by Harley Wylde
“You stupid shit, she thinks you don’t want her here,” I said with a growl.
That seemed to give Bull a jolt, and he gathered his girl in his arms.
“I’m so sorry, Daddy,” Ridley said as she cried against her dad’s shoulder. “I should have called even if Mom wouldn’t let me see you, but I was too scared you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. She told me what she said. I never told her I didn’t want to see you.”
“What did she do to you?” Bull asked.
“It doesn’t matter now.” Ridley sniffled again. “But they’re really angry with me. They plastered my face all over the news and said I’m unstable. If they find out I’m here, they’ll come for me.”
“I’d like to see them fucking try,” I muttered.
Ridley eased back down into the chair and stared up at us. “You may not want me to stay here. I’m going to bring all sorts of trouble to your door.”
“Baby girl, trouble is what we specialize in,” I said with a smile.
“Have either of you ever heard of Fernando Montoya?”
The blood froze in my veins as I stared at her. What the fuck did she know about that piece of shit? The thought that Montoya had even ever laid eyes on her made me want to go fucking insane. Bull looked my way, and I knew he was just as worried as I was. If Ridley coming here had anything to do with that asshole, then things were way fucking worse than I’d imagined.
“What do you know about Montoya?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
Ridley looked like she was going to cry again, but she took a shuddering breath and pulled herself together. She might be fucking scared, but her standoff with the Prospect at the gate told me she had guts. If Montoya had anything to do with her showing up here, then she was going to have to be a fighter whether she wanted to be or not.
“Yesterday was my birthday and I had planned to sneak away. My friends helped me arrange it. I was supposedly going out to party with them, but really I was going to drive straight here. I was so damn tired of the shit my mom and Richard pull, and I knew I needed to get out.”
“Happy birthday, angel,” I said.
She gave me a wan smile. “About an hour before I was supposed to leave, Mom came to my room and told me plans had changed. I was to shower and dress in an outfit she’d chosen because my stepdad had someone important coming to dinner.”
“Montoya?” Bull asked.
Ridley nodded. “They introduced me as I came down the stairs, and the cold look in his eyes made my skin crawl. It was like he was imagining me without my clothes, but his eyes were just so empty. Then at dinner, Mom made me sit by him. He kept touching me and then… ”
My blood was absolutely boiling, and I wanted to hunt the fucker down and rip off his hands for daring to touch her.
“And then what?” Bull asked, sounding far calmer than I was.
“He… touched me.”
“You already said he touched you,” I said.
Her cheeks flushed. “No, I mean… he put his hand all the way up my dress and touched me… somewhere else.”
Motherfucker! I growled and put my fist through the damn wall.
“I bolted out of the dining room saying I needed to use the bathroom. The vent in the downstairs bathroom somehow connects to the dining room. If people are in there, you can hear everything they say,” she said.
“What did they say, baby?” Bull asked.
“Mom and Richard were selling me to Montoya.” Tears filled her eyes again. “He talked about needing to fully check out the merchandise and have a sample before buying. Said he was going to break me in and train me properly before… ”
Bull began pacing furiously. I flexed my hand, my knuckles split from going through the sheetrock. The ache in my hand was mild compared to what Ridley had been through. If her whore of a mother and that sick fuck she’d married had promised Ridley to Montoya, there was no doubt he would demand they follow through. Which meant it was only a matter of time before Ridley’s mom and stepass showed up on our doorstep. It wouldn’t take them long to figure out that Ridley had come home.
I smiled at the thought of getting my hands on those two. If they did come here, it would be the last place they ever visited. The compound had a special spot for unwanted visitors. There was an old barn at the back of the property, far enough away from all the homes that if people screamed as they begged for their lives, no one would hear them.
Fuck if I would ever let Montoya get his hands on Ridley. And I knew the MC would have my back. She was family, even if she hadn’t been here in fourteen years. Those who had been around back then would remember her, and the others would fall in line just because she was Bull’s daughter. We took care of our own.
While Bull paced and pulled at his hair, I knelt in front of Ridley. Taking her soft hand in mine, I stared into her eyes, letting her see the conviction in mine.
