Jaded: (Beautiful Biker MC Romance Series), page 17
***
I was lying on the bed in her room finishing my book. When I closed it, she asked, “Done?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Have I not been payin’ you enough attention?”
She smiled from her spot at the end of the bed and then crawled up on it. I heard a crinkle as she got close and suspected it was a condom. It wasn’t. She held up a Fruit Roll-Up.
“Wanna play?” she asked.
My brows shot up. “What’re you gonna do with that?”
She went for my fly.
I laced my fingers behind my head and watched.
She licked my cock all over, slowly, lavishly, the same way she licked her cutlery when she ate. Though this time, there was eye contact. And it was hot. Scorching.
After my cock was fully wet, she wrapped the blue Fruit Roll-Up around it.
And then she set about making a snack of it. And me. She took her time with it, too, using that tongue, nibbling with her teeth a little, and yeah it was sticky, but it was also fucking fantastic.
***
Friday night, we played a game of darts and some foosball in the basement while she paraded around in one of my t-shirts, telling me she wasn’t breaking my t-shirt rule since she’d been fucking me. My reaction was to fuck her for hours before falling asleep together, her gorgeous hair fanned out over me like a silken blanket.
She was sweet. She was a great lay. Conversation was easy. Nothing heavy. And unlike her babbling up until now, she was quiet, letting me lead the way. The silence wasn’t awkward, it was companionable. And I could barely keep my hands off her. She was really fuckin’ pretty when she smiled. Fuckin’ gorgeous when she came. She had a talented tongue, and made the sexiest sounds I’d ever heard when she came.
She listened like she gave a shit about what I was talking about. That said, she was holding back with me, though I wasn’t with her and that surprised me about myself. But I knew she had a whack of shit on her mind so chalked it up to that.
I’d set the bottle of lube on the dresser beside her purple box, and she reminded me about her marriage rule with a big smile. I told her Rider’s girl had the same rule and that Ride was always on about ring shopping. She laughed about that, though it felt forced. And I wondered for a second if she was jealous. But she must have read the fact that I was trying to read her, so she babbled nervously about being upset hearing Ride got shot even though Ride exiled her from all Dominion Brotherhood clubhouses, saying she understood, that she probably needed distance at that point anyway. Though she didn’t elaborate.
I had the skinny about her thing with Spencer from his mouth to my ears, but wondered how deep she’d gotten with Ride. With Edge. With other brothers. If any of it was beyond bodies connecting. I shouldn’t care about that shit; the past was the past. And it was too soon to know where this was going with us, so I shoved those thoughts off.
***
We’d been in a bubble for days, playing house, fucking like rabbits, playing music, having fires, taking walks. We’d gone through most of a box of condoms and the whole box of Fruit Roll Ups. Two of them I used on her, spreading it over her pussy and taking my time devouring the sticky sweet fruit leather while finger-fucking her.
Beyond being open and having her guard down when we fucked, she was otherwise holding back, wouldn’t get deep. And it was starting to irk me.
She was a shit cook, she was shy outside of fucking. She loved watching movies, no matter the genre, and she could bury herself in her notebooks for hours. She didn’t need to talk 24/7, which I liked. But when she was stressed out or trying to avoid a topic, she’d babble in a way that could get dizzying, info-dumping facts about herself or ugly shit about her childhood.
But I could do with more. More depth when it wasn’t a dizzying babble. I found myself hoping that a few more days and she’d stop holding back. She’d start to trust that she could open up. The shit she spewed the first night in my room above the roadhouse along with the little bits she’d revealed about her family along with the bit I’d read in that notebook let me know there was a lot of shit buried.
Yeah, it’d been a bubble of fucking, music, movies, and relaxing by the fire but unfortunately, the bubble was about to burst.
***
It was Sunday night, just going dark and I was poking the fire outside, roasting foil-covered potatoes and just about to go in for the steaks that were seasoned and ready to go. I had an old grill from a rusted-out barbecue propped over the fire.
