by Jade Kuzma
“I’ll be with you. Ivory is my home. I’ll figure things out and—”
“No.”
“No?”
He shook his head and smiled in a way that just confused me. “You were right about one thing. You weren’t built to live the life of an old lady. I’m beginning to think that maybe I wasn’t built to live the life of a club member.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But there was something tender about the way he smiled at me. Even with a bruised face and blood on his cheeks, Theo looked like I’d never seen him before. I didn’t see the rugged biker I fell for all those years ago. I just saw a man who cared about me. The father of my child.
“I love you, Summer. I always have. And I’d do anything for you. Even if it means patching out.”
“You don’t mean that. What would the others say about you?”
“I imagine Rex would give me a lot of shit. Micah, too. Now that I think about it, they’d all be pissed. But I have to do this. I wanna watch Sage grow up. I wanna see her graduate like her mother. I wanna walk her down the aisle. I wanna hold her children in my arms the way I hold her. I already missed out on five years of her life. I don’t wanna miss another minute.”
I closed my eyes to stop my emotions from getting the best of me. But even with my eyes closed, he was there. I realized just what he was doing for me. I couldn’t let him go through with it.
“Theo, I can’t let you—”
“You’re not letting me do anything. You’re not making me do anything. This is my decision. I’ll live with the consequences of losing the patch.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“I’m sure I love Sage. And I’m sure I love you. The man I was with the MC… It’s time to move on.”
It didn’t matter how bloody his face was. I moved my lips to his and kissed him. My arms wrapped around him and held him close. He held me in his embrace and made me sigh in relief. It finally felt like everything was over.
“I love you.” I whispered the words onto his lips and stayed in his arms. He laughed softly then pulled me even closer.
“How is Sage?”
“Jordan is with her now. He’s got experience with children.”
“I’m not in any condition she’d wanna see me in. But this is the last time she’ll ever have to see me like this. Let’s go see our daughter.”
Chapter 24
SUMMER
One week later…
I ran my hand along his cheek, enjoying the light beard along that jawline of his. Most of the swelling had gone down. A slight scar from his stitches was barely noticeable. Even though he was perfectly healthy, he still had that same rugged appeal like he’d just been in a fight.
The rest of his body was equally appealing. He laid naked on the bed, his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. His sculpted chest and abdomen. Bulging muscles with just the right amount of ink to accentuate his tan skin. His length though… That was what had my mouth watering at the moment. I had to swallow to whet my appetite.
“I can’t remember the last time I had a day like this,” I sighed.
“With everything going on, that’s not surprising.”
“I’m not talking about that. Even before all of this happened. When I was up in the city, there was always something that had to be done.”
“You never got a day off?”
“I did. And I loved spending time with Sage. But when I was with Roger… We could never just relax like we’re doing now. I think I was with him just because I needed someone else to be there for Sage.”
“If you wanna be with me just for Sage, I won’t hold it against you. She’s more important to me than anything.”
“That’s just it though. I’d want you for myself even if Sage wasn’t here. This is exactly what I want.” I moved my lips to his cheek. A soft kiss was enough to make his body jerk. My hands moved over his muscled chest, trailing down the line of hair on his abdomen then toward his cock. I wrapped my fingers around his shaft and noticed just how hard he’d gotten. There was nothing quite like the throb of a man so turned on.
He stayed comfortable on the bed while I stroked him. His eyes stayed close, his face full of contentment. I held back a smile as I moved down his waist. My mouth near his length, I parted my lips and sucked on him. A slow, sensual lick made him twitch again. I lowered my face down completely, taking him down my throat. It’d been so long since I had someone like him but I quickly got used to his size. I held back my gags and swallowed all of him.
Spit against flesh echoed through the room. I hungrily bobbed my head up and down, gulping and moaning all over every inch of his shaft. He let out another deep sigh to let me know just how good I was giving it to him.
A hand running through my hair, he bucked his hips up and started taking control. I kept my mouth open wide and let him have his way. Theo was the only man I’d ever been with who could ever do this to me. Then again, I couldn’t picture any man taking me like him.
Another hand tangled in my hair. He grunted as he drove his cock down in my throat. I started to gag even more. I couldn’t fight the tears and spit dripping out of me and down his shaft. Just when I thought I was on the verge of passing out, he pulled out of me. I gasped a deep breath but didn’t get much of a chance to recover.
He suddenly pulled me up and grabbed my ass, forcing me to spread my legs right on top of him. I grabbed the headboard on the bed and braced myself as he dove right in. I pressed my knees into the mattress and enjoyed the sensation of him running his tongue over my folds. He licked up toward my clit and made it swell enough so that he could suck on it. Then he moved back down and swallowed all of the fluids leaking out of me.
Theo wasn’t shy about it. He ravenously devoured me while I tried to brace myself. My whole body trembled as I kept myself planted on his face.
My breaths grew short. My heart pumped harder. A tinge of sweat dripped over every inch of my skin. As my desire grew stronger, he began working even more furiously. Up and down, up and down. He worked his tongue over me to the point that I couldn’t take it.
