by Khloe Wren
“There’s two agreements. One is to give me the legal rights to run his shop and range while he recovers–basically, it’s making me his manager so the authorities won’t come after me or him. The other is for him to sell me the shop and range. The price is left blank, because we’d never discussed that. When we heard he was in hospital with a heart attack, we weren’t sure how out of it he’d be when I got to him. The lawyers already had the sale forms drawn up at Scout’s request, but added the employment ones this morning.”
That had her frowning at me. “I’m not comfortable signing over his business to you, Taz. But I guess you running things for him would be okay. Can it wait till tomorrow, when he’s hopefully going to wake up enough for me to chat with him?”
I gave her another one shoulder shrug. “I guess so. It’s never good to have a business shut for any length of time, but he is the only gun shop and range anywhere near here so it’s not like he’ll lose too many customers. Just piss them off.” Releasing her hand, I moved to hold her chin so her gaze held mine. “The Cowboys aren’t going to try anything in the next couple of days. At this point, I’m doing this to help out a friend, not trying to get into a position that will help the MC. Understand?”
She nodded as much as she could in my grip. “Yeah. I hear you. It’s just this whole thing with my uncle is more responsibility than I was anticipating I’d have on this assignment.”
With a wince, I dropped her face and rolled over to get up. Dammit, I kept forgetting she was here on an assignment–that I was nothing but part of this assignment. She spoke like she gave a fuck about me, but I couldn’t allow myself to be fooled. Somehow, I needed to keep my heart separate from her.
“Right, well, we’d better get cleaned up and moving. You jump in the shower, I’ll go make some coffee. I need to get to the clubhouse, and you need to get to the bar.”
I kept my back to her as I pulled up my jeans, and before I could button the fly, she had her palm on my bicep. With a deep breath, I let her turn me around.
“What did I say to shut you down just now?”
I gave her a broad smile, it was fake, but hopefully she wouldn’t see it that way.
“Not a bloody thing, luv. I’m good. Just got lots of shit to get done today.”
She shook her head and didn’t release me.
“Don’t luv me. That’s what you call women that mean nothing to you. Or when you’re pissed off at me, so it’s also proof I just fucked up and said something wrong. What was it?”
I shook my head. Damn woman wasn’t going to let this go.
“Look, it’s nothing. You just reminded me this is all nothing but an assignment to you. Like I keep proving, I lose my fucking head around you and keep forgetting that fact.”
Pain flashed over her expression before she moved in until her naked body was pressed up against mine.
“You’re not the job, Taz. This chemistry we have between us is insane, and it scares the fuck out of me half the time, but it’s not work. I’m not here with you because of the assignment. I’m here with you because I want to be.”
I caught her face between my palms, staring hard into her eyes.
“Don’t fucking bullshit me about this, Flick. I’ve never, and I mean never, had a relationship with a woman before. I’ve never wanted that deep of a connection. You threw all my good intentions in the bin the second you came storming into my world. If you’re serious about me not being the job, you’re gonna have to fucking prove it.”
A cute little frown wrinkled her forehead. “And how, exactly, would I do that?”
“When you researched for this assignment, you discover what an old lady is?”
Now she looked nervous. Good. If she agreed to this too quickly, I’d know she didn’t fucking mean it.
“Yeah. A biker’s old lady is like his wife.”
I gave her a nod, then turned my whole world on its head by saying words I never expected to say to any woman.
“Then say yes to being my old lady, let me own you. That’ll prove it.”
I wasn’t telling her how, as my old lady, she’d be under the protection of the entire Charon MC. Even if her cover was blown, she’d be safe.
At least I hoped she would be.
She watched me for a few moments, until my heart was racing with the thought that she wasn’t going to agree. Then she twisted her face to the side, pressed a kiss to my palm and whispered the sweetest word I’d ever heard.
“Yes.”
Then she shocked the shit out of me by dropping to her knees, pulling down my jeans as she did.
“Fuck, kitty.”
