Balance (The Chicago Defiance MC Book 6)

by K E Osborn

  Way to show off in front of the cameras.

  Man, he knows how to play to the paparazzi.

  Cheering and screams echo from behind us. Cindi’s the loudest as I giggle against his lips. His kiss is hard and passionate as the cameras go completely frantic capturing the moment the A-lister and a common biker make out in the streets of Chicago for all to see.

  This will be headline news.

  Not the upcoming release of my next film.

  Not the debut of Cindi on screen.

  Not even the fact the bikers were here at the cast break up tonight.

  No, the headlines will be all about Ace and me. I fear the war upon us is only just starting. But for now, right now, I’m kissing my man, and fuck, does it feel good.

  He slowly pulls me back up, his eyes not leaving mine as I smile so damn wide I feel like I might burst. “I didn’t think this was possible,” he whispers pulling me to him.

  “Neve, word has it your father was kidnapped, is this true?”

  I open my eyes wide as I glance at Ace. He furrows his brows as Julian steps in. “That is correct. Neve’s father was kidnapped for a ransom, and Ace stepped in and saved the day. He’s a hero, a true hero,” Julian spins a lie that will get Defiance and my father out of hot water all the while painting Ace to be the catch of the day. Julian’s working his magic yet again.

  Ace grunts pulling me toward the door.

  “You saved Neve’s father’s life. Does that make you a biker on the right side of justice?” a pap calls out.

  Julian stares at Ace like he’s begging him to keep quiet and not fuck up his hard work. But maybe Ace sees this as a chance. His face is out there. He’s spent years trying to keep it hidden, keeping to the shadows, but he’ll be on every newspaper in America by morning. Hell, maybe globally. Why not give them a quote to add to it?

  Ace straightens his shoulders staring right into the sea of paparazzi. “My club thinks of justice as looking after the people who need protection. We do the right thing for the right people. Neve’s father was in trouble, so we saved him. We get a bad rap for the clothes we wear, for the two wheels we ride, but doesn’t mean we’re inferior, doesn’t mean we’re the bad guys. Sometimes good guys wear leather, too. Society’s just blind to it. Maybe you will see that… in me.” He glances at me with nothing but adoration in his eyes. “Don’t judge Neve for her associations or for being with me. We make a damn good team, and if you’d give us a chance rather than tearing us down, maybe we will all get along in the future, and taking our picture together won’t be such hard work.”

  He’s bartering with them basically telling them not to run a piece of shit story on him, and they can have easy access to us in the future.

  Smart move.

  Interesting move for someone who likes his privacy.

  I’m not sure how this will sit with his president, though.

  They fire back questions at us all at the same time, so we can’t hear any of them as the cameras snap away while Julian steps up to our side. “You’ll need to make a joint press release about all…” he waves his hand around a little too zealously, “… this.”

  I lean in and kiss Ace on the cheek making the cameras go off again in a flurry as Ace holds me to him tightly. “Can I just take Neve home and worry about it all tomorrow?” Ace murmurs away from the cameras as Julian ushers us inside effectively ending the outside commotion.

  Julian turns to face us, everyone in the bar watching Ace and me, the attention firmly on us as Julian folds his arms over his chest in an obvious angry huff. “We have so much to discuss, Neve. Plus, this cast breakup being a shambles is going to be a shit-show. We need to figure out how best to run with this now before—”

  “Hold it right there, Julian. First thing I need to do is check if my father’s okay, then I’m leaving to spend the night with Ace. We have a lot to discuss, and I think that takes precedence over the fact that this cast breakup was a shambles. I’ve had a hell of a day I’m spending the night my way.”

  “But Neve—”

  “No, Julian! Thank you for the save, but we need a beat.”

  His nostrils flare as everyone stares at us trying to gauge the temperature in the room. “Fine, but I need better cooperation from you two in the future.”

  I grab Ace’s hand and drag him over to my father, who’s sitting with the rest of our family. He glances up at us as we approach. His eyes light up when he sees us while soft chatter fills the room. Seems we’re not the center of attention anymore.

