Wanted: An Outlaw Anthology

by Lane Hart

  His smirk grew. “I was here on business, but now I think I’ll add some pleasure to this trip.”

  “What kind of pleasure?” I asked, suddenly curious about the man I no longer knew.

  As soon as that question left my mouth, the rest of the night ended up in a blur.

  Every part of me tingled with the memory of him touching me. Kissing me. Consuming me.

  I looked back at the man lying in the bed. The white sheets hung low on his hips, the large tattoo of a skull with horns moving slightly on his back with each breath he took.

  My hands tingled, itching to reach out to him and crawl back into his warmth. But I couldn’t. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to get home. I had to get away from the man who would destroy everything I knew and save me just the same.

  Chapter One

  Piper

  It all started with a look.

  A touch here. A wink there. A smirk. And then dimples. Those damn dimples. They got to me every time. And the way he looked at me; like I was the only one who existed in his world even though I knew it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Our relationship, if you could call it that, was toxic. It wasn’t real. It was never real. It was just a fantasy that I made up in my head. We could never be together. Although, the sex was very real. The feelings I had for him, however, were not. I refused to feel anything for the man who came to me in my dreams.

  When I slipped out of the hotel room almost five weeks ago in Paris, I never expected to run into him again. Even though we grew up together as kids, I hadn’t seen Jaron Mercer in years. Not until he showed up out of nowhere when I was backpacking through Europe and happened to make a stop in Paris. It was a small world when he sat down in front of me at the little café I’d come across. We talked for half an hour before we crashed into his hotel room and he bent me over the nearest surface.

  “You’re going to remember me for the rest of your life.”

  And I would. My body clenched, aching to be filled by him again even though I knew he was dangerous for me.

  Jaron was more than your typical bad boy. Besides being a member of his father’s motorcycle club, you wouldn’t know just how bad he actually was until it was too late. With those silver-gray eyes of his and those damn dimples, I didn’t know just how lethal he could be until he had me screaming his name and begging for more.

  “Ride my dick, Piper. Give it to me good and hard. I want my cock to motherfucking ache because of you.”

  The things he had said to me. Promises. Fantasies. It was dirty talk to the extreme. I had been with other guys, but no one ever came close to him.

  And now, sitting in the bar with a couple of my girlfriends, his eyes drilled into me from the other side of the large room. The tiny hairs on my body stood on end. My cheeks burned. I squirmed and shifted in my seat. All because of him.

  “Is that …” Angelica Rodriguez smacked my arm, her caramel eyes widening. “Holy shit, girl. It is. That’s Jaron Mercer. Didn’t you have a crush on him at some point?”

  My cheeks burned even more. I still did.

  “I think we all did. Jaron Mercer.” Meadow sighed, fanning herself. “He’s looking so damn good these days.”

  I laughed, shaking my head at the two sisters who were only a few years apart but were the complete opposite in everything they did.

  “Come on, Piper.” Meadow pointed at me, pursing her full red lips. “You know it’s true. Although, he’s a little too young for me.” She winked. Sitting back, she pulled her shoulder- length, black, curly hair up into a messy bun. A few curls fell, framing her face.

  “Young?” Gigi frowned. “He’s our age.”

  “Exactly.” Meadow tapped her nose, a slow grin spreading on her face. “He is hot, but he doesn’t do it for me.” She met my gaze. “So, Piper. He’s all yours.”

  I coughed, my neck heating, and took a sip of my beer. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Gigi laughed that time. “Right, and I don’t have a thing for Luna’s younger brother.”

  “So taboo.” Meadow clapped her hands together. “I love it.”

  Vincent Junior was the youngest out of our group of friends, but not by much. Although it made Gigi several years older than him, none of us cared. She did, so she never acted on her feelings.

  “I wonder if they like pastries.” Meadow took a long swig of her beer. “That’s a deal-breaker, you know? They have to like sweets or they’re not getting into my sweetness.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, God.”

  Gigi only giggled.

