Joyride

by DD Prince

  “It’s kind of obvious,” I said.

  He slapped my butt. “Need to get you yoga pants with Property of Rider on your ass so anyone who finds their eyes heading in that direction will know their eyes don’t belong there.”

  “All right, but I get to start putting “Property of Jenna” on you, too.”

  “Deal,” He kissed me again. “I’ll tattoo it on my chest. Gotta go, gorgeous. Be a good girl. Go find my sister when you’re done here and hang with her? Try to get her smilin’?”

  “Will do,” I said.

  He squeezed my butt again and then he left.

  I found my way back to our room (asking directions when I got lost) and took a shower and changed and then banged on Jojo’s door. She and I headed to a TV room. Bronto hung out with us, being a gopher, rather than a bodyguard, since we were inside the compound.

  I spent the rest of the day with Jojo. And not doing much, because she was not up for it. She was in her head mostly.

  The TV room had windows, at least, but our view was of a parking lot and the gates around the place. She gave short answers and mostly stared at the screen, so we didn’t have much conversation. I got the impression that if I hadn’t been there, she’d be in bed, under the covers, crying. Or staring into space the same way she was staring at the TV, that’s to say not absorbing what was happening in front of her eyes, because she was in her head.

  I would’ve liked to have played foosball or ping pong or something, and suggested it when Jojo shrugged with just one shoulder and continued to stare at the TV. We watched Finding Dory and then all the Twilight movies, and I was more than ready to stretch again when Rider turned up, five minutes before the end of the third movie.

  Bronto had gone out and gotten burgers for us at around six. I had no idea where Rider was or what he’d been doing, but it was a long day and I was overjoyed to see him when he finally walked into the TV room.

  My heart skipped a beat at his angry-looking expression as he walked in. But, then he brightened when our eyes met, and he moved in. I got to my feet and he bent and lifted me up and kissed me, holding me in his arms. Swoon.

  “Rough day?” I asked.

  “Mm hm.” He squeezed me and buried his mouth into my neck.

  Jojo took his arrival as a cue to go to bed.

  “I’m tired. See you guys tomorrow,” she said.

  “Night,” I said.

  She waved and wandered out.

  “How is she?” he asked, setting me on my feet.

  “Not good. She was very quiet all day. I tried to be good company, but…” I shrugged. “She’s gonna need time for healing.”

  “Thanks, gorgeous. You have some food?”

  “Yeah, Bronto got us burgers. You?”

  “Yep. Grabbed some pizza from that place I told ya about. Dug in when we got back. Starved. Still more than half left; it’s in our room.”

  “Cool. Late night snack.”

  “Mm hm.”

  “What’s up for the rest of the evening?” I asked.

  “Just you ‘n me, gorgeous girl.”

  “Sounds good,” I said, “Can we get outta here? Go for a ride?”

  “’Fraid not. Some wheels are in motion and it ain’t safe outside these walls tonight.”

  “Oh?”

  “Don’t ask.”

  I grimaced. He took my hand and led me back to our room, which was a good long walk through a bunch of hallways. This place was humungous.

  His phone was ringing before we got to our room.

  “Shit, one sec,” he said and opened the door and let me go ahead. He stayed in the hall.

  I scrunched my face up at that and then decided to take a shower.

  He wasn’t back when I was done. I peeked out into the hallway, but it was empty, so I shut the door and waited on the bed.

  He wasn’t back an hour later when I decided to eat a piece of that cold pizza out of boredom. It was pretty damn good pizza.

  He also wasn’t back an hour or so after that when I was tired of staring at the ceiling and fell asleep. I couldn’t get signal on my phone for some reason.

  I woke up not knowing what time it was. The light was on and I was disoriented. I looked at my phone. It was 4:45 AM. Had he been gone all that time? Where the heck was he?

  I got up, went and had a pee, brushed my teeth, and threw on yoga pants, flip flops, and my Property of Rider hoodie. (I’d done a load of wash that day, in between Twilight movies). I needed coffee. I’d fallen asleep before eleven and I wasn’t someone who needed eight hours, usually.

