Devil Seeker

by Clare Power

  Bottom line, Backfire and the club withheld important shit from me that was about me. Don’t they see what keeping this from me has done? If I would have known any of this, I would have been more watchful and I certainly would not have gone to that meeting alone. These guys are obviously not afraid of the Cycle Devils if they kidnapped me, even though they didn’t do a very good job. But if they did, where would I be now? I was lucky they did a shit job of it, that’s for sure.

  Can I trust him after this?

  Can I be with a man I don’t trust?

  I need chocolate, but only the English stuff will do.

  I’m so pissed at myself for putting aside my ideals because I wanted Backfire, and even after everything that’s happened, I still do.

  Backfire

  Shades and I are still outside Kat’s house when she gets home. We made sure it was secure last night. Since her house keys are gone, we had to get new locks on her doors. We also dealt with her burned out car as best we could without her and now there is a loaner in the driveway for her in case she needs it. I can’t believe how hard it is to face her now after last night. An omission on my part caused her to suffer, and things could have been so much worse. She has every right to be pissed, and I have no clue as to how the fuck to make it up to her.

  Amber drops her off on her way to work. Kat looks rough, shattered even. It’s obvious she sees us but she’s trying to ignore us. I feel like I’ve been kicked in the gut. I want this woman with every fiber of my being, and now I fucked up so bad, she won’t even acknowledge me standing here. I just want to make this shit right.

  Kat

  Backfire is waiting for me. He’s obviously been working at fixing things because I now have a car sitting in the drive and I know he has checked the house and changed the locks because I see a new door handle.

  What the hell do I say to him?

  I decide to look at him and I can tell that he is just as unhappy as I am. He’s holding himself in check, leaving the decision of breaking our silence up to me.

  I don’t waste any time thinking about it. I run into his arms and he wraps himself around me. My anger diffuses once I feel his warm and tight embrace, telling me he feels just as I do. We don’t speak. We just stand here, taking comfort in each other.

  Eventually we draw apart. He takes my hand, leads me to the door and produces a new key to the new lock.

  “We had to have all your locks changed.”

  I nod my head in understanding, too tired to do anything else. I hear a Harley start up and turn to wave at Shades as he leaves us alone.

  “Are you hungry?” I ask.

  He shakes his head, “All I want to do is go to bed.” He stands there silent for a moment, looking at the floor like he’s trying to find a way to say what is on his mind, “It’s my fuckin’ fault,” he mutters, looking me straight in the eyes. “I didn’t realize there was a threat to you and you got hurt ‘cause of me. I don’t feel like sorry is even a strong enough word for what I want to say. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but please, just let me hang with you until everything is sorted then I’ll fuckin’ go and leave your life in peace. I don’t want to lose you, babe, but I just want to stay for now to keep you safe.”

  Shit. I am still seriously pissed about the whole situation, but when a strong, proud man like Backfire bares his heart and soul to you, you’d be one hell of a stupid woman to hold things against him. I don’t want to be stupid, so I reach out to him and settle my head under his chin. After a second, I feel him wrap his arms around me and feel him repeatedly swallow. Maybe it’s tears, but I don’t need to know. We stand together for a timeless moment soaking each other in.

  “Alright then,” he says as he begins to pull me with him to the bedroom. “Shower?” he asks. I nod and he begins to strip off his clothes. He then comes to me and does the same, taking care of me. Once we make our way into the bathroom, he starts the water and waits for it to reach the perfect temperature before we both make our way inside the stall. We’re still quiet, but we both start to relax as the hot water seeps into our tired muscles.

  We wash each other. The feel of his skin under my hands and his hands soothing my body relaxes me further. There is no doubt in my mind that this man’s comfort is what I need now. We can sort the details out later.