  While Meadow baked, Angelica, or Gigi as she liked to be called, danced. She was tall, lean, and strong. The moves I had seen her do were motivating. Although I could never dance like her, it did give me that push I needed to work out.

  She was damn good at what she did, too. They both were. I, on the other hand, was stuck. I had no hobbies. Although I enjoyed drawing and painting like my mother, Maxine, did, it was just for fun. And most of my artwork was just doodling. I still hadn’t found my niche, but I did enjoy traveling. Maybe I could find a job where I got paid to see the world. I bit my inner cheek to keep from sighing. Again. I had been doing that a lot lately.

  “We should go say hi,” Gigi suggested, taking a sip of her beer.

  “How about we not.” I really didn’t want to talk to Jaron. No. I wanted to fuck him and have him do all the talking instead.

  “I’m going to stretch this pussy wide with my thick cock.”

  I shivered, scrubbing a hand down my face as the memories of that night so many weeks ago slid into my mind.

  “You okay, Piper?” Meadow asked, raising a dark brown eyebrow. “Are you fantasizing about having Jaron between those legs of yours?”

  “Oh, God.” I laughed. “Stop. No wonder you’re still single.”

  “Shut up.” She threw a napkin at me. “I’m single because I’m picky and no one can handle all of this.” She made a motion of running her hands down her body.

  “Well at least we know her ego isn’t small.” Gigi threw a toothpick at her sister.

  “Seriously though.” Meadow sighed. “I just wish a guy wouldn’t be so damn skeevy when I ask him to invite a friend along. There is nothing wrong with threesomes.” She pouted.

  “Uh …” I took a sip of my beer. “No, there isn’t.”

  “Yeah.” Gigi turned to me, waggling her eyebrows. “How are those twins doing?”

  “They want nothing to do with me since I broke it off.” I shrugged. “No big deal. It’s for the better.”

  “I’m sorry.” Gigi patted my hand.

  Meadow scrunched her nose. “Their loss, babe. I love those guys like brothers, but they need to move on. Especially if that’s what you want.”

  I wasn’t even sure what I wanted anymore.

  “Not to make this conversation even heavier but have you girls heard from Luna?” Gigi asked, checking her phone.

  “No.” Meadow checked hers.

  I shook my head.

  Our friend had gotten into a fight with her dad over her boyfriend. It was a mess and now here we were at the bar. Drinking. While Luna went home to her boyfriend’s place and was probably having wild crazy monkey sex. I was so damn jealous of her.

  My center throbbed. God, even my body missed Jaron. “I’m sure she’s fine.” I pulled back the rest of my beer, wishing I had more all of a sudden.

  “I wonder what that life is like.” Gigi tapped her chin.

  “What do you mean?” I stood, stretching my arms up and over my head.

  “The biker life. I know our moms lived it, but it must be different for guys.” Gigi shrugged. “I think I’m drunk.”

  I laughed. “Well then, that calls for another round.” I headed to the bar and grabbed three more beers.

  The hairs on the back of my neck tingled but I refused to look his way. If he wanted to talk, he could come to me. When the bartender placed the drinks on a tray, I smiled up at him and carried it over to the girls.
“More beer, ladies.”

  “You’re the best.” Gigi grabbed a glass and took a large gulp. She coughed.

  “Lightweight.” Meadow giggled, taking her own beer.

  “I think that’s what our moms were trying to change,” I added. All of our mothers were part of the King’s Harlots motorcycle club. They were the only female MC in this area and now they volunteered at a center, known as The Dove Project, that helped human trafficking victims. “I’m just glad they never expected us to follow in their footsteps. Although, I don’t think our fathers would have let that happen anyway.”

  “Could you imagine?” Gigi winced. “I can hear the conversation now. ‘Hey, Dad, I want to become a Harlot.’ His response would be, ‘Over my dead fucking body’,” she said in her best deep voice.

  We laughed.

  “No kidding.” Meadow stood.

  “Where are you going?” Gigi asked her.

  “Bathroom.” Meadow rolled her eyes. “Is that allowed, Mom?”

