by V. Theia
"Old lady." He amended to make her grin.
"Less of the old."
"Do you mean it?"
"I do. So much. I want us to be everything to each other." And she did. God, she really did. Every scared part of her wanted to be everything to him. Ruby's expectations had been to carve a better life for Sebastian, and with Preacher's help, she was going to do that, and while that made her grieving heart happy, she craved more from life than only that, she'd allowed herself to want more, even when she couldn't admit it, though that little boy meant the world to her, he wasn't the whole world.
No, that would be Seb and Asher. She needed Asher to complete her universe. To complete her circle.
It seemed crazy and yet she was so desperate to believe him her heart sped up inside her chest, it beat hard and out of sync, long excitable pumps. For some small mercy, he’d seen her guts ripped out and all her baggage spilled on the floor and still wanted her.
He wants me. Wants us.
She’d tried damn hard not to feel anything for Preacher. Really hard. Keeping it just sex, who said sex wasn't a complication? It was the most complicated act two people could do, she'd been fooling herself in assuming sharing herself with Preacher would be easy to walk away from, what a crazy idea, how did she ever think that would work, the dangerous physical connection between them had become alive instantly. Even their casual glances had been something more, darker, wanton, palpable, a promise to come.
Only looking up at him, so patient waiting for her answer it didn’t feel like a failure at all. It was---- togetherness. Connection. And hope.
The air was combustible.
Her life up to this point had been insidious. Everyone pecking at her until there was nothing left. She was tired and done.
"I want to tell you something," she said between soft kisses, she groaned as their mouths parted. His eyes waited.
“Hi, my name is Ruby Steele.” His brow rose and she chuckled amending. “Priest and I have a longing to be needed by those who don’t deserve me, so please don’t hurt me if I allow you in my heart. I’ve let people walk all over me in the name of love and it hurts me,” she spoke every word into his chest, a muffled tone and still she knew he heard her when he replied, inhaling fast first he lifted her chin, kissed her on the nose. “Good girl.” he was smiling. She let go of her breath. “And what else?”
What else? Fingers clutched the back of his shirt. Wasn’t her spilling that enough? The man wanted her soul as well as her blood. Greedy beast. Ugh, fine, she'd come this far, no point stopping now.
Ruby took a brave shuddering inhale and like he had said, she too was all in now. Life was for living and risking and trusting your person. “And I kind of, crazily love my sexy husband. I want to trust him more than I’ve ever wanted anything before. I want to lean on him and help him, and be at his side when he needs me and talk and laugh and ---screw his brains out until we both die. He makes me hope and wish for heart-stopping love, to have real and goodness that isn’t about using each other but about being together because the thought of not being with each other is unbearable.”
God. She really was going for it. Too late to take it back. She'd poured out her guts like she was in a two-week confessional box. And she wasn't even Catholic.
Preacher was deathly still, only the fierce rap of his heart under her cheek told her he was still present.
And then he smiled a roguish wicked smile, nuzzled her forehead. "My brave fucking lady, now that didn't hurt, did it?"
"Yes." She laughed burrowing her face in his chest. “Will you always be honest with me, too, even if it’s not what I want to hear?”
“Of course. Always.” Instantly. "Without you, Ruby, I don't make sense."
His love and trust shook something loose, some cornerstone she’d been holding together with duct tape and sheer will. It broke off and she flung herself into his massive chest, holding on for dear life.
He was big, and cut and so very deadly and was holding her like she was a precious diamond, his hand coasting up and down her back.
She was unlocked.
Preacher had unlocked her and now what?
They live happily ever after, maybe? Or at least go home so she can climb her mountain of a man and bang his crazy brains out. She smiled, liking this plan. The hard pipe against her hip said he would like that plan as well.
Very slowly, more carefully than she’d ever done before, she’d lowered her guard, and let herself love Preacher. What a feeling, she was high. It was there for anyone to see, she would love him wholly, completely, without reservation or safety net. The power was his to treasure or use that love, but she wasn’t worried.
She loved a man who had done more for her in the space of a month than anyone else ever had in her entire lifetime and he’d asked for nothing in return. It wasn’t movie love, they both had scarred hearts and cracks, this was real heart pounding dizzy love she was feeling and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Oh, wait, yeah, she absolutely did. Grinning she wrapped herself around him, chest to chest, that laugh of his was sheer love.
“If this ends in you taking dirty advantage of me I will hardly complain at all, beautiful,” he told her squeezing her ass, a smirk playing around his mouth. So, cocky. So, hers.
“I might. I just might, Asher. If you’re lucky.”
“I’m damn lucky.” Hands held her up under her butt, their breaths mingled. Funny, she felt damn lucky as well.
Actions were what counted. Words could easily be turned into lies, those twenty-six letters strung together were meaningless to someone like Ruby with trust issues.
Actions held all the power of truth, to make a person -her in particular- believe in something unbelievable and when it was a man like Preacher, the outside skin said he must surely be unreliable, deceitful even down to everything that came out of his mouth and if not for taking a chance she would probably still believe that wrongly about him.
