Jaded: (Beautiful Biker MC Romance Series), page 32
“Burnt?”
She winced. “Don’t really wanna talk about it and scare you off.”
“You clean?” I asked.
“I’m clean, I promise I am, but yeah… I got burnt. I was lucky that I was only burnt a little. It could’ve been worse and the notion of that – it’s made me very… careful. My grampa’s brother died of HIV/AIDS when I was a kid, so… yeah. I’m careful.”
“We’ll talk about it again in a while. Table it for now. How’s that?”
She looked surprised.
I tore the condom wrapper.
“Did I ruin the mood?” she whispered.
“It ruined for you?” I asked.
She shook her head slowly.
I ground my cock against her. “Feel like it’s ruined for me?”
She again shook her head slowly, this time with a smile.
And then she crooked her finger until I closed the distance and our lips touched.
“How are you real?” she whispered against my mouth.
“Guess you finally lucked out, huh? Actually, nope,” I amended, “You earned something real, hostage. And you’ve got it. Whether that means it’s hard out there or gets easy with time and you get what you need from my club, which is where I plan to get it to… in here, in these sheets… it’s us, I’m yours. We’re real.”
I moved back enough to take in her expression. It melted into something that let me see behind that shroud she usually wears. I saw longing. Utter want. That she let me see what she otherwise hides felt like a gift.
“There she is,” I whispered as I guided my sheathed cock around the tiny thong.
The surprise on her face quickly melted into a different look, a look I was getting addicted to – the sexy face she made when my piercing moved over her clit and my cock sank inside her. Though this time the expression held an extra nuance of something I couldn’t immediately name. Trust maybe. Hope flared at the idea of that from her.
I couldn’t wait to fuck this girl ungloved. I knew she had reservations, that she didn’t trust this yet, but I’d get there with her.
I rolled, taking her with me so I was on my back. She pulled her knees up to straddle me and blew her new bangs out of her eyes as I grabbed both hands and threaded our fingers together. She dug her knees deeper into my mattress and started moving. My eyes traveled her body, loving the sight of Property of Jesse scrawled across her tank top as I felt her tight heat clamp around me.
She went slow, hips circling, then alternating to rocking back and forth. I wanted faster, so I let one hand go so I could rub her clit.
“Faster, baby,” I encouraged.
My girl complied. But not fast enough, so as she started to whimper, juddering as I took her to climax, I did an ab curl and put her on her back, our heads at the bottom of the bed. I hammered my hips into hers while pinning her wrists over her head. I put my mouth to the skin above her collarbone, planning to leave another mark to be seen by fuckin’ everyone who laid eyes on her.
“Another hickey?” she asked, giggling.
“This is your Property of Jesse throat tatt,” I grunted.
She giggled louder.
“My second favorite sound of yours.”
“What’s your first fave?”
“You’re about to make it.”
I grabbed a handful of her hair and the thought of why she cut her hair slid through me with warmth. To help someone. A bitchy aunt that didn’t deserve the wig she was having made for her. Effort – trying to fit in with my club. And the style – chosen to make a point to a fuckhead who was the biggest source of her fear about fitting in with my club.
I was giving this girl more patience than I’d given to anyone. Because it felt like there would be a payoff. A big one. That being seeing her always the way she looked now. Happy. Free. Basking, because I was making my feelings clear.
Our gazes locked and I came with her legs wrapped around me, hands tightly clasped with hers against the mattress. I whispered, “Baby.”
“Jesse,” she whimpered.
Yeah. That was my first favorite sound of hers.
***
I was back from the john, lighting a joint. She was asleep on her belly, on my side of the bed, looking absolutely stunning. Peaceful. Mine.
The blanket was down low, at her knees, so I could see her gorgeous ass on display, that tiny thong still askew from my fucking her. Her skin smelled like candy again, her hair like oranges. As soon as we got here she’d given me what I asked for by showering, so she’d smell the way I liked.
