With Us (Next Generation Book 2)

by J. M. Walker

  Meadow

  IT HAD BEEN A few weeks and we were still no closer to finding out when Jaron’s arraignment was. I understood that it took time but, in most cases, they were allowed to at least post bail. It wasn’t like his parents didn’t have the money. But this was different. He had been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Piper told us that he entered a guilty plea. That was a conversation I never wanted to experience again. Her cries and screams of anguish made me realize that what she and Jaron had, went far past just being a fling.

  The mayor was out for blood. It didn’t matter that Brody was in the wrong and deserved everything that was handed to him. I saw Piper after the fact. I saw the results of Brody’s fists against her face and the aftermath of not getting what he wanted. Her torn clothes were a result of his rage.

  It wasn’t fair that Jaron was put away because it was self-defense and he was protecting the woman he loved.

  We didn’t know how long he was going to be in jail for but I just hoped that once he was out, both he and Piper could find that happiness they deserved.

  It was a Friday night and Sunny and Shade allowed me to use their kitchen to get some baking done. I needed to bake a few dozen or so cookies for The Dove Project. Even though my mom had only requested the cookies, I decided to bake as much as I could. I was feeling strung out. Tanner hadn’t contacted me about coming to his club and for whatever reason that bothered me. It was like when the moment was right, he would strike, and I wouldn’t even see it coming. But he was right. I was curious and needed to know what he wanted but until he forced me to go to his club, the guys kept me within arm’s length.

  Ringing jarred through my thoughts.

  I pulled my phone from my back pocket and saw that Piper was calling me. I hadn’t talked to her since that dreaded night. I only knew how she was doing after talking to my sister.

  “Hey,” I answered, resting the phone between my ear and shoulder.

  “Hi.” Her voice was hoarse like she had been crying for hours.

  My heart thumped. God, it hurt for her. “This is going to be a really stupid question but how are you doing?”

  “Honestly? I don’t even know. I feel numb. He saved me, Meadow. He saved me from getting…God, I can’t believe Brody almost…” Her breath hitched.

  My eyes welled. I wasn’t an emotional person, and neither was she. I had been accused of being soulless before. Or having a black heart because nothing usually got to me. But this was different.

  “I think all of us are shocked about that.” I leaned against the counter. “Have you talked to Jaron?”

  “Yeah.” She sighed. “I was his first phone call.” She laughed lightly. “It’s funny because at first, I actually thought he hated me and now all of this happened.”

  “Girl, that man loves you.” I scoffed. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Even when we were kids. Whatever you two have goes far beyond just love, Piper.”

  “I…yeah, I don’t know. Listen, I should go though. I just wanted to keep you up to date. Or as up to date as possible anyway.” She quickly said goodbye and hung up after.

  I stared at my phone, my heart aching for my friends. And Jaron’s parents. God, I couldn’t imagine what they were going through.

  When I was about to go back to prepping some more cookies, a hard knock sounded at the front door.

  Hesitating, I thought of just ignoring the visitor but when a knock on the door came again followed by the doorbell, I wondered if they knew I was there.

  “Meadow,” a deep voice called out from the other side of the door. “I know you’re in there.”

  Heading to the front door, I unlocked and opened it, finding my brother standing there. “Ryder? What are you doing here? And how did you find out where I was?”

  “I talked to Gigi.” He pushed his way inside. “You’re baking?”

  “Yeah.” I closed the door and locked it up before following him into the kitchen. “What’s going on?” As much as I loved my brother and I was happy to see him, this was random and odd, even for him. Ryder had been in the military for a while and was finally home on leave, but the military life was so ingrained in him that he was always on a schedule. And he definitely always contacted people before he made an appearance. Something was wrong.

  “Ryder,” I repeated. “Not that I’m not happy to see you but you’re worrying me. This isn’t like you to just show up before calling or at least texting.”

  Ryder pulled a beer from the fridge, popped the cap, and took a long swig. He finished off the whole bottle before tossing it in the recycling bin and grabbing another bottle from the fridge.

  When he finished half of that one, he let out a hard sigh. “I’m sorry for just showing up. And I’m sure your guys are going to kick my ass, but something’s come up and I need your help.”

  “My help?” I crossed my arms under my chest. “Why me? And not Dad?” It wasn’t like I could do anything. “And how do you know about my guys?”

  “Gigi told me.” Ryder waved a hand in front of him. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not a huge deal but I need you to pass on something to Mom.”

  “What do you mean?” The sound of the front door opening a moment later, jarred through our conversation. “Stay here,” I told him and headed out into the hall.

  “Hey, pet.” Sunny came toward me and handed me a bag of groceries. “I got a bag of sugar like you asked and some of that vegan chocolate shit. Did you know that stuff tastes disgusting?”

  “Thank you.” I took it from him and turned to go back to the kitchen to find out what the hell was going on with my brother when a throat clearing stopped me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I slowly turned to Sunny. Shade took that moment to come into the house with two bags in his own hands.

  “Nothing,” I muttered.

  “Nothing?” Sunny closed the distance between us, pinching my chin. “You always kiss me first before anything, Meadow,” he said, his voice low. “It’s a routine and I don’t like when routines change. Now I’ll ask you again, what’s wrong?”

