Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC

by Kiki Leach

  "Not for another goddamn hour or so. All the prospects are bringin' their women so they can help with the food. And I even invited some of the club pussy, excluding your bitch," he mentioned. "As long as they promised to fuckin' behave with the wives around. They're already gettin' into shit with each other as it is."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean I had to pull Miranda off my mother two seconds after she walked through my goddamn front door.”

  “What the fuck for?”

  “Jolene made some crack about her goddamn potato salad tastin' like water, shit and piss."

  "Shit." Blue held his stomach and nearly doubled over in laughter. "Jolene ain't never liked Snake's Old Lady."

  "No. Anyway, the rest of 'em are bringin' their kids and I've got some folks around the area comin' too."

  "Like that kid Avery's playin' with over there? She from around the area?"

  River turned to look at them and nodded. "Yeah. Snake and Miranda's kids are inside takin' a nap or some shit in Madison’s room. She said the hours they need to sleep conflicted with the goddamn hours of when this shit started up.”

  Blue eyed the yard and threw his hand inside his pocket. "That kid over there, she got a mother around here anywhere?"

  "Jesus, asshole." River dropped his shoulders and rattled his head. "For a few fuckin' hours while they're here, just try keepin' your dick zipped up, alright? If Mia sees some shit goin' down here too, she's hightailin’ it the fuck outta here before we can even get to Ricky in the next few weeks. That's exactly why I didn't invite your bitch here."

  "Okay. Shit, VP, alright," he said. "I guess if you can keep your cock snapped shut tight around this bitch you wanna sink it into, then I can do the same around these others." He drank back the rest of his beer and slammed the empty bottle down onto the table. "But I ain't makin' any goddamn promises about it."

  Just then, Mia hopped up to the deck and greeted him. "Hi."

  "Hey, darlin'," he said. "Looks like you got alota shit piled up over in that corner back there."

  "Yeah." She spun around to stare at it. "I didn't realize how much it was until Snake and River dragged it all out of that shed. It's mostly junk now, for me, anyway. Maybe somebody else can get some use out of a few things I won't need anymore."

  "Yeah. Maybe I'll get that, uh, dresser thing over there for my daughter."

  Her eyes grew wide and she made a face. "You have a child?"

  "Don't looked so shocked about it, babe."

  "I'm not -- Well, I am, I'm sorry. I just never actually pictured you with a kid, that's all. How old is she?"

  "Damn near the same age as River's," he said. "She'll be fifteen next month. Lives with her mother out in Colorado. She sends post cards and shit every now and then, letters and whatnot. Maybe if I send this out to her or set it up inside my house, she'll actually come out for a visit. How much you sellin' it for?"

  "Um..." She whirled around to stare at it again, then turned back to him and smiled. "Why don't you just take it?"

  "Mia," River growled.

  "It's fine," she said. "You can just take it."

  "I can't do that to you, darlin’. Whole reason you're gettin' rid of this shit is 'cause you need the cash." He reached inside his back pocket for his wallet and pulled out at least five one hundred dollar bills. Mia gasped as he placed each one inside her hand. "You keep that shit for you and your little girl. And I'll take that dresser back there for me and mine."

  Mia crumbled the money inside her hand and swallowed hard to hold herself back from crying all over his cut. "Thank you," she told him.

  He pat her on the shoulder, then hopped down from the deck and made his way over to Verna, Madison and Jolene.

  River stepped away from the grill and moved in beside her. He stared down at her for a few seconds, then looked out into the yard. "I've known Blue for a long motherfuckin' time," he told her. "Almost my entire goddamn life. And never in all those years have I seen him put that much money inside a woman's hand instead of on the edge of her goddamn nightstand."

  Mia chuckled, though it was mostly due to nervous laughter, and shoved the money inside her pocket. "Nice,” she replied in a sarcastic tone.

  "What do you plan on doin' with it?"

  "I don't know. Maybe buy you dinner?" She looked up at him just as he turned back to her, and bit her tongue. "I mean, since you're cooking and I can't cook all that well... Just as sort of a thank you."

