by D. D. Prince
Neither of us said anything.
I was incapable of speech.
He smoked it and butted it and then shoved a piece of gum in his mouth.
He offered the package to me.
I shook my head and folded my arms.
“How pissed are you right now?” he finally asked, after a good five minutes of us standing there.
“I can’t believe what you just said to my brother.”
“I meant it.”
I looked at him. He was looking at me cautiously.
“I’m…”
He cut me off with his mouth, kissing me, putting his hands in my hair.
He stole my breath. My knees went weak.
“Spencer…” I tried to pull away.
“Don’t pull away,” he whispered against my mouth.
“I was mad at you, so I ate onions. And a lot of garlic.”
“Yeah, you’ve tasted better, Sunshine.”
I started to laugh. He laughed too.
That was when Bronto pulled in. Spencer kissed me again, right in the spotlight of the headlights.
“That’s enough,” I said.
“No, it isn’t. Don’t pull away right now.”
I hesitated.
“Serious. Kiss me.”
He was willing to kiss my garlic and onion mouth for specific reasons.
“Stop trying to make a point with him. I think he gets it.”
“He’s gonna.”
I glared at him. “Don’t be an asshole.”
“And you’re gonna get it, too,” he said under his breath. I pretended to not hear.
I pulled away and grabbed my wheeled train case. Bronto got out of his car, a VW bug, and took my bag, putting it in his back seat, not saying hello.
Spencer cracked the gum he still evidently had in his mouth and put my bigger suitcase into the backseat as well.
“See you back at the club,” Spencer said.
Bronto gave him a half-hearted salute without saying a word and got into his car.
Spencer got the helmet for me and then we got onto the bike and followed Bronto back to the clubhouse.
When we got there, I wouldn’t let them load my stuff onto the bus because I needed clothes and make-up for the morning, so Bronto carried my make-up case in, Spencer carried my suitcase, and Bronto put the make-up case down in front of Spencer’s door and looked at him sourly. “That it?”
“Yup,” Spencer said and stuck a key in his door.
“Yo!” Ella called from the end of the hall, coming out of the second last door on the opposite side with a bottle of Pepsi in one hand, a grocery bag in the other, with chip bags and packages of Twizzlers as well as a giant yellow M&M bag sticking out.
“Hey!” I was relieved to see a friendly face, one that could give me a reprieve from having to go into Spencer’s bedroom.
“We’re watching a movie in there. Wanna come?”
“How come you’re here?”
“Deacon wants us here for a bit until things are settled. The property where we’re building the house? It’s too open out there, not safe in the Fifth Wheel if the Wyld Jackals sneak up.
“Oh. I didn’t know Deacon still had a room here.”
A deep voice spoke from behind me. I turned to see Deke.
“Yep. All the patched members have a room in their clubhouse even if they live in a mansion. We built more rooms with the rebuild. Some of them have smaller rooms, till we move into our permanent clubhouse. Sometimes we have late nights. Sometimes we’re in the doghouse with the ol’ lady and it’s good to have a secondary place to crash.”
Ella chuckled. I smiled.
“When’s your new clubhouse gonna be ready?”
“About three or four weeks, we think.”
“Nice,” I said with a smile. He winked and headed down the hall toward the kitchen.
“We’re about to start watching Iron Man. Wanna watch?” Ella asked.
“Sounds good,” I said. “You got enough snacks to share?”
She gave me an eyeroll. “Duh.”
“Cool.” I followed her, leaving Spencer with the bags in the hallway. I didn’t even look back.
***
Ella and Deacon were cuddled up on one couch under a blanket.
I had kicked my shoes off and was laying on a big floor pillow. Spencer sat behind me on another couch a few minutes into the movie.
Scott and Dee were cuddled up on a love seat. He was going to drive her back home after the movie.
***
“Hey?” I was being covered up. It was dark.
“It’s okay. You crashed during the movie. Couldn’t wake you so carried you in here.”
