I highly doubted this guy had anything on Pipe. God didn’t make two men like that.
I gave up trying to catch a glimpse and decided I was either going to have to pull up my big girl panties and introduce myself to my new neighbor, or just haul my cookies in the house. “Get out of the car, Nikki,” I mumbled.
Wallet in hand, and a takeout container of leftover chicken noodle soup in the other, I pushed open my door and decided I was just going to get this over with. “Evening,” I called as I slammed my door.
The cigarette glowed in the dark, and I squinted trying to get a glimpse of the man. He shifted in the dark and came into the light.
Son of a gun.
Pipe Marks stood on the porch, cigarette in hand, looking like he had just stepped off the page of some motorcycle magazine.
And dammit to hell if my first thought was me wishing I was that damn cigarette.
“Evening, sugar.”
*
Pipe
Well, she at least didn’t look pissed off. Shocked was a better word for it.
“How was work?”
Her jaw moved up and down, but no words came out.
“Hey, I’m gonna head out, man. I gotta be up early for a run, and I don’t feel like working off of a few hours of sleep.” Maniac walked out of the duplex and slammed the door shut behind him. He skidded to a stop when he saw Nikki standing on the other side of the driveway. “Oh hell,” he muttered.
I didn’t need him to see whatever the hell was going on with Nikki and me. “Sounds good, brother. I’ll be rolling in around noon tomorrow, I think. Wrecker said he had some shit I need to take care of.”
Maniac nodded and clapped me on the shoulder. “See ya tomorrow then.” He ambled down the steps, nodded to Nikki, and backed out of the driveway.
My gaze fell back on Nikki, and I could tell she was struggling to figure out what was going on.
“What…why…what in the hell are you doing here?” she finally got out.
I looked up over my shoulder and shrugged. “As of yesterday, I live here.”
The bag she had in her hand dropped to the concrete, and her jaw dropped. “You live here? As in, right next to me?”
I ran my fingers through my hair and inhaled deeply. The smoke curled around me as I exhaled, and I shrugged. “I’d have to say that was the main selling point.”
“Have you lost your ever-loving mind?”
“Last I checked, no.”
“Well, you better check again because if you moved here because of me, you better get back on your bike and get the hell out of here.”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
Nikki snatched the bag she had dropped off of the ground. “Well, then I better be the one looking for a new place to live.” She stomped to her door, fumbling with her keys in one hand, and stabbed the key into the lock. “I don’t know what the hell you’re up to, Pipe, but I can tell you right now, I don’t want any part of it.”
“You didn’t say that before when I wanted a part of you.”
She laughed, but it was flat and annoyed. “Oh, you definitely got a part of me last time, Pipe, and I can tell you right now, I will never make that mistake again.” She shoved open the door, glared at me over her shoulder, and slammed the door shut.
“Well hell,” I mumbled. I inhaled deep on my cigarette and watched her lights come on through the window. She hadn’t shut the curtains before she went to work today so I could see straight into her living room.
We were going to have a talk about her closing up the house when she went somewhere. For now, though, this was working in my favor.
Nikki was working herself up into a tizzy as she slammed the white bag she had down on the counter and raked her fingers through her hair.
God damn, she was gorgeous. Even in that hideous uniform she wore, she was still sexy as fuck. Long, auburn hair flowed down her back, almost touching the curve of her ass. I remember grabbing handfuls of her hair when I slammed into her from behind, and her gasps and mewling each time I hit bottom. Fuck, she was the best I ever had.
Her fingers went to the buttons on her top, and my heart stopped. Holy fuck, she was taking off her shirt with the whole neighborhood watching. I should go pound on the window, or her doorbell to tell her to shut her curtains, but my feet were cemented to the porch.
She slipped the shirt off her shoulders and down her arms, dropping it on the floor. Her fingers went to the waistband of her skirt, and she tugged it down, kicking it off to the side.
Fuck me running. Nikki was standing in her living room in black panties that molded to the curve of her ass and a black bra. She had her back to me so I couldn’t see her sweet tits, but I knew from memory what they looked like, and how soft and lush they were.
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure I was the only pervert watching. I looked back in the window, and Nikki was crouched down on the floor next to the skirt she had kicked off and pulled her phone out of one of the pockets. She put the phone to her ear and plopped down on the floor.
I shouldn’t be standing there watching her, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. This was the Nikki I wanted. Uninhibited, doing whatever she wanted, and looking like a fucking angel doing it.
“Karmen,” she shouted into the phone. Obviously, the soundproofing on the duplex was less than stellar. I could hear her conversation word for word.
“Did you know he was here?” she demanded. She stopped talking for two point five seconds before she went off, ranting. “Pipe fucking Marks is living in the duplex right next to me. You’re telling me you had no idea this was happening? I find that hard to believe since you’re having his best friend’s baby.” She glanced out the window, but I was standing far enough off to the side to where she couldn’t see me. “I call bullshit, Karmen.”
Nikki stood up, moved to the window, and I took a step further into the dark losing my view of the window, but I didn’t want Nikki to see me. I sat back down in the rickety chair that had been left on the porch and tossed my cigarette butt onto the driveway. It smoldered on the ground, and I pulled another one from my pack.
