by Jani Kay
Women never ceased to amaze me. Her hostility had completely melted and now she was acting as if we’d known one another our whole lives. Go figure.
“Yeah. I’ll have a steak. Medium rare.”
Eva laughed. “Oh, this is a five-star restaurant. I doubt they do steaks.”
Bill piped up. “If Ryder wants a steak, Ryder will have a steak.” He smiled at the waitress. “Please ask the chef for a special order?”
The waitress nodded, slightly taken aback by my coarse tastes. But fuck that, I wasn’t going to push some indescribable fancy food around my plate and leave here feeling hungry.
Chapter Two — Ryder
I’d been lucky. While I hadn’t known my real sibling until a few hours ago, life had given me a surrogate instead in the form of Mia. She’d cornered me as I got back to the compound. Although I loved her as if she were my sister, I wasn’t in the mood for chitchat.
“Ryder, we need to talk,” she said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the worn-out sofa in the clubroom. It was late, and aside from the two whores sitting by the bar, drunk and singing out of tune, it was only Mia and myself.
“Where’s Cobra?” Usually he wasn’t far from her, and right now he was the last person I wanted to see.
Mia’s eyes softened. “He’s fast asleep with the kids. I couldn’t sleep, so I came for a hot drink and bumped into you. Are you staying at the club tonight?”
“Yeah. I need a good sleep. And then to talk to Cobra in the morning.”
She settled onto the sofa, folding her long legs underneath her. She patted the soft leather, indicating for me to sit down. I sighed and plunked my ass down beside her.
“So Mama Mia, what you wanna talk about?” She smiled at the term of endearment. It was corny and cheesy, but it was exactly what Mia was: the mother hen that clucked over all her boys.
Lovingly, I wiped a strand of hair from her face; I noticed that she looked tired. Fine lines at the corners of her mouth and eyes gave her away.
“Um . . . It’s about you and Jade. And . . . Cobra and the club.” Her usually bright eyes went cloudy for a moment before she looked away, avoiding my gaze.
Shit. This conversation was long overdue. I knew she was gonna say stuff I didn’t want to hear. I rubbed at my temples—a motherfucker of a headache invaded my brain.
Mia was the one person on this planet I’d always listened too. When nobody else could get through to me, she always had the power to penetrate the wall I’d built around my heart.
I swallowed hard. What was she going to say? Was she going to tell me to give Jade up too? It would be the first time since I’d met Mia that I’d have to go against her. Usually we were so in sync that we could have been blood family. She always understood me when nobody else did.
My heart raced as I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. I’d never thought the day would come when I went head to head with Mia. Because there was no way in hell I was giving up Jade. No way.
“About Jade. I knew from the days at the Beverly Hills house that she got under your skin like no woman ever had. You were falling for her, even though you didn’t realize it at the time.” Her eyes danced with amusement. Mia enjoyed seeing me squirm.
I groaned. There was no point in arguing. Mia knew me better than most people did. She’d seen right though me. I nodded, encouraging her to carry on, even though I was wondering where she was going with this conversation.
Mia blinked up at me. “All I’ve ever wanted for you was to be happy. There’s nothing better on this earth than to find your soul mate. The other half that makes you whole—I have that with Cobra . . . and I want that for you too.”
I sucked in a breath. Yeah, I wanted that also. I wanted what Mia and Cobra had. They would sacrifice everything to be together. They made each other a better person.
“I found that. With Jade. She’s the one.”
Worry flickered in her eyes for a split second. She sucked in a breath. “I was afraid you were going to say that,” she murmured, casting her gaze to the floor.
“Why?”
She bit down on her bottom lip, searching my face before she finally replied. “Ryder, you have been like a brother to me. I want you to be happy. Truly happy. And I like Jade. She’s got spunk and—”
“Cut to the chase. I feel a but coming on,” I rasped. I squinted; the dim lights were hurting my head. I didn’t want to hear what Mia’s “but” was, yet I knew she had me cornered and I’d have to hear her out.
“It can’t work,” she blurted out.