He not only showed with actions just where his head and heart were at, he’d never lied. Her uncle Silas, on one of his more coherent days, would say you must wade through the shit to reach the best days of your life. It was always just one of those sayings she brushed off, the ramblings of a mentally disturbed old man, never resonating with her.
Until now. Until she believed it wholeheartedly. Preacher was her own personal aloe Vera. He’d soothed all her life’s burns and made it better again.
“Thank you.” She told him smiling, their noses bumping together.
“For what?”
My life. Getting me Sebastian. Helping me through the darkest grief. Being at my side. Loving me. Caring for me. Protecting me. For being the one person who didn’t leave. For being mine.
“Everything,” she said. No truer words.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
“This is what being in love with a biker feels like … kinda gassy.“ – Ruby
The small white carton of orange juice Zara had dropped off with his lunch earlier stalled midway to Rider's mouth. He was fucking parched having worked nonstop for six hours on a bike that had been, more or less, dead on arrival last night but he'd got the little shit back up and running at a cost of nearly eight grand. He might be back broken but the shop was up in profit and he had a very happy customer who would more than likely come back and recommend the RS shop to his friends and family.
But his stupefied look was nothing to do with money as Rider slow-blinked at the sight walking through the Renegade Souls main entryway.
Several other brothers came to a standstill. One elbowed the other, another chin-jutted like they were all looking at the same alien striding in.
Mass hallucination maybe? Nah, a smirk kicked up a corner of his lip, he knew who this was. Preacher hadn’t shut his trap about his old lady’s nephew since he came to live with them. Last he’d heard, all was going well for the new family. He’d barely seen his road captain all week.
Preacher strode slower to compensate for the little
person at his side stretched up on his toes holding two of Preacher's fingers.
Preacher with a kid. That was some A-grade cute shit right there, looked like he’d taken to fatherhood instantly without a hitch. Rider was pleased as fuck for his brother, he'd seen more times than not the inner struggles Preacher had going on in his mind and how it manifested, to see him with a slice of happy, well Rider wasn't the sappy type, but it was good to see one of his boys in the good. Now if only he could take to fatherhood as easy. Rider’s own chest concaved with nerves as each passing day he watched his Icy's pregnancy progress. His girl was stunning with her tiny belly poking out, but he had six months to worry about just how well he'd do. He wouldn’t be his own father, that was a fact. Rider would do the opposite of parenting that Ajax Marinos had done and everything would be golden.
The kid, Seb, trotted to keep up with Preacher heading Rider's way, his little eyes going everywhere trying to see everything at once. Rider grinned watching his reactions to all the guys hanging around. He noticed the swearing had quit, just as well, Preacher would likely crack a skull or two. With his muddy brown hair in a bowl cut almost in his eyes, dressed in clean denim overalls and a blue Spider-Man t-shirt beneath it with white kickers, Seb looked like any cute kid you'd see in the street. Little did the kid know just who he had on his side now. He couldn’t do better than Preach and Ruby for parents. They’d do alright by him, he surmised silently, watching the new father and son. But Preacher with an actual kid though. Rider’s mouth twitched.
Okay, that would take some getting used to seeing, he smiled at the boy as he walked beside a man who had always insisted kids were germ freaks and he'd rather have a hernia on his dick than be caught dead with one.
So, unless Preacher was dead and he'd dragged the whole club to hell with him, the mighty had fallen spectacularly. But then, Rider knew what the love of a good old lady could do so he had no room to joke around. Maybe he would. Would be worth it because the fucking mighty had fallen hard. Snake would dine on this shit for months to come.
Rider straightened his aching spine, ditched the carton on the edge of the bar, arched his brow when he caught Preacher's eye. A hand coasted to his jaw as he smiled at the little boy.
"New career move, Preach? Didn't see you for the nanny type, just need one of those frilly umbrella things now."
"Parasol. Don't ask how I know that shi--stuff. Hey, Prez." His mouth quirked and they slapped hands and the unusual kept on rolling when Preacher went down to the kid’s level eye-to-eye. Obviously shy, Seb sidled up to Preacher, putting both arms on Preacher’s shoulder, looking up timid and curious towards Rider. "This here is Seb, he wanted to see where I worked. You wanna say hi to Rider, big man? Go ahead, it's okay, this is the prez I told you about."
Wide eyes looked up at him. "Pwez? wif his bike?"
Preacher grinned full out at the kid, Rider's own mouth twitched. Fuck, he couldn’t wait to meet his own kid.
"Yeah, big man. If you ask nicely he might even show you it."
Rider went down to his haunches, Seb squeezed his little body deeper against Preacher's side like he was the only person he trusted. Zara, when she was done puking up everything, would get a kick out of seeing Preacher in daddy-mode, plus she was already talking about having Ruby and family over for a cookout one day this week.
"Hey, Seb. You like bikes do ya? We got a few outside you can see."
"I wikes bikes that go fastest and fire trucks," He announced from behind Preacher, staring up at Rider with the widest eyes. He could see what Preacher meant when he'd said he fell hook line and sinker for the boy.
“Well then, let’s go see some bikes, yeah?” Seb nodded after getting the okay from Preacher.
