FILTHY KISSES (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel)

by London Casey

  My heart raced as panic soared through my body.

  “Just wait a second,” Max said.

  I was moving toward the door. He filled the doorway easily.

  I was so screwed.

  If I wasn’t holding Ellis in my arms I could put up a fight. But I wasn’t going to risk my baby getting hurt. Not with this burly outlaw staring at me like he wanted to hurt me.

  “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said.

  “Nobody said you did,” Max said. “He’s been asking about you.”

  I froze for a second and looked at Max. Then I shook my head. “No. I don’t care. I’m not falling for this.”

  “Falling for what?”

  The outlaw still blocked my way out.

  “This shit,” I said. “You’re not going to convince me to come with you. To live in your clubhouse. I’m not going to end up dead.”

  “Holy hell,” Max said with a laugh. “Nobody said anything…”

  “Just move!” I growled.

  Max stepped back but he didn’t turn. He was toying with me.

  “Look,” he said. “I’ve been coming here when I can to see if you’d show up. Kye trusted me with that phone. I had no idea what his secret was. I haven’t talked to him since he went inside. The club is trying to…”

  “I don’t care,” I cut in. “I really don’t care. The club can do whatever it wants. Come after me. Hurt me. Try. I dare you all.”

  “Dakota, calm down for a second,” Max said. “Just look at me and give me a minute here. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Ellis let out a whine and I started to bounce him. “I have to go. The baby is hungry.”

  “Take your time here,” Max said. “Let me make a call. Let me see if I can get Kye on the phone for you. So you two can talk.”

  “No. I shouldn’t have come here.”

  “But you did. For a reason.”

  The fear spread through my body. All I could do was picture the way out of the house. To make a run for it with the baby and not get the baby or myself hurt or killed. I never hated Kye so much as I did in that moment. Then again, I hated myself. I was the one who let this all happen too.

  There was a small space between Max and the hallway. But he could easily grab me. What if he tore Ellis from my hands? Did he have a gun? A knife? Would he do anything to stop me?

  “We’re all trying to understand this,” Max said. “Whatever you and Kye had arranged, it was a secret. A complete and total secret. I’m trying to understand more of it. Just help me, Dakota. I’m not going to force you to stay here.”

  “I have nothing else to say about it,” I said. “I came to get a ring, okay? I got it. I need to leave.”

  “Your stuff is here,” Max said. “The nursery. Where are you staying?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Are you safe there? Is it a home or a shelter?”

  “None of your business,” I repeated.

  “It is my business,” Max snapped. “Kye is my goddamn brother and that’s his baby you’re holding. I need to know if the baby is okay.”

  “You don’t need to worry about it,” I said. “It’s my life and my baby.”

  Max’s eyes went wide. I had pissed off the outlaw. He made a move like he was going to close the gap between us, taking away my only chance at escape.

  I couldn’t let that happen.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I lifted my knee and drove it forward into his groin. I hit him in the right spot and Max fell back. He crashed against a wall and let out a groan sound. That was my only chance to run.

  So I did.

  I bolted down the hallway.

  Ellis’s small hands grabbed my shoulder and he started to cry. Poor baby was afraid. I had to slow at the steps, taking them one at a time, retaining my balance. I saw the front door. I had the keys in my pocket.

  At the bottom landing I heard Max’s voice scream my name.

  I ripped open the front door and ran straight through the yard toward my car.

  I hurried and plopped Ellis down in his seat, fumbling with the straps and the damn clasp of his car seat.

  I got Ellis secured and when I turned, I saw Max coming out of the house.

  He could have shot me. He could have run faster to get me. But he didn’t. He slowly stepped forward, maybe understanding my fear and shock of everything.

  I still scrambled though, hurrying to get into my car.

  I started it and sped away from the house.

  Ellis started to cry louder, hungry and afraid.

  At the first stop sign I looked in the mirror, half expecting to see a motorcycle coming after me.

