When she’d finally seen a small window to either bolt or stay and burn in hell with him, she’d run as fast as she could. The first few months she’d kept on the road, changing vehicles every state. There had been more than one occasion she’d felt the prying eyes of someone and feared he’d sent some of his goons to tail her, but they were slow. And stupid, which was a plus in her favor. It’d taken her six months on the run to find the OPs, and she hadn’t looked back since. New identity, new appearance, and new life—all about to crash and burn because of the secrets she kept. She’d known Reyes, she hadn’t known his name, but when she saw him, she knew she had met him before, it made her skin crawl. Zane had met with him on more than one occasion, and she’d prayed Zane would attend the auction they’d raided. But because she had no luck and, karma liked to fuck her, he hadn’t been there. She had to speak up now that they had the forces to stop him. Her future be damned, she was determined to give those young girls a future, like she hadn’t the countless women.
Knight knew seeing Rain again would be hard, but he’d figured being away for as long as he had, she’d be out of his system. He figured wrong. The moment that fine little ass strutted in tossing sass, he knew he was in serious trouble. And knowing she was meeting up at the shop later with Kink, he needed to screw his head on straight and tie his cock down before he could face her again. Fuck if she wasn’t a hot piece. He’d made it a point to shove her away any chance he got, she had a thing for people thinking she was needy or clingy that he’d caught on to early and used it against her. It worked. The daggers her sapphire eyes shot at him were enough to make ice form on his skin.
So he’d told Kink he had errands to run and hauled ass to the one place he went when he had to think. He slowed his bike and turned down the old dirt road, coming to a dead halt when he’d realized how grown up the path had become since his last visit. There was no way in hell he was getting scratches on his ride and fuckin’ up the new paint job, so he decided to park it and walk the rest of the way.
Knight’s heavy booted heel kicked down the kickstand as he killed the motor. The air was warm, but had cooled some in the cover of the trees and it felt good instead of smoldering hot. It’d been awhile since he’d felt good about anything. Out there on the road, there wasn’t anything but temporary. Temporary highs from booze, temporarily good from random pussy. Neither had a lasting effect.
The walk in had already started easing his tension and confliction. The overlook was his. As far as he knew, no one knew of its existence besides older generations that had used it back in the 50’s as a make out spot. As the generations changed, it’d been forgotten. He took his time, noting the different views the trees and brush gave. He was wrapped up in his surroundings so tight he’d damn near tripped over the 70’s something chopper. “What the fuck?” he growled. He looked down to see a familiar decal and paint job that was unmistakable. His temper shot off. As he went to find the owner, his steps were no longer slow and leisure. It took all of sixty seconds to cross the clearing and find his target, sitting with her legs dangling off the side of the cliff as if it were nothing more than a tailgate party at a Steve Miller Band concert.
“What the fuck are you doing here!” he boomed. She hadn’t heard him approach, and when he announced his presence, she jerked and wobbled on the edge. Instinctively, he reached down and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her to her feet with a fling that had her landing on the other side of him.
“Ouch! What the fuck!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah, what the fuck!” he returned.
“No, you what the fuck! This is my spot dammit!” Her cheeks turned bright red and her chest bowed out.
“The fuck you say!” he ground out. Their explosive conversation was only building. His temper was double that. Knight couldn’t help but notice the rise and fall of her chest as she sucked air into her lungs to refuel for another slur of yelling. “Get your whiny little ass back on that fuckin’ bike and get the fuck outta here, Rain,” his voice had gone low and feral. The more he noticed about her hot little body and its effect on his cock, the more angry he got. Instead of backing off at his warning, she closed the distance between them and stood toe to toe with him.
