by Ker Dukey
“Promise me you’re not going anywhere,” he pleads.
“I promise,” I assure him, and I mean it. Gently urging his head back, I lean down and kiss his lips, sighing on contact. “Show me around the place. It’s been so long since I’ve been here.”
Nodding his head, he gets to his feet, gripping my hand in his and heading for the door. “Wait.” Stopping where my old boots lay on his rug, I search them for the blade he bought me for my thirteenth birthday. It’s not there.
“My blade is gone.”
He drops down to help me search, but there’s nothing. “You must have left it somewhere else.” He clasps my hand and pulls me up. “I’ll get you a new one.”
I don’t want a new one. I want that one.
Pushing through the kitchen, he jerks his chin to a brother I don’t recognize. “Glen, Drew. Drew, Glen.”
“Hey.” I limply wave.
“Hey. I’m making bacon, you hungry?” I look up at Alec, who shakes his head no, lines crinkling his forehead.
“Sure,” I say, before poking my tongue out at Alec. I slip onto a stool just as Jackie rounds the corner, almost dropping a tray of mugs.
“Oh my God, little Drew!” she squeals, placing them down and embracing me from behind, her perfume almost making me gag.
“When did you get home?”
Home… The word comforts me more than I can comprehend.
“Last night. How are you?”
“Same old, same old. Still running around after these bastards.” She winks up at Alec. Jameson enters the room next, groaning when he sees Glen cooking. Is he limping? “You okay?” Alec asks Jameson. Stealing a piece of bacon, he grimaces as he chews it. How can bacon be cooked wrong? I reach for the piece snatching it out of his hand and bite into it. It’s rubbery and flavorless.
“Yeah. Phantom pain is a bitch. Why the fuck is he cooking again? I thought we banned him.”
“Rage is keeping Gracie busy,” Jackie calls out, messing around with a coffee machine.
“There’s nothing wrong with my food. You can’t even tell it’s meat free,” the Glen guy claims.
“It’s disgusting. It should be against the law to sell that shit,” I inform him, dusting the residue off my hands. A chuckle resonates from Jameson’s chest as he nudges my arm. “It’s good to have you home. You haven’t lost that fire.”
“What’s with the leg?” I gesture to his other hand rubbing his thigh.
“Prospect being an idiot at a cookout. Got excited and fired off his load. A stray bullet caught me. It’s been five fucking months and it still aches,” he grunts.
“Jackie, come take over for Glen before my brothers decide to hog roast him.”
“Sure thing, sweetie.” She puts an apron on, looking ridiculous in her short skirt and stilettos. Kudos to her for surviving in that footwear.
“Prez, my sisters are with me this weekend,” Jameson tells Alec.
“You want time with them?” Alec lifts a brow.
“No. They argue like cats and dogs and bitch me out sending me fucking crazy. I was just going to say I’d prefer not to go on any runs outta town so I can get back there if I need to, but I’m around if you need me.”
“You have sisters?” I ask, watching light spark in his eyes.
“Yeah, two. They’re a fucking headache.” I grin. It’s clear he loves the shit out of those lucky girls. He pulls out his cell, brings up a picture, and shows it to me. It’s the three of them smiling on a beach. Nothing like the leather-wearing, long-bearded man before me.
“Who’re the chicks?” Kai cuts in, slinking up behind Jameson.
“None of your damn business. They’re. Not. For. You,” he states in a warning, making Kai snigger. “I hear you loud and clear.” He backs away hands high in surrender before disappearing through the door he snuck in from.
“We have Bruiser coming into town next weekend. I want everyone here unless it’s essential for them to be outta town to be here for the party,” Alec informs Jameson.
“Riley’s dad?” I query.
“Yeah. He went nomad a few years back and is now retiring his patch. Wants to go live out his days in the mountains.”
“He’s dying?”
“Cancer. Terrible fucking disease,” Jameson chimes in.
That’s horrible. “Does Riley still come around here?” Alec hasn’t mentioned Kai and Riley seeking me out over a year ago.
