Burning Ember

by Darby Briar

  “Fuck . . . don’t ask me. He’s pissin’ me off. I don’t know what’s goin’ on with him. Cap thought it was because of Bethany, but now he’s all over Do—Pumpkin. Maybe he’s just sick of waitin’ for her to come around.”

  He’s silent for a long while and then says, “Hey, listen . . . I gotta run. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I jump into action and quietly back up so I can open and roughly slam the back door, acting as though I barely walked outside. I look up in time to see him coming around the corner cigarette dangling from his lips.

  I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing him. It’s always a shock to my system. A sucker punch of sorts. Almost as if I forget, during the times when he’s not around, how gorgeous he is.

  I’m unexplainably drawn to him like two compatible sides of a magnet. My lips part as my eyes hungrily run over him.

  His jeans are light today. He’s wearing a gray T-shirt that hugs his chest and biceps and no leather jacket. His facial hair is growing longer and longer each day and I keep expecting him to trim it, because it’s starting to look like a beard, but each day it’s still there.

  His eyes draw up to my face when he sees me. His steps falter, leaving us facing each other with three feet of space between us. Too much space and yet too little.

  Something fills the space quickly though. Chemistry? Sexual tension? Anger? I’m not certain, but it’s there, coiling in the air. His irises are lighter than usual as they roam over me. Although that could be from the way the sunlight’s hitting his face. The breeze causes the smoke from his cigarette to waft toward me and I wave it away. I’m not a fan of the smell. And definitely don’t want it on my clothes. Reminds me too much of my mother.

  He pulls the cigarette from his mouth and holds it away from me.

  I’m caught completely off guard by the gesture. Then shocked stupid when he reaches toward the bag I’m holding and says, “Want a hand with that?”

  I blink. What? Is he messing with me? I raise an eyebrow and pull the bag closer to me. “Uh . . . is that a trick question?”

  His eyebrows pull together and his mouth quirks. “No, why would it be?”

  “Right. Mmmm. Maybe because you get off on making me do disgusting things.” Oh my God. Did that really just come out of my mouth? As the words roll through my mind a second time, humor lights up his eyes. A knowing and naughty smile appears, and I can tell he’s trying and failing to stifle his reaction to my words and what they insinuate.

  I feel like I just got hit with a pillow. Because poof. Something just exploded in, over, and around my head. Feathers? Brain cells? I’m not sure.

  Mav + sexy smile = my mind has officially been blown.

  He leans toward me. And I realize three feet became two and then one. His gaze comes back to my face and his eyes center on my lips. As he grabs the top of the bag, our fingers brush. A zing shoots up my body and travels through my limbs.

  His eyes flicker down at the contact. Um, yeah. He’s right there. The smell of him surrounds me. I cling to the smell of his soap and cologne and try to dismiss the smell of tobacco. I watch the muscles in his shoulder and neck work as he pulls the bag to him. He looks back up. His jaw . . . his mouth is . . . right . . . there. . . .

  And I’m a statue. Except, I feel the need to lick my lips because they are so dry. Parched.

  His nostrils flare and a second later, he backs up a bit and speaks. It’s a little fuzzy though. My eyes are watching his lips move, but I’ll be damned if my ears can make out the words.

  “Huh?”

  “I got it.”

  His pulls the bag from my grip, still smirking.

  “Oh, right. Um . . . thanks.”

  He straightens, turns, and walks away. I watch him go, unable to pull my eyes away from the sight of him. The muscles of his back. His butt. Right before he turns the corner, he looks back at the last second. Our eyes meet as he disappears out of sight.

  Holy hell . . . who in the hell was that?

  Jeez, talk about a mercurial being. He keeps swinging like a pendulum back and forth, hot and cold, hateful and now . . . almost nice. From one to the other.

  That was not Luce, the asshole who wakes me up each morning by kicking the bed and bouncing me on Dozer’s mattress.

  I think this might have been a glimpse of the real Mav. The one he used to be. Is this the guy I saw in the photo in his office? And if so, where did he come from? More importantly, how do I get him to stick around full time?

  “Hey, there you are,” Lily says from behind me. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Come on. Come in and see what I bought you today.” She has an ear-to-ear smile and she’s waving me into the house.