  We dry each other after the shower and go straight to the bed where he slowly begins to kiss me. In that moment, I understand that this man is more to me than principles, which are all very well, but they don’t keep you company and warm at night. I bite back my problems until later when we can have a proper talk and allow myself to wallow in the comfort that he is offering, like a warm blanket on a cold night.

  Backfire

  Things aren’t as bad as I thought with Kat, and I thank fuck for that. I feel her relax into me and it feels like a wall breaks down between us. It’s fuckin’ fantastic.

  This time, all I want is for Kat and me to connect even more. There is something between us already and I want to reinforce that; make it stronger. I want her and I’m about to make sure I’ve branded myself onto her, inside and out. I don’t want to fuck her or be rough, but what I want to do is make love to her to prove that she’s mine.

  I take control of her mouth and kiss her ‘til she’s breathless, all the while my hands are squeezing her tits and rolling her nipples between my fingers. I’m touching her everywhere from her face, her stomach, her ass―wrapping her legs around my waist, rubbing my cock along her clit while I begin sucking her tits, making her moan and pant out my name.

  I can feel her nipples harden so I begin to suck harder, adding little bites and harder pulls. At this point she’s gasping, begging me to take her so I put her on her back and with one smooth thrust, I’m in so deep my balls smack her ass. Since getting our tests taken care of, I love that I get to take her bare; no more condoms. It’s just me, her, and nothing in between. I don’t go slow and I don’t go fast, but I go deep. I’m claiming her as mine. She needs to get this. With every stroke, she rocks back against me. I watch her body as she moves with mine and it’s fuckin’ hot as hell. It doesn’t take long before she’s screaming with her release and I come the minute her walls tighten around me. We continue to move even after we’re spent. I want to stay inside her like this forever, so I keep going ‘til I’m hard again, making her come for me over and over while giving it to her slow, then rough. I’m not even close to being done claiming her, so we’re both looking at a very long morning.

  Chapter 14

  Gun Culture

  Kat

  Backfire and I had crashed after a morning of extreme sex. There is no other way to describe it. When we both had come multiple times, we curled up together and he wrapped his arms around me. Safe in his arms, I fell asleep.

  We get up at midday, and as I begin making brunch, he comes in behind me.

  “Babe, not to ruin the mood or anything, but I need to ask you if you have a license to carry a concealed handgun?”

  “I have no idea how to use a gun.” I answer him.

  “What?” he appears shocked. I giggle. Americans are so used to their gun culture. The idea that other societies don’t have guns sometimes shocks them. “You don’t own a gun?”

  “Nope. I never could afford the expense of joining a gun club, and that’s the only way to use a handgun in England. It’s illegal to own them and even if you did, the hoops you’d have to jump through didn’t seem worth it. Actually, it’s never even occurred to me to get a gun. I’ve only occasionally thought about learning to use one when I saw shooting competitions at big sporting events on the telly.”

  “Then why don’t you and I go to the shooting range this weekend as a bit of an introduction.”

  “Like a date?” I ask.

  Grinning, he just shakes his head at me, “After what happened yesterday, I want to increase security around you and my brothers agree. At least one of us will be with you at all times, and this weekend I will be your personal bodyguard. That m
eans you’ve got me day and night, babe.”

  “I’m sure I’ll cope with this impending disaster,” I giggle and push myself into his arms. “So tell me,” I say hoping to catch him a little off guard, “whose brilliant idea was it to not tell me all the relevant information about the Fishie Man?”

  Backfire

  “I honestly don’t think it was a decision to tell you or not. It just never occurred to me ‘cause I assumed it was handled. Looking back now, I can see that was wrong. At the time, I just thought I was protecting you. It was Bob Fish that was reporting you to the cops. We had a little chat with him and there was no more issues, so I just thought the matter was done, even though we thought there was also a strong connection between Fish and the association trying to buy up that whole industrial park.”

  She is quiet while she digests what I have to say.

