by KJ Dahlen
“Is that a threat?” Niko asked as he looked between the two men.
Talon shook his head. “Nope, just a warning, that’s all.” He shifted in is seat. “He’s taken her under his wing and believe me, we have never seen him do that, which means he’ll protect her now.” He raised his head and took a slow gaze around the room, meeting every brother’s set of eyes. “I wouldn’t mess with either of them at this point.” He then narrowed his eyes at Niko. “It also means she’s part of this club and she’s got our protection as well. Remember that.”
Niko nodded and looked around the room.
Every brother there took on a look that told him they were serious. They would all protect her now.
Chapter Fourteen
Condor set Ricki down for a second and used a key to get into the cabin. He swung the door open and flipped the light switch. He grabbed Ricki’s hand and tugged her in.
Condor had rebuilt this place himself after the explosion. It hadn’t damaged this cabin as much as it had the others.
Ricki stepped in and looked around.
It was neat and tidy. Had a nice leather couch and a throw rug in front of it. A large TV screen sat on the wall. There was a nice standing lamp in the corner.
“Wow, this is cute,” she said.
“It’s mine.” He nodded as he turned and locked the two locks on it. Then he headed to the small kitchen. “I got some microwaveable dinners in here.”
“I-I’m not hungry,” she said quietly.
“Too bad...” He looked up at her. “Sweetheart. You need to eat. And ... let me see.” He looked in the fridge. “Here’s some apple juice. Not as good as OJ but you need it.” He set everything out and opened the TV dinner boxes. “Go have a sit and lean back.”
Ricki shook her head and went over to do so.
After about ten minutes, Condor came over and set the dinners on the wooden log, table in front of the sofa. “It’s still too hot yet, so wait till I come back.”
“W-where are you going?” Ricki asked nervously.
Condor paused. “Just back to the kitchen, to get the drinks.”
She bit at her lip.
“Look.” He stared intently at her. “I promised you I would protect you.”
She slowly nodded.
“Yeah, I can see you really believe me,” he scoffed. He thought he had trouble letting people get close, but Ricki was worse than he’d been. He paused. No, maybe she wasn’t. He didn’t speak a word to anyone for almost an entire year, after Julia died. He went back to the kitchen and got his beer, along with her apple juice.
She had her fork in her hand and had set one of the napkins he’d brought with the food on her lap. Looking up, she spotted the drinks in his hands and asked, “A beer?”
He paused. Crap, he sure hoped she wasn’t one of them. Anti beer, anti let loose.
“Not fair. You get a beer and I get stinky apple juice?” She pouted.
He chuckled and felt some relief. “But you need juice and I don’t think it’s stinky?”
She stared up at him. “I may need juice but I want a beer.”
He raised his brows. “Ok, if you eat your dinner like a good girl and drink some juice, you can have a beer.”
“Gee thanks, Mrs. Doubtfire.”
He cocked his head at her then sat down next to her. “What?”
She picked up her TV tray and dug her fork in. “No. Do not tell me that you have never seen that movie?”
He popped the cap off his beer and took more than a healthy swig. Lowering it, he shrugged. “Nope.”
Her eyes rounded. “No shit! Ok then, what’s your favorite movie?”
He looked sideways at her.
“No, come on. Tell me.” She nudged him and took a bite of mashed potatoes.
He set the bottle down onto the log table. “Terminator Two.”
She blinked and laughed. “Of course. I shoulda guessed. Yes, I have to say that is one of the best action movies ever made.”
He nodded and took a bite of his food. “Better believe it. Non stop action. Adrenaline burning shoot em ups. With some humor dotted in.”
They turned to each other and said at the same time, “Asta La Vista, Baby!”
They both laughed.
Ricki shook her head. “I like your laugh, Condor.”
He paused then ate some more. “I haven’t done it in so long, I even forgot what it sounded like.” He stared off into space.
She grabbed her juice and watched him.
He could feel her eyes on him.
“Tell me why?” she asked.
He turned his head to look at her as he set his empty tray down and wiped his hands on a napkin. “Why what?”
“Why you stopped laughing?”
He picked up his beer. “Wasn’t a reason to.” He took another huge swig.
“Stop that.”
He looked over. “Stop what?”
“Giving me like 2 and 3 word answers. You said that you wanted me to trust you.”
He nodded. “I do. Not sure why it’s so damned important to me, but I do.”
“Well, you know what I’ve been through. I told you most of it.”
“Yeah most, but not all right?” he reminded her.
“Yeah, well that’s a fuck of a lot more than you have shared with me.” Ricki drank some juice and set it down. “I see...” Her voice trailed away as she looked into his eyes.
Curious now, he turned to her. “What? What do you see, sweetheart.” He raised his brows, hoping to get a comeback out of her.
She rolled her eyes. “Lame, Condor, lame.”
He shook his head and gave her a slight smile.
“I see sadness,” she went on. “In you. In your eyes.”
He lowered his shoulders a bit and again, stared down at nothing. “It’s...” he tried and failed to explain. Then he spoke again, while releasing a heavy sigh. “...too hard to talk about.”
