Rafe: Devil’s Flame MC, Book 1

by Hart, Romi

His only solace was knowing that no one else had been injured enough to end up in the next room. Hopefully, that meant they’d all gotten back to the clubhouse and gotten patched up, not that there were bodies to be buried. He hadn’t noticed any law enforcement outside his room, waiting to question him. And Nurse Ratchet with the killer bod hadn’t sent them in. He figured she hated him enough to point them in his direction the minute he woke up, if they were waiting.

  Already bored out of his mind, Zeke considered hitting the call button, just to see if Leigh would come or not. He could play that game all day long, and he assumed she’d have to come if he called, since it was her duty. But before he could press the button, there was a brief knock, and then Rafe ducked through the closed curtain, wearing a smile and carrying relief on his sagging shoulders.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Zeke chuckled. “You look like hammered shit on a shingle, my friend.”

  Rafe grunted and pointed to him with a warning look. “You’re lucky you’re laid up over there, or I’d break you myself for that remark. Compared to you, I look like America’s Next Top Model.”

  “Except you don’t have tits,” Zeke laughed, then groaned as pain shot through his chest and stomach. “Tell me everyone’s alright.”

  With a short nod, Rafe ran his fingers through his hair. “Everyone’s patched up, nothing major except for you.” Looking back over his shoulder, he added in a low voice, “Edgar’s dead.”

  “Well, there’s the best news I’ve heard all day.” Edgar was trash, and if anyone in the Diamond Kings deserved death more than their leader, Jake Hawthorne, it was that greasy son of a bitch. “And what about your girl?” he asked, wondering where things were going with Hawthorne’s sister, who was supposed to be leverage but had somehow gotten under Rafe’s skin.

  “She actually met with us and proposed an inside attack to the council.”

  Zeke nearly choked on his sip of water. “She went in front of the board? Are you serious?”

  “As a heart attack. And we agreed to do it.” Zeke sat back and listened while Rafe explained the details, and he could see the pride in his friend’s eyes as he spoke about Kira.

  Shaking his head, Zeke said, “You better watch out for her and make sure she comes back in one piece because you’ve got it bad, and I don’t want to deal with the wreckage if something happens to her.”

  Rafe nodded. “Trust me, I don’t like her putting herself in the middle of it one bit, but what am I supposed to do? It’s our best shot, and she’s fierce. Besides, Jake hurt her as badly as he hurt me. I owe her the opportunity to help take him down.”

  Zeke started to reply, but Leigh bustled back in, a tiny medicine cup in one hand with a pill and a fresh container of ice water in the other. “It’s an anti-nausea med to keep you from hurling with all the other things going into your system,” she clipped, eyeing Rafe with a sneer on her face.

  “I didn’t know you cared so much, darling. I mean, Nurse Marks.” He switched from the lilting tease to a phony militant tone as he took the items from her, and she backed away with a scowl. He tossed back the pill and handed her the empty cup as he gulped at the refreshing cold liquid.

  “Don’t be mistaken, Mr. Austin. I don’t really care if you vomit up your toes. But the doctor does, and I’m at his disposal.”

  “He’s a lucky man,” Zeke told her with a wink.

  Putting her hands on her hips, she glared at him harder than ever. “Mr. Austin, if you continue to address me in such a manner, I’ll have you booted from this hospital, regardless of your condition. Your leather worshiping friend here can carry you to his motorcycle and tie you to the back, and both of you can be on your merry way, never to return to harass me again.”

  “I apologize for my friend’s behavior,” Rafe interjected. “He’s not used to being on so many pain meds, and I think it’s loosened his tongue. He’s usually much more of a gentleman than that.”

  “Somehow I doubt it,” she countered, “but at least someone had the good taste to apologize.” She turned and practically marched out of the room.

  “Well, she’s right up your alley,” Rafe muttered, obviously not wanting to be overheard.

  Zeke just laughed. “Yeah, she’s a feisty one. But she really and truly hates me. I’ll settle for the fantasies where I get her on her knees. It’s a lot easier than trying to get her to do it in real life.”