  I often went to bed late and still woke at dawn without an alarm. Unless I’d tied one on the night before, in which case I usually set two alarms. That day, we’d done nothing much of anything, so I was awake and feeling well-rested, and ready for coffee.

  The previous day, Jojo and I had gone from our rooms to the kitchen twice, so I was fairly sure I could find my way.

  I wandered out. The hallways were quiet.

  And I made a wrong turn. The door numbers were getting higher than I’d recalled seeing earlier, so I tried to find my way back.

  Every time we’d left, we’d gone from rooms in the low 400s to lower numbers. I was now in a hallway with rooms in the 500s. And I could hear music. Since I was lost, I figured I’d might as well find the source of the music and get directions back to room 424, our room … or directions to the kitchen, which was in the 100s section.

  The music got louder, and then I found myself in an area where the hallway opened up into a big open warehouse-like area with a bar and a bunch of La-Z-Boy chairs, a pool table, and a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. This was like a dive bar in the middle of a warehouse. The area was littered with people. Partying people. Half a dozen men, three women. The air was thick with cigarette smoke and the scent of pot.

  I spotted another man. My man. Rider was standing off on the other side of the open area where it branched into another hallway and he was standing there talking to a girl with long blonde hair. No. Not just a girl. That Gia / Gianna girl. She had her back against the wall, looking up at him, her lip pouty. He was speaking to her, his body language… I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked relaxed.

  Others all had their eyes on me, the party crasher. I felt the vibe change. The music volume went down and I heard, “Ride.”

  The voice? It was a prospect, the one who’d commented that he should put me in a photo shoot with his vintage bike. Rider looked over his shoulder and then his eyes landed on me.

  If I could shoot daggers out of my eyes at him, I would’ve.

  I felt my face get hot.

  What on Earth?

  “Hey, baby. What’re you doin’?” Rider asked, making his way toward me.

  It felt like steam was coming out of my ears. My nostrils. Even my toes.

  I didn’t know whether I wanted to scream, cry, or gouge his eyes out with my nails.

  I spun around dramatically, and marched out of there.

  Back the way I came. I think. This place was confusing.

  He caught up to me in no time. “Wrong way, beautiful.”

  Of course.

  I spun and changed directions.

  “Hey,” he grabbed for my hand. I smacked his hand.

  “Jenna.”

  “You!” I hissed, for lack of a better reply and he blinked.

  The numbers were getting lower again. Good. Okay. I found our door and opened it. He was in behind me.

  “Jenna? What’s wrong?”

  “Are you effing kidding me?” I hissed.

  He blinked, and his head jerked back.

  “I… I… I can’t even believe you have to ask me this!”

  “Back it up, gorgeous. Explain.”

  “Me? Me explain?”

  “Jenna, calm down.”

  “Calm? Calm isn’t anywhere in sight, Rider Valentine! You leave me alone all day yesterday and then all night without telling me you’re even leaving, and I wake up and go looking for the
kitchen and find you in the equivalent of a bar, talking up that girl? At almost five o’clock in the morning?”

  “Whoa. Wait a second…”

  “A girl that I know for a fact that you’ve had sex with!”

  He clenched his teeth and leveled a glare at me. He took a deep breath.

  “So, what? The thrill is gone? I agree to be with you and a day later you’re chatting up some girl at five o’clock in the morning after leaving me alone all day and all night?”

  “Slow your fuckin’ roll there, baby. You’ve got it wrong.”

  “You left me here. All day. Am I right?”

  “Yeah. And that’s because we’re in a war with people who wanna rape you and kill you.”

  “And then you tell me it’s just us tonight and then you leave me. You don’t tell me where you’re going. You’re just gone. And hours and friggin’ hours later I find you with a girl you’ve had sex with.”

  “Who told you I fucked her? Who’s been shooting their mouth off?”

  “Wh-what? That’s what matters here? Who told me?”

  “Club whores aren’t supposed to shoot their mouths off to the women.”

  “Club whores? Nice. Really nice.”

  “Settle down and let me talk to you.”