  There was nothing.

  I was on my own.

  I was all alone.

  The way I had always been.

  The way I felt I’d always be.

  chapter eleven.

  (kye)

  They handed me my shit in a brown paper bag. I stripped down and threw the orange jumpsuit to the corner of the room. I put on my jeans, touched my belt buckle with a grin on my face, threw an old t-shirt on and put on my leather cut. I pulled at the leather cut, feeling it form to my body.

  Goddamn. It felt right. It felt like home.

  I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror. My face was still healing from more than one fight. I had taken a few beatings and handed out a few more than that. Trev set up protection for me, starting with a few days in a solitary until things were aligned better.

  His smacking me in the face a few times during our first meeting was merely a warning not to hide shit from the MC ever again. And it helped to have it seem like the MC was in turmoil. It showed us as weak, even though we weren’t.

  Whatever the fuck happened, I survived my stay in prison.

  The lawyers came through, along with a judge who was a friend of the MC. The evidence that linked me to the murder was tossed out of court. I had an alibi that the club backed up. I could still possibly be questioned at a later date, but to have me in prison was declared wrong and I was a free man.

  Well, as free as my walk from prison to the black SUV.

  I climbed into the back and sat there.

  There hadn’t been a day that had gone by without me thinking about Dakota. I knew she had the baby by then. I knew nothing about the baby. About my son. For days I sat there and wondered if she’d come visit me. Hell, she probably didn’t know what prison I was in. But she could have found out. Easily. She could have gone to the club for help.

  I had no idea where my son was. No idea where Dakota was. She could have been in the state or across the country.

  “Ready to get out of here?” the driver asked me.

  His name was Sal. A friend of the club. He was supposed to take me down the road and drop me off for pickup. But he was taking me right to the clubhouse. Sal had a problem with cards and gambling and the MC helped to clear his name and make sure his family didn’t get taken out.

  I gave a nod and turned my head.

  Sal took the hint that I wasn’t in the mood to talk.

  I just wanted to sit there and think.

  About my girl. About my son. About my club.

  Shit, I was thinking about my future.

  Nothing made clear sense to me except for one thing.

  I was going to find my son…

  **

  I opened the door and it was like a goddamn surprise party for me. Instead of a birthday cake and balloons it was whiskey, outlaws, and half naked women. The room exploded into screaming and hollering for me. Clapping, whistling, slamming glasses together. Within five seconds of being in the clubhouse, I was given a shot of whiskey from our VP and a hug from the Prez.

  I threw the shot back and Trev called for everyone to take a drink.

  “He’s back!” Trev called out. “Back and staying!”

  The club applauded.

  I hated being made a spectacle of. Shit, I hadn’t done anything wrong to go in the inside anyway.

 
; “Looks like prison almost won, brother,” Cash said. He pulled me in and hugged me. “Fuck, I missed you.”

  “Thanks, brother.”

  I went down the line, showing love and respect for my table brothers. The rest of the guys I just nodded to, appreciating their presence and well wishes now that I was a free man.

  Trev slipped an arm around me and walked me to a pool table.

  “You did it,” he said to me. “You got through it. All charges are gone now. Nothing else to worry about.”

  “Did we find out who did it though?”

  “Not yet,” Trev said. “Lots of calls out there. Things have been a little silent around here. I’ll take it as a good sign.”

  Japser joined us, bringing me a bottle of beer. The first drink was always the best. Cold, crisp, the second best taste of freedom behind my tongue running up and down a beautiful woman’s sweet and tender pussy.

  “I bet you’re all backed up there, brother,” Jasper said. He winked at me. “We’ve got the best around for you. You pick ‘em, they do whatever you want. Go for all of ‘em.”

  “I’m good right here,” I said.

