Burning Ember

by Darby Briar

  Snickers breakout down the table.

  Then suddenly everyone goes quiet and the air in the room changes. Heads turn and eyes shift to the hallway. When I follow their gazes, I find Mav walking in to the room.

  My pulse quickens.

  Black and gold have never looked so good together, as they do on him. His gold eyes. His inky hair. His tan skin. His black, long-sleeve Henley and leather vest. He’s wearing dark jeans, and the front of his shirt is tucked in just enough to show off his belt buckle.

  Mav clears his throat and I look up to his face. One of his eyebrows is arched. Heat flushes my cheeks and I avert my gaze.

  He takes a seat at the bar.

  It takes everything in me not to steal glances at him. I have to remind myself to breathe evenly. Funny how my body can’t remember to do that on its own when he’s around.

  After making a plate for him, I lay it on the bar top in front of him and then gesture to the orange juice. He nods. I pour him a glass and get a muttered “Thanks” when I set it in front of him too.

  Going back over to Lily, I say, “Rigor’s going to get what I need to make a roast, potatoes, and rolls for dinner. You can help me if you want. If you have time. It’s real easy.”

  “Fuck, I think I’m in love,” Bodie moans.

  “Too bad you’re already married, asshat,” Taz replies.

  Bodie glares at Taz.

  Goose loudly licks his fingers. “Fuckin’ fantastic, cherry girl. You teach my woman here how to make this shit and I’ll owe you fuckin’ big time.”

  At the word cherry, Mav starts choking and Griz slaps him on the back until Mav brushes him off saying, “I’m good.”

  Mav’s eyes flicker up to mine. There’s something in those maple depths that I can’t read and too soon, he looks away from me. He eats everything on his plate.

  When he looks up at me again, I motion toward his plate. “You want more?” I notice that the room goes a little silent or fades away. I’m too focused on him to know which it is. Mav nods once. I put more on his plate and hand it over.

  For the next ten minutes, I feel his eyes on me every time he looks my way. But I stay busy, as I play waitress to a clubhouse full of bikers and the clubpieces, Jade, Noel, Lo, and Lita, who live at the clubhouse.

  “Is someone gonna turn on the tube?” one of the bikers that I haven’t been introduced to yet asks.

  Rigor shakes his head. “Already tried. Fuckin’ thing won’t work. Told you all that it was on its last leg.”

  I force my face to stay blank. Hoping no one will see the guilt flooding through me.

  “Last night, took a ride,” Mav speaks, after he finishes. I try to make it look like I’m not hanging on his every word and busy myself with cleaning the bar and a few glasses. “Saw Davis parked down the road.”

  I pause for a second. Davis. As in Officer Davis? Every limb in my body tightens up. What is he doing? Waiting to see if I leave the clubhouse? I try to relax and act normal. But it’s weird how knowing Davis is out there, makes me feel caged. Trapped. Like I’m slowly losing what freedom I have all over again. Bit by bit.

  “Deputy Dipshit?” Griz asks.

  “Yeah.”

  Griz sits back. “What the fuck’s he doin’?”

  I peek up for a second and catch Lily’s knowing gaze.

  “No idea. Gonna make a call to Ortega today and tell him to check his boy scout.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Spread the word though.”

  “Yeah. Will do,” Griz answers. “I’m gonna head out to the casino for a few hours and check on things. Then I’ll make the rounds. Figure I won’t be able to make it to the hospital until around five though.”

  “No problem. I’m headed up to Santa Fe with Bodie and Taz. But we’ll be back by then so we’ll meet you there.”

  A couple of minutes later, the front door opens and Dozer comes strolling into the clubhouse with a gym bag over his shoulder. He’s in gray basketball shorts and a red Under Armour tank top. “God, it smells fuckin’ good in here.” He smiles at me. “Did you save me some, babe?”

  Bodie responds before I can. “Nope. Ate the last piece of bacon myself. And let me tell you that shit”—he pats his belly—“was fuckin’ good. You snooze you lose, brother.”

  Dozer ignores him and gives me a questioning look. We talked about this before he left. “Babe?”

  “That depends.”