I wanted Skippy Fuckhead Ford to fucking pay for the bullshit he’d pulled on her. I was in a tough spot being that we were in the same MC and that he had more than ten years with the club, where I didn’t even have one.
My eyes were open. The first clue I had that he was fucking with her again or fucking over anybody that didn’t deserve it would not go unanswered. Yeah. I was learning patience. He would fuck up one way or the other and I’d go for his goddamn throat.
I didn’t need to go back downstairs or even down the hall in either direction to celebrate more with the brothers. I needed to be in my sheets with my Gigi.
***
There was a big club breakfast happening in Deke’s Roadhouse. And I was pissed off. Because she didn’t want to go.
I woke her up with my tongue between her legs and she was smiling, satisfied, pretty well glowing when she left my room to take a shower.
When she was back, she was withdrawn.
“Something happen in the bathroom?” I asked.
“Mostly dirty looks.”
“Mostly?”
She shook her head and I let it go. I let it go because I was thinking I needed to figure out how to tackle this problem head on, so she didn’t have to.
“Let’s head down for breakfast.”
Her phone pinged. And then it pinged again almost immediately afterwards. She glanced at it, then muttered, “I’ll answer her later.”
“Who?”
“Tracy.”
I glanced at her screen.
Tracy: Hey!
Tracy: Comin’ for breakfast?
“Too bad she doesn’t live here. I really like her. She tells it like it is. She’s got a momma bear mentality.”
“Saw she was takin’ your back last night with Skip’s bitch. Not surprised. Vic and her haven’t been together long. She started as a hang-around,” I advised. “So she gets your position here.”
“I know,” she said softly, “She got scooped up fast though so no time for her to get pigeonholed. Not everyone is so lucky.”
“How about you look ahead instead of behind,” I suggested, pulling on a clean long-sleeved t-shirt.
“I’m lucky now. You’re worth the wait. Worth the bullshit.”
I assessed her face; she did not seem to be feeding me bullshit.
“Then stop worrying about what that bitch thinks.”
“Gonna try and keep reminding myself to do that, baby,” she said softly. “Not easy when someone’s there trying to make you look back though.”
“She’ll get over it or I’ll do something about it, okay?”
“You don’t need to do anything about it. I refuse to cause problems between you and your club. I’ll deal, Jesse. But I’m not really feeling breakfast though.”
“At least come down and make an appearance. Just a quick one.”
She wiggled her nose. “Can we not?”
She moseyed up to me and put her arms around me. “Could we just be here just us instead? For today?”
I searched her face.
“Please?” she tried.
“Okay,” I said. “But don’t try manipulating me with that pout too often, or it’ll lose its’ power.”
She smiled brightly and shoved me backwards. I went with it and landed on my back on my bed. She climbed onto me.
“But what if I wanna manipulate you with my mouth in a different way? A sexy way?”
“Yeah?” I inquired.
She poked her tongue out to the side, then slowly licked across the top lip and when she got to the other side, sucked on her bottom lip.
“I would not oppose that idea,” I said with a shrug. “They sell bulk Fruit Roll Ups in Costco?”
She smiled and crawled backwards down my body, going for my fly. “I’m in the mood for just your taste right now,” she advised.
***
Half an hour later, I’d slipped downstairs to grab some food to bring back up and saw Tracy at the coffee pot, talking to Jojo. As soon as she saw me, she came over.
“Hey, hot stuff. Where’s Gia?”
“Upstairs,” I advised.
“Bringing up some sustenance?” she asked, watching me fill a takeout container with fruit salad.
I gave her a half a smirk. She gave me a blinding smile.
“What shit did Skip’s woman Sara pull last night?” I asked.
She didn’t hesitate to lay it out. “Sara more than insinuated that you and Gia are fake, just to throw her off the scent of Gia and her old man. And then she dropped a threat that if you two are legit, a few sentences in your ear could end it for her and everyone would know what a dirty skank she is.”