  "You keep thankin' me, darlin', I'm gonna run outta shit to be givin' you for you to thank."

  "There's always more," she told him.

  "More that I could give?"

  She nodded and grinned up at him. "Yeah." She sank her teeth into her lip and started making her way down the deck. "I'm going to go back and help your mother and Verna finish over there."

  "How the hell are those two gettin' along?" he asked.

  "They're okay, I guess. They don't really talk to each other all that much unless they have to. Do you know what the deal is between them?"

  He shook his head. "Been that way ever since I was a goddamn kid. They care about each other, but, they just don't always fuckin' know how to show it. Listen, uh." He stepped closer to her. "The Dragons are gonna be here around the same time as the rest of my boys. I figure when the auction gets to goin' good, I'll bring 'em off to the side and we can hear what they've gotta say."

  "Okay." She tucked her hair behind her ears and squint. "Are you sure my being there with you is such a good idea?"

  "We'll find out soon enough, won't we, babe? By the way, you're uh... you're lookin' pretty damn good today."

  She looked down at herself, at her bright white tank top and fitted jeans. "It's just about how I look every day."

  "Yeah, well, uh..." He cleared his throat. "Shit looks especially better today for some reason. I don't know."

  "Oh, well... Thanks." She drew her eyes up and down his body and Jesus, did he feel that shit. "You look especially better today too."

  They stared at each other for a long goddamn time, fighting that urge that had reached up inside and grabbed them both in a fucking chokehold.

  "I'm going to go back over there, and I'll see you later?"

  "Yeah, doll," he told her. "I'll come after you when the shit starts goin' good."

  "Okay."

  He watched with a close eye as she bounced across the yard, but suddenly got distracted by his daughter staring back at him with those big mud colored eyes and smiling. He turned back to his grill and groaned when he realized she was making her way toward him.

  "Hey, daddy," she said, swinging her long blond locks over her shoulder and bumping her arm into his.

  "Baby girl--"

  "Are you using your old recipes for the steaks?"

  "Yeah."

  "Does Mia like beef?" she asked him.

  Slowly, he rolled his eyes to her and lowered his brows. "What?"

  "The food," she asked him. "You started cooking before even asking her what she likes to eat."

  "Oh." He breathed a sigh of relief. "She mentioned somethin’ about a steak the other day, so I just assumed--"

  "You can't just assume with women like that, daddy."

  "Women like what?"

  "Women who aren't your usual club whores. When it comes to women like Mia, you need to ask them what they really want. Not just assume that whatever you want is the same thing that they want too. Or that they’re even willing to give it.”

  He opened his hand and pointed toward the grill. "Is this still about the goddamn food?"

  She rolled her eyes up at him and shrugged before making her way back over to the other side of the yard.

  It was then and there that he realized just how goddamn long this day was bound to become.

  Chapter Twenty

  By around two o'clock, River's entire backyard was filled with nearly every member and potential member of the club (with the exception of Tiny, who River went of his way not to invite; though he said
it was more likely a given that Tiny wouldn't have shown up either way), their old ladies, ‘other’ women of the club and all the kids. He also managed to get some people around his neighborhood to actually show up, one of which included a single mother named Meghan (whose daughter spent more time with Avery than the others), and who had been dodging one man after the other as they tried desperately to get after her, despite their women being within less than a mile distance from them; though she couldn't seem to get away from Blue or his hands and after a while, didn't seem to want to all that much either.

  After the first few hours of the auction, I had sold nearly everything Styx, Trucker and the rest managed to get out of my house that wasn't nailed down to the floor (with the exception of my computer) and was well on my way to having enough money that would've afforded me and Avery a chance to get the hell out of Florida, build my own damn 'safe house' and never come back. But I knew that the actual possibility of that happening was slim to absolutely none. Not only would River possibly throw the biggest fit of any man I had ever seen, but even if I managed to build myself a hole underground, there was a higher chance that Ricky and his men would sniff me out like a pack of wild dogs before I even managed to cover myself.

