by Amo Jones
He smiles, his body squeezing between my legs until I widen them for him. His hands finally drop from my face and come down to my thighs where he pulls my body towards him.
“I want you more than I’ve wanted any fucking thing in my entire life, pet.” He wraps his hand around the back of my neck as his thumb traces little circles. “Come home.”
Suddenly it’s like a bucket of ice cold water had been thrown over me. That ice cold bucket was labeled “Cassia” and “you stupid bitch”.
Pressing my palm to his rock hard chest, I push him back. Well, I attempt to push him back. “No. Are you kidding me?” I hiss, wrapping the suit jacket around me tightly. “You still have that slut living in your house. Actually!” I laugh sarcastically. “You have fucking two!”
“No,” he corrects me, inching closer. “I have one.”
“Two!”
“One,” he whispers harshly. “Ella is my sister.”
“What?” I nudge back.
He places both of his fists on either side of me. “Ella is my sister.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” I ask, annoyed that he kept such a big secret for so long.
“Because no one knows her identity. No one at all.”
I pause. “Who’s her dad?”
“Kurr,” he replies, his hands gliding up my thighs.
“So he knows?”
“He knows he had a daughter, yes.”
“Had?” I say, cocking my head.
“Yes, had.” He dips his head into the crook of my neck. Pressing his lips to my neck softly, he says, “We had to say she was killed and change her whole identity to protect her from him. She’s been living at my place ever since under strict protection.”
“Stop.” I move my head out of his teasing licks and kisses. “I can’t just pretend all that stuff didn’t happen.”
He growls and the vibrations shake against the flesh of my neck. “I know. I need to tell you something, though,” he voices, his mouth still laying kisses on my collar bone. It’s a sweet gesture and it’s testing all my might to not give into what he’s doing, but I guess I’m just as stubborn.
“And what’s that?”
“I gave Beast a proposition.”
“Okay…”
“Well, rather a swap.”
“What did you do?” I ask flatly.
“I’m giving him Ella for you… until this war is over.”
“Wait, what war? And pardon?”
His palms press against the car, bringing his head back until his eyes are on mine. “Look, I need to keep you safe. I need you to be with me. Beast needed something to show he could trust me, and—”
“What about your sister?” I quickly interrupt.
“She’ll be fine.”
“You sure about that?” I tease. “There’s a whole lot of bikers in that clubhouse. Horny bikers. Hot horny bikers. Who ride motorcycles and—”
His lips smash down onto mine and I fight the urge to open for him again. His hand wraps around the back of my neck, his fingers flexing.
“Open,” he growls, vibrating over my mouth, and I smile, opening a small gap for him. Taking it, his tongue slides in. I slowly bring my hands up his arms as his tongue dances around with mine, the flick of his wet tongue sending shivers down my spine with each lick he caresses inside of my mouth. When he pulls back, his eyes search mine. “Say you’ll come back with me. You don’t have to fucking think about this shit yet, pet, but I need you back home. With me.”
“And Cassia?” I question, my eyes remaining on the glistening twinkle of the city lights.
He steps towards me again until his boot collides with the tip of my Chuck Taylor. Military versus civilian. Inside versus outside. The image alone holds a lot of meaning. He trails the tip of his fingertips over my ear and smiles lightly. “What do you want to happen to her?” His eyes search mine, his eyebrows drawing together.
“What kind of question is that?” I say.
“It’s a simple fucking question, baby. What. Do. You. Want. To. Happen. To. Her.” His eyes widen as he finishes off that sentence and his body presses against mine again, the deep perk of my nipples grazing across his taut chest.
“Are you seriously asking me to choose her life or death?” I ask, cocking my head. “Because had you asked me that the day I caught you both in bed, it would have been death. But now that I’ve had time to chill…” I hesitate. “I don’t want that burden over my head.”
Bringing my eyes back up to his face, I find a cocky grin spread across his beautiful features. “Why are you smiling?”
