Wanted By The Devil (Devil's Riders #1)
Joanna Blake
Prologue
Devlin sat at the bar at the clubhouse. It was a typical Tuesday night at the Spawn's headquarters. As usual, there were a couple of sweetbutts giving him the eye. He pulled on his beer.
He wasn't taking them up on their unspoken offer tonight. He hadn’t in a while, especially now that the time was getting close. The girls were accommodating to be sure, especially to the MC Club President. He knew it didn't hurt that he was tall and muscular with boyish good looks.
Fuck man, he was beating women off with a stick on a daily basis. Had been for years. He ignored them for the most part, only giving them the nod when he was pent up. And it had been months now.
He’d just come from the diner. He was always riled up when he came from there. He was horny as hell.
Because of her.
Kaylie. The sweet little waitress who worked at Mae's. He went in at least twice a week. And twice a week, he came out frustrated. It was getting worse too, the older she got. The girl was ripe for the plucking-almost.
He'd been waiting almost two years already.
Waiting for her to grow up.
She was eighteen now at least but still in high school. There was no way he could approach her. Not if he wanted something that could last. Damn if he didn't already think of her as his old lady.
So he couldn't touch her. Not yet. He eyed the girls preening for his benefit nearby. There were two, a blond and a brunette. There was no way in hell he was touching the club skanks.
He was about to send them away when he saw trouble walk in. It was his ex, Dani. She was always creating some sort of drama. He cursed under his breath and called Donnie over from behind the bar.
"Yeah man what's up?"
Dev jerked his head toward the door.
"Oh shit. Her again? Want me to get rid of her?"
Dev just shook his head. As family of a club member, she had a right to be there. Within limits. And Dani was always testing limits.
"Give me a shot. I'm going to make a point."
“You taking what they are offering?”
“No. But Dani doesn’t need to know that.”
He gave the signal to the two sweetbutts and they came over to him, each sliding an arm around his shoulders. He tossed back the shot and glanced over his shoulder at Dani. She was scowling, not liking seeing him with two girls. Hell, she didn't seem to like seeing him with anyone.
That was her problem.
They had dated so long ago, and only for a couple of months. She was a nice enough looking woman, but he had only kept it going out of respect for her sister's husband, Bruce. He was a good guy and a rock solid club member.
Dev had already nailed her when he realized that she wasn't just a hanger on. He'd had to pay her the proper respect. But that's the only reason he didn't treat her like a club skank.
God knows she acted like one.
One of the girls whispered in his ear, asking him if he wanted to do them together. He nodded, deciding to play along until they were in private. He would tell them to take a hike soon.
As long as Dani thought he was otherwise occupied, she would leave. He could use some peace and quiet anyway.
Dev stood and the girls followed him out of the barroom. They went into the back of the clubhouse and up the stairs were that led to his private crib. It was just a bedroom and a bathroom but as Club President it was his and his alone. There were other rooms for the rest of the club to crash but this was his own personal space.
“Give it five minutes, then you can go.”
“You don’t want to party?”
“No. It’s too soon.”
“Soon till what?”
“Too soon till I get what I really want.”
The girls shrugged and sat on the edge of his bed, playing with their phones until he told them they could go. He pulled deeply on his beer and grabbed another one from the small fridge in the corner. He was beat and didn’t want to take the chance Dani was still down there.
The only way to get rid of her was to be with someone else. And soon, that was not going to be an issue.
Pretty soon, it would be official.
He was about to be a one woman man.
Chapter 1
Kaylie
Someone was following her. Again.
It was a perfect day. A warm, early summer day in the middle of June. The sun was shining, the birds were singing.
And she was being followed.
She felt like a deer being stalked by a wolf in the woods. She knew they weren’t there to hurt her. But she didn’t understand why they were stalking her if they weren’t going to pounce.
Kaylie picked up the pace and hurried down the hill toward North Avenue. She had just been to school to collect her diploma. She had missed the ceremony but she’d formally graduated.
Now she was carrying the pretty blue folder home, along with the contents of her locker. She'd missed the last few weeks of high school due to mono but her grades had carried her through.
Mono. What a joke. They called it the kissing disease.
As if anyone ever kissed her.
The boys in her school had never even tried in years. All around her people were partnering off and hooking up. But she was alone, with only her mom and a few friends to keep her company.
It wasn't like she was unattractive. Kaylie knew she was cute. Hot even. With long dark hair and big brown eyes, she knew she had a pretty face.
Her body was curvy too. It made her look older in a way that belied her innocence. And she was innocent.
Painfully so.
Halfway through her Sophomore year, all the boys in school had abruptly left her alone. They didn't just stop flirting with her or trying to get her to go out with them. They started avoiding her gaze, even ignoring her.
It was like they were pretending that she didn't exist.
The entire male population of her high school flat out ghosted her. Overnight.
It was weird.
That was around the same time she'd started noticing the bikes. Wherever she went, whatever time of day, it seemed like there was always a bike behind her. Not just a bike, either.
A bike.
It wasn't so crazy to see hogs around. She did live in California, and everyone knew the Riders ran the town. But still. It was weird.
It had all started when she was working the counter at Mae's, the old school diner that most people still called ‘the soda shop.’ She'd worked there since the age of fourteen when her mother had insisted she get a job. Her mom had been true to her word, helping Kaylie save her money for school and making sure the bare necessities were met.
But it wasn’t really enough. It never was. Even with the baby sitting jobs Kaylie took when she wasn’t on the schedule. Even with her mom working two jobs.