“Whiny? You listen and you listen good you son-of-a-bitch. I don’t know what your fuckin’ problem is and I don’t give a shit. But I’m getting damn sick and tired of your mouth. I haven’t run to anyone for help. Ever.” Her voice now held the same low gravely tone his did and he found it amusing that she thought she could be a threat. Her neck arched up to meet his eyes but her body posture didn’t waiver. She wasn’t scared in the slightest at what he could do to her if he wanted. “I joined up, same as you. Same fucked up background, same baggage. Not one damn time have I unloaded my shit on anyone. From what I’ve heard, you can’t say the same,” she pushed. He’d had a few issues in the past, mostly from young and stupid decisions that the brothers had stepped in to smooth over. How the fuck she knew, he didn’t know, but it ate his ass he couldn’t point out a specific incident where she’d went running for help. Truth be told, she hadn’t as far as he knew, it was just his weapon to keep her at bay. She was a piece of ass who had trouble written all over her. There was no way in hell he wanted to deal with her attitude, and despite wanting to plow her little cunt over and over again, Knight knew it wasn’t worth the drama. Damned if he wasn’t drawn to trouble though. “Whatever problem you have with me, get the fuck over it. I’m tired of your shit.”
“Bullshit,” he growled, bumping his chest against hers. Oh, he’d never hit a woman out of anger, but he’d damn sure rip her pants down and beat her ass a bright red for being such a little bitch. The background she did come from obviously hadn’t entitled her getting her ass spanked near enough. He wanted to fight the thoughts about the apple of her ass over his knee, a bright shade of pink but couldn’t. That, and the fact she was at the one place he went to forget her, leaving him irrational. “You’re my problem. And right now, you’re in my spot. Get the fuck out.”
He thought for sure she’d back down, but she didn’t. His anger seemed to only egg the hellcat on. “Or what? You wanna throw down? Bring it, Knight. You may be bigger than me but I’ll still take you,” she hissed. And the fact she was serious had his head throwing back in laughter. His amusement did little for her temper tantrum, as her then red face turned brighter. He’d have sworn smoke would be pouring from her ears like in the old cartoons. Those damn blue eyes of hers clouded and narrowed into tight slits. “Fuck you.” Her tongue was sharp, but the little fist that reared back and hit him in the side of his jaw was sharper.
“What the—” he touched where the bony little knuckles had left their mark and he towered over her. “You fuckin’ hit me,” he accused. She moved to do it again but he caught her wrist and wrenched it behind her back, dragging the other one to join it. When she couldn’t move her arms, she attempted to kick and knee. Knight jerked her body against his in a violent tug and held her against him. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, forcing her to look at him. “You’re gonna pay for that, Rain,” he said. His voice had taken on a new tone she didn’t recognize. The anger in his features was still there, but something else…something more dangerous mixed in his expression. His warm breath skated across her lips and she fought back the reaction her body gave. The closer he got, the more her mind shut off and her body responded. Just as her lips parted and readied for what was to come, Knight brushed his mouth on hers and grinned.
His cocky smile snapped her back to reality and back to that same state of pissed the fuck off she’d been just a few moments before, only adding another heaping to it. “Get your hands off me!” she spit out. Her words didn’t hold the bite she’d hoped, and her voice had cracked midway through giving her desire away. He grinned even harder and released her hands, laughing again when she turned and stomped back to her bike. The motor purred to life and she could be heard spinning dirt all the way to the main road.
Cha
pter Two
Her rage took her back to the compound, she was at least in the mood to finally talk to Shady since she was already pissed and upset, knowing it was going to be a shitty day all around for her now.
As she parked her bike Shady walked out of her house and nodded to her. Rain paused and waited for her friend to reach her. Shady was gorgeous, no one could deny her beauty and her strength. Rain admired her, and knowing she was going to be letting her friend down killed her.
“Hey, Rain,” Shady said gruffly like normal.
“Can we talk?” Rain said slowly and hesitantly, because if she said she didn’t have the time, Rain was so gonna take that answer and wait.
“Sure,” Shady shrugged. “I was going to get a drink, wanna join me and the girls?”