“Because you fucking care, pet.”
“I never said I didn’t, Raze.”
He pauses, his eyes softening for a brief second before bringing his hand up to my face, his rough knuckles brushing over my cheekbone. “Come home.”
“Take the trash out and then call me.” I hand him back the bag of now-cold nuggets and push off the hood of the car. “You better take me back to my sister before she sends out her whole crew.”
Raze smirks, rounding the car and popping open the driver’s side door. “Yeah? Well, my crew is scarier.”
I roll my eyes, slipping into the plush leather seat. “I think I know that. I’m well acquainted with your crew.”
I can’t stop the bitterness that falls off of those words, but it’s true. I still hate every single one of those men, and maybe there’s a little place still left in me that hates Raze too, but when he’s being all sweet, it makes it that much harder to hate him. Raze and sweet do not go together. Ever. So there’s another part of me, on the completely insane side, that secretly loves how someone so unattainable, so deadly, and so ruthless with not only his kills but his people too, could be so sweet to me.
After dropping me back off at Hella’s and Melissa’s, I sneak through the back door and into bed. I know that Hella would have known it was me coming through; nothing slips through that man’s eyes or ears.
It’s around midnight when the beep of my phone pulls me out of my deep sleep. I shove off my cover and blindly start reaching for my phone off the nightstand. Once I’m clutching the thin device, I slide it open and squint from the bright assault. Seeing an unknown number, I prop up onto my elbows and read the text:
Unknown – Trash is gone. When do I pick you up?
Me – Raze? Do you know what the time is?
Raze – No. Answer my question.
Me – What did you do?
Raze – That wasn’t an answer.
Me – Raze… please tell me you didn’t…
Raze – I didn’t. She’s with someone else now, I moved her out.
Me – Moved her where?
Raze – stop fucking around, pet. I’m not a patient man.
Me – Fine. Pick me up when you have Ella ready, and then, you’re going to fill me in on this plan.
Raze – Yeah, baby. I can do that. Get some sleep.
I scrunch my face up at his reply. Get some sleep? The man just woke me up. Huffing, I put my phone back down and close my eyes.
MILLIE
The next morning I’m stretching my arms over my head when the early morning sun breaks through my curtains. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I push the covers off and make my way into the bathroom to freshen up. Raking my fingers through my hair, I pile the bundle of mess on the top of my head and pull open the door to head towards the kitchen where I can smell oil frying with the sweet hint of bacon and the crackling of fried eggs.
“Morning!” I chirp, walking into the kitchen. Melissa turns around with a smile on her face and spatula in her hand.
“Morning, sis. Hungry?”
I nod, taking a seat onto one of the barstools. “Please.”
“So,” she begins, turning her back to face me again to tend to our breakfast. “How was your night?”
Reaching for the cold carton of orange juice and a glass that’s already filled with ice, I begin pouring the juice into my glass while answering her. “It wa
s fine. Yours?” I ask, sucking off the juice that drips onto my finger.
She bobs her head. “Same club stuff. Drank too much and all that.” Turning around with the frying pan in one and the spatula in the other, she dishes some food onto my plate.
“Morning!” Hella steps into the kitchen with his grey sweatpants hanging loosely around his narrow waist. When I first met Hella, I thought he was attractive in a way that would mind-fuck you senseless. He has an impressive body, but then, nothing really impresses me now that I’ve seen Raze naked. Hell, Raze not naked is still a sight to behold.
“Morning.” I smile at him as he walks towards Melissa and pulls her in for a kiss. I grin at the two of them. I was worried for a second throughout their relationship, not being sure it would work out. They were explosive, to put it lightly. They were probably the most dysfunctional relationship I have ever witnessed, but seeing how they are now warms my heart.
Hella picks up a piece of bacon and smirks at me, biting off the end and chewing on it slowly.
I shuffle uncomfortably on my seat. “Umm, and what is that look for?” I point my finger towards his smug mouth.