  “Lily, you didn’t have to buy me anything. I’m only here for a few more days.”

  Her smile slips a little. “Unless you decide to stay.”

  I turn and look behind me one more time. Making sure Mav isn’t at my back. “That choice is not entirely in my hands. And even if it were, I’m not sure it’s what’s best for me.”

  In the height of fear, our true emotions betray us.

  EMBER

  “Shit. She’s gone.” Taz storms into the main room. His hands threaded into his hair, making it stick out in wild, crazy spikes. He whirls around and his eyes scan the room. “Have any of you seen her?”

  “Damn it! I thought you got that latch fixed, man.” Rigor’s eyes widen and he immediately starts to look down at the floor and around his feet. He pulls his feet up and places them on the stool rung.

  “I did, but . . . shit . . . I don’t know how the fuck she’s gettin’ out.” Taz sounds pained. He strides across the room and grabs cushions off the couch. He hurls them to the floor. “She likes warm places. This is where she was last time.” After a second, he looks around at all of us. “Don’t just sit there. Get your asses up and help me! She’s got to be around here somewhere.”

  “Count me out, man. There is no damn way I’m gettin’ near that thing.” This comes from Rigor who visibly shudders as he speaks to Taz.

  “You’ll do what the fuck I tell ya. Or for the next three months, I’ll ride ya like a two dollar whore and vote nay on your ass,” Taz snarls.

  Begrudgingly Rigor stands and begins helping Taz tear apart the couches.

  “Who?” I ask Dozer.

  “Boop.”

  “What exactly is a Boop?”

  “Not a what, a who.” Taz pauses in his searching to glare at me. When he’s done tearing apart the couches, he gets on the floor and looks under it.

  I hold my hands up. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “She’s Taz’s brown, furry friend. He should have named her Houdini though. Escapes her cage all the fuckin’ time and he never has any idea how. What is this? The tenth time she’s gotten out?” Dozer asks Taz, who grumbles something under his breath.

  Then to me, Dozer says, “She might be a supreme being of higher intelligence.”

  “Fuck. Stop with the fuckin’ jokes, man, and help. Rigor, lock the doors so nobody lets her out of the house.”

  “Maybe your snake ate her,” Griz suggests.

  “I’m gonna let Betty take a bite outta you if you don’t get off your old ass in two seconds,” Taz threatens.

  “Yeah, you do and you’re gonna have a dead fuckin’ snake on your hands. Creeps me the fuck out that you got that thing in here while I’m tryin’ to sleep down the hall.”

  “I’ve told you. She’s not poisonous.”

  Griz shakes his head. “Not the point, brotha.”

  “I’ll help look. How big is she?” I ask.

  Taz’s expression when he looks at me is a mixture of gratitude and surprise. “Small, she’ll fit in your hand.” The corner of his mouth tips up. “You see her, you better not let her get away.”

  I eye him curiously. My guess is he thinks I can’t handle seeing a rodent. He’s probably looking forward to hearing my scream if I do happen to find her. What he doesn’t realize is one of t
he many jobs I had was running a pet store. I’m no stranger to small animals, even rodents and snakes.

  Griz takes a sip of his beer and stands from his chair. “I’ll go look upstairs. Wanna make sure that thing’s not makin’ herself at home in my fuckin’ bed.

  Dozer stands too. “Babe, you go check the kitchen. Maybe she got sick of the shit food Taz’s been feedin’ her and snuck in there. I’ll check the bathrooms.”

  I jump off my chair and head to the kitchen. If Boop’s hungry, then that’s most likely where she’ll be, especially if she’s been out of her cage enough times and knows her way around the clubhouse. I just hope for Taz’s sake she didn’t sneak into his snake’s cage and become lunch.

  After a good hour of everyone turning the clubhouse upside down, half of the guys give up and head out for a ride. Dozer invites me, and I so badly want to go. I’ve haven’t been outside except for taking the occasional break outback since I got here. I feel like I’m getting cabin fever. I find myself having to look at that bloody calendar each day because all my days here are running together.

  But Taz is frantic and if I abandon the search, I’m sure he’ll hate me that much more. Where if I stick it out, I might win some points with him. And I desperately need those points, too. Taz has made it his personal mission to make my life here miserable every chance he gets. If I have a chance at changing that, I’ll take it.