  Yeah, it had been a long time since I’d been with a woman. Shit, the last woman… Dakota. That last night together. I fucked her and she asked me to sleep in bed with her. I stayed up longer than I should have, touching her shoulder, touching her belly, trying so hard for my mind to come up with a plan that would make it all work for us.

  “Just be careful,” Trev said. “Cash has been making his move. You don’t want to go anywhere after Cash does.”

  “Not without an antibiotic,” Jasper said.

  The three of us laughed.

  “So, did you hear from your woman?” Trev asked.

  I looked at Jasper.

  “It’s okay,” Jasper said. “Prez told me.”

  “Everyone else?” I asked.

  “I brought it up,” Trev said. “Be pissed, but I wanted everyone to keep their eyes open. In case something happened. Nothing happened though.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “She never came to visit me. Not that I blame her. This was her biggest fear.”

  “So you have a son?” Jasper asked.

  “By now? Definitely.”

  “Shit,” Jasper said. “I mean, congrats. But the situation…”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I just need to find her and work things out.”

  “If there’s anything we can do,” Trev said. “Truthfully. Anything.”

  I looked at Trev. “Thanks, Prez. How’s Eden?”

  “Oh, she’s good. Grumpy and good. She’s trying to convince her doctor she’s further along than she is so they’ll schedule to get the baby out.”

  I smiled. “As long as everyone is healthy.”

  “Amen to that, brother,” Jasper said. “Ah, shit, look at Cash.”

  Cash had a beautiful woman against a wall near the hallway. He towered over her. The lower half of his body was pressed against hers. They both swayed left to right. She bit her lip and touched his face.

  “He’s locked that one up,” Trev said.

  “Let him live it up,” I said. “I’m not thinking about that right now.”

  “Brother, you need to get that out of your system,” Jasper said.

  “Jasper, take a walk for a second,” Trev said. “Make sure that woman with Cash is okay with the horrible decision she’s about to make.”

  Jasper took the hint. Trev tugged at my cut and we walked toward the door. More members patted my back and shook my hand. Prospects stood like soldiers, showing attention to me. One hurried to open the door, calling me sir.

  “Prison, huh?” I asked.

  “It changes your appearance,” Trev said. “Not easy to survive in there.”

  I pointed to my face. “I know.”

  “I hate to ask this, but I need to. Anything on the inside I should know about?”

  “Like what?”

  “You have to do whatever it is to survive. So if you made any deals. Or said anything.”

  “Not a chance, Prez,” I said. “I would never sell out my club. You know that.”

  “You’re right, I do,” Trev said. “I just need to know for sure. In case there’s any messes I have to clean up.”

  “No,” I said. “It was the same old bullshit on the inside.” I quickly changed gears. “This murder set up, Prez. Someone tried to hit us hard. Wanted me inside to get hit hard.”

  “The two guys that roughed you up, from the van? They were hired help from Night Soul. Rocco has been trying to shoot back at us, hard. To set up a murder though? Right near Russian territory? That’s a big move for them. But nothing is checking out.”

  “Fuck,” I said.

  “We’ll get it,” Trev said. “Nobody is going to put this club in the crosshairs and get away with it.”

  The clubhouse door opened and out came Max. The second I saw his face, I knew something was up.

  “I need to catch up with Max,” I said.

  Trev nodded. He grabbed my shoulder. “I want you to know… this club is family.”

  “Prez, I never meant disrespect by hiding Dakota from you.”

  “Congrats on your son. I hope it all works out. You have this club’s resources if you need anything.”

  I shook hands with Trev.

  As the Prez walked away, Max filled his spot. We hugged again, squeezing tight.

  “Tell me something,” I said.

  “I saw her. I saw the baby. I saw your son.”

  chapter twelve.

  (dakota)

  Ellis was happy and healthy. The right weight. The right size. In fact, he was a little bigger than most babies his age, but that was perfectly fine. He loved to eat, sleep, poop, and smile. He only cried when he was tired, hungry, or needed to be changed.