He chews again and then his tongue darts out of his mouth and slides across his bottom lip, licking the salty oil off. “Nothing.” He grins again, keeping his eyes locked on mine.
I narrow my eyes. Melissa looks between us and exhales. “For the love of god, Hella! Leave her alone.”
“What!” I blurt out. “Why are you seriously looking at me like that? Those dimples should only be aimed at Melissa. She gets jealous, remember?” I smirk, remembering how jealous Melissa got when she thought Hella was into me.
His mischievous grin deepens. “Fuck, I think I like this side better than the little nun side.”
“Excuse me! You!” Melissa points her finger in my direction. “Shut the fuck up right now, and you!” She turns to Hella. “If you want any ass later, I’d suggest you flutter those eyelashes at me and only me.”
“Psshhh,” Hella whips his head back smugly, taking another piece of bacon with one hand and grabbing his crotch with the other. “You know you can’t deny this shit.” Melissa goes to whack him and he laughs deeply, stepping back and dodging her swing before running up the stairs.
“Yeah, you better run,” she yells towards Hella’s departing form. “Jerk.”
I’m stifling my chuckles when she turns her icy stare towards me. “Wow!” I throw my hands up in defeat. “I did nothing.” Her glare slowly drops and turns into a smile. “What was that about anyway?” I ask, throwing my head over my shoulder.
“Oh, that?” She points before sliding my plate towards me. “That was Hella letting you know that he knows you’re fucking the biggest kingpin—Lord, God, the mother-fucking Buddha of the underground. Jesus, Millie, really? Are you invested in this guy or what? Talk to me.” She walks around the breakfast bar with her plate in her hand.
“I don’t know,” I say, biting into my pancake. “I mean,” I add around a mouthful of food; I’m all manners. “Do I care about him? Yes. Is his sexy time good? Yes—”
“I’m sorry,” Melissa blurts out, banging on her chest to calm her choking on her pancake. “Did you just say ‘sexy time’?” She reaches for the orange juice.
“Yeah, like Ali G. You used to make me watch it all the time when we were kids! Why are you laughing at my reference now?”
She takes a large gulp of her orange juice, a smile evident around the rim of the glass, before clearing her throat. “Because, honey, no one watches Ali G now, and it sort of slapped me out of the blue.”
“Melissa.” I shake my head. “When are you going to learn that I don’t care about what anyone else thinks?”
“You’re right.”
We both clean the rest of the food on our plates just as Hella comes back down the stairs in his full biker clothes. And by that I mean jeans, a black t-shirt, and his Devil’s cut hanging off of him. He nudges his head at me and Melissa. “Meet you ladies down there.” He walks towards Melissa and wraps his hands around the back of her thighs, lifting her into the air so her legs have to wrap around his waist. She giggles shamelessly and I pick up my juice again, taking a long drink to take my eyes off of their PDA.
Hella places her back down and slaps her loudly on the ass. Melissa yelps, jumping forward. I turn my eyes back to Hella with a smile.
“What’re you smiling at, puddin’?” He grins and walks out the kitchen. My face drops and my eyes fall to a knowing glare.
“Huh.” Melissa takes my plate and slowly scrapes the leftovers into the bin that sits under the sink. “What’s going on Melissa?”
“Hmmm?”
“What’s going on?”
“Shit,” she mutters, placing the plates into the sink. “Don’t be mad…”
“Spit it out.”
“Okay. Raze… wants Beast and Hella to agree to swap something of importance to this club—you—for something equally as important, Beast and Raze’s sister Ella, which by the way is fucking messed the fuck up. Just when I thought things could—”
“Melissa! First of all, calm down, I already know about the swap, but second of all, I am not of importance to this club, so why would Raze offer that?”
“Okay, um, shit…” Melissa blurts out. “So, you’re right. You aren’t of importance to the club. I mean, you weren’t…”
“Pardon? Can you hurry up and get to the point, because you’re giving me anxiety.”