  Dozer sidles up to the bar, and takes the seat next to Rigor, whose sticking around though he’s finished eating, because he’s on babysitting duty.

  “Oh yeah, on what?”

  Mav says something I don’t catch. Out of my peripheral vision, I see him push his plate away roughly.

  “Did you pick up a paper so I can look at the jobs section?” I do want to look for jobs, but it also dawned on me this morning that if Dozer got me a newspaper, I’d also be able to check it to see if my story’s still as big as it was weeks ago.

  Dozer leans over and I hear him unzip his bag. He places a newspaper on the bar top.

  “You a paperboy now, D?” Griz asks.

  “Thank you.” I reach for it, and try to pull it away.

  But Dozer doesn’t take his hand off it. A cunning smile flashes over his face. “You know, paperboys don’t get paid much, but they definitely get something. Am I right?”

  Griz backs him up. “Sure do. I think you owe our boy a kiss.”

  I bit my lip. My stomach does a nervous flip. My eyes dart to Mav’s face quickly and then back to Dozer. Was it just my imagination or did Mav look pissed? Why would he be pissed? Oh, right . . . because I’m hands off until the party. It’s hard hiding the fact I’m nervous as hell right now. But I worry that showing a simple kiss makes me uncomfortable isn’t going to prove to these guys that I can handle being here.

  “I don’t know . . . these dishes aren’t going to clean themselves.”

  “Shit, you hear that? She’s tryin’ to stiff ya, D. You gonna let her get away with that?”

  “Jesus H. Christ!” Mav growls and jumps to his feet. “Don’t you all have fuckin’ shit to do today?”

  He points at me. “I know for a fact you got shit to do, so stop messin’ around and get to it. You want a fuckin’ list of what needs doin’, I’ll make you one. For now, start in the kitchen. I want that fuckin’ place sparklin’.”

  Dozer turns in his chair and glares at Mav. “What crawled up your ass?”

  “Is this not what you agreed to?” Mav fires back. Without waiting for a response, he turns and storms out of the room.

  People disperse.

  I go into the kitchen and pull the plate I saved for Dozer out of the microwave. Coming back into the main room, I place it in front of him. Dozer apologizes and eats his breakfast. When he’s finished, he goes down the hall and a minute later, I hear him arguing with Mav.

  I collect all the dirty dishes and take them into the kitchen. Then get lost in my head as I wash dishes. The task is second nature to me. As I scrub I try not to worry about Davis, but how can I not when I know he’ll either lock me up or send me back to Warner.

  I decide then and there that it’s in my best interest to get Mav to tolerate my presence, which means trying not to piss him off more than I already do.

  Making a deal with the devil is sometimes the best option you have.

  MAVERICK

  Doll’s bent over cleaning the oven when I enter the kitchen. Her wild hair is tied back in a messy bun. She’s scrubbing the side of the oven furiously, putting her whole body behind the movement. I’d have to be blind not to see how sexy she looks right now. I’d have to be dead not to appreciate the view.

  She’s wearing gray heather sleep shorts, which showcase her perfect ass.

  For a split second, I picture her bouncing up and down on my lap and me holding on to her hips as she rides my cock. My body instantly responds as a rush of blood shoots straight to my groin.

  I stand there for a couple of seconds wat
ching her. Taking all of her in. Though it’s the last thing I should be doing.

  Clearing my throat, I say, “Don’t ovens have a self-cleaning mode?”

  She jumps, hits her head, and curses under her breath before she sits back and looks up at me. Plastic, yellow gloves cover her hands. In one, she holds a SOS pad. Using her wrist, she wipes a stray strand of hair from her face. Her baby-blue tank top is loose and I can see the top swells of her breasts. She’s worked up a sweat and I’ll be damned if I can look away from her damp cleavage.

  “Have you seen this thing? I’m guessing it hasn’t been cleaned since the day it left the showroom floor. It’s ancient. Like the nineteen-seventies called and want their oven back.” She slowly stands and whimpers a little as she uses her forearms to rub her knee.

  I fight a smile. First fucking time in years I’ve even been tempted to smile at a woman.

  I hold out the piece of paper in my hand. “Here.”

  She eyes it while she drops the SOS pad to the top of the stove, and removes her gloves.

