RAW: THE ULTIMATE MC COLLECTION

by Palomino, Honey

  But it just made me feel that much worse that we would soon be sending Lacey off into the world by herself. Sure, Grace had all sorts of support networks in place, but it wasn’t the same as every day companionship.

  After the usual partying had died down, hours after Lacey had gone to her room, I drunkenly retreated to my own room, refusing Slade’s constant provoking and prodding as he tried to goad me into fighting him again. I had no desire to do that tonight, even though it often made me feel better to pummel his smug face into submission.

  But not tonight, no. I laid in bed, my mind swimming from the intoxicating effects of the whiskey I had consumed, but even more so, the lips I had consumed earlier. The pain in Lacey’s eyes afterwards haunted me for hours as I tossed and turned, unable to get to sleep, the liquor failing miserably in doing its job.

  Finally, I got up and rolled a joint. I walked out to the porch for some fresh air, and lit it. Right away, the big swoosh of white wings caught my eye and I turned to the left to see Oliver and Olivia sitting there blinking their big yellow eyes at me.

  “Hey there. You two can’t sleep either?” I laughed at my own joke. “I guess this is lunch time for you.”

  I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but I loved these two owls. Many a night they kept me company - either here or at the river while I worked out. I was glad when Olivia starting showing up with Oliver. I was beginning to worry about the little bastard, and it was nice to see he had found a mate.

  “Shouldn’t you two be out hunting for squirrels or torturing crows or something?” I asked them.

  They blinked at me silently, the slight breeze blowing the edges of their feathers lightly. Oliver puffed up, his white wings raising slightly behind him as he began his usual nightly song. It was a deep cooing sound, the who-who-whoing at the end always louder than the beginning. I loved it and when Olivia joined in with him, I smiled.

  “You two should have your own Broadway musical or something.” I inhaled deeply, the thick smoke doing its job of relaxing me. I looked out at the trees swaying in the wind above me. I loved it here - this clubhouse, my brothers. I had even grown to love Grace and the work I did with her. But damn, if it wasn’t a hard existence.

  Sometimes, I wondered where I would be if I hadn’t killed that guy in the ring. If I had just stayed on the path I had so methodically laid out for myself when I was younger. If I would have found a wife, had a family, a dog or two.

  I sighed, letting all the frustrations slide away into the night. I was here now. No sense in wasting time wondering ‘what if’. I had to accept my life as it was now, and all the twists and turns along the way that led me here.

  They say all that stuff only serves to make you stronger, but seems to me it’s only made me tired and weary and skeptical about life in general. And if I weren’t any of those things, then maybe I wouldn’t feel like such a dick for letting my thoughts about Lacey progress to anything except wanting to help her. But I did. I felt like the biggest asshole in the world.

  All these fantasies that I couldn’t shake, of wanting to kiss her again, to touch her, to press her naked skin against me and show her how a real man makes love, with nothing but his woman’s pleasure on his mind…she didn’t need those things from me, I knew that, but damn if I didn’t want to give them to her anyway.

  She needed a friend. Not another fucking asshole to want her for just her body.

  Lost in thought, I didn’t hear the door open behind me. Oliver and Olivia didn’t seem to feel the need to warn me, either, so when I felt a soft hand on my shoulder, I jumped ten feet in the air.

  “I’m so sorry!” I turned to see Lacey’s eyes, the eyes that had been haunting me all fucking night, staring at me.

  “That’s cool, that’s cool,” I said, trying to brush it off and regain some sense of composure. “I just didn’t hear you.”

  “I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

  “Me, either. Here have a seat,” I said, sitting back down on the porch steps.

  She sat down slowly, her gaze turning to the owls.

  “They’re back,” she said.

  “Yeah, I guess they don’t have anything better to do than hang out with a bunch of derelicts.”

  “Maybe they like you,” she said.

  I scoffed.

  “Maybe. And maybe they’re crazy.”