“No. She owns a shit ton of businesses all over the US. Doesn’t want anything to do with the club,” Jackie adds her two cents. “Pretty and brains, that one.”
“Always thought she was too good for us,” Jameson grunts.
“Jackie, bring some grub to my office, yeah.” Alec tells her.
“Sure thing.”
As we walk through the clubhouse, I recognize many faces and become overwhelmed when they all make a point to welcome me home. There’s new faces too, a girl called Amy behind the bar, bright red hair to match a flirty personality. She comes around the bar to throw her arms around me like she’s known me forever. Alec jerks his chin to a couple of prospects, “That’s PB and Idiot, if you need anything send those assholes to get it.” He doesn’t even have to tell me what PB stands for, the boy has golden hair and crystal blue eyes. Pretty boy through and through, he looks like a Hemsworth brother, not a club brother.
“Why do you call the small one Idiot?” I wrinkle my nose.
“Because he is one, shot his gun at a cookout trying to impress a club slut. Bullet hit Jameson in the leg.” I cover my mouth as the gasp flees it. “Rage wanted his head on a stick, but Jameson is a forgiving bastard.”
“So no punishment?” I rush out, mouth wide.
Grunting, Alec wraps his arm around the back of my shoulders, “Rage cut the boy’s trigger finger off, no shooting for him.”
I chance a look down at the boys hand and sure enough he’s missing his index finger. Alec guides me down the hall to his office squeezing my shoulder when we enter. The last time I was in here was when Alec found his mother. It’s changed. There’s a bed against the back wall now, and a panel of the wall is now a glass window. My feet carry me over to it. Looking out, I see our lake in the distance, beyond the fence separating his place from the outside world.
“A lot has changed.” I sigh.
“And a lot hasn’t,” he replies. “Want to hear something funny?”
“Always.” I smile over at him.
“Mason is married. Has a kid on the way.”
“Wow.” I wander over to his bed. “Why is that funny, though?”
“Guess who he married.” He quirks a brow, and my mind searches all the people it could possible be. Heidi.
“No way!” I exclaim.
“Yes way.” Damn, Alec was right about them.
“Did she give you my letter?” It shouldn’t matter now, but I’m curious.
His arms drop down, gripping the end of the table. “What letter?”
That fucking skanky bitch. I should have known better.
“It doesn’t matter. You sleep here?” I change the subject as I walk around, looking at all the things that make up the guy he’s become.
“Couldn’t sleep in that room without you.”
“Why do they call you Animal?” I peek at him over my shoulder. He’s leaning his ass against his desk, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankle, arms folded, the veins bulging.
“I was angry when you left. Took it out in the fight pit.”
I move to his bed, wanting to know how many women have been in it. It’s not my right to ask, but fuck, I want to know. No, you don’t.
What if he’s had that bar girl Amy in here? Or the Gracie woman occupying Rage? Jackie? I want to change it all—click my fingers and just go back…start again, rewrite the mistakes.
“What are you thinking about?” His gaze so intense, it incites a ripple of longing through me.
“I was wondering why Glen doesn’t have a road name.” Lies.
He stands, taking a few steps toward me. “He was a prospect for a long time. Nothing stuck, so he’s Glen.” Reaching out, he strokes a stray hair from my cheek. My hand grabs his wrist, holding it to my face, warmth saturating me.
I lived so long in the dust of our relationship, I’m starved of affection, human contact that means something. Every follicle on my body rises in welcome to his touch.
“What were you really thinking about, Drew?” My name on his lips causes a mewing sound to purr out of me. Fucking hell, I’m pathetic.
“I was wondering…”
“Wondering…?” The pad of his thumb caresses my bottom lip, and my eyes close without permission.
“How many women you’ve fucked in that bed,” I word vomit, my eyes darting open to see his reaction.
That Alec smirk steals my breath. “I don’t have women in here.”
“Where do you have them?” I worry my lip.
