CHAPTER SEVEN
My phone buzzed as I dumped out the bucket of gray mop water. It was nine the next morning, and my crew had one more hour to finish cleaning the strip club. Hayes had kept his promise, and according to Gage—the big Reaper who managed the place—we would be getting the contract long term if he liked what he saw.
I was there to make damned sure he liked what he saw.
That meant scrubbing every inch of the place. Not that we’d have to go that far every time we came, but I wanted to start things off right. I pulled out the phone, startled to see it was Jess. Wow … Getting up her up before noon practically took an act of God.
JESSICA: Hey Loni. How are you
ME: Fine. Working, tho. Whats up?
JESSICA: Do you have time for a phone call? I want to talk to. Things arent so good here
I frowned, my throat tightening.
ME: Just a sec
Setting down the bucket, I walked out of the janitorial closet and across the empty club floor. In the distance I heard the whine of the vacuum as my crew worked their way through the VIP rooms in the back. Gage sat at one of the tables, looking up as I passed with a question on his face.
“Just a quick phone call,” I told him, pushing out the front door and into the parking lot.
The phone rang three times before Jessica picked up.
“Loni?”
“Hey, baby, what’s wrong? Do you need to see the doctor? You left without your insurance card, but I can send all the information right now if you need it.”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” she said quickly, and I felt myself unclench a little. “I had a little fever last night, but I think it’s just the flu. I’ve been coughing.”
“Be careful,” I warned her, as if she needed the reminder. She knew darned well—damned well—not to play around with infection. The last time she’d wound up in the ICU for three days on an antibiotic drip, with a surgical follow-up just for fun.
“I am,” she replied hesitantly.
“What is it?” I asked, careful to keep my voice neutral. “You can tell me.”
“I think you might’ve been right about Mom,” she said quietly. “Last night they had a big party. A lot of guys came over and they weren’t very nice.”
“Not nice in what way?”
“Two of them cornered me in the guest house,” she whispered. “I’m not exactly a virgin, but this was different, Loni. I’ve never had anyone treat me like that. They didn’t do too much, but only because I ran off and locked myself in a closet. It was horrible.”
She fell silent. I wanted to demand more information but sensed she was about three seconds away from falling apart completely.
At least she’d called me.
“Do you want to come home?” I asked, forcing my voice to stay calm and steady. “I know we’ve had our differences, but you’ll be safe here. Maybe we can figure out a way for you to live on your own, where you can be independent and safe at the same time.”
She gave a snuffling sob, and I realized she was crying.
“I’m so sorry, Loni,” she whispered. “I didn’t want to believe you. I was really stupid.”
“Let’s not worry about that right now. I can fly down there this afternoon, pick you up, and bring you home.”
“You don’t need to do that,” she said. “But if you buy me a ticket home, I’ll find a way to pay you back. I can get a cab to the airport, I still have a little cash. But not until tomorrow. Mom said she wanted me to go out with her today, shopping or something. She’s going on a trip, I guess. I’d rather leave when she’s not around. I don’t think I can handle a big fight with her—she’s not going to like it. She’s been acting really strange.”
I desperately wanted to leap into full rescue mode but forced myself to back off. Just calling me for help was huge—Jessica didn’t need any more pressure. God, I hated this. All of it.
“Okay. I’ll get you a flight home tomorrow, first thing?”
“Maybe around noon?” she asked quietly. “That would be better. She’ll be gone by then. There are all these guys around here … Some of them have guns, Loni. I think her boyfriend might be a drug dealer or something. He’s really rich, but I can’t figure out how he earns his money.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Entirely possible,” I said. “She’s never had the best taste in men. Don’t go asking questions, all right? You don’t want to do anything to catch attention from people like that.”
“Are you mad at me?”
How to answer a question like that?
“I’m more worried about you,” I said finally. “I want you to be safe and happy. You didn’t pick the best way to accomplish that, but I’m incredibly thankful you’re all right. Let’s leave it at that, okay?”
“I love you, Loni.”
“I love you, too, baby. Take care today and text me every couple of hours, got it? Just stay in touch and let me know you’re all right. And keep an eye on the fever, too. If anything feels off, call nine one one and get an ambulance. Don’t worry about the bills or anything. Just take care of yourself.”
“All right,” she whispered. I ended the call and rubbed the back of my neck.