  He loved Debbie, too.

  I think in his precious little mind he thought Debbie was his grandmother.

  I told Debbie about my encounter with Max at the house. Her advice was to pick a position. In or out. Either go to the club and ask questions or just stay away. It always amazed me how she was able to look beyond the idea of the motorcycle club and their criminal history. She was a beautiful person, never judging anyone.

  I came home from the doctors and decided I wanted to cook Debbie dinner for once. She was the one working. Paying the bills. I tried to help and she always refused. I used my money to buy Ellis food and supplies. I felt guilty for treating myself. Truth was I sort of wanted to get a part-time job. I could work in an office, waitress, put my accounting degree to actual use. But I feared going anywhere in Daurian because of the club.

  It was such a blessing to have Debbie’s house but some days it really felt like a prison. Always worried about where I was going and what would happen. Max could have chased me down and stopped me. He could have taken me and Ellis. But he let us both go. That always stuck with me.

  I went simple with dinner - a meatloaf and mashed potatoes with carrots.

  It was nice to cook. To have the radio on.

  Ellis switched from his highchair to the floor with toys. I kept a close eye on him, bouncing around the kitchen and dining room, forgetting everything about that world.

  When the door opened just before five, I sped out of the kitchen, forgetting too much. In my mind it was going to be Kye coming home. He’d be walking through the door all dirty from work. He’d pick up Ellis and kiss the baby. Then he’d kiss me. Then he’d steal a bite of the meatloaf and I’d slap his hand and point a fork at him. Then he’d take a shower and we’d eat as a family.

  Of course it wasn’t Kye coming home. It was Debbie. She was in her scrubs with her bag and purse. She put everything away and hurried to lift Ellis from his high chair. She spun him around, making noises. He giggled and gurgled, showing a big smile and letting a glob of drool plop down on her shirt.

  “Something smells good here,” Debbie said.

  “I figure it’s my turn to cook,” I said. “Meatloaf…”
>
  “I love it already,” Debbie said. “Let’s have a glass of wine and chat.”

  I saw the smile on her face and knew it wasn’t one hundred percent authentic.

  I asked her three times what was wrong and she insisted it was just one of those days.

  We ate dinner.

  I had to be honest - Debbie was a better cook. But she told me it was perfect.

  The woman always knew how to make me smile.

  We gave Ellis a bath, his nighttime bottle, and by seven he was fast asleep. In his own crib, too. That was sort of new for me to deal with also. Having the baby with me had been such a comfort thing. From the time I first felt him kick in my belly right up until and after he was born. Being completely alone in bed was hard to deal with. I cried every night, wishing someone was there to help me.

  Debbie and I settled on the couch - she in her favorite chair - with another glass of wine. She put on a show and turned the volume down.

  “Tell me about the doctors,” she said.

  “You work there,” I said with a smile.

  “But I didn’t get to see you.”

  “I’m sure you asked.”

  She laughed. “Fair enough. So happy he’s healthy.”

  “Me too.” I sipped my wine. “Now, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

  “Drink your wine, sweetie,” she said.

  “Yeah, that’s not you acting strange,” I said. “Did something happen with Ellis and the doctors won’t tell me?”

  “Oh, never,” Debbie said. “Okay. Just…sit.”

  “I am sitting.”

  “Stay sitting.”

  “I will,” I said.

  I put my wine glass down.

  My heart was already pumping faster.

  “Debbie…”

  “Listen to me carefully,” she said. “You know I have friends all over this town. I know a lot of people. I have been trying to keep up with Kye and his situation.”

  “Kye… okay…”

  “I’m not sure whether this is good news or bad news though,” she said.

  “Try me,” I said.

  “Kye’s out of prison.”

  The four words slipped from Debbie’s mouth and I just stared at her. I counted the seconds in my head.

  … seven… eight…

  I waited until ten, waiting for Debbie to smile and tell me it was a silly joke.