  Dozer and the other guys leave.

  Taz and I spend two more hours scouring the clubhouse and to my surprise, even Mav helps when he returns. But we come up empty. Taz eventually throws a fit his namesake would be proud of, and then defeated he gives up. Mav gets his friend a bottle of tequila, says a few muffled words to him, and retreats into his office.

  By the time the boys get back from their ride, Taz is a mess. Uncommunicative and withdrawn. He sits on the couch head back, eyes closed, and jaw tight, like he was the first day I came here, only there’s not a girl riding his lap this time.

  Dozer takes up residence on the stool next to me. “No luck, huh?”

  I shake my head. “No. We looked everywhere.” I lower my voice and gesture for him to come closer. He leans down. Next to his ear, I say, “I hate to say it but . . . maybe she got eaten by the snake, because I don’t know where else she’d be.”

  “Don’t sweat it, babe. You did your best. And she always turns up sooner or later.”

  The other brothers come up to the bar. Rigor goes around it and starts passing out beers.

  “How was the ride?” I ask.

  Dozer grins. “Fuckin’ perfect day, babe. Warm. Hardly any traffic. I wish you would’ve come with us. I like the idea of you ridin’ on the back of my bike. Warmin’ my back.”

  I think riding on the back of a bike sounds exciting and freeing. I can just picture it. Out of nowhere, the hair on my arms stands up eerily. I feel him. Mav. And his disapproval.

  Dozer’s face dips down and his eyebrows rise. “Babe?”

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  He pinches my chin and lifts my face up so I’m looking up at him. “I asked if you’ve ever ridden on the back of a bike before?”

  I shake my head. “Um, no. Never.”

  Rigor hands Dozer a beer and places one in front of me.

  “Thanks,” I say and avert my eyes from Dozer.

  “Next time we go for a ride, you’re with me, babe. All right?”

  “All right, but you better go slow.”

  At that exact moment, Mav makes a sound. Dozer keeps talking as if he doesn’t hear a thing. I turn, look up, and find Mav in the mirror. He’s standing behind me speaking with Goose. His arms are crossed, and a look that could kill is covering his features.

  His amber eyes burn into me.

  They tell me I’ll be taking that ride with Dozer over his dead body.

  Dozer’s voice is rougher than normal, as he says, “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll take good care of you. Take it as slow as you want me to.”

  The next night as I’m leaving Dozer’s room, I hear a masculine, “Holy Fuck,” followed by a feminine scream as I step into the hallway. Mav’s door, which is three doors down from Dozer’s but on the opposite side of the hall, swings opens.

  A female voice squeals, “Mav! Don’t just leave me like this.”

  Mav pokes his head into the hallway. “Where the fuck’s Taz?” he barks.

  I shrug. “At the strip club. I thought you went with them.” It’s where all the guys went including Dozer.

  Mav’s only wearing jeans and my eyes instantly rake over his bare torso. He’s tan, lean, and extremely fit. His abs are both ropey and sinful. His jeans ride low and reveal his nice pelvic muscles and a smattering of fine dark hair leading south. He has a tattoo over his heart, a few sentences, which based on the script, look like a bible verse, and at the end of the chain around his neck is a metal tag with the club insignia.

  Warmth cascades through my body as if I’ve just stepped in front of a fireplace.

  “Mav! Who are you talkin’ to?”

  Mav ducks back into the room. “Listen. Whatever you do, don’t move.”

  “Why. What are you doing?”

  Appearing again, Mav rubs both hands over his face, his biceps bulging. Then after dropping his hands, he stares at me for a second almost as if he’s deciding something. He peers down both sides of the hallways looking for someone else, anyone but me. Finally, his gaze comes back to me and he lets out an exhaustive breath. “You scare easily?”

  I blink a couple of times. “Um . . . depends.”

  In an exasperated tone, he asks quickly, “What scares you?” He impatiently waves me to spit it out.

  “Ah . . . I don’t know—small spaces, miniature poodles, earwigs.” Being tied up. Locked up.

  “Miniature . . . did you just say earwigs?” His mouth twitches.