“F*cking great,” I muttered, resisting the urge to throw my phone across the parking lot. I wanted to hit something, or punch a car. Instead I leaned back against the wall, banging my head on it a couple of times, just enough to center myself.
“You doin’ okay?” Gage asked, stepping out the door. His pose was casual, but his eyes were sharp. I shrugged.
“Just the usual,” I said. “Family drama, that kind of thing. Don’t worry—it has nothing to do with the business and won’t impact our ability to perform.”
He nodded slowly, then held the door open for me. I smiled at him and walked through, ready to go inspect the back rooms. I might not be able to control anything else in my life, but I could control cleaning this strip club.
Too bad I’d already cleaned my oven.
Maybe Reese’s oven needed a good scrub? I could go out there later and check … Might as well text him and see if a schedule change would work, because I’d be out at the airport tomorrow afternoon anyway. If he wanted me to come out a second time this week, he’d just have to be flexible.
Family first—even a big, dumbass biker like Reese Hayes would understand that, right?
REESE
“Your girl did good today.”
Gage’s words echoed in my head as I drove home. I wasn’t quite sure if London qualified as my girl or not, but I wanted her—and not for a quick f*ck. She’d been pretty damned upset yesterday and I couldn’t blame her.
I’d rubbed Sharon in her face like an a*shole.
But the thought of London and Evans rolling around naked together had lodged in my head like a virus. I’d wanted to break shit every time I pictured it, and I couldn’t stop picturing it … A little petty revenge had seemed fair at the time, given I’m a f*ckwit. Then she announced she’d broken up with him. Blew me away, because apparently London wasn’t the kind of woman to play men off each other. I’d sort of forgotten what that felt like. Now I respected her even more and felt like a tool in comparison. Screwing Sharon had been juvenile and stupid.
London was turning me into a dumbass kid again, and not in a good way. At least it seemed to go both ways—she wasn’t winning any maturity awards for that toilet prank … Laughed my ass off when I finally figured it out, though. Heather used to pull shit like that, too.
I needed to call London. Or maybe I should just show up at her place, because she probably wouldn’t take a call from me. This sucked. All of it. I liked one-night stands—clean and simple, not some high school bullshit where we danced around each other instead of getting down to business. Couldn’t help but wonder what other complications there might be, either. Would she even be able to handle me in bed—the real me? I wasn’t used to holding back, and if women couldn’t take it, I cut ’em loose.
F*ck it.
If I got my hands on London, I’d be damned if I’d let her go just because things got intense.
I turned around the final bend and spotted the cleaning service van in the driveway. What the f*ck? I had a brief, intense fantasy that she’d decided she couldn’t go one more day without my cock deep inside, and that I’d find her naked and waiting in the bedroom.
Yeah, right.
More likely she was in there injecting my toothpaste with strychnine. I parked my Harley next to her vehicle, studying it. She only had the one rig, and driving it had to suck. Like piloting a particularly shitty barge. I wondered if she’d ever been on a bike before, whether she’d like it. There was something about her—the restraint, the sense of duty that never seemed to fail … She didn’t take much time for herself, and I’d be willing to bet she didn’t get to let go often enough.
Get her on the back of my bike, bet she’d cream her panties.
Well, that or run screaming. Either could be worked … Yeah, I definitely needed to take her for a ride, and now was the time. I’d just gotten it up and running again that morning after way too long stuck in the shop. Huge relief, because when I couldn’t ride, I couldn’t breathe. Winters seemed to last forever some years, and by spring we were all a little crazy.
Nothing quite like that first ride of the year.
I pulled out my phone—sure enough, she’d called. F*cking great, must’ve missed it during church. These days all we talked about ’round the table was the cartel, which had been moving in on our territory for close to a year now. They’d hit several of our clubhouses and killed the president of the Devil’s Jacks six months back. For a while we skated the edge of a full-on shooting war, but things had quieted down recently, at least on the surface.
I knew the Jacks had been down south taking out select targets.
The Reapers had been doing their part, too, because nobody f*cked with us and got away with it. All the houses had full security systems now, and we’d been rolling up select probationary members from the support clubs.
Sooner or later, that shooting war was gonna hit.
We’d be ready for it.
The weekend coming up would be a huge part of that getting ready—patch holders from the Jacks, the Silver Bastards, and the Reapers were coming from all over the region to talk strategy, hopefully put together a joint offensive. We couldn’t just sneak around forever, or wait for them to bring the fight to us.