  While River continued to man the grill, fixing more and more food for the hungry members and children of the club, I stepped back into the kitchen from the patio to grab the second bowl of Miranda's potato salad. Even though Jolene had nearly convinced everyone that it was poisoned, which was why it was so watery and tasted more like juice than salad, most still enjoyed eating it; though they went out of their way to hide the evidence from her when she thought about coming back around to ask them about it.

  As I gathered up the bowl and was on my way back outside, I was unpleasantly stopped by a vibrantly intoxicated Eightball, who seemed to pop up like a freaking Jack-In-The-Box, given that I hadn't seen him most of the day; though I too was going out of my way to avoid certain people while here, and he was definitely one of them.

  Once he made his way inside the house and slid the patio door shut, I stepped back into the kitchen and placed the bowl back down on the counter. I could see him staring at me from the corner of my eye, more like leering as he dropped a hand inside his pocket and reached for a cigarette, and more than anything, all I wanted was to be as far away from him, and out of that tiny as hell kitchen space, as I could possibly get.

  "You need a hand with that, darlin'?" he asked.

  I turned to him just as he lit up and shook my head. "You can't smoke in here."

  He produced a haphazard grin and leaned against the frame. "Darlin', I been knowin' River a fuck of a lot longer than you have, alright? I think I know when and where I can smoke when it comes to bein' inside his goddamn house."

  "He doesn't want people smoking in here anymore now that Avery's here. I asked him about it before moving in, and he agreed. Even his mother doesn't smoke inside the house anymore, and he told me that she refrained from it when Madison was little, as did he.”

  His lids hovered over his eyes as he continued to stare at me, then he ripped the cigarette from between his lips and dipped it into a bowl of ice cream on the corner edge of the counter. "There. It's out." He grinned, though in no way did it make me feel any less uncomfortable. He slid his hands inside his back pockets and moved closer to me. And for the first time, I noticed a handful of tiny scars surrounding his nose and eyes, old scars that stood out and across his pale white skin, which looked as if they had been there for at least over a decade. But they didn't look like natural scars or scars that one gets from being reckless or stupid with some kind of machinery; they looked like marks from actual fingernails, and I was pretty sure not from his own. "So uh." He looked behind him for a second, then turned back to me. "What's the deal with you and VP anyway?" he asked.

  "The deal?"

  "Yeah, baby, the goddamn deal. First he moves you into the club, now he's moved you into his goddamn house. Motherfucker's never let a bitch in here for longer than a goddamn night unless he's too fucking piss drunk to kick her the fuck out before the sun shows up. You're like an Old Lady without the benefits of it all, without all the fucking that comes along with it. Unless that's what you two are doing, 'less that's why he moved you in here." He took another step closer and dipped his head lower in an attempt to focus my eyes on his. "Are you two fucking? 'Cause if not, it's a goddamn fucking shame." His eyes went straight down to my breasts. "A motherfucker would have to be blind as fuck to not wanna get all up inside that."

  I took a few steps back and crossed my arms over myself. "I don't feel comfortable with you being in here or talking to me like this," I told him.

  "Guess what, darlin'?" he said through a hearty chuckle. "I don't really give all that much of a fuck."

  As he stepped closer and dipped his head even lower in an attempt to kiss me, my hand darted out for a butcher knife on the opposite counter. But I had no time to do anything with it because Avery had stepped into the kitchen then, and called out for me.

  Eightball dropped back and grinned; if a snake could smile, he gave the perfect imitation of one. His eyes shot down to the knife in my hand and he nodded his head. "Next time, babe."

  The minute he was gone from the kitchen, I dropped the knife to the counter and fell back against the wall, covering my mouth to keep from screaming. My heart was pounding so hard, I thought it was actually going to fly right through my chest and splatter against the wall on the other side.

  Avery moved closer into the kitchen and stared up at me with those big brown eyes. "Mama?" she said.