My head jerked up. But before I could retaliate, she laid her hand on my arm and squeezed it. “Not because I don’t think that Jade isn’t perfect for you. Actually, I know that she is—for the first time in your life you have met your match. But —” She hesitated, and I could see the sadness in her eyes. This was as hard for her as it was for me. “Her brother, Harrison? He’s hell-bent on bringing the club down. I can’t watch that happen, Ryder. I can’t see Cobra get hurt again. The last few months were hell—I never want that again.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but her eyes pleaded for my understanding.
I rubbed her back, soothing her. This was a motherfucker of a problem. I got where she was coming from. Hell, I’d lived with her all those months—I’d seen what a toll the shootout had taken on her.
I closed my eyes. This was turning into a fucking nightmare. I clenched my jaw, rubbing my temples. I knew one thing and one thing only: nothing and no one on this goddamn planet would make me give up Jade.
It was not negotiable. Not in a million years. I wanted Jade, and I’d die before I let her go. Was I fucking Romeo? Did I have to go to that length to prove my love for my woman? I had to get Harrison fucking Summers off the club’s back. How I’d achieve that, I had no idea.
Being with Jade was never going to be easy. I’d known that from day one. I just never imagined that our brothers would be the ones to stand in our way.
“Mia, don’t worry your pretty head about it. Summers won’t hurt Cobra. I promise you that. I’ll kill the fucker before I let him hurt my bothers or the club.”
I meant every word.
Chapter Three — Ryder
I stormed into Cobra’s office, pushing the door open without knocking. “We gotta talk,” I growled, pissed off as fuck. I’d been rolling around all night—thinking about Summers and Jade, and what Mia had said—it spun around my head till it drove me insane.
“What’s up, brother?” Cobra asked, his feet on his desk, and blowing rings into the air from the cigar he was smoking. “Why so cranky?”
“Shit. Don’t let Mia catch you with that thing.” I said, waving the smoke from my face. What I wouldn’t do for a drag of a cigar . . . but I had more important things on my mind.
“Well, close the fucking door then, dickhead.” He grinned and nodded toward the chair in front of his desk for me to sit down. “Anyway, I’ll just tell her it's you that was smoking now you’re here.”
“That’s real smart, fuckface, because she will smell the smoke on your clothes and breath. You should quit that shit. It's no good for your lungs. Didn’t think I'd have to remind you that half of one lung is now missing, thanks to the shootout.”
“Now see, I disagree. If I stopped smoking these Cuban babies it would mean the fuckers won. Never going to give them that satisfaction.” He inhaled the next draw deeply, as if to make his point.
I got it. This was Cobra’s way of giving them the finger—living as if nothing had changed. But it had. Nothing was the same as it had been before the shootout. Nothing.
Sinking into the chair, I closed my eyes. Max had always said I was the ideas man, but lately I’d run out of ways to make things work out. I rubbed at my temples, trying to find the right words before I spoke.
“Summers. I gotta figure out a way to shut him the fuck up. His shit is upsetting Mia . . . and Jade too.”
Cobra’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. He sucked in a deep pull of the cigar and blew
five perfectly concentric circles into the air. “Ryder. Fuck the cigars, brother, did I not tell you to quit Jade?” The tone of his voice was hard.
“That’s what I came to talk about. I can’t give her up.” I shrugged. “More to the point . . . I won’t. Not going to happen in this lifetime.”
The scowl on his face deepened. “Who’s the smart one now? You’re gonna get us all blown to fucking pieces long before I die of lung cancer with your shit and that bitch of yours.” He rose to his feet and placed his fists on the table, his knuckles white. A large chunk of ash fell onto the wood as he clenched the cigar between his lips.
I narrowed my eyes. “Jade. Her name is Jade. And yes, she is my woman. Nothing is gonna change that, Cobra. Not you, not the club and not her fucking brother. I want you to understand that.”
He removed the cigar from his mouth and stamped the end into the ashtray. “Brother. You are way out of fucking line. I could get Ox to take you out for that. It's fucking treason. The club comes first. Always has and always will. As your pres, I demand it.”
I sucked in a breath. “Malone, you know I love you as if you were my own flesh and blood. You know I will go to hell and back for you. But this is the one thing you cannot ask of me. Let’s not come to blows on this one, brother.”