I flipped through my phone, finding the text she’d sent when I hadn’t answered the phone.
LONDON: Change of plans. I’ll be out at your place this afternoon. Something came up for tomorrow.
Something was comin’ up for today, too. My dick.
Christ, next I’ll be making fart jokes.
Juvenile as f*ck.
Standing outside my front door, I smelled that acrid, horrible stench I remembered from her house last weekend. I turned the knob and stepped inside to find London standing on a stool in the living room, angrily dusting the weapons collection over the fireplace. She wore cutoff shorts and a black tank top—straight out of a wet dream … except for that god-awful stink filling the air.
She rose onto her tiptoes, one hand braced against the mantel as she reached higher. Her shirt pulled up, exposing a narrow band of skin, and I held back a groan.
God damn. I needed to either f*ck her or fire her, because this in-between shit was not workin’ for me. ’Course Gage wanted her crew working out at The Line permanently, so I guess that meant firing was off the table.
Okay, then. I’d take one for the team and f*ck her. “I’m cleaning your oven,” she announced loudly, turning to face me, hands on her hips. The stance was pure challenge. Spoiling for a fight. Why, I couldn’t imagine, but it was a good look on her—fire in her eyes and all that shit.
I’d screw the fire right out of her. My cock took note, tightening just enough to be uncomfortable, and I decided what the hell. No time like the present.
“What crawled up your ass?” I asked. London scowled.
“I’m just trying to do my job. I was supposed to come tomorrow, but I’ll be at the airport instead. Jessie is coming back home.”
Interesting.
“You don’t seem too happy about that,” I said, sauntering across the floor toward her. I came to a stop about three feet away, which put my eyes level with her boobs. She sniffed, then turned and lifted her arms to reach one of the higher knives with her duster. It made her tits jiggle under the tank, a sight my cock appreciated greatly.
“My cousin’s boyfriend is apparently some kind of criminal,” she said tightly. “I guess the place is crawling with scary goons. A couple of them cornered Jess last night, terrified her. She says she’s safe until tomorrow, but I wanted her to come home tonight. She said she’d text me but she hasn’t.”
I stilled.
“You know anything about these guys?”
She turned back toward me, shaking her head. A smudge of dirt ran across her forehead and her bright red hair flopped around like she’d just gotten out of bed.
Not a bad look on her at all.
“Nothing, but I know I want to hurt them. She said I shouldn’t fly down there. Probably a good thing, because I don’t need to spend the rest of my life in jail and that’s where I’ll end up if I get my hands on these a*sholes.”
“So you came out here instead? Not sure how to take that, sweetheart.”
She put her hands on her hips.
“I won’t be around tomorrow, and I don’t want you accusing me of backing out of our deal.”
Yeah, right.
“So you think I’m such an a*shole I won’t let you off the hook to pick up your cousin from the airport?” I asked, trying not to smirk because I had her cold. She’d come here because when shit hit the fan, she wanted to be near me. Might not be ready to admit it, but that didn’t change what was really going on.
“You’re enough of an a*shole to have sex in front of me.”
“Yeah, I’m a real piece of work—a single man f*cking a willing partner in the privacy of my own home. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep, I’m so ashamed of my actions.”
“Are you saying the timing was a total coincidence?” she demanded.
I laughed.
“You’re the one who showed up early,” I reminded her. “But yeah, I’ll give you that. I’d already decided to keep Sharon around all afternoon, make a point of her bein’ here. Didn’t plan to screw her in front of you, but I wasn’t disappointed when you walked in and saw it, either. I was f*cking pissed off, London. I was there for you when you needed it, I took care of you, and then you called me another man’s name. One of my least favorite men, for the record.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened, then closed.
“You’re a jerk.”
“No, I’m an a*shole. You wanna fight like a grown-up, start using grown-up words.”
“F*ck off,” she hissed, and I swear her hair started levitating a little like Medusa. Okay, so it might’ve just been how she shook her head, but either way it was hotter than hell. The fighting had been fun, but we’d wasted enough time. Time to get inside that tight cunt of hers, check out whether it felt as good wrapped around me as my imagination suggested.
I wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her off the chair, hoisting her horizontally against my side as I started toward the bedroom.
“What are you doing?”
“Enough foreplay. Time to get down to business, babe.”
“I’m not your babe. Put me down!”
“Not gonna happen.”