  “Natalia, I’m so happy you met these men,” my father mentions standing up placing his good hand out for Ace to shake.

  “Name’s Ace… Aaron. It’s nice to meet you properly.”

  My father’s still nursing his bad arm as he glances at me then back at Ace. “Welcome to the family, Aaron. I know you’ll protect my girl. It’s an honor for you to be a part of us.”

  Ace hesitates for a fraction of a second. “I might be out of line here, and I mean no disrespect, but your debt caused a lot of trouble for our club. I need to know you’re done. If not, I know some doctors who can help you if you have an addiction. If this is a problem for you, Franco, it’s a problem for me. I don’t need you in danger. If you are, your family is… Neve is. I won’t have that.”

  I tense up wondering how my father will take being talked to like this. But he simply leans out slapping Ace’s shoulder. “I like you, kid. You’re definitely an asset to my family. I’m good, though. It was a one-off game I played at a table I didn’t know was the Ossanis at a buck’s night when I was drunk. I hadn’t been able to pay the debt back, and Sal took it too far because of who Neve is. He saw dollar signs. An easy fucking target. I’m the asshole here, I’m never stepping foot in a casino again. You have my damn word.”

  Ace’s cell starts to ring, and he glances at the screen. I see Brody’s name flashing, and I tense up as he exhales. “I gotta take this. Excuse me,” Ace murmurs, but I want to be with him when he talks to his friend. So, I smile at my family, then walk with Ace as we move over to a quieter corner.

  Ace slides to answer the call. I stand close so I can hear. “Brody, what you got for me?”

  “Hey man, I’m on the scene and checked out the things you told me. It’s taken care of. It’s a fucking mess out here.”

  Opening my eyes wide, I glance at Ace, but he ignores me. “I know. I have another favor to ask.”

  Brody groans. “Go on.”

  “I’m fairly certain the Ossani Mafia famiglia will be disbanded with no capos left to lead. No one will step up and take over, but in any case, can you spare someone to drive past the De Villa home to guard for the next few nights just to make sure?”

  A lump catches in my throat. I didn’t think of that. I don’t even really know what happened, but to hear all the capos have been taken out, I’m fairly certain that means Danny. A rush of excitement floods through me. It shouldn’t, but it does. Danny’s gone, and now I can finally get on with my life knowing he won’t come after us again.

  “Yeah, all right. Leave it with me. I’ll get it organized, and Ace?”

  He raises his head like he’s intently listening. “Yeah?”

  “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Thanks, man, really, thank you.”

  “Yes, thank you, Brody,” I call out.

  I hear Brody stifle a laugh. “Tell Neve we’re happy to do this for her and her father. After all, we’ve been through worse.”

  I grimace.

  “Yeah. True that.” Ace ends the call. He looks at me, his eyes intense as he exhales. “You’re really okay with me, my lifestyle, everything I’ve done? Everything I might do?”

  I grin. “Ace, I know who you are. You’re not a bad guy. The things you do are for a reason. I understand that, I accept that, but more importantly, I know you’re amazingly smart and talented and can make things disappear. So, if you do something, and it needs hiding, the paps won’t know about it…” I grab his hand and look
deeply into his eyes. “I trust you.”

  His lips turn up, and his face is so bright it makes him look so damn sexy right now. “Well then, shall we leave and go get reacquainted with each other?” Ace asks.

  My abdomen squeezes as I slowly bob my head. “Oh yes, let’s get out of here. Can we go to the clubhouse? With the chaos of the Hollywood shit here, I want to go where I’m just Natalia. Where I can be myself.”

  He pulls me to him harder. His eyes boring into mine as we gaze at each other. “It would be my pleasure. Let’s take you home, Natalia.”

  A shudder runs through me at his words. The idea of the clubhouse being my home makes my head spin and the thought of being linked to the club permanently has me smiling. I feel like I’m floating as he leans in pressing his lips to mine. A shot of energy, the same kind that always sparks through me when he kisses me, ignites through my soul. We stand in the corner of the bar kissing when I know we need to be leaving.