I wrapped a hand in her hair as she wrapped her mouth around the head of my cock and sucked. Contentment at her accepting my claim on her mixed and swirled with the arousal she was now creating. There was nothing quite like having the woman you’d fallen head over heels for kneeling in front of you, buck ass naked, sucking your cock like her life depended on it.
CHAPTER 13
Flick
When I arrived at the clubhouse in the early evening, one full day after agreeing to be Taz’s, I was more than a little nervous. I’d arrived at Styxx ready to work, but Nitro had just grinned at me and told me to get my ass over to the clubhouse. Apparently, I had the night off. I figured Taz was up to something, but Nitro refused to give me even a hint as to what.
Locking up my car, I strolled over to the front door, which was being guarded by two big men who were watching me with open curiosity. And lust.
“Who you here for, darlin’?”
“Ah, Nitro told me Taz wanted me here, so here I am.”
A wide grin spread over his face. “You must be Flick, then. Head on in. He’s waiting for you.”
Clearly these two knew what was going on. That, or they’d heard about me dumping Taz on his ass last night. I really hated being the last to know anything, especially when it was something that affected me, so hopefully it was the later. On full alert, I stepped through the door, into the clubhouse for the first time. The room I found myself in was rather anti-climactic, all things considered, but I guess it was still pretty early for things to be overly wild. There was a bar along one wall, while the other side of the room was a mix of couches and small tables with chairs. There were a few men hanging around, but not many. I couldn’t see Taz anywhere and had no fucking clue where I should go from here to find him. Figuring the guy behind the bar might know something, I headed over there but got stopped before I made it all the way.
“Hey there, darlin’.”
Oh, good grief. Did every man here think they were the only ones with a southern accent? It was Bridgewater, Texas. The majority of the fucking population had the same damn drawl, me included.
“Hey, sugar, don’t suppose you know where Taz is?”
I exaggerated my own accent to throw it back at this guy. But he didn’t take the hint. With a smirk, his gaze focused over my shoulder, then he reached to put his hand on my hip.
“I wouldn’t—”
The guy manning the bar didn’t get to finish his warning before I’d knocked his arm to the side, grabbed it and twisted it up behind his back, so the asshole with the grabby hands was now kneeling in front of me.
“Tried to warn you, Keg. Flick put Taz on his ass over at Styxx last night. You didn’t stand a chance, brother.”
I glanced up at the man who’d spoken—he’d moved from behind the bar toward me. He was a huge hulk of a man and I wasn’t entirely sure I’d be able to win against him. His vest had a patch on it that ironically said “Tiny”.
“Flick, honey, you can let my brother go. Trust me, he won’t try to touch you again.”
“Damn fucking straight he won’t. Bastard.”
I released Keg, who scrambled to get back to his feet, where he rolled his shoulders with a wince.
“Settle the fuck down, Taz. You flirt with all the old ladies, just thought I’d give you a little payback. Somehow, I missed the story of you getting put on your a
ss by your own old lady, brother.”
Taz had told everyone about me agreeing to be his already? Fuck, he didn’t waste time.
Taz’s arm wrapped around my middle and pulled me back against him. “That’ll teach you for nicking off for the past week. Now you know–don’t mess with my woman.” He paused to press an open-mouthed kiss on the side of my throat. “Hey, kitty. So glad you decided to drop by tonight.”
I scoffed. “Don’t talk shit. You told Nitro to send me over here.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure you’d follow those instructions.”
I shrugged. “Since Nitro gave me the night off, I didn’t have anything else to do.”
Taz gave me a squeeze as he barked out a laugh. “You don’t fool me, my curious little kitty. I know you were dying to know why I wanted you to come here.”
“I thought you weren’t one-hundred percent sure I’d come?”
“I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure, babe. Now, come on through to the back. Need to introduce you around. The fool you’ve already met here is Keg, big guy there is Tiny.”
They both nodded at me as Taz led me from the room. By the time we made it out the back door, I’d met over a dozen guys and was really grateful their vests had their names on them.
“Cuts, kitty. We call them cuts, or our colors, not vests.”
