RAW: THE ULTIMATE MC COLLECTION

by Palomino, Honey

  “I would love that, Ms. Daisy!” Rosie beamed at me, her gratefulness shining in her eyes.

  ****

  “Tutoring?”

  Mike was standing in the exact place Reaper had been yesterday, and I struggled to breathe, let alone get the words out coherently. I reminded myself that I was a professional, and if I could handle a class full of seven year-olds, I could just as easily handle Mike.

  But then he walked in. No, scratch that. He didn’t just walk in. He strutted in, and I swear I heard loud, pounding rock music in my head as I watched him slowly walk across the linoleum floor of my classroom at the end of the day.

  He was a few minutes late again, and by the time he arrived, it was just me and Rosie in the room.

  “I’m sorry I’m late again. I’m not always late,” he said, greeting me with yet another warm, enveloping handshake and a breathtaking smile.

  Every muscle in my body tightened as he held my hand for just a fraction too long, before once again, holding my gaze steadily. And once again, I couldn’t break away.

  Was it going to be like this? Was he really going to stride in here and steal the breath out of my lungs and the air from the room, practically putting a spell on me, every single time? If so, I didn’t know how in the hell I was going to be able to resist wrapping myself around him in every way possible.

  “Yes you are, Daddy,” Rosie said quietly, as she stood at his side, watching the two of us stare at each other.

  “What, honey?” he asked without breaking eye contact with me.

  “Late. You’re always late.” She said it simply and easily, with no trace of accusation or disappointment. She stated it as a simple fact.

  “Oh,” he said, finally glancing down at her quickly before looking at me again. “Yeah, she’s right.”

  We laughed at the same time and Rosie just shook her head at both of us.

  “Well, it’s good to know yourself, I guess,” I said to him. He was wearing his leathers again today, a black t-shirt tightly stretched across his chest under his patched vest, his arms bare, muscular and covered in tattoos. A snake wound around his huge bicep, and I glanced at it quickly before looking back into his smiling eyes.

  “Yeah, I guess it is,” he replied, his voice almost a whisper.

  Work, Daisy! You’re here to work!

  “Oh!” Yes, work. “I wanted to talk to you about Rosie.”

  Immediately his expression went from flirty to concerned.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Oh, no, nothing’s wrong. It’s just that she was struggling a little with her math skills earlier,” I said.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, and well, um…I wanted to offer some tutoring for her. It probably wouldn’t take long to get her up to speed, but I think she could benefit from a few one on one sessions.”

  “Oh, okay, alright.”

  His gaze was too intense and I looked away from him as I spoke. Unfortunately, I looked down and right at the huge bulge in the front of his pants. His jeans fit him like a second skin, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination.

  I looked away again quickly, my eyes darting around and trying to land on anything but another one of his amazing body parts.

  “Well, how do we go about doing that?” he asked.

  “Unfortunately, we can’t use the school after hours. I’d be happy to tutor her from my apartment, it’s not far from here. Or we could go to a coffee shop or something, if you are uncomfortable with that. I could do it right after school.”

  “I wanna go to your apartment, Ms. Daisy!” Rosie began jumping up and down excitedly.

  “Oh!” I said, laughing.

  Mike laughed at Rosie, and caught my eye once more.

  “I don’t have a problem with her coming to your place. I can just pick her up there afterward.”

  “Okay. We could start tomorrow if you want?” For a brief moment, I heard a nagging voice in the back of my head asking me what the hell was I doing inviting an outlaw biker to my house. “Should just take an hour or so.”

  I ignored it as I heard Mike’s deep rumbling voice agreeing and asking me to write down my address and phone number for him.

  “Yay!” Rosie was still jumping up and down excitedly. “I get to see Ms. Daisy’s apartment! And, Daddy, did you know that Ms. Daisy said math can be fun?”

  We both laughed at that.

  “Oh, did she now?” As I handed the slip of paper to Mike, his fingertips brushed mine and I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through me. “I think you’d better believe her then!”

  He slipped the paper into the inside pocket of his cut and winked at me. I melted inside, even though I stood there like a stuttering statue in front of him.

  “So…um…we’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  He leaned in close again as Rosie collected her things behind him and he whispered, “Thanks for being so nice to Rosie, Daisy. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

  His lips brushed my ear seductively as he pulled away from me.

  I nodded silently, trying to smile through the crushing feeling in my chest as they walked out of my classroom door.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  MIKE

  “Rosie, your breakfast is ready! Hurry up, or you’ll be late for school!”

  The sound of her footsteps bounding down the hall made me smile. When she rounded the corner of the kitchen, she flew into my arms and gave me a huge hug.

  “Good morning, daddy!”

  “Good morning, baby! You give the best hugs!” I said to her as I sat her back down on the kitchen floor.

  “Because I learned from the best!” she replied.

  “Who? Sandman?” I asked, teasingly.

  “No!” she erupted in a fit of giggles.

  “Reaper?” I asked again.

  She laughed louder, and just like every time before, the sound of her laughter was like medicine to my soul.

  “No, silly!”

  “Oh, okay, I got it! lil’ Mike!” I said.

  She rolled her eyes at me as she shook her head.

