“No, I just had a late night,” I told him as he came up to me.
“Here, sit down, you don’t need to keep standing for this,” he fussed around to find a chair for me.
“I’m fine, really, I don’t need to sit,” I protested but he had already pulled a chair out of the corner and brought it to me. I sat down and smiled at him.
“Thanks, I just need a good night’s sleep again, you know? To just get back to a normal routine,” I said and picked up the register again for the stocktaking.
He was leaning against one of the cabinets, brushing his curly dark hair off his forehead.
“Yeah, these people seem to keep giving you the worst shifts. Maybe you should speak to Lucy and see if you can get better hours?” Joshua suggested and I nodded my head. I didn’t want to explain to him that I needed the hours. I needed to work as many hours as I could so that I could earn enough to pay the bills and feed two mouths. Oz wasn’t interested in getting a job, but I wasn’t going to let him starve either.
“Or you know what else might help you relax? You could come over to mine and I’ll cook you a nice dinner. We could have a lazy night in, watch a movie, eat some popcorn on the couch. It might help you unwind,” Joshua continued and he walked up to me now and placed his hands on my shoulders.
I kept sitting still and licked my lips as he started massaging my shoulders. I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop, even though he was making me feel uncomfortable. I looked up at him and tried to smile as sweetly as possible.
“If you’re asking me out again, Joshua, you know what the answer is,” I told him and he shrugged his shoulders and kept massaging.
“It doesn’t have to be a date, but more importantly, why can’t it be a date?” he asked and I shook my head.
“Because we work together, and we’re friends. I don’t want to ruin that by dating,” I replied and he increased the pressure on my shoulders, as if that was going to distract me from where this conversation was headed. I was beginning to regret allowing myself to get stuck here alone with him. I was tired of constantly letting him down.
The door of the storeroom burst open and a man stepped in. Joshua jerked himself away from me. We were both startled.
The man was in a black leather jacket with a tight t-shirt underneath and dark jeans. He had closely cropped sandy blond hair and piercing blue eyes. I could see tattoos crawling up his neck, while he glared at Joshua and then turned his gaze to me.
“This area is for staff only,” I said, standing up from the chair. He narrowed his eyes at me before he took a few steps in my direction. I gulped, holding his gaze. He had a straight strong jaw, and a sharp nose. Under his jacket and his clothes, I could sense that he was well built and muscular…he was very strong, at least half a foot taller than Joshua who was quite tall himself. He had a boyish soft look on his face, even though he had a handsome masculine built.
“Sir, you need to leave this room, this area is for staff only,” I said again, while Joshua remained quietly standing on the side. I got the sense that he was intimidated by this man.
“I heard you the first time,” he said, in a deep manly voice and I clasped my hands together, a little afraid of what he was going to do next.
“Then you know that you need to leave,” I said, as he came to a stop right in front of me.
“It doesn’t matter what I need to do. I want to talk to you,” he said, his gaze traveling from my face, down my neck, to the front of my blouse and back up at my face again.
“To me?” I remarked and a grin was forming on his face.
“You are Alexis, Oz’ sister right?” he asked and I gulped.
The man tipped his head towards Joshua, without taking his eyes off me.
“Scurry away, I need to talk to her alone,” he said. I looked at Joshua, who instead of checking to see if I was all right, rushed to the door and left me alone with this man.
I knew I was attracted to him. He was exactly my type; against all my better judgement—but right now, I couldn’t think about how hot he was, now that he had mentioned my brother.
“How much does he charge for these massages?” he asked, with that grin still on his face. I stepped away from him, crossing my arms over my breasts. He followed my every movement with his dangerously blue eyes. Under any other situation, I would be drooling over his delicious bad-boy charm, but not today.
“What do you want with me?” I asked him and he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.
“Shouldn’t I introduce myself to you first? Since I know your name already? I’m Abe,” he said and I flared my nostrils at him, holding my head high up.
“Let me guess, you’re from one of those motorcycle clubs?” I asked and Abe smiled even wider.
“You’re quite observant aren’t you,” he said.
“You’re not doing anything to hide it,” I snapped and he arched his eyebrows, surprised by my high-pitched voice.
“Do you have something against me or just motorcycle clubs in general?” he asked and I gritted my teeth at him.
“Why are you here? I have nothing to do with you or your MC, whichever one you belong to, and if this has anything to do with my dad…he’s been dead for a decade!” I hissed at him and Abe breathed in deeply.
I had stepped even farther away from him, backing myself into a corner and he was watching me, undressing me slowly with his eyes. Underneath my clothes, I could feel my nipples hardening, getting pebbled under my bra. I didn’t want to admit to myself that it gave me a thrill to be watched by him. That I was already fantasizing him pushing me against the wall and taking me right here, in the storeroom. I was trying to fight that urge.
“This has nothing to do with your dad. I don’t know who your dad is. I’m looking for Oz, your brother,” he said and I felt like a knife had gone straight into my heart.
The last thing I needed to hear was a guy from an MC coming here looking for Oz.
