“Get out of here, Jessica.”
I jump around to see Ricky standing in his doorway, frowning at us.
Jessica skitters off down the landing and vanishes down the stairs.
“Huh, you become more like your dad every day,” he grins, rubbing his eyes.
“She needed to know I’m not going to let her mess me around if I’m going to be around here a lot more,” I shrug.
“Good, get in here,” he grins, pulling me into the room.
“Not that I mind you waking me up, but what are you doing here so early?” he asks, climbing back into bed and pulling the sheets up over his legs. I drag my eyes away from his chest and focus on his face.
“I spoke with my dad this morning,” I tell him, laying on the bed next to him.
“I said I’d talk to him, he’s definitely going to kill me now,” he groans, throwing his arm over his face to shield himself.
“Okay drama queen, it wasn’t like that. He brought it up, he said he basically knows about us but I have to be sure before you go talk to him. He said I should have my eyes wide open.”
My eyes travel over his chest and abs before him peeking out from under his arm holds my attention.
“Be sure of what?”
“Of us, I guess, and the club and everything that comes from being with you.”
He doesn’t say anything, I would like it if he said something, anything to let me know he still wants this.
“Unless you don’t see us together seriously? I mean, yesterday you were all up for talking to him.”
“Of course I see us together. I don’t see anyone else but you since you got here. I suppose I understand what your dad is saying, you should know what you’re getting yourself into. You’re certainly not the only one who comes with darkness.”
He goes quiet and I try to wait patiently for him to say something but he leaves it too long.
“Tell me what I need to know.”
“Joining a club like ours starts hard. At first you have to prospect, it could take six months or a year, sometimes longer depending who you are. It took me a year to receive my patch and it came after a fight I honestly thought I was going to die in. Someone got taken from us and every brother and prospect was called in for the rescue of her.”
“Her? Who did you have to rescue?” I ask.
“Alannah Jackson, Cas’s old lady. The Raging Riders got to her and they messed her up big time. For Cas to get to her, every guy was needed to cover him armed with every gun we had at our disposal. We had over fifty guys as one go in guns blazing and we shot their club to death. There were bodies everywhere, bleeding out and you could almost smell death. We lost four guys that night.”
“Was that the night my dad killed his friend?”
His face creases and his lips are tight.
“He told you about that huh?”
“Yeah, a while ago.”
“Yes, you have to understand when one of us is targeted, we all are. There hasn’t been a time where we don’t have each other’s backs. There are times when shit happens we can’t stop but we never give up on one of our own. There are many outcomes how a future can look for a brother and his family, and it’s not always good. I’ve experienced that myself, I had to endure two and a half years on the inside for the club and I’d do it again for them. No questions asked.”
I sit up on my legs and look down on him.
“Even if you’re with me? You still couldn’t tell the truth and save yourself from jail? Even if we have kids, the whole family thing going on?”
“Even if we have kids. Cas, Sparky, Slade, anyone who has kids have them knowing anything is possible. That’s why your dad wants you to have your eyes wide open to our life. You have to be with me expecting anything to happen. I don’t plan on being in that situation again but you never know. You have to decide if being my old lady is worth the risk.”
“What if I can’t deal with that?” I ask, hesitantly.
“Then what we have will stop. I don’t want it to but there won’t be any point going any further. I can’t be with my forever girl if I’m not their forever guy.”
Looking anywhere but at him, I take in everything he has told me and pull back. This is much more than starting a new relationship with a simple guy. The guy I like comes with a bunch of bikers and possible doom.
“I need to think,” I murmur.
“Yeah, I thought you would,” he sighs.
I don’t think he’s following me to his door so when he flips me around against the door I yelp like a fucking puppy.
“Know this Kyla, I know you’re worth the risk. At any point you could use again, you don’t want to use again but you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, neither of us do.”
It couldn’t be more obvious he is making a point and a very good one at that, but I still need to think.
He leans in and presses his lips to mine and I sweep my tongue against his. I could stay here forever being with him but if I lost him to death or prison, would I be able to cope without him? I don’t want to be dependent on our relationship, I need independence in all areas of my life.
He pulls back and lowers his arm, turning the door knob, he opens the door and releases me.
“You’re worth the risk, babe,” he repeats.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Pope
“Everything has changed so much.”
“Why aren’t you happy about it? You got the job you wanted.”
My daughter is finally doing what she should have been doing for the last two years and got herself a job as a dental assistant. She has took one step in the right direction to achieve her dream of being a dentist. I don’t get why she wants to go poking around people’s mouths but I’m proud her nonetheless.
“I am happy, who says I’m not?” she says, defensively.
I stare at her until she admits what’s gnawing at her.
“Okay, I spoke with Ricky like you said and I’m thinking,” she shrugs.
“Thinking doesn’t seem to be making you happy,” I point out.
