Sinner's Kiss: A Dark Bad Boy Romance

by April Lust

  “I’m sorry,” Jenna said, turning on her heel to face him without warning. “I’m stuck on two bottles of champagne here and I’m not sure which one to open for myself. Do you think I should save the expensive one for the customers or just go all out?”

  “Pick the rich people one,” Paul said without thinking. “You never know when you’ll get another chance to taste it.”

  “Thanks,” Jenna said, pulling out the bottle he’d pointed out and reaching under the bar for two glasses. “Want some?”

  “It’s supposed to be just for you, right?” Paul said.

  “I don’t think Tim will care,” Jenna said, popping open the bottle and pouring healthy portions of champagne into each glass before pushing one of them in Paul’s direction. “Here, toast me. To our new jobs.”

  Paul begrudgingly clinked his glass against Jenna’s before turning his back on her, draining the glass of champagne in less than thirty seconds. He learned how to drink in the military, so drinking for him meant getting fucked up fast, not savoring every last detail of the flavors in each glass.

  “I’m Jenna, by the way,” she said, apparently not getting the hint that he wanted to be left alone. “And you are?”

  “Paul.”

  “Paul who?” she asked. The overt curiosity in her voice would have been adorable if it wasn’t so goddamn irritating. This chick was hot, but she clearly didn’t know how to pick up on subtle cues.

  “Briggs,” he answered, resuming his work of stocking the shelves above the bar, even though he could tell that Jenna was still staring at him.

  “Briggs. That’s an interesting last name. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before. Do you have family in town?” Jenna asked, sipping her drink.

  “Nope,” Paul said, heavily slamming bottles of whiskey down on the shelves, hoping she’d get the message that he didn’t want to talk to her.

  “So you must be new,” Jenna said. “I’m guessing you’re not with the MC. That’s how most new people come here, because they want to be a part of a family or something. But I’m guessing that’s not the case with you, huh?”

  For a minute, Paul considered not acknowledging her at all. The conversation had already become so awkward, it was like the air between them was crackling with some kind of uncomfortable energy. But for some reason he couldn’t stop himself from at least nodding in response to her statement, confirming all of her suspicions about him. There was something irritating about that, her ability to read him so accurately and so quickly. But mostly he was just impressed. Most people thought he was mysterious and dangerous, too scary-looking to even talk to. But not this small, cute woman with the disarming smile.

  “I noticed you last night, you know,” Jenna said. “At the bus stop. Guess we both had the same idea.”

  “Guess so,” Paul replied, but his tone didn’t come out as harsh and unfriendly as he’d intended it to, even if the awkwardness between them lingered on.

  “Well, here, shake my hand,” Jenna said, putting down her drink and stepping closer to him. “We didn’t introduce ourselves properly. We should do that before we lose the chance to do it forever.” She stuck her hand out for Paul to take. For a long moment he just stared down at her hand, weirdly hesitant to touch her. It was like he knew that if he brushed up against her skin, he’d be addicted. He’d want to do it again and again. Things would be safer or simpler or easier if he just never touched her, forever watching her out of the corner of his eye and imagining what her skin felt like instead of finding out for himself.

  But he finally took her hand, shaking it firmly, surprised at how strong her grasp was despite how small and delicate her hands were.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night?” Jenna said, phrasing the statement like a question, forcing Paul to nod in acknowledgement. “Great, see you then!” She quickly downed the rest of her champagne and stuck the dirty glass in the sink. Paul might have to clean that later, which should have annoyed him, but watching her skip out of the bar and out into the blazing light of the afternoon outside, he couldn’t help but be amused. She was just so excited, so happy to work in a messy little bar at the edge of town. For some reason, that lifted Paul’s spirits out of the dirt inside of his heart, making him feel lighter and freer than he’d felt in months.

  For the rest of the day, he couldn’t get her out of his mind, struggling to keep a smile off his face as images of her happy expression filled his head. It was silly. He didn’t know this woman at all, but she made such a huge impression on him. He hated to admit it, but he was excited to see her again. And that scared the fucking shit out of him, in ways he hadn’t felt since he’d been at war.

  The only thing scarier than a gun is a woman with a sharp smile, he thought to himself.

  Chapter Three

  Jenna

  Jenna exhaled shakily as she stared up at the bright red neon sign overhanging Sully’s. I got this, she said to herself, even though she felt like the contents of her stomach were about to explode out of her skin. Summoning all the courage in her body, she strode through the front door of the MC’s hangout, straightening her spine as much as possible to give off an air of confidence and ease.