She was coming outside in that sexy little tank dress of hers with a beer for me.
“Smells good. You’re a great cook. I’m so shit at it,” she said.
“I can make breakfast, use a microwave, and I can grill. That’s the extent of my culinary skills,” I replied, but then I heard the familiar sound of motorcycle pipes. More than one set. I straightened, taking in the rumbling as it got closer. I dropped the poker.
“Get in the house, now!” I snapped and ushered her inside.
“Oh my God. Oh my God!” She was panting, following me into the middle bunk room. I hadn’t slept in that bunk, I’d been sleeping with her in the other room since that first night together, but my gun was under one of the bunks inside my bag of clothes.
“Stay here until I call you out,” I ordered and took the safety off. “Things go wrong, climb out the window and run. You’ll hit a road about a mile through the bush straight back and if you go left, it’ll take you to a cluster of houses about two miles up from there.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered, shaking hands covering her mouth.
“Take this.” I passed her my sheathed knife. She shakily took it, eyes filling with tears.
“I’ve got you,” I assured, and dropped a kiss on her shoulder before shutting the door behind her, hoping that I did, in fact, have her.
I had a gun in one hand, my phone in the other, and I moved with my back against the wall toward the front door until I could slide the curtain aside to peer out the window. I immediately recognized the bikes and the riders. Deacon, Spencer, and Rider were off their hogs, walking toward the house.
The front doorknob jiggled, then the smart lock beeped and the door swung open. Deacon who came in first froze in his tracks just inside the door, eyeballing the gun in my hand. Rider walked into the back of him a second later.
“Fuck, sorry my brother,” Deacon said as I set my gun down on the table and exhaled. “No signal where we stopped, or you woulda known we were comin’.”
“You guys want a beer?” I asked, slipping my phone into my pocket. “Got some in the…” I didn’t finish the sentence because I could see by the expressions they wore that this wasn’t a social call. Spence who was now inside too, gave me a chin jerk in greeting. All three faces were stony.
“Should I tell her to stay in there? You got shit to tell me?”
Deacon shook his head. “Bad news is for her.”
Fuck. By all three faces, I suspected I knew what this news was gonna be.
“Gigi!” I called out. “It’s okay, baby; it’s the Valentines. C’mon out.”
The door creaked open, and she wandered down the hall curiously. “Phew. What a relief. Hey,” she greeted with a smile. “How are you, boys?”
“Let’s talk, Gianna. Yeah?” Spencer said gently, eyes bouncing toward the couch. I wrapped my arm around her, and her head jerked in surprise as I guided her toward the couch.
And Spence’s eyes moved between me and her. Likely noting the big, still relatively fresh-looking love bite on her neck beside the fading one I’d put there first.
She let go of me to sit down on the couch. “Something’s wrong.”
Spence shoved the coffee table back a foot and sat on it, facing her.
“Listen, babe…” He reached for her hands and squeezed.
“Oh fuck. Kailey,” she muttered, pulling one hand back to cover her mouth.
Nobody said anything. Spencer was measuring his words and looking like he was having trouble.
“Sorry, babe,” Deacon finally said.
“How bad is it?” she asked.
“The worst,” Rider answered. “She’s gone.”
“What went down?” I asked, moving in to sit beside her.
Gigi curled into a ball, burying her face in her knees. Spencer wrapped his arms around her back and spoke into her hair.
“I’m sorry, Gia,” he said. “They used her to frame Edge. Did her the way they did Jet. Cops found her and Edge got arrested this morning.”
I moved closer, making eye contact with Spence, who caught my vibe and backed off. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her onto my lap. She was perfectly quiet, still, and curled into a tight ball, face still buried in her knees. I held her close and rocked her.
“I’m so fucking sorry, baby,” I whispered against her neck.
And then her breathing broke and she was trembling in my arms. Still in that little ball, body shuddering as she cried, trying to do it silently, trying to do it with grace.