  “Fine, fine.” Gigi waved a hand in front of her, almost knocking her glass out of her other hand.

  “Alright, girl.” I took the glass from her and placed it on the table in front of us. “Take a moment.”

  She smiled at me, though it looked more like a sneer. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” I laughed lightly. “I think we need some water.”

  Three glasses of water suddenly appeared on the table.

  I glanced up at the bartender.

  “I overheard you.” He nodded toward Gigi. “Don’t need her getting sick.”

  “She’ll be fine.” I rubbed her upper back. “Won’t you?”

  She sighed, running her hand down my cheek. “You’re so pretty.”

  “We’ll be fine,” I told the bartender. “Thank you.”

  He nodded once.

  “Alright, girlfriend.” I took her glass of beer and placed it in front of me. “I think you’re cut off.”

  A dark shadow suddenly loomed over the table.

  My heart sped up. My hands became clammy. I felt him before I saw him. The scent of leather and spice washed over me, sending my emotions into overdrive.

  “Ladies.” A large man placed a tray of beer on the table before sitting across from us. “Mind if we join you?”

  “If you’re supplying the beer—” Gigi picked a bottle off the tray “—not at all.”

  “I like how you think.” The man nodded once, and we were surrounded.

  “Hey, Gigi.”

  God that voice. That deep velvet voice. So smooth. So damn confident.

  “Hey, Jaron. It’s been awhile,” Gigi slurred, making small talk with the man who had been inside my head for the past several weeks.

  “It has. How’s your family?” Jaron pulled up a chair and sat right beside me. He was so close, I might as well have been sitting on his lap.

  “Good,” she answered. “How’s yours doing?”

  “Not too bad. Busy as always.” Jaron pulled my chair closer to his.

  While they continued making small talk, I couldn’t help but notice the way Jaron kept his hand on the edge of my seat. Or how his thumb brushed small circles on my hip. Or how good he smelled. God, he smelled so fucking good. Leather mixed with a hint of spice. It was man. Pure, hard man.

  “How’s it going, Piper?”

  I chewed my bottom lip, biting back a whimper at the way my name sounded on his tongue. “Good.” I looked up at him then and everything seemed to fall away from around us.

  His gray eyes pierced into mine. His dark beard had grown in and was fuller than when I saw him in Paris. What I wouldn’t give to feel it between my legs.

  My body heated. I squirmed in my seat.

  He smirked, his gaze falling to my mouth. “You look good.”

  My heart stuttered at the compliment.

  “I still taste good too,” I threw back at him, low enough for only him to hear.

  His grin grew. “I bet you do.”

  Clearing my throat, I turned back around as Meadow returned from the bathroom.

  “Ooh. Hello, boys.” She waggled her eyebrows and sat at the table between the man who gave us the beer, and another one who looked at her like he wanted to be her lap dog.

  I laughed, shaking my head.

  “Do you ladies come here often?” asked the one who gave us beer.

  “Ignore him,” Jaron teased, resting his arm across the back of my chair. His thumb brushed over my bare arm. I should have worn more clothes. “He doesn’t get out much. Isn’t that right, old man?”

  “Fuck you I don’t.” The man crossed his arms under his broad chest. He leaned over to Meadow. “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-two.” She grinned. “Why?”

  The man pulled her onto his lap. “Good enough for me.”

  She laughed. “Don’t get any ideas in that old brain of yours. My daddy would kick your ass if he knew you were rubbing your dick against me.”

  “Your daddy doesn’t scare me,” he growled in her ear. He said something else, low enough for only her to hear.

  Meadow coughed, caught my gaze, and gave me a wink. “You know it’s rude to tell secrets in front of people.” She cupped the older man’s face. “Why don’t you tell our friends here what you just said?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, Sunny,” Jaron said. “Tell us what you said.”

  “I’d really like to hear this,” the guy beside him added.

  Sunny cleared his throat. “I said to her—”

  “No,” Meadow interrupted. “Tell them what you just said. To me.”