  “No, you! YOU taught me to give the best hugs! You are my daddy, after all!” Her pretend exasperation charmed me even more.

  “Oh! Me? Huh. Well, how about that?” I asked, as I sat her breakfast down on the kitchen table, in front of where she was now sitting.

  I leaned down and kissed her on the cheek as she began devouring her eggs and bacon, while lil’ Mike sat at her feet, intently watching for anything she might drop for him.

  Sometimes, it caught me off guard how much she looked like Rose. I gazed down at her, her face full of joy and innocence, and felt my heart swell with pride. I’d done a lot of bad things in my lifetime, but Rosie was turning out alright. I was proud of her, and I was proud to be her father.

  “Daddy, don’t forget I’m going for math tutoring at Ms. Daisy’s house this afternoon!”

  “I didn’t forget, sweetie. I’ll pick you up there at four o’clock. Make sure you are on your best behavior at her house, okay?”

  “Of course I will be, Daddy. I love Ms. Daisy. She’s the best teacher I’ve ever had!”

  I laughed.

  “She’s only the third teacher you’ve ever had, Rosie.”

  “Well, I know, but she’s a lot funnier and smarter than Ms. Star and Mr. Forester. And prettier.”

  “Oh, well, okay then, Rosie, whatever you say.”

  “She is pretty, don’t you think, Daddy?”

  “Ms. Daisy?” I asked, my heartbeat quickening as I said her name out loud. “Sure she’s okay, I guess.”

  Rosie laughed at my comment.

  “I know you think she’s pretty, Daddy.”

  “Oh, you do, huh? And how do you know that?” I asked. My daughter was way too observant.

  “I saw the way you smiled at her, that’s all. Don’t worry I won’t tell her.”

  I burst out laughing, and hustled her out the door to the bus stop before she could go on.

&
nbsp; “Get to school, missy! C’mon, I’ll walk you to the stop.”

  We walked hand in hand down the block to where the school bus was just pulling up to the corner. I kneeled down and looked into her pretty eyes. Rose’s eyes.

  “I love you, sweetheart. Have a great day and I’ll see you at four o’clock on the dot!”

  “Okay, Daddy. I love you, too!” She kissed me on the cheek. “Bye!”

  I watched her run away, her black curls bouncing around her head as she turned to wave one last time before climbing onto the bus.

  I sighed as I walked back to the house, turning my thoughts to the day’s events ahead of me. Or, rather I tried to think about the things I was supposed to think about. The club. The job coming up next week. The risk involved. What our plan would be should something go wrong. And what I was going to cook for dinner for Rosie later.

  But I couldn’t concentrate on any of those things, because my mind was completely preoccupied with thoughts of Daisy. She had been on my mind since the first moment I met her, and that was not a good thing. In fact, it was a terrible thing.

  She was Rosie’s teacher, dammit. I kept reminding myself of this fact, as if it was going to have some magic effect of turning off all thoughts of her. But that didn’t seem to matter one bit to my hardening cock. I kept thinking about the last time I saw her, the strap of her sundress threatening to fall off her sexy shoulder, the shy but determined way she insisted on meeting my gaze, the little blue flecks in her eyes when she did, the curled locks of her long wispy blonde hair falling around her shoulders like delicate feathers — and that smile. Those brief moments she stopped being shy, and flashed her smile at me, it was like a punch to the gut. Or, to the groin. Maybe both.

  I wasn’t quite ready to admit it was my heart she was punching.

  As far as I was concerned, that weathered thing was locked away tightly in a cage that had slammed shut when Rose died.

  I tried to banish the image of her from my mind as I drove to the clubhouse, but even the deafening roar of my bike couldn’t drive her away.

  After reaching the clubhouse, I spent my day helping Reaper work on his bike. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t quit commenting about meeting Daisy and how wholesomely hot she was.

  “A woman like that? I bet she’s a tiger in the sack! She’s all buttoned up and proper, and girls like that need a release, you know?”

  “Fuck, Reaper, would you just shut the fuck up?” I asked him finally. It was killing me hearing him talk about her like that.

  I should have just endured it, though, because the knowing look he gave me indicated that I had just stoked the fire.

  “Oh, look at that!” he teased. “Someone is a little defensive about Ms. Daisy, huh?”

  “Fuck you, dude. She’s Rosie’s teacher, I just think we should have a little respect.”

  He snorted and slapped his thigh.

  “What!” he roared. “Since when do you have respect for strange women? Especially if they aren’t in the room? You’d talk dirty about a nun if she was hot!”

  “Just shut up.” He was right. I was always the first one to exchange jeers and enjoy a little ‘boy talk’ about the ladies. But something about Daisy was different. When I thought about Reaper imagining what she was like in the sack, I cringed inside.

  Of course, that didn’t stop me from imagining what she would be like in my bed.

  “Alright, buddy, alright…” Reaper replied, thankfully relenting, but looking at me suspiciously as we finished up for the day.

  We were just washing up when my cell phone rang.

  “Fuck.” I said under my breath, when I saw who it was.

  “Everything okay, boss?” Reaper asked.