“Yo, S-dog.” Grinder called out approaching, he bent over and bumped a fist with Seb who giggled. “Don’t forget we’re gonna play some football this weekend, right?”
“You actually gonna be around?” Preacher questioned and Rider silently added his own. His tracker had been MIA more lately than he ever had and it wasn't like Grinder to go off the grid. He followed them outside to the row of Harley's parked up.
“Sure.” Grinder answered offhandedly, stooping down to pick up the kid and plonk his butt on the seat of his Harley V-Rod. Rider was suspicious, but he wasn’t his brother’s nanny, their down time was their own. He let the matter drop. He'd casually mention it to Icy, she was becoming a pit bull with his brothers and their wellbeing, always inviting one or all over, for fuck's sake, Rider couldn't turn around at home now without tripping over a brother stuffing his face with something she was experimentally cooking. Guinea pigs she called them. Fucking saps for his old lady he called them. But if something was going on with Grinder then his nosy girl would sniff it out and bug him until he spilled his guts.
Seb loved sitting on all the bikes, and Rider gave him props for preferring the Dyna, the boy had taste, maybe they’d make a biker out of him one of these days, riding with his dad and crew.
******
“I’m exhausted. Like tired in my bones, down to my soul and out the other end, ughhhhh…I didn't think this kind of tired existed and I serve drunk people for twelve hours straight.” Ruby announced later that night. Though she wheezed as she fell on top of Preacher laid out on the couch, she was smiling. Happy trumped tired.
“How many stories did he con you into tonight?”
“Just three. I got it down from five, that was good, right?”
“Sucker.”
“He’s just so sweet, Asher,” she said smiling into his throat getting comfortable with a few wriggles, his large hand caressed down her spine, over her butt and pushed inside the back of her shorts to palm her butt cheek. “Plllleeeeeeease Aunt Ruby just one more’ how can I say no to that?”
Preacher chuckled. He had his eyes closed and a nature program about killer-bees muted on the TV. It had been a busy week settling Sebastian into their home, feeling their way around doing this parenting thing. So far, he’d had one nightmare and refused to eat carrots that resulted in a screaming fit and Ruby had almost joined him until Preacher had stepped in and shoved all the carrots into his mouth all at once making Seb giggle until he’d asked for his own to do the same. Problem solved Preacher's smirk said. Ruby loved seeing him acting like a normal little rambunctious boy, not the ghosted blank nephew she was used to. It was going to take time and effort to get them all in a good place together but so far it was going well, she loved every minute spent with her boys, and as far as more family time was going they were hosting dinner tomorrow night for the Priests. Birdie had been amazing helping Ruby, it was as though she’d always had the woman in her life.
What a blessing she was.
She'd already told Asher in the event of a divorce she was taking custody of Birdie. He'd growled and fucked her rotten until she took it back, the divorce talk, he happily gave her his 'batty Ma' as he called her.
“He’s got your number, beautiful.”
“I know. I’m a pushover, I'll be the hardass parent once he's a teenager and wanting the car keys.” She hummed, enjoying the downtime with him. Fingers kneaded her butt. She purred.
After a minute’s silence, he added. “I promised him a ride on my bike last night just to get him to go to sleep.”
“Ha!” She drilled a finger into his chest, watched his mouth quirk. “You’re a sucker, too. Big softy. Now I don’t feel too bad.”
“It’s the sad eyes. I can't help it, Ruby. I’d give him anything when he looks at me.” God, this man, he made her heart roll over. Ruby lifted her head and kissed him lightly. “I love you.” His mouth smiled against hers.
“I love you, beautiful. And since you’re so tired and deliciously pliant and susceptible to my dirty hands.“ Silk entered his voice even as his hand began to squeeze her butt, pulling her in against his growing hardness. “I’ll do all the work.”
“Oh, you will, will you?” Heat licked every part of her tired body. She pressed her cheek against his, rubbi
ng the softness of his beard before their heads turned mutually towards each other, met at the mouth and kissed lazily for long minutes until it was evident soft gentle kisses weren’t enough anymore.
As nice it would be to make love soft and sweet, whispering all those new words of love she had singing in her heart, with Preacher she knew they’d always have an animalistic need burning hot between them, the desire that devolved into something primal to possess each other as quick and as hard as they could. She might be tired, but not so tired she couldn’t get down and dirty screwing him.
With a skilled move, he flipped her over so she was lying beneath him, her legs wantonly spread so he could fall into the space between, he ground his pelvis to hers, hard against soft, she grew damp and needy.
“Preacher…”
“I so know, beautiful, I want you, too, so fucking much. I can’t fucking get enough of you, you make me insane.” The growl in his throat. She always thought he looked half savage when he wanted to fuck and that was just perfect. He’d pin her, hold her down, fuck her stupid, make her take it all, have her come and scream his name and that was perfect too. Her perfect partner.
She’d once thought a troublemaking biker wasn’t for her, someone to avoid at all costs, after all, the bikers she knew were no role models of virtuous goodness. Little had she known Preacher was the man for her, the one who understood every dirty fantasy she had, those desires she whispered in his ear late at night in their bed just to hear his rusty laugh right before he gave her exactly what she wanted.
How hard do you want to ride me, beautiful?