Rain bit her lip, she really didn’t want to do this in front of all the girls, it was bad enough she was going to have to talk to Shady about it, but to show the rest of them how dumb she was, yeah, that would suck. Shady’s eyes noticed the hesitation, her eyes narrowed, and Rain knew she wasn’t going to like what her friend said next.
“Does it affect the club?” Shady asked. Of course, her friend was too observant.
Rain grimaced and then nodded reluctantly, Shady looked at her closely and then said, “I get that you want to talk to me alone, and usually it would be cool, but we are starting this club on the right foot. So anything that will affect the club, we will all discuss. Let’s get the girls.”
Fuck, Rain thought, this was so gonna suck. She followed Shady into the clubhouse, the girls were already there waiting. Without saying a word, Shady grabbed a bottle of Tequila, motioned with her head to the others, and walked to the stairs. They went to the common room of the top floor and everyone took a seat. Shady turned and looked at the girls.
“So this is not a formal meeting, we need the other girls here for that, but Rain has something to tell us, and instead of having to go over the story more than once, I told her we were going to deal together. I will call Abi and the others after this and give them a heads up,” Shady said and all of the Lady Riders looked at Rain expectantly.
Freedom, Harmony, Nike, Bob, and Treat looked at her expectantly. These were only part of the new Lady Riders. Abi, Rose, Heaven, Chevy, and the others, Rain didn’t know as well, but they had entered a sisterhood when they decided to make the Lady Rider club, and all of them had lived the biker life for long enough to know the club was a family. Every one of these women would kill for her; she knew it and she would do the same for them. They had all proved it. Now she was going to tell them that she betrayed the club. Not blatantly, no she had just withheld information that could have helped them all in the hunt for the human traffickers. She wasn’t sure how the hell to tell them that the shit that had gone down she knew about.
Shady pulled the bottle out, put it on the table with a shot glass, and looked at her pointedly. “Drink, then talk.”
Rain nodded and took a shot. She grimaced at the burn as it went down her throat, but it was just what she needed. She took another shot while the women all relaxed into the comfortable couches the Warriors had left.
“Okay,” Rain said after her third shot. She looked at each woman in the eye before she continued, “First off, let me say I never ever wanted to lie to you or make you feel like you couldn’t trust me. I realize that when I tell you all of this that you may feel that way, and I really wish there was some way to prevent it, but there isn’t. Just please know I love you all and have thought of you as my family and sisters since I met you.”
“Well shit,” Harmony said and grabbed the bottle and looked at the others. “Drink up, bitches, this sounds like it is gonna suck, like big time. And seriously, after all the shit we have dealt with, I am gonna need to get drunk for the drama that we apparently are going to have here.”
Bob snorted, “We are chicks, of course there is drama.”
Treat laughed loudly, “Rain, we have been through a lot, there is nothing you can say that will make us turn on you.”
Rain nodded slowly, but she knew that wasn’t true. They had no clue what she was about to tell them. She sought for a way to say what she had to say when Shady interrupted again.
“Rain, we have been on the road for like ever, I am tired, and I want a drink. Spit it out and we will deal like usual.”
“I am married,” Rain burst out and all of them stared at her for a second before they started laughing. “And that’s not all,” she said, watching as the women continued to laugh.
“Well duh,” Bob snorted. “I mean who gives a shit if you are married. Well, unless we need to kill the asshole, and then I call dibs ‘cause seriously, I didn’t get to do anything fun in Mexico.”
“Shut it, ladies, let her finish,” Shady said and they all looked back at her expectantly.
“My husband, his name is Zane Rugel. My real name is Storm Rugel, I am from Southern California just outside San Diego,” Rain said and then took another shot of Tequila. “If you look online, you would never know that it was me. I ran away from my husband and changed my appearance and everything about me in order to forget that life and move on. I was born Storm Brenning,” she said softly.