I held her tighter, dropping a kiss on her head, thinking that her tears right now for her stepsister could be tears that our people were crying for Jojo, for Pippa, Marlena. But because Gigi put her ass on the line and came to warn us, all those girls were still breathing. And good she came to us, or she might be dead too.
And then I kissed her head again, vowing to myself that they would not get their filthy fucking mitts on her.
I felt the eyes of all the men in the room on me. Reading my body language and looking at her while she tried to hold it together. She needed the space to let it out.
“Stickin’ around a bit?” I asked through tight teeth.
“Yeah, man,” Deacon said. “We’ll hang a little bit so we can chat.”
I lifted her and carried her into the bedroom, pushing the door shut with my foot. After I put her on the bed I climbed on and pulled her close. She didn’t loosen from the ball she was in.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I repeated, kissing her forehead.
She shook some more, trying to stifle the painful sounds that I knew were coming from deep down.
“Let it out,” I invited, settling in, rubbing her back.
Finally, she looked at me with pain on her face. It was so raw, so expressive, it felt like a kick in the chest.
“You can go talk to the guys,” she said. “I’ll … be all right.”
I shook my head. “I’m here for you right now. They can wait.”
Her face crumpled and then she tried to hide it. “It’s okay, Jesse. I can be by myself while you go talk.”
I let go of her, reached to the dresser and moved the box of Kleenex beside her. “Be back with something to drink and then I’ll talk to ‘em.”
“It’s okay. Don’t want nothin’,” she whispered, taking a Kleenex.
“I’ll go talk to the boys ‘n then I’ll be back.” I kissed her head. “I’m so fucking sorry, G.” I squeezed the back of her neck.
She blew her nose, then re-curled into a ball on her side.
I pulled the blanket over to cover her up before I slipped out, shutting the door.
As soon as the door shut, the sound of her being unable to hold it back any longer, of her absolutely losing it… kicked me in the throat.
The boys were all by the fire outside.
“I put your steaks back in the fridge for you, man,” Rider said. “Those spuds were done, left ‘em on the counter.”
“Thanks. What happened to Kailey? What about Edge?”
Spence blew his hair out of his eyes, looking pained. Deacon looked like he wanted to put his fist through something. Rider’s mouth twisted into a snarl, and he shook his head, eyeing me.
Jackals nearly took Rider out not long ago. And Scott was another one fucked over by those fuckers. He’s wanted back at them for months, remembers exactly who was there the night he was ass-raped on the side of the road after they laid a beating on him. They shot Bronto in the ass while taking Ella at gunpoint. Prospects were supposed to be off limits, as were women and children. There was a truce mapped out between the clubs a few years back. It was a necessity after how ugly things got when Deke took out their VP. The Dominion Brotherhood had stuck to the terms.
And now, every man with a patch on his leather for miles around wanted the Wyld Jackals taken out for breaking every fuckin’ rule in that truce. Though I suspected nobody wanted them taken down and out as badly as Rider, though he might be on par with Edge, since they murdered his woman.
Edge has had a longstanding ugly beef with Mantis, their fathers being presidents from each club, and now Mantis was behind having him arrested on suspicion of murder after being behind the rape and murder of Jet months ago. These fuckers not only didn’t care who they hurt; they went out of their way to dole out maximum harm.
Deacon answered, “She was found outside, naked, bruises around her throat. Staged like Jet, though not sure if names were carved on her. Called Brice after the cops arrested Edge and he did some asking but we’re still waiting on details.”
“Fuck,” I clipped.
“She was in rough shape. Track marks. Scrawny,” Deacon added. “Obviously strung out for a while. Ride says she liked to get high but said he didn’t think she was that far gone.”
“A lot can change in a year,” Rider put in, “But she didn’t seem strung out when that video happened. She was all there.” He tapped his temple.
“What’s gonna happen with Edge?” I asked.
“Rudy sent his lawyer over already. Edge has an alibi,” Spence confirmed. “Airtight one.”
