Burn Out (Steel Veins MC Book 4)

by Jackson Kane

  I was envious. All I could think of was the end and how impossible it would be to have to let her go. I didn’t know how I would find it in me to do it. I walked away from her once, and that took everything I had in terms of physical and emotional strength. This time, it just might kill me.

  Seeing her face light up when she saw me watching her leave the building was the twist of a very beautiful knife. It made all the thoughts of joining the Steel Veins dissipate like cigarette smoke.

  If we’re looking for a place to land... Who was I kidding? We were heading into a major metropolitan city with cameras and eyewitnesses and live streaming on every corner. One way or another, landing anywhere didn’t seem likely.

  I doubted I’d ever see the ground again.

  It was selfish of me to come with her. I should have forced her to leave Utah without me. All I was doing was stealing time and making it harder to eventually part ways. Whether she found what she was looking for or not, the cops would have to be involved at some point, and that’s the point at which I would have to leave her.

  I was willing to die for Maya, but I didn’t have it in me to be locked in a cage again. I just couldn’t... I could either leave her of my own accord or leave her in a body bag. Either way, we both knew there was no future for the likes of us. It had been a few days since I checked in with my parole officer, so the cops would’ve found out that I had jumped bail by now. With all the bodies that I’ve dropped on the way here, I must have at least one murder charge going, God knows what else.

  There was no saving me now.

  “I grabbed us some snacks. They even had caramel Cadbury eggs!” Maya exclaimed proudly.

  I pushed the cloud of hurt away. It wouldn’t do Maya any good to worry her. “You’re braver than I am. Easter was a long time ago, and I doubt those are pre-orders,” I joked. Humor had always eased the pain. I glanced away and hung up the nozzle. I couldn’t look at her yet if I wanted to sell it as just a joke. She’d probably see through it if she saw my face. “You grab anything that wouldn’t survive a nuclear holocaust?”

  “I don’t care. I love these things. If this is what kills me, I’ll at least have died happy.” Maya saw my souring expression and laughed before continuing on. “Don’t worry. I called my aunt this morning, and she said she’d make us lunch. I also told her what happened to Robbie, and that apparently reminded her that my mother sent her a document before she disappeared. Aunt Gina looked at it once, but that was a long time ago and she couldn’t remember what it said, but maybe it might help us get access to the safe deposit box.”

  “That’s good.” I replied, weathering the sting that came with the mention of my dead friend. His loss was hitting me in waves once again. Sometimes I felt completely fine, and other times, I wanted to break down and bawl my eyes out.

  “Are we almost ready?” Maya cleared her throat and smiled with sad, concerned eyes, trying to pull me out of my sudden depression. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s cool. Gotta deal with it one way or another.” I returned her smile. Seeing her soft, warm face helped me get my weakness under control. It was funny how she could be my weakness and my strength at the same time. “I gotta go stretch my legs first. Come with me.”

  The rest stop was built along the top of a range of rolling hills and had a fantastic view, overlooking yet another clash of urban/suburban sprawl. Maya told me it was the southern part of the city of Berkeley, but that didn’t mean a damn thing to me. The parking lot had a five-foot tall foundation cinder block wall surrounding it, but when I had peered over it earlier, I discovered that it was really a ten-foot tall retaining wall from the viewpoint of the other side. Live oak and knobby-coned pine trees dotted both sides along the barrier with intermittent, flowering bushes demonstrating a riot of purples, blues, and reds. I found an easy spot to climb over and drop down in-between the vegetation on the retaining side of the wall for some privacy and a better look at the scenic vista.

  “It’s so pretty. I think I’m beginning to like cities better from afar,” she murmured in awe.

  “The forest for the trees...” I didn’t give a shit about the view. Maya was the only thing I wanted to see. The sun filtered through her lashes and played off her russet-colored eyes that shone so brilliantly.

  “Hey, I just talked to a new friend in the Steel Veins’ new national chapter, a woman by the name of Star. I think you’d like her.” I went on to tell Maya everything about the conversation. No more secrets.