Everyone in the room gasped. They knew who her family was, well her mother’s side at least, everyone knew who her family was, and it wasn’t like they were normal, rich, obnoxious people. No, not her family, they were rich-obnoxious-always-in-the-media-doing-stupid-ass-shit family. Her sister, who was the queen of drama in the tabloids, was the infamous Angel Brenning. Her mother was melodramatic to the point of needing Valium to deal with her on a good day. Her father was the only normal one and that was because he was still in the military and divorced her mother when he realized she was emotionally dumb. Her father was the only one who knew where she was and about the changes she had made. He helped her with his connections, although he never told anyone where she was. She also knew when the Ops Warriors put two and two together—it was going to get messy. They knew her father, they had to, he was a General for God’s sake. However, most people didn’t realize the opulent Sophia Brenning was married to General Rick Tang.
“Zane turned my head, when I met him he was everything my mother wanted, and so therefore, he was everything I wanted. Everything was fine for the first few months. I buried my head in the sand and just went about my busy life of shopping and spa days with my mother and sister. I was such a fool, it was so stupid how I just never saw the signs,” Rain whispered.
“Did he beat you?” Shady ground out and Rain shook her head.
“I wish it were that simple, I mean seriously, I wish that was all it was,” Rain replied. “No, I discovered around month four that I married a monster. You see, I walked into a meeting my husband was having by accident. A woman was sitting in the corner crying, and I was shocked and just stood there while my husband barked at me to leave. I did, but I listened at the door. There I heard the deal my husband was making to sell the woman to the man who was in the office with him. I was shocked and disgusted, unable to believe it. I went upstairs to my room and started to pack. I mean, what the fuck, I remember thinking. I pulled out my cell, called my mother who was shocked, not about what my husband was doing, that could be explained, it was just a misunderstanding. Even when I told her exactly what I heard, she argued with me. Told me I needed to ask Zane what exactly was going on before I left. It would cause such a scandal she said,” Rain said in a scoffing tone. She didn’t even see her friends’ faces, maybe because she didn’t want to and maybe because she was so caught up in her thoughts of the past she couldn’t see them. “So I waited like the dutiful wife. Zane came upstairs and he was pissed. He yelled at me not to ever enter his office when he was in a meeting. I asked him about the woman and he laughed, said it was none of my business, but I pressed it. He asked where the fuck I thought he made all his money. Truthfully, I thought he was a consultant, that is what he told me and I never thought to ask more. Why would I, at the time I was so self-absorbed that
I didn’t care where the money came from, only that he would be able to support me in nice clothes, nice cars, and a nice house. He said he was in consulting, he aided others on how to train women, I figured 50 Shades or something like that, even though the woman was crying, I still convinced myself. I didn’t get it, not until later when I truly allowed myself to look into his business.”
Rain looked at her friends finally and tried to read what they were thinking. She couldn’t believe all of them had a compassionate but cautious look on their faces. She wasn’t sure what it meant, and she knew that she had not gotten to the worst part yet. Damn this sucked, was the only thing she could think and then took another shot and started explaining more.
“My father, he refused to come to the wedding. He said Zane was an asshole who was hiding shit, but I didn’t believe him. I was dazzled by the three-carat diamond he gave me as an engagement ring. Zane told me my father was just trying to break us up because he was threatened by him. He fed me a bunch of bullshit, which I used to rationalize why I didn’t listen to my father. Instead, I cut him out of our lives and didn’t even invite him to the wedding. Instead, I allowed Zane to take care of everything. Looking back, I get how he was controlling, but I let him, I allowed him to do that. So when I found out what Zane really did, I could have left, I could have told someone, I could have done a million things, but no, I was weak,” Rain said disgustedly. “I just let him explain, threaten, and then I followed orders so I didn’t cause any waves. All because I didn’t have enough courage to do a damn thing.” She could feel the tears coming down her face, but she ignored them.
Rain Falls: MC Romance (Lady Riders Book 1) Page 2