“I don’t fuck with women at the club, Drew. You know I’ve never been into fucking club sluts.”
“Is there a girlfriend I should be worried about coming to pull my hair out?”
A chuckle rumbles his chest.
“She’d have to be fucking brave to take your ass on.”
“So there is a girlfriend?” A pit opens up in my gut.
“You’re my ol’ lady, Drew. That never changed for me.” A sigh of happiness causes my body sag. I know he wasn’t celibate for eight years, but he didn’t fuck around at the club and he didn’t have anyone serious—that means everything to me. He was broken without me too. No one replaced me for him.
“It’s always been you for me too,” I tell him. And then I’m in his arms, crashing down on the mattress, our bodies entangled, lips kissing, exploring the new bodies we inhabit. The atmosphere ignites the fire roaring between us. Relieved tears soak down my cheeks washing away the years of being apart.
We’ve been to hell and back, chewed up, spit out, and have bled for each other, but now we’re here breathing, living, loving—we’re back where we belong, woken from a bad dream.
Desperate hands tug and tear at each other’s clothing stripping bare, until we’re skin to skin.
Lips consuming.
The spark flickering to a flame burning us up into a ravenous inferno.
There are no clumsy touches like the first time, there’s only rough, hungry, skilled desperation for each other. He enters me urgently forcing my back to arch. “Alec,” I cry out. His hard cock filling me up, stretching me with every delicious inch of him.
Wrapping my legs around his back, I give him everything he’s giving me, thrust for thrust. We move in sync, fucking hard. Hands squeezing, scratching, pinching. Teeth biting, consuming. All the anger, desire, adoration bringing out the animal in both of us.
Twenty-One
Alec
Hours later…
Having her in my arms, sweaty and sated from my cock, quenches the thirst I’ve been living with for years. When soul mates untether, you’re left with a gaping hole inside your chest, eating away everything you thought you were. I didn’t fuck women in this club because I always knew this would happen. I never stopped searching for her, but sometimes, when the loneliness overwhelmed me, I’d search for her in other women. I regret that now. Nothing ever came close to being with her.
Her fingers drum on my chest. “When did Jackie bring food in?” She grimaces, then begins to giggle. Damn, I’ve missed that sound. The tray of now cold food sits discarded on my desk.
I roll her onto her back and suck on her neck. “Between your third and fourth orgasm, I think. I could be wrong, though. I was a little busy,” I tease, nipping with my teeth.
“I’ll allow the cockiness this time.” She sighs, stretching her limbs beneath me.
“You tired?”
“If I weren’t, it would be disappointing.” She bites her lip, wrapping herself around me. My cock hardens from the heat of her pussy rubbing on it. I tilt my hips and sink back inside her body, sighing when her swollen walls squeeze me in welcome. Nothing fucking compares to Drew or her tight little pussy.
It’s been a week since Drew’s been home, and you’d never know she left. She’s fit right back in, offering to help out behind the bar. Apparently, it’s how she made a living while she was traveling the country. Traveling is what she calls it; I call it running. But running is over now. No matter how much she didn’t want me to patch in when we were young, she belongs here. Her soul is at home amongst the mayhem and carnage.
My cell rings. Koyn, Prez of our Tulsa chapter, flashes up on the screen. I don’t even get out a hello before he says, “I’m going to kill Magna and every motherfucker in that club, you with me or not?”
Hello to him too. What the fuck has Magna done to rile up this ruthless bastard? “My man, Koyn. Good talking to you, brother. Let’s see…Magna beat the shit out of my friend’s little sister and put her in the hospital last month. No proof, but her word’s good enough for me. I’ve been looking for a way to bury that motherfucker that won’t land me in the pen.” It’s a white lie. Magna is the Demon President, he stays the fuck outta my way, but I’ve been sick of that cunt being too close to home, bonus is that Demon prick, Remy won’t have a club to return home either if we burn it to ruble.
“My brother’s a fed. Ain’t nobody getting locked up over that piece of shit. You feel me?”