  “Yeah. I gotta take this. See you later, Reap.” I walked away from him and into my office, closing the door behind me before I answered the call.

  “Yeah?” I said as gruffly as I could.

  “Hey, big boy. Got a minute?” Detective Kelly Jones cooed on the end of the line.

  “Barely. What’s up?”

  Regret washed over me at the sound of her voice. I don’t think I had ever hated anyone more in my life. And yet I couldn’t shake her.

  Six months ago, one of our brothers had fucked up. Sandman had been pulled over with a gram of coke in his pocket, and taken to jail. When I showed up to bail him out, I was confronted by Kelly Jones. She took one look at me, and led me to a private room to ‘discuss the case’.

  When she first propositioned me, I laughed. But then I realized she was serious. If I fucked her, then Sandman walked, no charges. Easy, I thought. No problem. I bent her over the desk right there, and half an hour later, I walked out of the jail with a bewildered Sandman by my side. I never told him, or anyone for that matter, what I had done.

  I’d have taken a bullet for any one of my brothers, and at the time, it seemed like a much more pleasant experience than being shot. And Kelly was hot, so that first time didn’t seem so bad.

  But then she started digging into the club. She found out I was raising Rosie all on my own. She dug up as much petty shit she could on the club, prodded into the archives at the Sheriff’s office and drummed up as many rumors as she could find.

  The Gypsy Riders were excellent at not getting into too much trouble, despite the business we were in. We kept everything under wraps, did our best to take the least risks possible, and we were successful at not getting caught doing anything illegal. We kept our heads about us, stayed calm in stressful situations, and so far, our noses were fairly clean.

  Until Sandman got busted. But even that was minor. What I should have done was let him go through the system, and just deal with the minor repercussions of the charges. He probably wouldn’t have even done any time.

  But I didn’t. I was stupid. I bent Kelly over that desk and fucked her till she was shuddering in orgasm under me, and I don’t know why, but it made her hungry for more.

  She wasn’t digging into the club so she could bust us. She was digging into the club so she could blackmail me to keep fucking her. But once she figured out my weakness - Rosie - she didn’t really need to dig much more.

  The thing is, we did illegal shit, that was our life. That was our business, and what kept food on the table for our families. If we got busted, it would cause a lot of suffering for our families, and so we couldn’t risk it, and we couldn’t risk having some bitchy detective snooping around, either.

  But Kelly was relentless. Over and over, she threatened me.

  And every time, it started just like this. A phone call. I knew what she wanted, and it killed me that she knew I would give it to her, just to shut her up again.

  “Come to my office this afternoon at three.” That’s all she ever said. A time and a place.

  Each time, I tried to resist.

  “No.”

  “For fuck’s sake, Mike. Do we have to play this game again?”

  “I’m busy, Kelly. Why don’t you go find yourself a regular guy to fuck? You’re a decent looking woman, I’m sure you can find some guy who’s down on his luck that would fuck you.”

  “Thanks for the compliment…I think,” she said. “But I don’t want a regular guy, I want you. I like your cock. It fills me up nicely.”

  “So would a dildo.” I said, dryly.

  “Ha!” she replied sarcastically. “Aren’t you funny?”

  I groaned into the phone. God, I fucking hated this woman.

  “Just bring that sweet dick to my office at three. Or else. Don’t make me do something I don’t want to do, Mike.”

  The precinct wasn’t far from Rosie’s school, and I knew from previous meetings with her that it wouldn’t take long. As long as I left quickly, I would still be able to pick up Rosie from Daisy’s in time.

  I hung up the phone without saying another word to Kelly, feeling like I was cheating on Daisy. Which was ridiculous, because I hadn’t even had a chance to kiss her yet.

  I shook my head in confusion.

  What
the fuck was I thinking? There would be no kissing Daisy. And for reasons exactly like this. I had no business getting involved with any woman, especially considering the mess my life was.

  I needed to find a way out of this situation with Kelly, but in the meantime, I found myself on the back of my bike, trying once again to drown out the shame of what I was about to do.

  It never helped.

  When I reached the precinct, Kelly met me at the door.

  “Oh, hello, Mr. Montgomery. I’ve been expecting you. Please, let’s go into my office.”

  The guards watched us as I followed her silently. The less I said to this woman, the better.

  I was here on business. I would just fuck her and leave as quickly as possible.

  Or, so I thought. Kelly had other plans.

  “I was thinking today,” she said as she sat behind her desk. “I think that you and I need to take things to another level, Mike.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” I growled.

  “Well, you come in here, all sexy and angry, and you hate fuck me like I’m some stinky whore that you can’t wait to wash off of you. You don’t think I’m a stinky whore, do you, Mike?”

  “No comment,” I replied sullenly.

  “Now, see? That’s just what I mean. You aren’t very nice to me. And that’s what I don’t like, Mike. I want to feel like I’m getting…what I need…out of this situation.”

  “Now we’re going to talk about your fucking needs, woman?”

  She laughed, gazing at me calmly from behind her desk.

  “Calm down. And yes. You need your club to stay under the radar, right? You need us to look the other way sometimes, right?”

  “Get to the point, Detective.”

  “I am. The thing is, my needs have changed a little, Mike.”