Huh, must have said that out loud. “Okay, well, so long as you boys keep putting your names on them, I don’t care what you call them.”
Taz chuckled as he led me past a fire pit that was, no doubt, going to get a lot bigger later, over toward a couple of picnic tables. I recognized most of the people sitting at them, either from when I’d gone to Marie’s Cafe or from Styxx.
Before Taz could introduce me, Silk smirked over at me. “Hey, Flick, I hear you said yes. It’s all over now, you know?”
Zara laughed and came over to give me a quick hug. “We’re always open to having new old ladies around the place! The testosterone is liable to get overpowering, otherwise.”
She gave me a wink before she returned to sit on Mac’s lap. The big, bald, tough-looking man’s face instantly softened as he rested his palm over Zara’s swollen belly and stroked it. It made something deep inside me ache. Weird. I’d never planned on having kids. Hadn’t wanted to. I liked my life, or at least I thought I did. In a matter of days, Taz had upended everything in my world.
“Um, how did you all meet again?”
I grinned at how nervous Taz sounded as Scout stood to pull me in for a fast hug. “Your girl got curious and came down to Marie’s the other day. Met us all there.” He turned his attention to me. “How you doing, Flick? Guess having club protection as an employee wasn’t enough, huh? Had to upgrade to an old lady.”
He said it with a wink, so I figured he was trying to be funny, but I felt heat flash in my cheeks. Is that why Taz asked me? In an attempt to keep me safe? Did he not know about Scout already telling me I was under club protection due to my job at Styxx? I glanced at Taz with a raised brow. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to the eyebrow I’d arched at him. “Relax, kitty. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want you as mine. Protection for you is just one small part of it.”
He’d whispered the last part into my ear, but the others obviously heard the first few words.
“Kitty? Seriously? You’re calling her a pussy? Taz, get out of the damn gutter once in a while!”
Silk’s words set everyone off into fits of laughter. Once Taz recovered enough to talk, he turned to her.
“Control your woman, Eagle. Damn. I call her Kitty because she’s so fucking curious about every damn thing.” He pointed at Zara who was smirking and trying to not laugh. “You, shut it! Bunny.”
Mac rolled his eyes when I looked to him for an explanation. “I started calling Zara bunny because the woman kept running off like a scared rabbit.”
“Still tattooed a playboy bunny on her ass for an extra reason though. Hey, Flick, want a tattoo? A cute little kitty-cat on your ass for Taz to stare at?”
My body shook with my laughter. “I don’t think so. I don’t have any ink, and I ain’t starting by having a pussy inked on my ass.”
As I predicted, that set all the men off again. Then Silk got up off Eagle’s lap and pulled Zara from Mac’s. “C’mon, ladies. We got food to arrange. These boys won’t feed themselves!”
Scout got gruff with them for that one. “You know, we can actually. Look after ourselves, that is.”
“Shut it, Scout. Marie sent over a couple pies for afterward. Don’t piss them off or they won’t serve them.”
Before I could catch Scout’s response to Mac, the two women had me between them, herding me toward the building. With a smile, I let them. I could see why Taz liked it here. This was like a big, messy, slightly crazy family. The whole place felt almost homey, with no tension or stress in the air. And everyone was being really friendly with each other. Hell, this place was easier to be in than my office at the FBI headquarters in Dallas. I hadn’t expected this. I’d figured it would be all seriously gruff bikers grumbling and cursing at each other. But I hadn’t seen any of that. Surprisingly, there were even a few kids running around the yard.
“So, the clubhouse is family friendly, huh?”
Silk laughed. “For now, it is. These types of parties are for the families. But once it gets dark, most of us old ladies head home. All the kids are definitely out of here. That’s when the whores start to wander out of their room and begin to infiltrate the whole place. You should totally stay at least once, just to see how wild these boys can get. But not sure I’d be doing it just yet. Those bitches are gonna be pissed that you’ve taken their favorite toy away.”
I frowned. “Favorite toy?”
“Pretty much from day one, Taz has been their favorite. His stamina is apparently legendary.” She’d given me a sly side-eye look with that comment, making me chuckle.