  “What’s that?” Hesitantly, she takes the paper from my hand. Her eyes lower as she reads it.

  “Should keep you busy enough that you won’t have time to fuck around.” Too busy to have time to mess around with Dozer. Too busy to leave the clubhouse.

  If she left here under the guise of working a job, we’d have no way of knowing if she was relaying information to the GBs. She can’t have it both ways. Either she’s here or she’s out there.

  Her little nose twitches and her lips mash together. I get the sense that she’s biting back a sarcastic comment. “So I won’t have time to get a part-time job.”

  Yeah, there’s that little temper she’s hiding. Come on, Doll, let me see who you really are.

  “Nope.”

  She sighs. “I was trying to earn some money. You know, just in case you kicked me out when the party is over. Or before then.” Her voice comes across defeated. It makes me feel like an asshole.

  I don’t know why when I’ve never cared if I sounded like an asshole before now.

  “After you get this place cleaned up, you can do other jobs for the club. Like help at one of our businesses. But you’re not workin’ for someone else. I want you with a club member or an old lady at all times.” I point to Rigor who’s standing just outside the open back door within hearing distance.

  Her shoulders slouch.

  My chest all of sudden has a heavy weight pressed on it.

  “When you leave, I’ll make sure you don’t leave with nothin’.”

  Her eyes flicker up to mine. Hope blooms in her irises as they light up. The corner or her lips curve slightly and my chest tightens in response.

  “But I want you gone then. That’s the deal. No staying on. I don’t care what excuse you use, but you’ll make somethin’ up and get gone.”

  Her eyes drop as she considers my offer. Finally, she says, “Okay.”

  I hate and love that she just agreed to leave in a few short days.

  I gesture to the paper. “When you’re done with this, come see me and I’ll find you more shit to do.”

  I step back. “You’re gonna wanna wear one of those masks, especially when you do the floors and toilets. We don’t really do a good job of cleaning up after ourselves, if you know what I mean.”

  I expect a glare. Maybe even for her face twist with disgust. But instead, she shakes her head and bites her bottom lip. After a second, she murmurs, “Good to know.”

  I turn to leave.

  “You know, Mav, I can put up with a lot before I run the opposite way. You can keep testing me, but I’m not going to break easily.”

  Her words pierce me like a spear through the chest. They sting. Dana couldn’t stick it out when things got tough. Hell, I was always afraid to tell her anything for fear that it would send her over the edge. She broke so easily, because she was already so damaged to begin with.

  I wait until I’m out of earshot to say, “Yeah . . . I’d like to see you prove it, Doll.”

  The rain and tumultuous clouds move north, taking with them streaks of lightning and the rumble of thunder as they dance across the sky. The illusion of the storm lingers and the future is held at bay if only temporarily as if time stops for a few seconds. There’s something both haunting and promising about moments like this.

  I’m smoking a cigarette in the courtyard, enjoying the view, and saying goodbye to my brothers who jump in their cages. They’re leaving in trucks and cars, and going to Hodges’ bar for a few beers. It’s our usual hang out on Monday nights. Although I won’t be going, since I decided to take advantage of the nearly vacant clubhouse to finish the work Pumpkin’s arrival interrupted.

  For the last day and a half, I’ve managed to avoid her. Mainly, because I’m still reeling from our last conversation, which keeps going round and round inside my head.

  Griz slaps my back, bringing me back to the present. “You sure you wanna chill here? Should be a pretty fuckin’ entertainin’ night. Bodie’s half spent. And Taz has already threatened to deck his ass more than once.”

  I pull in a drag on my smoke then blow it out away from him. “Nah. Got shit to do. Tell Bethany I’ll be out to check on her soon though.”

  Griz mounts his brown and orange Road King Classic and salutes me. “Will do, brotha.”

  With Hodge gone, Cap out of commission, and Dozer having a stick up his ass when it comes to her, it falls to me to make sure Bethany’s taken care of.

  She’s been struggling since Hodge passed, trying to run the bar while raising their two kids, Axel and Medda. It wouldn’t be a problem, except she won’t let the club help, whether it be money, or the old ladies helping with the kids. She refuses to be treated like a charity case. For some reason, she thinks with Hodge gone she’s no longer family. However, she should know better. We also owe it to our fallen brother to take care of his wife and kids.