  “My brother’s here,” I whispered.

  Shade came up to us. “Is that not a good thing?”

  “He needs me to pass on something to our mom, but I don’t know what that is,” I explained.

  “Introduce us.” Sunny kissed me softly on the mouth. “Now.”

  “How was the meeting?” I asked, trying to delay whatever message it was that Ryder was going to give me to pass on to our mother.

  “Don’t try and distract us, little lamb.” Shade kissed the top of my head. “Let’s get this shit over with.”

  I sighed, leading the way into the kitchen.

  Ryder stood up taller, his eyes flicking between the three of us. “Hey.”

  “Meadow told us once that she has a brother, but we almost didn’t believe it, seeing as you’ve never come around. Until now,” Sunny said, his deep voice taking on that rough tone I had come to learn he used whenever he was annoyed. He cupped my shoulder, keeping me safely close to him while Shade stood on the other side of me. “I have a feeling that this isn’t a happy little reunion.”

  Ryder stiffened, his brows dropping in the center. “You let these guys control you, Meadow?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. Didn’t you know that I’m into men who like to control every single thing I do?” I looked up at Sunny. “Is it okay for me to think, Sir? Is that allowed?”

  Sunny’s lips twitched.

  Shade chuckled.

  “Meadow,” Ryder barked. “I came to talk to you alone.”

  “No.” I pointed at him. “If you wanted to talk to me alone, you would not be here. At my boyfriends’ house. I love you, Ryder. I’m glad that you’re home safe after being gone for what felt like years. But something is wrong. This is random. You don’t do random. And you delaying telling us, is only going to make it more difficult for you in the long run.”

  Ryder crossed his arms under his chest. I noticed then
how he had filled out. He had always been skinny as a kid. Both he and Gigi had that trait, while I had all the curves.

  “Maybe we should give them some time alone,” Shade suggested.

  “Fine.” Sunny leaned down to my ear, giving my shoulder a light squeeze. “Come get us if you need anything.” He kissed my cheek and followed Shade out into the backyard.

  “They treat you well?”

  “Yes,” I answered, watching Sunny and Shade. “Now what’s going on?” I asked my brother who kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

  Ryder sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I think I’m in trouble.”

  ***

  (Sunny)

  “I don’t like leaving her alone with him,” Shade said, pacing back and forth in front of me.

  “He’s her brother.” I crossed my legs at the ankles, leaning back on the patio couch we had in the backyard. I enjoyed it out here. Especially when the weather was decent. But even when it was a gloomy day, our backyard held a sort of serenity about it. It was peaceful.

  “Doesn’t matter. Family means shit to some.” Shade finally stopped pacing and stood directly in front of me. “You don’t seem bothered by this. Why is that?”

  I shrugged. Truth was, I was wired. So fucking wired but I was trying to give Meadow some control she never had with her ex. The little bit she told us about him, bothered the hell out of me.

  “Sunny.” Shade crossed his arms under his chest. “What’s going on?”

  “She needs to know that she’s in control,” I finally confessed. “We can control her in the bedroom but other than that, her decisions are her own. As much as I like…I don’t want to fuck this up before it’s hardly begun.”

  “Huh.” Shade’s face broke out into a wide grin.

  “What?”

  “You must really like her.”

  I rolled my eyes. “We’ve already established how much I like her. And you like her as much as I do, fucker.”

  He chuckled, sitting beside me. “Yeah, I really like her. I like her a lot actually.”

  “Good.”

  “Have you heard anything more from Greyson?” Shade asked, pulling his phone from his pocket.

  “No.” We came to realize that the mayor was going to keep Jaron in jail for as long as possible. He wasn’t even allowed to post bail. But Greyson had gone to see him. We were due to see him in a few weeks. I just wished we had more answers to give Eve and Piper.

  “I hate waiting.” Shade pinched the bridge of his nose.

  I grunted. “Me too.”

  Shade stood and started pacing again.

  The act alone was enough to drive me mad, but I got it. All of us were on edge. You would think that Jaron would get a gold fucking star for taking out a would-be rapist but instead, he got thrown behind bars. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at fucking all.

  “This isn’t fair,” Shade mumbled, taking the thought right out of my head.

  “Is it ever fair? The mayor hates bikers and he hates us especially.” Our club hadn’t always been morally sound. Hell’s Harlem used to be considered one-percenters, then Greyson cleaned it up as best he could. But we still had a reputation to uphold. We never batted an eyelash when it came to protecting our own and we skirted the law half the time.

  Jaron was supposed to become president after his dad retired but now that would have to wait. I was sure it wasn’t the only thing on his mind anyway.

  “Did you know about Piper?” Shade asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “No.” Not that Jaron was overly forthcoming with his personal life. He was private. Just like his father. But for Piper to capture his heart like she had, must have said something about her. Like most of us, we didn’t want relationships. We fucked random women to curb that itch, but it never did anything. It wasn’t even remotely close to satisfying the craving. Especially for Shade and I. But now that we had Meadow to share between us, it was damn near perfect. A little too perfect if you asked me.

