly saved her life. He’d left her.

  That last one stuck, rising above the rest, resounding in her mind and gathering power with each repetition until it had consumed her thoughts, clouding out everything but her concentrated fury. He’d left her.

  “What in the hell are you doing here?” she spat out. She shook with rage, every inch of her body trembling as she stared up at him.

  The years had changed him. There was no boy left in his face or on any inch of his body. Every part of him was harder—chiseled cheekbones, a sharply angled jawline, bands of muscle that looked strong as steel cable. Even in the dark haze of the night, in the shadow of the fluorescent streetlight, she could make out a faint pattern of scars on his face, and one long angry-looking mark that ran over his cheek all the way to his ear.

  The sight of him made her heart beat faster, but not just because of all the hurt and holes he’d left in her life. Beneath the anger, there was a sweet relief in seeing him alive again, and a telltale spark in her belly. The sight of those piercing baby-blue eyes still had an effect on her, even when she knew it shouldn’t because he’d hurt her so badly.

  But she’d be damned if she let him know she still felt anything for him.

  Alex’s shock evaporated slowly, replaced by a cool mask of calm. “Saving your ass, apparently.” He whipped back to gesture at the man he’d just cold-cocked, but Ashleigh’s assailant was scrambling to his feet, and in the next few seconds he was high-tailing it down the street.

  Alex watched him, his lip curling in a snarl. He looked as if he wanted to chase the man down.

  “Yeah, thanks for that,” she snapped. “I’m so grateful. It almost makes up for walking out on me six years ago. I mean, for fuck’s sake, I thought you were dead! I called the cops and everything! And you know what they told me, Alex? They told me that my no-good drug-addled boyfriend probably just got cold feet and split. That you robbed me blind and moved on to the next woman without a second thought. And guess what? I believed them. I still believe them. So you’d better have a damned good excuse for showing your sorry ass back here—“

  “If my ‘sorry ass’ hadn’t shown back up, sweetheart, you’d be dead or tied up in that guy’s basement.” Alex stalked forward.

  She retreated automatically, and in a few paces he’d maneuvered her against the wall, trapping her, one hand on each side of her head. He could see the strain of his arms as he leaned in close to her, nearly suffocating her beneath his body. Close, but not touching—and the empty space between their chests seemed to crackle with electricity.

  If they touched, something would ignite.

  And his eyes. She could feel the intensity of his gaze as he stared at her and only her, fixated. It was hard to meet that raw power head-on, so she resorted to looking through him.

  She could smell the leather of his cut, the lingering odor of cigarette smoke, and beneath it all a familiar muskiness. It was how she imagined a heady red wine must smell to an alcoholic going on six years sober. A primal part of her wanted to bury her head against his chest and revel in his return. Quitting him cold hadn’t been easy.

  But she pushed that impulse away. He’d still walked out without a backward glance. And now here he was, pretending to be some white knight riding in on his horse….

  “So this is it?” she demanded. “You’re not even going to say you’re sorry after everything you put me through? What are you even doing here anyway? How did you know where to find me?”

  “I wasn’t looking for you. I just rode by and saw what was going on. And no, I’m not going to say I’m sorry for doing what I had to do. You don’t even understand. I fucking had to leave. I had to protect you.”

  She snorted. “Protect me? You left me with nothing. Our landlord Donnie, you remember him? He threw my shit out on the street. I had to move back in with my parents until I could get back on my feet. I was a wreck. Every time the phone rang I turned into a nervous mess. I hoped it was you calling with news. I was terrified it was the cops calling to tell me they’d found your body. If you wanted to protect me, you sure as hell did a shitty job of it. You destroyed me. And now—I don’t know what the hell this is, but I’m not buying it. You can turn your ass right around and ride off into the sunset, hero. I don’t need you to save me.”

  She tried to push past him, but he placed a hand on either side of her, trapping her. “I already have saved you, Ashleigh. That’s the only reason I left. Listen, I’m staying at a place in town. Why don’t you come back with me so we can catch up?”

  “Get out of my way. I have to pick up my kid.” She ducked under his arm, heart still pumping hard. He’s not worth your time, she told herself. He proved that six years ago.

  Alex caught her by the wrist, stopping her. “You have a kid? Whose?”

  She tried to pull free of him. “None of your business. Let me go.”

