"I like the peace and quiet here," I countered, smiling as I took the beer that she held out to me. "Well, except for the shooting."
"Is that why you came here? For the quiet?"
"I came here to escape." The words slipped past my lips before I could stop them. I shook my head at the sudden seriousness of her expression. "God, forget I said that." I was mad at myself for slipping up, especially when I could see from Casey's expression that she wasn't going to forget it.
"Luna--" Her hand fell lightly on my arm close to my wrist. "We all have our own reasons for being here. The couple who live in that yellowish cabin down on the water, the Keys? He was the CEO of a huge company in California that robbed a lot of the elderly of their life savings. Some of them committed suicide. There was a big trial, he went to prison. After he got out, he and his wife came here to escape the stigma and have been here ever since. They never leave the cabin. Karla and Barbara? They ran away from a cult. Other people tried to escape and were taken back, so they changed their appearances and moved here, praying every day that the cult doesn't send someone for them. And God knows why Jason is here."
"What about you?" I asked with a grin. "What are you hiding from?" For the first time since I’d met Casey I saw real sadness in her eyes. When I saw them fill with tears I rushed out, "Don't answer that. I'm sorry for asking."
"No, it's okay." A sob escaped her. She quickly dried her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. Then she squared her shoulders and said, "My step-father raped me. My mom walked in right after it happened."
"And she didn't believe you?"
"No. I mean yes! She did believe me. She left him that very day. Barely a week passed before she was killed in a hit and run. He showed up at the funeral and told me that I was next."
My eyes rounded with disbelief. "Oh, my God! He killed her?"
Casey nodded fervently. "There were no witnesses to the hit and run, no proof that he'd been the one to kill her. But he blamed me for my mom leaving him, and he swore that he'd get back at me."
By now Casey was sobbing. I went to her and took her into my arms. "I'm so sorry, honey, so sorry." I ran my hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her. The burning in my eyes revealed that I was close to losing it, too. I couldn't imagine what she'd gone through, what she was still going through. "You have no other family?"
"I do, but I was afraid that if I went to them he'd kill them, too. So I just packed up and left one night." She hiccupped and pulled away. "I need a tissue."
I leaned against the kitchen counter while she went to the bathroom. As soon as she opened the door Samson came running out, his tail wagging happily as if he'd escaped all on his own. Casey disappeared into the small room. I could hear her blow her nose, and then the sound of running water. She reemerged, wiping her face down with a washcloth, her bottom lip still trembling.
"I'm embarrassed for breaking down. I haven't done that in a long time."
"Maybe it was time, honey. You needed to get it off your chest. Have you told anyone else?" She shook her head. "Not even Jim?"
"No." She met my eyes. "It's not exactly something you bring up while having sex, and that seems to be where all our time together ends up." She giggled. "Not that I'm complaining."
"He's never asked you why you're here?"
She shook her head. "No. Everyone that lives here assumes that you're here to get away from something you don't want to talk about. The others, the campers who come and go, they aren't here long enough to get involved with, other than the short pleasantries exchanged in passing. Very few of them return every season, so they are oblivious to the fact that some of us actually live here."
Maybe they just didn't care, but I didn't say that. "Well, I'm sorry I brought up a bad memory for you."
She smiled. "I actually feel better for sharing it with you." Samson was sitting at Casey’s feet, staring up at her as if he knew that she was upset. A tiny whine brought her hand down to rub his head lovingly. "So your turn. What's your story?"
I’d known that question was coming, and decided to downplay my situation. Keeping it short and sweet, I found myself murmuring, "I just needed to escape for a while."
Casey shook her head with a twist on her lips. She wasn't buying it.
"I wanted to see what camp life was all about?"
Again, she shook her head, and this time she crossed her arms.
I was beginning to feel nervous inside. I hadn't thought I would ever talk to anyone about why I was there. "I'm running from a man."
"That sounds more like it. An ex?"
"Yeah."
"Crazy, controlling, or did he abuse you?"
"Crap. Are those my only choices?" I joked. We both laughed.