“Maybe you should try.” She stared at him. “I know someone damaged when I see them. I was out on the streets long enough to see it. I, myself am damaged.”
Condor shook his head. “Yeah, damaged.” He looked over at her. “You’re awfully young to be stating that like it’s gonna stick to you. You have to believe there’s something better. That you will heal those wounds.”
Ricki sat up and stared at him. “Have you healed yours?”
He remained silent. Then he got up and went back to the kitchen. Grabbing two beers, he came back, twisted the top off of one, and handed it to her.
Ricki took her beer but never took her eyes off of him.
Quietly, Condor popped the cap from his and took a long swig. He sighed and looked up at something over the small fireplace.
Ricki followed his gaze.
There was a painting there. Of a condor. It was well done with the sky in a swirl of sunset colors. The condor had something in its talons, but she couldn’t tell what it was. “Nice painting,” she commented, wondering how she’d missed it before.
“Yes, it is.” He stared at it. “Someone painted it for me.”
Ricki tilted her head as she studied his profile. “Oh?” She looked back at it. “What’s the bird got in his um... claws or whatever they’re called?”
He let out a long sigh. “A human heart.”
Her brows rose. “That’s kind of gruesome.”
“It’s like metaphoric. Julia said it was her heart.”
Ricki sat up straighter. “Julia?”
Condor again, went quiet for a few minutes. Then he stared down at the bottle. “I met my wife Julia seven years ago. I married her within a week after I met her and she became part of the club too. When she told me I was going to be a father, I felt like was living the dream. I had my brothers, my woman, and a baby on the way. I had money saved up for the kid. Built a large house over a year’s time, for us to live in. That was all I ever wanted... I had everything I never dreamed I could have.” He paused to take another drink and looked away.
Ricki took a drink of hers and waited patiently for the rest.
He then spoke again, “Then I lost it all in one second of time. Someone sniped at me and got her instead.” His voice had went lower, deeper. “They shot her in the head while we were riding. That bullet plucked her right off my cycle. I wrecked the bike and crawled over to hold her in my arms, begging her not to leave me but she was gone already. I lost my woman and my baby, in the moment it took for a bullet to hit her, and I wanted to die.”
Ricki raised her hands to her mouth as her eyes rounded.
“I couldn’t even mourn her properly at first. I was so damn angry. I beat the shit out of countless men in bars and for Eagle...our president at the time. Oh yes, he used my rage to make the Princes of Hell, a club to fear...”
With a shaky hand, Ricky reached out and took his large hand in her own. Tears rolled from her eyes.
“I didn’t even speak really for the first year. I’d almost became a mute.” He shrugged. “It was like words meant shit to me then. Nothing was worth saying. And no, I never laughed during the last years really. Then after that, I found I felt nothing for a long ass time. I volunteered for jobs that would be hard. Tough ones to challenge me. I thought if I could do something, just to feel something...” His voice faded away.
Ricki lowered her head. “So, that was why you were at that cemetery.”
Condor nodded. “Yeah, I go there to talk to her now and then.”
“God.” Ricki sighed. “I am sorry now that I even brought it up. I...”
Condor shrugged. “I think it’s good for me somehow to actually... talk about it. First time that I have, now that I think about it. All I had left was my brothers, Talon, Rogue, and Falcon mainly, and they helped me heal. They stood beside me all the way. I know I’ll always love her and miss her but my family helped me heal. And to me, that is worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox.” He looked over at her. “That’s why I urged you to give that old man a chance. He may be the only real family you have. You shouldn’t miss out on that.”
“I-I hope I don’t. They have him now.”
“We will get him back,” Condor vowed.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Cause we are the Princes of Hell. It ain’t just a cool name for a club. We’ve all been through hell.” Tipping his bottle back, he finished his second beer.
Ricki did the same with hers, then set the empty bottle on the table and sat back.
Condor grabbed all their stuff from dinner off the log table and went back into the kitchen.
Chapter Fifteen
When Condor finished tossing away the trash and cleaning up the kitchen a bit, he went back into the small living room.
Reclined on the couch, Ricki had her head tipped back as she let out a small, soft snore.
Condor shook his head. He shouldn’t be surprised as she had been through hell in the past few days. In fact, she’d been living in a hell for most of her life. He paused to wonder if that was partly why he felt so drawn to her. The pain and misery she felt inside. Pain had been his best friend and misery had been his confidant for a long time.
He carefully bent down and scooped her up.
She was so exhausted that she didn’t even react as he carried her to the small bedroom in the cabin.
He reached down and pulled the blanket and sheet back. This bed had never been slept in, as he hadn’t stayed here really. Laying her down, he then moved to her feet and took her shoes off. He stared down at her. He wondered if he should... No, he would leave her clothes on, he did not trust himself to undress her. He then pulled his t-shirt off. Sitting on the bed, he tugged his boots off. He was sore and tired. The headache he’d had from the blow to his head throbbed a bit, but he never felt pain like he used to. Not for years now. He had tolerated the headache all afternoon.
Laying down as gently as he could so as not to wake her, he reached for the lamp switch.
“Can you leave it on?” her soft voice asked from next to him.