“I don’t know why he is here. This doesn’t make any sense. I walk in on the man getting his jollies with some other woman, and now bam, he’s moved in right next door to me. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”
Thankfully, I could still hear her talking. I lit the end of my cigarette and inhaled deeply as she continued to tell Karmen every reason why she thought me moving here was a bad idea.
“What the hell is he going to do here? There aren’t any jobs for an MC badass.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at her words. Nikki always had a funny way putting things.
“Why are you laughing? I'm dead serious.” Obviously, Karmen thought Nikki was pretty funny too. “No, this isn’t what I wanted, Karmen. I wanted to live far away from the man and never see him again. This is the exact God dang opposite.”
I kicked my feet out and leaned back in the chair. Nikki had just confirmed the fact she had moved because of me. If that didn’t make me feel like a piece of shit, I didn’t know what would.
“Look, I’m going to go to sleep and wish like hell this is all a nightmare, and I’m going to wake up with Pipe living in Weston and me in Kales Corners where our paths will never cross again.” Nikki’s voice faded, and I knew she had moved away from the window to another part of the house where I couldn’t hear her.
I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. It was only half past nine, and I knew there was no way in hell I was going to be able to go to sleep yet.
Living in Kales Corners was going to be a huge adjustment for me, but as long as Nikki was here, I wasn’t going anywhere.
*
Chapter 13
Nikki
“How does she sleep like that?”
“You would think she’s suffocating herself.”
“Oh my God, what if she did suffocate, and we’re talking to her dead body.”
<
br /> “Did you really just say that? You can see her back going up and down. She’s alive, dumbass.”
Ugh. Waking up to Karmen and Cora fighting was not how I wanted this day to begin.
I had three pillows piled up on top of my head, and I had been sleeping like the dead ‘til the Banger Sisters had shown up.
“Go away,” I mumbled.
“Oh hell. She’s not dead,” Karmen exclaimed. “Thank God. I didn’t want to have to deal with a funeral.”
I grabbed pillows, pulling them off of my head. “That was the thing you were most concerned about? Not the fact your supposed best friend was dead.”
Cora laughed and flopped down in the bed next to me. “How the hell do you sleep with a shit ton of pillows on your face?”
I yawned and put my arm over my eyes. “I need pitch dark to sleep.”
“So, you need three pillows on your face? Don’t you think one would be more than enough?”
I turned my head and glared at her. “Did you two wake me up just to ask why I had three pillows?”
“Of course not.” Karmen dove onto the bed between Cora and me and burrowed under the covers. “We woke you up because we’re hungry, but now that I’m laying down, I could totally go for a nap before we scavenge for food.”
Cora grabbed one of my pillows and tucked it under her head. “I’m down with that. You dragging me out of bed at the ass crack of dawn sucked.”
“Did you two really drive here just to take a nap?”
Karmen yawned and tucked her hands under her head. “I didn’t plan on it, but I think it’s the best idea ever. I wanted to make sure you were okay after your frantic call last night about Pipe.” She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
Ugh, Pipe. I had actually forgotten he was just next door. Maybe sleeping longer was a good idea. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand. “I’ll set the alarm for an hour for now. If we sleep any longer than that, we’ll never get out of bed.”
“Make it two. It’ll only be nine o’clock then.”
I shook my head and reset the alarm. “I still think you’re both crazy for getting here so damn early.”
“Shh.” Karmen patted my arm. “Sleep.”
“Yeah, stop talking,” Cora mumbled.
I set my phone back on the nightstand and pulled the covers up to my chin. “You’re both crazy, and you better be thankful I don’t yank that pillow back from you guys.” I grabbed my pillow, smacked it over my head and closed my eyes.
“You love us,” Karmen replied, already half asleep.
I did, even if she drove me crazy.
*
Chapter 14
Nikki
“Stop looking at me like that. The baby needs food.”
Cora rolled her eyes and slipped the wrapper off her straw. “You really think he needs four eggs, sausage, bacon, a short stack of pancakes, and sourdough toast?”
Karmen took a sip of her coffee and winced. “I don’t even know why I drink this anymore. Decaf blows.”
I lifted my cup, inhaling the wonderful aroma of my fully caffeinated coffee and grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll drink your share of coffee for you.”
“Oh, you’re so noble,” she scoffed.
“Wooly fuck,” Cora gasped.
“Wooly? What the hell?” Karmen asked.
Cora nodded her head to behind Karmen and I. “Wooly fuck.”
We both turned around in the booth and saw Pipe taking a seat at the counter of the diner. “Why, that bastard,” I growled.
He nodded to us but didn’t come over.
“What do you think he’s doing here?” Karmen asked.
I turned back around and unwrapped my fork and spoon from the napkin. “Tormenting me.”
“Or ordering coffee.”
I rolled my eyes at Cora and glanced over my shoulder. “Fine, ordering coffee while he torments me.”
“You want me to put Ex-Lax in his coffee?” Alice topped off my coffee cup and set a carafe of syrup on the table.
“Yes,” Cora and I said in unison.