  “I like you.” She said it so quietly, I almost didn’t hear her. My heart skipped a beat, and I remembered what I had just been thinking about.

  “I like you, too, Lacey,” I looked in her gorgeous eyes, trying not to lose my mind. “Listen, I owe you a huge apology.”

  “For what?” she asked.

  “For kissing you earlier…I shouldn’t have done that. I know the last thing you need is some asshole all over you like that. It won’t happen again, I promise.” That last sentence seemed to stab me right in the gut as the words formed on my lips.

  She didn’t reply for a while, her eyes full of confusion and sadness. As if I couldn’t feel even worse.

  “But,” she finally said, “I kissed you. I’ve never done that before.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve never kissed anyone before. Not you know…willingly…like that. And that’s what I was thinking at the time. Your hand felt so nice in mine. And I’d never done that before, either,” she shifted her eyes down shyly. “There’s a lot I haven’t done. I never had a boyfriend, or a normal life. I’ve never gone on a real date, let alone kissed someone that I wanted to. I missed so much, Riot. And so that’s why I kissed you. I wanted to know what it felt like.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah,” she said, looking at me again, a smile spreading across her face.

  “So? What did you think?” I asked, suddenly becoming aware of the warmth of her body pressed against mine. The steps were narrow and we were squeezed between the railings.

  “I liked it,” she said. “A lot.”

  Her eyes stayed locked with mine. I nodded silently, and watched as she licked her luscious pink lips, her eyes darting down to my lips and then back up at my eyes. The universal ‘kiss me’ sign.

  Fuck it, I thought, throwing all caution to the wind and reaching down to lift her chin and kiss her again, gently this time, without all the unruly passion of earlier, I brushed my lips against hers, cradling her face in my hands as her mouth opened to mine welcomingly.

  She softened under my touch, her lips yielding, kissing me back just as softly, slowly, and gently. Time stopped around us, the owls flew away, and the trees gently swayed overhead, the moon shining her bright light down on us. I pulled her into my arms, kissing her deeper but still gently, until she was whimpering in my arms.

  My cock throbbed between us, but I knew, without a doubt, this was no time to go there. I willed myself to ignore it. I had to go slow, even if I probably shouldn’t be ‘going’ at all.

  But fuck, if kissing her wasn’t the most enjoyable thing I had done in years. I was determined not to let my brain, or my impatient cock, get ahead of me.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Lacey

  I woke up to the sound of a woodpecker knocking on a tree outside my window. The misty morning sunlight streamed in the windows and I stretched my arms over my head. A smile was already spread across my face, and I could still feel Riot’s kisses on my swollen lips.

  We had kissed for hours on the steps last night. It had been absolutely magical. I had never felt anything like that before, and I had gotten lost in the tenderness of his touch.

  How could such a gruff bear of a man be so gentle? It was an attractive contrast, I had to admit. He was so tall, so broad, his beard and tattoos and the sheer size of him, just screamed masculinity and intimidation. And yet, he was nothing like that. He was kind, gentle, and sexy as hell. And, apparently, as indicated by the way he kissed me by the creek, he was suppressing a fiery passion that he had somehow managed to control while we were on the porch.

  Part of me was wishing he would unlea
sh that fury on me again, and take me to his room, but he hadn’t. He had been nothing but tender and sweet. That was just fine, though.

  We had plenty of time. And if I had any say in it, I would find a way to pull that out of him again. It had felt amazing, knowing someone wanted me like that. And I wanted a lot more of it.

  I showered, dressed and went out into the kitchen. I was starved, and so thankful when the smell of bacon assaulted my senses.

  Riot, Doc and Ryder were sitting at the kitchen table while Cherry loaded plates with eggs, bacon and biscuits.

  “Good morning!” I said to everyone and no one in particular, all at the same time. Riot caught my eye, nodded and winked at me, and I felt a twinge of excitement shoot through me.

  “Hi, there, Lacey darlin’! I hope you’re hungry, there’s enough bacon here to feed an army!” Cherry said.