  Watching the exchange between them was something else. Meadow had always been the flirty one of our group, but I never truly saw her in action. The way she had Sunny wrapped around her finger was … hot as hell.

  “Don’t get any ideas, Piper,” Jaron muttered.

  I rolled my eyes. Not like that would happen anyway. I didn’t have a dominant bone in my body.

  “I said,” Sunny repeated, tightening his hold on Meadow’s hip, “that I want to bend you over this table, hike up this sexy as fuck dress, and make you beg for your daddy to come save you.”

  She grinned and patted his cheek. “Good boy.”

  A round of laughter erupted, but not from me. No. Instead, all I could do was stare with my jaw dropped, wishing I had even an ounce of her confidence. Holy fucking hell.

  “That, guys, is my sister. A class act and the queen of flirting,” Gigi teased, taking a swig of the beer I was trying to get her to stop drinking. She swayed in her seat.

  I grabbed the bottle from her and replaced it with a glass of water.

  She took a sip, frowned, stared at it, and shrugged before going back to drinking.

  I blew out a breath of relief.

  “She had too much to drink?” Jaron asked.

  “Yeah,” I answered. “She usually drinks wine, so I guess beer is hitting her harder.”

  “How are you getting home?”

  My head whipped around. I frowned. “Why?”

  Jaron’s jaw clenched. “I want to make sure you girls get home safely. I know you don’t live near here.”

  “Obviously,” I threw back at him. “We rented a cheap hotel for the night and will head back there after here. Alone,” I added.

  “Aww.” Sunny whispered something in Meadow’s ear. “Too bad.”

  “Well …” She grabbed her phone off the top of the table. “What’s your phone number?” she asked, placing her feet on the other man’s lap who sat beside them.

  Sunny took her phone from her, pressed a couple of buttons, then handed it back.

  “Perfect.” She gave him a wink.

  The longer time went on, the more anxious I became. The guys flirted and talked to Meadow, Gigi was trying hard not to pass out on top of the table, and Jaron kept rubbing his thumb back and forth on my arm. I wished I wasn’t wearing just a tank top and shorts. I wished I wasn’t there but then, at the same time, happ
y that I was.

  But I needed to get out of there. I needed to take a breath and think before I begged Jaron to come back to my place.

  Rising to my feet, I mumbled an excuse and hightailed it to the bathroom. I needed to put some distance between Jaron and me. I needed … God, who was I kidding? I needed him.

  Paris ruined me. Nothing had ever compared to our night together, but I still left him in the morning. Why? Why the hell did I do that? Because he scared me. My feelings for him scared me. Everything scared me. God, I was losing my mind.

  Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t believe I had fallen off my bike in front of the boys. God, how embarrassing.

  “Piper.”

  I sniffed, glancing up, and found Jaron hovering over me.

  “Are you okay?”

  The tears only poured harder at his question.

  He sighed, crouching in front of me. “Let me see.”

  I stuck out my leg.

  “Where does it hurt?”

  “Everywhere.” I pouted.

  He chuckled. Wrapping a hand around my calf, he bent my knee.

  A small gasp escaped me at the warmth rushing through me.

  “Does that hurt?” His eyes popped to mine, his brows narrowing.

  I quickly shook my head. If anything, he made it feel better.

  Much to my surprise, he leaned over and placed a soft peck on my knee. “Better?” he asked, glancing up at me.

  The only thing I could do was sit there and stare. What just happened? Jaron kissed my knee. Jaron Mercer. Just wait until I tell the girls this.

  The memory hit me fast. We had been just kids but that was when my crush for him strengthened. I had always had a tiny one on him before that moment, but when he checked to make sure I was okay, even though his friends would probably give him a hard time about it later, it sealed the deal for how I felt about him. But we had been kids. Nothing could come of our relationship. Could it?

  Once I reached the bathroom, I started pacing. I could do this. I could be in the same room as Jaron without wanting to jump him. I could be civil and not make a complete fool of myself. I had this.