IVY
Patch-in party.
It’s tonight, and I’ve never felt so uneasy in all of my life.
I wish I were working to take my mind off of what West is or isn’t doing.
I don’t know much about the MC lifestyle, or all that happens behind clubhouse doors. I’ve always stayed far away; but I do know that drugs, booze, and sex flow freely.
I can imagine that it’s doubled at a big party. And tonight is West’s night, which means all those things will flow freely toward him.
I throw myself down on the sofa in a huff, and then I hear a noise on my back patio. It makes me pause. West always uses my back entrance.
He parks his bike behind my fence. I know we’re supposed to be a secret, but it’s starting to annoy me. I don’t want to feel like a dirty secret anymore.
I want to go out in public with him; I want all the other women around to know he’s mine, that he’s taken and definitely not available.
I hear another unidentifiable noise. I stand up and walk around the sofa, on my way to where I hear the sound yet a-freaking-again.
“You’re finally alone,” a deep voice says from my dining room. I freeze.
“Adam,” I whisper as I retreat a step, bumping into the back of my sofa.
“Did you think I would give up? I didn’t give up when I wanted you; I’m not giving up now,” he laughs.
“I don’t want you anymore. I’ve moved on, and you need to as well,” I announce.
Adam was a mistake.
I thought he was cute when he would come into Carlotta’s. He would flirt with me, and eventually he asked me out. We dated for a few months and I was constantly fending him off, until one night I finally gave in and we had sex. It was awful. He didn’t care if I even liked it, let alone if I got off.
I broke up with him shortly after, and then he started harassing me. At first, it was phone calls; then he would randomly show up outside my work, my house, the grocery store.
That was when I called my brother and asked for help. I don’t ask Barry for much, so he knew it was important when I asked him for help with Adam.
“Well, too bad, because I’m not through with you yet. Though, when I am, I won’t want you anymore, and neither will that piece of shit you’ve been fucking,” he says, smirking.
I open my mouth to speak but he’s on me, and his hand covers my mouth before I can get a word out. Then he spins me around, and I can feel his body against my back, pushing me against the sofa, trying to bend me over.
“He ain’t here to protect you anymore, and when he sees what I’ve done to you, he won’t want you. Nobody will,” he whispers against my ear.
I try to scream, knowing it will be fruitless; knowing that my neighbors are all too far away to hear me; knowing that in no way whatsoever will West get to me in time. He won’t be by until tomorrow evening when he takes me to work.
I’m going to be brutalized, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Fighting will only make it worse, and unless there’s a way for me to get out of Adam’s tight grasp, I’m done for.
I feel his hand wrap around my breast and squeeze so tight that I know there are going to be bruises. Then I hear a loud blast and Adam’s weight falls against me, pushing me even further down against the sofa before it’s lifted from me almost immediately.
Spinning around, I gasp at the sight of the man standing in my kitchen. The man who has a piece of my heart. West. He’s got a gun dangling from his hand and his eyes are focused on the body that’s at my feet.
“West,” I whisper.
His eyes lift before something flashes through them, and then I’m off. I run into his arms and wrap myself around him.
“He hurt you, baby?” he rasps as his free hand tangles in the back of my hair, pulling me even closer to his chest. It’s almost as if he’s trying to pull me into his body.
“No, no you came just in time,” I whisper against his shirt.
He smells like booze, leather, and sweat. My favorite combination of scents. I tip my head back and look into his eyes. They’re darker than normal but focused on me.
“You’re mine, Ivy. I’m tellin’ your brother and I’m claiming you,” he grunts. “You’re my Old Lady and nobody fuckin’ touches you. Never again.”
“Claiming me?” I ask.
“Yeah, fuckin’ yeah, Ivy. Nobody touches you again. Never.”
“I love you, West,” I murmur.
We haven’t been together very long, but I do. I love him. He’s everything in a man I convinced myself I never wanted, but he’s also everything I need.
“Gonna need to get him outta your place and get it cleaned up,” he murmurs as his eyes drift from mine to Adam’s dead body.
I feel a pang of sadness that he hasn’t told me he loves me as well. But maybe his vow of love is claiming me, making me his Old Lady to his club. Maybe that’s what love is to him? Protection.
What seems like minutes later, my house is filled with bikers. Men I never thought I would want traipsing through my place are here, and they’re a welcome sight.
Then Barry shows up.
West’s arm is wrapped around my hip, his hand just on the outside of my ass, and he’s talking to the president of their club, MadDog.
He hasn’t seen my brother yet, but my brother’s seen him. I’m guessing by the fire in his eyes, he isn’t happy that West is touching me.
“Get your hands off my sister,” Barry grunts. I open my mouth, but West squeezes my hip and shushes me. “What in the fuck are you doin’ at her place right now?”
“Wanted to talk to you tomorrow about that,” West mutters.
“’Bout what?” Barry growls.
“I want Ivy to be my Old Lady,” West announces. The men that were helping to clean up all freeze.
“She’s off fucking limits,” Barry yells.
“Now, Grease,” MadDog warns. Barry narrows his eyes on him.
“Told you months ago she was off limits. You been fuckin’ my baby sister for months?” Barry asks.
