I saw her dark brown eyes blink as they regarded me. I only hoped she saw the sincerity in my face.
"I'll play nice," she said when she dragged her full countenance up to mine and clenched her jaw.
Not having a need to rub it in, I simply patted her shoulder in reply before I went back to stand by a now smirking Lock. "Fucking awesome, girlfriend," she whispered and I heard the noise in the kitchen move back into the regular range.
"Thanks," I whispered back but my stomach was a mess knowing that my Honey position, as I'd so firmly stated, might be in jeopardy after I confronted my dad.
I'd made my decision and needed to let him know that I was choosing a future with Dare in whatever way I could have one.
*.*.*.*.*
It didn't take much for the kitchen to become almost unbearable. Too many bodies, hot burners and the oven going all contributed to the heat. And, like most times when there were more than two sets of ovaries together and under pressure, tempers began to flare. The gentle teasings became out and out snarky on the borderline of mean between the Honeys.
And in the rough and tumble world of the Hive, everyone had to have the last word.
Finall,y a group decided to hit the mall to see about some new clothing for that night's bar-b-que, leaving only a handful of us behind to oversee the last remaining bits of the prep work for the cook-out.
I needed air. And another round of quiet. As well as some space to re-think all that Dare and I had talked about…and done. Not to mention time to prep myself for another go-round with my pops.
I pushed through the door and lifted my arms to allow Montana's breeze to dry all the perspiration that had accumulated as I walked the length of the driveway and back, going all the way to the chain-link fence which bordered the property.
Walking and thinking.
Remembering what Dare'd said about us not being over or if we ever would be. God! That sounded like something that smacked of permanence. I wasn't sure Dare was a stick-around kind of guy.
But he'd been making all the right noises of one last night.
Every time I replayed his words in my head, I got tummy tumbles and felt my heart take up a new rhythm.
To admit to loving me? I'd been looking for him to just admit that he'd wanted to be with me so when he finally confessed his feelings, I'd been shocked. Surprised enough to own up to my own feelings as well.
Jay-sus, that was huge since the Honeys had more than told of a Dare who just wasn't that kind of man. That he liked his fun and all but was abso-freakin'-lutely not looking for love or anything long term.
But he'd flat-out told me that he loved me.
Said the words straight up and more than once.
And I had, for only the second time in my life, said it to another person (albeit it was to the same guy) only nine years, seven months, 3 weeks and four days later than the original utterance.
"Rye!" I heard someone call and stopped in my tracks. Looking around, I saw Dee sitting on one of the picnic tables and waving me over.
"You needed a break, too, huh?" I asked, climbing up to sit next to her on the tabletop.
"Too much estrogen-doings in there for my taste," she agreed, lighting up a cigarette and pushing her hair back from her face. I didn't respond although I completely agreed.
After a time of easy quiet between us, she murmured, "thanks for not busting my chops about me and your dad."
I shrugged. "It's not any of my business."
"Yeah, I know. But still…" Dee's voice trailed off. "You and Dare, huh?"
"Are we that transparent?"
Her head turned towards me and I saw she was wearing a little smile. "I was there during one of the convos, remember? Plus, your dad might've mentioned it a time or two."
"Mentioned or yelled?" I asked with my own grin. I knew my pops and if the topic was Dare, any conversation would've been of the loud variety.
"When it comes to Gus, is there a difference?" she shot back quickly.
I couldn't help my chuckle and idly wondered how long she and my old man had been together since she seemed to know him pretty well.
"Are you the girl from before?" she asked quietly after the silence had again grown between us. "The one he couldn't get over?"
"Yeah," I answered back just as softly with a nod.
"I wasn't here on that run. My mom had just passed and I was in Helena," she stated. "But when I came back it was like Dare had turned into a different kid. Mouthy and so fucking angry at everyone and everything. Even rode his machine like he was suicidal." She stopped and shook her head. "It was Dare at his worst and was so fucking hard to watch."
Even though Dare had talked about it, what Dee was saying made his pain during that time seem more real somehow.