  “Whose?” he repeated, his voice throaty and dangerous. “Are you seeing someone else?”

  “Are you deaf or just an asshole? I said it’s none of your business.”

  “Goddamn it. I told you—I left to protect you, not because I was done with you. Your business is still my business. If you’d just let me explain—“

  She turned sharply to face him, pinning him with her eyes. He met her gaze, unperturbed. “There is no explanation that you could come up with that could possibly excuse what you did to me. I was headed to college, Alex. I had a future. We had a future. I’ve spent the last six years digging myself out of the hole you left me in. Nothing you say is going to undo that, so save your breath.”

  “You don’t understand,” he growled, his grip tightening around her wrist. “If you would just shut up for two seconds and listen to what I have to say—“

  “There you go, hearing only what you want to hear. I’m not wasting another second of my life on you—“

  He let her go, stepping back, hands lifted in concession. But his face had contorted into a look of frustration, and the tension in his posture was obvious. “Fine. Sorry I butted in. I should have just left you to enjoy your hot da
te, huh? Was he more your type, Ash?”

  “Oh, screw you,” she bit out, turning on her heel and marching toward the parking lot. Deep down, though, she really hoped Alex had scared her assailant off. She still had a few hundred yards to go before the safety of her car.

  “Rot in hell, sweetheart,” he yelled back.

  She heard the roar of his bike engine. She fought the urge to turn around and catch one more glimpse of him. She’d given him power over her for too many months—years, even. She wasn’t about to go back to pining after him. She was her own woman now, and nothing he could say could change that.

  She reached her car and slid into the driver’s seat, hitting the power locks immediately afterward. She inserted the key into the ignition, but she didn’t turn it on immediately. Instead she gripped the steering wheel and forced herself to breathe.

  She hadn’t felt this way since he’d first left. Back then there were times when she felt that if she didn’t force herself to concentrate on the mechanics of her lungs—breathing in, breathing out—she would suffocate. She’d gotten into the habit of measuring her inhalation and exhalation by counting.

  It was a rudimentary kind of meditation that helped her to clear her mind of all the potent emotions tangling there. Now she took it up again, hoping to slow the rushing of the blood in her veins, to abandon the resurgence of anger and anguish brought on by Alex’s return.

  What was he doing here? Not looking for her. He’d looked too surprised when he’d first recognized her. And what was that bullshit he was trying to feed her? He’d left to protect her.

  Right. There was no doubt in her mind that was some pretty lie he’d concocted to ease his guilty conscience. Maybe he decided he’d been too dangerous for her and had taken himself out of the picture, which was nothing more than a romanticized version of what he’d actually done. He’d chosen himself over her.

  And what was all that about going back to his place and explaining? Did he think he could pick her back up, just like that? Smooth everything over with a few words over drinks?

  In. Out. She forced herself to focus on the expansion and collapse of her chest, and nothing more. It wasn’t her problem now. So what if he was back in town? It didn’t mean she had to have anything to do with him. She’d moved on. She had Penny to think about.

  Penny. He couldn’t know about her. She’d seen the jealousy and suspicion light up in his eyes when she’d mentioned her daughter. It was the only excuse he’d need to force his way back into her life, and she didn’t need that. More importantly, Penny didn’t need that. And Penny was all that mattered. She’d protect her baby girl at all costs.

  After a few more quiet moments, when Ashleigh finally felt strong enough, she pulled out her phone and called Nancy.

  “Ashleigh? Oh, hon, I didn’t think it would take this long to get things ready. I’m so sorry—“

  “Oh, no, don’t worry about it. It’s my fault. I…ran into someone. I’ll be over in ten to get Penny.”

  “Are you okay? You sound…shaken.”

  Ashleigh drew a final calming breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a long night.”

  She hung up and turned the key in the ignition. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” blared on over the speakers. The familiar guitar line washed over her, erasing some of the tightness in her shoulders. She dialed the volume up, letting the music replace the lingering uneasiness swirling in her mind.

  She would deal with all this later. Right now she had to focus on getting Penny home and to bed.

  Chapter 4

  Cobra

  Cobra stopped outside the bakery, taking a moment to admire the storefront. It hadn’t been hard to find out where Ashleigh worked. Asking around town had been easy enough. It was a small place—small enough that the few people he’d run into had shot him dark, disapproving looks, as if they knew everything about his personal history with Ashleigh. Not that he cared what they thought.