  “You never know,” Rafe told him, almost blushing. “Who would have thought I’d find someone I don’t want to let go? Especially under the circumstances.”

  Pointing a finger at him in accusation, Zeke told him, “You are living the dangerous game there, pulling the whole Romeo and Juliet scheme. If either one of you fuckers dies before I’m out of this hospital bed, I’m going to resurrect you just so I can beat you to death myself. You understand what I’m telling you?”

  With a snort, Rafe taunted, “I’d like to see you try. You’re going to be limping for a long time, brother. You won’t be able to catch my ghost.”

  The reminder brought Zeke back to reality for a moment, and he said, “I owe you my life, Rafe, what little this life is worth. I can’t imagine the verbal beating you took for leaving your post, or what the hell prompted you to do it, but thank you.”

  Rafe shrugged. “I knew something was wrong when you didn’t answer, and something just didn’t feel right, so I checked it out. You would have done the same for me.”

  Zeke liked to think he would have, but the truth was, he couldn’t be sure. He tried to be a good friend, but he was no hero, and his gut didn’t guide him most of the time. In fact, he spent too much time following his dick, and he knew he needed to start acting more like the 33-year-old he was and less like a college kid. But hell, no woman would dare settle down with him. He wasn’t Rafe. Women wanted him for his looks, for his body, and for the multiple orgasms he could give them. But no one would want to be with him for who he was.

  And the way Leigh Marks turned her nose up at him said it all. Even if the Devil’s Flames MC wasn’t trash, Ezekiel Austin was, and he always had been. The only value he had came from his club brothers, and he owed them for giving him purpose.

  Had he died, no one else would have missed him.

  “I see those wheels spinning in your head,” Rafe said, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms. “The smoke is starting to leak out your ears. What are you thinking about?”

  “You know me, just getting down on myself and feeling a little self pity for the situation. You know, they said I have another surgery on this knee tomorrow, and I’ll be in physical therapy for the rest of my natural born life and then some. How the hell am I supposed to ride?”

  “Suck it up, pal. You’ll be back on the bike in no time, if you do what they tell you,” Rafe said, clapping him on the shoulder. “So, is there anything I can bring you the next time I come to visit?”

  Zeke thought about it. “A cheeseburger. And maybe a good word in the ear of that nurse. I can’t stop seeing her naked and bent over. I have got to find out if the carpet matches the drapes.”

  “Good luck with that one,” Rafe laughed. “I’ll work on the cheeseburger, but I’m not god, and I can’t make miracles happen.” As he turned to leave, Zeke supposed he was right. It would take a miracle to get his hands on Leigh. And he wasn’t the sort of guy who ever got a lucky break.

  2

  Leigh flipped off the treadmill and stepped down, breathing hard and yanking her earbuds out. Aurora Black, her best friend, glanced over and stopped her own machine, crossing her arms and narrowing her gaze. “Alright, spill it.”

  Blinking at Rory, Leigh asked, “Spill what?”

  “Oh, come on, Leigh. The last time you went this hard at the machines was about five weeks ago, when you broke up with Chris. You’ve got your panties in a twist about something.”

  Scowling, Leigh shook her head. She didn’t like the way Rory could always see right through her. And she especially didn’t like the phrase her fri
end used, considering the circumstances. Having Ezekiel Austin as a patient had screwed up her day. The last couple of days, really. He may have been out cold most of the time, but his questionable companions hadn’t, and several of them had spent time toiling around her ward, reminding her of things she’d rather forget.

  “It’s nothing,” she shrugged. “I just have a biker as a patient, and he’s a disrespectful, womanizing heathen. It’s driving me crazy.” She started toward the locker room and the showers, hoping the conversation was over.

  But she should have known Rory wouldn’t let the subject die. “Really? Which club is he from?”

  Rolling her eyes, Leigh kept walking. “The Devil’s Flames. Why are you so obsessed with bikers?” For the most part, Leigh shared everything with Rory, but she’d specifically failed to mention her patient and his friends because of Rory’s penchant for the mongrels.

  “You know, those guys are pretty clean cut,” Rory told her as she pushed open the locker room door.

