by Grey, Blair
It still wasn’t fair, any of it. I hadn’t made the choice to join the MC, so why was I being punished? If we were a normal family and Will was a friend of my dad’s, Dad would probably be thrilled at the partnership. Well, that might be a bit of an overstatement, but he wouldn’t be quite so pissed about it.
What’s more, I kind of wanted to throw all of this in Dad’s face. If he just let me go out and have some fun sometimes, I would have had the chance to meet other guys, and maybe I would have found myself interested in someone who wasn’t part of Red Eyes. It was Dad’s own fault that the only guys I knew were the guys I had grown up around. If they were still in Las Cruces by the time they were my age, they were the kind of guy who was never going to leave. And that probably meant they were the kind of guy who would join a motorcycle club.
But I didn’t know how to explain all of that to Nicole. She just didn’t understand.
The person I really wanted to talk to about all of this, of course, was Will. But what was I supposed to do, just call him up and chat over the phone? I couldn’t go over there again, not so soon. Especially not since I hadn’t heard from him. For all I knew, he had done it once and didn’t have any desire to see me again.
That thought made my whole stomach constrict in knots.
Nicole giggled. “Well, it would be one way to keep your dad and your in-laws from fighting at the wedding,” she teased. “Just elope. Actually, there’s an idea. You and Will could keep things a secret between you until after you elope. And then, it’s not like your dad could do anything about it. You’d be married.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help feeling amused. “Not only would that be pretty much impossible,” I said, “but that would just give Dad another reason to kill the both of us. I know he’s always dreamed of seeing me walk down the aisle. Even if he won’t let me near any dudes until he’s on his deathbed.”
Nicole laughed. “Yeah, it would take a lot to keep that secret,” she agreed. She shook her head. “It’s just a shame. It’s nice seeing you so happy.”
“I don’t need a man to make me happy,” I said stubbornly.
Nicole smirked. “No, but the orgasms certainly help,” she joked.
She finally turned the subject away from my dalliances with Will, but I couldn’t stop thinking about him. It would be impossible to keep things a secret. Las Cruces wasn’t that large of a city, and besides, everyone knew who my father was. What’s more, Will worked with my father, no matter how unconventional that employment might be. Dad was bound to find out at some point. We were just lucky we hadn’t been caught already.
But just like before, I felt like it was impossible to stay away from him. It had already been too long since the last time I had seen him, and it had only been a couple of days. And what would I do if he eventually gave up on me and started dating someone else? I couldn’t stand the thought of losing him.
“Hey, this is supposed to be a fun, relaxing day,” Nicole said eventually, drawing me out of my thoughts. “Quit looking so moody, or I’ll have to castrate the man myself.”
I snorted at the mental image that conjured up. “Sorry, hon, but I don’t think you’re any sort of match for a six-foot-five muscular dude,” I told her. “Especially if you’re trying to get at his manhood.”
Nicole raised an eyebrow at me. “I have my ways of getting guys to let me intimately close to their penises—don’t you forget it.”
I burst out laughing, my sour mood fading. This spa day was just what I’d needed.
15
Will
The day after our weekly meeting, Ray and I headed over to meet the leader of the Unknowns. Lex, I reminded myself. I was still feeling a little uneasy about Ray, but when he didn’t immediately seem off, and when he didn’t bring up Belle, I started to relax a little.
“You settling back in okay?” Ray asked as we drove along. “You’ve been back for, what, just over a week now?”
“A week as of yesterday,” I confirmed. “Minus the trip to Texas.”
“How’s that paperwork going, anyway?” Ray asked.
I rolled my eyes, even though I’d hardly thought about the inheritance given everything with Belle. I knew I didn’t have much time to get that marriage thing knocked out, but at the moment, I was having a hard time thinking about money. It seemed like there were a lot more important things going on in my life at the moment.
“You know, stupid red tape. Bureaucracy,” I said to Ray.
He grinned sidelong at me. “Need my help making it all go away?”
I laughed. “Might have some trouble ever getting my hands on the money if you off my deceased Gran’s lawyer,” I pointed out. “Besides, I don’t think Texas falls within your jurisdiction.”
“I’ve got friends everywhere,” Ray reminded me, and I fought the urge to shudder. Yet again, I was left wondering if he already knew about Belle and me.
“It’s good to have you back,” he continued, putting me at ease once again. He reached over and clapped me on the shoulder. “I know you’ve had a tough time of things, but trust me when I say they’ll get better.”
“You’ve been saying that ever since I joined Red Eyes,” I said, laughing.
“And haven’t they?”
I stared out the front window, the laughter gone just as quickly as it came. “Yeah, I guess it has,” I said. And it was all thanks to Ray.
Ray, whom I had betrayed by sleeping with his daughter. It seemed that no matter what the topic of conversation was, I kept coming right back around to that fact.
“You know what your problem is?” Ray said, shaking his head. “You just need to find yourself a good woman.”
I forced myself to laugh. If he only knew.
“Not you as well,” I groaned. “The twins were on me about that, too. Or at least, Braxton was. Landon doesn’t talk to me all that much.”
