Torch (Great Wolves MC - Ohio Chapter Book 5)

by Jayne Blue

  Torch

  Great Wolves M.C. - Ohio Chapter

  Jayne Blue

  Copyright © 2020 by Jayne Blue/Nokay Press LLC

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author or publisher, except where permitted by law or for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Don’t Miss a Thing!

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

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  Chapter One

  Torch

  Fire freezes me. It keeps coming closer and I try to hold my breath. Don’t think. Don’t talk. Just let it happen.

  My eyes filled with white light as everything closed in around me. I felt the warmth of the flames touch my face and closed my eyes.

  A slap on my back. A light-hearted slug to the shoulder.

  “Come on!” Kellan’s voice reached me, bringing me back to where I really was.

  “You better blow them out before everything melts.” That was Nicole. Brax’s wife. She put a protective hand over her swollen belly. She was almost a week past her due date. Brax, her six-and-a-half-foot Viking of an old man leaned down and kissed her cheek, his platinum-blond hair brushing her shoulder.

  I found my breath and blew out the candles. Nicole had covered the thing in about fifty of them.

  “Happy patch day!” Nicole beamed.

  One year ago today, I earned the patch that saved my life. I tried to forget about the fire even as an old scar across my back tightened when I straightened my shoulders.

  Colt Reddick, my prez, stood off to the side, his arms around his wife, Amy. She tried to wave them away, but she had tears in her eyes. Of everyone here, she’d known me all those years ago before this club pulled me from the ashes. She’d been the one to encourage Colt to take me on and give me a job.

  I met her eyes and found a smile for her. We didn’t have another second to get sappy before all attention went to the stage at the front of the bar.

  Mallory, Kellan’s wife, stepped up to the mike. Chills went down my spine as she launched into my favorite song with a strong, soaring voice that would have made Freddie Mercury proud.

  I took a seat at the bar. Joker stood behind it. He poured me a draft beer while Nicole slipped a piece of cake in front of me.

  The Wolf Den was packed, but we were closed to the public tonight. It wasn’t just my celebration.

  The beer was cold and smooth going down as I swiveled on my barstool to watch Mallory finish her set. Man, that chick could blow. She was one of the reasons the Wolf Den did the kind of business we did. She could have signed with a major label years ago but preferred being independent. Plus, she and Kellan had started a family.

  Hell, they all had. Colt and Amy had two. Brax was working on his second. Now Joker and Tara were trying. The Great Wolves M.C. was a big, loud, fucked-up family. It felt good to be at the center of it tonight.

  When Mallory finished, Colt hopped up on stage. He held a bottle of beer in his hand. “Torch,” he said, nodding to me. “Happy anniversary, man. But I’m sick of talking about you.”

  This got a laugh from the guys. I turned as Joker slid a second beer toward me. This one came from a bottle and matched the one in Colt’s hand. I looked around the bar. Everyone had one.

  “Here’s to an even bigger and better year,” Colt said, raising his bottle. The shiny, new, silver label on it read “Wolf Den Brew.” It was our own craft beer. My idea. Colt had been shepherding me through it.

  “I wanted to wait until it was official,” Colt said. “Old George has been a buzzkill, but he was right.”

  Laughter rose. George was George Bailey, the club’s lawyer. He sat in the corner of the bar looking completely out of place and nervous.

  “Go ahead, Georgie,” Colt said. His eyes were a little hooded. It had been that kind of night for all of us.

  Blushing, George rose from his seat. Mallory threw her arms around him and planted a kiss on his cheek. His blush deepened. She handed him a mike.

  “Yeah,” George said. “Okay. As of this morning, Great Wolves Brewing Co. just signed a national distribution deal. You’re official!!”

  The guys and families whooped and hollered. Joker reached over the bar and slapped me on the back. I damn near spit my beer out.

  “You knew about this?” I turned to him. I’d been working with a microbrewery in town to develop the product.

  Joker’s face split into a wide grin. “Surprise,” he said. “It was killing me not to say something.”

  I couldn’t believe it. This had been kind of a hobby of mine. Everyone else had their niche within the club. Now I had mine.

  “National distribution,” I repeated. It was bigger than I’d ever dreamed.

  All of this was more than I ever thought I’d have or deserve. Again, I tried to shut my mind off from the flames.

  “Easy, Torch,” Joker said. “Don’t look so serious. Today’s a good day. You’re home.”

  I tried to let that sink in. The beer helped. Mallory’s band started playing another set. I looked around the room.

  These were good men. Even better women. Every damn day of the last six years, I’d done my best to earn my place here.