  I forced a smile and swallowed hard. "Yeah, baby?"

  "Alisha wants to know if I can spend the night at her house tonight."

  "Who?"

  "Alisha; the girl I've been playing with all day."

  "Oh, right." I grabbed my head and closed my eyes. "Meghan's daughter."

  "She wants to know if I can spend the night with her tonight."

  "Um, baby, that's extremely short notice. Let me talk to her mother about it first, and we can maybe work something out for another night."

  "But I wanna spend the night over her house TONIGHT."

  "Avery!" I snapped. "You can't spend the night with her tonight, alright? We'll figure something out for another night, end of story."

  She glared at me before stomping out of the kitchen and back into the yard while spouting off 'No fairs'. I dropped my hands to the edge of the counter and closed my eyes again, only to jump back with the knife in my hand the second I felt someone else's hand drop down on my shoulder. When I realized it was River, who had jumped back from me as if I had planned to skin him alive until there was nothing left of him but eyes and bones, I calmly placed the knife back down on top of the counter and rattled my head.

  "I'm sorry."

  "Shit. What the fuck?" He dropped his hands and moved in closer to me. "You alright, doll?"

  "No," I sighed. "I think the reality of everything is just starting to hit me. That, and one of your bikers just made me feel extremely, extremely uncomfortable."

  He clinched his fists. "Which one?"

  "Eightball," I said. "He came in here while I was getting Miranda's potato salad and kind of cornered me."

  "What the fuck did he say to you?" he growled; the rumble from deep inside him sent a chill throughout my entire body, though it wasn’t the kind that would’ve normally frightened me.

  "Just...” I stammered. “He just said stuff that made me feel uncomfortable."

  He breathed in deep and grinded his teeth. "Piece of shit,” he murmured. “That's why you reached for the goddamn knife, 'cause you thought I was him?"

  I nodded. "Yeah. Sorry."

  "You ain't got a goddamn thing to be sorry for, doll, but that motherfucker just might."

  He turned from me pretty quickly and tried racing for the patio door, but I reached out for his arm and dragged him back into the kitchen with me. Once we stopped, he looked down at my hand and flared his no
strils and his temples; and suddenly, my hand felt like a hot plate against his skin.

  "Um..." I gently released his arm and he clamped his teeth together. "I don't want you to make this into some kind of big scene with him. I mean, I can handle myself, it's just... he threw me off by coming in here like that."

  "I know you can handle yourself, doll," he said. "I've got no goddamn doubt about it just from the way that you talk to me." He moved in so much closer this time, so much closer to the point that I could feel the heat from him bouncing right off of me. God, if this is how I'm meant to go out, then I might just lie down and take it on my back. "But none of these motherfuckers out here should be makin' you feel like that," he went on. "Makin’ you feel uncomfortable in any kinda way, and sure as fuck not inside my own goddamn house."

  "Thank you--"

  "You don't have to keep thankin' me for shit, babe," he said. "'Specially for shit like that."

  "Still," I told him. "Even with my parent's, I've never really had anybody looking out for me before. So whether you want to keep hearing it or not, I'm going to keep telling you ‘thank you’. And more than that, I’m going to keep showing it."

  Unthinkingly, I reached up and threw my arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight embrace. I could feel his hesitancy at first, feel his tension and resistance in being so damn close to me; and then before I even knew what the hell was happening, his arms were sliding around my waist and his hands were tightening; his face was moving beneath my jaw, his mouth and nose were nuzzling into the side of my neck. I heard him grunt, felt the harshness of it against my skin as his mouth opened, then closed and opened again. I felt the tip of his tongue brush against me; I felt his teeth. My fingers trailed along the hairs of his neck and as I tried swallowing, my throat was so dry that it was completely impossible. I felt myself melding with him, my body molding to his as he pulled me tighter against him. And then I felt myself walking backward. I didn't know if it was something I was doing on my own, or if he was pushing me, but I knew at the moment that I didn't care.