"Oh, Luna. How long did you live with that asshole?"
"Too damned long, almost ten years."
Her jaw dropped. "Wow. He must have had something going for him for you to have stayed with him for so long."
"Don't they all in the beginning?" It was true. In the beginning, everything with Seth and I had been good, almost too perfect, the changes happening so gradually that it had taken me years to recognize them. By then I'd been good and trapped, and he'd been my jailer. I'd lost myself during those years.
Casey expelled a loud breath. "Well, let's end this depressing shit and talk about the party tomorrow night. There'll be dancing and drinking. They're pretty wild, and the best part is that there are sexy bikers everywhere! You're coming, right?"
“Sexy bikers” immediately brought Jace to mind, but there was no way I was going to ask her if he was going to be there. I thought about it for a minute. I hadn't done anything for fun since I moved there, and suddenly the thought of dancing and drinking sounded like fun, and certainly a way to burn off some energy.
“You think they’ll still have a party after what just happened?”
“Hell, yes, they will,” Casey said with confidence. “They won’t let a little trouble keep them from women, booze, and dancing.”
I thought about it for a minute, unsure that I wanted to put myself in a situation that I may not be able to handle. But really, what did I have to be worried about? I may get hit on once or twice, but I could handle that. Unless one, big, sexy biker named Jace was the culprit.
“Sure,” I said finally.
If Jace made a move on me, I could handle him, too.
Right?
Chapter 7
Jace
Uncle Pat contacted me about a job, the kind that I handled alone. It would mean a trip to New Mexico. It was a job for the Dirt Devils MC, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to take it. It was a hit on a crooked sheriff who had it out for them, and who wasn't above framing them for shit that they hadn't done. Normally they would have taken care of their own trouble, but the shit going on between them had gone public. The Dirt Devils wanted to be out of the state when the sheriff was offed so it wouldn't come back on them. There'd be speculation, but as long as they were somewhere else in the public eye, giving them an alibi, and there was no proof linking them to the hit, there wasn't much law enforcement could do.
I wasn't opposed to getting rid of crooked cops.
I leaned back in my chair and set my feet up on the table, nursing my second beer. Yesterday's trouble at the clubhouse was history. The medical examiner confirmed that the tree had done a lot of internal damage, killing the Destroyer, Tag Johnson, the name that was on his driver’s license. The other biker was being held prisoner in one of the cabins. So far he wasn't talking, but I had no doubt that the Wrecker's Sergeant at Arms would get what he could out of him before ending his miserable life. He had to now, because the three brothers who Reaper had sent to follow the retreating Destroyers had returned empty handed.
Wolfman, Raze, and Puck had returned late the night before, and without anyone from the fucking Destroyers. They'd followed the other MC right up until they were met by more members of their fucking club. Already outnumbered, Wolfman decided they'd live anot
her day and fight tomorrow. I would have made the same call. It didn't pay to get too fucking cocky in this life. I'd seen too many brothers who thought they were indispensible end up dead from making a stupid mistake. Mistakes caused lives to be lost, like the dumbass mistake the fucking Destroyers had made by thinking that they could take the Wreckers out on their home turf.
My gaze moved around the room. Most of the Wreckers and their women were present. Friday and Saturday nights were wild, and the party was in full swing. It wouldn't end until the last brother was out cold on the floor. The restaurant had closed hours ago, and since then people had been pouring in, bikers and civilians looking for a fun time. Reaper opened the clubhouse to everyone on the weekends, but he still had someone at the door checking IDs and making sure that no one got in that could cause trouble, which was mainly other MC members that they weren't friendly with and underaged girls.
I was sitting at a table with Reaper and his old lady, Marie. Marie was a real beauty--her porcelain skin and platinum blonde hair gave her a nineteen forties starlet look. She was tall and stacked and totally in love with the scarred president. She was sitting on his lap, and they couldn't keep their hands off each other. It was the same with Raze and his lady, Rosa. Razor and I were solo at the moment, but I intended to change that real soon.