Cobra shook his head, his mouth set in a thin line. “You’re the one making the fuck-up here. You are the one putting the club at risk. I can’t have that.”
“I'm talking to you as a friend today—a brother,” I pleaded.
Why can’t he see it from my point of view?
“Fuck, don’t ask me that Ryder. My number one job is as pres of the club. I have to place the group’s needs above any individual’s. You know that.”
He rose to his feet, his big body shaking with rage as he glared at me. “Maybe you should get the fuck out of this club before I have you killed,” he spat out.
My eyes narrowed. I couldn’t believe what he’d just said. After all the shit I'd been through for him and his family, he would deny me this one thing I wanted more than anything?
Stunned, I rounded the desk to stand in front of him, my face mere inches from his. “Fuck. I never thought you’d force me to choose between the club and my woman.” I clenched my fists by my sides as anger swelled in my gut. “You seem to have forgotten what I did to help you get Mia. Have you forgotten how we risked the club to save her ass because you decided she was the one for you? Now that I've come to you—brother to brother—to help me find a solution, you want to put a hit on me for fucking treason?” I bellowed in Cobra’s face, unable to control my anger. If the fucker hadn’t been half crippled by the fucking shootout, I would have laid into him and fought it out with our fists.
His skin was ashen and his eyeballs bugging out of his head. A vein throbbed in his thick neck. “I fucking saved your life, motherfucker. I can take it away just as easily, and I will. Don’t make me do it.” His face was so close to mine I felt his hot, smoky breath prickle my skin. “Give the bitch up. It's the last time I’m fucking telling you. Her brother is dangerous. The L.A. Demons are up to something. I nearly lost my fucking life only months ago. Things are going to shit—and all you care about is your dick.”
I bumped my chest against Cobra’s. “Those bullets must have made you fucking crazy. Are you sure you didn’t have a lobotomy while you were in the hospital? Fuck you, and fuck the club.” I shoved him into the chair to stop me from knocking his fucking lights out.
What Cobra didn’t understand yet was that the previous night was the last time I was planning on staying at the club on a regular basis. I’d already arranged it all, before he told me to maybe get out of the club. I was moving into Maxwell’s place in Malibu. Actually, one of the reasons I was here was to pick up some clothes and other stuff I needed.
Sneering, I informed him of my intentions. “I’ll be outta your way soon enough. Max asked me to take care of his place in Malibu till he can find new tenants. Saves me from having to look at your sad mug every day.”
Before he could say another word, I stormed out of his office to get my stuff and put distance between us before somebody got hurt.
Nobody was going to tell me to give up Jade.
Nobody.
Chapter Four — Ryder
It was our first night together in Max’s place, and after unpacking our few belongings we’d had dinner on the beach. I’d picked up takeout on my way to the house and Jade had brought a bottle of wine and a blanket. We sat there, overlooking the ocean until it was nearly dark before we made our way back up the stairs.
I’d had access to Max’s house in Malibu for years yet never took up the offer, preferring to stay at the club so that I didn’t have to spend nights alone. Usually there was somebody hanging around for a game of pool or darts, and somebody to have a beer with. Of course there had been many willing females too, warm bodies to spend the night with. But since my fallout with Cobra, I wasn’t planning to stay at the club for a while.
Jade and I joked about how we’d lose one another in the spacious house, yet I grinned appreciatively when I saw the size of the shower. It was big enough for an orgy, but all I wanted was enough space to fuck Jade. I pulled her dress over her head and rid her of her underwear, pulling her into the shower to wash the sand off her body. She let me soap her and kiss her and finally fuck her, christening the shower for what I hoped would become our evening ritual.
With a sigh, I pulled Jade tightly to my chest. She was sleeping in my arms, her unruly hair in my face. I listened to her soft breathing and thanked my lucky stars for bringing her into my life. But the gratitude was short-lived. Raw terror struck my heart; it clenched tightly in my chest, making it nearly impossible to breath.
Cold sweat broke out on my skin. I had everything to lose. In a short space of time, I'd come from being a man who had nothing to live for to a man who was fighting for love. I had no option: losing Jade would kill me.