  “Oh, thank god!” Maya sighed with relief. We didn’t know what, if anything, actually happened to Anna, but it was a good feeling knowing that there was someone out there looking for her. “Do you think we can trust them?”

  “I think so. Everyone I’ve talked to recently said that Remy and Star are the real deal,” I nodded honestly. I couldn’t speak in absolutes, but I did have a good feeling about them now that I had talked to Star. If even half the rumors were true, then I was right about Remy being a real devil. It was the side that devil was fighting for that I had all wrong.

  Maybe the Steel Veins really had changed?

  She soured a bit, darkness spreading across her thoughts. With the end in sight just beyond the foothills of the range, I knew she was finding it hard to ignore the fact that the trip was almost at its end.

  “What happens when this is all o—” She couldn’t stop herself from asking the inevitable questions, so I stopped her by filling her lips with mine.

  I didn’t want to hear the words out loud despite us both feeling the acrid rush of finality breathing down the backs of our necks. The kiss was supposed to allow us one, last escape from reality, but it turned into the bursting of an already buckling dam. Neither of us could pass up this last embrace. If this truly was the end, then I needed one, last taste of her. Something to warm my heart on those cold nights to come.

  When she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back furiously, the constant din of the rest stop’s traffic and commotion melted away. All that was left in the world was Maya and me.

  I picked her up and pinned her against the cinder block wall. Our lips broke apart but only for short, staggered intervals – just long enough to start ripping each other’s clothes off. I pulled her shirt and bra over her head in one, swift motion before lightly pressing her bare back against the concrete again. I ran my hands over her shoulders, tits, and stomach, feeling her core heat up. She clawed at the zipper of my hoodie, stripping me out of it, then the shirt, too, with a relentless urgency to it all. This wasn’t simmering foreplay to explore our limits and reach the depths of pleasure. This was desperate. We tore at each other like animals.

  This was the flash boil of passion before a fall.

  So singularly focused on who could divest each other of one’s clothing first, we barely looked at one another. I kissed her lips then her neck, letting my searching hands do the rest of the work. Her stomach tightened and arched backwards as I grabbed her side tightly and pulled her into me.

  Maya gyrated and seized my back and chest like a mad woman. She was completely into this moment without any more hesitations as her inhibitions had since withered and died off completely. I could wreck her, and she’d let me.

  I stole a glimpse at her small, light olive-skinned hand clawing across my tattoos and scars just to grab a matted fistful of my chest hair. The innocence of her porcelain features and the sting of pulled hair made my cock swell. Maya was perfect.

  Her fingertips rounded the hardening length of my cock. She popped and parted the metal teeth of my jean’s zipper then tucked her cool fingers into the elastic band of my briefs. I felt the released heat of my crotch roll up between her fingers.

  “Me first,” I teased as I slid both hands into the back of her pants and wrenched everything down. Maya’s eyes flashed at the quick motion, and she was jerked forward when I got her pants and panties over her ass. Smiling, she suppressed her provoked squeak. I paused for a moment, drinking in the sight of her tiny slit. I
let my eyes creep up along her smooth, eager body. Voraciousness consumed my gaze when I finally found her eyes. This would be the only reprieve she’d get from my appetite.

  I slipped off one of her tennis shoes and yanked the pants off of one leg, allowing her jeans to dangle from the other. Then I threw both her legs over me to straddle my neck, the bent of her knees resting on each shoulder. She bit the corner of her lip, her eyes flaring again as if to say Oh my god! Was he really going to…

  I smiled. Yes, I was. I lifted her off the ground and gently rested her back on the grey, retaining wall. I needed to stand up for this, using my whole body to eat her delectable pussy. I closed my teeth on her thigh, causing her pelvis to quiver. I could tell she was a little embarrassed about not being shaved, but it was fine with me. I didn’t mind it a little wild.

  Then it occurred to me. A sweet girl like Maya... “Have you ever had a man go down on you before?” She bit more of her lip and shook her head. If I didn’t have my head buried between her legs, she would have noted the triumphant grin plastered on my face. “You are in for a treat. Just try to hang on.”

