Venom

I didn’t know what the fuck had brought Ridley to the compound after all this time, but I figured it couldn’t be good. And I sure as fuck wasn’t going to think about how goddamn perfect she’d felt in my arms. Gone was the adorable cherub who had skipped around the clubhouse on family days. In her place was a stunning woman with curves in all the right places and legs for miles. Shit, even if my brother weren’t her daddy, I was too damn old for someone like her. My dick wasn’t getting the message.

I pressed my hand against my zipper hoping like I hell I didn’t have a noticeable erection when I knocked on Bull’s door. If he thought for one second I was lusting after his baby girl, he’d cut off my balls. My dick had hardened nearly to the point of pain just from holding her. The scent of the wind clinging to her, and something softer under that, had nearly made me do something stupid. Like throw her over my shoulder and carry her off to my house for a proper fucking. I could only imagine how damn hard I’d be if I ever had her naked. I’d lusted after women plenty of times, but I’d sure as fuck never felt like this. My inner caveman wanted me to roar that she was mine, fill her so full of my cum that everyone would damn well know it.

What the fuck? Get it together.

I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I’d never felt like this before and sure as hell shouldn’t be having these thoughts about Ridley-fucking-Johnson. The girl was young enough to be my daughter, but fuck if there was a single fatherly thought in my head when it came to her. One look in her eyes when that dumb shit Prospect had her on the ground, and I’d been a goner. I’d wanted to rip the fucker’s arms off for hurting her. Those beautiful blue eyes that seemed to look right through me could bring me to my knees.

My dick pulsed in my pants as I thought about spreading her across my bed. I had no doubt I could spend hours between her thighs, until we were both exhausted and well-sated. I didn’t understand why I wanted her so fucking much when I’d only held her in my arms briefly. Jesus, I was a fucking pussy, but I’d have gladly fallen to my knees and worshiped at her feet. I’d love nothing more than to spread those thighs wide and lick her until she screamed my name.

When my dick was under control, mostly, I knocked on Bull’s door. The sounds coming from his room told me enough to know he was going to be pissed for the interruption. The man might be pushing fifty, but it didn’t stop him from taking two to three club whores to his room each night. Often at the same time.

There was a growl on the other side of the door, and he jerked it open. I kept my gaze eye level because if there was anything I didn’t want to see, it was Bull’s cock. Mine never got any complaints, but the man hadn’t gotten his name for nothing.

“What the fuck do you want, Venom?”

“Get dressed. We have a problem.”

“It can fucking wait.” He started to slam the door shut, but my hand whipped up and caught it.

“No, it can’t fucking wait. Are you seriously going to brush off your VP?” I stared him down, and he finally relented. “Come to my room after you’re dressed. And get those fucking sluts out of your room.”

Bull nodded and shut the door. I blew out a breath and went back down to my room. My hand gripped the knob, but I hesitated. A woman’s soft sobs could be heard from inside, and my gut twisted. I was a hard man, had done a lot of bad shit and gone through a lot of pain, but if there was one thing I couldn’t handle, it was tears from the angel in my room. The moment I’d seen those blue eyes of hers, I’d been fucked.

Come on, asshole. Quit being a chickenshit.

I opened the door and stepped inside. Ridley blinked up at me, hastily wiping the tears from her cheeks. My gaze caressed every inch of her, and I had to admit I was surprised. She was hot as fucking hell, but I would have expected Bull’s daughter to show up in some sort of designer clothes. The boots on her feet looked new, but she looked every inch a biker’s woman. It made her hot as fuck, and my dick surged again.

“Your dad will be here in a minute,” I told her.

She sniffled and nodded, her gaze staying on mine.

“How’d you know it was me out at the gate?” I asked. It had been too damn dark for her to see my patch.

Ridley smiled faintly. “You haven’t changed much in the last fourteen years. Besides, Dad always showed me pictures on his phone of everyone when he visited.”

I ran my hands through my hair, remembering that I’d found some silver threaded through it recently. I’d been clean-shaven back when I’d known Ridley and now kept a short beard. And I sure as fuck hadn’t had lines around my eyes when I’d last seen her. She might think I hadn’t changed much, but the man who looked back in the mirror every damn morning said otherwise.

Her eyes twinkled as she looked me over. “You know, when I was little, I used to tell my daddy I was going to grow up and marry you.”

I gave a bark of laughter. “Why the hell would you have wanted to marry me?”

She shrugged. “Even when I was five I felt this pull toward you. You were always nice to me, and I had a crush on you. Well, as much as a five-year-old can have. You were larger than life, and the few times you ever hugged me I always felt safe.”

A knot formed in my throat at her words.