Tracy looked pissed.
“And how did G respond?”
“She just said, ‘I’m not after your man, girlfriend. Not at all.’ Sara goes, ‘You will never, not ever be a girlfriend to me and if I have my way, neither will you with any other old lady in this club.’ I told her that she already had me and that I knew she also had Jojo and Delia, plus I said if I had my way, she’d have plenty of friends. Though she’ll have no problem earning them herself once people get to know her. Gia then just got up and she went to you.”
“What’d Sara say after?”
“That woman smiled like a Cheshire cat when Gia left. I told her I knew for a fact you two weren’t fake. She told me she’d run her outta town, that she was here first, and it wasn’t right for her to try and jump up the social ladder from club whore to old lady and Sara would be sure it didn’t happen. I told my old man I like it around here, that we should visit more often. Maybe even consider movin’ here. He doesn’t think that’s an option, unfortunately.” She rolled her eyes. “But I’m gonna work on him some more.”
Because she wants to take my woman’s back?
She must’ve read my expression.
“I like it here. Like the people. Most of ‘em. Grew up here but moved to the falls after high school.”
She turned an irate gaze toward Sara, who was sitting at a table with her two kids along with Speedy and his woman and kids plus another woman, didn’t know who she was but figured she was a Sioux Falls old lady.
“And besides the bonus of putting certain sanctimonious bitches in their place, I’ve also got an ex-sister-in-law that I really like, and she lives here, is dating one of your brothers, so it’d be good to be near my nephew.”
“Who’s she with?”
“Scooter.”
“Ah. Deanna.”
“Yeah. She has a kid with my brother. He lives here. He’s a low life, but she ain’t. Anyway, we’ll see. We’re hitting the road after breakfast so tell your ol’ lady to message me later. Good to see you again.”
“Yeah. Safe travels,” I said.
Vic jerked his chin up at me from a table near the door. I didn’t know him real well, but he seemed like a solid brother.
I greeted a few other brothers on the way to the back staircase with a borrowed Roadhouse tray holding containers of food and coffees. Before I got there though, Deacon’s woman Ella approached and dropped a keychain onto the tray.
“Here you go. Deke said you needed these for Gia.”
A keychain with a key and a fob.
“For your door. And the outside upstairs door, her door code is the same as yours but starting with a one at the beginning if she needs to key it in.”
“Thanks Ella.” I tapped the door with my fob.
She gave me a bright smile. “I’ll hold that for you.” She held the door.
I found Skip in the hall at my door. My eyes narrowed as he kept walking, making like he was heading for the bathroom. I didn’t know if he was or wasn’t, but I gave him a look just in case.
He rolled his eyes. “You’ve got it wrong. I’m just headin’ to the can. This gonna be an ongoin’ problem with us?”
“Not if you don’t give me a reason to make it a problem. And that goes for your missus. She’s on a campaign, apparently, wants to run my girl outta town.”
“I’ll deal with that,” he said.
“Glad to hear it,” I replied, then opened my door.
I found her dressed in jeans, spiked boots, and pulling a jacket on.
“Um… hi,” she said.
“Anybody knock on this door?” I asked.
“No, why?” she replied, poking a hoop earring into her earlobe.
“Nothin’. What’s up?” I asked.
“I need to get up to the falls. My aunt needs me. Do you have the keys to my car?”
I frowned.
“She’s super-duper sick. She needs someone to look after her. Treatments are kicking her butt.” She poked an earring into the other ear.
“You bein’ straight with me? This isn’t about that bullshit with Skip’s bitch?”
“I mean, yeah and no. Aunt Francie needs me. She really does. But it wouldn’t hurt to get a bit of distance from that situation, too.”
I sighed.
“Honest, she needs me. But not gonna fib and say I’m not lookin’ for an out anyway. I really do need to go for a few days at least. Give her a hand.”
