DAX: Southside Skulls Motorcycle Club (Southside Skulls MC Romance Book 1)

by Jessie Cooke

  The evening that Angel’s apartment had been broken into, Micah was the one on watch over her. Angel hadn’t called him. When she called her dad, and he called in the break-in, she hadn’t thought to call him then either. Her dad was the one that had given him a heads up about the Hartford police coming in with the crime scene techs. Micah had sat there and watched all the activity…and he’d seen Dax drive in on his Harley. He’d also seen him leave…the next day. It wasn’t until Angel spoke to him that evening, to make another excuse about not coming home, that she realized any of that. She’d been so focused on Dax that she had completely forgotten about Micah. When she realized that, she felt like hell about it. Her heart literally ached. She’d never felt like such a bad person in her life. Micah was a good man…a great one by most people’s standards. He didn’t deserve to be treated this way. She knew that she had to tell him she didn’t feel the same as she used to…but she also knew that it wouldn’t take much for Micah to figure out how she was feeling about Dax. Micah knew her almost as well as her brothers and her father, and Kyle had already figured it out. Things just kept getting more convoluted, but as much as Angel should want it all to be over, she didn’t. Shamelessly, she just kept thinking that when it was all over, she and Dax would be too…and she wasn’t ready for that to happen.

  “So, has anyone run this by the captain?” Dad asked. “It’s going to ultimately be his call when we have to notify the FBI that we have this information.”

  “I spoke to him,” Kyle said. “He wanted to make it today but he had a luncheon with the chief and the mayor. He said at this point, while we’re still in the information-gathering stage, we can keep it to ourselves. We haven’t actually seen any signs of the coins and like Angel said, there’s still the possibility that this is just a security-conscious private collector.”

  “Oh, so when it suits you, Angel is right.” She mumbled it. She hadn’t even realized she said it out loud. The room was suddenly silent, though, and when Kyle looked at her and said, “Even Angel needs to admit that some of her behavior hasn’t been very ‘cop-like’ lately,” she pushed her chair back from the table and stood up.

  “I’m done. I’ll let you all know when I have something else, but I’m not going to sit here and be spoken to like I’m not an important part of this team. I gave up my own life to do this and I get treated now like I made a conscious decision to be a part of a motorcycle club.”

  “Angel, no one thinks that,” her dad tried.

  “No, Daddy, you don’t think that…but Kyle goes out of his way to imply it every time we talk. Micah has been staring a hole through me since I walked in…and I’m sorry, Sheriff Zandt, I have no idea what you’re thinking. But the bottom line here is that I’m not doing anything different than any one of my male counterparts put in the same position would be doing. These guys are not going to trust an outsider…so I had to become a part of their group, someone that they trusted. Anything less would be putting this job and my own life at risk. I’m sorry that some of you can’t seem to get that.”

  She turned on her heel and headed for the door. She heard Micah call out her name but she didn’t stop. She was almost to the elevator when he caught up to her. “Angel, please stop.” She turned around finally to look at him. She had tears of frustration in her eyes. She knew that she was doing what she had to do in order to gain Dax’s and the rest of the club’s trust, but she also knew she’d taken it further than she should have, and far enough that her whole life was about to change because of it. She wished that things didn’t have to be so damned complicated. “We all know that you’re doing your job. We’re already working on closing the arson and murder case, and now we have the opportunity to maybe solve a case that’s been cold for five years…because of you. But everyone in that room, maybe with the exception of Sheriff Zandt, loves you. So of course, we’re worried. Do you know how hard it is for me to watch Dax Marshall arrive in the evening and leave in the morning?”

  She felt one of the tears run slowly down her face as she nodded. “I do know that, Micah, and I’m sorry…”

  “You don’t have to be sorry. We set you up in that place. We sent you into that club. You were chosen because you’re young and beautiful, and that, coupled with your instincts and your brilliant brain, meant no one had any doubts that Dax Marshall would be drawn to you. We’ve put you in an impossible position and I’m sorry. I will talk to Kyle and try to get him to ease up on you. Just promise me one thing…”

  “What’s that?”