  “I’m starved! Thank you!” I replied gratefully.

  “How’d you sleep?” Riot asked, a twinkle of mischievousness in his eye, as if we had a shared secret.

  “Well, it took me a little while to actually get to sleep, but once I did, I slept like a baby.” I smiled warmly at him. I saw Slade and Doc look at each other suspiciously, but Riot ignored them, so I did, too.

  Cherry poured me a cup of coffee, and I sat at the table with the Gods. As soon as she put the food on the table, they dug in like ravenous bears. I tried not to laugh, but it was so good to see them eat like real men. I had never been around men like this, and it was such a refreshing change from Monty and his friends, with their feminine, smooth, businessmen hands and their bird-like diets.

  I ate with a newly found gusto myself. Now that Monty wasn’t monitoring every morsel of food that went in my mouth, I had found I liked the feeling of being stuffed so full of food that my belly protruded a little. It felt good not to have to think about pleasing Monty.

  You killed Monty, that voice returned. But it was quieter this time, and instead of feeling a thick lump in my throat at the reminder of what I had done, I tasted that sweet taste of freedom again. My heart fluttered with happiness as I stared across the table at my rescuers, at Riot, and I was overcome with a surge of gratitude.

  “Hey guys, I just wanted to thank you all again…for everything,” I said, as Cherry removed our plates. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I don’t know what I would have done…” My eyes filled with tears as my voice trailed off.

  “You’re welcome, Lacey,” Ryder said. “We’re happy to help. Everything’s coming along just fine so far. We should have you out of here and off to starting your new life before too long.”

  “You guys are too wonderful. I owe you.”

  “You don’t owe us a thing,” Riot said, smiling across the table at me.

  “Well,” I replied, “someday, somehow, I’ll repay the favor.”

  “Well, you don’t worry about that. Right now, you just need to concentrate on recovering and enjoying the, well…the somewhat…peace and quiet here, until it’s safe for you to leave.”

  “I will, thank you,” I said.

  “So, how about another boxing lesson today?” Riot said. Ryder and Doc looked at him in questioningly. “We walked down to the creek yesterday and she saw my bag,” he explained, shrugging.

  “I’d love that!” I replied, a little too enthusiastically. I welcomed another opportunity to spend time with Riot alone.

  “Okay, cool, we can go as soon as you’re ready,” he said. He turned to Ryder. “Unless you need me for something this morning?”

  “Nope.” Ryder was a man of few words, but his eyes spoke volumes as he looked at Riot. A silent warning passed between them, and Riot nodded as we stood up and walked outside together.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Riot

  My knuckles cracked as I made contact with Slade’s jaw. He had been pestering me for days for another round, and after spending hours in close contact with Lacey alone in the woods while I was teaching her to punch the bag, I needed desperately to work out some physical frustrations. My cock had throbbed painfully all day and I was proud that I had been able to control myself. It was getting harder and harder to continue my gentlemanly ways around her.

  She was opening up now, the hardness now just a faint flicker in her eyes, as she let her personality slowly emerge in the woods that day, smiling, joking around, and even flirting with me subtly. She was so beautiful when she smiled that it hurt me to look at her, but I endured it, because the pleasure quickly outweighed the pain.

  I hadn’t kissed her all day, waiting to let her make the first move, but she didn’t. The last thing I wanted to do was come on too strong again, and scare her away. She was fragile, and despite the comfort that seemed to be settling over her, I knew she needed to do all of this on her own terms - whatever ‘this’ was.

  I tried to keep a tight reign on not just my cock, but also my racing thoughts. If I let them run away too far, I found myself imagining a future with Lacey, and I knew I was kidding myself about that.

  The last thing that woman needed was a life in the MC world. She needed to start over and finally have a normal life, filled with all the love and happiness I was sure she would find outside of this secluded forest we lived in.

