Wild Side

by Cynthia Ayman

  “Lee,” she starts.

  He shakes his head and lets out a sigh. “Don’t waste your time. We figured most of it out, already.”

  “I never talked about club business,” she pleads, eyeing me. “And I didn’t know he was gonna go rogue. I called the police because he texted me, saying he was keeping her and he had knocked her out and she wasn’t waking up-”

  “He said to save it,” I cut her off as I force her down on a chair. It’s really better for her to not remind me how I found Abby. “So, save it.”

  “Fuck, Pinkie what the hell were you thinking?” Reese asks as he sits down as well.

  “She wasn’t leaving.”

  Lee exhales slowly, his hands cupping the back of his neck. “Jesus Christ. You put the entire club in danger because you’re not getting Apa’s dick?!”

  “She isn’t part of the club! It would have just scared her off, she would have left, and everything would have been back to normal!”

  “Did you, or did you not, tell him we had his brother?” Sly asks in his usual low, lazy voice. It doesn’t sound threatening, but we all know not to mess with him when he speaks that way.

  Pinkie knows it too and she visibly covers. “He already knew.”

  “No, he didn’t. He had suspicions. Which you confirmed.” Sly stops in front of her, forcing her to crane her neck to look at him. He slowly grabs the knife that never leaves his side, his thumb testing the blade. “Do you know what my job for this club is?”

  Pinkie shakes her head, her eyes fixed on the hunting knife in front of her. “Sly-”

  “Do you?”

  She nods, her chin trembling as tears start to roll down her cheeks.

  “Tell me, then, Pinkie.”

  “You make sure no one puts the club in danger,” she answers in a small, choking voice.

  Normally, I don’t enjoy seeing a woman frightened. I know for sure Lee doesn’t like it either. But I feel nothing right now, because all I can think about is how fucking terrified Abby must have been, too. Because of her.

  Sly slowly slides the blade across Pinkie’s cheek. She squeezes her eyes shut, obviously trying to remain still.

  “What happens when someone does put the club in danger? What do I do then?”

  She knows what he does. Everybody knows. We don’t talk about it, and it doesn’t happen often, but Sly is the one who takes it on himself to do what’s necessary.

  “Please, Sly. Lee, I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would end so badly,” Pinkie cries out, looking at me in panic next. “Apa, you know I love you, I only wanted us to be together again.”

  “Enough with the love drama,” Sly mutters as he steps behind the chair where Pinkie is seated and grab her short hair to tilt her head back.

  I quickly glance at Lee because… well, are we really gonna do that? Here, in the common room?

  Lee shakes his head and I let out a breath. I can’t stand to see Pinkie, I don’t want to live in the same house as her, and she can’t say in the club, but I also don’t want us to start murdering women in cold blood.

  The scream Pinkie releases is muffled just in time by Sly’s hand. “Shhh,” he hushes, and I swear it’s the creepiest sound I’ve ever heard. It almost sounds like he’s trying to comfort a wounded animal, not holding a knife to a girl’s throat. A girl he used to fuck, too.

  “You’re gonna be a good girl and tell us everything you told him, alright?”

  Pinkie nods vigorously, her eyes wide and staring at the knife Sly is now holding right in front of her.

  “I swear I only said his brother was still alive. And that he could make an exchange and Abby wasn’t part of the club so there should be no retaliation.”

  “How did you know she was going back home?”

  “I didn’t! But I told him she often went to the store alone in the afternoon. He’s been following her for a while.”

  “Did you tell him she was from Huntington?” Sly asks again. I know he is trying to make sure no one else was involved.

  Pinkie nods with a sniffle. Her nose is running and she looks about to piss herself, too. “I told him I just wanted to make sure she’d go back to Huntington with her tail between her legs. That’s all I wanted. In his text, he told me that if she left, then he was losing his leverage. He had to act right away. But I swear, I didn’t want her to… She was leaving, that’s all I wanted,” she repeats pleadingly. “He’s the one who still went after her. I called the cops when he told me she was unconscious.”

  Sly and Lee share a glance.

  Reese and Poe, who stayed in the room but remained silent, are watching carefully, blocking the main exit.