  “I fucked up, babe. I didn’t realize there was a physical threat to you. I thought everything had been sorted out.” I can’t express how I feel that my actions caused her to suffer. “I don’t want anything else to happen to you.” At this she raises her hand to touch my cheek and buries herself even more into my arms. Fuck, I’ll take it.

  Chapter 15

  Like in the Movies…

  Kat

  Once evening arrives, we head out to the clubhouse together. I had thought about going on the back of his bike, not his custom, which is a hardtail, but his ‘everyday’ bike, which is a standard Harley with a pillion seat (a ‘bitch pad’, he calls it), but my stupid legs hurt from all the exercise yesterday. I had given up proper Tae Kwon Do training because of my ankle, but it seems years of drill work up and down the hall, repeating kick after kick had stuck in my muscle memory. It turned out to be a really useful skill to have, but it doesn’t feel that way today.

  The only problem with going on the back of his bike is that the leg position looks even more uncomfortable than riding my own. I know I can hold it up so I suck it up, get on my bike and ride.

  When we get to the clubhouse, Backfire backs his bike in with the other members’ bikes and I put mine in the visitor area. Both areas are covered with cameras and are within the gates. I hop off and join him as he takes me by the hand and leads me inside.

  I really don’t think that Backfire is a hand holding type of guy most of the time, so I figure he’s making a point and sure enough, as soon as we get inside, heads turn to stare at us. Some of the guys I’ve met snigger and smirk, while others, who are still strangers to me, look shocked.

  We head to Ace as he beckons us over.

  “How you doing, Kat?” he asks.

  “Pretty good. Just have some aches and pains from so much walking and kicking. I’m not as fit as I could be.”

  “Backfire’s not been giving you a workout program?” Shades smirks before he gets Backfire’s fist in his gut. Not for the first time, apparently. It seems he’ll never learn.

  “Different muscles,” I say innocently back to him. Backfire wraps an arm around me and I lean back into him, making it obvious to all that his claiming is not one sided. He gives me a quick squeeze.

  “You two good?” Ace asks.

  Backfire answers, “Yeah. It’s official. Everyone, meet my old lady.”

  I can accept this term. It’s just one of those expressions that have found its way into biker culture and it is what it is, just a different form of saying girlfriend and boyfriend. I even accept that there may someday be a property patch coming my way, but what I am not, nor will I ever be, is owned. I accept the protection that Backfire and his brothers are offering with the term, but that’s it. Lori went over it with me at Girl’s Night In, and since I’ve never been to a huge multi-club run or party in America before, I’m willing to give things a go. There is no point in ignoring a practice that has gone on for so long, and even recommended by the only lady biker I know here. I’ll see what happens. With everything else that’s happening at the moment, it’s not like I want to do anything that would mess with our growing relationship. We have enough problems as it is, but hell, when a big strong man like Backfire shows you his soul, it’s worth the risk to me.

  “So are you ready to tell us what happened to you? Can you tell all of us?” Ace asks. I smile at him and nod.

  “We’ll go out to the back garage,” he decides, “It’s private enough there.”

  Whilst Ace leads the way, I follow Backfire, Trash, and Shades who are on either side of me. Way to make a girl feel protected.

  The garage actually has bikes and tools in it, but also a beer fridge and a load of chairs. I personally think the sofas are overkill, but whatever makes them happy. There are prospects in sight surrounding the building, keeping others out. I sit down on a bar stool as Backfire goes to the fridge, pulling out two Diet Cokes. It didn’t take him long to learn what I like. Passing me one, he leans on the wall to my side while Ace is on my other. Sugar and spice!