“No one is going to hurt you. We’ll deal with the threat, but for now, you’re safe here.”
Bull stopped. “She can’t stay here.”
Ridley’s eyes widened as she stared at her dad.
“There’s no room for her at the clubhouse, and even if someone gave up their room for her, I don’t want her here around all the shit that goes down,” Bull said.
Ridley looked from her dad to me. “Then where am I supposed to go?”
Bull’s gaze focused on me. “You take her home. You’ll protect her.”
I shot to my feet. Yeah, I fucking wanted to protect her, but putting Ridley under my roof was like asking the fox to guard the henhouse. I’d gotten hard just carrying her in from the gate, and Bull wanted me to share a house with her? Was the man fucking insane? Touching her would be all kinds of wrong and start trouble. I’d never wanted to fuck someone so badly in my life, and I had a feeling that once I’d had a taste of Ridley, I’d never let her go.
But what if it’s all kinds of right?
No. I couldn’t take her home with me. I wouldn’t.
Her bright blue eyes stared at me, complete trust shining in their depths, and I knew I was well and truly fucked. How the hell do you say no to an angel? Especially one as gorgeous as Ridley.
“Fine. She can stay with me.”
I had a feeling I’d just damned myself to hell. Blue balls were going to be the least of my problems.
Chapter Three
Ridley
When Venom said he was taking me home, I hadn’t realized he lived at the compound, but in an actual house. I’d remember some houses scattered around the place when I’d visited as a child, but I’d never been in one. Venom’s house was spacious with a large wraparound porch, and not at all where I imagined him living. This house was cute and screamed family, with its crisp white paint and blue shutters, but as far as I knew, Venom was single and had never had kids. Of course, not having talked to Dad in the last year, and not having seen him for a year longer, I was no longer up to date on what happened around the Dixie Reapers MC. He never shared sacred things, like the jobs they went on or how they made their money, but he would always tell me the antics the guys got up to, or who was seriously seeing someone.
For some reason, I didn’t like the thought of Venom having an old lady. I tried not to analyze it too much. He was just a friend of my dad’s, a brother, and he was helping me because I was family. Reading anything more into it than that would just get me into trouble. Besides, Venom was a lot older than me and probably just saw me as a pesky kid. Still, whenever Dad had mentioned Venom over the years, a surge of jealousy had hit me whenever he was with a woman. Dad had shown me pictures of the guys on his phone at every visit, and once I’d hit the age of fourteen, I’d started seeing Venom differently from everyone else.
It wasn’t so much that he was gorgeous, because there was a roughness to him, but he had the kind of masculine beauty that made me weak in the knees. He was rugged and manly, and a far cry from the guys I’d dated. Even when I’d wondered if I’d never see him again, I’d still wan
ted him. Oh, I’d hoped to one day return to the Dixie Reapers, had even made plans, but until I’d actually arrived at the gates I hadn’t known if it would ever really happen. But now my schoolgirl crush had turned into something else. As I watched the way his jeans hugged his ass, I couldn’t help but wonder if he looked just as good out of them.
The porch steps creaked as Venom’s boots clomped up them. He’d given me a ride on the back of his bike, and mine was still parked in front of the clubhouse. As vast as the compound was, I’d have liked to have had it closer in case I wanted to go for a ride. The Dixie Reapers owned over five hundred acres, every last square foot enclosed with a ten-foot fence topped with barbed wire. I’d never thought about it before, but it must have taken some serious money to pull off something like that. Whatever they did to get paid, it must pay well. My dad had never flashed huge amounts of cash, unlike Richard, but he’d also made sure I always had whatever I needed. Until Mom had put a stop to it.
Venom unlocked the door and ushered me inside. The place smelled like him, and I almost closed my eyes and took a deep breath. A lamp was burning in the living room off to our right. A large, leather sectional dominated the room, along with a matching recliner, and a TV so big it must be like sitting in a theater when he played movies. Despite my stepdad’s wealth, there hadn’t been a lot of TVs in the house, and none that extravagant. They’d decided TV was bad for you. I nearly snorted at the thought, considering what they’d planned for me. Apparently human trafficking was all right, just not electronics.