  Betrayal of the club means death. That’s how it usually is. We haven’t had to deal with that in years, though.

  I know that none of the men in this room want us to take that step with a girl that has been living with us for a couple years.

  “I’m going to give you a chance, Pinkie,” Lee eventually says. “We’re gonna take you back to Arizona. From there, you’re gonna take a bus, or convince someone to give you money or take you somewhere, I honestly don’t give a fuck. But you’re gonna head somewhere far, far away from Edmond. If I ever see you again, if I ever have the slightest suspicion you pulled this shit again? It will be slow. It will be painful. You hear me?”

  The sob that escapes Pinkie is so loud, I can barely make out what she says. “Yes. Yes, I promise you, Lee.”

  Sly grabs her by the hair once again and pulls her to her feet. She grimaces but keeps her mouth shut. “I’ll be watching you,” he promises, pressing the blade against her throat once again. It’s kind of a miracle her skin is still intact. Sly keeps his blade lethally sharp. “I’ll keep an eye on you. Never come back here. Don’t get involved in a club. I’ll find out if you do. You believe it, right? I will. Find. Out.”

  Pinkie nods shakily.

  “I don’t mind killing women. Especially when they betrayed the club. You remember that, too, OK?”

  Jeez, Sly. Laying on it thick, aren’t we.

  Poe and Sly leave, Pinkie between them. They head upstairs, probably to make her pack, and I’m honestly not sure how I feel right now. Pinkie and I had a relationship, at least some kind of relationship. She betrayed me, the club, put my girl at risk. But knowing she will be dealt with puts my mind at ease. Sly is a hell of an enforcer. She’ll behave. She’s lucky Lee is the way he is, too. No one would have objected if he had made a different choice.

  “You OK with this, Apa?” Lee asks once it’s just me, Reese and him in the room.

  “Yeah. I just want to put this behind me,” I admit.

  “I want you to know that if things had been worse for Abby… I would have let Sly handle it any way he wanted to.” Lee stares at me intently, and I get what he means. He’s not diminishing what my girl went through. It matters to him, but he also tried to be balanced. I get that. I accept it, too.

  “It’s cool, Prez,” I say. I trust my president, and I trust my enforcer. And I know Abby will prefer this solution too. Pinkie did something awfully stupid and I don’t want to see her face ever again, but I believe her when she says she didn’t want Abby to be hurt that way. As Abby said… she tried to fix it.

  “So… she’s your old lady for good now? You told her?”

  “Yup.” I smile at that. “She thought we had to have a public orgy or something.”

  “Fuck. Tell me you didn’t deny,” Reese snorts.

  I glare at him. “Yeah, because her dealing with a concussion isn’t enough, I had to traumatize her with group sex on the church table.”

  “What the fuck?” Lee chortles. “The church table?!”

  “Don’t ask. I let her believe it for three seconds, though,” I admit. The way she looked at me was priceless, and if it had been under any other circumstances, I would have teased the fuck out of her for much longer. “If you don’t need anything else from me…” I trail off, itching to get back to the one we’re talking about.

&
nbsp; Lee grins. “Go back to your girl. We’ll deal with Pinkie, she’ll be gone in less than an hour.”

  I nod, slap Reese’s shoulder on my way out then run up the stairs. Bear is sitting in the hallway by my door, playing on his phone. The guy is addicted to Candy Crush, something Abby showed him. Of course.

  “She took a shower, and I think she’s watching TV,” he tells me once he sees me.

  I hold out a hand to help him on his feet. “Thanks, man.”

  “Everything OK?”

  “Yeah. Just… Pinkie ratted us out to Stokes. Reese will explain.”

  “Shit. OK. Night, man.”

  “Night.”

  I’m not surprised to find Abby fast asleep. She is still recovering from a nasty hit on the head, as well as the psychological fallout of what happened. I quickly shower then turn the TV off before slipping into bed next to her. It’s oddly similar to our very first night together in this room, I realize as I gather her in my arms. I take the time to press a long kiss on her head, allowing myself to savor the fact that she is here, safe and sound in my bed.

  And I’m not letting her go.