“Oh.”
I heard him getting undressed. He climbed in and pulled me to him.
I should’ve insisted that we not sleep in the same bed. I was so sleepy, I just snuggled in and closed my eyes again.
***
I didn’t see more than thirty minutes of Iron Man.
But now, I was awake. It was early (way early). He was sound asleep beside me, his hand on my stomach.
I got out of bed and snuck out, heading to the bathroom. The rest of the place was quiet and dark.
I wandered into the kitchen and turned the light on, then the giant industrial coffeemaker on and filled it with water and set it to go. While the coffee was brewing, I went out into the main lounge area and turned a light on. Everything was quiet. And a little messy. Beer bottles on the bar, full ashtrays. A Dom cut laying on one of the couches. A pair of boots on the floor.
There was a knock on the door. I jolted.
Should I answer it?
I chewed my lip and peered out between blind slats and saw a blonde girl standing there at the top of the stairs alone. She had a beautiful head of hair down to her waist. She was dressed in leather, wearing clothes a hard biker broad would wear, but she wasn’t hard-looking. She was supermodel-gorgeous.
She saw me and waved. I opened the blinds a bit more and gave her a one second gesture.
I turned, about to go to Spencer’s room, but Bronto was coming in.
“Hey,” he said.
“There’s a girl out there,” I told him.
He looked out the blinds. “It’s Gianna. Stand back, though. Dunno if she’s up to somethin’. Can you go get Spencer?”
“Yeah,” I hurried to Spencer’s room.
I opened the door, got into the bed on my knees, leaning over to jiggle his arm. “Spencer?”
He reached and grabbed me and pulled me on top of him and started ravishing my throat with his mouth.
“W-wait, hey. Someone’s here. Bronto sent me to get you.” My body was out in goosebumps.
“Who?” he asked.
“Gianna? I was up first and turned the coffee and lights on and there was a knock but Bronto was comin’ out and told me to get you.” He was up and pulling jeans on. He headed out bare chested, barefoot.
I trailed behind him. I stopped in the kitchen at the mouth of the doorway to the lounge though, when I saw that the girl, now inside the door, run to Spencer and throw herself in his arms, crying.
He put his arms around her.
Something ugly crawled up my throat. My ears were suddenly ringing.
“Spence, I had to come. Rider told me to stay away, but Kailey told me yesterday that Mantis had been making plans to nab one of the women from your club and she didn’t like it, she felt all sorts of guilty about Jet. I lost my old phone, got no one’s numbers and didn’t know if any of you would return my call so I got hold of Blow’s number from Jill and texted, but it bounced. And now Kailey’s not returning my calls, so I drove here, left at three in the morning.”
“Bront,” Spencer said, “Knock on Dad’s door. Tell him it’s urgent.”
Bronto moved past me. I leaned my shoulder against the wall and watched the two of them.
“I had to come tell you guys. I dunno if they’re after Jojo or someone else, or what...”
“It’s good you ca
me. Grab a seat.” He let go of her and pointed to a couch.
I heard the gurgle of the coffee maker and glanced. The first pot was full. I’d make another one. It was only six o’clock, but we were supposed to head to Sioux Falls early, so I imagined it’d be a busy kitchen shortly with everyone getting up and going.
They’d said last night that only a few members were staying behind to be a presence. Deke’s Roadhouse was closed for Good Friday, as was the garage and dealership, but they didn’t trust leaving the place abandoned.
I started putting the next pot of coffee on. Bronto was behind me.
“You all right?” he asked.
I looked up at him.
“You’re white as a ghost. Seein’ her with him and all.”
I shook my head, quizzically. “I dunno who she is.”
Deke was walking by, fast, also in just a pair of jeans.
Bronto reached for two cups from the cupboard, one of them a Best Dad Ever cup.
“Only met her once, in the Falls for a party, but hear she ‘n Spence used to hook up. Often.”
My heart flared.