  I shudder. “They get in your ears and . . .” His eyebrow quirks up and . . . yeah . . . I stop talking.

  “C’mere.”

  I cautiously step toward him and try my best to ignore how undeniably sexy he looks right now.

  When I get close, he opens his door and pushes me inside his room.

  My mouth drops, shocked by what I see on the bed. Or should I say who I see. Jade, one of the clubpieces, a too skinny brunette with tattoos all over her body, is lying face down on the bed. Her arms tied to the headboard. Mav closes the door, sealing us inside.

  The second I hear the door seal closed, I panic. A tidal wave of fear rolls through me. When I spin and attempt to bolt, Mav’s arms come around me, preventing me from fleeing.

  “No, Mav. Uh-huh, no way. Let me out.” I push and scramble to break free of him, but he has his arms around me.

  “Doll. Fuck. Chill the fuck out. It’s not what you think. I just need your goddamn help for a minute. I’m not gonna have sex with you.”

  “I’m not touching her either.”

  He barks out a laugh.

  “God. Woman. Quit. You don’t have to touch her. Just give me a sec. Let me explain.”

  “Why the hell did you bring me in here? I don’t like to be tied down, Mav. And I won’t do it to anyone else. I’m telling you right now . . . I’ll freak the hell out. You can’t . . . you can’t use those ropes on me.”

  “Shit.” He laughs, and I glare at him. But his laugh circles through me like a hot breeze. He holds one hand up as if he’s surrendering. “Look, that’s not it either. I really need your help.”

  “No way.” I push at his arms.

  “Shhh, c’mon. Settle down and look. Trust me.” He grabs my shoulders and spins me 180 degrees. I’m forced to look at Jade in all her glory withering on the bed.

  “Mav, what in the hell are you doing? I don’t like this. Talk to me.”

  “Jade.” His voice turns harsh. “Have I ever hurt you? Beyond . . . you . . . know . . . the normal.”

  I try to jerk out of his grasp again and his hold tightens.

  “No,” Jade answers him.

 
“Then shut up and don’t move,” he commands. Oddly, I find myself getting wet from the tone of his voice and the way his accent curls around his words. Which unnerves me, because at the same time, it also makes me beyond nauseous, the idea of Mav having sex with someone else, and the notion that he gets off on this kind of sex. Just like the night he was with Star, my dinner sits like acid in my stomach, bubbling, boiling, and threatening to come to the surface at any moment.

  I want to close my eyes and forget I ever saw this. Scrape it from my mind.

  Jade huffs, “Fine.”

  Reaching around, Mav grips my face and shifts it so I’m looking at the end of the bed and Jade’s feet. “Look.”

  With a frustrated whisper I say, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking for.”

  He points again to the bed. “There. Under the sheet, watch.”

  My forehead crinkles with confusion as I watch. Nothing. Did he just bring me in here to test my reaction? See if this would make me jealous? Or is this a payback for last night when he looked pissed about me agreeing to ride with Dozer on his bike?

  Then I see it.

  My mouth gapes open as I observe the sheet still and then move again. And it’s not Jade moving because she’s as still as a statue on the bed.

  The sheet is brown and in disarray so it’s hard to see, but every few seconds, the sheet shifts.

  “Do you see it?” The words whispered directly into my ear send every hair across my body standing on end. A small noise escapes my lips. He steps closer and blankets his body with mine. His front is flush to my back. And I feel all of him. The heat of his skin. His hot breath tickling my sensitive neck. His erection nestled perfectly in the crease of my ass.

  In mere seconds, he’s set me aflame.

  My reply of “Yes” comes out as a barely audible rasp.

  His hand moves from my chin and slides to my cheek and he turns my face so that I’m looking up at him. I can’t look in his eyes though. I’ll do something utterly stupid like kiss him if I look in his eyes. I study his jaw, his scar, and his lips. His thumb rubs over my cheek. Once. Twice. Then it moves down and skates across my bottom lip. Back and forth. That small movement causes an avalanche of lust to rush between my thighs. It’s the most erotic moment of my life. God, I want to kiss him. But he’s definitely not the right man for me, and this isn’t the right moment. His head dips. His breath fans across my mouth and I close my eyes. “This is so wrong,” I murmur as his breath caresses my lips.