  Chapter 26

  Abby

  The atmosphere is heavy at breakfast the next morning. Bear made eggs and bacon for everyone, and there’s already a dozen members sitting at the table. Apa tells me to get us coffee and to go sit in the common room. Reese is there, almost done with his plate, and I sit by him with a smile.

  He winks at me then grabs Apa’s cup of coffee and takes a sip. “Too sweet.” He grimaces, looking at me reproachingly.

  “That will teach you not to steal other people’s coffee. And Aaron likes it sweet.”

  That makes him laugh. “That he does. He found himself a girl who makes pastry for a living, after all.”

  I beam, because he does have a point. Apa and I fit more than I first thought.

  We sit in silence until Apa arrives with our plates. He made sure to add a slice of buttered toast on mine, and I fall a little more in love with him. I’m ridiculously easy to please, I guess.

  “What happened to Pinkie?” I ask before he gets the chance to start digging in. I waited as long as I could, but the tension in the house is getting too much for me.

  Apa hesitates then shares a quick glance with Reese. “She left.”

  I wait for more explanations but they’re not coming. “What do you mean, exactly?” I insist.

  Pushing back his plate, Reese leans back in his chair with a sigh. “Tell her, man.”

  “We didn’t do anything to her if that’s what you’re afraid of. But she got booted out of the club. Spike, Jimmy, and Crash are driving her back to Arizona as we speak. That’s where she is from. She knows she’d better stay away from us because what she did would have ended up badly if she had been a man.”

  “Is everyone mad at me?” I feel like it’s my fault. It’s stupid, I know, but I can’t help it.

  “No, babe. It’s just hard to realize a member betrayed the club.”

  “I wasn’t part of the club,” I say, trying to minimize what happened.

  “Yet. You weren’t part of the club, yet. It doesn’t change a thing. You were under my protection, under Lee and Poe’s protection. She told a hang-around about club business. What if Stokes had gone to the cops, and they had found his brother, kept against his will?”

  Oh. I didn’t think about that. “So… she’s gone for good?”

  Reese nods as he stands up. “Yup.”

  “Cool.” I grab a piece of bacon and bite down on it. Reese leaves us, and we eat in silence. My brain is working, as usual. I leave some eggs but savor my coffee, and I bite back a smile when Apa automatically switches our plates to finish mine. He winks at me, and I feel butterflies in my stomach. He knows I like these simple gestures. They’re silly but intimate and to me, they say a lot. He understands it too. I like that he does. I lean in to peck his cheek, because I dare to do that now. We’re official. I won’t look like a clingy girl. He’s my man, and I get to kiss him whenever I want to.

  “Babe, you keep looking at me like that, and you’ll find yourself bent over the pool table in less than two minutes.”

  My eyes switch back to my cup of coffee right away. That pool table must have seen some serious action in the past years. I’m not interested though. First of all, yikes, germs. Second of all, hum no, thank you, I’m not an exhibitionist.

  That being said… I definitely feel much better today. I let my hand slip onto Apa’s thigh, and he stops mid-chew to drop his gaze to where I’m slowly heading. His crotch.

  “Really?” he murmurs.

  I bob my head. Yes, yes, yes. I want to make love with my man. In the past weeks, we had a lot of sex. We fucked a lot. It also felt like making love a few times, but I never dared to think of it that way. Now? Now, I can, and I want to make sure my body knows the difference between the two.

  His chair falls backward when he stands up, and he doesn’t even bother to pick it up. I am giggling like a fourteen-year-old as we walk up the stairs. I wish I could say we run but my hip still hurts so we settle for a very enthusiastic climb. We walk past Bear who looks at us with a grin and a shake of his head, seeing right through us.

  By the time Apa kicks the door closed, his shirt is already off and my slippers are gone. He unbuttons his jeans and my mouth waters. His happy trail does it for me. Once he’s naked, he doesn’t give me a lot of time to admire the view, and helps me with my own clothes, much more carefully. My wrist is still wrapped so it does limit my movements a little. He only pauses once we’re both naked and presses me against him. My arms automatically go around him as I tilt my head back. His hands sooth my hair out of my face as he leans in to press a gentle kiss on my lips.

