Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC

by Kiki Leach

  Blue stood back from the both of them and stared. "I guess I'm just chopped fuckin' liver." He went over to the bar and grabbed himself a beer from the other side of the counter.

  Mia turned her face into River's skin and brushed her lips across the lines in his neck, forcing that motherfucker to release the breath he had been holding from the second he jumped out of his goddamn truck. As he felt her mouth twitch against him, as he felt her tasting the salt from his skin, he dropped his head and his inhibitions and draped his arms around her waist, grabbing her so goddamn tight that she gasped.

  He grit his teeth the moment he heard that sharp breath escape from between her lips and slightly dipped her back while at the same time yanking her against him, forcing her to feel his cock as it grew in size. When she squirmed against it and released a soft whimper as a result, he thought about pulling back; he always thought about pulling back when shit seemed to get too goddamn real for him when it came to this bitch and how he fucking felt, but he couldn't bring himself to do it this time. He didn't fucking want to because he knew he needed this shit like nothing else he had ever needed before. He needed to fucking hold her, touch her, make sure she was still fucking real. He needed to skim his nose across her skin and inhale her scent until that shit was burned into his goddamn brain for the rest of his motherfucking life and even after it; he needed to brush his lips across her neck and make sure she felt that shit from her pussy right down to the tips of her goddamn toes and back again.

  When she attempted to pull back to let herself breathe again, because the moment she felt the ache of his arousal pressing against her, all breathing ceased to exist, he kept her in place and shoved his fingers a few inches beneath her shirt with the purpose of pressing them down hard into her skin. This son of a bitch needed her to fucking know she was his without saying it, he needed her to fucking accept that shit without even responding with a single goddamn word of it.

  And she did, she fucking did.

  As he shoved his face beneath her jaw and soaked up every goddamn bit of her sweetness, sweetness that had violently inflamed every fucking part of his entire body, she brushed her fingers across his broad shoulders and gently glided them up and down his spine. Touching this man, being held by him like this made her feel whole again, made her feel as if everything she had ever been through in her life was somehow worth it if only to get to that single, solitary moment with him there, and inside that club.

  "Even if you managed to get away, I still wasn't sure if you were actually going to make it back here in one piece," she told him.

  He swayed her back and forth a few times before gently and hesitantly sliding his arms from around her waist and standing straight. As Courtney, Verna, Styx, Blue and even Wolf stared directly at him, his eyes never left Mia's face, or lips as she spoke.

  "After Styx told us about that car blowing up right in front of you, I..." She stopped herself from going any further, from speaking the worst that didn't happen, and breathed in deep. "What the hell happened out there?" she asked him.

  "A decoy's what happened, babe," he said. "Motherfucker sent out a goddamn decoy to send us a fuckin' message about him comin' after you."

  Mia rattled her head. "I don't understand."

  "He was gone before we even showed up," replied River. "Or so they fuckin’ said. At this point, we can’t even be sure of this shit anymore, not a goddamn single bit of it. All we know for a fact is that the son of a bitch somehow managed to take the entire fuckin' place into his hands and had assholes doin' his goddamn dirty work left and fuckin' right."

  "Even had a fake guard out front to throw us off our game," said Blue. He took a swig of his beer. "Dumbass didn't even have a goddamn knife, gun, nothin', which meant he wasn’t even worth bein’ fuckin' collateral. Probably just some stupid motherfucker they paid in dope to take the fall. They didn't care what the fuck happened to him or anybody else on the other side of that goddamn gate, ‘least of all us. But I don't think they wanted us dead."

  "No," said River. "That asshole didn't want us dead." River stepped closer to Mia and wrapped his hands around her face. "He wanted to scare the goddamn shit out of us 'cause the son of a bitch knows for a goddamn fact that we're the ones that've got you now."

  She blinked a few times, then searched her eyes across the room as a thought of terror suddenly popped into her mind. "Oh my God, Avery--"

  "She's good, doll," said River, reassuring her. "My mother's still with her after her and Styx picked her up from that homeschool teacher's house. That's some shit you don't need to worry about 'cause I'm gonna always have people lookin' after your girl. What we gotta worry about now is exactly where this motherfucker might be movin' to next in an attempt to hit us before we even fuckin' know what's comin again." He nodded behind her and focused in on Courtney. "And that's where this bitch comes in."

