by Jayne Blue
“You have any idea who you’re threatening?” he’d asked.
I’d turned the nameplate on his desk around then threw it hard against a shelf on his wall. It knocked over three Oscar statues like bowling pins.
“You have any idea who we are?” I said. “Ask around, mother fucker. And I don’t give a shit who you are. Quinn’s off limits. You touch her. You try to fuck with her … you won’t see us again. You’ll just disappear. You think we can’t get to you? Like I said, ask around.”
“As far as that goes,” Toby said. He slipped behind Ransom and put him in a headlock against his leather chair. Whoa, Toby, I thought. Taking some real initiative. Also, the kid had real menace in his voice. I knew his old man liked to tune up his mother so this shit got quickly personal. “If I ever hear about you laying hands on another woman ... I don’t care if it’s your wife, your sister, your side piece … we’re going to know about it. And it will be the last thing you ever do.”
Toby let go of Ransom, but not before he patted the guy’s bald head. I had to hold back a laugh as he left a handprint. Nice touch, kid, I thought. But I wanted to do so much more. I wanted to leave a mark on him ten times worse than what he’d done to Quinn.
“I get it, I get it,” Ransom said, quivering. Sweat dripped off his fucking ears. He was a mess. His color like ash, I wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t have a damn heart attack right here in the office. “You’ve got the wrong idea about me,” he said. “I’d never hurt Quinn. She’s ... money.”
Before I knew what was happening, I had my hands around Oliver Ransom’s throat. “Say that again, fucker.”
He put his hands up and choked out his answer. “No. No. I don’t mean ... you got it. Okay? I don’t want trouble. This is a misunderstanding. My fault. My fault. I’ll make sure not to have another one. We’re clear, fellas. We’re good.”
I let him go. Axle and Toby stood at my shoulders. We formed a wall of fury and Oliver Ransom’s eyes had flicked between us, taking it all in. I knew what pukes like him saw. Muscle, ink, patches, and guns. He was lucky he hadn’t pissed himself before we were through.
“You think it worked?” I now asked Axle, looking back toward the private cabin. Quinn was still asleep.
“Yeah,” Axle said. “I’ve dealt with a million assholes like Oliver Ransom. I hope the shit doesn’t backfire on your girl in a different way, but I don’t think you’ve got to worry about him ever coming near her again.”
“Good,” I said. “And thanks, man. I know you have plenty of other shit on your plate.”
“Dom,” he said. “This was important. We all get why. Take care of Quinn, okay? She seems like she’s worth it. And it also seems like she maybe doesn’t have too many people willing to look out for her.”
“Yeah,” I answered, but my voice trailed off.
“See you back at the clubhouse,” Axle said. “You sure you don’t need anything else?”
“I’m good,” I said. “Quinn’s good. Or at least, she will be. You know how to reach me if you need me.”
“It should be fine,” Axle said. “I talked to Bear. He’s not thrilled about you being gone for a couple of days. He’s getting weird like he does. Like he feels something in the air. It’s making everybody jumpy. Mama’s about to kill him. Just keep checking in. Bo hasn’t come back either.”
Bo had gone off the grid a few weeks ago. Nobody knew why except for Bear and he wasn’t talking. I felt shitty for leaving the club one more man short, but it would only be for three days.
“Thanks Axle. And I’m not all the way off the grid. You call if anything happens,” I said. Then we hung up.
Two hours later, Roc landed the plane at the little private airstrip Bear had built just a mile from the cabin. We kept a Jeep waiting in the hangar. Roc came out of the cockpit and lowered the stairs.
“Your girl sleep through all of that?” Roc asked, smiling.
“She needs it,” I said. My girl. Axle had called Quinn that too. I liked the ring of it. My girl. My old lady. Shit. I couldn’t dare to hope for something like that with her. But maybe for the next couple of days we could both just forget our worlds and enjoy each other.
“Hey,” Quinn said, her voice groggy with sleep. She yawned and stretched then rubbed her fingers beneath her eyes.
“Morning,” I said, though it was almost evening. Quinn blinked wide and came to me. She slid beneath my arm and tucked herself against my side. She fit there. It felt as natural as breathing.