“Theo…” I managed to squeak his name out between moans. My throat was so dry. I was running a marathon through a desert. But the finish line was right in front of me.
My hips bucked. I grinded myself against his tongue.
“Theo…” Another moan to let him know just how close I was.
He squeezed my ass in both hands to keep me in place so he could dig his tongue into me as deep as he could.
My jaw dropped. One last moan stuck inside of my throat. I tightened up and held my breath before using all my strength to push it out.
“Fuck…” One word and I started convulsing from my orgasm. Wonderful pulses warmed my core and spread through the rest of me. My back arched so that he could lick all of me. My muscles tightened. My toes curled. My hands squeezed the headboard like my life depended on it.
I held on for as long as my could, trying to brace myself through my climax. The pleasure was too much. It got to the point that I was grateful when it finally ended.
I gasped to try and recover but Theo showed me no mercy. I moved just enough so he could cradle me in his arms and drop me on my back. Already between my legs, he looked into my eyes as his cock guided itself toward my aching slit. I stared back at him, mouth open in anticipation of him driving into me. His tip pushed into my folds and a forceful thrust buried the rest of him into me.
“God…” I wrapped my arms and legs around him. I ensnared him completely while he started pumping into me.
He grunted with every one of his strokes. His hilt slamming against my folds and bouncing off the walls of my hotel room was music. He kept pumping over and over, so hard I knew he was close.
His cock somehow felt even thicker inside of me. I squeezed around him, desperate to let him fill me up. The way he looked into my eyes, there was no turning back.
“Come inside of me… Give it to me…” I commanded him
to do something he couldn’t hold back from. He gritted his teeth and drove his hips so fast and hard into me, I couldn’t even moan from how good it felt.
Suddenly, his whole body seized up. There was nothing quite like the feeling of a man’s sweaty, taut muscles tightening up underneath your grip. His cock throbbed and a splash of his seed wet my insides. He convulsed on top of me, each spasm bringing another pulse of cum.
We held onto each other for as long as we could before he collapsed. I sank into the mattress with his weight pressing down on me. My legs spread. My arms splayed at my sides. A deep kiss sealed our moment.
He rolled on his back and we stared at the ceiling next to each other. Deep breaths helped us recover. I swallowed to clear my throat, the realization of what was about to happen finally hitting me.
“You’re really doing this… You’re really leaving the MC and coming with me to the city.”
“Ivory is a nice town. You can make a nice, honest living here. But Sage is destined for something greater. I need to be by her side to give her the chance she deserves. That’s why you left Ivory. It wasn’t because of you or me. It was for her. It was always for her.”
I rolled my head to the side and stared at him. My hand moved back to his cheek, his scruff a little sweaty.
“I’ll be in Ivory for a few more days,” I said. “Sage needs to go back to the life she’s always known.”
“I don’t have much more business to settle. I’ll be going with you.”
Chapter 25
THEO
Summer sat in the grass while Sage played with the dog in front of her. My daughter did her best to get away but she was no match. She squirmed and squealed while the dog pinned her down with messy licks on her cheeks.
“Look at that… A beautiful lady… A beautiful daughter… And a beautiful day… You won’t find all of this outside of Ivory.”
“No, you won’t,” I sighed.
I leaned back in my seat, my arms crossed while I enjoyed the scene. Jordan sat right next to me, sprawled out with his legs extended. With all of the shit that went down lately, it was nice to see him relaxed. That was the Jordan he really was.
“I remember the first time I saw my niece,” he said. “Before she was around, I knew I would be there for her, no questions asked. That just came with the territory. I would tease Kat about becoming a mother but my sister got the last laugh. She knew having a daughter affected me just as much as it did her. Holding that baby in my arms, even though she wasn’t mine… There’s nothing like it.”
“I never got to hold Sage in my arms. Missed out on almost five years… Her whole life. I gotta be there for the rest of it.”
Jordan stayed relaxing in his seat, his eyes focused on Sage and Summer the same as me. There was a subtle smile on his lips as his mind started to wander.
“I worked my way up to president,” he said. “You were there since the beginning. You always supported me. You’re just as much a part of the MC as me… You really wanna do this?”
“It’s not that I wanna do this. I have to.”
“I won’t hold it against you. It’s not like you’re the first man to ever patch out. You didn’t disgrace the MC. You’re not running away. I’m proud to share the patch with you, brother. If this is what you have to do, then you fucking do it. Just remember that just because you ain’t in Ivory, doesn’t mean you’re not a Cobra. The Bone Pit will welcome you with open arms no matter what.”
“Thank you, brother.”
Jordan clasped my hand. Despite how hard he looked, I could tell he was getting emotional. The motherfucker couldn’t cry though. The club would never let him hear the end of it.
“You’ve still got a few more days in town,” he said. “It ain’t official yet. I say you spend your last few days in Ivory enjoying yourself as a Cobra.”
“Sounds like a good idea…” My eyes shifted to the side of the park at the man walking toward me. “…And it looks like I might have to take care of some business.”