  Admittedly, compared to a lot of the bikers that had passed through her hospital, the Devil’s Flames seemed tame, clean, and kind. With the exception of Austin’s leering gaze and offensive advances, at least. “Does it matter? They’re a gang,” she stated flatly, tired of talking about it.

  “At least tell me what he looks like,” Rory pleaded as they grabbed towels and stood in line for the showers. Leigh didn’t answer. She didn’t care to recall Austin’s angular face, with the stubble that had started to grow in and show off just how perfectly sculpted his cheeks and chin were. She didn’t want to think about the soft, sandy blond hair shorn off in a short fade, which had been caked in blood when he’d come in, the hair she’d semi washed to get some of the blood out.

  And she certainly didn’t want to discuss the silver-gray eyes that pierced through her and made her stomach churn with the way he looked at her. Or the intensely cut body where she’d had to change dressings on a knife wound that only enhanced the lines and cuts of his gorgeous abs and over the broken ribs beneath a smooth, strong chest.

  “I knew it!” Rory announced, sounding triumphant. “He’s hot, right? That’s what has you so upset. It’s because he’s excellent eye candy, and that makes it harder to hate him.”

  Leigh shot her friend a warning look before she got any louder. Sure, Rory had this strange attraction to bikers, but as much as that girl loved the filthy buggers, Leigh hated them. “It doesn’t matter what he looks like, Rory. He’s a biker, a gang member, and a lewd, unwelcome guest in my ward.”

  Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Rory told her, “No one’s saying you need to fall in love with the guy. But I can read between the lines. He’s coming on to you, and it makes you uncomfortable.”

  “So what? I’m allowed to feel what I want to feel.” Leigh sounded defensive even to her own ears.

  “So? Look where feeling what you wanted got you with Chris.” Leigh started to protest, but Rory held up a hand to stop her. “Listen, have an aversion to bikers all you want, for whatever reason you want. But consider something. You need a rebound, desperately. You’ll never get back out there to date unless you have one. Chris was boring and predictable, and maybe you’ll go back to that when you’re ready to settle down. In the meantime, why not do something wild and a little out of your comfort zone?”

  Leigh shot her a withering look. “A little out of my comfort zone would be dating a cop or a stunt man, not falling down the rabbit hole with some criminal.”

  “They aren’t all criminals,” Rory stated, her eyes blazing with a sudden anger Leigh didn’t quite understand. “And like I said, I’m not talking about dating. But I can see under the surface that you find him attractive, whether you want to admit it or not. Just get it out of your system. If he wants you, then as soon as he’s healed enough, sleep with him, and chalk it up to experience.”

  “A one night stand is hardly the sort of experience I need,” Leigh muttered as two women left the showers and the line finally shuffled forward.

  “Everyone should have at least one of them,” Rory hissed back. Then, she smirked. “Besides, wouldn’t that be the perfect way to get back at Chris? Wouldn’t he flip his lid if he saw you with this biker and thought the two of you had a thing?”

  Leigh’s head popped up, and she stared at her friend. “Are you proposing using this guy, this biker, to get back at my ex? What sort of person would I be to use another guy?”

  “I thought you didn’t like bikers, didn’t think they were worth the time of day,” Rory taunted with a wicked smile.

  “He’s still a human,” Leigh mumbled, even though she really shouldn’t have cared. She’d overheard some of what had landed Austin in the hospital, and while his injuries had apparently not been warranted based on his behavior at the time, the circumstances certainly dictated that he’d been up to no good. Some sort of hijacking they’d planned to take down the leader of another, rival gang that had gone wrong? No, Austin was no innocent.

  But it didn’t suit her to play with anyone’s feelings, even if those feelings were questionable from the start. At the same time, the idea of throwing something in Chris’s face to give him a reality check might feel pretty damn good. She wanted him to know that someone else desired her enough that she didn’t need to wait around for him, like he seemed to think she would.

  Once a cheater, always a cheater, her mother said.