“Looks like you’re going to have a great weekend,” Roc said. “Weather’s supposed to stay in the upper eighties. Clear skies. Bear’s got me flying the bird out on a special trip, but the Jeep in the hangar’s all gassed up. You can go anywhere you want.”
“Mmm.” Quinn smiled. She still wasn’t fully awake yet.
I thanked Roc and wished him well on his next trip. He’d been discreet in front of Quinn. We had a new arms shipment coming up from South America. Roc would fly Shep and Zig down to Miami in a few days to meet a cargo ship. Next time, it would be my turn. For now, I got to have a weekend of paradise with Quinn.
I shook Roc’s hand and we stepped down the ladder to the little tarmac. Quinn cocked her head to the side, her smile widening. I hadn’t told her much about where I was taking her. I wanted it to be a surprise.
The Jeep waited in the hangar, just like Roc said. I opened the passenger door and helped Quinn step up. Then I drove her out, taking a wooded dirt road to the north. Bear’s cabin was only a mile up the road. It sat on a little hill. He’d built it for Mama Bear with his bare hands. A real log cabin with a wraparound, screened-in porch overlooking the lake.
“Is this place for real?” Quinn asked, gasping. I parked and she got out, her jaw open. “No one would ever know it’s here?”
She was right. A perfect hideout. She went straight for the water. Bear built a small dock but he kept no motorboats here. Just a canoe and a small fishing boat. The sun had already begun to set, turning the sky brilliant orange. It reflected off the water and a swan glided into view. Its massive wings beat against the air with the force of a baseball bat. It took no notice of us as I came behind Quinn and put my arms around her.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I’ve never been anywhere like this. Just sets built to look like it.”
“Yeah?” I said, kissing her neck. “Not even at summer camp when you were a kid?”
She stiffened beneath my touch. “No summer camp for me. Just trailers and back lots.”
“Well, then you need me to build you a fire. It’ll get chilly as soon as that sun disappears. Have a seat by the fire pit over there. Give me a minute to get it going.”
Quinn reached back to touch my cheek then walked to the fire pit. There were four logs cut into benches around it. She sat on one and rubbed her arms, already starting to feel that chill. I grabbed some firewood from a stack near the house and got to work. Within a few minutes, I had a good blaze going and went to Quinn. I straddled the bench behind her, fitting her snug between my legs. She leaned back and put her head on my chest. The embers cracked and I felt her muscles go slack. She was relaxing. Maybe for the first time since I’d met her.
“You’ve really never been somewhere like this?” I asked.
“No. There’s just never been time. I’ve worked since I was ten.”
“Well,” I said. “That’s a damn shame. Never made smores? You ever fish or jump off a rope swing?”
She laughed. “Smores, yes.”
She had an odd tilt to her head and I realized the problem. “Wait. They weren’t real. You did it for a movie or some shit?”
“Crosspointe.” She laughed. “Season three. Heather, my character, got her first kiss in front of a fire like this one. Then there was a very special episode a few weeks later when her boyfriend tried to go all the way and made fun of her for wanting to save herself for marriage.”
“You were how old?”
“I was fourteen. My character was fifteen.
Come to think of it, that was my first kiss too. Sort of.”
“Shit,” I said. “That doesn’t count. And that’s fucked up.”
“Tell me about it. But it was very popular with the viewers. That was the first internet frenzy that ever got started about me. God. It was fucked up. Some asshole blogger started a countdown clock to my eighteenth birthday. The day it would be legal to ... you know. They even made an app for it so people could have it on their phones. I heard he made a fortune off of it. We were up for contract negotiations. My management told me that stupid countdown clock made me worth twice what the network would have otherwise had to pay.”
Anger bubbled inside of me. It made me want to form a shield around her. I would smash anyone who tried to come near her. Tried to touch her. Quinn felt the change in me. She reached back and touched my face. She had the power to calm my heart and she knew it. Quinn turned until she had her legs draped across my lap.
“I’m okay, Dom,” she said. “That was a long time ago. I got through it.”
“I don’t want them to hurt you like that ever again. Someone should have stuck up for you. They shouldn’t have used that shit to make a bigger buck. You were just a kid.”