  “Ahem,” a voice breaks through the general noise of the club. I slowly break from Ace to turn and see Cindi and Noah standing there gawking at us. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re gonna head back to the clubhouse seeing as this party is kinda screwed in the ass now—”

  “Noah! This is a Hollywood party, you can’t say screwed in the ass,” Cindi berates him.

  “It kinda is, though,” Ace replies as I link my hand with his and exhale.

  “Let’s ride!”

  Ace snaps his head to me, his face beaming in the biggest of ways. “Fuck, it’s hot when you talk like that.”

  “Shit, we need to go before they fuck on those chairs,” Cindi jokes.

  I roll my eyes grabbing Ace’s hand and start leading him away. Thing is, though, there’s still a ton of paparazzi at the exit, and if we leave, they’ll follow us straight to the clubhouse. So, I take us over to Julian who’s busy surprisingly chatting with Torque.

  “So, if we can control the media together, then we will have—”

  “Julian,” I interrupt whatever schemes the pair are coming up with. They both look at us. “The paps are still out the front.”

  “I’m well aware of that, darling.”

  Ace glances at me like he has no idea where I’m going with this.

  “We need an exit,” I say.

  Julian eyes Ace up and down then groans. “Where are you going?”

  Ace steps forward. “The clubhouse.”

  Torque raises his brow. “You leave, we all leave,” Torque relays.

  Ace tips his head. “Then we’re leaving, brother.”

  Torque stands from his stool and sends a whistle through the room gaining everyone’s attention. “Brothers, time to disperse. There’s a lot of cameras out there. Gotta avoid the lot of them if you understand what I’m sayin’?”

  “Aye,” everyone calls out as they all walk over to where we are making Julian appear tenser than his usual uptight self.

  “We need an exit, Julian,” I reiterate.

  He grunts shaking his head, then stands heading toward the auditorium. I turn to glance at my family who all shoo me like they know I’m in safe hands, and I know with Brody posting guard on them tonight, they’ll be safe too. We follow Julian through the auditorium to a back door. He opens it leading out into the alley where the bikes are lined up.

  I let go of Ace and move in hugging Julian. “Thank you.”

  He embraces me back. “Just get there safe. But we’ll be talking about this in the morning, darling.”

  “I know. I’ll call you first thing,” I tell him, then Ace leads me out to get on to his ride.

  I can’t fucking wait to feel the wind on my face, the vibration between my legs, all the while I hold onto the man of my dreams.

  We rush out of the building and mount our bikes as fast as possible. Ace hands me his helmet as I slide on behind him, the slit in the silky fabric making it easy in my Grecian dress to sit on the bike. I hoist the length up a little to stop it from tangling in the tires. Then the bikes all start in unison. The noise of the Harleys will alert the media, and the boys take off out of the alley as quick as fucking possible. I let out a squeal as Ace takes off faster than I thought he would. Camera flashes start, but they won’t have time to get in their cars to chase us. I grin from ear to ear as they hammer down and accelerate off toward the Chicago Defiance clubhouse away from the mess of my Hollywood life.

  NEVE

  Pulling into the clubhouse feels almost surreal. I honestly didn’t think I would ever do this again. But Ace is right, this is home. This feels like the only place I need to be when I’m not working. I feel like as soon as we rode through the gate, everything clicked into place. I am who I’m meant to be. Not Neve De Villa, Hollywood megastar, but Natalia, or Starlet as he calls me, Ace’s other half.

  We pull into his spot, he turns off his engine, and I slide off his bike taking in a deep lungful of air as the others ride in. I slide off his helmet as my hair sways from side to side while he hops off grabbing my hand. We wait for no one as we rush to the clubhouse. I giggle all the way as we enter the building. I sigh a breath of relief as I see it’s exactly the same. We head past the bar and notice Hayley and Ruby working behind it, both their faces show their excitement of me being here. Ruby waves as we continue to hurry into the hall. Someone comes out of their room as Ace bends down lifting me up bridal style. I let out a small squeal when I notice Sparx winking at Ace as she walks down the hall toward us.