Ella was in the kitchen. “Ooh, coffee.” She was in a dark blue robe with light blue polka dots on it, wearing slippers. “Enough for two more?”
“Full pot there, Pippa made. Another’s on the go,” Bronto said.
I looked at Ella.
Ella craned her neck toward the lounge.
“Gia’s here?” she said to Bronto.
Gia. Gia was Gianna. I knew about this girl.
He nodded. “Knocked on the door. Has intel about a Jackals plot against one of the Dom women.”
Ella’s eyes went huge. And then she looked at me.
“That’s the biker bunny that gave me the lowdown on the three Valentine brothers.”
I made a face.
Ella had told us, months back, about her run-in with the biker bunny in Sioux Falls who’d thought Ella was a new bunny when she’d gone on about Deacon being a one-hit wonder with the big dick who never went back for seconds, Rider being into really rough sex, and Spencer being the well-endowed Energizer bunny who could go all night.
I was stirring a coffee. Spencer popped his head in. “Pour me ‘n Gianna one, Bront. She takes it the same as me. Go get ready, Sunshine. We’re outta here in an hour. We’ll get breakfast on the road unless you’re starvin’.”
“I’m not,” I said.
My chest hurt at the “Me ‘n Gianna”.
I took my coffee and went back to his room.
And while I was there, getting my clothing and toiletries together for my shower, I was thinking about the two of them together. How good she’d look on his arm, how awful it’d be to see him with someone else.
Yeah, it was soon and yeah, it was dangerous to get involved with him without a rebound relationship in the middle because that’d increase the possibility that he’d be the rebound, but the idea of him with her or another girl on his arm?
It hurt.
I was rifling through my clothes, thinking about that, but then stopped and blew out a breath.
Sometimes stuff hurt. And sometimes it was better to feel a bit of pain than to put yourself in a position where you’d feel a whole lot of pain.
I was so confused. What should I do?
By the time I was finished my shower and brushing my teeth to get rid of the nasty taste of too much garlic and onions the night before, sharing the bathroom space with Ella as we dried our hair and got make-up on, it was nearly time to go. I wore jeans, a black blouse, black boots, and a black leather jacket, knowing we were traveling on the bike. My black nails completed the biker girl package.
I wasn’t a biker girl. Did I want to be?
“You look like a hot biker babe,” Ella said, fluffing her curls out and putting her own leather jacket on.
“Hm. Yeah.”
“You all right?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know what the eff I’m doing. I’m like… caught between pushing him away and grabbing onto him. Seeing that gorgeous blonde throw herself into his arms and knowing they used to hook up regularly? That feels yucky.”
Ella nodded. “I bet. I didn’t see her in Deacon’s arms, only knew she’d slept with him and that still feels yucky, so I can imagine.”
“And she’s here to warn of a sinister Jackal plot to hurt one of you guys.”
She tilted her head.
“You, Jojo, Jenna maybe. Ugh.”
“Or you,” Ella said.
I shuddered.
“Ugh. See you out there.”
“Yep. Our guys will keep us safe. Don’t stress.”
Our guys. Our. Sheesh. Ella was as bad as Jenna.
When I went back to his room with my make-up case and clothing, Spencer was zipping up a bag on his bed. My suitcase was there beside it.
He was freshly showered, wearing his leather jacket with the Dominion Brotherhood patch on the back, jeans and motorcycle boots, a dark button-down shirt underneath.
He pulled the bag off and tossed it to the floor. I zipped up my bag and put it on the floor and then leaned over to make the bed.
He got on the other side and helped. We did it in silence.
“So…” I said.
“So?” he made eye contact.
“That girl?”
He continued to look at me and I couldn’t get a read on his expression.
“You used to date her?”
He shook his head. “It was nothin’.”
“She threw herself at you like you were her hero who was finally there to save her.”
