“Okay, I got that,” Jessica said.
I slid the napkin to her.
On it, I wrote: Don is watching us. Don’t look around. This is my number. Call if you need anything. Please be careful.
“Thanks for this,” Jessica said. “Anything else?”
I looked around the coffeehouse. Don hadn’t moved. He hadn’t even so much as taken a sip of his coffee. He was solely there to spy on me and make it known that Johnny had eyes everywhere.
“Nothing else,” I said. “Please be safe, okay? Do not take any of this lightly.”
“I won’t,” she said.
“Use your notes,” I said as she stood up.
She turned and walked out of the coffeehouse.
That’s when Don finally made his move. He grabbed his coffee, sat at my table, and stared right at me.
“He couldn’t find something better for you to do?” I asked.
“Just taking a break from the day for a coffee,” Don said.
“You haven’t sipped it yet.”
“You were worried about me.”
“I don’t like being treated as though I can’t be trusted.”
“You can’t be trusted,” Don said. “You know that.”
“What have—you know what, Don? It doesn’t matter. I did what Johnny asked, yet again. So what now?”
Don smiled big. He stood up and knocked at the table. “You enjoy your coffee, Jade. I’m sure we’ll be in touch real soon.”
He left me alone.
I didn’t want to be alone.
I called Max.
I had to tell him everything that happened.
His response surprised me.
He wanted me to come to his clubhouse—to talk to the President of the MC.
*
The gates were opened for me. It was like traveling to a foreign land. I pulled my car to the right since on the left was a long line of motorcycles. By the time I shut the car off and climbed out, the gates were shut again. The clubhouse, compound, lot, whatever you wanted to call it was massive. I couldn’t figure out if it was a junkyard, an auto garage, or some kind of scrap place.
There were a couple guys standing at their motorcycles, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. They looked at me for a second and before they went back to their conversation.
Someone came running out of a garage bay, wiping his hands with a blue towel that was quickly becoming black with grease.
“Hey there,” he said. “Can I help you?”
“I’m, uh, here for Max,” I said.
Right behind him I spotted Cash. Not the exact member of Back Down Devil MC I wanted to see, but it was a familiar face.
Cash slipped a hand over the other guy’s shoulder and pulled. “Hey, hey, hey. What are you doing out of your cage, prospect?”
“I saw this woman—”
“She your woman?” Cash asked.
“No, but I’d like her to be.”
“How flattering,” I said.
“She’s not your woman,” Cash said.
“She yours?” the prospect asked.
Cash slapped the guy across his face. The slap was loud and there was an instant red mark on his face. “Get back in your cage, prospect. Fix something. Goddammit.”
The prospect turned and ran back to the garage bay.
Now it was just me and Cash. “Come here, sweet thing. Don’t mind him. He hasn’t gotten his dick sucked in a long time.”
“Good to know,” I said.
“But as for me … you know, it’s been a few hours. I’m eager if you’re willing.”
“Not a chance,” I said.
“That cold wall,” he said. “You’ve been putting it up since we met.”
“You going to get some ice picks and start climbing?”
“Sweet thing, if that means getting into those pants of yours, I’ll climb the tallest, coldest wall in the world.”
“Is that your version of romance?”
“No,” Cash said. “I write my love letters with my cock and tongue.”
There was a whistle behind Cash. I looked over his shoulder and saw Max at the door to the clubhouse.
“There’s Max,” I said.
“Right,” Cash said. “Crazy Max. I can smell him on you. You like that outlaw cock, don’t you?”
I ignored Cash and walked toward Max.
He came out, but he wasn’t alone.
When I saw the group of outlaws, I started to get nervous.
These guys were more powerful than anyone really knew.
Max grabbed for my hand and pulled me to him.
“This is the one?” Trev, the President asked.
“This is Jade,” Max said. “She’s been in debt to Johnny for a long time. She’s on her way out though. Realizing life goes beyond that bullshit.”
“The Dorlio Family doesn’t play games,” Trev said. “You know that?”
“I know,” I said.
“That’s a risk to take,” Trev said. “And now you’re dumping that risk onto my feet.”
“Good thing you’re wearing boots,” I shot back.
“Oh,” Jasper said with a laugh.
“She’s wicked,” Cash said. “And beautiful. Fuck you, Max.”
Trev just stared at me. “And you have something for me?”
“I can tell you what I know.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Nothing,” I said.
“That’s not how the world works,” Trev said.
“Prez, we have a past,” Max said. “You know that already. Johnny used her father’s illness to exploit her.”
“Your father is dead?” Trev asked me.
“Yes. Liver, drinking.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Trev said. “Do you know anything about houses being broken into?”
“No,” I said. “Johnny doesn’t tell me much. But I’ve been trying to pick up pieces here and there. Did Max tell you about Mr. Y?”
Trev nodded. “Heard the name, yeah. We don’t know who he is yet though.”
“Prez, why don’t we take this inside?” Max asked. “Show some respect to the only person on our side.”
I was ushered into the Back Down Devil clubhouse.