Sniffing her hair and breathing her scent into my lungs helped to calm me down, yet I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling roiling in my gut. Harrison Summers was a formidable enemy—I recognized the hatred and anger in his eyes. I'd seen it in my own when I stared into a mirror. I knew he would stop at nothing to tear me and Jade apart. The fucked up thing was, I understood why he felt the way he did. Didn’t mean I liked it one bit.
If only he wasn’t Jade’s brother, I would have had Ox put a stop to his ideas already by taking out a hit on him. But knowing how much my woman loved the fucker was tearing me up—I couldn’t bring myself to do that to her.
Was loving one another not enough? Why did we have to fight those who wanted to break us apart in order to find our happiness? It didn’t make fucking sense that it was the very people we loved unconditionally that were doing this to us. It couldn’t be any more fucked up.
“Baby.” I sighed as I kissed her skin. Tears were running down her cheeks even as she slept. Jesus, it turned me into a madman knowing she was hurting so much. I wanted to jump on my bike and put an end to it all. Tell Cobra to go fuck himself. Tell Harrison to back off if he valued his life. Only I knew it’d do more damage than good.
We needed a fucking miracle. Was there a way out of this fucking mess without anyone getting hurt? I didn’t know the answer. But what I did know was that I wanted to protect my woman. I wanted to see her smile and laugh at me in a way that melted my heart. I didn’t want to kiss her tears as she slept.
She pushed her ass backward against my dick, causing it to stir. Fuck, I needed to get inside her again. I squeezed her breast gently and she moaned softly in her sleep, covering my hand with hers and pressing it to her heart. I kissed her neck, tasting her skin, overwhelmed with love.
Slipping a hand between her thighs, I rubbed her clit. She opened her legs, wanting my touch even in her oblivion. I sucked in a breath as her body responded to me, her slickness making my cock harden and become desperate for her. Nudging my tip into her, she moaned louder this time, pushing bac
k to take more of me. I slid in, sighing as her warmth enveloped me. My heart swelled. This was exactly where I wanted to be. Buried inside my Princess—the woman who owned my heart and my soul.
I wanted this moment to last forever, so I thrust into her slowly, rhythmically, loving the feel of her on my cock as I stroked her clit and sucked her skin. I wanted to wake like this every day, with Princess in my arms, her softness beneath me.
Her eyes flickered open, a sleepy smile illuminating her face. “Hush. Just enjoy,” I whispered, not wanting anything to break the magic surrounding us. Her eyes fluttered closed and she joined me, moving slowly, both of us lost in the rhythm of each other, our breaths becoming harder and louder as our need for one another overtook us.
Chapter Five — Harrison
My gaze fixed on the classy brunette who was completely out of place in this joint. She sat alone at a high table, her pencil-straight back to the wall. Her legs were crossed and on her lap she clutched her purse as if it were a lifeline. The way she flicked her hair back, casual yet self-assured, kept my attention pinned on her. Not a single tattoo or piercing, she was poised and confident, definitely from good breeding.
She was watching the people around her, taking a sip from her drink and placing it back on the table in front of her without touching the sticky surface. I leaned against the bar, my foot on the metal footrest as I kept gawking, unable to tear my fucking eyes away. She fished her cell phone out of her purse and typed something in with her thumb flying over the screen. I grinned—she was a lefty, like me.
Then, finally, she looked up and straight into my eyes as if she sensed I was watching her. Her steel-grey eyes widened for a fraction of a second and her nostrils flared ever-so-slightly. Locking her eyes on mine, her bored expression changed to one of amusement. Shocked by the effect we had on one another, I couldn’t help breaking into a smile. She likes me.
How did I know this without even speaking a word to her? One of my specialties was reading micro-expressions. It was a universal language. Every single person on the planet communicated subconsciously through expressions on their faces that lasted all of a few seconds, yet revealed their true emotions. It was inborn and uncontrollable. We all did it, even if we weren’t aware of it. Learning to read and interpret those signals was a skill that could save a life—it made the difference when split-second decisions needed to be made and errors were fatal.