He turned his head to see Ricki awake.
“I don’t want to be in the dark, just now,” she whispered.
“If it helps, then ok.” He laid back in bed. “Damn, and here I thought I’d managed not to wake you.”
She snickered a bit. “Have you seen how big you are? It’s not like you’re small and light, so no...You couldn’t be that quiet.”
“Well, gee thanks.” He smiled a bit. “You make it sound like I’m some kind of Neanderthal or some shit.”
“No... you are so...” Her voice fell away.
“So what?” he asked.
Ricki shook her head and refused to answer him.
He turned on his side and propped his head up with his hand. Staring at her face, he asked, “Come on tell me what you really think. It seems you usually don’t have a problem doing that.”
She turned onto her side and took up the same position as him, head propped in her hand, elbow on the mattress. “Ok. Well, you are big and scary looking. Someone that nobody would want to meet in a dark alley, that’s for fucking sure.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s on purpose. I’m an Enforcer, gotta be scary and I have always been big.”
She stared at him and smiled. “But on the inside... something different is going on.”
“Oh?” he asked. “Like what?”
“You are big hearted, sentimental and kind.”
He stared at her. “Well, don’t let that get out or my job would be shit for sure.” He again, chuckled.
She suddenly looked saddened. “As for me...on the inside I’m shit. Scared, alone and unhappy. Distrustful and suspicious.”
He blinked at this description. “Well, don’t be shy... tell me how you really feel about it.” He smiled slightly. “But no...None of that is true.”
Her eyes popped open. “The hell it isn’t. I can’t even relax for one second. I don’t know how to trust, how to feel normal. I’m a mess.”
He scooted forward and laid his forehead against hers as he whispered, “You are beautiful on the outside, of that there’s no doubt. On the inside, you are just as beautiful, you just cannot see it yet.”
“But am I so unlovable that my life doesn’t matter?” she finally whispered. “My own dad has hated me all my life. He’s sent men to kill me. Wants me dead. Now because of me, your lives are on the line. Am I really worth it?”
“I think you are.” He looked into her eyes. “But we already had our trouble with Slasher and his Dogs.”
“I’m not sure any of it is worth it. He has done all this for money. I could give a shit about the green. I don’t want any of what Archie has. It isn’t mine.”
Condor shook his head. “But it is. He worked hard to earn that and you are his granddaughter. Also, you have suffered far too much in your young life already, just for being his granddaughter. And yes, you are worth it.”
Ricki searched his eyes and found he was telling her the truth. “Will you kiss me? I’ve been wanting to know what your lips would feel like on mine.”
Condor shook his head. “If I kiss you, I may not be able to stop at just a kiss.”
Ricki paused then whispered, “Please kiss me. I want to feel passion, even if it’s only once before I die.”
Condor growled. “You are not going to die. And you know I’m too old for you right?”
Ricki shrugged. “Like you’re what... 36 or so? What difference does 10 or eleven years make?” She looked up into his eyes. “I know you’ve felt it too. This connection between us. I feel safe with you and that’s something I haven’t felt since I was fourteen. But it's more than just that... it's so much more. Every time you touch me, I feel a spark igniting a fire beneath my skin. I’ve never known that before.”
Condor stared at her for a long moment. “I do want you, but you may not be able to handle a man like me.”
She stared back at him. “I can. I know I can.”
He let out a long breath. “I got issues still, little
girl.”
She shook her head. “Were you not listening, just now? I just listed all of my issues.” She titled her head and paused. “But... I suppose I cannot blame you.”
He lifted his head and stared at her. “For what?”
She didn’t answer and laid back down, pulling the covers up over her body.
Condor was entirely confused now. Would he understand women ever in his life? The answer was no. “Tell me what you mean by that.”
She let out a sigh. “I’m a marked woman. Marked for a bullet. Always have been actually, since the minute I was born. Why would you... after what you’ve been through, ever want to take a chance on me.”
Condor felt something surge up inside him. Something he couldn’t seem to identify. Rage at the way she just gave up on herself. Disgust that her own father had scarred her like this. And another odd feeling that he could not place.
He leaned over and pulled her to him. Then without a word, he crushed his lips over hers.
Ricki seemed startled as she gasped.
He swallowed her gasp up and pushed his tongue through the seam of her lips. He kissed her hard and deeply.
Ricki then kissed him back as her hands smoothed along his back touching his skin.
They both were grasping at each other like their lives depended on this single kiss. It went on and on as their tongues sparred and fire threatened to burn the both of them up.
After another long breathless moment, Condor broke the kiss, and looked into her beautiful gray-blue eyes to see they had darkened into a whole other color. It made him want to know what they would go to when he made her climax. He placed her arms above her head pinning them there while his other hand roamed along her body.
Everywhere he touched her, she felt like it was pure heat on her skin.
He then climbed over her and ground his pelvis into her waiting core. He kissed her, opening her mouth to his tongue and she moaned at his flavor. His hands tore her shirt off and his mouth left hers to nibble down along her neck. When he covered the pulse at the base of her throat, he felt her heart pounding in her chest and he smiled knowing he was the cause of it.