“I want to be with…”
She stops and remembers who she’s talking to, her cheeks flame a deep red and I squash the flight urge and tell myself her talking things over is good for her.
“You can talk to me, Ky, just leave out the stuff a father doesn’t need to hear about.”
She walks over to the fridge and pulls out a beer for me and a bottle of water for herself, coming back over to the table she hands the beer over to me and takes a long drag of her water before speaking.
“I like Ricky, dad, I like him a lot. Him being a part of the club doesn’t bother me, it’s the possibility of losing him that bothers me. He’s seen me at my worst and hasn’t seen me at best, yet he still likes me. He told me I was worth the risk and I think he is too but if he ends up going back to prison? I don’t know if I’ll be able to go through it alone.”
There isn’t anything I can say to tell her that won’t happen again because it is always a possibility.
But I do say, “Kyla, Ricky is a good man. He is loyal and he will do anything he can to protect you if you give him the chance to. Every man in the club could end up in prison or in the ground, it’s a chance we all take every day. I will say though, if you really do like him you’ll take a chance on him because not being with him will be a regret you don’t want to live with.”
What the fuck am I saying? I can’t deny what’s happening between the two of them as much as I want to, but until Ricky himself comes to me, I can. Until then, I know my daughter will think this through and take her time.
“Thanks dad, I’ll think about it,” she smiles, and it warms my heart, “I want you to know I am happy, I’m complete here in Willows Peak.”
With nothing left to be said, I say goodbye and leave her to finish her lunch and get back to work.
Arriving back at the club it happens to be Ricky is the brother I see and he doesn’t look happy.
Nursing a beer at a table in the corner of the bar, I begrudgingly join him and signal I want a beer for myself from the prospect.
“What’s up with you?” I grunt, tapping my fingers on the table.
He looks up from his beer and tries to discreetly move his chair further away from mine. The prospect slides a beer across the table to me and I scoop it up and drink long and hard.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you what to do, but my daughter is thinking and she is thinking too much. It isn’t making her happy.”
I leave it at that and leave him to it. I track down my president and find him with Alannah and Leo outside.
Kyla is settled in her new job, and I need to be back doing something. Having too much time to myself isn’t working for me.
Ricky
Two weeks.
Two fucking weeks, how long does a woman need to think? Surely this is just taking the piss. I’ve seen her twice when she’s come to the clubhouse with Pope but she remained a safe distance away from me. Everyday I’m not with her only intensifies my need to be around her. I’ve kept tabs on her, not caring if she finds out or not. She got herself a little assistant job at the dental office last week, I took that into account for the first few days, settling into a new job and finding way but now I’m itching for her to get her head straight.
Pope’s word in my ear is why I’m sitting in the waiting room ready for a check-up, she has no choice but to see me now.
I made sure to get the last appointment of the day too.
The overweight receptionist is getting ready to go home and I’m the only one left waiting. The sound of the drill pounding away in the next room causes the bile in the pit of my stomach want to erupt through my stomach lining.
“Ricky Simmons, you can go through to room three now.”
I pray like fuck this doesn’t turn into a pain fest that I wasn’t prepared for. Once when I was a kid, I ran my tongue across my teeth and felt no cavities, yet when I sat in the torture chair I ended up with two fillings and a whoop ass from my mom for not brushing my teeth properly even though I did twice a day.
Ever since then when I sit in the dental chair I shit myself until I’m out of it. Kyla better recognise what this is doing to me.
She doesn’t look shocked to see me walk in the room, in fact, the smile on her face tells me she knew I was coming and better not be the one she gives to everyone who walks in here.
“Mr Simmons, sit in the chair and we’ll see what’s going on.”
I cast my eyes on the man who wants to poke around in my mouth for a ridiculous fee and I want to stab in his eye with his own drill already. Taking my own time to sit in the chair of pain, I look back to Kyla and her ass looks tight in her blue scrubs.
This is no time to be getting a twitch.
A phone rings and the dentist guy answers and leaves the room, apologising and telling me he will be back shortly.
“Why are you here?” Kyla asks, when the door closes after the dentist.
“I wanted to see you, it feels like you’ve been avoiding me.”
“I haven’t been avoiding you, I’ve been busy with this new job.”
“You left my room two weeks ago telling me you needed to think and I haven’t heard from you since, am I waiting for nothing?”
The prick of a teeth hacker decides to pick this moment to come back into the room and Kyla goes back to her station and preps the instruments I hope I don’t need to be used on me.
“Sorry about that Mr Simmons, I believe you’re here for a check-up.”
“Yeah, make it quick,” I warn him.
It takes less than two minutes for him to give the all clear and beam me a bright white smile, pleased how I keep my teeth in good condition.
“Until your next check-up,” he smiles again and leaves the room.
“When do you finish?” I ask Kyla, before she has any notions about leaving too.
“You were our last patient so in about fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll be waiting outside for you,” I tell her, before exiting the room.
