MINE: Fury Riders MC

by Sophia Gray

  And because he’s got a cute butt, I thought, eyeing the body part in question. He looked great in jeans.

  We were silent as we trekked through the snow. I felt soaked before we even reached the car and it made me dread how I’d feel once we got to the damn road. I knew it was a ways away still. The drive down to this little resort area hadn’t been too long in all fairness, but I’d also been driving. That was going to make a walking version of that trip a hell of a lot longer. But I’d suffer through it. Didn’t have much choice now.

  I watched Ciaran moving ahead of me. I was trying not to watch him while at the same time acknowledging that I could watch him in the open without him feeling cocky about it. His hair looked thick and a little gritty, tossed wildly about his head as though he just didn’t care about it. I wasn’t sure if that was just because we’d done barely more than rinse off or if he was just that cavalier about his hair. Either way, I admitted it looked good.

  All of him looked good. His wide shoulders and his large biceps. The way his chest was almost carved as though from stone, then tapered down slowly to his trim waist. The way his jeans hung just a little low on his hips. And of course his butt looked good. Better than good.

  I hoped he didn’t look back at me just then, because I was sure my face was flushed, my mind dropping to the gutter like rain water. I was thinking of the kinds of things a body like that could do to a woman like me. Sure, I didn’t want to just throw myself into bed with what amounted to just shy of a complete stranger, but I was also a woman. I had needs and wants and all kinds of things. And sometimes reason just didn’t factor into things like attraction.

  But I’m not so stupid as to let it control me, I thought firmly. No matter how cute his butt is.

  We made it past the office building quickly and started walking along the road towards the highway. At least, I thought we were walking on the road. While I was pretty sure Ciaran was right and they would have cleared the main roads, this one was clearly a mostly unused one. Likely it wasn’t maintained by the state and thus it was up to whoever owned this place to keep the roads clear. And since they weren’t here, it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

  Which meant we were sloshing through heavy banks of snow, guessing by the way the trees grew to either side of it, where the road was. It was a miserable experience and I was shivering in my coats by the end of it. The only way I could even tell that Ciaran was cold was that he blew hot breath onto his hands a couple of times to warm them.

  As we pushed forward, I decided conversation might keep my mind off of how cold my toes were. “What do you do, Ciaran?” I asked. I’d mentioned my desire to be a singer, my struggling career. It seemed like a safe topic.

  He didn’t answer me, didn’t even glance back, and I thought maybe he hadn’t heard me. I was about to ask him again in a little bit louder voice when he called back, “Mostly I manage a parts shop.”

  “That’s interesting,” I commented. Though I had little interest in cars myself, I appreciated them and the skill involved with working on them. “You said you have a motorcycle. Do you focus on that?”

  He glanced back at me then, just barely, and seemed hesitant to continue with this line of questioning.

  Odd. I would think this would be the safest kind of conversation.

  “Yeah,” he said simply.

  Frowning, I wondered where else to go with this. I didn’t want to stop talking, because then I’d focus on the cold again. I was tired of the cold already and it looked like we still had a ways to walk. “Um, is that why you’re in such a hurry to get back? This shop of yours?”

  “Maybe I just don’t like the company,” he shot back at me.

  My eyes widened and I couldn’t deny the hurt that suddenly and a little unreasonably welled up in my chest. I stopped walking. He didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he just didn’t care. What is with this guy? I wondered angrily. One moment he was all about getting me out of my clothes and the next he’s just sick and tired of me. What about all that cuddling? Was that really and truly just for warmth?

  No way, I thought. When he’d gotten a half dozen paces ahead of me he finally realized I wasn’t behind him. He turned and looked back at me. “Are you coming?”

  I pursed my lips together, because his voice was harsh and full of annoyance. It made me want to cry, which was stupid. It wasn’t like we were anything to each other. I was just feeling emotional and hormonal because I’d been trapped in that damn cabin with him. That was it.

  I shook my head, not trusting my voice.

  Ciaran glanced towards the road, then back towards me. I could see some kind of internal debate going on in his eyes, but I wasn’t sure what it was over. Probably whether or not just to leave my stupid ass, I thought angrily.

  I was about to turn around and march back to the cabin to wait out the snow when he called out to me.

  “I’m sorry,” he called.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, not buying it. He looked contrite, but frustrated, too. Like my being there was really getting to him. “Don’t be,” I told him simply. “If it were that big of a deal, you could have just told me to stay.”

  “I did,” he reminded me.

  I gritted my teeth and spun on my heel. I started marching. If he didn’t want me here, if it was so terrible for him, well, then screw my feelings of responsibility towards him. What did I care if he froze to death our here? Or got sick again? Or got murdered by an axe wielding truck driver?

  I didn’t.

