Biker B*tch

by ANDIE J. CHRISTOPHER

  Even before Skyler got back to town, his participation in drunken orgies had waned. Tonight, they’d leave the party before it got too late. He wanted her to be comfortable with the guys, and he knew she wasn’t completely over the fact that riding and the club were a huge part of his life. But Skyler was the biggest part of his life. Hopefully, she always would be.

  Travis drank a beer while he marinated the meat. He had to wash off his hands and check the phone every few minutes because he didn’t see her yet. Fuck. He hadn’t been this nervous about a girl since—ever.

  Chevy and Duster came over to get some beers.

  “Where’s your bird?” Duster asked.

  Travis could feel the back of his neck heat up. His concern about Skyler’s whereabouts wasn’t subtle at all.

  “Yeah, you look like a nervous bride,” Chevy said.

  “How the hell would you know what a nervous bride looks like? You’ve only seen the runaway kind.”

  “You get in trouble with the missus, though? Isn’t that why we’re having this to-do? So she knows that we’re as kind and cuddly as fuck all?” Duster asked.

  “I have to have a reason to have a party? It isn’t like you’re not going to get laid because I had a party or anything.”

  Duster’s smile said he was sure he’d be getting laid regardless.

  Then he saw her. She drove into the lot in her truck with Michael riding bitch and another dude in the passenger seat. Michael was invited; the other guy, not so much.

  Duster elbowed him in the side. “That’s the bloke she was out with the other night. He’s got some nads.” Travis could see that, while Duster was content to settle for doing unspeakable things to a club groupie tonight before he saw an interloper, now he’d rather get in a fight.

  “It’s fine. They’re friends.”

  “Friends, my ass,” Chevy said. “He’s looking at her like he’s going to be going home with her.”

  Sure enough, Chevy was right. The guy was half a head shorter than Travis, and clearly didn’t have the same workout regime. His face held a little bloat and his jeans cut across a little paunch. He looked soft. This douchebag must have money to think he had a shot.

  She saw Travis then, and she raised her arm in greeting. The smile on her face was strained, like she wasn’t happy to be there. Fuck that shit. She belonged here.

  He knocked Duster in the chest. “Keep your shit together, dude. Last thing I need is you wailing on her buddy because you haven’t gotten laid in the last few hours.”

  Duster liked to fight. A lot. More than he liked smoking, and only a little less than he liked sex.

  Chevy piped up. “You need to take that shit out in the boudoir, like me.”

  “Who the fuck says ‘boudoir,’ you wanker?”

  “What crawled up your ass and died, dude?” Chevy and Duster could fight like this for a while. They usually ended up throwing punches. More often, they spilled some beers and threw each other to the ground before laughing it off and pouring more beer.

  Travis could turn his attention to Skyler and why she brought another guy out to the shop.

  She got closer and he could see there was pleading in her eyes, like she needed him to rescue her. Damn him, but he loved that he was her knight in shining armor. When she looked at him like that, he forgot all about interrogating her about what happened with his mother.

  He closed the gap between them, leaving the cooking duties to Chevy, and slung his arm around her. He leveled a hard look at the douchebag, while he greeted Michael. “How’s it going, Michael? Who’s your friend?”

  Up close, it was clear to Travis that the douchebag not only didn’t have a workout plan, he had a coke problem. His eyes were bloodshot and his nostrils had some telltale redness. The thought of this guy’s hands on his woman left an ashy flavor in his mouth. He wouldn’t lose Skyler to a coked-up pretty-boy. His mind scrambled for ways to make it clear that this guy’s relationship with Skyler would only ever be business, and it wouldn’t be long term if he had anything to do with it.

  Skyler piped up, her body tense next to him. “This is Ian, the developer out at the Barlow. He wanted to come by and see the Foundry. He might be into buying a bike or some art for the development. Michael invited him.”

  “Yeah, he was at loose ends while he was in town for business, so I thought I’d be polite. We all go way back,” Michael said.