“What has he done? Why are you looking for him?” I asked with a quivering voice and Abe stepped even closer to me. I had nowhere to back myself away from him now, I was stuck and now his body was just a few inches from me. His eyes roamed over me, and I could smell him…a musky scent of his sweat and a strong aftershave.
“You don’t have to be scared, Alexis. I just want to talk to the boy, I have some opportunities in mind for him,” he continued and I glared at him, hoping he’d be able to see the fury in my eyes.
“You stay away from my brother. Don’t even think about getting him involved in any of your shit!” I hissed and he arched his brows again.
“Wow, you really have it in for me, don’t you?” he asked, grinning again.
“I don’t want Oz involved in that life. I know all about it. I know exactly the kind of shit you guys do. I don’t want Oz going anywhere near that!” I shouted and Abe breathed in, squaring his wide shoulders and then he nodded his head.
“I hear you, and I’m sorry but it’s not up to you. I need to speak to him first, see what he has to say and if he doesn’t want to get involved, I promise I’ll leave him alone. How does that sound?” Abe asked, and I was too angry not to do something. I pushed past him, shoving my shoulder violently against his.
“Get out!” I screamed and pointed at the door. Abe followed me, his hands were still in his jacket.
“You’re overreacting here, Alexis. Your brother is already a part of a street gang. I think he’d be happy to get a promotion,” Abe continued and I could feel my body shaking with rage.
“Oz doesn’t know what he wants, he has no idea what is good for him. He is a smart bright kid and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you and your gang ruin his chances to have a normal life. Get the fuck out!” I thundered.
Abe was watching me still, the grin on his face weakened and his brows were crossed now. This had stopped being a joke to him.
He walked up to me and I glared at him with a quivering lip. He brought his face close to me, close enoug
h to make me think that he was going to kiss me and it made me weak in the knees.
“I’m going to find your brother, Alexis and I’m going to talk to him,” he said, and with that, he barged through the door and it swung shut with a bang behind him.
I felt breathless, like I could break something and burst into tears at the same time. A minute later, Joshua burst in through the door again.
“Alexis! Shit! Are you all right? I didn’t know whether to alert security or if you knew this guy,” Joshua came rushing towards me and I jumped away from him.
“Keep your hands off me!” I snarled, before pushing past him and rushing out.
I didn’t know what I was going to do. How was I going to stop Oz now? This guy Abe, was exactly the kind of man Oz would look up to.
5
Abe
I walked out of the supermarket, my head filled with thoughts of the woman I had just met. She was nothing like I expected.
I expected to walk into this place, find the girl I got a lead on, who would point me in the direction of her brother—hopeful and excited that her street-gang brother had caught the eye of an actual MC member. Instead, I found a fiery redhead who had no time for me and gave me an earful in return.
Nothing about Alexis was ordinary, and I had been stunned by the electricity in the air when I first saw her. She had shoulder length bright red hair, and large green eyes and a pale smooth complexion which made her cheeks look pink when she was angry. She was petite and short, the store uniform she was wearing seemed too big for her and I wanted to punch the face of the guy who had his hands on her shoulders.
Despite her frail delicate looks, Alexis had a loud voice and she wasn’t afraid of using it. She had made it very clear to me that she wanted me to stay away from her brother, which did nothing more than make me more determined to find him.
If this was what Oz’ sister was like, I could only imagine what he was made up of. I was tempted to nearly recruit her to the MC!
I got on my bike and looked at the doors of the store again. What was I hoping for? That she would appear, running to me, apologizing for kicking me out of the storeroom? I knew she’d felt it too, that unmistakable charge in the air. I wanted her, my cock throbbed in my pants at the very thought of her and I knew that she wanted me too.
No matter how hard she screamed for me to stay away from her brother, the truth was there was lust between us and I felt like I would explode if I didn’t fuck her.
I rode away from the supermarket, now I had no choice but to visit each and every haunt of the Romanos and try and find Oz. This was what I wanted to avoid. I thought it would be way easier to just get the information from his sister, but Alexis had made the whole situation much harder. But she hadn’t stopped me.
One by one, I went to every bar in the neighborhood, asking around for Oz from the Romanos gang. I got some information as to where he could be, but the kid seemed to be hiding himself pretty well today. But I was going to find him, even if it took me all day. I was determined to bring him to Church and test him out myself.
I’d heard good things about Oz, the six foot massive chunk of a kid. He was known on the streets as the hard-hitter, his punches were apparently legendary. These street kids got into fights without guns, dealing mostly in petty robbery and mugging. Oz was supposed to be climbing up the ladder pretty quickly, he had caught the eye of a lot of people. When I heard this, I knew that I needed to test him out. He would make the perfect first new prospect to the Marked Skulls.
We needed a young member, a fearless guy who could punch as well as he could run. It would only be a matter of time before I could train him to use a gun properly, and the rest of the tricks in our trade. It wasn’t too long ago that I was a street kid just like him, when Fred brought me under his wing and introduced me to Lewis and the rest of the MC.