She started kicking, which would’ve been a lot more effective if her legs could’ve reached any part of my body from that position. Not my first rodeo. Then she slapped at me, prying at my arm around her waist.
“Careful, don’t want me to drop you.”
“God! How can you be doing this? It’s not fair—you’re too strong for me. I hate you!”
I decided how I could be doing this was f*cking obvious, so it didn’t need answering. Good thing, too, because she dug her fingernails into my arm so hard I think she drew blood.
“Stop playin’ around, London.” We passed through the kitchen. My bedroom door was open. I kicked it shut behind us, then reached around to lock it because I’d be damned if I’d put up with any interruptions at this point.
Then I tossed her on the bed.
London scuttled back like a crab, bracing herself against the headboard with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong with you?” she demanded breathlessly.
“I’m horny,” I said, my voice matter-of-fact. I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off my boots. I grabbed my T-shirt and drew it up and over my head, tossing it over to land on top of my dresser. Then I stood and went for my pants.
London squeaked again.
“Door’s right there,” I said. “Locks from the inside, so not like you’re trapped here. If you want to leave, go. Otherwise take your clothes off.”
I stood and shoved down my pants, cock springing free to smack against my stomach. She gasped and I smiled, because I knew the view was generally considered a good one.
“Clothes?” I reminded her.
She sat up, then sort of pulled her dignity around her like a heavy cape, as if that could protect her.
It couldn’t.
“Let’s talk about this,” she said quietly. “We should set some rules, figure out where we’re going.”
“We’re going to f*ck. Then I think we’ll probably do it again. After that I’ll buy you dinner, but only if you’re nice.”
“I brought dinner with me,” she muttered.
“Christ, you’d be perfect if you didn’t have such a stick up your ass.”
I crawled forward on the bed, grabbing her ankles and jerking them down abruptly. She squawked, but she didn’t fight when I caught her hands and pressed them back into the bed, over her head. Then I lowered my mouth to catch hers—had to see if she actually tasted as good as I remembered.
She did.
I thrust my tongue in deep, closing my eyes as I savored finally getting inside her body. At first she lay passive. Then her tongue started playing with mine, a game of chase and follow I could’ve kept up for hours if my dick wasn’t on fire. Kneeing her legs apart, I settled down between them, realizing the hard way I was in serious danger of denim burn on my cock.
I pulled back and smiled down at her. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were bright, and that shiny red hair of hers lay across the pillow like a lava flow.
“I like that color on you,” I said, shifting to the side so I could slide my hand down to her stomach. The button of her jeans opened easily enough, and her hips surged upward to meet my fingers as they found her *.
Wet as hell. Beautiful.
“Thanks,” she muttered. “I didn’t think you’d noticed. You didn’t say anything the other day.”
“Oh, I noticed.”
“Holy crap, that feels good …” she whispered.
“I do my best.”
Her breasts rose and fell rapidly as her breathing increased. I slid my fingers up and down, dipping into her p-ssy and then pressing in and upward as my thumb kept the action going outside. Finally I pulled back and she whimpered, protesting.
To hell with this slow shit.
“You’re wearing too much,” I said. “Take something off, because otherwise I’m going to start ripping things.”
LONDON
Take something off, because otherwise I’m going to start ripping things.
I nearly had a heart attack.
Reese would let me walk out the door if I asked. I knew he would … But if I walked out, I might never come back, and in the past five minutes I’d come to the clear realization that I wanted to come here in every sense of the word.
He shoved up my shirt, exposing the red satin bra I’d decided to wear while cleaning his house for no particular reason I cared to acknowledge. Reese’s mouth caught my nipple and I forgot all about taking things off.
This was unfortunate. He hadn’t been kidding about the clothes.
Apparently sucking me through the fabric wasn’t good enough, because seconds later he caught the center fastener of my bra and snapped it in half. My breasts spilled free and then I felt the heat of his mouth pulling me back in, deep. His fingers burrowed down into my shorts, finding my * and rubbing it hard enough that it should’ve hurt. Instead it just felt really, really good.
Need grew out of my center, sending tingles through my entire body. I couldn’t think, but I could sure as hell feel. It felt good. Real good. Better than I remembered sex, and I remembered sex as something very nice indeed.
Reese switched to my other breast, and somehow I regained enough awareness to reach down between us and cup his hard length.
His cock.
I liked the word, I really did. I liked it a lot and I liked the fact that I was free to use it as much as I wanted. I wanted to see more of it, too.