  Travis’s jaw tightened at the thought that this asshole knew anything about Skyler that he didn’t.

  Skyler jumped into try to explain. “We were going over contracts, and Michael invited him along.”

  “Yeah, I jumped at the chance to see what you all do out here. Skyler tells me you have a metal shop. Our developments sometimes need pieces, so I thought I’d take a look.”

  Travis kept himself from growling at the guy. “Well, we’re just having a party today. I’d be happy to show you my portfolio if you want to make an appointment.”

  Ian obviously didn’t expect Travis to shut him down. He couldn’t help but smile. But he wasn’t surprised Ian and Michael seemed cozy. They both seemed like selfish dudes, willing to step on toes to get what they wanted.

  And the way Ian looked at Skyler made him almost certain she hadn’t told him everything about their history. Trouble was, Travis needed to know all her damn secrets. It was pathological. He wanted everything from her, and he would have it, too.

  “Mind if I steal my girl?” He didn’t wait for Michael or Ian to assent. He put his arm around Skyler in a proprietary gesture and led her away. “Beer’s over there. Chevy should be putting more meat on the grill in a few minutes.”

  “You say ‘meat,’ I come running.” Michael saluted them, and Ian looked incensed at the dismissal.

  Travis walked them into the shop’s interior and through to his office.

  He slammed the office door. The room was filled with an odd mix of sexual tension and both of their anger.

  “Just a friend, yeah?”

  Skyler didn’t respond. She just looked at him as if she didn’t know whether to punch him in the face or climb him like a tree. He’d vote for the latter, but they actually had to talk this out. They couldn’t fuck their way through everything.

  He wasn’t mad she had a past. He’d all but guaranteed she’d stay away the night she graduated by trying to do the right thing and making her think her crush on him was never going to happen. And he knew she’d move on and meet somebody else. Someone who’d be right for her. He hated it, but he knew it.

  But this guy. Travis knew he wasn’t good enough for Skyler, but this guy was a smug motherfucker who could never appreciate what he had in this woman.

  “He used to be more than a friend. But not since college. Now, it’s just business. He…he tried to kiss me the night I met him for dinner. I didn’t push him off right away, but I don’t feel anything for him anymore. Not like I feel for you.”

  All the tension in his body released. She didn’t want that guy. That she felt something real for him banished his anger and left only want.

  “You lied to me.” He backed her up against the desk. He could see her pulse jump at her neck, and she leaned into his scent. He leaned over and whispered into her ear, “Never lie to me. It pisses me off and makes me want to drag you out there and fuck you on top of a picnic table. And I can’t do that right now because there are children here.”

  He heard her quickly indrawn breath. “You’d like it if I fucked you in front of all the guys?”

  “N-no.”

  “C’mon, babe. The idea excites you just a little, doesn’t it?”

  “M-maybe.”

  “I would never fuck you in front of my club. I never want them to see what you show me. Not unless you asked for it. Not unless you begged.”

  He caught her earlobe between his teeth and pulled. She whimpered and pressed her body into his. Her breasts pushed against him and he wanted to strip her down and take her right there. But he was hosting a party, and he wa
nted her to be part of his life. Maybe they could make it quick.

  When his lips trailed down her neck and over her collarbone, revealed by the pink, ruffly top she’d worn, she pushed at his chest, her hands squeezing his biceps as if she was fighting the urge to pull him back toward her, push him to the sofa in the corner of his office, and ride him until people came looking for them.

  “The party—”

  They couldn’t expect to have something real if he was dragging her off to dark corners every time they were out in public. That wasn’t a relationship. If they were going to give this thing a go, they were going to have to learn to trust each other. She was going to have to learn how to trust him with her secrets, not just the secret things she wanted but could never get from that dumbfuck outside. And she’d have to learn to trust him not to go off on every guy who looked at her sideways. Fuck, he didn’t even trust himself not to do that. But she was also going to have to tell him the truth about who she was, her past, and what she really wanted.

  She stood up and moved toward the door with a sway to her hips. Goddamn, she walked nice.