“Living room, dining room, kitchen, a half bath, and a game room are downstairs,” Venom said. “All the bedrooms and full baths are upstairs.”
“I know I’m cramping your style, but thanks for letting me stay.”
His lips twitched. “I don’t bring women here, so it’s fine.”
Right. His room at the clubhouse was probably used for that. I wasn’t stupid enough to think a man who looked like Venom didn’t have his choice of women. I didn’t like the idea of him and the club sluts. They were just so trashy, and he seemed like the type of guy who should be above that kind of thing. Even though I hadn’t seen him since I was just a kid, I’d heard enough about him through my dad over the years that I felt like I knew Venom.
And it hadn’t escaped my notice that he was easy on the eyes. That thick dark hair of his had just a sprinkling of silver mixed in, and while I’d never really gone for guys with beards, he was sexy with one. And the man had muscles for days. When he’d carried me from the gate, I’d felt safe. Protected. I wasn’t sure how much of that was left over from the hero worship I’d felt toward him as a kid, and how much was just a woman appreciating a strong man.
“I’ll show you to your room,” he said. “You look like you’re about to drop.”
I followed him up the stairs, and we passed several doors before he stopped at the end of the hall. He shoved the door open, and I stepped inside. The furniture was a warm maple, the walls an icy blue. A quilt in muted blues, greens, and yellows covered the queen-size bed. There weren’t any curtains or pictures. The wide slat blinds let in the morning light as the sun began to rise.
“I’m sure you’re used to something far grander than this,” Venom said.
“It’s a beautiful room.” And it really was. I didn’t just love the colors, but I loved what it represented to me. Freedom. As long as I stayed in this room, it meant my mom and stepdad -- or Mr. Montoya -- couldn’t get their hands on me. My dad wouldn’t have sent me with Venom if he didn’t think I’d be safe.
“Bathroom is across the hall. I’m sure you’d love to shower and rest after your long trip,” Venom said.
Part of me longed to lie down, but my nerves were still all knotted up, and I wasn’t certain I could sleep if I tried. I knew my dad wouldn’t let anything happen to me, and he must feel Venom would protect me too, but it didn’t stop me from dreading my family finding me here. Even if they couldn’t physically remove me from the property, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t cause trouble. And if I was too much trouble, what if the club decided to hand me over to my family? Not that I really considered Mom and my stepdad family at this point. Family didn’t sell you to a cold man who wanted to do horrible things to you.
Venom stayed in the doorway a moment, watching me, then he moved farther down the hall. I heard a door open and shut, and once more I felt completely alone. I shrugged out of my backpack and emptied the contents on the bed. I only had two changes of clothes inside, and nothing to sleep in. I hadn’t counted on all my money being about gone when I’d reached my destination and had thought I’d buy more clothes when I got here. Now I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do. Was it even safe for me to go out somewhere and shop?
I took a clean pair of panties out of the pile of clothes and dumped everything else in the empty dresser. Stepping into the hall, I stared at what I thought was Venom’s bedroom door, hesitating only a moment before going to knock. He jerked it open, and my heart stuttered. My wide gaze took in the shirtless wonder of Venom’s broad shoulders and muscular chest. My fingers twitched with the urge to reach out and touch him, but I refrained -- barely.
“Did you need something, Ridley?”
“Um, yeah. I don’t have anything to sleep in. Could I borrow a shirt?”
He arched an eyebrow, but shoved away from the door and walked over to a dresser. Pulling open a drawer, he withdrew a black tee with Dixie Reapers MC across the front and tossed it to me. I snatched it out of the air, mumbled a thank-you, and darted into the bathroom. I slammed the door shut and leaned against it, my heart racing. I’d seen bare-chested men plenty of times, so why did Venom’s large pectorals make my knees weak and make me want to do something stupid, like plaster myself to him and beg him to take me to bed? He was just a guy. A much older guy.
A hot-as-fuck guy.