She kissed me. “It’s my world. It’s just ... always been my world.”
I wanted to say a hundred other things. I wanted to ask her if she’d ever leave it. God. I wanted to ask her to come into mine. We sat frozen, staring into each other’s eyes. I didn’t have to say a damn thing. She knew. She was thinking the same thing. But we were both too scared to give voice to it.
Because she didn’t live in my world. She lived in the furthest thing from it. I couldn’t leave mine for her any more than she could leave hers for me. And so we turned our gaze toward the fire and watched the sun go down.
Later, I took her to the house and laid her down on the feather bed Mama Bear had made Bear build for her. Quinn stretched long. Fully naked, the moon bathed her in blue and she reached for me.
I went to her. Sliding into her silky wetness. It felt like home. That night. That weekend. The world was perfect and we were the only two people in it. If I could have cast some spell and kept it that way, I think I would have.
As the sun rose the next morning, I finally understood why. I could almost hear Mama Bear’s lilting laughter across the lake. I knew exactly what she’d say.
Domino. Baby. Haven’t you figured it out yet? For the first time in your life, you’re in love. Just try not to fuck it up.
Chapter 17
Quinn
“Mmm.” Bright warmth fell across my face. I lifted a lazy hand over my eyes to shield them from the morning sun. Domino stood at the bedroom window, sliding the blinds open.
“Too bright,” I said, my voice ragged. “What time is it?”
Dom laughed. He was dressed already in a clean, white t-shirt, faded jeans that hugged him in all the right places, and his leather cut. It was that last item that stirred me fully awake. In the last three days, he hadn’t worn much more than boxer briefs. I’d worn even less. That now all-too-familiar flash of heat throbbed between my legs as I thought about all the things we’d done to each other.
“Late,” he answered. Dom came to me. The bed dipped and creaked as he sat on the edge. His formidable size drew me toward the middle. He leaned down and kissed me. “Almost noon.”
“Are you kidding?” I leaned up on my elbows. “I don’t think I’ve slept this late since ... um ... I’ve never slept this late. I’ve gone to bed this late.”
“Well, in fairness, you didn’t go to sleep until four in the morning.” Dom’s voice had that sexy growl as he kissed his way down my throat and nuzzled between my breasts. His rough stubble tickled and I threaded my hands through his thick, dark hair. This man had me worn out, made me saddle sore, and one hundred percent sated. Still, as my fingers played over the hard muscles of his back, I wanted more.
“This is heaven, you know that?” I said. “A girl could get used to this.”
Dom went rigid for a fraction of a beat as if he stopped himself from saying something. Then he sat back up; his wicked smile devastated me. I knew what he wanted to say. I should get used to this. He wanted me to. And yet, we both knew how impossible that was. We’d been tucked away in this rustic paradise for three days. I’d been cut off from the internet and hadn’t even looked at my phone in all that time. I knew I’d pay a heavy price for that, but as Dom brushed a hair from my face and met my eyes, I believed it would be worth it.
“You look different,” he said.
“Hmm.” I rolled to my hip and laced my fingers through his. Dom brought my hand to his lips and kissed my palm. “I think this is the longest I’ve ever gone without makeup since I was maybe eight years old.”
“It’s not that,” he said. “Well, it’s a little bit that. I like you this way. All that shit they make you put on your face, it’s not you. It’s a mask. You seem more ... you, somehow.”
He was more right than he knew. The makeup, the hair, the clothes. They were all part of the mask I wore. And yet, they’d been so much a part of my life, I wasn’t altogether sure where they stopped and I began. Until now. I wanted to say a thousand things to Dom. The scariest of which burned through me. I wanted him. He aroused me in ways I’d never felt before, awakening a need powerful enough to take over every thought. But there was something else there too.
I was falling in love with this man. With all his rough edges and dangerous life. He was the first person I’d ever met who didn’t want to take something from me. He just wanted to be with me. He didn’t ask me about my career. He cared nothing about Hollywood and had no hidden agenda involving how I could further some ambition of his own. He was real. He was raw. I wanted him to be mine.
“I feel good,” I said. “And that’s because of you. How did you know just what I needed?”