“You can’t drive that wreck up there. It needs tires, woman. And brakes. At the very least. Even with that, it could die on you any minute.”
She bit her lip.
“And we’re still under curfew.”
“She hasn’t been able to keep anything down, Jesse. Not even water.”
“I’ll drive you,” I said.
“You’ll… you will?”
“Yeah. You can’t drive that wreck. And I can’t lend you my truck right now and have you traveling alone.”
“I probably need to stay for at least a couple days.”
“Then we’ll stay a few days. I’m gonna go talk to Deke and then we’ll head down there.”
She looked surprised.
“You think I’m gonna let you drive that wreck three hours? You think I’m leaving you unprotected when the few men left could try and strike back at us for what just happened? After what they did to your sister and how that chick in the store was asking you questions?”
She stared at me with moisture welling up in her eyes.
“I’ll go talk to Prez. How long you think you’ll need?”
“I’m not sure…”
“Pack a bag for us for a couple days. We’ll get there and figure it out from there.”
“I…” She bit her lip.
“What?”
She winced.
“Spit it out, Gigi.”
She jolted in surprise, but said nothing.
“C’mon. What?”
“You don’t need to be salty, Jesse.”
“Spit it out, woman, and I won’t have to be.”
“I think you should just drop me off. Aunt Francie isn’t exactly friendly at the best of times.”
“Noticed that.”
“So she might not take kindly to having both of us there.”
“Too bad. She needs help, she’ll have to deal.”
“Um…”
“I gotta talk to Prez. Be back. Pack me some jeans, tees, socks ‘n underwear. And toss my weed in the bag, too.”
“And you’ve already missed a bunch of time at your job because of me.”
“Let me worry about that.”
“You’re kinda steamrolling me here, Jesse.”
“Yeah. To keep you safe, G. So deal with it.” I slipped out of the room before she could muster more words to attempt to talk me out of coming.
***
“No key?” I asked.
“I didn’t even get to have a key when I lived here,” she replied.
“She know you’re coming?” I asked, standing behind her with a backpack over one shoulder, Gigi’s third-full big bag at my feet. Her guitar was still in my truck.
“Yeah. She needs me. She hinted like crazy until I offered. I told her I’d get here today, as soon as I could.”
We’d been at the door for at least five minutes.
Finally it opened, and Gigi’s aunt muttered, “Took you long enough,” as she opened it.
And then her eyes landed on me. And her expression went ugly as we both filed in.
“What’s he doin’?” Francie demanded, eyes on me. She was disheveled, in a housecoat. She looked like death warmed over.
“I told you I’d come help out,” Gigi replied, “but I was over three hours away.”
“Yeah, you said you’d come. You didn’t say you were bringin’ anyone.”
“Where she goes, I go,” I said. “Make sure no trouble follows her.”
“So you brought trouble to my fuckin’ door when I’m goin’ through this shit?” she fumed.
“No, we didn’t, Aunt Francie,” Gigi advised, “There won’t be trouble, but Jesse’s protective. It’s a precaution because of what happened to Kailey. Let’s get you back resting.”
She tried to guide her toward the short hall behind the kitchen.
“Cops showed up to ask questions about Kailey, you know? They’re investigating her murder.”
“I know. I told them what I thought when I identified her. Did they say if they had any leads?”
“Said not much to go on so far. You have a funeral for her?”
“Not yet. She’s been cremated though.”
The woman made a grunt of acknowledgement, then looked her up and down, “That wig don’t suit you.”
“It’s not a wig; I wanted a change.”
“Looked better before,” she muttered. “Get blessed with that head o’ hair and you cut it and color it? That’s a waste.”
As a rumble climbed up my throat and I was about to set this hag straight, my woman’s eyes sliced to me with a plea in them, so I bit my tongue.
I knew she wanted to surprise her with the wig. She texted my ma on the way down here to ask about an ETA for the wig. Ma was gonna find out but said it should be ready soon.