Twenty minutes later Kyla and the receptionist walk out of the door, say goodnight to each other and Kyla heads in my direction while the receptionist heads for her car on the other side of the lot.
“You know you look hot in that outfit, much sexier than the pawn shop,” I grin at her when she reaches me.
Her blushing reaches my balls and they squeeze tight.
She freely walks into my arms and I lock her down tight.
“You’ve had two weeks to think, you must know by now if you want to be with me.”
“I want you, I never needed time to think about that, but I have been thinking we could take things slow, like you said we’re both a risk.”
Stepping back I look down at her, she looks tired but happy.
Progress, that’s what I want to hear.
“Hang on, let’s get this clear, we’ll be exclusive right?” I hedge.
I’ve seen women want to take things slow with a guy before and what they really mean is, I don’t know if I like you that much so I’ll carry on playing the field until I figure it out.
“Of course we will be, why? Do you plan on seeing anyone else?” her body immediately tenses against mine with jealousy at the prospect.
“Fuck no, and this means you’re not going to avoid me anymore?” I say, making sure.
“No.”
“Okay, and I’ll talk to your dad when you’re ready to go public.”
Although I think he knows.
“Sounds good.”
I can finally say she’s my girl, my girl. This is what falling in love feels like. My dick goes from twitching to rock hard when she kisses me and wraps her arms around my neck.
I deepen the kiss between us and slam her against her truck. It strikes me that taking it slow could be damaging in a whole new way.
Ripping my mouth away from hers, I breathe rapidly, “What about sex? I gotta say, I’m in pain as we speak having not been inside you for two weeks.”
Her response is to laugh at me, not the answer I was looking for but hearing her laugh like this is heavenly.
“Why don’t you come back to mine and find out,” she says, quirking one eyebrow my way.
“Get in your truck and don’t stop for anything,” I warn her, cheekily slapping her on her ass.
Taking things slow my ass, she is my fucking girl and the only obstacle in our way is Pope.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Kyla
Between my job beating down my body inch by inch with the long hours and Ricky assaulting my body in a completely other way last night, I could do with a hot bubble bath and a full body massage. I’m pretty sure I need a tetanus too, the bite mark on the top of my thigh felt good at the time but now it’s kind of sore.
I’m starving too, at least I can relax while having lunch with Kristen. She called last night to arrange a catch up today, it will be the first time we’ve spent time together since the ring incident. She thought lunch would be a start to clear the air.
Heavy, dark clouds cover the sky and rain looks imminent. Having finished work for the day, all I have to do is get through lunch and get home before the storm begins where Ricky said he will meet me.
“Good to see you, darling.”
To my right is Dean. I turn around and try to make it back to the dentist’s office but he catches up to me and backs me against the bench and forces me to sit.
He looks terrible and wreaks of sweat and cigarettes and him having his hands on me makes want to vomit.
“You’ve become untouchable, I’ve been waiting weeks to speak to you and you want to run off,” he almost sounds hurt.
“You shouldn’t have bothered, we don’t have anything to talk about anymore,” I mutter.
He makes that awful sound I couldn’t stand when I was with him by kissing his teeth and hissing out his breath.
“But I’ve missed you, baby. When I came to see you, your famil
y wouldn’t let me near you. You never told me your dad belongs to a biker club.”
He edges closer next to me and puts his arm around my shoulders, when I try to move away he pulls me back in again.
“I never knew he was a biker and you only miss my money, not me,” I spit at him.
“That’s not true, the first time I saw you sitting at that party all by yourself, I knew you were the one for me. I had to keep you close.”
“By getting me hooked on heroin?”
I can’t believe he is saying this.
“I gave you a taste, you’re the one who came back for more. Come home, you don’t belong out here. You need city lights not a town in the middle of nowhere.”
As soon as the words are out of his mouth I know I don’t need the city anymore, my life is here with my father and Ricky.
“I’m not going anywhere, Dean. I’ve got myself clean, I’m not going down that road again.” Having him touch me repulses me.
“You are looking good, Ky. I can’t deny that, come home and help me too. We were good once, we can be again.”
I stop myself from bursting out laughing at him.
“We were nothing more than dealer and punter who had sex every now and then.”
Being addicted to heroin had its disadvantages in the sexual department, I was so focused on getting my next hit and then enjoying the high, my sex drive vanished.
Gone is the light, easy going manner and in its place comes rage, rage covered up by a fake smile to anyone who passes us by.
I can see it though, I remember times he would play nice with a punter who couldn’t pay up and he would lull them into a false sense of security before he went postal on them.
His arm wrapped around my neck tightens and he makes out he’s kissing the top of my head.
“You’re hurting me,” I whimper.
“I’m not going to let you go, you’re the best thing to happen to me. Do you think you’ll be happy working nine to five in a small town like this? You know you want me.”