  “Fuck the party. I need you now.” Despite his protest, he didn’t push the issue with his body. She gave him a saucy smile and moved toward the door.

  “You’ll have me. Later.”

  “Not if blue balls interfere with my function.”

  Travis watched Skyler as she chatted with some of the other old ladies. He couldn’t take his eyes off her when she laughed, and he found he was looking at her a lot that day.

  He met Skyler’s gaze a few times, and she gave him this look that had everything in it. Their whole future laid out in her eyes. And it felt right that his future—all the good and the bad—was with her.

  Dusk set in and most of the older guys with kids and wives filtered out. A couple of cars full of girls from Santa Rosa showed up. Those girls stayed away from Skyler and Sara.

  They even steered clear of Ginger, who’d spent most of the day skulking in the corner. She’d wised up and stayed away from him. He didn’t want to have to get any more forceful with her about the fact they were broken up. For good this time.

  He was all about Skyler now. She was his. The pang of possessiveness made him look around for Ian. That guy stood around like he owned the place and looked at Skyler like he was the man who made her moan on the regular. Smug motherfucker was asking to lose some teeth.

  If he didn’t figure that Skyler would freak out, he’d challenge him to get in the ring. Travis had dealt with guys like him for too damn long in his business not to recognize that this guy—like the Hollywood douche—wouldn’t back down. He’d get his used-to-be-pretty face bashed in and milk the story of how he fought a big, bad biker for sympathy for a dog’s age.

  What really stuck in Travis’s gut was the way he clearly thought he could have Skyler back. And he wouldn’t get her back without stepping over Travis’s body to do it.

  So, he watched and waited as Ian got drunk off his ass on his beer.

  Travis narrowed his gaze at Michael. Though he liked the guy, Michael seemed to be egging Ian on and waiting for something to happen. He was an instigator. He liked to put things together and watch them explode. That’s probably part of the reason he’d made so many gambles in business that had paid off—the driving factor in giving Skyler her own winery to run.

  But right now, it seemed like Michael just wanted to ruin his party. For fun. It was weird because he thought they both wanted what was best for Skyler. In that moment, Travis realized Michael was hiding some serious demons behind his happy-go-lucky, party-boy façade. Michael liked to control people, yes, but he also liked to rain chaos over everything he touched. Like Loki incarnate.

  Because he didn’t trust the situation with Ian, he kept himself separate from the party. The other guys were all het up and spoiling for a fight. Bishman had set up a ring in a clearing on the far side of the garage. He’d set up lights to give it an almost professional vibe.

  But there was nothing professional or detached about the way some of the guys fought. They needed the pressure release and Travis was glad he could give it to them. He liked taking care of his buddies almost as much as he liked taking care of Skyler. If he could keep them out of trouble, he felt like he was worth something.

  Thinking of Skyler, he looked around to find her; but she must have wandered inside. He motioned for Chevy, who pushed a skinny, brown-haired girl off his lap and loped over to him.

  “You rang, sir?”

  “Keep an eye on the rich fuck Michael brought with him. I gotta find Carrots before she walks into an orgy or something.”

  “You worried she might participate?” Over half the things that came out of Chevy’s mouth were in jest, but he was always joking about something that would lead to him walking into Travis’s fist.

  Travis just growled and stalked toward the garage.

  Skyler had walked into the garage to use the bathroom, even though it would hardly be cleaner than the port-a-johns outside. More than anything, she needed a few minutes of quiet. She’d done her part and made nice with the old ladies. To her surprise, they were mostly sweet. Well, except for Ginger, and she wasn’t quite an old lady. Gina, Bishman’s current squeeze, told her that Ginger wasn’t quite as bad as she seemed; Ginger had a longstanding relationship with the club and it wasn’t easy for her when Travis stamped out the last of her hope of being his old lady.

  Even knowing that, Skyler still didn’t like the woman, but had kept it together. She hadn’t said anything shitty to the genuinely nice women she’d met. Because of the frequent, shitty things she’d said to Travis, she’d realized it was a defense mechanism. It kept her safe, but it also kept her lonely.

