BRICK (Lords of Carnage MC)

by Daphne Loveling

  I raise my other hand and rake it self-consciously through my wind-blown hair. I wish I’d known I was about to be presented to what amounts to Gavin’s family. I don’t have a lot of time to let my nerves get the better of me, though, because we’re already through the door and striding through a large, open bar area. A dozen or more men are there, all of them large, tattooed, and dangerous looking. A handful of women are there, too. More than a few of the crowd stop what they’re doing to look at us as we come in. Over behind the bar itself, a tall, busty blond widens her eyes in obvious surprise.

  One of the men detaches himself from a group and comes over to us, an easy, panty-melting grin on his face. He’s drop-dead gorgeous, with short-cropped blond hair and looks that could easily land him on the cover of a men’s magazine.

  “Well, well! What have we here, brother?” he says, slapping Gavin on the back. “This is a first! Hello, little lady.” He turns his megawatt smile on me. “I’m Gunner. Brick’s closest friend and fellow Marine. I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.”

  I smile at him, suddenly shy but trying not to show it. “Hi. I’m Sydney.”

  “A beautiful name for a beautiful lady,” he nods, and winks at me. “How the hell did you end up with an ugly fucker like him?”

  “Gunner,” Brick mutters in a warning tone.

  “Lighten up, brother. You know you love me.” Gunner chuckles at the storm clouds gathering on Gavin’s face. “Hey, y’all, this is Sydney,” Gunner calls to the room. “For some reason, she’s decided to give Brick the time of day.”

  “I’m really fucking beginning to regret this,” Gavin mutters beside me.

  Gunner’s general announcement seems to have broken some sort of spell, because a few more people start to come up to us. A strikingly pretty brunette with long, glossy hair approaches, a welcoming smile on her face.

  “Hi, there!” she says, holding out her hand. “I’m Sam. It’s really nice to meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, too,” I say, shaking with her.

  “I’m with Hawk,” she continues, nodding her head toward a muscular, tanned, heavily tattooed man who comes up behind her

  “Hi,” I say to the man. He nods once and slips his arm around Sam’s waist.

  “Is this your first time at the clubhouse?” Sam asks. “I’m gathering yes.”

  “Yeah. Honestly, I didn’t even know we were coming here,” I admit, looking up at Brick and giving him a teasing frown. He shrugs and clasps my hand a little tighter.

  Sam laughs. “Trial by fire, huh, Brick?” she chides him. “Well, the men aren’t as tough as they let on, no matter what they like to think.”

  “Is that right?” Hawk rumbles down at her.

  “Present company excluded, of course,” Sam smirks, leaning up to give him a peck on the cheek.

  “Hi, I’m Jenna,” another woman’s voice says. I turn to see a petite blonde with gorgeous blue eyes. “Haven’t I seen you coming out of that new coffee shop in town? Do you work there?”

  “Actually, I’m the owner,” I tell her. “That’s how Ga… Brick and I met. He used to come in for coffee a couple times a week.”

  “Oh, shit!” Gunner snorts. “You’re the muffin lady! Damn, you seduced him with tasty baked goods!”

  A few of the other men gathered around us start laughing uproariously. Gavin looks a little pissed, but seems to take it in stride.

  “Okay, okay, you fuckers,” he mutters. “I defy you to resist Sydney’s blueberry muffins, though. It takes a real man to admit when he’s beat by a pastry.”

  “Hey, Sydney,” Sam says, “Can I get you a beer or something?”

  “Beer would be great,” I smile.

  “Jewel!” Sam calls toward the attractive bartender. “This is Sydney! Our girl needs a beer!”

  And, just like that, it seems I’m accepted. A cold bottle is handed to me a minute later, and before I know it, I’m caught up in an ever-shifting conversation with all sorts of people who want to ask me questions or tell me embarrassing stories about the man they know as Brick. It’s…

  Fun.