“What? No, you can’t do that,” Karmen insisted.
We all turned to stare at her. “Whose side are you on?” Alice asked.
“The side that makes Nikki happy, and that is not the way to make her happy.”
I looked up at Alice. “She’s wrong. That would make me extremely happy. Do it.”
“Oh shit.”
I turned to look at Pipe again and saw Bos setting a cup of coffee in front of him. “That is the first time I have ever seen that man serve anyone coffee.” Bos leaned against the counter and started talking to Pipe. “What in the hell?”
“You want me to go over there and put Ex-Lax in both of their coffee?”
“Does this mean no one is making my breakfast?” Karmen asked.
“That baby is making you his slave. That is exactly why I’ll never have kids. I can barely take care of myself, and I like to be the one making demands, not the other way around.” Cora held up her cup to Alice. “Plus, no one or no baby will ever make me stop drinking coffee.”
Karmen pushed the cup away from her and crossed her arms “The kid drives me crazy sometimes, but then I think about the fact it’s my and Nickel’s baby, and I’ll gladly give up coffee and eat like a rabid cow.”
“Rabid cow? Is that what Alice was dressed up like the other weekend?”
Alice jumped, coffee sloshing over the lips of the coffee pot, and she slapped her hand over her chest. “Jesus, make a little noise the next time you’re moving. How are we supposed to talk about you when you’re standing right here?” She flounced off and chased Bos back into the kitchen.
“Karmen, Cora. I didn’t know you guys were going to be here today.”
Cora pointed her spoon at him. “Kind of like we didn’t know you were going to be here. I think we’re even now.”
“Touché, darlin’.” His eyes fell on me, and I shifted uncomfortably in the booth. “Morning, sugar.”
Ugh. Damn the man for having a voice that sounded like honey dripping all over my body. “Pipe,” I scowled.
“I’m heading back to Weston for a bit. You ladies need anything?”
Cora set her spoon down. “A Starbucks.”
Pipe laughed, the sound rich and deep. “Not sure I can fit that on the back of my bike.”
Cora shrugged her shoulder. “It was worth a try. I’ll have to deal with this sludge for the weekend.”
“Weekend?” Pipe asked.
“Cora and I are staying with Nikki until Sunday,” Karmen explained.
“I see. Well, you guys have a good weekend. I’m sure I’ll see you around.” Pipe tipped his head and thankfully left the diner.
Cora fanned herself with her hand and pointed at me. “I’m not at all into that man, but can I just say you must have nerves of steel to ignore him the way you just did. I swear, if any guy would look at me the way he does you, my panties would burst into flames on the spot.”
“You’re not helping,” Karmen hissed.
Cora put her hand down and leaned forward. “I thought you said we were here to help her figure out what the hell she wanted. I say what she wants is another roll in the hay with that man.”
Karmen tossed her hands in the air. “You think you could be a little bit more subtle?”
Cora shook her head. “Subtly is not in my vocabulary. You want him, take him, Nikki.”
I cleared my throat and played with my fork and spoon. “I tried that. He was with another chick.”
Cora rolled her eyes. “Can I lay something out for you and you not get mad?”
I looked over at Karmen who shrugged her shoulders. ‘Sure, I guess.”
“That man that just walked out that door is your typical biker. Thinks he knows exactly what he wants but honestly doesn’t know a damn thing. Karmen gave me a brief rundown of what happened between you two, and I’m not surprised at all.”
“You’re not surprised about what?” I asked.
&
nbsp; “I’m not surprised you two knocked boots, probably damn good by my indication, and he ran for the hills into the arms of the nearest whore because you scared the living hell out of him. He’s lived in a world where he calls the shots, and you’re making him feel something he doesn’t know how to deal with.”
“I get what you’re saying, but then why the hell did he move here?”
Cora sat back in the booth and smiled. “Because Pipe came to his senses. A lot quicker than I’ve ever seen before actually. My mom and dad did the dance you two are doing, except it took them almost ten years to get on the same page.”
“Your parents went through this for ten years? It’s only been two months since Pipe and I hooked up, and I’m ready to run away and become a nun.”
Cora shook her head. “You do that, and you’re stupid. Pipe wants you, Nikki. It’s plain as day.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, he wants to have sex with me again, that’s about it.”
“See, now this is where the ball is firmly in your court, and you get to be the one to call the shots.”
Karmen clapped her hands together and did a little shimmy in the booth. “I knew it. I thought he just ran because he was a dumbass, and I was right. This is so awesome.” Karmen high-fived Cora and looped her arm around my shoulders. “Now, how to make him grovel.”
I shrugged off her arm and shook my head. “No. You guys are wrong. I know these guys in the MC think they can do whatever they want, but they can’t. Not in the real world.”
Cora rolled her eyes. “They are in the real world, Nikki. Every guy thinks the same way they do. These bikers just take every liberty they can and run with it. I’ve lived in an MC all of my life, and trust me when I say I know what I’m talking about. Pipe is done doing the typical male shit. No man moves an hour away from his club for just a piece of pussy.”
Fallen Lords MC: Books 1-3 Page 26