“Raze doesn’t know this yet…”
“Know…” My eyes search around the room. “What?”
“Well,” Melissa says, placing the plates into the dishwasher. “You needed to be of importance to the club in order for this swap to work or else it would be unbalanced. Hella tried to say because you were my sister that you were family, but it didn’t work for Beast. It’s why he’s the president; the man drives a hard bargain.” She begins wiping down the kitchen counter with a paper towel. “At church last night, Frost had an idea…”
I cock my head. “What kind of idea?”
“Well, actually, it’s already been done and you have to trust me…”
“Trust you?” I blurt out. “How can I when you won’t even spit out what the hell you’re saying?”
“In order for this swap to happen, for you to be protected by the club and protected in this exchange and for the exchange to be balanced…” She pauses and I suck in my breath. “You had to become Frost’s old lady.”
The breath gets punched out of me all at once and I curl over. “Fuck!”
RAZE
My phone ringing in my pocket pulls my brain out of Avenged Sevenfold’s lyrics. Reaching in, I pull it out and slide it unlocked to answer. “Yeah?”
“Do you fucking know what you’ve just done?” Millie’s tone is hushed and urgent.
My eyebrows draw together and I pull the other earbud out of my ear before walking towards the bench where my towel is hanging.
“What’d I do now?” After squirting the cool water down the back of my throat, I pour some over my head.
“You have just turned me into club property.”
That gets my attention. “Wait, what?” I drop the water bottle.
“Yeah, that’s right. As of now, I’m Frost’s old lady because fucking balance!”
“Shit,” I whisper, and Millie starts cussing at me through the other line but I can’t hear what she’s saying because I’m already trying to do the math in my head. Why would they benefit from that? It doesn’t make sense. If anyone was at a loss here and at a disadvantage, it’d be me, so why do they give a fuck about whose old lady Millie is? My thoughts come back around and I can still hear Millie spewing profanities. “Calm—Babe, calm the fuck down. This is nothing. I need to know why the fuck Beast did that, though…” I shudder away my thoughts.
“Why he did this?” She laughs, and I know that laugh. That’s the kind of laugh that should put the fear of God into kids. “He did this, Raze, because of Melissa! My
crazy fucking sister needed reassurance of my safety. She knows that the club won’t let me die if I belong to a brother, so she made Frost patch me as his old lady!”
“Are you wearing that patch?” I ask, my temper kicking up a notch.
“What?” Her tone drops slightly. “No.”
“Good.” I calm down a bit. “You won’t wear that, do you understand me? I need to call Beast. Oh, and Millie?”
“What!” she snaps and I smirk; I love that little fire that burns in her now.
“Be ready by tonight. I need this shit done once and for all.” Hanging up, I launch it across the room just as Miles enters and ducks, dodging the flying device.
“Whoa!” He laughs. “What’s happened now? What’s my little puddin’ doing to you?”
I rub my temples together. “She’s fucking patched in as Frost’s old lady.”
Miles’ face screws up. “What the fuck? Why? Do I need to kill him? ‘Cause I will.”
“No,” I say sternly. “No, we don’t want them as enemies, Miles, we need them with us.”
“Why?” Miles questions. “Explain why exactly we need them? I’m looking around here, and I don’t think we do!”
Exhaling, I shake my head. “Because, Miles. Imagine them as allies. I’ve thought long and hard about this, and although we have a lot of allies, we are going to lose a couple by the time this is over.”
“Speaking of…” Miles rubs his hands together. “When does this shit start?” His eyes beam up in excitement as he rolls up the sleeves of his suit.
“Doing the swap of the girls tonight and then we’ll hold the meeting tomorrow. How’s Cassia?”
“Fuck you. You owe me for this shit.”
I laugh, throwing my head back and tossing the towel over my shoulder. “I need to leave. Kurr has a mission for me today. Shouldn’t take long.”
“Oh, yeah?” Miles falls in behind me. “What job are you doing?”