  All eyes in the room turned to Courtney. She folded her arms across herself and glared at River. "I didn't know anything about him breaking out of the prison this morning until you called--"

  "Why the fuck are you here and not back at the goddamn hotel like you're supposed to fuckin' be?" he interjected.

  "You've got me locked up in there like it's a cage and I'm some kind of animal that only gets walks outside when told. For the last few weeks, I've seen nothing except for the inside of those dingy white walls!" she hollered out. "I was going out of my mind and feeling crazy. I needed to get out before I did something I regretted."

  "And the first place you decide to come and spread out those goddamn wings is the club?" River eased past Mia and made his way across the room. Courtney fell back against the pool table and flinched the minute River stood in front of her. He leaned over her body, forcing her to drop back to her elbows as she kept her eyes up on his face. She gulped as his temples flared and he grit his teeth. "Did you know about Mia before you came to the club that night to try and fuck my brains out?"

  Courtney glanced behind him at Mia, who frowned in confusion. She shook her head. "No--"

  "Don't fuckin' lie to me," he told her in a low, hard voice. She trembled. "Before you came here with that other bitch that night, did you know about Mia comin' here first? You better be fuckin' goddamn honest with me about this shit because I WILL FIND OUT!"

  "NO!" she wildly screamed out on the verge of tears. "I swear to you, River, I didn't know anything about her or Avery until I went to visit Ricky that day, I swear. Before that, he never even mentioned either one of them--"

  "So he waited for the perfect time to do it, which is why he fucked you up like he did. Son of a bitch knew you'd come runnin' back to me first and tell me every goddamn thing about it in the hopes that I'd go after him for it. Asshole was plannin' his escape WAY BACK FUCKIN' THEN! But since I didn't come to him like he wanted, this was the goddamn result. A fuckin' DECOY bein' blown to bits outside the goddamn prison to 'cause a shit load of mayhem and enough distraction to make sure the motherfuckers who wanna put him to ground can't even find him to do it!" He stepped aside and threw his hands down onto the pool table, shaking it so hard that it nearly cracked in the middle. “FUCK!” Everyone in the room suddenly felt intimidated by him; everyone except for Mia.

  "Why are you asking her if she had known about me before I showed up here that day to see you, River?" she asked him.

  He hunched over the table and rested his hands against the edge of the wood, and angrily forced out each word. "'Cause this bitch is Ricky's sister."

  "Holy. Fuck," said Styx.

  "Jesus," mumbled Verna as she covered her mouth and glanced over at a stunned and disgusted Mia.

  River turned his eyes over to Wolf, who looked as if he could've ripped every single goddamn head from every single motherfucking body in that entire goddamn room, and tossed them straight into the nearest garbage disposal one, by one, by fucking one.

  "And just when the fuck did that piece of goddamn info happen to fall into your motherfuckin' lap, asshole?" spat a pissed off Wolf.


  River straightened his back but kept his fists down on the table. "Same night I told you she came to me to tell me everything else. After the goddamn auction--"

  "Jesus Christ. For all we know now, this bitch could be a goddamn rat and you're keepin' her on the string with a pile of fuckin’ cheese!"

  "If that hotel is the cheese, then--" she piped in.

  "Shut the fuck up," snapped River. He made a face while staring at her. "If that motherfucker didn't learn from you that we were on our way out to snatch him the fuck up, then it means we got another goddamn rat on her hands--"

  "SHE'S THE RAT, ASSHOLE," snapped Wolf. "This crazy bitch that you couldn't seem to stop fuckin' between waitin’ for--”

  "I haven't spoken to Ricky since the day I left that prison," said Courtney. "I swear it. I'd put my hands on a stack of bibles if there were any around. Ask Styx. He's been with me every single day and monitoring every call I've made and every single one that's come in."

  Styx stepped forward and nodded. "She's right, VP, Prez. There ain't been a single goddamn thing suspicious since I've been watching her."