“Hell yeah.” I feel him. His brother, Copper, was an old friend of this club. He was the one who confirmed Mitch being a rat.
“We’re headed your way. Give me four and a half hours.”
“See you soon, man. About time we take out the motherfucking trash around here.” I grin as I slip my phone into my pocket and crack my knuckles. “Rage,” I call out. The brooding motherfucker is watching Gracie flirt up a storm with any and everyone. He should just claim her as his ol’ lady if he doesn’t want to share her with his brothers. Jameson told me Rage’s issues ran deep, rooted in pain and heartbreak. Something to do with his ex-wife who was killed in a house fire while pregnant with his kid. Feels like he’s cheating on her memory if he moves forward with someone else. We’re a bunch of fucked up assholes with dark pasts that turned us into who we are. He takes his time dragging his ass over to me.
“What’s up, Prez?”
“Get the brothers together. We got company coming and a job to do.”
Twenty-Two
Drew
Six hours later
"Have you seen that one?" Amy groans, biting her lip. I track the path to the brothers of the Tulsa chapter. "Even his scar is all kinds of sexy." She plays around with her top, pushing her tits up. "He's mine tonight." The man in question is tall and broad with intense eyes and a nasty scar in the shape of a cross on his forehead. Alec said he has club business to handle tonight. The energy coming off the new arrivals guarantees blood is going to be spilled.
My guts are queasy. "I'm just going to the bathroom."
"Sure thing, doll. You don't have to work, you know?" She pops her gum, winking at me. Rounding the bar, I creep down the corridor to use Alec's office bathroom. I sense the body following closely behind me without having to turn around. I bend down to slip my knife from my boot, but before I can, Kai growls, "Don't fucking cut me again, little girl." I smile despite myself as I stand. "What do you want, Killer?"
"Been meaning to talk to you about the time we saw each other."
Turning, I cross my arms and narrow my gaze on him. "You mean the time you sought me out?" He looks around the hall, making sure we're not overheard, then shrugs with a sly hook of his lip.
"You haven't told Animal about it."
"Neither have you."
"Can we keep it that way?"
"Why didn't you tell him?" I ask, curious.
"You didn't want to be found." Silence falls between us. There's more to it than that, but I don't think I want to hear his reasons, so I just bow my head and say, "Fair enough. Let’s just not talk about it anymore."
; He slinks off back the way he came, and I remember Riley was there too. She may show up here for her dad's send off. "Kai," I call out. He doesn't turn around, just tilts his head a little.
"Riley…"
"She won't say anything," he says confidently before disappearing around the corner.
Pushing into Alec's office, I startle when I find it occupied by him and a man I recognize. He's the fed from years ago—the one I saw with Alec's dad the day he throttled me. "Sorry. I didn't realize you were in here."
"Drew," he says my name with so much love, it settles the nerves eating away at me. He summons me with a crook of his finger, and I walk over to him, getting pulled onto his lap. "Don't ever apologize for coming in here, baby. It's your home." There are photos laid out across his desk. The sight knotting my stomach. "Who is that?" I gasp.
"Oh, sorry. You shouldn't see those," the man says. Scowling, he scoops them up and puts them inside his jacket.
"Copper, this is Drew. Drew, Copper."
"I know who he is," I state, straightening my back.
"I'll leave you two alone, but, Animal, this needs to end tonight—for me, for my brother, for everything he lost."
"It will," Alec agrees, his hand curling into a fist. When the door closes behind his exit, I sag into the crook of Alec's neck. "I'm sorry, baby, I should have warned you Copper was coming."
"What were those pictures?"
"Copper's brother, Koyn, is a friend I met a while back—darkness and pain seek out each other. We bonded over the darkness living inside us, understood it. That was his wife and child."
A wisp of air flees my lungs as the image of the bloodied, abused bodies flashes through my mind. My heart accelerates. "Who would do that? Why?" I think of my aunt and the new body discovered this morning. Someone evil.