  “You sure you’re OK?” he murmurs, delicately brushing around the bruises on my face. I nod, because yes, I am. I want to feel close to him, I want to be with him in every way because he is mine now. He kisses me, slowly, his tongue playing with mine while he holds me close. I feel cherished, safe, protected as I kiss him back, pouring everything I feel for him into our kiss.

  I love this man. Like crazy. He’s not the perfect man I imagined building a life with. He was the hot guy I always dreamed of having a fling with. But he gives me everything I need and more. He gets me, he gets my quirks and my sometimes not-very-rational thinking.

  Some probably only see the big badass biker. I don’t blame them, that’s what I first saw, too. But Aaron is so much more than that. He is sweet, caring, and has a piercing on his dick.

  OK, the piercing might not be the most important part, but it would be a shame not to mention it. My one and only pierced dick, it has its spot in the Hall of Fame, after all.

  I laugh as I picture a portrait of Apa’s private parts hanging next to the Mona Lisa as a guide in a suit presents it with a French accent. “And ‘ere you have a perfect example of what Americans consider ze ultimate male accessory. Ladies and gentlemen… Ze Apadravya. As you can see, it is worn on a penis of a very admirable size zat provides full satisfaction to its two users.”

  “What?” he whispers with a smile against my lips.

  “I’m thinking about your dick.”

  A little slap on my butt is my punishment. “Woman, stop laughing about my manhood.”

  It only makes me laugh harder. I guess being in love makes me giddy. Well, that or I got heavy-handed with the painkillers.

  My feet are starting to hurt with the way I have to reach on my toes and I start walking backward, pulling him with me. He follows obediently, and I like the way he lets me take charge. I know it has a lot to do with the fact that he’s worried about hurting me, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Our bed is still unmade, and I only have to push the duvet more on his side so it doesn’t dig into my back. He climbs after me, kneeling between my legs and leaning in to drop a kiss on the inside of my thigh. His scruff is back to what it was when we first met, and it tickles a little. He kisses his way up my body, teasing my belly button and
stopping at my breasts. Because, of course. The man has a fixation with my boobs. Sometimes I feel like I’m intruding on a private moment with the way he fondles them.

  I think he even named them. I heard him talk to them one night. He was a little drunk, but I’m pretty sure I heard correctly.

  His mouth on my nipple feels incredible, so I never mind the extra attention, and today is no exception. I sigh and relax into the pillows, my fingers digging into his hair as his tongue starts swirling around an areola. He opens his mouth and sucks on the hard little bud, and I feel a flash of electricity in my clit. The other breast doesn’t have the occasion to feel neglected, because his hand is covering it, massaging it, his thumb rolling over the nipple. With a small pop, he lets go of the one in his mouth, then gives it a small goodbye lick before focusing on the other one. He gently pulls the nipple between his teeth, his tongue flicking the hard nub. Every single stroke of his tongue is echoed deep inside of me, low in my abdomen, where a heat is spreading, a heat I am now familiar with. I want him. I want the perfection of his body weighing on mine, naked skin to naked skin. I want his face in the crook of my neck, I want to bury mine against his shoulder, I want his hands gripping my thighs, my hips, guiding me, opening me up to the pleasure of being loved by him.

  “Aaron,” I whisper against his hair, my fingers now traveling down his back. He is strong, there, the muscles playing underneath my fingertips as he lifts his head and slides up my body. His mouth is soft, gentle when he trails kisses over my neck and jaw until he finally reaches my lips. Our tongues meet, and dance together, and I know it sounds cheesy, but they really do. I love his taste, I love the way he feels, I love his little sighs and his breath against my cheek.

  He shifts and reaches out to the nightstand, but I stop him with a hand on his bicep. He looks at me with a question in his eyes as he holds a condom.

  I shake my head. I’m ready. I trust him. I love him.

  “You sure?” he asks nonetheless.

  “Yes.”

  He beams at me like a schoolboy who has just been allowed in the girls’ locker room. He’s never had sex without a condom. To be fair, neither have I, but I know it mostly changes things for the man. Still, the idea of having him bare inside of me causes another wave of warmth down below and makes my insides clench.