  So, I spent the day with her, focused on teaching her to punch the bag and making her laugh. The sound of her bubbling laughter was like music to my ears, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Finally, though, after hours of enjoying her, it got to be too much, and I knew I needed a break if I intended to keep my promise to myself not to rip her clothes off and take her right there beside the creek.

  We went back to the clubhouse and she hung out with Grace for awhile before dinner. Afterwards, she retreated to her room and I didn’t see her again all evening.

  Slade jumped around in front of me, and the Gods began forming a circle around us, chanting and cheering, their bottles in their hands as they got drunker and drunker as the night wore on.

  My hand snaked out, making contact with Slade’s right cheek, snapping his head around violently. If it weren’t for the bloody smile that spread across his face when he looked back at me, I would have thought I had hurt him. But Slade never seemed to get hurt, and if he did, well I’d never seen anyone enjoy pain that much. Except for me. But that was a long, long time ago. These days, I didn’t get as much pleasure from it as I used to.

  That was the way it goes, I guess.

  Getting older changed you, settled you, made you seek out comfort instead of adventure and hell-raising.

  I was thinking too much, though. Slade snuck a punch in, and I didn’t duck in time, and his fist caught the side of my jaw, whipping my head to the side as the crowd cheered. I stumbled, landing on my ass in the dirt. I looked up as Slade danced around me, the smug grin returning to his ugly face. I shook it off and stood back up, remembering the words of my coach so long ago.

  “I can teach you to fight, but I can’t teach you how to get up,” he told me. And he was right. After killing that guy in the ring, I never learned to get back up myself.

  Normally, this is where I would stumble again, and pretend that Slade had gotten the best of me. I loved that goofy dude, and he pouted like a school girl when he lost. But not this time. He was in for a surprise, because I had way too much pent up frustration inside of me tonight, and I had no other outlet except for his self-satisfied mug. Fighting with Slade was the only fighting I really allowed myself to do. I’d never step into the ring again.

  I pushed him, provoking him to try to hit me again, which worked. He was so predictable. His right fist shot out, and I ducked under it this time, hooking him just under the chin, sending him flying backwards and landing with a thump on the ground, knocking him dizzy.

  I heard a startled gasp behind me, and turned just in time to see Lacey’s wide eyes filled with fear and confusion, before she ran away from the group.

  “Fuck!” I pushed through the crowd and followed Lacey as she ran into the clubhouse and down the hallway that
led to her bedroom. A loud bang rang through the clubhouse as she slammed the door. I stopped short, taking a deep breath and knocking lightly on the door.

  The crowd outside had streamed in after us, and I felt the curious gaze of a dozen pairs of eyes drilling into my back.

  “Lacey, open up.” I whispered. “Please?”

  I listened at the door, my mind racing, trying to assess the situation as fast as I could. Why was she so upset? I knocked again.

  “Lacey, come on…”

  Slowly the door opened, and her face peeked through the crack, streaked with tears.

  “Can I come in? Please?”

  She nodded, and opened the door, letting me through. I turned to close it behind me, and saw all those eyes still watching.

  “Go away, you nosey fucks!” I seethed, before slamming the door.

  I turned to see Lacey staring at me. She looked almost afraid, and it killed me to see the tears on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “What do you mean, what’s wrong? You were fighting. With Slade. Why would you hurt him like that?”

  “What? Lacey, he likes it…I mean, it’s just something we do…when we want…oh, fuck, look it doesn’t mean anything at all.”

  “I just don’t understand how you could pummel your friend like that…” her voice trailed off and she turned away from me defensively, breaking my heart when I realized she was afraid of me.

  “Lacey, listen, babe. Slade and I go way back. He’s my best friend. We fight each other all the time. We do it for fun, not because we are trying to hurt each other.”

  “That makes no sense to me.”

  “I can see how it wouldn’t. People out of the life don’t understand. Slade and I use it as an outlet for frustration…it’s not real. The other Gods think it’s entertaining. It looks a lot worse than it is. I would never hurt him seriously, and he wouldn’t hurt me either.”