“He doesn’t talk to anyone all that much,” Ray said, rolling his eyes. “His twin does all the mouthing off for the both of them.” He paused. “But unlike the twins, I don’t just mean for fucking.” He glanced over at me. “Don’t think I don’t know the real reason you up and left for that trip of yours. You’ve got us here, and I hope you know we’d do anything for you, but you’re restless, and you’re lonely. I’ve been there myself.”
I sighed and looked away from him. We had driven out of Las Cruces by now, out into the nowhere of New Mexico. I didn’t really like that we were meeting way out here; if anything went wrong, we couldn’t exactly call for backup. But Ray still maintained that we had nothing to be worried about.
“Why the hell did they want to meet all the way out here, anyway?” I complained as we turned onto a bouncing dirt road. “This isn’t the wild west; we don’t have to meet in the desert at dawn.”
Ray looked amused at that. “Probably they think they have the advantage,” he said. “They know the land. They’ve got us off our turf. And they’ll have us outnumbered, I’m sure.”
“Why didn’t you bring Marcus with us?” I asked. “I mean, I know Marcus wasn’t so keen on the idea of a meeting, but if you had told him what you wanted to do, he would have done it.”
“He would have,” Ray agreed, nodding. “Marcus is one of the most dependable guys I’ve ever met. You’re not unlike him.” He was quiet for a moment, letting that sink in. “But the only way I could get the Unknowns to agree to a meeting was to tell them that we would only bring two people. And I’m true to my word.”
“Even if it kills you?” I asked unthinkingly.
Ray spat out the window to show me what he thought of that. “It won’t kill me.”
“Right, of course not,” I said hurriedly.
We finally arrived at the deserted gas station that the Unknowns had requested we meet them at. Sure enough, we were outnumbered: four of them versus two of us.
“That’s not a very fair fight,” I muttered under my breath as we drove up.
Ray flashed me a smile that was all teeth. “With
any luck, we won’t be fighting,” he said. “But even if we end up fighting, they’re no match for us. You’re bigger than the three goons put together. Taller, too.”
I rolled my eyes but got out of the car, unable to shake the feeling that we were going to end up fighting and that something was about to go terribly wrong. I didn’t know where that intuition came from—maybe something to do with their stances? But I really wished Ray weren’t such a man of his word just then. These guys weren’t going to fight fair, so why should he?
I knew the answer to that, though. Ray was old-school. He believed in ethics above all else. He didn’t fight dirty. It was part of why I felt so terrible about having slept with Belle. I had broken the code of ethics. Ray would never forgive me if he found out.
I assumed their leader was the one standing in the middle of the group, slightly in front of the other three. He was older, maybe Ray’s age or possibly a little younger. He was a lean man, all sharp edges, but I could tell from the way he held himself that he had power. As with Ray, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he had killed a man before. I tried to remember where Marcus had said these guys were from before they’d decided to move in on our territory.
“You finally made it,” the leader said, sneering at Ray. “Did you get lost, or are you one of those old grandpas who drive thirty below the speed limit at all times?”
I was about ready to fight the guy just over that, and if we’d been less outnumbered, I might have tried. But Ray just laughed without concern. “We didn’t come here to talk about my driving,” he said when he’d sobered.
“No, we didn’t,” Lex said, folding his arms over his chest in a clear attempt to look more intimidating. “Face it; you’ve lost your grip on your territory. It took you far too long to notice that we were moving in on your business, and now, you want to negotiate rather than show me who’s in charge here.” He took a step forward, his eyes glinting. “I think it’s time the reign of the great Ray Thompson comes to an end.”
Ray was quiet for a long moment. I knew exactly what he was doing as well: trying to fluster his opponents by giving them a moment to second-guess themselves. But I didn’t think it was going to work. These guys looked too stupid to second-guess anything, honestly. With the exception of Lex, but he was too cocky to start second-guessing himself.
“I’m not here to negotiate,” Ray said finally, his voice firm and slow so that there could be no mistake. “I’m sorry if that’s the impression you got, but I’m here to tell you to leave. You have no business in our territory. And if you try to stay, you know exactly what will happen.”
Lex laughed. “Oh really? And what’s that?”
Ray’s eyes glinted with steel, and I could see the faintest twitch in his jaw that hinted that he was rapidly losing patience. “Trust me when I say, you don’t want us as your enemies. You’d be better off somewhere else.”
Lex shook his head, clearly losing patience as well. But where Ray just seemed more and more dangerous, Lex seemed desperate. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.
Lex scowled, “We are taking over this city. And we’re not going to turn tail just because you and your one crony are here to stop me.” He snapped his fingers at the three men with him, and they immediately jumped forward.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. I knew it was going to come to this.
I didn’t have time to think, though. Now, it was just reaction. Fortunately, the goons weren’t too coordinated. As two of them lunged toward me, I pushed one into the other, and they stumbled away. The first guy came back at me again, his fists swinging, but I was easily able to duck out of the way.