  I let the party happen around me. Beer flowed. A few of the guys hopped on stage and sang along with Mallory. Others made a small mosh pit at the front of the stage. It was all in good fun.

  I made my way to the back of the bar, down the hall to the game room. I found E.J. getting with one of the groupies we collected. Delia? Delilah? Nice girl. Big tits. Big heart. I had my own thing with her a few months before I got my patch. She wanted more from me. They all do. But I know none of them can handle what I really need. What keeps me up at night.

  “Oh, hey,” I said, clearing my throat. “Sorry, man.”

  E.J. gave me a sheepish grin. Delilah bit his ear and took him by the hand. She knew the way upstairs.

  “Come on, sugar,” she said. “Let’s find somewhere more private.”

  E.J. snaked his arm around her, and the two of them headed up the stairs where we kept a private room for parties plus a half dozen studio apartments for guys like me. I was one of the last guys who still lived here full time at the Den. I took the big room at the e
nd of the hall.

  I reached over and grabbed the eight-ball, spinning it across the green felt pool table. I was happy. We’d had our share of club drama over the last six years since Colt put me to work. Yet, something felt off for me tonight. As much as I wanted to celebrate my patch, I kind of wanted the noise to die down. I heard Delilah giggle above my head. E.J.’s heavy boots hit the floor.

  Yeah. No peace and quiet here at the Den tonight. There was really only one way I’d get it. With only two beers in me, now was the time to make my move if I wanted to. I’d ride out past the docks, all along the river. The second I got the idea, my blood sang with anticipation. Yeah, that’s what I needed. My Harley under me and the road ahead of me.

  I pushed the eight-ball across the table, sending it crashing into the corner pocket. If I hurried, I could slip out before anyone saw me.

  Delilah squealed over my head and let out a soft sigh. My mind flashed to the last time I was with her. Darkness had almost swallowed me whole. More than she could handle. More than I could hold back. So I left her. Untouched. Bewildered. Would she tell E.J. about it? I headed for the hallway, taking long strides. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

  The women’s room door opened, and I ran smack into a girl on her way out. She lost her balance. I shot out a quick hand and caught her just before she would have hit the floor.

  “Ooof,” she said. A pair of bright-green eyes met mine. I took her in. The sight of her made me freeze as much as the fire did.

  Fire. She wore her flame-red hair pulled back in a ponytail without a strand out of place. Sleek. Soft. Perfect.

  The rest of her was perfect too. She looked like she’d popped right out of a magazine with expert makeup. Dark false eyelashes. Red lips without so much as a smudge.

  I righted her, but my rough hands lingered on her arms for a moment.

  God. She smelled good. Like honey and apricots. She didn’t seem to have a single pore on her skin.

  Money.

  I could smell that too. High heels with no scuffs or scrapes. Silk blouse. Tight skirt.

  “You lost?” I heard myself say. She had to be. She didn’t have a Lincolnshire vibe at all. Had she taken a wrong turn from Park Avenue?

  “I’m ... I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m here for work.”

  I felt my brow go up. She was a pro? If so, she needed to do better market research. This chick was nothing like the type anyone here would usually go for.

  “Oh ... no!” she said, blushing. “I’m not …”

  “This is a private party, honey,” I said. “The Den will be open to the public again tomorrow night.”

  She shook her head. I still had my hands on her upper arms. Damn. Maybe I had it all wrong. Because I couldn’t shake the idea of smudging those perfectly painted-on lips as she wrapped them around my …

  “Paperwork!” she said. “I came with my uncle to help keep track of some paperwork on the beer distribution deal.”

  She might have been speaking French. I couldn’t stop staring at her and had to force my eyes from traveling down. One of the buttons on her blouse had come open.

  She flashed me a nervous smile and I let her go. She smoothed her skirt. She wobbled a little as she started to turn. Those heels were so damn high.

  “Torch,” I said.

  Color came into her cheeks. She was checking me out too. She tried to play it off, but I saw. Whoever she was, this girl wasn’t used to leather and ink like I wore.

  A raucous cheer went up as Mallory finished the last of her set. I looked over the girl’s shoulder. A few of the wives had started heading out. It meant the party would start taking a turn soon.

  “Well,” I said. “You better get back to your paperwork.”

  Her perfect red lips formed a little ‘o’ that revved me up in a different way.

  “Right,” she said.

  As she was about to go back out there, I grabbed her again.

  “Excuse me!” she said.

  I pointed to her chest. She looked down and turned almost purple with embarrassment. It was an important button after all. I could see the tops of her breasts and her pink lace bra.