  Like, really fun. I essentially haven’t done anything except for work and go home to sleep since I got to Tanner Springs. I never bothered to try to make friends — force of habit from my old life, I guess. I didn’t even know I was missing anything, until now.

  But here? Laughing and joking with these people I don’t even know — people that most law-abiding citizens would consider scary and dangerous — I feel at home, and safe in a way I don’t ever remember feeling. Back in Atlantic City, I knew a lot of people, but in the circles I ran in, you knew better than to trust anyone but yourself. Here, with Gavin holding my hand like it’s the most natural thing in the world, somehow I feel completely at ease with total strangers who accept me just because I’m with him.

  Somehow, Jenna and Sam and I end up over at the bar with Jewel the bartender, talking and laughing over our beers. Jenna and Sam tell me the stories of how they met their men. Apparently, Jenna, who’s married to Ghost, the Sergeant at Arms, had a fling with him a few years back, and then left town for a while. When she came back to Tanner Springs, they reconnected, and they’ve been together ever since. They have two little kids, a boy and a girl. From time to time, she glances over at Ghost adoringly as she tells their story. Listening to Jenna talk about her family, it’s incredibly clear from the look on her face how happy she is.

  Sam tells me that she and Hawk have been together less than a year. Funnily enough, they met at Jenna and Ghost’s wedding. Sam’s a photographer, and Jenna hired her to take pictures of the day.

  “Holy hell, did the two of us spar when we first met,” Sam’s shaking her head. “He was, and still is, a total pain in the ass sometimes. But even though I never would have believed it in a million years, he’s the sweetest, most loving man I ever met.”

  I glance over at the glowering, tattooed man, who’s over by the pool tables talking to Brick and Gunner. “Wow. Talk about not judging a book by its cover,” I chuckle. The other two women laugh.

  Just as I’m about to look away at the three men, Gavin glances up toward me. Our eyes lock, and a wave of heat courses through my body.

  “Looks like Brick is laying a claim to you,” Jenna remarks. I drag my gaze away from him and look at her.

  “What do you mean, laying a claim?” I ask, my pulse speeding up just a notch.

  “Well…” Jenna says, sliding her eyes toward Sam, and then back to me. “I’ve known Brick for a while now, and I sure as hell have never seen him show more than a passing interest in any woman. He sure as hell has never brought one here.”

  From the other side of the bar, Jewel nods. “The Lords take this club, and this clubhouse, pretty damn seriously,” she tells me. “This club is a family, Sydney. If you’re here with him, it means something.”

  Holy hell. My brain starts to feel like it’s spinning in my head. I think back to my conversation with Beverly earlier today in the shop, when I told her what was happening between Gavin and me was nothing serious. The words she said in reply ring in my head.

  “Are you sure? Because from the way he looks at you, I’m not entirely convinced.”

  “Ready to go?”

  I startle out of my thoughts to see that Gavin has appeared at my side.

  “So soon?” I ask, a little regretfully.

  “I want to show you someplace else,” he murmurs into my hair. “And then we need to talk.”

  I turn back to the women, and can’t help take note of their expressions as they look at the two of us. Jewel’s face is full of amused excitement. Samantha is grinning conspiratorially at me. Jenna… well, her face registers something beyond just happiness for a new couple. As she looks between us, there’s a note of tension that appears on her face. Almost as though she knows what Gavin wants to talk to me about.

  “You two have a good night,” she says to both of us, reaching out to give my hand a warm squeeze. “It was re
ally great to meet you, Sydney.”

  “It was wonderful to meet you all, too,” I say sincerely. Brick puts his hand on the small of my back and guides me back outside to his motorcycle.

  “So, where are you taking me?” I ask him teasingly as he puts a leg over his bike and motions for me to get on.

  “It’s a surprise,” he growls, starting up the bike.

  “Everything about you is a surprise, Brick Malone,” I murmur into his ear, wrapping my arms around him.

  It’s true. Gavin has been nothing but surprises since the day we met.

  And the biggest one of all? I’m starting to think I like it.