“Barry,” I hiss.
“Shut the fuck up,” he says, pointing at me. West gently slides me behind his body—his tightly held body.
“Don’t talk to my woman like that,” West growls.
“She’s not your fuckin’ woman. She’s off-limits, and you fucked her anyway.”
“He’s doin’ right by her, Grease,” MadDog mutters.
“Shouldn’t be doin’ shit with her,” Barry grunts.
“His punishment will come tomorrow. We’ll hold church and decide. But for now, let’s focus on what’s happened here. He saved her before shit could have really gone down with that asswipe ex of hers,” MadDog rationally explains.
“You okay, Ivy?” Barry asks, his tone softer and all big brotherly.
“Yeah,” I murmur.
I disengage from West and make my way over to my big brother, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him close.
“You wanna be this jackhole’s Old Lady? If not, I’ll kill him right here and right now,” Barry whispers in my ear.
I pull back a bit and grin.
“Yeah, I really do,” I admit.
“I thought you hated the club and all bikers?” he asks, narrowing his eyes.
“I love you, and I love him, so you can’t be all bad,” I shrug.
“You love him?”
“I do,” I admit.
“Fuck me. I’ll kill him if he hurts you, you know that right?” Barry asks.
“Of course I do,” I smile.
WEST
I hear the shower start and I take a deep breath. My patch in party—what a clusterfuck. I’m not mad I decided to skip it and come home to my woman.
She needed me, and my gut instinct was right. What kind of Notorious Devil would I be if I didn’t listen to my gut?
I don’t know what tomorrow will bring with church and whatever verdict I get thrown at me for deliberately disobeying orders, but whatever it is, it’ll
be worth it.
Ivy is now my Old Lady. She’s mine, and I don’t have to hide her or hide us for a second longer.
The water turns off and the door opens. I look up, and there she is.
The woman who stole my fucking heart.
Ivy.
My Ivy.
She’s wrapped in a towel, her wet hair dripping, and she’s never looked more beautiful.
“C’mere,” I grunt.
I watch as she takes a few steps toward me. Spreading my thighs, I wrap my hands around her waist and pull her between my legs.
I cup her cheeks with my hands and tilt my head slightly to look up at her. Most beautiful fucking woman in the entire goddamn world.
“I love you too, Ivy,” I murmur. I watch as she sucks in a breath and then smiles wide.
“Will you make love to me?” she asks.
“You sure you want that tonight, after everything?” I ask, running the pad of my thumb across her bottom lip.
“I want you inside of me. I love the way you make me feel, the way you make me forget the rest of the world even exists. And he’s gone, West. He’s gone and he’s never coming back to scare me again,” she whispers.
“Yeah, baby, I’ll make love to you,” I murmur.
Keeping my hands on her cheeks, I stand before I press my lips to hers. She tastes like mint and Ivy with a hint of lemon.
“You been drinkin’ those lemon cocktails you like?” I ask as I lift my lips from hers.
“I had a couple shots of lemon flavored vodka, to calm my nerves after Barry left,” she admits with a shy smile.
“Taste’s good,” I grunt before I pick her up and turn her around, lying her down on the bed.
Slowly, I unknot the towel at her breasts and let it fall open, displaying all of her gorgeous, milky white skin. It’s all mine, every single inch of her, from now until the end of time. All the easy pussy in the world couldn’t make me feel the way this one woman does.
“West,” she whispers.
“I’m just lookin’ at my woman, baby. Takin’ in all this beauty that’s just for me.”
“West,” she chokes.
I quickly peel off my own clothes and spread her thighs apart. I want to taste her, but my cock needs to claim her more.
I crawl up her body and sink inside of her wet cunt as my forehead rests on hers. She’s so fucking tight, every single time. Every inch of her was made for me.
“I love you, West,” she murmurs, repeating her words from earlier.
Words that I know she wanted me to say back right then and there. I’ve loved her for a while now, but didn’t know how to say the words. She needed to hear them, so between us, alone, I gave them to her.
I couldn’t say them with a dead man on her living room floor, or with the house full of my brothers. I needed to share them when we were completely alone.
Just us.
“I love you too, Ivy,” I murmur as I pick up my pace.
I growl when her fingernails scrape my beard. Fuck, it feels so good when she does that. I thrust a little harder, hitting her a little deeper, forgetting that she asked me to make love to her, not fuck her. I’m on the verge of coming and I need her to get there before I do.
Slipping my hand between us, I begin to stroke her clit. She moans and throws her head back, exposing her neck to me. I suck on the sweet skin of her neck, and her pussy starts to flutter around my dick, urging me on. My thrusts become more erratic with every moan that escapes her lips.
“Oh, shit,” she cries. That’s when she squeezes me like a fucking vice.
I release her neck and rear back on my knees before I fuck her with earnest, drawing her orgasm out and chasing mine simultaneously.
I plant myself deep inside of her before I let out a long moan as I come—hard. Then I collapse on top of her, ignoring the fact that I’m probably crushing her soft body with my heavy one.