  “What’s that look for?” Shade stopped in front of me again.

  I frowned. “What look?” I loved him but sometimes the fact he knew me so well, pissed me off.

  “That look. You’re thinking or worrying. I can’t decide which one.”

  “Fine.” I crossed my arms under my chest, lifting my chin. “Do you think this is too good to be true? What we have with Meadow? She’s young. Do you think this can last?”

  “If you were really worried about my age, Sunny, you wouldn’t keep fucking me.”

  My head whipped around.

  Meadow was standing at the patio door, with her brother at her side. “Is that what’s really bothering you? If it is, maybe you should have thought of that before you…” She snapped her mouth shut.

  “Before I what, Meadow?” I stood, turning toward her.

  Her jaw clenched.

  “Everything good?” Shade asked, stepping in front of me.

  “My brother is being dramatic. It’s nothing huge but I need to relay a message to my mom. Because he’s not a man and won’t do it himself,” she said, her voice monotonous.

  “I heard that,” Ryder called from inside.

  “You were supposed to,” she yelled back. “Anyway. It doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of it.” She turned and headed back into the house.

  We followed her but not before her brother stopped us at the patio door.

  “Good luck with her.” Ryder shook his head. “She takes after our mother. It took my dad forever to get her to trust him.” He pointed at me. “You just made her put up another wall.” He left the patio door and followed his sister back into the house.

  “Good job, Sunny,” Shade muttered.

  Fucking hell. That was not what I wanted Meadow to walk in on. She probably thought I was worried she would leave us. Maybe I was. Our relationship with her was so damn new, these fears were normal. Or that was what I liked to tell myself anyway.

  Shoving my hands in my pockets to keep myself from wringing my own neck, I followed Shade into the house.

  Meadow was standing at the kitchen island while her brother sat on one of the stools. Shade moved beside her, hooking his arm around her middle and pulling her into his side.

  She sighed.

  “Ryder, will you excuse us a moment?” I asked, keeping my gaze locked on my target.

  “Sure. I have to make a call anyway.” He left the stool and went out back.

  Meadow glared my way. “Have other shit to say, Sunny?”

  Grabbing a stool from the kitchen island, I closed the distance between us and sat it right in front of her so we would be at eye level. And so she would realize that we were equals. Sure, I liked dominating her but that was only when she gave me her complete and utter consent.

  Reaching out for her, I gripped her hips and pulled her between my spread knees.

  Her breath caught.

  Shade stayed close but didn’t say anything as I stared her down.

  “Sunny.” She attempted to shove out of my grip.

  “Stop.” I cupped her face. “I’m going to be completely honest with you.”

  “Because you haven’t done that yet?” Her brows narrowed. “Have you been lying to me this whole time?”

  “Fuck. Meadow, seriously, woman.” I shook my head, gathered my thoughts and then decided, what the hell. I was going to just go for it. “I like you. Alright? I’m an old fucker who’s set in his ways, but I refuse to get hurt. I don’t want to get hurt. You and Shade could break me. If something happened where the three of us parted ways, I would never be able to get over that.”

  Her face softened. “You…you think I’m going to hurt you?”

  “I…” I sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do. Roxanne fucked me up. I know that’s not an excuse but it’s the same one you have because of that fucker.”

  Meadow looked away, chewing her bottom lip.

  “He’s right.” Shade leaned down to her ear. “You know he’s right, little lamb.”


  She looked between us both. “I think we need to go on that date.”

  I chuckled, pushing my thumb beneath the hem of her shirt and running it across her soft skin.

  She shivered, giving me a small smile.

  “I’m sorry, Meadow.” If her brother wasn’t in the backyard, I would show her just how sorry I actually was.

  “I know you are.” Meadow wrapped her arms around my neck. “I won’t hurt you. I won’t hurt either of you. I like this. I’ve wanted to try doing this before but the guys I’ve been with, were never into threesomes.”

  “They got weirded out?” Shade asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.

  “Yeah. But you two…you’re different. Besides being older, I felt safe the moment I met you. Hell, even before I knew your names.” She met my gaze. “When you pulled me onto your lap, Sunny, I…”

  “What?” I asked, my heart jumping at her words. Meadow wasn’t a talker. I learned that rather quickly. Even though she always said what was on her mind, she never opened up to her actual feelings. So now that she was, I would take it and run with it. “Tell me.”

  “I liked you. Both of you.” She cupped Shade’s cheek. “It was instant. I’ve never felt that before.”

  My dick pushed against the fly of my jeans.

  “Meadow,” Ryder barked from the patio door, ruining our little moment.

  Shit.

  Meadow pulled away from us, the air around me suddenly becoming cold.

  But as she went to walk away, I grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back against me. “We’ll talk more later.” I kissed the spot beneath her ear. “Because I want to know every thought and feeling running through that beautiful head of yours. And Meadow?”

  “Yeah?” she asked breathlessly.

  I pinched her jaw, turning her head toward me. “I felt it too.”

  She gave me a soft smile, placing a gentle peck on my cheek before giving Shade a kiss as well. “I want that date,” she said, following her brother outside to the backyard.