"It got so bad, Trike had to send him out with a crew to Butte, figuring that keeping the boy too tired to cause trouble was the way to go." I watched her crush out her smoke before she continued. "But it was my man, Big Duke, who denied Dare's request to join the Spokane chapter."
Wait…what?
Dare had made a formal request to the Hellion president at the time to come to Spokane? "When was this?" I asked in a high, tight voice, both hands gripping onto the lip of the tabletop beneath me.
"Think it was when he was fixing to turn twenty. Duke flat-out told him he couldn't switch chapters just to follow pussy."
That would've been when I was eighteen. The age when I could've been with him without my family doing anything. But by that time, I'd thought he'd moved on to someone else and I'd been working to forget him…and the 'us' my heart yearned for.
"With all due respect, Dee," I began. "Your old man sounds like a dick."
Her head turned to mine and I again saw her smile. "Yeah. He was. Pissed me off a lot. And him basically telling Dare to chose between being a Hellion or having you made me see red. It was wrong. Just as wrong then as it is now."
"So Pops told you what he asked Trey to do?"
"Yeah and how he told you that if you went to Dare then you were disowned," she stated flatly. "With all due respect, Ryley, your dad is a bit of a prick."
I nodded and sighed. She was preaching to the choir on that one.
"So what are you two gonna do?" I watched her light another cigarette as her question hung in the air between us.
I looked down at my hands before answering. "Honestly? I don't know. I've got responsibilities in Spokane, a life. Just like Dare has here. But I don't know about a long distance thing."
"So you won't even consider doing a re-lo to Missoula?" she asked, laying it out plainly. "I know what Haven means to you, baby girl. But there's no reason there can't be a Honey Haven Two."
I felt my heartbeat pickup at what she'd said and I shot my eyes to hers.
"Want to know what I think?" she asked quietly, waiting for my response. As I gave another nod, she went on. "I think your old man's mouth is making threats his heart won't allow him to do. Trey won't take Dare's cut. Nor will Spokane ever pull their support from another Hellion chapter." Her voice was firm, resolved in what she considered to be facts. "Anymore than Gus will disown you, Ryley, for being with your man."
"But my dad hates Dare," I tried to explain.
"And other couples don't have that issue of not getting along with the in-laws?" Dee laughed, crushing out her cig. "Somehow, I don't think you two are alone in that situation."
I stared at her. "You make it sound so easy."
"I never said it would be easy. But I don't think it's impossible either." She slid her butt off the top of the table and stood. "And you know you've got the support of both Hives to help if you need it."
I needed her take on one more thing before we went back inside. "Dee? Do you think Dare can commit to just one girl?"
She looked at me unblinking for more than a few seconds. Long enough for me to steel myself against what she was going to say.
"Seems to me he already did a long time ago and in his own way. Dare may not have sta
yed out of their beds, but he wouldn't let any other woman in his heart, Ryley. And I'm guessing it was because it was already filled with you," she replied, saying almost the same words that Lock had said the other morning in her kitchen.
Words I was beginning to think might be true.
Chapter Twenty Seven
As soon as Dare's ass was off his bike, he went looking for Ryley.
He needed to settle things between them, to plan the future he was determined to have with her. And he was not going to be deterred, not by her dad, her brother or some kind of fuckin' bar-b-que.
The clubhouse was in chaos as the men filed in, grabbing drinks and chairs or even a Honey. The run had been a success in promoting the bonds the two clubs had between them and everyone was still caught in its high.
"Hey, cowboy," he heard Ryley offer from behind him, surprised he could even hear her soft voice in the growing noise of the teeming room.
He didn't say a word but grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the stockroom door, a place he thought would give enough privacy to greet her properly. He closed the door and immediately took her in his arms, angling his face as his hand went to the back of her head.
And just like always, the kiss they shared went out of fuckin' control right from the first. And lasted for-fuckin'-ever.