All eyes were on me. Every member, prospect, and whoever the hell else was there stopped to watch as they walked me around the bar and down a hallway.
Trev stopped at the first door and opened it.
“This is where we hold our meetings,” Max said to me. “Think of it like a boardroom. Where the executives make their decisions.”
“On who lives and dies?” I asked.
“Do you want me to answer that?”
“No,” I said.
It was Trev, Jasper, Cash, Austin, Kye, and Max.
And me, of course.
“He’s having one of his other girls go out with someone from the club,” I said. “She doesn’t know who yet.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Jasper said.
“Do you know what he’s planning?” Trev asked.
“No. I warned her though. They were spying on me when I met the woman, Jessica. She has my number. He’s trying to just push at the club. That’s all I can get a sense of.”
“We already know that,” Kye said. “What the fuck is this?”
“Hey,” Max said. “Easy. She’s our only hope right now.”
“Then give me some hope,” Trev said in a growling voice.
“Ask all your members about it,” I said. “Find out if someone named Jessica has approached them. I can send you a picture of her. Show it around. Whoever says yes, that’s your guy. Then you can go from there.”
“All this for a fucking picture of a woman?” Trev asked.
“Better than nothing, Prez,” Max said. “She’s putting her life on the line right now.”
“Okay,” Jasper said. “We’ll cut some slack for now. Get us that picture now. We’ll pass it around the clubhouse and see what happens. Do you have any idea when
this is going down?”
“No,” I said. “But the second you know who—”
“We got that part,” Trev said. “So what do you get out of this? There has to be something.”
“If I have to be honest, Max is the only man who has made me feel safe. So I have to choose between him and what I’m doing right now—”
“All about that cock,” Cash said with a laugh.
“I’m going to break your jaw,” Max said. “Show some damn respect.”
“And how do I know you aren’t running back to Johnny like a pet?” Trev asked. “Where’s my insurance of that?”
“Me,” Max said. He slipped an arm around my waist. “I’m the insurance, Prez. She doesn’t leave my sight. I’ve been keeping tabs on her for weeks. I can tell you what she eats for breakfast, when she showers, what kind of toothpaste she uses.”
Trev looked at me, then looked at Max. He turned his head and eyed Jasper. Jasper gave a nod.
“You stay here,” Trev ordered. “Until we get this sorted out.”
Trev nodded to the door.
Max grabbed my hand and walked me out. We went to the bar.
“That was fun,” I whispered.
“Just play the game,” he said. “Let this shake out as it’s meant to be, okay?”
“So I’m being held captive in a motorcycle club clubhouse?”
“At least you have me, sweetheart,” Max said.
That part was true.
Something else that was true was what was happening inside me. Besides my feelings for him.
The reason why I would have to run away from Max and Back Down Devil MC.
*
I watched the people around me. Seeing the different personalities in the club and how they all functioned together. They spent their days out and about, running orders from Trev, only to all collect back together after the sun went down. That’s when they’d shoot pool, throw darts, and drink as if it were their last night alive. It took a while to understand why they lived this way … but then it clicked. Because, eventually, it would be their last night alive. And that didn’t matter if they lived as outlaws or not. They were on the edge of life and death.
I braved it out to be alone at the bar without Max. He had spent a good portion of the day working on his new motorcycle, getting it the way he wanted it. He was filthy, sweaty, and he kissed me before he went to his room for a shower.
When I saw Trev approaching me, I got nervous. He sat next to me and ordered a shot of whiskey and a beer.
“What are you drinking?” he asked.
“Soda.”
“No whiskey?”
“Not after what I saw it do to my father.”
“You’re in the wrong place to worry about whiskey and livers,” Trev said. He threw the shot glass back.
“I can take care of myself,” I said. “So can you.”
“Your fucking picture is falling on blind eyes,” Trev said. “Nobody has seen this woman. I’m starting to question things.”
Trev glanced at me. I tried to play it off but this guy was big and scary.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“I don’t do apologies. You said this woman is coming after us.”
“She will. Unless I hear from her first.”
“Have you heard from her?”
“No.”
“If you did, you’d come running to Max.”
“Yes.”
“Do you like this life?”
“Your life or mine?”
Trev grinned. “Your life.”
“No. I don’t like any of this, Trev. I don’t like you threatening me. I don’t like—”
“I never threatened,” Trev said. He stood up. “I’m just looking for results. My club is under a silent attack right now. My job is to protect and fight. And trust me, if you were threatened, you’d know it.”
Trev walked away.
I looked around the bar and had the feeling that everyone was looking at me. Austin. Cash. Duke. So many others. I had brought them information that wasn’t coming through yet. It made me wonder what Johnny was planning on the side.
I stood up and so did everyone staring at me.
Shit.
Now I felt threatened. Really threatened.
I needed to feel safe again.
I needed Max.
He was crashing in a spare bedroom in the back corner of the clubhouse. The door was unlocked and the shower was still running. I shut the door and locked it. On the bed were Max’s clothes. His leather cut. His jeans. His holster with his gun.