Joining the Marked Skulls had changed my life, even though I mostly worked at the garage. It gave me a sense of purpose and a set of brothers who were the closest thing to family I ever had. Now, it was my chance to give that gift to a few other deserving kids, and I was curious to find out if Oz was going to be the first one.
I kept riding around town, following leads as to his whereabout, till I finally arrived at a dive bar that looked promising. I parked my bike outside its doors and strode in.
It was past noon now, close to four, and already the drinking had gotten heavy in here. The bar was filled with cigarette smoke and was loud with heavy metal playing.
I recognized a few local guys at the bar who nodded their heads at me. When I caught sight of the ginger-haired guy at the pool table, knocking his can of beer with another guy’s, I knew instantly that he was Oz.
I started walking towards them, and the other kids, who were clearly a part of the Romano group, started nudging each other. Oz turned around to look at me, squinting his eyes because he was suspicious.
“Oz,” I said his name and he clenched his jaws. He knew who I was, he’d seen my patch already and I could sense that he was amping himself up for a fight.
“Yeah, so what?” he asked and I grinned at him. I liked him already.
“Abe,” I said and stretched my hand out to him. I needed him to know that I wasn’t here to cause trouble.
“From the Marked Skulls,” Oz said and gave me his hand. We shook and I could sense his friends talking behind him.
“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” I asked and he furrowed his brows.
“What’s this about? We’ve stayed out of everybody’s territory,” he said, putting down his beer on the edge of the pool table.
“Trust me, you’ll want to hear this. You can relax, you’re not in trouble and neither are your friends,” I said, looking at the Romanos behind him. Oz looked over his shoulder at them too and clenched his jaws.
“You have a smoke?” he asked and I nodded. We walked out of the back of the bar together and I pulled out my pack of cigarettes for him.
“Your sister know you smoke?” I asked him grinning, as I lit a cigarette for him. Oz was leaning against the back door of the bar while I stood in front of him.
“My sister? What do you know about my sister?” he asked and I shook my head.
“Nothing. I don’t know anything about her, anyway, I’m here to talk to you about something else,” I said, eyeing him carefully. The rumors were true, for a twenty-year old with no training, this guy looked strong. He seemed intelligent too, just the candidate we needed.
“What?” he asked.
“A position has opened up in the Marked Skulls for a new prospect, and I’ve been hearing good things about you,” I said and Oz’ eyes immediately lit up. He threw the half-smoked cigarette to the ground and straightened himself.
“You want to patch me in as a prospect?” he asked and I smiled.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, kid. We need to test you out first. All I know about you is what I’ve heard, I need to see you in action first before we can make a decision,” I told him and Oz was laughing, like he couldn’t believe his luck.
“Oh fuck man, this is fucking great! I can’t believe this is happening. I’ll do anything, tell me what you need me to do,” he said, pacing up and down in the alleyway.
“Just relax, kid. I’ll come to you with a plan when the time comes, I just wanted to know if you’re interested,” I said and Oz nodded his head excitedly.
“I’m more than interested, man! This is exactly the sort of shit I want to do. I want some serious work!” he continued in the same excited voice and I laughed, thinking about how badly he was going to disappoint his sister.
“I don’t believe your sister would like to hear that,” I said and Oz stopped pacing, crossing his brows at me.
“You know Alexis or something? You keep bringing her up!” he exclaimed and I shrugged my shoulders.
“I went to her store, asking about you and she nearly chewed my head off,” I replied and I could see Oz looking embarrassed.
“I’m
sorry about that, man. She just doesn’t get it. She’s too scared that I’m going to get myself killed or something,” he said and I nodded.
“But you’re not, are you?” I asked and Oz straightened himself again.
“It’s not going to happen, I’m good at cheating death,” he said and I blinked at him when I heard those words. I thumped his back and started walking away from him.
“I’ll stay in touch,” I called out to him and walked to my bike.
It had suddenly struck me that he was just a kid, and that bringing him into the MC would make me responsible for putting his life on the line. If I hadn’t met Alexis, this realization wouldn’t have mattered to me so fucking much.
6
Alexis
I was waiting in the living room, pacing around, staring at each tick of the clock. When Oz jiggled the key in the lock outside, I breathed a sigh of relief. He walked in, this time without any fresh cuts or bruises on his body. At least none that were visible.
“Did he find you?” I screamed, before he even had the chance to shut the door. Oz rolled his eyes and walked straight past me to the kitchen.
“Oz! Did he fucking find you?” I raged, following him and he stopped and turned to me.
“Yeah, he fucking did. I spoke to Abe, from the Marked Skulls and he told me just how much trouble you caused him. Jesus, sis, why can’t you just stay out of this?” Oz threw his arms up in the air from frustration. I could feel my lips quivering. I hadn’t doubted for a single second that Abe wouldn’t go after Oz, even though I had threatened him not to.
Marked Skulls MC Series: Books 1-5 Page 31