  26

  Brick

  I’ve never brought any woman to the clubhouse before bringing Sydney there tonight. But bringing her out to my lake place is even crazier.

  Except for Gunner the few times he’s been out here fishing with me, and the occasional guys delivering shit from the local home improvement store, no one but me has ever stepped inside my house. I sure as hell have never had a woman in my bed. This place is my sanctuary. The whole reason I bought it in the first place was to be alone.

  But for some reason, I want Sydney here tonight. Because what I have to tell her is important. And hell, Sydney is important. Somehow, without my even realizing it, she’s gotten under my skin. She’s broken through my defenses.

  If I want any kind of future with her to happen, I have to tell her what she might be in for. And I want to do that in a place where it’s no one else but just the two of us. I’ll take her back to her place in a heartbeat if she tells me that’s what she wants. But first, I want to push the rest of the world aside. Just for a few hours. Just to have her with me, all to myself, no matter what happens afterwards.

  I feel rather than hear Sydney draw in a breath as I round the corner of the gravel drive and my house first comes into view. The house itself still isn’t much to look at from the outside — I’ll get around to painting and shit once the interior’s done. But the view of the lake behind it is spectacular. The water is crystalline, with the early evening sun glancing off the surface. Across the lake to the west, a bank of thick clouds is slowly rolling this way, promising a storm later on this evening, but for right now the lake is calm.

  “This is where you live?” Sydney breathes as I take her hand and lead her to the front porch.

  “Yeah,” I grunt. “Not much from the outside. But I’m working on it.”

  “My God, Gavin. It’s so beautiful.” Her eyes are shining with admiration as she stares toward the lake. “You must love it here.”

  I don’t say anything as I let her inside. It never occurred to me to think about this place in those terms. The solitude here suits me, it’s true. And she’s right, the lake looks straight out of a postcard. Watching her take it all in, I feel a new appreciation for it all.

  If she was here with you, you would love it here.

  The thought comes unbidden. I sit with it for a second, then push it away.

  “Do you want something to drink?” I ask her gruffly. Now that we’re inside — now that she’s in my space — I’m starting to feel kind of awkward. The main living area is stripped down to the bare walls and subflooring. The only furniture in the living room is my old leather couch, a flat-screen TV, and a king-sized mattress over by the fireplace. It’s hardly comfortable enough for a guest. I didn’t really think of that when I decided to bring her out here.

  “No, I’m fine,” she says, turning to me with wide eyes. “Are you doing all the work yourself?”

  “Pretty much,” I shrug.

  “This place is going to be amazing when you’re done with it.” I can see she means it. Her words make me hope that she’ll be around to see the house when I do finish it.

  There’s that word again. Hope.

  I grab a beer for myself and take her out to the back deck, which is the one part of the house that’s completely finished. I even have decent furniture out there, because it’s where I spend so much of my time when I’m here. We sit down on the long, low sectional that faces the lake. I resist the urge to take her into my arms. I want to see her face for this conversation.

  “Did you buy this place because it reminded you of Seneca Lake, where you grew up?” she asks as she settles in.

  For a moment, I’m floored. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say no, because I didn’t. Not consciously, anyway. But now that she’s said it, I realize that this little lake, with its homes set back far enough that it almost looks uninhabited, does kind of remind me of Seneca. It has the same calm, peaceful feeling — or rather, the peacefulness I always wanted to feel there growing up, but didn’t because I never seemed able to escape the hell of my life at home.

  “Maybe,” is all I can say, as I wonder how Sydney managed to figure out something about me that I didn’t even know myself.

  “I really enjoyed meeting your friends, Gavin,” Sydney murmurs. “They’re… different than I expected.”

  “Different how?”

  “I don’t know.” She thinks for a moment. “I guess I thought they’d be not so… nice.”

  Laughter rumbles out of me. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Hawk or Ghost called nice.”