“I feel too young to be labeled an Old Lady. Can’t I be like… a Young Lady or something?” she asks a few minutes later. I lift my head and laugh, looking into her dancing eyes.
“How about when we’re here, you’re just my Ivy?” I ask. “At the club, you’re Camo’s Old Lady; but when it’s just us, you’re my Ivy?”
“Camo?” she asks, furrowing her brows.
“My road name. Got it tonight,” I shrug as I slip out of her and roll onto my back. Ivy rolls with me and plasters her front to my side.
“I like it,” she admits with a grin. “You are sneaky, and you blend in.”
“Glad you like it, baby, because it’s gonna be tattooed on your sexy as fuck body,” I smile.
“Tattooed?” she blinks in surprise.
“Yeah. You’re an Old Lady, so you have your man’s brand on you. You know this shit, don’t you?” I question in confusion.
“Well, yeah, I mean, but I thought that was after you were married or whatever,” she mutters.
“Being my Old Lady is just as good as being married, babe,” I say, starting to get irritated.
“I’m afraid of needles,” she admits.
I wrap my hand around the back of her head and pull her into my chest chuckling.
“Fuck, baby, I thought you were reconsidering,” I say, continuing to laugh.
“No, never. I just, I really hate needles,” she confesses.
“I have to get my ink next week. You’ll come with me, feel it out.”
“Okay,” she nods.
“Get some sleep,” I murmur against the top of her head.
IVY
Hours later, I feel the bed dip and then West’s lips graze my cheek. I ask him where he’s going without even opening my eyes.
They’re too heavy.
I’m too exhausted from our love making, which lasted the rest of the evening and into the morning, well after the sun rose.
“Got that meeting this afternoon, baby. Get some sleep,” he grunts into the quiet room.
“I have to work tonight,” I remind.
“If I’m not back before you need to get to the shop, I’ll be there before it closes.”
His voice is sounding further away, and I know that he’s walking out of the bedroom. Seconds later, the room is bathed in quiet again, and I fall asleep.
I know that this meeting has something to do with us being publicly together, but I don’t really see what the issue is. Barry likes him well enough to consider him a brother, so wouldn’t he want us to be happy?
The hours tick by, and I find myself ready for work and walking out of the door without a word from West. No phone call and no text. I can’t shake off that feeling of worry as I drive toward downtown.
The shop is busy, so busy that I shouldn’t even have the time to worry about West, but I do. I’m distracted, and my eyes keep drifting toward the front door every time it opens with a new customer. None of them are West, and my stomach is in complete knots by the time we close the shop’s door.
“You okay?” Carlotta asks me as we start cleaning up for the night.
“I’m just worried. West had a meeting, and I haven’t heard from him all day.” I shrug as I gather my bag and throw it over my shoulder.
“He’s a pretty big boy, I’m sure he’s fine,” she chuckles.
I leave the shop not feeling any better, since he didn’t show. He’s been there every single night I’ve worked for the past two months.
It feels just plain weird without either hopping on the back of his bike, or having it rumble behind my car as I drive home.
My house is dark as I pull up the drive, but I see West’s bike in its normal spot. I furrow my brow at the sight of it and hurry toward the front porch. I throw open the door and gasp at what greets me.
West is lying on my sofa, looking half dead. His face is swollen, along with both of his eyes. There is blood dripping from his mouth, and scraps are all over the rest of his face. His clothes are dirty and ripped, and I stand frozen to my spot, afraid to take one more step forward; afraid that he is, indeed, dead
.
“Ivy?” he moans.
His voice breaks my frozen state, and I run next to his side and sink down on the floor beside him.
“What on earth happened, West?” I ask, trying to keep the horrified sound out of my voice.
“That bad, eh?” He coughs and then moans.
“Did Barry do this to you?” I whisper.
“Yeah,” he rasps.
“Because of me?”
“No, because I defied his orders,” he explains.
“Which were to stay away from me?” I ask.
West grunts as his response. I close my eyes and inhale deeply, disgusted with what’s happened. I can’t believe my brother beat him so badly that he can’t even open his eyes.
He’s struggling to breathe, and it’s all because Barry told West I was off limits and we fell in love with each other anyway.
“It’s cool now, baby. It’s done and over, and we’re good to be together,” he mutters.
“It’s not cool, not even a little. I’m so upset and angry right now,” I growl.
“Grease dropped me off here ‘cause he knew you’d take good care of me. I had to be tried and punished for my disobedience. It could have been worse, baby,” he says.
He’s so nonchalant about the whole thing that it’s making me even more irritated.
“I don’t see how it could have been any worse, West.”
“I could be dead right now,” he says. I wait for him to laugh, but he doesn’t. He’s completely serious, and I feel my stomach drop.
“Dead?” I say, sucking in a breath.
“Yeah, baby, disobedience isn’t tolerated. Trust is really fuckin’ important, and I fucked up. I should have gone to Grease before we ever began, instead of hiding it from him.”
“Do you regret me?” I whisper.
“Never. I’d do this all over again every day of my life if it meant coming home to you,” he murmurs.
“You’re full of shit.”
“Get over here and take care of your man,” he grumbles.
Notorious Devils MC Complete Collection: BoxSet Page 112