Dom’s smile went from wicked to bright. He kissed me again on the tip of the nose. Sliding his hand beneath me, he cupped my ass and brought me to him. “Just lucky, I guess.” He was lying and we both knew it.
“I don’t want to go back.” The words spilled out of me before I could stop them. Dom went stiff again then slowly rose to a sitting position. His eyes flickered with questions.
“I don’t either. But I have to. I have to check in with the club.”
“Right,” I said. I rose fully and pulled the covers around me.
“Come with me,” he said. Three words. They hung in the air between us for a moment.
“Dom …”
He held a hand up. “Just for another day. Back to Port Az. I want to show you something.”
“Mmm. Now you’ve got me curious.”
“I told you,” he said. “I’m building a place. I want to take you there. I could use your honest opinion.”
My heart warmed. He kept his tone casual, but the question he asked me was anything but. Little by little, he was letting me into his world. He didn’t have to say it. I knew he’d never taken any other woman there. He took my breath away. I knew I should say no. Someday, we’d have to say goodbye. He wasn’t ready. Neither was I.
“I suppose I could stay gone for one more day.”
Dom’s posture changed. His back got straighter and a new light brightened his eyes. He hadn’t expected me to say yes.
“I wish we could ride,” I said. Now that I’d given in to another impulse, I felt a little drunk with it.
“We can,” he said. “Bear keeps a bike out in the shed. It’s not a bad idea anyway. It could use a tune-up and he’s been meaning to bring it into the shop. Two birds, one stone.”
“Perfect,” I said, my voice growing husky with fresh desire. What I wouldn’t give to just stay right here with this man for a little while longer.
“Get dressed,” he said, squeezing my ass. “You don’t get moving I’m liable to tie you to this bed and stay here forever.”
“Mmm.” Heat zinged through me. But Dom was already on his feet. He shot me a naughty wink a
nd tossed my jeans to me. He was right. It was time to go.
We fit. When I wrapped my arms around Dom’s waist and he hit the open road, everything just fell away. I felt free. Centered. Whole. I wished the ride to Port Azrael were longer. Bear and Josie’s cabin seemed like another world. In reality, we were only forty miles from downtown Port Az.
When Dom hit the bridge, a tiny flutter of nerves went through me. Back in the world, my life would find me. There was no way to avoid it. Dom took the curves hard, making me dig my heels in and hold on even tighter. I knew he planned it that way. His wild laughter made my heart beat faster. Everything about him did.
We headed for the docks. The warm Gulf air moved through me. It was so different here. I’d lived a few miles from the ocean my whole life. But here in Port Az, it felt like another planet. The emerald waters and clear sky lifted me. In L.A., the haze of smog weighed me down and wrapped itself around me.
Dom slowed the bike and pulled into the parking lot of Cups. Just before four o’clock in the afternoon, on a Sunday, the place was starting to fill already.
“There’s a game on,” Dom said, peeling off his helmet and reaching for mine. “Playoffs, I think. Good for business.”
“I see that,” I said. A little flare of trepidation went through me as Dom took my hand to help me climb off the bike. It was such a natural gesture and his hand warmed mine. But I looked behind me, waiting for someone to pop out from behind a corner.
“Relax,” Dom said, smiling. “Nobody knows you’re here this time.”
“Right.” I tucked a hair behind my ear and we walked into the bar together.
A wave of noise hit me instantly as Dom opened the front door. My eyes adjusted to the light. Dom had been right. There was a playoff game on the big screens in the back of the bar. Scores of people crowded around them. Dom lifted his chin and raised a hand. At the main bar in the center of the room, three of his club brothers sat. One lifted a beer mug and called us over. I’d met each of them before. There was the one Dom called Zig. His pregnant wife, Gina, owned this place. Next was Chase. He gave me a kind smile. His girlfriend, Ariel, sat beside him. She was charming with flowing red hair and natural beauty. Dom had told me she had her own business remodeling and flipping houses in what was once the seedier part of town. Finally, Bear and Josie Bullock’s son Shep sat at the edge. You’d never know it though. He didn’t favor either of them. A slow blush reddened his face as he saw me. I waved a hello. It was far too loud for conversation.