I walked to the bed and put my fingertips to the weapon. I had never fired a gun with the purpose of defending myself or hurting someone ever in my life.
I stared at the door before I looked over my shoulder at the bathroom door.
Pain and pleasure.
That’s all these men knew.
I ran my hand down the gun but didn’t lift it.
Instead I turned, and faced the bathroom door.
And I began to strip myself naked.
Choosing between pain and pleasure was simple.
20
(max)
Nothing was happening, which was a big problem. The town was quiet minus another break in. But that turned out to be some banger trying to mimic the news, hoping to cash in and get away, leaving eyes pointing to the MC. He was detained and Chief let us have at him for a few minutes. We made damn sure he’d never come near the town of Daurian again.
Whatever this Johnny guy was planning it was quiet and very sleek. He was going to strike and I needed to keep Prez’s confidence in that. Whether it was with this Jessica woman or not, I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out. Shit, even the tracker on my motorcycle hadn’t done anything. They were waiting.
Maybe they were looking for Jade. Maybe she had more stake in everything than she led on.
I hated all the maybe bullshit.
I put my hands to the shower tile and lowered my head. The water pounded against my neck and felt damn good. My day was mostly spent in the garage trying to work on the exhaust system of the new ride. It was going to take me time and money to get the new beast to the way I wanted it.
Unless I could get my old ride back.
My thoughts were broken up when I felt someone in the bathroom with me.
I turned my head and saw a figure standing outside the shower. The glass was fogged up so I wiped my hand and couldn’t believe my eyes.
It was Jade.
Standing there, completely naked.
Her beautiful brown hair resting on her shoulders. The creamy and tender look of her skin and body. Her breasts were perfect handfuls for me, her rosy pink nipples looking right at me. The curve of her hips were what outlaw dreams were made of. The sight of bare body, her soft mound, showing just the faint hint of her slit.
I grabbed the door and flung it open.
I put my head back under the spray.
My cock was already growing in size. Half hard, throbbing, shower water dripping off it.
The shower door clicked shut and I felt Jade behind me.
Her hands touched my back. I fought hard not to fall for her even more, but each second of her touching me was a second that I couldn’t resist the most basic and frightful urge I’d ever known.
I couldn’t fall for her. Not with the way things were going now. She wasn’t giving the club a thing and everyone figured I was keeping her around just as some pussy to fuck before leaving high and dry.
“You’re stressed out,” she said. “I’m sorry this hasn’t happened yet. But it will. I know the way Johnny works—”
“Do not stand naked with me and talk business,” I snapped. “I came in here to take a fucking shower.”
“Your cock is hard,” Jade said.
“A naked woman does that,” I said.
Her right hand slipped around my body. She trailed down through my pubic hair and slid her fingernails gently along the hard skin of my shaft. She gripped
at the head of my cock and started to gently jerk at me.
“If we’re not talking business then what do we do?” she asked.
She was trying to tease me. Fuck with me. Seduce me even.
I wasn’t going to buy into that bullshit.
I reached down and grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand away from my dick. I was steel hard. My veins were pulsing. There was no turning back now. I was going to be blue-balled. Either Jade was taking it or I was going to jerk myself off.
“Why are you in the shower with me?”
“It’s lonely out there,” she said. “I don’t belong, Max. Out there. Out in the world. With Joh—you know. I don’t even know if I belong here.”
“Want to know what I would be doing right now if you weren’t here?”
“Sure,” she said.
“Well, if some woman decided to climb into the shower with me, there would be no talking.”
“What would there be then?” Jade asked.
That’s when I stood tall. I turned around, blocking the shower water with my back and shoulders. I stared down at her. The ends of her hair were wet. But not all of her hair.
Why am I noticing shit like that?
“I’d turn her the fuck around and make use of her,” I growled.
“Then do it,” Jade said. “Turn me around. Fuck me. Take it out, Max. Get it all out.”
I grabbed her waist. I squeezed those silky hips tight. I pushed her back, taking her to the other wall. Her back touched and she shivered from the chill. Her nipples were tight, hard, goosebumps breaking out across her chest.
I gritted my teeth.
I lowered my mouth down to her mouth but didn’t kiss her. I brushed my lip to hers.
“Give to me,” I whispered. “Right fucking now, sweetheart.”
Jade put her left leg up on the edge of the shower. She thrust herself at me. I reached down and ran two fingers against her slick pussy. I curled my fingers, feeling the tightness of her sweet spot. I took my hand away and grabbed my cock, putting myself right against her.
She grabbed for my neck, locking her fingers together, holding tight.
I sank forward, giving her every inch of my body, pushing her against the wall. There was no relief and no escaping me.
Her breathless whimpers were replaced by groans when she caught her breath. I pulled out and thrust in again. My forehead rested against hers as I started to fuck her harder and faster. Our eyes entangled like our bodies. Guessing, wondering, maybe even judging each other. Trying to figure out what the fuck this was and what the next step was.
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