  “You won’t forget that no matter what happens, I will be here for you when this is all over.” Micah was telling her that he knew. He knew there was no way she was spending all this time with Dax and not having relations with him. Would he really be willing to just go back to what they had when this was all over, knowing that? Angel couldn’t imagine it. But then again, she couldn’t imagine herself going back either. For now, though, it was easier to leave it at that. Micah opened his arms and she moved into them. She let him hug her tightly and she hugged him back. He was a good man. He deserved so much better.

  “Thank you, Micah,” she said as she stepped back. He reached out and wiped one of the tears off her cheek.

  “I love you, Angel.”

  She nodded. “I love you too.” She meant that. It was confusing, but her feelings for Dax hadn’t changed how she felt about Micah. They had just made her realize that while she did love him…that wasn’t the same as being “in love” with him.

  “Are we still having dinner tonight?”

  She nodded again. She owed him at least that much. “Sure. I’ll meet you at Mama Rosa’s at seven?”

  “Okay.” He put his fingers against his lips and pressed them into hers. “Until then.”

  She had to struggle to suck in her next breath. The guilt was choking her. She nodded and stepped into the elevator that she had been holding and gave him a little wave. He winked at her as the doors were closing and as he gave her a sad little smile, she realized that she wished he’d get pissed off. Handling anger would be so much easier and a lot less guilt-provoking.

  It was the following Tuesday afternoon before Angel heard any more about “Dan.” She was in the clubhouse with Dax eating pulled pork and coleslaw that one of his MC brothers had spent the afternoon barbecuing and mixing up when his phone rang. He glanced at its screen and then over at her. She took it as a sign that he was beginning to trust her even more when he pressed answer and put the phone to his ear.

  “Hey, Dan, I got a crew together for Friday. We still on for five o’clock?” Angel ate her coleslaw and glanced around the room at the activity going on around them in hopes that she wouldn’t appear to be overly interested in his conversation. “Okay, so you don’t want us at the funeral home?” Funeral home? “Got it. Culberson and Main next to the cemetery around five-fifty. Looking forward to it, Dan. Trust me, Grant Benning and his asshole Sinners won’t get anywhere near that car. We’ll see you Friday.”

  He ended the call and looked at Angel. “I need to call a meeting for tomorrow morning, baby, so I’m going to have to cancel our ride.” They’d planned to go for a ride through the country. Dax was going to take her on a scenic ride alongside the Pachaug Forest. She’d never been up there and she’d been looking forward to it.

  “That’s completely okay,” she said. “I understand.”

  “Wanna go today?”

  “Really?”

  “Why not? You’re not working and I don’t have anything going on. Let’s pack up some of this food for later, grab a bottle of whiskey, and hit the road for a while.”

  Angel couldn’t control the smile on her face. She was happy spending time with Dax almost anywhere, but she rarely got him to herself away from the ranch. “Yes, that sounds great.”

  “Okay. I have to talk to Mullet. Will you grab the food and whiskey and I’ll meet you out front in like twenty minutes?”

  “Absolutely.” She slid off her chair and stood up. Before she could wa
lk away, Dax took her hands in his and pulled her up into a kiss. God, she loved the way he kissed her. He could teach classes on it. He was amazing. He set her back down on her feet and she rocked back and forth for a few seconds, dizzy from lack of oxygen. When she got her wits back, she smiled at him again and went to pack them a lunch. Twenty minutes later, the lunch was packed into the saddlebags and she and Dax were ready to go. Angel smiled again as Dax fired up the bike. Kyle was on watch that afternoon. From what Dax told her about the route they were about to take…there was no way he’d be able to take the van all the way up after them. They would be really and truly alone.