  “Hey, Jenna, sweetheart!” one of the Thunderhawks shouted at her across the bar. Jenna smiled and waved but didn’t walk over, instead heading for the back room. Gavin would be in there, and she needed to have a conversation with him, privately. Although, on second thought, maybe she should have considered bringing along witnesses in case Gavin got violent, but it was too late now. She burst into the back office without knocking, slamming the door shut behind her.

  “Whoa, whoa, what the hell?” Gavin shouted from behind his desk, slumped over at a weird angle in his chair. “I’m busy in here.”

  “Uh, you don’t look very busy,” Jenna said sharply, gesturing to the empty room around her. “What exactly are you doing in here?”

  Gavin scowled before reaching under the table to pull on something, eventually tugging a girl out from under the desk. Oh, Jenna realized, her entire body flushing with both first-hand and second-hand embarrassment at once. The girl, who she recognized a little bit from the Thunderhawks’ social gatherings, had been on her knees, sucking off her ex-boyfriend. Lovely.

  “Get out of here,” Gavin spat at the girl before zipping his pants up. The girl’s face fell, and she kept her eyes glued to the floor as she walked around the desk and headed out into the main room of the bar. “What do you want?” Gavin asked Jenna harshly, evidently pissed that she’d interrupted his blowjob.

  Jenna blew out her breath, preparing herself as much as possible before forcing the words out of her mouth. “I’m quitting,” she said, keeping her voice as steady and unwavering as she possibly could.

  “Quitting what?” Gavin said, his brow furrowing up in confusion.

  “Here. This. Sully’s,” Jenna explained. “I’m not going to bartend here anymore. Sorry.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Gavin said, finally getting to his feet and walking around the desk to face Jenna, who felt her fear spike as he got closer.

  “You heard me,” Jenna said, setting her jaw so that Gavin knew she was as irritated as he was. For once, she wasn’t going to let his emotions outweigh hers. Her feelings and opinions and desires mattered as much as his did, even if he was the head honcho of the MC. At least, that was what she kept telling herself, if only to push herself through the next few moments.

  “You’re quitting Sully’s?” Gavin parroted back to her, anger simmering off of him, practically visible to Jenna’s unblinking gaze. “How the hell didn’t I hear about this before now?”

  Jenna shrugged, feigning ignorance, as if she hadn’t purposefully kept her plans secret from everyone affiliated with the club to keep Gavin in the dark until this very moment. “I guess it slipped under your radar, huh?” she said, just to get under his skin.

  Gavin visibly bristled, the muscles in his jaw clenching as he considered her words. “So, what are
you doing then? Leaving town? Is that what’s happening, Jenna?” His tone was oddly calm, a little too calm, as if he was actively restraining himself from screaming at her. Honestly, Jenna might have preferred that instead. At least then she would know what to expect.

  But again, she forced herself to shrug, acting like she was entirely unbothered by his passive aggression. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I found another opportunity in town.”

  “Where?” Gavin asked a little too quickly.

  “In town, like I said,” Jenna said, refusing to go into more detail. That was probably already giving him too much information as it were. “Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t give you more notice to find another bartender, but I’m sure the girls that hang around here at night will be happy to help serve the MC.”

  Gavin looked away from her for a long moment, staring off into space before shaking his head slowly in disappointment. “Why are you doing this?”

  Jenna didn’t know what it was about his tone, but he sounded so sad, so despondent, like he was losing the love of his life. Maybe he was. Despite how he treated her, there had to be some part of Gavin that loved her, maybe as much as he was capable of loving anything. Even though it made her feel sick to think about, there was some part of Jenna that felt bad for him, some part of her that still instinctively wanted to protect him and take care of him. But she knew that was a bad road to go down. There was no way to “save” Gavin McHugh. There just wasn’t any way to bring him out of the darkness and make him into a good person, no matter how hard she’d tried. Jenna had spent over a decade on this man, giving him a huge chunk of her youth, and all he’d done was drag her down and make her feel small and worthless. She wasn’t going down that path. Not again.

  So instead of pitying him, she just gave him the truth, albeit a softer version of it than she might have given if he had screamed at her like she’d expected. “Gavin, I need some space. We aren’t together anymore. It’s not fun for me to be around you. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. And I can’t help but feel like it’s not fun for you, either. Why else would you send your lackeys after me? You need to let me go, Gavin. You need to let me move on.”

  Gavin sighed deeply and stared hard at her, an edge of ferocity lurking in his eyes that made Jenna’s heart pound faster in her chest. “This is where you belong, Jenna. It’s where you’ve always belonged. With the Thunderhawks.”

  “But I’m not even a member,” Jenna shot back.

  “Only because women can’t be members of the MC, baby, you know that,” Gavin said, waving his hand as if to physically push her protests away. “But you’ve lived and breathed it for ten years. You can’t just walk away from that.”