  “Oh,” she said. I let her go. Fumbling, she fixed her button. She smoothed her hair back, even though it didn’t need it.

  “Better head on out,” I said. “You should be safe from the wolves now.”

  She let out a nervous laugh that just stoked the fire in me even more. Shit. If she’d stayed a second longer, I was the wolf most likely to eat her whole.

  Chapter Two

  Sydney

  “How’s your head this morning?”

  My Uncle George peered around the corner, straightening his tie. His bald scalp glistened under the fluorescent lights. I busied myself straightening stacks of paper scattered all over his desk.

  “My head?” I asked. “I didn’t really drink anything. You said it was a working night.”

  He tilted his head, regarding me. “Good girl,” he said. “I just lost you there for a little while. I hope those boys didn’t give you too much trouble. I probably should have warned you. Things can get kind of rough at the Wolf Den when it’s club members only.”

  “No, no,” I said. “It was fine. They were all perfectly nice. To be honest, I don’t think any of them really noticed I was there.”

  As I said it, a flash of heat went through me. There was one. His smoldering dark eyes had cut right through me. He’d been subtle about it, but I caught him looking me up and down like he wanted to devour me.

  My hands shook as I picked up the last stack of papers.

  “Well, good,” Uncle George said. “It’s important for them to start getting used to you if you’re going to be working for me a while.”

  It was odd the way he said it. Get used to me. As if the members of the Great Wolves M.C. were a bunch of wild animals, and I was the new zookeeper. By the look in my uncle’s eyes, I wondered if that wasn’t too far off from what he meant.

  “Do you ... I mean ... that club. They’re your biggest client.”

  Uncle George nodded. “My bread and butter, Sydney. The Den is big business. It’s a national chain now. Then there are the gyms, the security firm; now with this craft beer distribution deal, the GWMC is going to keep the lights on for me for years to come. And they don’t trust just anyone. So, the sooner you start networking, the better. It’ll take a load off me if I can rely on you to run things back and forth. Overlook a few things that don’t require you to have a law degree.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I mean it.”

  I did. If Uncle George hadn’t agreed to let me come work for him, I didn’t know where I’d be.

  He came further into the reception area. Right now, he had a paralegal named Jason working for him upstairs. But his regular secretary, Mona, had just left for maternity leave. I looked around. The office was small but clean. It was an old farmhouse that had been converted. My uncle took the upstairs and the big conference room. There was a smaller office down here, then a giant reception area where he’d let me camp out.

  “You talked to your father lately?” he asked. I swallowed past a lump in my throat.

  “He knows I’m here,” I said.

  “That’s not an answer,” George said. “Look, I made you a promise when you came out here that I wouldn't ask too many questions. But I didn’t promise that I’d lie for you or for him.”

  I bit my lip. “He called you?” I asked.

  My uncle’s face softened. “It was a brief conversation. Just touching base, making sure his only daughter wasn’t out on the street. He’s pretty angry, though. Quoting bible verses and everything. I’m bad for your soul, apparently. And the whole time, I could hear your mother screaming in the background. Did you really tell him he could ... what was it ... keep all his damn money?”

  There was a twinkle in my uncle’s eye, so I knew he was teasing. It put me at ease a little. But not enough to go very deep into the weeds of this topic. What happened b
etween my parents and me wasn’t something I was ready to talk about yet.

  George sensed my mood. He put his hands up in surrender. “Well, as long as you work your butt off for me, I’ll stay out of your way with it. I just thought you’d like to know that your old man, for all his faults, cared enough to make sure I was looking out for you.”

  I nodded. “Thanks. I really do appreciate it. And all this. I mean, you’re giving me a job.”

  He raised a finger. “I’m giving you a tryout for a job. I had a stack of applications, you know. If you look, you’ll find them in that mess you just piled in the corner.”

  “Oh,” I said, feeling my cheeks flame red. “I didn’t ... I’m sorry …”

  His smile widened. “Don’t be, honey. You’re family. That trumps everything. At first, anyway. If you can’t pull your weight around here, I’ll be making my way through those resumes. Believe me.”

  He was teasing, but I still felt about two inches tall. The reality was, I was qualified for nothing. Had trained in nothing. The only thing my parents had been interested in preparing me for was marriage to an up-and-coming congressman with the right family values and backing. Well, I’d prove them all wrong, no matter what it took.

  “What do you need me to do today?” I said. “I mean, other than stacking the resumes of people more deserving than me.”

  I was teasing too, but it worked to make my uncle look chagrined.

  He had a large leather pouch in his hands. “You can take this to the bank. They are the receipts from last night. The deposit slips are already filled out.”