  “For those of you who don’t know, this is Kat, and Kat belongs to Backfire,” Ace begins. “Kat’s planning to open a business here as a custom painter and has opened up a shit storm of trouble. Trash has found out that a group of businessmen are trying to buy up all the available business land in the area and Kat put in for a unit, screwing up their plans and putting her in their sights. A bent council member was reporting Kat to the Police all the time for petty shit. That harassment came back on them when the Tinman and Kat, and I imagine Backfire, decided they want to work with each other, so I authorized that we put in for all the available units on that estate. Someone had just withdrawn from a unit big enough for Tinman; can’t imagine why that was. Backfire and Shades had words with the Councilman. The bummer is that instead of all this deflecting attention from Kat, it seems to have focused it more on her and yesterday they kidnapped her. Now I’ll let her tell you the story from there.”

  I take a deep breath and glance at Backfire. Taking a moment’s strength from him, I face a room full of thirty-odd pissed off bikers.

  “I didn’t know there was a problem so when a councilman asked to meet me at the unit, I didn’t know anything was off,” I begin, “So I went along. I met him and the next thing I knew, I was grabbed from behind and rendered unconscious by some type of chemical… I imagine it was chloroform. Anyway, I came to in an empty house full of huge bugs. I wasn’t tied up or anything. I think the bugs must have weakened the place because it was relatively simple to kick out the door to the room. The boards on the windows were rotten so I kicked through those too. Then I was free and simply walked away.”

  “How could you kick through things so easily?” a man I don’t know asks in respectful tone.

  “I did Tae Kwon Do for years and years,” I said. “I was good at destruction against breaking boards.”

  “So you walked?” Sock asks.

  “I walked until I started to know where I was. I didn’t want to knock on people’s doors in case it was the Bugmen’s home. Once I knew where I was, I didn’t want to go anywhere obvious like here or home, so I went to my mate Amber’s and called Backfire from there. That’s it, really.” I’m so nervous by the end that I drink the entire can of pop that Backfire handed me earlier.

  “Get yourself another one,” Ace says, “Then go into the clubhouse and find the girls. Stay there while we have a few words out here. Rusty will go with you.” I touch Backfire lightly on the leg as I leave before Ace calls over a redheaded prospect to walk with me.

  As we get to the front of the clubhouse, there is a succession of small bangs and Rusty pushes me to the ground, covering me with his body. I watch in shock as the ground seems to explode with little eruptions as the bullets hit, just like in the movies. Thankfully they miss Rusty and me.

  Gunfire?

  REALLY????

  What is going on?

  Chapter 16

  The Ride Begins

  Backfire

  The sound of gunfire galvanizes us into fuckin’ action. We run off in the directions we’ve been allocated, to defend different
areas of the clubhouse. I rush around to the front and see Rusty rolling off Kat. The bastards have targeted my girl again, and they’re all gonna pay for this.

  I pull her up into my arms and begin to carry her. Several other brothers cover the front so that Brewer and I can move to take Kat and Rusty to the relative safety of the back of the building where the walls of the various neighboring structures hide us from sight.

  Once there, we check them for injuries. Brewer is talking to Rusty, trying to find out what happened while I just hold Kat. My girl is strong, but she’s had so much happen to her in such a short space of time that it’s obvious she’s shaken up.

  Ace comes up to me and says “Pack for a week, maybe two, then wait for me in the garage.”

  He turns to Kat, “What size clothes are you? I need you to have enough clothes too. I don’t want you to go back to your house so is there anything there you can’t live without? Medications, maybe?”

  “No. I have nothing I’m desperate for at home.” Then she pauses for a second to think and says, “Is it safe to go to my bike? Can you give me a minute to check it? I might not need anything.”

  “What do you need?” Ace asks.

  “My saddlebags,” she says. “I keep spare clothes there. I got into the habit with the rain in England and never thought to change it.”

  Ace indicates for Shades to get the bags for her. He jogs back with them.

  “Thank you so much,” she says as she tips the contents onto a picnic table. She pulls out two pairs of shorts, socks, a pair of jeans, chaps, vest tops and a hoodie. Add to that a couple of makeup bags, waterproofs, and a hat. What is it about women that they need all this shit with them? Kat gives me the evil eye as if guessing what I’m thinking.