  River dragged his hands down his face and pressed his palms together. "Then like I said, we've got another goddamn leak. It's either one of those motherfuckers in the Dragons, someone in the Miami or Orlando charters..." His eyes shot back over to Wolf. "Or one of our own goddamn motherfuckers who couldn't wait to hightail it out to Tampa every fuckin' week for a quick goddamn fix for themselves."

  "There ain’t a single motherfuckin' member of this club who’d--"

  "What about Tiny?" River suggested.

  He furrowed his brows. “Are you outta your goddamn, motherfuckin’ rabid ass mind, boy?” asked Wolf. “With the way that motherfucker laps up pussy--”

  “I don't think he'd pull any kinda Nikko shit with this asshole, but I’ve never trusted him any farther than I can fuckin' throw him."

  Wolf shook his head. "Tiny wouldn't pull this shit. Motherfucker knows better than that shit, they ALL fuckin' do."

  "How are you so goddamn fuckin' sure when it comes to this son of a bitch or any of the rest of 'em, old man, given what’s happened here before?" asked River. "Aside from Blue and maybe a few others, none of these assholes have been on board with this shit from the first fuckin' moment we walked into that goddamn room and I told 'em what the fuck it was all about! Tiny's been the most vocal motherfucker here, spoutin' shit against it every goddamn chance he gets. And between him doin' all the shit he could to get rid of Mia and her kid, to fuckin' questionin' you about the Dragons in the first goddamn place, and you think that motherfucker wouldn't have some kinda motive to go runnin' off to the enemy to make deals that could somehow advance him within this club or maybe even another charter? Fontaine ain't as powerful as he used to be, physically speakin', but the asshole has clearly bucked up on his smarts while bein' locked up. If you don't think there's even a snowballs chance in hell that Tiny or one of these other motherfuckers said somethin'--"

  "I'll talk to him again," he said, his voice slightly shaking as the nerves took over and the anger crept up inside his chest. "Alright?"

  River grimaced. "And what the fuck good will that shit do when we continue to see the results that we’re seein’ from it? You honestly think he's gonna tell you shit after the way he's been comin' at you lately and actin' like he should be runnin' this club instead? I'll talk to this fuckin' asshole. Beat the fuckin' goddamn truth and piss outta him if I fuckin' have to. I don't give a flyin' fuck."

  "You ain't talkin' to nobody, Riv," said Wolf. "'Cause you'll be too busy hikin' your ass back up to Tampa tonight."

  His brows flinched and he snarled. "What?"

  "We need to know how the fuck that son of a bitch Fontaine was able to escape from a Maximum Security Prison! 'Til we know that shit, we can't go any further than what the fuck we have already."

  "Then have the motherfuckers already on your goddamn payroll out there take a goddamn look! There's no way in fuck I'm leavin' Mia and Avery here with the chance that that sick son of a bitch is on the loose--"

  "THIS AINT JUST ABOUT MIA AND HER KID!" hollered Wolf. "No offense to you, darlin', but it's a whole lot fuckin' more than that shit now, shit this asshole didn't fuckin' think about when he first agreed to helpin' you out." Wolf stepped over to River, who pulled his head back and snarled the moment he was in his face. "You dragged the club into this shit, which makes this not only a problem about your girl and her kid, but it makes it a problem with us too, and the Dragons and Miami and Orlando charters and now his goddamn sister that you brought into the fuckin’ mix!" He adjusted his cut and pointed in River's face. "You don't run shit around here, motherfucker. I don't know who the fuck swelled your head with such SHIT in thinkin’ otherwise, but that's my goddamn position and it'll be my goddamn position until I feel like passin' it onto you, which at this point Riv, ain't lookin' too motherfuckin' likely, son, not in the goddamn least. Now I want you to take your ass back to Tampa tonight, along with that motherfucker," he said, referring to Blue, "so that he can watch your back, 'cause it's clear those two eyes inside your own goddamn head just ain't enough for you anymore." Wolf stepped back and River sneered. "Now I've gotta go back and make some goddamn phone calls to see where the fuck we're at with the other charters now that this fucker is openly crawlin’ the goddamn streets like some kinda wild animal."