  “No. I’m going.” I started zipping up my bag. “I’m done with this shit.”

  “Jenna.”

  “No Rider. It wasn’t a club whore. You people really don’t think much of women, do you? It was your sister that told me. And not to rat you out, she told me the other day about Gianna the poor biker bunny who wants nothing more than to be a bike’s old lady, and no one takes her seriously. They just use her for sex. Move.”

  He was standing against it the door, looking at me with irritation.

  “You’re going nowhere.”

  “Right. My safety. Thanks so much for giving a shit. Just get me another room. I’m not staying here with you. We’re done.”

  “Jenna, listen to me...”

  “No. I’m done listening to your bullshit.”

  “Fuck,” he bit off. “Sit the fuck down and listen to me, goddamn it!”

  I glared. “Or you find another room. Does Gianna have a room here? Does she like hate fucking?”

  “I just got back half an hour ago. I thought we were in for the night, but there was an emergency. A brother needed some cover with a situation, so we had to roll out fast. My phone was dead. No one else had your number. I figured I’d be back before you woke up. Shit got twisted and we were longer than I figured we’d be.”

  I folded my arms across my chest.

  “I got back here, heard Gia was here, and she’s persona non-grata right now, since we don’t want to put anyone at risk with someone who might be a double agent, so I had to ream out the brother who brought her and find out what she was up to. I came here, opened the door, which you forgot to lock when you went to bed…” He let that hang.

  “I didn’t know I was gonna be alone all night!” I hollered. “You were supposed to be here. And aren’t I supposed to be safe here?”

  His nostrils flared. His voice went lower, gruffer. “I saw you sleepin’, then decided to go deal with the fact that she was here, spoke to her for like five minutes, gettin’ her side of the tale between her and Kailey, and that’s when you were there, tryin’ to strike me dead with lasers from your eyes. Now we’re here. And yeah, it’s safe, and next time I’ll tell you if I gotta go, but just sayin’… lock the door. I don’t want my girl sleepin’ somewhere vulnerable unless I’m there to watch over her.”

  That last comment was trying to penetrate my shield, but I fought it off and kept glaring.

  “So, no. You’re not going anywhere.” He took a step forward.

  The wind was out of my sails a bit, so I felt my posture loosen.

  “Don’t assume, Jenna. Not cool.”

  “It’s also not cool to feel abandoned and then see you chatting up a beautiful girl that I know you’ve had sex with.”

  He rolled his eyes.

  “Did you just roll your eyes at me?” I demanded.

  He smirked. “You’re really fuckin’ riled, aren’t ya? Fuck, but you’re beautiful when you’re angry.” He took another step toward me.

  I shoved him with both hands. He went back on a foot and then laughed at me and advanced and then I found myself pinned to the bed, beneath him.

  “Maybe I should fuck the angry right outta you.”

  I gasped in shock.

  “And when you’re possessive. Makes me really fuckin’ hard.”

  “You’re kidding me right now, right?” I snapped. “I can’t believe---”

  He cut me off with a kiss. He was hungrily ravishing my mouth.

  And for some reason, I started kissing him back. With some sort of unleashed anger slash passion.

  And then my shirt was going up and over my head and then it was gone. And then I pulled his t-shirt over his head.

  His mouth was on my one boob, his hand on the other, and then the other hand was down the front of my pants. And I wasn’t protesting. I was feeling. I was feeling, and my mouth was in a big O.

  “Soakin’ wet,” he said against my mouth and holy crap, that made me wetter. “Knew I saw some promise in you.”

  My back arched and then my pants were coming off and then his mouth was right between my legs. I let out a squeal of surprise.

  My legs were up and over his shoulders and he was feasting on me. He had way more than a five o’clock shadow with a two-day growth that felt like sandpaper on my inner thighs. And it was phenomenal.

  One of my hands went to the top of my head and I had a fistful of my hair. The other went to the top of his head and I had that fist filled with his hair.

  “Rider,” I breathed.

  “Mmmmm,” he made noise against my clit and it vibrated straight through to a place that make my soul sing.