  Chris had his chance and screwed it up. Let some other girl deal with his boring life. Rory was right about that part; other than the unpredictable moment when Leigh found him in bed with one of her closest friends, who also happened to be one of his students, that man was nothing but bland. And there was a part of her that demanded some sort of spirited flavor in her life. Another Chris wouldn’t be good enough.

  “Just think about it,” Rory called over her shoulder as she rounded the corner into the showers. Leigh stood, waiting her turn and pondering a fling. Of course, the idea of doing so with someone like Ezekiel Austin was beyond ridiculous. He was a patient, a biker, and had only hit on her to get under her skin. He was anything but a prospect, and so not her type.

  Still, as she finally made it into the showers, she sighed. She wasn’t blind. The guy had sex appeal, and despite his attitude, there was a certain charm to the way he delivered his lines. Any number of women would have already fallen hook, line, and sinker for his undoubtedly masterful game. And he was probably reeling at Leigh’s denial of his indecent proposals.

  Then again, other than making comments about her figure, what had he really said that was so bad? She acted like he’d talked about bending her over the hospital bed or pulling her across his lap so she could ride him. She shivered, even under the hot spray, and her blood boiled. Between a sudden sharp attraction to a man she despised and the rage she felt at her body’s response to that attraction, she was livid.

  She scrubbed herself furiously, as if she could possibly wash away the experience of having met Austin and the sexuality he awakened in her that was completely unwarranted. Back at her locker, she reached in and tugged out her bag, her phone falling as she pulled out the clean clothes, and she frowned at the missed call and text blaring at her on the screen.

  Curious, since she rarely got messages from anyone other than Rory, she checked the caller ID and scowled. Why was Chris bothering her? He’d slept with an ex-girlfriend, wasting two years of Leigh’s life, and she wanted nothing to do with him. She’d made that clear six weeks ago and hadn’t contacted him since.

  Opening the text, she braced herself and read,

  I miss u. Can’t we just talk?

  And then a second one popped up.

  I luv u. I’m so sorry.

  Wanting to throw the device across the room and watch it shatter into tiny pieces, Leigh shoved it back in her bag instead to avoid the drama. As she dressed, she wondered why she fought the idea of moving on so hard. After all, she had no intentions of giving this bastard another chance after what he’d done. And reall
y, in all her thirty years, she’d played by the rules. She’d done the right thing – gone to school and worked hard for her career, waited till she had her degree to date seriously, avoided sleeping around, and finally ended up with a good, solid choice for a partner who she had assumed would make a magnificent, if slightly unexciting, husband.

  She’d put tragedy behind her as a teenager and moved on, in a way so many others had failed to do. And where had she gotten? Chris had opened her eyes to a lot of things including the fact that being a good girl and choosing the safe route in a relationship didn’t save you from heartbreak. Or embarrassment. At least if she was going to be embarrassed, she could have fun doing it, jumping into bed with someone way out of her comfort zone and regretting it afterward.

  But that didn’t mean she was going to take Rory’s advice and go for Ezekiel Austin, the epitome of everything she despised. No, she could find other options.

  As her best friend appeared around the corner, toweling her dark brown curls, Leigh sighed. “Do you have plans Saturday night?” she asked.

  Tilting her head and thinking, Rory told her, “I don’t think so. I had considered calling Bobby, but if you have other ideas, I’m all ears.”

  Leigh hesitated. She didn’t go out much, and she loathed the idea of what Rory would suggest as soon as she opened her mouth. But the texts from Chris kept rolling through her head, and Leigh had to do something to avoid falling into a trap. She didn’t want to settle for someone like Chris, and she felt her internal clock ticking away. She wanted an epic love story, and she wanted a family. None of that was going to happen if she didn’t get out there and start looking for it.

  And who knew? Just because it was supposed to be a one night stand didn’t mean it might not turn into something more. “I thought maybe we could go out and do something. Maybe something a little out of my comfort zone.”

  Rory gasped. “I think that’s a great idea. Are you serious?” But the excitement didn’t last, and Leigh groaned internally. “Wait a minute. You want to go out because you’re looking for a fling. Honey, why don’t you go for the offer right in front of you? I’m telling you, it’s time to let go of your inhibitions and just take a chance on this patient of yours.”