Ride the Wind (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation, #8), page 10
Zig had never talked that high of the Sons of Sin, but he had never straight out called them pieces of shit. “Why does it feel like I am missing so much information, Zig?”
He set his beer down and sighed. “Because you are, darlin’.”
I pursed my lips and wrapped my hands around my glass. “Care to fill me in while I drink this and wait for pizza?”
Zig sat back in stool and sighed. “Let’s get into story time, darlin’. Buckle up, it’s going to be a crazy one.”
*
Chapter Sixteen
Reese
“I’ll take you to get your car in the morning.”
I pouted out my lips. “That is why you plied me with drinks. I can’t drive now.”
“Two drinks are not plying you, darlin’. Most people can still drive after two.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the helmet from the handlebars of the bike. “Well, when I can count on one hand the amount of times I drink in a year on one hand, two drinks at one time are like ten. I think I had one too many hands in there.” I curled my lip. “I think that whole sentence was a mess.”
He chuckled and reached up to snap the strap under my chin. “I will remember that next time.”
“Is there going to be a next time?” I asked boldly.
His hands stilled under my chin. “Do you want there to be?” he asked softly.
“Well, yeah. I like you, even though you told me I shouldn’t like you because you won’t like me, and your family is pretty cool even though they were kind of jerks to you when you were trying to figure out what you wanted to with the club, but I think I can forgive them because they really just were trying to look out for you even though it was a little misguided.” I took a deep breath and smiled. “And Meg is really nice. She said my cake was the best she has ever had. It’s nice to hear that from people who are good bakers. They know what they are talking about.” I tipped my head to the side. “What was the question again?”
Zig leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Don’t worry, darlin’, you answered it.” He threw his leg over the bike and motioned for me to get on behind him.
A crack of lightning struck the air above us.
“Holy crap!” I sputtered. “Are you sure we should be riding on your bike?”
“You got another way we can get home?” he asked. “I check the weather before we left. If we get going now, we’ll outrun the rain for the most part. It might catch up to us when we hit Brayton.”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
“How much do you trust me?” he asked.
More than I probably should for the short amount of time I had known him. “With my life.” The words were out of my mouth before I could take them back.
“Then get on.”
I hopped on behind him, and without hesitation, wrapped my arms around his waist, and plastered my front to his back.
Man, two drinks really did loosen me up.
This was the first time in a long time I felt like I didn’t have a weight bearing down on me. We still had no idea where Kerry was or what happened to her, but I knew everything that could be done, was being done. Ransom, Bear, and the Devil’s Knights were making sure of that.
We made it to the edge of Brayton before the rain caught up to us. We had been chased by lightning and thunder the whole way, but we didn’t get wet until I saw the Brayton water tower.
By the time we made it to my house the rain was coming down in sheets, and it was amazing that Zig could even see where we were going. He pulled into my driveway and drew close to the service door of my garage.
“I’ll open the door!” I shouted. I fished my keys out of my purse and opened the door. I pressed the button for the garage door, and it opened slowly. Zig killed the engine, and I pressed the button to lower the door.
“Wow,” I laughed. “You were right when you said it wouldn’t get to us until we got to Brayton.” I took off my helmet and shook out my hair.
Zig got off the bike and took of his cut. He hung it on his handlebars, and there was a steady drip of water coming off of it.
I stepped toward him to hand him the helmet, and my foot slipped out from under me. My arms flailed, and the floor crashed towards me.
“Whoa there,” Zig called. He caught me around the waist and pulled me against his body. “You okay, darlin’?” His eyes connected with mine, and droplet of water ran down his cheek.
Was I okay?
Physically, yes.
Any other way, no.
I was feeling things for Zig he had told me not to. Something he said that he wouldn’t feel for me. He hadn’t wanted me or any of the problems I had, but he was here.
He was here standing in my garage, soaked to the bone after we had spent most of the night with his family.
What man did that when he wanted nothing to do with you?
Zig had given me a glimpse into why he felt the way he did, why he guarded his heart and didn’t want to risk the chance of falling hard.
But he was still here.
It wasn’t that Zig didn’t want to be with someone, he was just afraid of loving someone so much that you would give and do anything to keep them safe.
His cousins, aunts, and uncles all seemed to have a love like that.
The kind of love that only came once, and when you found it, you knew to hold onto it with everything you had.
“Do you want to stay the night?” I asked.
“If I stay the night, you and I aren’t going to do much sleeping.” His voice was low and gravely. His arms tightened around me, and I knew the next words out of my mouth were going to send me down a path I had never been down before, but I knew it was going to be an amazing ride.
“I’m not very tired anyway.”
*
Chapter Seventeen
Zig
Her hands were in my hair, and my hands were on the button of her jeans. I popped the button and shimmied her pants down her legs.
“Inside,” Reese gasped.
I shook my head and leaned back. I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it on my bike. “Clothes off, and then we’ll go inside.”