  My tongue drew lines everywhere but her pussy. I could see her lower lips glisten in the sun. She was wet and ready for me. She dragged her fingers through my scalp, grabbing tufts of hair in her needy fists. Before long, she was pulling me towards her rather than pushing me away. Not that it mattered. I went at my own pace, but I could tell it was driving her crazy.

  My tongue slithered over her slit before finding and spreading each and every one of her folds and ridges. She gasped, her legs taut cords, her heels digging into my back. I abruptly stopped at random intervals and waited for her hips to buck. When her body screamed for more, I gave it to her.

  I did circuits with my tongue around her engorged clit, tickling her nub then plunging it into her pussy. She pulsed, already so close to coming. I nibbled and pulled, my teeth lightly catching her hood before wrapping my mouth around it and sucking. She sank her nails into me and moaned, stifling back each building scream with a gasp instead.

  She almost swooned when I touched her soaked pussy lips with the tips of my fingers. I slowly pushed them inside of her, just clearing my first knuckle when I found her G-spot. She came at its slightest touch, her legs extending out like TV antennae. Thighs squeezed around my head and neck as the orgasm erupted from her like an exorcism.

  Maya groaned loudly. Oblivious motorists came and went, children whined, parents shouted... Who knew what they heard from this side of the wall? Neither of us cared. To us, they didn’t exist. It might as well had been the Great Wall of China that separated us from them.

  Maya’s whole body rocked, her limbs shattered from the ongoing aftershocks. I carefully eased her back down as she slumped against the wall and rode it to her knees. “That was... I… I... Wow. I just…”

  I wiped her juices from my chin and beard and smiled at her, letting her regain her composure. “You gonna make it… this time?”

  “Asshole.” Maya’s eyes flared with disbelief that I would bring up the motel rooftop again. I was trying to rile her up and, from the crack in the defiant smirk on her face, it looked like I had succeeded. She roughly grabbed my cock through my briefs. “I’ll survive.”

  It took both of her small hands to get a handle on my hard-on. Her indignation and confidence got me stiff enough that she could swing from it. Yet she didn’t have any of my restraint. My pants and briefs didn’t make it down to my knees before she was licking and stroking my cock. She foolishly attempted to take too much of me in right away and choked. I didn’t want her to feel embarrassed at her amateur technique, so I grabbed her hand and worked it rhythmically over my tip. When I let go, she kept going. “Squeeze,” I urged.

  She did.

  “Harder. With both hands. Strangle me.”

  So she did just that. The pressure felt great. I knew what I wanted and wasn’t afraid to make demands.

  “I want you to suck me and jerk me off. Stay near the head.”

  She followed my orders as I plunged my hard cock as deeply as I could into her mouth. She sucked and squeezed, now with greater confidence.

  “Faster!”

  She squeezed even tighter, picking up the tempo. My dick swelled within her mouth. I was close. She felt it, too, and jerked me faster, her lips smacking as she whipped her head back and forth. I was right on the cusp.

  I rolled my head back and groaned as I exploded into the back of her throat, my cock pulsing like shotgun blasts. She slowed her motion as she tried to swallow all my cum. I didn’t think she could handle it, but before I knew it, she was milking me, sucking me clean.

  I exhaled, dragging a hand through her scalp. I pulled out and leaned backwards into the retaining wall behind me. Goddamn, that was good.

  “Come here,” I motioned for her to join me. When she got within arm’s reach, I pulled her into me. Our sweaty bodies slapped together, and I hugged her. I’ve never been much into cuddling, but I felt like if I let her go, I would never get her back.

  “I don’t want this to be over, Hendrix. Can we stay on this hillside forever?”

  “I don’t see why not.”

  “I think this is it.” There was hesitance in her voice. She hadn’t been there since she was a kid, well before her sister was born. “Two-Twenty-Six. Yeah, this is it! Just park along the street. If we need to move it, she’ll tell us.”