It was easy to tell which women were available. They were quick to make it obvious when your gaze lit on them, even the ones who were presently dancing or drinking with someone else. I'd already seen several making the rounds, clearly taking their time before they decided which brother they wanted. I grinned to myself at the thought, because it was the brother who ultimately made the decision. I'd already been approached by a few women, but they weren't what I wanted. So there I sat, ready for my third beer and watching the entertainment on the bar. CC was really working it hard tonight. She was nice to look at, and she had the fucking moves, but her aggressiveness was a bit of a turn-off. It wouldn't surprise me if before the night was over that she'd come give me a lap dance. My lack of interest in fucking her was eating away at her.
Getting back to what I wanted. Damn if she didn't just walk into the place with Casey. My gaze moved over her sexy curves, and I clenched my teeth at the deep cleavage exposing the generous swell of her fuckable tits. Her midriff was bare, too, her skirt low enough on her hips to reveal the jewel sparkling in her belly button. Fuck. Me. My dick twitched for the first time that evening. As my gaze continued down her smoking hot body, I clenched my teeth again at how short her skirt was. It barely covered the rounded fullness of her fine ass. Her beautiful legs were encased in knee-high, come-fuck-me boots.
Where the hell had she found that fucking outfit? What little I knew about Luna, she'd never struck me as the kind of woman who'd be comfortable showing off her body like this. And if the sight of her was affecting me this much, it was a given that every other man in the place would be eyeing her and getting a boner, too. Fuck, I didn't like the sudden possessiveness that came over me. I didn't like it at all, because it made me want to storm over to where she was, turn her around, and march her right back out the fucking door.
"Whoa, brother, you've got smoke coming out of your nose and you aren't even smoking." I didn't glance at Razor or respond to his comment, keeping my gaze on Luna. She was making her way to the bar with Casey, greeting several people along the way who acknowledged her. "New pickings," he growled, following my gaze. "She hasn't been in here before."
I finally pinned my eyes on him. I hadn't liked his comment about “new pickings,” and I didn't like the way his eyes were eye-fucking Luna. "Put your eyes somewhere else, brother," I growled.
His brows shot upward, and then he held up his hands. "Relax, I didn't know she was yours."
I snorted. "She isn't." The sudden amusement in his eyes pissed me off. "Yet."
"So what are you waiting for? You know the brothers here, they're not gonna wait when they see a prime piece of pussy walk in." He nodded his head toward the bar. "Puck is already making his move."
I swung back to look, nearly breaking my jaw, I was grinding my teeth so hard. Razor was right. Puck had moved in between Casey and Luna, but his interest was clearly on Luna, since Jim was all over Casey. I resisted the urge to go over there. Despite what I had insinuated to Razor, I wasn't about to make a fool out of myself over a woman and rush over there like a love-struck boy. What I was feeling for Luna had nothing to do with love. I wanted to fuck her three-ways to Sunday, and that was all. I didn't have room in my life for anything permanent.
Yet the thought of sinking my dick into her wet heat was more than tempting. My dick pushed painfully against the restriction of my zipper, pissing me off because it wasn't going to get what it wanted anytime soon. I reached for my beer, finished it, and held my glass up until someone at the bar acknowledged it.
As I waited for my next round, I watched as Luna's roaming gaze landed on me and halted. Our eyes locked. I didn't know if the sudden blush on her cheeks was due to whatever Puck was whispering in her ear or something else entirely. Something hot passed between us. A small smile spread across her plump lips, and I knew that it was all for me. I grinned back, acknowledging her.
As expected, CC eventually hopped off the bar and made her way over to me. She didn't wait for an invitation, just straddled my lap and put her big, fake tits in my face. Her eyes almost bugged out of her head when she noticed my erection. "I just came over to say hi, but this is a nice surprise," she cooed. She began to rock her hips. It was automatic for the club whores. Get them near a hard cock, and they took over.