  16

  The Pachaug Forest has a fifty-eight-mile motorcycle trail that is open all year round. It goes through public roads and private wooded areas. This time of year, the leaves were just changing color and the air got crisper as they gained elevation. Dax drove slowly around the twisty roads and Angel soaked up the gorgeous scenery. It felt good to just be out there with no stress and no worries. In the morning, she’d have to meet with the task force and let them know what she found out about the plan for the club to meet up with “Dan” or whoever was moving the coins on Friday. As the day approached, things would only get more hectic.

  The drive up to the trail had taken over almost two hours and Angel knew she’d be sore once she got off the bike, especially since a lot of the trail was bumpy and unpaved…but it was going to be more than worth it. After they had driven about halfway along the trail Dax pulled the bike over in a little turnout that was marked with a picnic area sign. He turned off the bike and said, “I thought you could use a break.”

  Angel slipped off the bike and used Dax’s shoulder to steady herself. He smiled softly at her, and she marveled once again at how a simple look from him could set her whole world on fire. She took off her helmet and said, “Yeah, I think my legs could stand to be stretched a little bit.”

  Dax nodded and stood up. “Mine too. You want to take a walk before we eat?”

  “Sure, I’d love to.” Beyond the picnic table there was a hiking trail that led up into the woods. Dax unbuckled the little cotton blanket roll he carried on the side of the bike and tucked the blanket underneath one of his arms before making sure that the saddlebags were locked and everything else was secured. Then he took her hand and they began heading up the trail. It was wide and there were garbage cans along the way and wood chips had been laid over the loamy earth. Angel couldn’t help but find that slightly disappointing. When she was a little girl her dad used to take them up to a cabin the family owned in Maine and they’d spend two weeks traipsing through the forest. The paths there were narrow, winding, and full of twisted old tree branches. They seemed untouched by man, and that appealed to her. She did enjoy the smells of the earth around her. She loved the way the new smells of the blooming foliage mixed with the old ones, of the felled trees as they began to decay and return to the earth that they came from.

  They followed the trail quietly, and as they gained elevation each step became spongier; the mud and dirt underneath their feet seemed to hug their boots with each step before gently releasing them to move forward once again. Angel noticed that the trail they were on began to narrow after a while and the air seemed to get cooler, thanks to the thickness of the trees and foliage around them. She clutched onto Dax a little tighter as the sun had to work harder to push light through the umbrella of leaves and branches overhead. Angel looked up at the reds, yellows, and oranges splashed over their heads. It was like someone had painted the ceiling above them with vibrant color and then illuminated it with gold light from behind. It was gorgeous, and she could lose herself in it for a while and let the stress of everything happening in her life simply roll off her and take its place against the loamy earth beneath her feet.

  The only sounds at first were the occasional rustle of leaves as small woodland animals scurried through and the chatter of birds in the trees overhead. But, as they got higher, Angel could hear the tinkle of water as it passed over rocks or gnarled branches, and it offered a soothing kind of background music to the beauty around them. Dax suddenly veered off the trail and led her deeper into the thicket of trees. As a cop, she knew that she should be slightly worried about being up here all alone with him. He could do anything to her, and without her weapon, she’d be powerless to stop him. If he wanted to kill her it would probably take months or even years for anyone to even find her body, if at all. But even with all of that running through her imagination, she didn’t have so much as a trickle of fear in her body. She knew that her colleagues and her family even would call it naivety, but she thought of it as gut instinct. Dax led her through the dark, cool forest like he knew where he was going. When the trees opened into a lush, green clearing she knew that he’d been here before. It was brighter here even though the sun was already starting to get low in the sky. She heard something to her right and turned her head just in time to see the flash of a whitetail deer as it bounded across the clearing and disappeared into the trees on the other side.

  Gasping in delight she said, “Oh my goodness, Dax, it’s beautiful here.”

  He smiled and let go of her hand. Taking the blanket out from underneath his arm, he unrolled it and spread it out at their feet. “It’s my favorite place.” He took her hands and guided her to sit on the blanket with him. He sat with his legs spread out in front of him and he placed her easily between them and put his hands around her waist. She leaned her head back into him and he said, “I used to come here when I was a kid and things got too crazy out on the ranch. For a while when everything went down with Grant and the club turned on Dad, this was my refuge from it all. I’ve never brought anyone here with me before.”