  Once she realized she reacted that way, she noticed Michael did it, too. It was probably why he’d invited Ian. He didn’t want to just be there and enjoy the party; he wanted to wreak as much havoc as possible. That way, he would be able to amuse himself and then never be invited back.

  When Skyler thought back, she was the only friend Michael had managed to keep close over the past decade. At some point, they were going to have to have a come-to-Jesus about that, but not tonight. She was plumb tired from making small talk with a dozen women for the past two hours, which was why it annoyed her when she heard sounds coming from the room off the main garage that told her she wasn’t as alone as she wanted to be.

  When she stopped to listen, it sounded like someone was fucking. A pang of jealousy hit her in the chest out of nowhere. Travis had spent the whole day on the fringes of the party. She’d made all the effort out of the two of them. It pissed her off that he didn’t even meet her halfway. She understood he was probably still mad about Ian, but he’d just have to deal with it and move on. Sort of like the way she’d moved on after he manhandled her that first night at Ed’s, or the way she’d moved on after Ginger groped him that second night at Ed’s.

  She pulled her phone out of her purse and checked for messages. Just what she needed, another call from Chino waited in the queue. Something else to deal with later. She didn’t have the energy to deal with her father—even though Debbie had cajoled her again before she left the barbecue—on top of placating her surly boyfriend.

  Shit. He’d started as a fling, and now he was her boyfriend.

  And he was a good man. Everyone loved Travis. No one said a word against him. Everyone in town respected that he built a business in his hometown, took care of his mother, and ran a clean club. She trusted him more now than she had when she was a teenager.

  With all the jealousy, the alpha male gruffness that turned her on, and the sadness she sometimes saw behind her man’s eyes, she couldn’t be sure Travis’s demons wouldn’t turn him into a monster someday, just like her father.

  But that wasn’t on display tonight. Aside from Ian showing up, the party had been cool and relaxed. Travis had warned her that the club’s parties sometimes got a little wild after nightfall. He’d warned her about the fights, and let her
know that sometimes the guys grabbed a girl from out of town and got busy in a dark corner. But the sounds coming from the storeroom piqued her curiosity. Before Travis, she’d been a pretty vanilla kind of girl. Now, she was curious about all the interesting sex she’d missed over the years.

  The door was open a crack. A sliver of light spilled into the cold, dark garage. A woman’s moans took on a pleading, high pitch that hit Skyler in the gut. She wondered if Travis made her sound like that. When he touched her, she was never conscious of the sounds she made or how she looked. His touch centered her on pure pleasure.

  What she saw when she peered through the crack in the door should have shocked her. A blonde woman she’d never seen before was being orally pleasured by Dr. Gabe Rhoades. The woman was also sucking off Duster.

  Her limbs went languid, and she was instantly turned on. Holy fuck, that’s hot. And Duster is hung.

  And by the sounds the blonde made, Rhoades was a master of his craft.

  The whole scene, one she would have sworn a few weeks ago would make her very uncomfortable, now turned her on. This is what getting involved with Travis had done to her. Instead of the hard-working good girl, she was dirty and depraved. Just by mastering her body, he’d set free every dark fantasy from every corner of her subconscious. God, she wanted to touch herself right here in public.

  She almost cried out when a hard body pressed against her back, but then she scented Travis as he put his lips close to her ear.

  The memory of his possessive grip on her shoulder while they were talking to Michael and Ian added to that feeling deep in her gut when he got all growly and jealous was almost overwhelming. Just thinking about him laying her out on the flatbed of her truck made her wet and left her feeling empty. Watching this with him threatened to make her short circuit.

  “You like to watch, too. Don’t you, Carrots?”

  Skyler just moaned quietly as Travis’s big hands curled over her shoulders and slowly stroked down the bare skin of her arms. His fingers brushed against the side of her breasts. If her nipples weren’t almost painfully hard from watching the scene play out in front of them, they would have been from just that gentle touch.