  “Fuck, you taste good, gorgeous. My bubblegum fucking lollipop.”

  “Ah!” I was trembling. I was coming. I was coming this fast! It hit hard and I let out a grunt that didn’t sound at all pretty, but then he stuck his finger or maybe his thumb into my butt just a little and holy crap did that feel good. Primal. Dirty. So effing good.

  And then I was dead. Yep, I might’ve died. I couldn’t move. Was I breathing? Yeah, I was breathing. Okay. Phew. Okay.

  He rose up and then flipped me over onto my belly.

  “Up. Knees, baby.”

  “No. You get dead lay Jenna now. Because you’re a jerk. You might’ve just gave me a Top 5 ever orgasm, but I’m angry. So, you can do the rest of the work, too.”

  My face was half-smushed into the pillow.

  My ass was slapped, hard. I squeaked.

  “I said knees. Right now. Up!” His voice was guttural. And I jolted in fear for a second and looked over my shoulder. But then he winked. And I knew it was just a game. And I was so down to play it wasn’t even funny.

  I got up on my knees and he entered me doggy style. He started to drill into me hard and fast.

  “Rider,” I moaned. Holy crap that felt good.

  “Mm, good girl,” he said and grabbed my hips with both hands and started hammering even harder. “Now… you get your reward.” His angle was fan-fricking-tastic.

  “Oh my God.” I moaned, and collapsed onto my face. He started going faster, holding my bottom half up, faster and harder.

  And then he collapsed on top of me as he let out a husky, masculine groan and kissed the back of my head.

  He got up and flicked the light out and got back in beside me.

  “Like fightin’ with you, baby.”

  I grunted a half-angry sound.

  “I was only there five minutes. Honest, beautiful. And Gia doesn’t mean a thing to me. She’s bein’ walked out. She understands. She might be innocent, dunno, don’t care. Not takin’ any chances right now.”

  I tensed up a little.

  “You mean something to me.”

  I lo
osened.

  “And when I say something, I mean something I’ve never felt before.”

  Omigod.

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  He turned me so that we were on our sides, facing one another in the dark.

  He kissed my lips. I kissed his, too. I ran my hand up and down his arm, snuggling in to his chest. He put his arm around me and held me close.

  I fell asleep, blissfully sated, naked, tangled up with him.

  ***

  I was woken up by him.

  “Jenna. Baby.”

  “What time is it?” I rubbed my eyes.

  He was leaning over me. “Nine. Gotta go take care of business, beautiful girl. Forgot to charge both my phones. Bronto’s here with you guys today. You need me, he can get word to me. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Okay?”

  I was frowning. “You hardly slept, Rider.”

  “I’m aware. Thanks for givin’ a shit, though.”

  He sounded more than tired.

  “What’s going on?” I reached for his hand.

  He gave mine a squeeze and then let go.

  “Taking the Jackals down takes work.” He leaned over and grabbed for his Duffle bag. He unzipped it and had a gun in his hand. I gasped.

  He stuffed it into the back of his jeans. He put his leather jacket on and zipped it up, then put his gray wool beanie on his head.

  He leaned over and kissed me.

  “Rider!” I gasped.

  “Gotta go, baby.”

  “You have a gun.”

  He tilted his head at me.

  “A gun!” I repeated.

  “Yep.”

  “Uh, we need to talk,” I said. I was shaking.

  “When I get back.”

  “When?”

  “Tonight, probably. Gotta go. Boys’re waiting.”

  I watched him go. I was shaking like a leaf.

  ***

  It was 24 hours later. It was Sunday morning, and I was woken by a text. From Pippa.

  Sending to you both J&E. Wedding yesterday was a hoot. Here are pics. The bride was thrilled with the results so no worries. Hope you’re both safe & getting SOME in scary bikerland. Xo. Love yas.

  I put the phone down.

  I was glad Kendra’s wedding went well. I’d look at the pictures later.

  Rider was asleep beside me. He’d gotten in late. Very late. Like, three o’clock in the morning. I woke when he came in, but said nothing. I was kind of seething. I was kind of freaked out all day. I mean, he left with a gun!