  Angel snuggled down deeper into his arms and asked, “So why me?”

  Dax didn’t speak for several long seconds. When he did, she could tell that he was thinking about how he wanted to say things as he said them. When he spoke, he had that hesitancy people get in their voices when they’re trying to think of how they want to word something. “I’m not sure how to explain what I’m feeling about you, Angel. Since I was old enough to know about sex I was surrounded by men and women both who taught me that women were here for me to use. You know? They were here for my pleasure and convenience, but when shit got real, my boys…my brothers in arms…those were the people I wanted in my corner. But something about you is different, and I’m not even sure what it is. I got the feeling from the beginning that you weren’t looking for me to take care of you or support you. And then when you put me in my place the other day at your apartment, it even surprised me how much that turned me on.”

  Angel was smiling and she felt warm all over. Once again, this was the man that her family and Micah would never see. This was the man she was falling in love with and the one that was hidden away from the rest of the world. She’d always heard that it didn’t matter what other people thought, it was only about what was in your heart. Dax was a perfect example of why that was true. She wondered for the first time if…when all of this was over…if maybe there was some kind of hope for them after all. She felt his hands begin to slowly make their way up her sides until they settled along the outside swell of her breasts. She sighed and closed her eyes, erasing all thoughts from her mind except those of how good his hands felt on her body.

  She felt him slide his hands down again and settle at the hem of her shirt. This time when he moved his hands up her sides, he took the shirt up with them. She felt the cool breeze against her hot skin as he inched it up and when the shirt reached her underarms she lifted her arms up and helped him push it the rest of the way off. Her nipples were instantly hard as the breeze passed over the thin lace of her bra and she shuddered into him. He let his hands run across the fabric of her bra and her nipples seemed to be straining toward his palms, threatening to rip right through the lace.

  She moaned just as she felt the brush of his lips against the side of her face and then suddenly and without warning he lay back and pull
ed her down with him, taking hold of her waist and flipping her over so that she was facing him. She opened her eyes and he looking at her with his eyes filled with lust…and something more. Something deeper. Something that she knew was going to change her life.

  17

  Dax couldn’t get enough of Angel. It wasn’t just her body, it was her spirit, the way she laughed and the way she knew exactly when to be serious. Something about her both tamed and excited the beast in him, and frightened him all at the same time. She was looking down at him and smiling, and the look in her eyes was more than the desire that he usually saw in the eyes of the women he fucked. With Angel, it was more than that, and it was terrifying, but he was already addicted and in no mood to kick the habit.

  She closed her eyes again and he kissed her. She put her hands on either side of his face and braced herself as she kissed him back. The intensity of a simple kiss with her shook him to his very core and caused every inch of him to tingle with a kind of life he hadn’t known even existed before. His cock was throbbing already and he loved the way she wiggled her hips down against him. Her body almost hummed aloud with anticipation, and he could feel it. While they kissed, he began running his hands slowly over her voluptuous body, touching every inch that he could reach, letting the memory of every curve burn into his memory and ruining every encounter with any woman that would come after her.

  He unhooked her bra and let her firm, round breasts go free. Reaching between them he began to massage and squeeze them. He loved how they felt in his hands and the way her big, dark nipples pressed hard into his palms. He sunk his big fingers into her supple flesh, squeezing harder and letting his thumbs rake across the nipples. He loved the way she moaned into his mouth. The taste of his name on her breath was sweet and the way she was grinding into him…so fucking sexy. He broke their kiss and pulled her up so that those gorgeous tits were in his face. She straddled him and he began to lick and suck at her breasts. She put her hands on the sides of them and pushed them together so that he could go back and forth quickly from one nipple to the other. He loved how responsive she was. She was so fucking sexy.