“Alec Wylde had his lawyer file a missing persons’ report for Mantis yesterday even though he’s inside. Despite the fact that Mantis has been in hidin’ for months,” Rider put in. “Framed Edge, plus Kailey was found wearin’ Alec’s dead wife’s engagement ring, makin’ it seem like Kailey was Mantis’s fiancée.”
“Fiancée?” I scoffed.
“Yeah,” Spence said, “When he’s been hiding for months, wanted for questioning by the cops, not to mention a couple months back it was spread far ‘n wide that Kailey was supposed to be the old lady of that grunt Jackal Costner.” He rolled his eyes.
Costner was a dead Jackal whose murder they tried and failed to frame us for.
Spence went on, “Another casualty of their fuckin’ war. Now she just happens to be found dead wearin’ Mantis’s mother’s ring?”
“At least the intel Gigi gave us has your girl, your sister, and Blow’s piece safe,” I said.
“Gigi,” Spencer repeated.
I said nothing.
“You two?” Deacon piped up. “You two a thing or just…”
I nodded. “It’s a thing.”
Deacon stared at me a beat before stating, “Cool.”
“Serious?” Spence asked.
“It’s new, but I like where it’s at so far.”
“No, I mean, are you sure about that, bro?” Spence pushed. “She’s-”
The flex of my jaw muscles while staring into his eyes stopped him mid-sentence.
His body language changed, and he raised his hands defensively. “Scratch that.” He reached for my hand. “What I meant to say was congrats. She’s a sweet girl, just like I told you when you asked.”
I gave him a long look before I took his hand.
Yeah, he’s a brother, but that better be the first and last time he reacts that way where she’s concerned, especially considering her coming to us saved not only his sister but also the woman he just claimed.
“She’s beautiful, brother.” Rider clapped my back. “Startin’ somethin’ new amid trauma and drama can make things tough. Hope it works out for you two like it did me and Jenna. Minus the bullets. And the fightin’ it. My woman put up a good fight.”
“Yeah, because you pissed her off callin’ her a dead lay,” Spencer put in.
Rider snickered.
“You didn’t,” I muttered.
Rider lifted his hands defensively. “Not that I recommend it, but throwin’ that out there made her work hard to prove me wrong. Real hard.” He grinned. And then he sobered, glancing at the house, as if remembering the bad news just delivered. “Anyway, hope it goes well with Gia. I’d like to talk to her. Apologize for bannin’ her from the clubhouses. It’s just…” He raked his hand through his hair.
I slapped his arm. “You were playin’ it safe. She gets that. You can tell her at the next club party. When all this shit’s in the past, probably. And thanks, man. Or, are you guys stayin’ here tonight?”
“Nah,” Deacon replied, “We gotta get back for church. Couple of us went down there and the rest are headed back home. We took the detour here to bring the news, didn’t wanna deliver it by phone. You want me to dial you in later?”
“If you need me to, yeah. If you can manage without me, I think she’s gonna need me tonight. You’ve got my proxy if there’s anything to vote on. I’m sure you get where I’m at with all this.”
“Absolutely,” Deacon declared.
“You do need me, call me,” I added.
“We’ll be all right,” Spence waved. “Call one of us tomorrow to get brought up to speed. Word is there’s probably gonna be a joint Sioux Falls /Aberdeen church again tomorrow night. We’ll get on the phone with the mother charter. Dial in for that if you can.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
Rider gave me a shoulder bump. Spencer shook my hand. Deacon and I bumped fists. And then they got on their bikes and left.
***
I gave her time, then found her in the dark. I wasn’t sure if she was asleep at first, but when I set a bottle of Gatorade on the table beside her and lay down, she sniffled.
“Hey,” I whispered, resting my hand on her back. I rubbed up and down for a bit before she rolled into me and put her face against my chest.
“Not gonna ask ‘cuz obviously you’re not okay, but you need anything?”
“Thanks for being so nice to me, Jesse.”
I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. “I brought you a drink.”
“Of what?”