  So besides making sure we visit often and give her our business, I do my best to help her where I can. With the kids. Slip money into her purse now and then, and pay the past due rent on the bar’s lease whenever I can talk her into letting me.

  When I’m done with my cigarette, I head back into the clubhouse.

  Four feet in, I’m stopped by Star who walks up to me and places her hand on my chest. I scowl down at her offending hand until she says, “Sorry, I forgot,” and rapidly removes it.

  “I saw that you were stayin’ and thought maybe you’d want some company.”

  I’m about to push Star to the side, when I catch Doll peeking over at me. She tries to hide behind her waterfall of crimson waves as she wipes down the bar; cleaning up after the dinner she made everyone. The dinner, where with every bite I took, I thought . . . If she keeps cooking like this . . . there’s no way in hell the boys will be on board with me kicking her out when her time’s up. It’s not only the food they love. While serving us, she kept bending forward over the bar, giving all the brothers a perfect view of her ample tits in her tight, black shirt. Bastards are already fucking drooling all over her. They can’t wait to get their hands on her.

  “Mav?” Star’s voice draws my attention back to her.

  “Not—” tonight.

  Dozer sits down in front of Doll and she graces him with a welcoming smile. My insides twist. Dozer’s never once paid this much attention to a girl. Well, besides Bethany. It makes me wonder if he’s thinking about making her more than just another clubpiece.

  I watch them flirt with each other. The only thing that accomplishes is now I’m daydreaming about laying a brother out. Or breaking something.

  Jesus! You’re jealous . . .

  I shake my head trying to clear it.

  My cock nearly felt the warmth of her mouth and I’ve had fucking blue balls ever since. Clearly, it’s just been a while since I had sex. Too long. That’s all it is. Far past the time I usually use a clubpiece to take the edge off. Without thinking too much about it, I grab Star’s hand and drag her to
ward my office. She giggles and I look back to see her waving at Doll.

  Doll’s standing there staring at me while she’s holding a pile of dirty dishes in her arms. But I note with satisfaction that her smile’s gone.

  I ignore the instinct I have riding me that tells me to toss this blonde aside, and grab the girl I really want in my bed.

  But fuck, don’t I know that would be a mistake.

  I don’t close the door after pulling Star inside my office. Why should I? I’ve never cared about taking my pleasure somewhere private before now. Except with Dana, only she preferred to do things out in the open. Which worked fine, since that’s how shit works around here.

  Star rubs my arm.

  “Don’t touch me. Lose the skirt,” I command.

  She quickly follows my instructions. She’s been around long enough to know how I am and what I like.

  I yank my top-drawer open and pull out a condom. After ripping the package, I unlatch my belt, unzip, and pull my cock out. I stroke myself a couple of times before I cover myself to the hilt. I know exactly where Star’s been and if we didn’t get all the girls tested as often as we do, and pumped full of birth control, there’s no fucking way I’d go anywhere near her.

  Thank God for the good Dr. Alister.

  Star walks to me. She lifts her hands to touch me. I instantly feel like my skin’s crawling. She keeps trying to touch me and I grind my teeth to hold in the irritation circling inside me.

  I spin her and push her forward over my desk.

  In a split second, I’m behind her, grabbing her hips. I line up and, without warning, slam into her.

  Star cries out, but it’s fake as hell. She needs no prepping, no stretching. The notion has my stomach revolting and my dick threatens to soften. But I fight it.

  I growl, “Hands.”

  Star crosses her arms behind her back. I hold her crossed wrists with one hand, and reach around her to grab her throat with my other hand. I don’t choke her hard enough to leave a mark, but enough that it gives me what I need.

  I imagine it’s Dana. I take her roughly and don’t let up. And all the while, I revel in the sounds Star’s making. Small pleas. “I’m sorry.” She’s been coached to do what I like, but tonight it’s not working. Slowly this kind of sex has lost its luster. It’s dull and no longer lights a fire inside of me. When she says “Maverick,” it sounds all wrong. And it yet again throws me off.