  “Evening, Neve, good to see you again.” She continues without stopping.

  “Hi, Sparx.” Ace gets to his door swinging it open, rushing us inside. “Bye, Sparx!” I call out hearing her snickering as Ace slams the door shut with his foot.

  “Alone at last,” he murmurs.

  He slowly edges down as the atmosphere in the room changes from fun to fiery in an instant. His hand slides down my naked back sending a chill over my spine. I close my eyes relishing in his touch after so damn long.

  His other hand moves up and slowly shifts my white dress off my shoulder as his lips move in and kiss my tanned skin. It feels like fucking heaven as he slides in behind me, his hard cock pressing into the back of my thin dress.

  I feel everything.

  I pant. I haven’t even thought of another man since I’ve been with him. I just couldn’t.

  His other hand moves up edging the other side of my dress down. My dress falls from my body like a lifeless scrap leaving me in a white thong. He groans as his hands move over my round ass and clench making me gnaw on my bottom lip. His lips travel from my shoulder up my neck as his hands shift my hair away for him to gain access as his tender touch ignites something inside of me. It’s too much, he’s being too gentle, and right now I don’t want to make love. I need him to fuck me.

  We can go back to being soft later.

  Right now, I need him. Only him.

  I spin in his arms, thrusting my lips to his. My fingers moving to his hair to find his hair tie to yank it out. I throw it to the floor not caring as his hair falls around his shoulders. My clit throbs as my fingers run through his long, dark blond locks. They always turn me on as he seems to sense the mood I’m in now as one hand continues to clench on my ass. The other moves up into my hair, threading through and gripping tight, showing that side of dominance I love. He pulls my hair making me whimper into his mouth as he yanks my head back leaving my throat open to him. I moan as he leans in kissing my neck while his other hand slips to my panties and yanks them to the side.

  “Part your legs beautiful,” he demands.

  I do as he says, his lips returning to my throat as he nips and sucks, his teeth grinding against my skin sending goosebumps along my flesh. His free hand slides between my thighs as I pant harshly for breath. He’s taking what he wants, and fuck, if I’m not a slave for him.

  His finger glides up and down my slickened folds sending a feeling of excitement through me. I haven’t had him touch me in so long, and now he is, it’s an adrenaline overload. He feels so good I c
an hardly breathe as his finger presses on my clit. I let out a gasp as he pushes firmly circling making my legs tingle. It’s hard to keep them straight as they shudder with the pleasure rippling through me. Ace rotates again all the while his mouth on my neck sucks and bites at just the right pressure. He feels so fucking good I want to scream, but I can’t form anything coherent right now as I pant gasping for air.

  He flicks my clit again as his lips move up to my earlobe. His teeth clamp down tugging and pulling. “You’re mine, Natalia. Only mine. My Old Lady from here on out. Do you hear me, Starlet?”

  Pleasure ripples through me at hearing him claim me. I’m his, officially, as I feel my orgasm building inside me so fucking fast I want to burst. I gasp as I rock against his hand. “Oh God, yes,” I moan out as he flicks my clit again.

  “Come for me, Starlet,” he demands pressing harder on my clit as I rock against his hand. Pressure builds inside of me, my back arches as I throw my head back, his hand tightens in my hair yanking my head back even further making me gasp as the pleasurable pain ripples through my skull. His teeth run up my neck that’s now glistening with a fine mist of sweat as I pant heavily. Flashes of light blast behind my eyes as I gasp, and pleasure radiates through me as he pushes harder on my clit. I cry out in satisfaction as it hits me like an ocean wave smashing the sandy beach, tumultuous and unstoppable. It rolls over me from the ends of my hair all the way to the tips of my toes shattering every nerve ending inside of me as I gasp needing oxygen. Any fucking oxygen as my body sags beneath me.