It must have seemed like an excellent plan to Reese because she pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it on top of mine. Next, she unhooked the clasp of her bra while she toed off her shoes and pulled the bra off in one motion. She hopped out of her underwear and dashed to the door into her house.
“Hurry up,” she laughed. “You’re falling behind.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. I toed my boots, hopped from one leg to the other, and pulled my pants and underwear off.
A peel of laughter fell from her lips as she opened the door and ran inside.
I caught up to her at the kitchen island and wrapped my arms around her waist. I hoisted her onto the island and delved my fingers into her hair.
“Zig,” she gasped.
My lips captured hers, and she moaned into my mouth. Her tongue invaded my mouth, and her hands ran up and down my back.
My brain had been screaming at me for so long to leave Reese alone, but now that she was in my arms, I couldn’t remember why being with her wasn’t a good idea.
Everything with Reese just felt right.
“Bedroom,” she moaned.
I shook my head. “I can’t wait for you.” I scooted her to the counter's edge, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. “Right here.”
“I make cakes here,” she laughed.
“And now I’m going to make you come here.” My fingers parted the lips of her pussy, and I toyed with her tight bud.
She mewled my name and tossed her head back. “Oh my god,” she gasped.
My lips to the base of her throat, and I felt her pulse beating against my lips.
She braced her arms behind her and pressed her pussy into my hand. “Please, more,” she begged.
I plucked her clit and quickly soothed it with the pad of my thumb. Her body jerked against mine, and her mouth dropped open.
“Feel good, darlin’?” I growled.
“Yes, yes,” she chanted. “Please don’t stop.”
Nothing could tear me away from Reese at this moment. If I didn’t get to feel her body tremble beneath mine and gasps of ecstasy, I would rip heaven and hell apart to get to her. To make her mine forever.
My name ripped from her lips, and her body arched higher. Tremors rocked her body, and she shook in my arms.
She came down slowly, her body hot and trembling. I pulled her into my arms and pressed kisses along her neck.
“Holy cow,” she whispered.
“We’re just getting started, Reese.” By the time the night was over, Reese was going to be mine, and there wouldn’t be a doubt in either f our minds if we wanted to be with each other.
Love was a crazy thing.
Something I had been fighting off for years, but it had finally caught up to me when I least wanted or expected it.
I lifted her in my arms and moved to the kitchen table.
I laid her on her back and positioned my dick at the entrance of her pussy. “I’m going to make you mine now, Reese.”
A loopy smile crossed her face. “I think that happened the night you watched over me while I slept at the clubhouse, but we’ve both been too stubborn to admit it.”
She was right.
Something that night had made me stay with her. Something that I didn’t know what it was at the time, but now I knew.
I plunged into her and felt the warm caress of her tight pussy around my dick. Her body pulsed around mine, and my words ripped from my mouth. “You’re mine.”
*
Chapter Eighteen
Reese
“Do you get up this early every morning?”
I screwed the lid on my coffee cup and grabbed my purse.
It was half past six, and Zig had not been happy to have been woken up ten minutes ago. I slipped out of bed around six and took a quick shower. Once I had gotten dressed, I woke Zig and was rather pleased with his way of saying good morning. I hadn’t been too happy about it either, but I knew I had to get to work and Zig being in my bed made it a little easier.
The store opened at seven, and I was the only one scheduled to handle the front end until Tracy came in around noon.
“Be thankful I’m not one of the bakers this morning. You and I wouldn’t have even slept last night.”
Zig scrubbed his hand down his face and yawned loudly. “Are you the boss?” he asked. “Make your other people work this early.”
I chuckled and took a sip of my coffee. “Well, Kerry and I used to split the opening shift, but since she’s missing, it’s all on me.”
Zig reached out and wrapped his arms around my waist. He pulled me flush against him and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
I shrugged and tried to fight back the wave of emotion that had hit me.
Kerry probably wasn’t coming back.
She had been missing for over a week now. The odds of her just breezing through the door were pretty much zero.
I could sense that Kerry was gone, and now it was just a matter of time until we found her body.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “The sadness just kind of hits me out of nowhere.” I laughed flatly. “Yesterday, I was making a batch of flat icing, and I started crying. It was silly, really. I remembered how much Kerry loved to have a sort of decorating showdown between the two of us. She had great ideas, but she just sucked at actually decorating.”
“It sounds like you two had a lot of great times together.”
We did. Kerry had been there for me a lot, and it would be hard to go on without her.
Hell, I bet Kerry would have shit a brick if she could see Zig and me.
Somehow, I had wound up with a biker when she had been the one who was chasing one of her own.
“I just want to find her, Zig. I know she’s probably not alive, but I want to bring her body home. Whatever happened to her, she didn’t deserve it.”
“We’ll find her, Reese. You got the Knights and Ransom working on it.”
I leaned my forehead on his shoulder and sighed. “Okay. That’s enough of a breakdown right now.”