When he pulled up his head and gazed into her face, he saw her eyes were hooded and her mouth was already swollen from his kiss. God, she was beautiful and he knew that look. He'd seen it time and time again as they'd played together. He'd turned her on with nothing more than his kiss.
Christ!
"How important is the bar-b-que?" he rumbled, his eyes moving over her features. She looked like she was coming awake from a deep sensual dream. "Do we gotta fuckin' stay, sugar?"
"Uh-uh," she breathed. "Have another plan in mind, cowboy?"
"Wanna ride, Ryley?" he asked. "Want to shake off the club and the crowds and just be with you, girl."
She blinked and seemed to consider her words before she answered. "You have more bikes, right?"
"Yeah," he drawled, wondering where she was going with her question. "Have a Sportster and a Soft Tail in addition to the Dyna outside, why?"
"Could I borrow the Soft Tail and ride beside you, Dare?" Her question was offered almost hesitantly as if she was afraid of his answer.
"You fuckin' ride?" he asked incredulously. That had always been his dream. To be with a girl who could and would ride a motorcycle. At her nod, he couldn't help the elation that bubbled up inside him and he squeezed her tightly. "Then let's hit it, Ryley!"
At her ear to ear smile, Dare couldn't resist another deep kiss that he hoped told her how perfect she was to him.
And it wasn't long before they were at his place, pulling out his 2009 HD Soft Tail from the back of his garage.
"Mine's a Pearl 2004 Soft Tail Heritage," she said as she straddled his machine and adjusted the side-mirrors.
"Thought your old man doesn't fuckin' believe in women riding."
The smile she wore beamed bright as she answered. "He doesn't and he hasn't a clue that I have a machine. Much less that I ride it."
Dare was fuckin' dazzled and everything within him still with new knowledge of Ryley and how utterly perfect she was for him. But within seconds, he found himself laughing long and loud. So Gus didn't have as much control over his little girl as he thought!
"I'm thinking you like that I know how to maneuver a machine," she said with a chuckle, her eyes sparkling with her own humor.
"And how you've kept it from your watch dog," he shot back, bending low to capture her mouth. "You are so fuckin' perfect for me, sugar! Say it again, Ryley. Please, girl. Just one more time."
She seemed to know exactly what he wanted as she stood straight up, a leg on each side of his second most favorite motorcycle. Her arms encircled his shoulders as her lips came back to his. "I love you."
Fuck! He'd never get used to hearing that. Never!
"Then let's ride, sugar."
He took her up into the Lolo's where the forest marched right up to the sides of the two-lane roads and were devoid of traffic. At first he'd kept an eye on her, watching how she moved on his bike. She was a natural and with the way she moved, so relaxed in her seat, he could tell she was experienced.
And that she seemed to be having a motherfuckin' ball riding next to him, if the ear-to-ear grin she wore was any indication.
So they kept going, wandering the different roads, riding over hills and down through gorges that cut through the trees. They passed by cabins partially hidden in all the greenery, only a glint from a window giving evidence they were there.
After about three hours, when the sun was just starting is slow slide towards sunset, he turned them back towards the freeway.
To take her home.
No, he corrected. She was his home. He was just leading them back to his place.
*.*.*.*.*
It was later, much later, after we'd gone to his apartment and had thrown together a meal that was consumed amidst peals of shared laughter. After we'd gone to the couch where we'd talked with foreheads pressed together more than they'd been apart. And long after the talking had eased into kissing that morphed into a physical need that couldn't be denied and was so achingly satisfied.
It was when he'd flipped the afghan that was tucked along the back of the couch over our naked sweating bodies that he rocked my world completely.
I was laying half on him, my butt pressed into the back of the sofa, his head on the arm as we both regained our breath. "I want to marry you, Ryley," he whispered. "We could play house for a time but that's not what I fuckin' want." I both heard and felt his deep swallow. "I want to be tied to you, sugar, in every way possible."
I slowly lifted my chin so I could look at him and saw he was looking back at me with such love and such fierce sincerity I found my eyes stinging and a lump in my throat.