“I want your cock,” I managed to whisper, and Reese froze.
Then things changed.
Before he’d been restrained, if not gentle. Yeah, that was over now. Within seconds he had me flipped over on my stomach, and then I felt my shorts ripping down my body. I’m not quite sure what happened to my panties, but a heartbeat later his hand came under my stomach, lifting me to my knees.
I barely had time to catch my breath before I felt the head of his erection at my entrance. Not for long, though. He thrust in—hard—which was more than a little startling because I hadn’t seen any real action for years.
“Holy crap,” I grunted, and he stilled, letting me grow used to the feel of him deep inside. I felt pinned, impaled … vulnerable. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Believe it,” he muttered, fingers finding my * again. He toyed with it and I squirmed, squeezing down on him every time he found just the right spot.
“F*ck …” he groaned. Then his hips pulled back and he started moving in me. He wasn’t gentle and as he hit home I gasped, because the man was big and it sort of hurt but in a weirdly good way.
Did I mention it’d been a while?
Fortunately, Reese “Picnic” Hayes had magic fingers, because by the third time he filled me, I’d lost all sense of time and space. All I could feel was the pressure building through me, centered on my * and the delicious friction of him pushing deep against the front wall of my vagina.
My vibrator just couldn’t compete.
Then I had a horrible, horrible thought.
“I’m not on birth control.”
“Got a condom,” Hayes grunted. “And a vasectomy.”
Huh. How had I missed him suiting up? I couldn’t feel it, either, which was probably because I was so damned wet. Reese caught my * in his fingers, almost pinching at it, which should’ve hurt like hell but was quite possibly the most amazing thing anyone has ever done to me.
It was enough to push me over.
I gasped, my muscles clenching down hard on him as I came. He groaned. Then his hands caught my hips, which was a good thing because my entire body ceased to function and I collapsed.
Reese ignored my mental and physical crash, lifting my ass up high for his penetration, pumping into me faster and faster as he got close to his own release. Then I felt a renewed tingle of sensation, and realized that I might be capable of achieving the Holy Grail for all women—multiple orgasms.
“Up on your hands,” Hayes told me harshly. Somehow I pushed myself up, startled I had the strength. His hand caught my hair and jerked back. I screamed and reared back on my knees, bracing my hands against the bedstead.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, wondering if it was possible for eyes to literally roll into a person’s head from the intensity of an experience. This time I came hard, no long buildup of sensation or gentle warming. Nope. Just an explosion of lust and satisfaction braced like an animal in the home of a man I wasn’t even dating.
Glorious.
Reese pulsed deep inside me as he came. Then he stilled, my butt pulled tight against his groin, his fingers digging into me hard enough I figured I’d find bruises later.
The thought made me giggle.
I might have a sex injury!
Reese let me go, pulling out and catching the condom. I collapsed onto my stomach, still panting, wondering if I could just go to sleep for a while. Pretend the outside world wasn’t real, and that Jessica wasn’t in the shit yet again.
His thick, muscular arm came around me, pulling me back into the cradle of his body.
“That was very nice,” I murmured, eyes closed.
“Nice? I think I’m insulted,” he replied, although he sounded smug as hell. His hand cupped my breast, casually playing with my nipple as we lay in silence.
“I’m going to be sore tomorrow …” I said, yawning. “But totally worth it.”
“Sore? I wasn’t that rough.”
“No, just been a while.”
“How long?”
“Well, my ex-husband left six years ago, when I got custody of Jess, so … six years.”
Reese’s hand stopped moving.
“You haven’t had sex in six years?” he asked, his voice incredulous.
I frowned. “You don’t have to say it like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m a freak.”
“You’re not a freak, sweetheart,” he replied. “But gotta admit, I’m surprised. You’re gorgeous.”
I sighed. “Single moms who run businesses don’t have fabulous social lives, Reese,” I told him.
“Well, glad you picked me to break the dry spell,” he said finally. “You’re not half bad for a chick who’s out of practice. I’d give you a six out of ten.”
I smacked his arm playfully and he squeezed me tight.
“Okay, make that nine out of ten,” he whispered, kissing the top of my head. “I’m holding out the last point in the hopes you’ll give me a blow job next time.”
“Dream on.”
He chuckled quietly, and then I felt his breathing grow regular as he drifted off to sleep. Letting my thoughts go, I fell into the darkness, wrapped tight and protected in his strength and warmth.
Perfect.