Detective Bradford walked right up to me, his hands in his pockets. “Miller.”
“You still following us around, huh?” I looked over at Summer. She didn’t look as concerned as she could have been. She glanced at us for a moment then turned back to Sage. “Summer is fine. Sage is fine. You’ve got no more business in Ivory.”
“It appears I don’t. Our intel hasn’t found any sign of Moore. It’s like he just vanished into thin air. Must’ve skipped town when we weren’t paying attention.”
“Ivory’s not for everybody.”
“No, it sure isn’t. No big loss though. Moore won’t be missed. It happens.” Bradford had a slight smile on his lips. “I just wanted to let you know the investigation is over. I’ll be heading back to the city for my next assignment.”
“Good for you.”
“I also wanted to let you know I was just doing my job. All I cared about was making sure the girl was safe. You know that.”
I paused for a moment then sighed a deep breath through my nose. “Yeah… I know.”
He nodded then turned around. A quick wave at Summer and Sage and Bradford was gone as quickly as he appeared.
“You sure he won’t be a problem?” Jordan said. “The MC could handle him if he needs to be handled.”
“Bradford’s just doing his job. He might be a pig but we got no beef with him.”
Summer walked up to me after Bradford had left the park completely. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing.” I got up from my seat and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “He was just saying goodbye. Now… what do you say I take you two ladies out for a meal? Sage hasn’t really gotten the chance to see the home where her parents grew up in.”
“That sounds like a good idea… Is your other business taken care of?” She gave Jordan a glance and he gave her a half-smirk. I could see the relief on her face when she realized he wasn’t upset about my decision.
“My only business is this little girl right here.” I walked up to Sage and held my hands out to her. She pushed herself up from the grass and away from the dog, giggling as she fell into my arms. “How are you doing, sweetie?”
“I want a dog, daddy!”
“A dog, huh? I don’t know if you’re ready for a dog yet. How about we just go get something to eat for now?”
“Oh, okay…”
I smiled at the slight disappointment on her face. Maybe it was because I knew I’d do everything to make sure she was happy.
Chapter 26
SUMMER
Seven years ago…
A good cup of coffee. A sweet donut. A cool breeze. Enough shade to block the sun but not too much that I couldn’t feel the warmth of the day. Just outside of Amy’s Bakery was the perfect spot to relax in.
A few people moved in and out as they picked up their daily dose of caffeine and sugar. The streets were mostly silent except for the traffic moving back and forth. Ordinary folks went about their day as usual. It was another quiet day in Ivory. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
I kept my head down and ran my finger over the text while I munched on a bite of my donut. I lost myself in the words as much as I could. I wasn’t even bothered by the engine thundering next to me. You got used to exhaust squealing in your ears. If there was one thing Ivory was famous for, it was the MCs that always had to make their presence known. Even just one bike was noisy enough.
They never got to me though. It’d take every club to distract me from what I was reading.
“Hey.”
Of course, that just meant one person would try even harder to get my attention.
“Hey.” The voice repeated and I reluctantly looked up. I saw the biker I expected but he wasn’t all that I expected. Sure, the tattoos and the kutte were standard. Even the muscles you got used to. More than six-feet tall and about 200 pounds, most women would’ve found him impressive. But there was something about his smile. Even though I knew better than to trust the smile of a man lik
e that, I couldn’t help but stare.
“Yes?” The stranger distracted me but I still had my wits.
“I was wondering if you could help me out.”
“That depends on what you need help with.”
“It’s the middle of the afternoon and I’m kinda bored. I’m thinking I need someone to keep me company while I have one of Amy’s fine pastries.”
He winked at me. I didn’t roll my eyes. I should’ve but I didn’t. I just shook my head and sighed. “I’m sure there are plenty of people to keep you company inside. There’s always the park, too.”
“Plenty of people, sure, but not the one I wanna talk to.” He invited himself to the seat at my table and glanced at my book. “What are you reading?”
I hesitated for a moment. But that smarmy smile of his made me laugh. I figured I would humor him. “It’s nothing interesting. Just a psychology book. It’s for an elective. A class I’m taking.”
“Psychology, huh? We can all use a little psychology in our lives.”
“In your case, I think psychiatry is what you’re looking for.” I gave him a tight-lipped smile. He didn’t take offense to it though, his grin only growing even wider.
“You don’t know how much truth there is to that. I told you I needed a favor. Maybe you could help me with that.”
He leaned forward, propping his elbows up on the table. If I wanted to shoo him away, I’d have to keep humoring him.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Theo. My friend’s call me Teddy.”
“Theo it is.”
“And you?”
“…Summer.”
“Summer. With such a sunny disposition, it’s very appropriate.”
“Watch it with the sarcasm, buddy. I’m the one doing you a favor, remember?”
“Okay, okay.” He put his hands up and mocked innocence. “All right, Summer. What do I have to do to convince you to have some coffee with me?”
“Is that all you want? Coffee? I expected a biker like you to want a little more than that.”
“Oh, I want more. Coffee’s a good start though, don’t you think?”