“I’m not one to kiss and tell, but yeah. The man likes to fuck, and he’s got the skills to back it up.”
“Right, so you’re not gonna be real popular with the club whores. I’d recommend waiting till you get your cut. At least then it’ll be clear you’re an old lady and most of them do understand the pecking order in this place.”
“Pecking order?”
“Yeah, old ladies are the queens of this place. The club brothers are the kings, the prospects are like princes, or maybe knights?” She shrugged. “And the club whores are like the hired help. Seen but not heard, type of thing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, some of them are quite nice. But some are nasty cows.”
Man, maybe I should start taking notes about all these rules and shit?
“And you said when I get my cut?”
I looked at what the two women were wearing, along with the other ladies all bustling around the kitchen.
“Yeah, we get our own cuts too. But we don’t wear them all the time like the men do. It takes a little bit of time to get one made up. I’m sure Taz has already ordered yours.”
Zara turned and I saw the back of hers had the Charon MC logo in the middle of her back with the words ‘Property of’ above and ‘Mac’ below. Damn, but they really took the whole property thing all the way around here. I wasn’t sure how I felt about being property at all, let alone belonging to a man. Guess since I’d already said yes, I’d better hurry up and get used to it.
Silk snickered. “You could always come down and see me at Silky Ink and I’ll ink a Charon patch on you?”
“Oh, leave her alone. I’m sure you’ll get her in your chair soon enough.”
I focused on Silk’s arm. She was inked from the wrist up to under her shirt sleeve. Large red roses with black and gray swirls and shit behind and around them. It looked pretty damn awesome to be honest. Maybe I could try a little ink…
“Thinking it would be best to start small. And that winged skull thing is not small.”
Zara groaned. “Don’t tell her that! Damn it. You’ll have a fu
ll sleeve or something by the time she pops that baby out.”
Silk nodded. “That gives us three months. Totally doable.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. What the fuck just happened?
Taz
Several hours later, we’d all finished eating and it was just Scout and me sitting at the table.
“Your girl is settling in nicely.”
Flick totally had. She’d slid right in with the old ladies, helping with the food. She was now inside helping clean up with the other women. It probably helped she’d met Silk and Zara before. How had I not known about that?
“Why didn’t you tell me she’d come into Marie’s?”
Scout laughed. “Settle down, Taz. There hasn’t been time to tell you, it was only two fucking days ago.”
Since I couldn’t really argue with that, I took a drink of my beer instead of even trying. Things really were going way too fucking fast with me and Flick, but it felt right. Especially now she’d admitted to me she didn’t see me as just part of her assignment.
“What’s the word on Gus? He gonna pull through, or what?”
I tilted my head and glanced at my president. “What? Your contact at the hospital stop informing you?”
“Quit trying to rile me up, boy. The doctor down at the hospital only informs me when someone gets brought in that he thinks I should know about. Nothing more. Now, fill me in while we’ve got a minute alone.”
“Well, like I mentioned on the phone, Flick is Gus’s niece. Well, half niece. Looks like Gus was the product of an affair. Flick had no idea he was living in town before she got the call from the hospital.”
Scout adjusted the ever-present bandana on his head as he spoke.
“Seems odd that she’s listed as his emergency contact then, doesn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Not really. Gus has no one in town. Their family doesn’t seem real big, or that close.”
“Okay, well, is she gonna sign things over to you, then?”
“Not without talking to him first. We’re hoping he’ll come off sedation tomorrow enough that he’ll be able to at least understand us and give the go ahead for me to keep things open for him. I think that’s about all we can expect until he’s back on his feet. And honestly, this is more of a favor to a friend kinda thing. I can’t see him agreeing to sell the place. Not even now he’s got his health to worry about. That place is his life. Hopefully he’ll sign the agreement to let me work there. If he won’t even sign that, I guess we just risk the authorities coming to ask questions if they discover it’s not Gus sitting out there every day. Hooking up with his niece will hopefully help. I’m not just some random, but family now.”