He probably thought I was some stupid girl. I groaned and closed my eyes in embarrassment. I’d run away like a chicken, bolted instead of facing him and the desire I couldn’t deny. I was nineteen, not five. I’d had boyfriends, but I hadn’t gone much past kissing with any of them, had never felt the urge. But one look from a halfway undressed Venom, and I’d been ready to drop my panties. What the hell was wrong with me? If he knew how I felt, he would probably laugh.
I set the tee and my panties on the bathroom counter before pulling the shower door open and turning on the water. I dragged the ponytail holder out of my hair and finger-combed it, but the snarls from riding the bike were just too much. I winced as the tangled strands pulled at my scalp, and dug through the bathroom drawers in search of a brush. I found one that had never been opened. Ripping the cardboard off it, I ran it through my long hair until it was tangle-free.
When I stepped under the hot spray, I hoped that it would wash away the last twelve hours. I used the shampoo and soap Venom had provided for his guests to scrub myself clean, but I still felt dirty. That man had touched me. His fingers had stroked between my legs like he had a right to me. I felt sick just thinking about it. I hadn’t even allowed my past boyfriends to touch me there, and now some sick creep had violated me.
I knew it could have been much worse, would have been if I had stuck around. But I didn’t like that he had made me feel so helpless. My body began to shake as I thought about what had almost happened to me, and my legs gave out. I crashed to the bottom of the tub, my shoulder slamming into the glass door, making it pop open. I wrapped my arms around myself, as if maybe I could hold the pieces together because I felt like I was breaking. A sob tore from my throat and then another.
I’d always wondered if my mother loved me, had thought many times she’d only taken me as a way to get back at my dad. But to know that she’d planned to give me away, to force me into being a whore, it chilled me. She’d never been warm, never been much for hugs, but I would have never thought her capable of such a thing. The Mercedes, the jewelry, the trips to Paris… I wondered now if she’d done all those things to make herself
feel better. How long had she planned to do this to me?
The water shut off, and I blinked up at Venom through blurry eyes. He’d stepped into the shower, barefoot and only wearing jeans. The denim was wet now and molded to his thighs as he crouched in front of me. I should have been embarrassed over my naked state, but it bothered me more that he’d seen me so weak, crying in the shower like a lost little girl. And maybe I was.
“You’re safe,” he said, his voice deep and smooth as whiskey.
“He touched me. He…” I swallowed hard. “No one’s ever touched me like that before. It shouldn’t have been him.”
Venom muttered something under his breath, then he wrapped a towel around me and swung me up into his arms. He set me down on the bathroom counter and grabbed another towel. Briskly, he dried my hair and my body. I hadn’t even realized until that moment that I was cold.
“You’ve never been touched before?” he asked.
“No,” I admitted softly. My cheeks warmed. “I guess a nineteen-year-old virgin sounds stupid, but I was saving myself. Now I wish I hadn’t.”
“Better to wait than end up with the wrong guy.”
“Maybe, but now I can’t get it out of my head. The way his hand felt as he stroked me. It was wrong, and it makes me feel so sick.”
Venom tipped my chin up, his gaze burning into me. “What can I do, angel? What do you need to make it all better?”
“Take away the memories?” I asked softly. I knew he’d never do it, would never touch me. As Bull’s daughter, and at least twenty years his junior, I knew I was untouchable in his mind, but I couldn’t hold the words back.
Venom stared at me, hard, but I didn’t have a clue what he was thinking. His eyes gave nothing away. He reached for the towel draped around me and dropped it to the floor before lifting me into his arms again. With long strides, he walked down the hall to his bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him. His bed was unmade, and he dropped me in the center of the tangled blankets.
His gaze caressed every inch of me, and I didn’t try to hide from him. The way he looked at me made me feel alive and on fire. An ache began to build inside me, and I felt my pussy grow slick. No one had ever watched me with such intensity before, such desire. I could see the heat in his eyes, the need burning in their depths. I wanted this, wanted him, whatever he was willing to give me. I didn’t know what to expect, but I wasn’t afraid.