"I told you when we were kids that you were my forever," he rumbled. "And I'd kind of like that forever to fuckin' start as soon as goddamn possible."
One tear, one lone tear slipped out of my eye and rolled down my face which Dare caught with his thumb. "You crying because you're happy or because you're gonna piss me off by saying no?"
"Yes," I choked out with a hitch and then couldn't help my chuckle at the confused look that crept over his face. "Yes, I'll marry you, cowboy."
His face smoothed and his smile, that god-awesome Dare smile spread over his face. "I don't have the ring yet. Si is setting me up but it fuckin' occurred to me—I don't know what kind of shit you like." He picked up my hand and stared at my fingers. "You don't wear a lot of bling, girl."
"That's because I'm not a bling-girl," I mumbled through my wet grin. "I like things small and on the quiet side."
He stared at my fingers for a while before he kissed my palm and then pressed my hand against the middle of his chest. "Feel that?"
"Yeah."
"Know what that is, sugar?"
"What is it, Dare?"
"That's what love feels like," he murmured before he slid down on the couch until we were nose-to-nose. "The kind of love it takes to be a family." His dark eyes bored into mine. "You're my family, Ryley."
I couldn't help the tears that were pouring down my cheeks even as I nodded.
"And maybe someday we can have kids," he continued. "Can you imagine that, girl? You and me having babies together?"
I could.
I so totally could. And the thought left me breathless, imaging a small, swaggering miniature of Dare that would keep me on my toes and chasing after him. To protect our kid from whatever high-jinx he'd get into. And as Dare's son, I could guaran-damn-tee there'd be plenty of shit the kid would get into.
"I hope she'll have your eyes and smarts." He wanted a girl and my mental image changed to seeing Dare with a little brown-haired girl on his lap as they laughed together.
"I love you," I whispered so overcome with emotion I ached with i
t.
"But I love you more," he teased, his large hand coming to the back of my head.
"No you don't!" I snapped as I reached up backhand my tears away.
"Yep, I do, sugar. I loved you first, therefore I love you more," he announced firmly but with a chuckle.
"I'm calling bullshit, Joshua Dare Gentry!" I yelled pushing up from my position. It was hard to win an argument when one was wrapped around one's opponent.
"Weak. So fuckin' weak, Ryley," he said, his dark eyes flashing as he pulled me back against him, holding me captive as he laughed. "Need a do-over, sugar?"
"Fuck you!" I yelled, thrashing against him in order to get loose. God, the man was infuriating!
He shifted until I was underneath him, my body trapped and unable to move. "A fuckin' excellent idea," he breathed, his mouth only centimeters from mine. I felt his hard-on grind against my belly, causing a clench of renewed moisture between my legs. "I'm up for it. Are you?"
I was.
And it was, as usual, magnificent.
*.*.*.*.*
I had Dare take me to the Rosemont instead of back to the clubhouse the next morning. Although he'd made it clear he didn't want me to have the talk with my dad without him there.
"He's gonna be pissed, cowboy," I'd warned as we were leaving Dare's apartment. "I don't want you in the cross-hairs of that."
"All the more fuckin' reason for me to be there. Let him take it out on me," Dare had replied with a cheeky grin and a pat on my jean covered butt. "Don't like to think of you getting that awesome, amazing ass chewed on account of me."
"You're out of your mind if you think my pops has never chewed my ass out before. In fact from ages seventeen to nineteen, I was convinced that my butt actually shrunk," I huffed, waiting for him to climb on the bike so I could snuggle up behind him. "For a while there I thought it was his goddamn hobby or something."
That earned me a full-throated laugh that almost rivaled the roar of his bike as he started the engine. And found myself laughing along with him.
But I was rethinking taking my dad on alone as I stood outside his motel room door, smoothing my hair and readjusting the purse strap over my shoulder. I'd tried to plan what I was going to say but knew his temper might be contagious. Which I knew from experience could turn a simple conversation into a war of words.
Taking a Dare - A Hellion MC Novel Page 21