  “Wait,” he called. I heard the sounds of boots in the snow moving rapidly towards me. But I didn’t stop. I kept moving steadily ahead. “I said wait.” He reached me and caught my upper arm, spinning me around to face him. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong. All of that did. I don’t want you sitting alone in that cabin with no one knowing you’re there, no one coming for you.”

  I shook him off. “You don’t make a damn bit of sense, Ciaran. Last night you’re all over me and now you’re acting like I’ve got some contagious disease or something!”

  He shook his head and ran a large hand through his thick hair. He grimaced. “I know. You just caught me off guard.”

  “Off guard?” I repeated incredulously. “Was it just completely awful to have asked about your job? Your life? I told you about mine!”

  “I know, I know,” he said, sounding apologetic, but there was still that underlying frustration. He let out a whoosh of air. “I just…I don’t want you to think I’m…oh hell. I don’t know. I don’t want you to think poorly of me. Like I’m just some asshole or crook or—”

  “Because you’re a mechanic?” I blinked at him in surprise and confusion. I knew a lot of people thought mechanics were swindlers, but my brother had worked in a shop for a while, one of the longest jobs he’d managed to keep. He said they worked hard, did complicated mechanical things that most of us just couldn’t wrap our brains around, and a lot of it was hard labor to boot. He said that some of them could be real assholes and you had to be careful, but in the end they were charging fair prices for the kind of work they were doing. “Being a mechanic doesn’t make you a crook,” I told him honestly.

  He hesitated. He looked like there was something he wanted to add, but then he just sighed and shook his head again. “I’m sorry. I just figured a pretty girl like you doesn’t want to deal with a grease monkey like me. I’ve been debating with myself over it since I woke up. You probably ought to steer clear of me, honey.”

  I raised a single eyebrow at him. “I’m not a girl. I’m a woman.”

  A slow smile spread across his face and he deliberately let his eyes fall to rake over my body. I couldn’t have possibly looked sexy in my worn through jeans and my layers of sweaters and a jacket. But he looked at me like he wanted to eat me. “All woman,” he confirmed, then winked at me.

  I shook my head, but blushed. “Jeez. Think we could have conversations like this inside next time? I’m freezing out here!”

  And wi
th that I walked to catch up with him. Together, we went to the road. He was right: it was cleared off and salted. We had to wait close to another fifteen minutes, but eventually a truck came by and stopped for us. If I’d been by myself, I would have thought it was a terrible idea to get into that truck, but with Ciaran I felt safe. Maybe that was stupid. Maybe that was being unrealistic. But I couldn’t help the feeling.

  And it’s too late to rethink it now.

  Chapter 9

  Ciaran

  Opening my mouth seemed to be getting me into nothing but trouble. I managed to lie to Elle God knew how many times, from my job to the reasons why I didn’t want to tell her about it. And I somehow pushed her to think for a second there that it was somehow because I didn’t like her company. All because I was nervous and I liked to snap at people when I got nervous.

  Better get that in check, I thought as the truck driver who’d been nice enough to give us a ride waved at us as we got off. We were in Merrill, thank God. I was sort of wishing I had left her back at that cabin, but it wasn’t a good idea to be stuck out there alone. At least this way I could get her to a phone, maybe a bus, and on her way to her parents’. I doubted I’d get her there before Christmas—it was only a couple days away—but at least she would be out of immediate danger.

  Which was what she was in while walking around Merrill with me.

  It was still early in the day and the clear blue sky had faded away to overcast quickly, so the place looked just shy of deserted. Most of the area was Catholic and damn devout, so I wasn’t surprised to see that the streets were dead. A few of the shops would be open, of course, but they would have limited store hours. No one wanted to be working long hours over the holidays.

  Which was good. It meant the shop where I worked would be closed—and I wouldn’t have to explain to her about the boys who worked there or to them about her. It was win-win.

  The shop was a legitimate business, but it also served as the headquarters for the Lucky Skulls. It made me hesitate to bring Elle there, but like I said, it was supposed to be closed that day.

  That was why I wasn’t worried when we walked the two blocks down the street to the shop and saw that the lights were out and there wasn’t a car in the lot. “That’s it,” I told Elle, pointing to the shop. It read only O’Paddy’s, which was a play on Pa Sullivan’s heritage and the cops both. It didn’t have a damn thing to do with anyone’s actual name.

  “O’Paddy’s?” she questioned. Her eyes went to my hair, then back down to my eyes. “You’re plenty Irish, aren’t you?”

  I shrugged. “Irish with a little Swedish thrown in for good measure.”

  She laughed. “Does that mean you’re an angry, shy drunk?”

  I rolled my eyes but smiled. “Way to roll together every stereotype you could come up with.”

  “If the shoe fits…” She trailed off, then winked at me.