  He hadn’t expected anyone to point him to a bakery, let alone a bakery that Ashleigh owned. She’d done pretty well for herself, all things considered. She’d always been a phenomenal baker. It didn’t surprise him that she’d been able to turn it into a profitable business.

  What he didn’t understand was why Jasper’s guys were hanging around, harassing her. It made no sense to him. He was sure Jasper knew nothing about her; he’d taken care over the years, keeping an ear to the ground just in case the drug lord had taken a renewed interest in hunting him down.

  He trusted the Devils, being in the business of running for different cartels and knowing about his personal history, to tell him if they heard of anything. Besides, if Jasper was interested in Ashleigh, he would have had her taken by now. From what Rocco had told him, they seemed more interested in finding something rather than someone. The whole thing didn’t sit well with him.

  He continued to study the little bakery. It was a small space wedged between a bicycle repair shop and an insurance office—not the most ideal location, a little off the main street downtown—but it looked busy enough. There were a handful of customers even now, in the middle of the morning.

  The business sign hanging above the door was impressive too. It was obvious to him that some work and thought had gone into it. The script was elegant but not overdone, the colors pastel without seeming too delicate. He looked at the logo and he saw Ashleigh there.

  Ashleigh. Having her in front of him last night, even mad as hell, had sent him into a frenzy. Her skin had been so close to his at one point that he could smell her perfume—the same musky yet sweet scent she’d always worn.

  She’d grown up in six years. The shallow slopes of her teenage body had deepened, and now she was a series of tempting curves that seemed to beg for him to caress them. She’d let her hair grow longer too; he liked that. He’d always loved her red locks, and now they tumbled wildly past her shoulders.

  Her face was older now. That had caught him off guard. In his mind, whenever he thought of her, her slender features were lifted in laughter. That was how he’d remembered her—young, carefree, teeth always flashing in a wide, beautiful grin, her eyes crinkled with joy or half-lidded with passion.

  But now…now he could see the shadows of lines on that face and deep rings beneath her eyes. She ‘d been shut down, closed off, wary, and her face had been hard and unforgiving. It made her look older and sadder. The change made him uneasy.

  Cobra drew out a cigarette, lit it, and pushed in through the front door. A few of the customers—an older, heavier woman, a man in a pressed suit, and a mother with two young kids in tow—turned to give him a dirty look. He just grinned at them and exhaled slowly, filling the room with a stinking cloud of smoke.

  “Excuse me, sir, but you can’t smoke in here.”

  Cobra glanced up to see Ashleigh behind the counter, dressed in a blue button-up blouse and a white apron, an apologetic smile stretched across her face in a thin veneer of civility. But he could see the hatred burning in her eyes. She wanted him gone.

  She looked okay, he thought, taking another slow, deliberate drag on his cigarette. Jasper’s guy hadn’t hurt her, it seemed. She was wearing a high-collared shirt, though, so he couldn’t see if there was any bruising.

  He pretended to examine the cloud of smoke for a minute. “Huh. Seems like I can. Oh, do you mean you don’t want me to smoke in here?”

  Ashleigh ignored him, muttering what looked like a quick apology to the customer she was serving. Cobra hung near the back, pretending to be browsing the pastries in the glass display while she took care of all the customers. Once they’d paid and left—glaring at him one last time on the way out—and the shop had emptied out, Ashleigh’s attention flickered right back to him.

  “What the hell do you want?” she demanded. “Was I not clear enough last night? I don’t want you anywhere near me. Get out.”

  “It’s a free country, isn’t it?” he replied coolly. “Can’t deny me service. That would be discrimination.”

  “We
reserve the right to not serve assholes,” she retorted. “And it’s illegal to smoke inside a business. That’s grounds enough to get you thrown out.”

  Cobra snorted. “Who’s gonna throw me out? You have a bouncer hiding out in the kitchen back there? Or are you going to do it yourself?”

  Ashleigh picked up the phone. “One call down to the station and you’re gone.”

  Cobra just stared her down. Her eyes were fiery, betraying no hesitation, but he knew her well enough. She wouldn’t follow through. He was sure that hadn’t changed over the years. She’d had run-ins with too many patronizing, entitled cops during her younger years, and she’d told him too many times how any interaction with the boys in blue unfailingly left a bad taste in her mouth. She was bluffing.