Reluctantly, I pulled my gaze from Luna in order to deal with CC. "Why don't you move over to Razor? He looks lonely." I couldn't deny that her grinding down on my dick felt good. Shit, what man could? I put my hands on her waist, but it was with the intention of removing her from my lap.
She smiled seductively and wound her arms around my neck, as if anticipating my intentions. "Maybe I'll move on to him after I take care of you," she said suggestively. She leaned in to kiss me, but I pulled back. Surprise moved across her heavily-made up face. "You don't like kissing, baby?"
I liked kissing, I just didn't kiss club whores who moved on from brother to brother, whose mouths had been God knows where. The brothers liked blowjobs, and I wasn't about to kiss a woman who'd had another man's dick in her mouth. CC had been a club girl for the Wreckers for a lot of years, and I'd seen her go down on one too many times to count.
"Not in the mood," I said gruffly. My comment totally belied the erection behind my zipper.
She laughed, a little too loudly. "Honey, you have a hard-on the size of a bat. You can't tell me you're not in the mood for this." She began rocking her hips harder. "Let me get you off." Her breathing picked up.
My hands tightened on her waist. I was just about to lift her off me when I glanced up toward the bar. Luna was watching us, her earlier smile completely gone from those kissable lips, an emotion that I couldn't identify on her face, the look of disappointment glittering in her eyes easier to make out. Fuck. What did she expect at a biker's party? Then I realized that she probably had no idea what went on, and had just tagged along with Casey because Casey had asked her to come.
The next thing I realized was that I had to burst her bubble. Her reaction to seeing CC on my lap revealed that there was something there, an attraction that maybe she wasn't aware of. Or maybe she was, and she was hurt over seeing me with another woman. It was the perfect opportunity to show her that even if I shared the attraction, it didn't mean anything, that I was a love-the-one-you're-with kind of bastard, and any available woman would do.
I was glad that the music filling the room was loud as hell. It drowned out the sounds coming from CC’s mouth, making it obvious that she was the one getting off. She was wearing a see-through thong. I glanced down between us and could see the fucking thing was soaked through. She rode the bowed ridge of my dick just right, and I thought, why the hell not give her what she wanted? I could u
ndo my pants and sink my dick inside her in a second. There was more than one couple having sex in the room already, and CC had been after me for a long time.
I decided against slipping my dick into her. She could get me off the way she was grinding her pussy down on me. Keeping my eyes locked onto Luna, I began to move my hips in sync to CC's rocking. I didn’t close my eyes, because it was the sight of Luna that was getting me off, the thought of her plump lips closing over my dick and sucking me dry, the thought of kissing and licking her all over and biting her nipples until she cried out. I wanted to fuck her hard and fast until we both came so hard that it left us drenched in sweat and panting for air. I could almost smell the scent of her arousal surrounding us as I filled her with my seed.
Fucking hell! I was coming! I groaned low and threw my head back as the feeling overwhelmed me. My dick throbbed against CC. She was coming, too, crying out and convulsing wildly, lust stamped strongly on her flushed face. As my chest rose and fell to capture air, I kept my eyes on Luna. The damage was done. If we hooked up now, she'd realize that it wouldn't mean anything. It would be her decision. But I could tell by her crestfallen expression that the chances of that were slim. It was probably a good thing, since I'd eventually be moving on.
"Oh, baby, that was fucking good!" CC gushed when our bodies stopped moving against each other.
The relief that I usually felt when I came wasn't there. It had felt fucking good for a second, when I was coming, but that was only because my eyes had been locked on to Luna's and I'd convinced myself that it was her pussy grinding my dick. I pushed CC off my lap roughly.
"Baby!" she protested, stumbling to her feet.
"Get the fuck away from me," I snarled, receiving surprised reactions from the others at my table. Razor, the bastard, grinned at me knowingly. Reaper’s and Raze's expressions revealed quiet curiosity. Their old ladies seemed oblivious, deep in conversation with one another. I reached for my beer. Christ, I hadn't even noticed that Rex had delivered it. I drank it down with unaccustomed rage.
Dangerous (Nomad Outlaws Trilogy Book 2) Page 5