  A smile flits across her face, but then she grows serious. “I mean it.” She shrugs, and looks down at her hands. “At least they were to me. Most of the people I’ve known in my life haven’t been.”

  “The club’s a family, Sydney. You were there with me. So, they consider you one of them. One of us.”

  Her eyes meet mine.

  “Am I?” she asks.

  Holy shit. My heart starts pounding like a fucking jackhammer.

  “Sydney,” I say. My voice drops about an octave, because I’m trying to keep it steady. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  I’m just trying to keep emotion out of this, and tell her what she needs to know. But for some reason, she misinterprets my words. “Oh. No, look, Gavin,” she half-laughs. “I’m not trying to ask for anything. I mean, I get it. We barely know each other. And hell, we’ve barely even ever had a conversation, other than after sex sometimes.” She starts waving a hand between us, like she’s physically trying to clear the air. “It’s fine. No reason for us to pretend this is more —.”

  “Sydney,” I bark, grabbing her hand in mid-air. She stops abruptly and stares at me in surprise. “Will you please shut the hell up for a second?”

  She gives me a dark look and tries to pull her hand away. “Well, there’s no need to be rude.”

  “Are you going to stop putting words in my mouth and listen to me?”

  “Jesus,” she complains, and tries to pull away again. This time I let her. “Fine,” she says, crossing her arms. “Talk.”

  “Fuck,” I mutter. “This isn’t going the way I wanted it to.”

  The fact is, I don’t know exactly how I expected it to go. I didn’t plan this out very well. In my mind, I skipped over the part where I told her all the stuff I needed to, and went straight to the part where I took her inside and fucked her until we both passed out.

  Sydney is still sitting there, her arms crossed and her eyes stubbornly fixed on a spot on the ground about five feet in front of her. I heave a deep sigh and try again.

  “Look,” I say. “First. I brought you to the clubhouse for a reason.” I reach up and cup her chin, lifting it toward me until her eyes reluctantly meet mine. “I wanted you to meet my brothers — my family — for a reason.”

  “What’s the reason?” she half-whispers.

  I don’t know how to put it into words, but the only thing I can do is open my damn mouth and hope for the best.

  “I… wanted to give you a chance to see what you’d be getting into. To back out if you want.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake. Back out of what?” Sydney cries, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “Gavin, what the hell are you talking about?”

  “Sydney.” I rake a hand roughly through my hair. “There’s some
shit going down with the club right now. It’s not the safest place to be. I know you came to Tanner Springs to get away from Atlantic City. To have a calmer, simpler life someplace new.” I snort and shake my head. “But if calm and simple is what you want, then I’m afraid getting mixed up with me is about the last fucking thing you want to do.”

  “So… the club’s in danger?” she asks.

  “Not exactly. But the club is about to enter into a war, and shit is bound to escalate pretty fast.” I take her hand, which has fallen into her lap, and run the pad of my thumb over her palm. “I don’t want you to get hurt. But more than anything, I want you to know that being around me might not be the safest place going forward.”

  Sydney seems lost in thought. “Does this have anything to do with the break-ins and stuff in Tanner Springs?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re trying to protect me, when it sounds like you’re actually the one in danger?”

  “I guess. Yes.”

  “Thank you,” she says quietly.

  I take that to mean she’s done. My stomach lurches, but I ignore it.

  “So. I can take you back to your place, if you want.”

  “What?” She’s confused.

  “If you want to go back,” I offer with a sinking heart. “I can take you.”

  For a moment her face goes totally blank.

  Then she laughs.

  “Goddamnit, Gavin!” she cries, rolling her eyes. “What the hell is wrong with you, anyway?”

  “What?” I am not used to women talking like this to me. Or anyone, for that matter. Anger starts rising up in me, but I try to tamp it down.

  “What’s wrong with me?” I bark back. “For trying to protect you, and telling you that being associated with me is a bad idea?” Fuck. I should never have told her any of this. I should have just stopped coming around her. Let her think I’d lost interest. That would have been the safest thing to do.