He looked me over and looked like he was measuring his words before he finally said, “She feels that way about every guy in this club. Any of us that came out to greet her woulda got the same hello. She’s just a bunny. She’s a nice girl. We shut her out because her stepsister was hooked to the Jackals and fucked over four brothers with that video. I’m sure you heard about that.”
I nodded.
“So, Gianna was persona non grata by association. She never did anything wrong that we know about. And her showin’ here is definitely a good thing, because she’s fed us information that’ll help us keep the women we care about safe as well as help us find Mantis, who’s done a good job of layin’ low.”
I stared at him.
“Her stepsister told her she overheard them talkin’ things out over possible plans, including a sister in New York, a girlfriend that lived above the flower shop, and a barista. That’s you, Joelle, and Marlena, the girl Blow’s considerin’ makin his old lady.”
My hand covered my mouth.
“So, we weren’t bein’ overcautious about you. Will you stop fighting protection now, Pippa?”
I nodded.
“You ready to stop fighting this thing between you and me?”
Ouch. I shook my head, lips pulled tight.
He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Let’s go. They’re probably waitin’.”
“What does just a bunny mean?”
He looked at me with confusion.
“She’s beautiful. Why didn’t one of you get serious with her?”
“You jealous?”
“Answer the question.”
He frowned. “Bunnies are passed around. No brother wants to get serious about a girl his brothers’ve fucked. A woman comes in as a bunny, that’s all she’ll ever be.”
“You guys have no qualms about sex with her though.”
He shrugged. “Just one of those things, baby.”
“Poor girl. Jenna said that Jojo told her this Gia girl wanted to be with one of you guys.”
“Yeah, I know. She wanted me to give her a shot and tried to talk me into it. But, she should’ve thought about that before fuckin’ every guy in the club.” He shrugged. “She fucked Blow, Ride, Deacon, Brady, the list is long. For all I know, she tried to get serious with them, too.” He shrugged.
“Would you have been with her in a serious way if she had been with you first or i
f you knew it was only you she wanted?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. She’s sweet. But, it doesn’t matter because it wasn’t meant to happen.”
I stared at him.
“I was meant to find you in that alley that night.”
My chin trembled. “Spencer…” My voice was barely a whisper. I hated how much emotion was in it.
He grabbed me, and we went tumbling down onto the bed.
He put both hands in my hair and pulled my mouth to his and touched it gently with his lips.
“Just take it a day at a time with me, Sunshine.”
“I don’t want to fuck up,” I admitted, pressing my face into his throat.
“If anyone’s gonna fuck this up, it’s me. And I won’t.” He tipped my chin up. “I’m gone for you. Have been a long time. Told ya, felt shit for it, so started stayin’ away. Hated seein’ you with him. Now, I don’t have to stay away and I’m not going to. I’m here. Through this Jackals shit, through the trial with that fuckhead, and whatever else happens to swerve in and try to cut us off, okay?”
“I don’t know. I’m so tangled up inside after him. It’s not fair to you.”
“I can handle it.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“You can. I’ll help.”
I looked up at him. He was looking impossibly deep into my eyes.
Oh God, the way he looked at me…
“Fuckin’ love the way you look at me, Sunshine,” he said, and I frowned, because I didn’t know how I was looking at him. I only knew that the way he was looking at me… no one had ever looked at me the way Spencer Valentine did.
Nope. Nope. Backpedal. Backpedal!
“You’re taking this too seriously, Spence. We’re supposed to be just fooling around.”
“Says you.”
“Says both of us.”
“I never agreed to just fooling around.”
“You did so,” I accused.
“I didn’t,” He stared directly into my soul and I felt my insides shrivel up.
He didn’t.
I said it.
He said, “Hm.” I took it as an agreement at the time. But, at the time he also had his tongue inside of a very private place of mine. Perhaps I should’ve taken the time to clarify what “Hm” meant.
As if I could. Making that hmm noise directly against where he was only served to distract me further.
I was kidding myself right now, trying to pretend I didn’t know that he was treating this as far more than casual.