  “It doesn’t,” I informed her, but let her see my grin. I didn’t want to see her upset with me again. I’d been thinking about it while we were getting that ride into town. Right now things were dicey here. I could have some serious issues on my hand and that meant I was dangerous for her to be around. But what about later? I’d send her on her merry way, get this stuff with Shane cleared up, and then I could pursue her and see where this intense physical attraction went. Maybe I’d decide that was all it was, just attraction, or maybe it would surprise me and morph into something more. Either way, I was game to find out.

  And there was no reason I couldn’t.

  Except that eventually she’s going to want to know what you really do, a little voice in my head reminded me. It was probably my conscience, which was why I had very little trouble shoving it aside. I’d do what was best for Elle now; that was enough. No reason to completely write her off.

  “You can make a call from there,” I told her, gesturing towards the shop. I glanced both ways to check for traffic, but it was sort of pointless. There wasn’t anyone out for miles it seemed. Almost as if Merrill had become a sudden ghost town. Which wasn’t all that difficult to imagine, given the sudden departure of the industry and all. But even with the weather and Christmas so near I thought it was a little odd it was this deserted.

  There should be a car parked around here somewhere, right?

  Unease began to worm its way up through my system, leaving me with sweaty palms and the sense that something was wrong. I told myself it was my imagination, but I didn’t really believe it. My gut had been right a thousand times and wrong only a handful. Was this one of those times?

  I glanced uneasily at Elle. She didn’t seem concerned about any of this. Not the deserted streets or all of the closed businesses. I tried to tell myself her reaction meant I was overreacting. Still, I didn’t settle completely.

  “Thanks,” she told me, flashing me a bright smile that reached her pretty blue eyes. “I’m sure my parents are just flipping out now. I told them I’d be a little late getting there, but I’m sure they didn’t think I’d be this late.”

  I nodded absently, my eyes scanning the area. Nothing out of place. Nothing seemed really wrong…but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something. Something important.

  “I wish my cell hadn’t died, or got a lick of service,” she continued, oblivious to my sudden change in mood. “That would have saved us a lot of grief, right? I mean, I could have called my parents and you could have called…well, whoever it is you needed to call.”

  I barely even processed her words, but when I noticed she fell silent, I rewound it in my head. Whoever it is you needed to call. It clicked instantly. She was worried this was over some girl. A long-term lover or something along those lines. Maybe even a wife. I smirked a little to myself. She was interested. All indicators pointed in that direction, despite what she said—or maybe even including it—and now I was certain. She was wondering if I was really available or if I was just playing with her.

  Although toying with her for a bit sounded sort of fun, I decided it was the best choice to just clear this up before it became a problem. I flashed her a smile. “The boys at work and my Ma. No one else needs calling.”

  She flushed, clearly realizing why I was answering her. But she quickly regained her composure. “Oh. I see. I’m sure they are all really worried about you.”

  I smirked. Ma was probably going to chew my ass over being away for so long without so much as a word as to where I was going, and the boys were no doubt restless if only because of Shane and the Irish Hounds. “I’m sure they are.”

  I started to dig around for the keys to the shop in my pocket, but quickly realized they weren’t there. Damnit. It took me just a second longer before I realized they were probably tucked safely away in the pocket of my leather jacket. The one that was missing. The keys to the shop were on the same keyring as the one for my bike. If I had them out, then they could be sitting in the snow somewhere, lost forever.

  I let out a sigh. This was turning into a pain in the ass.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  I shook my head and was about to answer her when I noticed the door was opened just a tiny crack. A frown slipped across my lips. I reached for the door to test it and sure enough it was open. I pushed it open and instantly knew something was wrong. This door was never left unlocked.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  I hesitated. Was I overreacting? Was this the one time someone had just been in too big of a damn hurry and forgot to lock the door? Or was this something more? Finally, I decided I had to get her on her way home. If this was something bad, then all the more reason to make that call and get her out.

  “It’s fine,” I told her finally. “The phone’s over there. Go make your call.”

  She smiled in thanks, then walked over towards the phone that was sitting on the only desk that wasn’t covered in grease stains. She got it up to her ear just as she began dialing before I realized I’d fucked up.

  This was not a safe place to
be.

  “Elle!” I called to her, running towards her.

  She looked up in confusion at me, her brow furrowing as she tilted her head to the side. I’d seen movement back behind the car lift and reacted as quickly as it could. If it were one of my guys, they wouldn’t be hiding. Which meant it was someone else here. Someone who wasn’t on good terms with me.

  Elle opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when the first shot rang out. It shattered a window not two feet from her head. She let out an earsplitting scream, dropping the receiver. I raced across the shop floor and collided heavily with her, dragging her body to the ground beneath me just as a second shot rang out.

  “Shit!”

  Elle had stopped screaming, but was definitely panicking. Her blue eyes were huge and her breathing was coming in quick, short breaths that were making me wonder if she wasn’t starting to hyperventilate. I hoped not. We didn’t have time for that.