What was harder was landing a solid hit on him. We seemed to keep dancing around one another, and I kept trying to stay ahead of his punches, but I was always on the defense, never the offense.
Was this what Ray meant about getting complacent? I thought despairingly.
Finally, I saw my opening, though. As the dude lunged at me, I stuck out a foot and managed to get him off balance. From there, it was easy enough to land a stunning punch to his temple as he flailed and tried to keep his feet beneath him.
He managed to get in a glancing punch to my ribs as his arms flew out to either side, and for a minute, it was hard to catch my breath. I went down on one knee, looking over at Ray to see how he was doing.
He was just finishing up with the second of the guys when I looked over. The first was already down on the ground, out cold from the looks of it. Ray had perfect fighting form, in spite of his age, and he easily deflected blows from his opponent before kicking the man square in the kneecap to down him. He gave him a nice kick in the temple as the final blow. Then, he turned to face Lex, who had watched all of this with a grin on his face.
I had never seen this side of Ray before. He was a powerful, scary guy, sure. But I had never seen him look this flinty, this mad. I never realized he could fight like that, either. If I had been Lex, this would have been display enough for me. I would have been packing my bags and heading for somewhere easier. Immediately.
But Lex just laughed. “That wasn’t very nice,” he said.
Ray drew himself up even taller. “I’ve made up my mind,” he said icily. “There is clearly no longer a need for talking. Not if you don’t respect anyone or anything.”
I shivered, wondering what Ray intended to do. As far as I knew, he was unarmed, but as he had shown, he didn’t exactly need weapons. He had managed to somehow take out two guys in the amount of time it had taken me to get down one not very talented opponent. I had no doubt he could take on Lex if he wanted to.
The question remained, did he want to?
16
Belle
I couldn’t keep the grin off my face when I saw Will come into the diner for dinner on Tuesday night. Nicole rolled her eyes when she saw my expression but gave me a little nudge toward his table. “He’s not here to see me,” she said. “And he definitely isn’t here for the meatloaf.”
I laughed, trying not to be too obvious about my excitement as I headed over to the end of the counter where he had seated himself. But I stopped in dismay when I saw his hands. “Oh Will,” I sighed, reaching out and gently tracing a finger over his knuckles, unable to help myself.
I wasn’t going to ask what had happened; I already knew. He must have just come from a job. I wondered who else had been with him. There was no bruising anywhere else, and when I thought back to his entrance, he hadn’t been limping or anything like that. He must be fine.
But still. His poor, bruised-up hands.
“I’m fine,” Will said gently but firmly.
“Good.” I cleared my throat. “So what can I get you?”
“I don’t even know,” Will sighed. “I mostly just came in to see you.”
I blinked in surprise at him. I hadn’t expected him to be so bold. That, more than anything, made me want to ask what had happened. But I knew it was club business and that he probably couldn’t tell me, anyway.
“I’m just about to get off for the night,” I said softly. “Maybe you could let me take care of your hands?”
Will was quiet for a moment, just staring at me. I could tell he was in the middle of some sort of inner debate. And to be honest, I was as well. I knew I was playing with fire here. But I couldn’t help wanting to take care of him, especially when he was looking so glum.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “I’d like that.”
I nodded and caught Nicole at the other end of the counter by the cash register. “I’m going to head out a little early. Can you manage?”
“Course I can,” Nicole said, giving me a broad grin. “Be safe.” She lowered her voice. “And have fun.” She winked.
I rolled my eyes but didn’t protest.
Will was quiet as we walked back to his place. “We’re not going to sleep together again,” he told me suddenly.
I felt a well of unhappiness open inside me and struggled not to let it show. “Okay,” I said. “
Sure.” As though that didn’t bother me. As though that didn’t make me ache with loneliness even while he was right there next to me.
“I can’t do that to Ray. Not again,” Will said.
I sighed. “I know.” Because I did. As much as I’d like to make it all about my own frustrations with Dad’s rules for me, I knew that Will had certain considerations, too. He looked up to my father. He knew my father wouldn’t approve of a relationship between the two of us, and he wanted nothing more to do with me.
Except that we were still walking slowly back to his place. So I can bandage his hands, I reminded myself. Just so that I can bandage his hands.
We went into his place, and I waited in the living room while he rummaged around in the bathroom for the first aid kit. We sat on the couch, and I tried not to think about the last time I’d been there. He had already made it clear he didn’t want to sleep with me that night. Even if something changed, even if he reached for me now, I would have to leave.
The silence continued to stretch, and finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s on your mind?” I asked softly. If I couldn’t be there as a lover, I could at least be there as a friend. Or if nothing else, as a listener.
Will sighed, watching as I cleaned the small cuts on the backs of his hands and slowly began to bandage them.
“I’ve always wanted something more than the MC,” he admitted finally when I’d started to think that maybe he wasn’t going to answer me. I looked up at him in surprise. But Will wasn’t finished. “It’s nothing against your father or the guys. They’ve been like a family to me. But I watched my dad go down the wrong path, and I don’t want to be anything like him. And although I’d like to think I won’t be, that I could never be, I see too much of him in myself sometimes.”