  Maya jumped out of the car. She was so excited but also a little nervous because she had only met her Aunt Gina twice in person although they talked occasionally on the phone and through Facebook. The neighborhood was nice enough – a lot of brightly colored, single-family homes. Being that it was the middle of a weekday, there weren’t many people around.

  I don’t know if it was the distrustful glances by the few passers-by that were around or if it was just me looking for something that wasn’t there, but I had a bad feeling about this place. My gut told me something was off, but I could be just looking for trouble because it was what I was most comfortable with. Yet actually, being here meant that it was real, that I’d have to give up Maya sooner than I wanted to. I couldn’t outrun or outgun the inevitability of the feeling. One way or another, it was all coming to a close.

  Maya frowned at me. “You promised you’d at least come in with me. Don’t tell me you’re—”

  “No.” I smiled, recovering myself. “I’m coming.”

  Maya saw me tuck the gun in the back waistband of my jeans. “Would you mind leaving that in the car?” she quietly requested. “Aunt Gina said she always hated guns. She... ever since Mom disappeared, she...” Maya smiled, took a quick breath, and started all over again. “She blames my dad for what happened to my mom. Aunt Gina hates bikers as much as I... did.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to stay in the car until we go to the bank?” I sat back down in the driver’s seat and discreetly slid the gun under it.

  “No, it would be too weird to bring lunch out to my bad-ass chauffeur. Besides, I’m a little nervous, and I’m braver when I’m with you.” She gave me a look that could melt iron.

  “Chauffeur, huh?” I mulled it over, thinking about Benny and Agatha. There was only so much hospitality I could endure. But Maya gazed at me with those big, rusty-brown eyes of hers. I hated how quickly those were becoming my weakness. So I shrugged, giving in. “Lead the way, Miss Daisy.”

  Maya grabbed my hand and led me briskly to the front door before letting go to knock. No answer. We could hear the TV on, so Aunt Gina was probably home. Maya knocked again. Still nothing. Aunt Gina was expecting us, so it was odd that she didn’t answer. That uneasy feeling returned in spades. There were dozens of explanations that could explain her not answering, so I forcibly convinced myself I was just being paranoid.

  Maya tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. She opened it slowly, revealing that the living room and first floor bathroom were visible and empty. “Hello? Aunt Gina? It’s Maya. Are you home?”

  The TV must
had been blasting in a room down the hall. Maya shrugged and walked in. “Maybe she’s exercising?”

  I remained quiet and scanned for any signs of a break-in or foul play. There were some boot marks and tracked-in dirt in an otherwise immaculate house, but nothing else appeared out of place. The lack of a presence was odd, but maybe Maya’s Aunt Gina was a fitness nut and wanted to squeeze in a session before we got here. A little weird, but this was San Francisco, after all. Appearances and trends were king out here.

  I felt the vibration of a scuffle through the floorboards from a room beyond my view. Something heavy or someone hit the floor, and that’s when I knew something was definitely wrong. I was wary before, but now I was certain. I grabbed Maya’s arm just before she reached the closed door down the hall. When she tried to jerk away from me, I shook my head and started to bodily drag her back toward the front door.

  This house wasn’t safe. I needed to get her out of there immediately. My plan was to stash Maya in the car, grab my gun, and head back in. I’d have her drive a few blocks away if she didn’t see me leave the house in ten minutes. Then she would find the burner phone in the glove compartment and call the cops. By that time, I’d either be gone or dead.

  We hadn’t made it to the door before my plans went up like kindling.

  “Stop.”

  I didn’t recognize the voice, but I knew exactly who it was by the way Maya tensed up like she was flash-frozen.

  It was her father.

  Three armed men rounded the corner, one of them dragging a woman who was tied to a chair. This had to be Maya’s Aunt Gina.

  Slick’s splinter MC organization was probably too new for them to have official symbols yet, but that didn’t stop them from a uniform improvisation. They all wore the traditional leather Steel Veins vests, but the Steel part of all the patches was removed. In its place in bold white marker was the work “BROKEN” and a white skull over a large X had been drawn over the existing back patch.