“Darlin’,” Zig drawled. “You don’t have to act like this isn’t affecting you.” He wrapped his arms tight around me and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “And you never know, Kerry might still be alive.”
I still hoped for that outcome, but I was also being realistic. “I know. I just hope we get some answers soon.” I glanced at the clock and sighed. “We need to get going. Blain will think something happened to me if I don’t show up on time.”
Zig grabbed my coffee and took a sip. “You think I can grab a donut when I drop you off?”
I laughed and grabbed my cup back. “You can totally get a donut, and I’ll even make you a coffee of your own.”
“Can’t drive with a cup, babe. My bike doesn’t have a cup holder.”
I patted his cheek and smiled. “Maybe your next bike will be cool enough to have a cup holder.”
“Darlin,” he chuckled. “Cup holders are cool in cars, not on bikes.”
“You’re going to have to make me a list of all the things that are and aren’t cool on bikes because, in my book, a cup holder is cool.”
Zig grabbed his keys and threaded his fingers through mine. “Let’s go, darlin’. We’ll be here all day if we start getting into this.”
He pulled me out of the garage door, and I pressed the button for the garage door. I strapped on my helmet and watched him back up the bike. He pulled outside, and I closed the garage door behind us.
“Everything locked up?” he asked me over the engine roar.
I nodded and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “All locked up.”
We made the ten-minute drive to the bakery, and I was surprised to see a cop car on the curb. The front door was open, and glass was all over the sidewalk.
Blain was beside the car with his arms flailing and a panicked look.
Oh. My. God.
Zig pulled up behind the cop car and shut off the bike.
“Reese!” Blain shouted.
I slipped off the bike and took off my helmet. “What’s wrong?” I wasn’t sure I could take much more bad news.
Blain ran his fingers through his hair. “I was feeding my sourdough starter when suddenly it sounded like the front of the bakery exploded. I hollered to see if someone was out there, and when no one answered, I went out there. The front door glass was shattered, and the big window by the seating area was gone.”
“No,” I cried. I clasped a hand to my mouth, and tears welled in my eyes. Not my bakery. I had worked so hard to make it what it was, and now it was just shattered glass on the sidewalk.
Zig put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side. “It’s okay, darlin’,” he whispered in my ear.
What it?
It was bad enough that Kerry was missing, and now my bakery had been vandalized.
“We’ve got a detective on the way over,” the officer explained.
Zig’s phone chimed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “Ransom is almost here. He tried calling me on the way over here.”
Ransom’s cruiser pulled up behind Zig’s bike. He got out and pushed his sunglasses on top of his head. “You guys aren’t into being low-key, huh?”
“Not like we’re asking for this shit,” Zig growled.
“Who did this?” I cried.
“It was probably some punk kids,” the officer interrupted. “We’ve had some vandalism in this area the past couple of weeks.”
Vandalism? This was someone’s idea of a good time?
Zig shifted next to me, and a feeling of dread settled over me.
*
Zig
Ransom glanced at me. We weren’t as naïve as the cop was. This was another coincidence that we couldn’t ignore. Maybe whoever had kidnapped Kerry found out Reese was trying to figure out who they were. This could be a message to stop, or worse; things could happen.
“Oh my god,” Reese cried. She sagged next to me, and I held her.
“Shh, darlin’. It’s going to be okay.”
She shook her head and buried her face in my neck.
“Let me talk to Ransom quick, darlin’,” I whispered.
Blain moved next to us. “I can take her inside. She should probably sit down.”
Reese moved into Blain’s arm, and he walked with her around the building.
I turned my back on the cop. “Talk to me,” I said low.
“You think this is just some kids having a little fun?”
I shook my head.
“Neither do I. This shit is too targeted. They would have hit this whole street, not just this place if it were vandalism.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, too.” I looked back at the cop. “We gonna clue this guy in, or just let him think what he wants?”
Ransom shrugged. “We don’t need to tell him anything. I’m going to look around and see if I can find any other evidence. Why don’t you make a few calls and see about someone coming to help clean this up.”
I nodded and pulled my phone from my pocket. “I’m gonna drag Zag’s ass out of bed. Only good thing about this.”
Ransom chuckled and shook his head. “That means you cleared things up with him.”
I shrugged and connected the call. “Yeah, but after this call, he might be pissed off at me all over again.”
*
Chapter Nineteen
Reese
Blain had taken me inside and tried to calm me down while Zig and Ransom did god knows what. I didn’t know what to think anymore. I couldn’t take much more of highs and lows. Even though Kerry was still missing, I was feeling more optimistic.
Not anymore.
I was in the middle of my freak out when Zig walked through the back door with Meg, Luna, and Paige trailing behind him.
“King, Demon, Zag, Bear, and Easy are out front boarding up the windows, and cleaning up the glass.” Zig motioned to Meg. “Meg has an idea to help out in the shop.”