  Jenna was tempted to say, Oh, yeah? Watch me. But instead she bit her tongue, trying to keep her composure to make sure this interaction ended as smoothly as possible.

  “Is it another MC? Is someone else trying to push up on our territory?” Gavin asked when she didn’t respond to his previous statement.

  Jenna shook her head. “No, you can relax. It’s just a bar. A regular old bar, like any other in the country. You don’t have to freak out about it. It only exists to make money. It’s what I need right now. There’s no place for me here. But there, I have a real chance.”

  “A chance for what?” Gavin asked.

  “To have a life. A real life, away from all of this,” Jenna said honestly, even though her voice came out low and soft, like she was still afraid of pissing him off. At least she could hold her head up high and say that she had told him the truth.

  Gavin’s shoulders became tense, and for a second Jenna’s entire body stiffened, awaiting the explosion of rage that was sure to come from Gavin’s mouth at any second—

  But then he just deflated, all at once, nodding slowly. “Okay. I get it. That makes sense, Jen. Good luck, all right?”

  He turned on his heel and headed back to his desk, sitting in his chair and pulling out a sheet of paper from the huge pile on his desk, bending over to read the print of whatever legal document he was perusing.

  “That’s it?” Jenna asked, feeling utter disbelief that Gavin would just let go of her that quickly. “That’s all you’re going to say?”

  “Yeah,” Gavin said with a half-shrug. “What else is there to say? You got to get out of here. I understand. I feel the same way sometimes. Congratulations on finding a way out.”

  Jenna struggled to come up with anything to say in response for several long moments, standing there in shock that Gavin apparently wasn’t pushing the issue any further. Finally, she mustered up the ability to mutter, “Well, thank you. Jesus, that means a lot to me, actually.”

  “No problem,” Gavin said without looking up from his paper, tapping his fingers on the desk.

  “I guess I’ll go find that girl you were with before and let her know that I’m finished with you,” Jenna said with a light chuckle, feeling a huge weight lifted off her shoulders, like she could move unencumbered for the first time in years.

  “Nah, don’t,” Gavin said, waving his hand dismissively. “I’m busy enough. I’ll deal with her later.”

  “All right, well, good luck with that,” Jenna said before turning on her heel and briskly walking out of his office, tearing through the bar before anybody else could call her over and trap her in this place.

  She was free. She’d done it. The long nightmare was finally over, and for the first time in over a decade she could actually relax. As she stepped out into the fresh air, she knew that this was what people meant when they said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” She always used to think that was a stupid platitude, but for now, she believed it. She was going to have her own life. She was going to be okay.

  # # #

  Gavin

  Gavin waited for several long moments after Jenna left the room, staying perfectly still, his eyes glued on the paper in front of him. When he thought he heard the distant sound of the front door slamming shut, presumably after Jenna exited the building, he stood up slowly and stared down at his messy desk for a second before sending all of the papers scattering across the room. “Goddammit!” he screamed, punching his desk so hard he put a fist-sized dent in the surface, breaking open the skin of his knuckles as a result.

  “Boss?” Elena, the girl who’d been giving him a blowjob earlier, walked into the room with her arms crossed, clearly terrified but still curious about what was going on. “Is something wrong?”

  “No, no, everything’s fucking perfect,” Gavin spat at her sarcastically. “Get out of my sight.”

  Elena quickly turned and ran out of the room, sniffling a little, probably crying like a little bitch just because he wasn’t nice to her. All these women around here were the fucking worst, always expecting him to love them and cater to them and fuck only them. That was the problem with Jenna, after all. If he had just kept his dick in his pants, maybe none of this would be happening, but fuck, that wasn’t really his fault, was it? He was the head of the MC. It was expected for him to fuck around with the various girls who came around here. God, Jenna was such a stupid bitch. Such a thoughtless, selfish little cunt, abandoning him like this. How could she do this to me? Gavin wondered silently, clenching his own fists against the desk, pressing his now-bruised knuckles into the hard surface. How could she leave me, and not even for another man? For some stupid bar that doesn’t even have an MC affiliated with it….

  Suddenly, an idea occurred to him, hitting him all at once.

  The bar was neutral territory, according to Jenna. That meant it was probably on the border between this town and its neighbor, where the Eagles reigned. What if there was some way Gavin could take control over the new bar, expanding his territory and giving him advantages over the drug trade in that area of town? Maybe he could even cut into the Eagles’ business or make them shrink up and hide, far from the border.

  Gavin liked that idea. He liked that idea a lot.

  He exhaled heavily, rubbing at his blo
ody knuckles to make the pain stop. It was okay, though. He was calm now. He knew what he was going to do. He was going to take over the new place in town, and Jenna would be the key to making it all happen.

  ***

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