  "What if this asshole is already back in Crescent Beach? Son of a bitch could be hidin' ANY fuckin' place in goddamn plain sight and you think it's a good idea to leave the bitch he's comin' after, right along with her kid without any kinda goddamn protection?"

  "She'll be protected," said Wolf, "with Styx--"

  "Son of a bitch is already watchin' Courtney," he quickly replied. "And we got no choice but to keep her safe now since she's the only other person we know he'd contact."

  Wolf arched a brow, then turned his eyes to his wife, who sighed. "Then handpick a motherfucker to look after Mia and her kid, asshole."

  River grinded his teeth. Leaving Mia and Avery here without him, all while knowing that sick bastard was on the loose was the last goddamn thing he wanted to do. But he knew what it meant to go against Wolf. And being as vulnerable as they were as a club at the moment, he knew he couldn't risk it this time, not in the same way he often had in the past.

  "Slim," he grumbled. "Slim and Trucker."

  "River." He turned the second he heard Mia call his name. "I promised Avery that she could stay with Alisha and Meghan tonight. The idea of Ricky being back like this scares the absolute shit out of me like you wouldn't believe, but I've been thinking about it a lot over the last few weeks and, I don't want my child growing up in the same kind of fear that I have had to live with for the last eight years. I want her to be able to live without the idea of a threat hanging over her head. I know it's not possible to stay like this forever, but she deserves to have at least one night or two with someone her own age. And I want to be able to give her that. So I'll keep Slim with me, if Trucker agrees to go to Meghan's."

  River inhaled a sharp breath, then let it out slow and made his way back over to Mia. As he stood in front of her and looked down into her eyes, all he could see was his entire goddamn world staring right back up at him, with every hope and possibility of it getting better suddenly fading from existence.

  "You sure about this shit?" he asked her.

  "No," she said, a weak smile stretching her lips. "But I am sure that I trust you. And I don't trust a lot of people in my life, especially men, but you somehow managed to make yourself an exception to every rule I've ever had."

  "I ain’t never been the kinda motherfucker to follow rules anybody ever set for me, babe, intentional or not. In case you couldn't fuckin' tell that shit already--"

  "I could tell." She laughed. "I could tell." She pressed her hand in the center of his chest and curled her fingers into him as she watched it descend. "Come back to me," she told him. He blinked once and narrowed his eyes. That goddamn c
age around his heart started to loosen and it was like every cloud in the sky had instantly parted and found another universe to darken. But once Mia realized what she had said to him, thanks to his reaction to her, she attempted to save face. "Come back to your mother. And your daughter. And my daughter. Come back to this club and everything that you know, love and respect. Find out what you need to find out about Ricky and what the hell he has going and then come back here, to us."

  Shit.

  She was already acting like his Old Lady without the goddamn title, and every other fucking thing about what it meant, making it official. He closed his eyes to keep from grabbing her, to keep from sliding a hand around her goddamn throat and tilting her head back as he slid his tongue between her lips and owned that fucking mouth, just fucking owned it. Jesus. He just wanted to fucking taste her; he wanted to taste her so goddamn bad that he wasn't even sure he could continue to function without having even a drop of her for himself to hold onto.

  "I'll be back," he finally said. "Don't you fuckin' worry about that shit either, don't fuckin' worry about me or what'll happen out there. You put all that goddamn focus in Avery and in yourself. I'm good with this motherfucker." He nodded over at Blue, who finished off his beer and quickly joined him at his side. "I'll be back before you even realize I've been gone for too goddamn long," he told her.

  And within just a matter of seconds, he was.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The minute I walked back through the front door of River's house, I wanted to burst into tears; then I started to wonder what the hell kind of good would it do aside from possibly making me feel marginally better about the entire situation at hand.

  Ricky somehow managing to escape from prison didn't exactly surprise me nearly as much as it seemed to surprise River and Wolf; the fact that he hadn't come for me or Avery yet didn't surprise me all that much either. I learned even before knowing who he was that he was a planner, and always, always methodical, staying ten steps ahead of someone who usually only took five. Even if River and Blue had managed to show up outside the prison before he escaped, chances would've been that he was still digging himself a hole right through the tunnel or walls and would've still gotten away, with the results being much worse than how they ended.