“You were something special, baby girl. Still are.”

A knock sounded at the door and I let Bull in. The moment his gaze landed on his daughter, his eyes went wide and he froze in place.

“Hi, Daddy,” she said quietly. “I’m in trouble.”

Bull moved farther into the room, and I shut the door. Until we knew what was going on, there wasn’t any point in every nosy person in the clubhouse hearing about it. Something told me that Ridley would want privacy for whatever she had to say. I couldn’t imagine anything making her run from the life she knew. Who the hell gave up living in a mansion to come to a biker compound?

Bull stood in front of her, a hand slowly reached out, but he pulled back at the last minute. Ridley stared up at him. When he didn’t move again, I saw the tears gather in her eyes.

“You stupid shit, she thinks you don’t want her here,” I said with a growl.

That seemed to give Bull a jolt, and he gathered his girl in his arms.

“I’m so sorry, Daddy,” Ridley said as she cried against her dad’s shoulder. “I should have called even if Mom wouldn’t let me see you, but I was too scared you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. She told me what she said. I never told her I didn’t want to see you.”

“What did she do to you?” Bull asked.

“It doesn’t matter now.” Ridley sniffled again. “But they’re really angry with me. They plastered my face all over the news and said I’m unstable. If they find out I’m here, they’ll come for me.”

“I’d like to see them fucking try,” I muttered.

Ridley eased back down into the chair and stared up at us. “You may not want me to stay here. I’m going to bring all sorts of trouble to your door.”

“Baby girl, trouble is what we specialize in,” I said with a smile.

“Have either of you ever heard of Fernando Montoya?”

The blood froze in my veins as I stared at her. What the fuck did she know about that piece of shit? The thought that Montoya had even ever laid eyes on her made me want to go fucking insane. Bull looked my way, and I knew he was just as worried as I was. If Ridley coming here had anything to do with that asshole, then things were way fucking worse than I’d imagined.

“What do you know about Montoya?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

Ridley looked like she was going to cry again, but she took a shuddering breath and pulled herself together. She might be fucking scared, but her standoff with the Prospect at the gate told me she had guts. If Montoya had anything to do with her showing up here, then she was going to have to be a fighter whether she wanted to be or not.

“Yesterday was my birthday and I had planned to sneak away. My friends helped me arrange it. I was supposedly going out to party with them, but really I was going to drive straight here. I was so damn tired of the shit my mom and Richard pull, and I knew I needed to get out.”

“Happy birthday, angel,” I said.

She gave me a wan smile. “About an hour before I was supposed to leave, Mom came to my room and told me plans had changed. I was to shower and dress in an outfit she’d chosen because my stepdad had someone important coming to dinner.”

“Montoya?” Bull asked.

Ridley nodded. “They introduced me as I came down the stairs, and the cold look in his eyes made my skin crawl. It was like he was imagining me without my clothes, but his eyes were just so empty. Then at dinner, Mom made me sit by him. He kept touching me and then… ”

My blood was absolutely boiling, and I wanted to hunt the fucker down and rip off his hands for daring to touch her.

“And then what?” Bull asked, sounding far calmer than I was.

“He… touched me.”

“You already said he touched you,” I said.

Her cheeks flushed. “No, I mean… he put his hand all the way up my dress and touched me… somewhere else.”

Motherfucker! I growled and put my fist through the damn wall.

“I bolted out of the dining room saying I needed to use the bathroom. The vent in the downstairs bathroom somehow connects to the dining room. If people are in there, you can hear everything they say,” she said.

“What did they say, baby?” Bull asked.

“Mom and Richard were selling me to Montoya.” Tears filled her eyes again. “He talked about needing to fully check out the merchandise and have a sample before buying. Said he was going to break me in and train me properly before… ”

Bull began pacing furiously. I flexed my hand, my knuckles split from going through the sheetrock. The ache in my hand was mild compared to what Ridley had been through. If her whore of a mother and that sick fuck she’d married had promised Ridley to Montoya, there was no doubt he would demand they follow through. Which meant it was only a matter of time before Ridley’s mom and stepass showed up on our doorstep. It wouldn’t take them long to figure out that Ridley had come home.

I smiled at the thought of getting my hands on those two. If they did come here, it would be the last place they ever visited. The compound had a special spot for unwanted visitors. There was an old barn at the back of the property, far enough away from all the homes that if people screamed as they begged for their lives, no one would hear them.

Fuck if I would ever let Montoya get his hands on Ridley. And I knew the MC would have my back. She was family, even if she hadn’t been here in fourteen years. Those who had been around back then would remember her, and the others would fall in line just because she was Bull’s daughter. We took care of our own.

While Bull paced and pulled at his hair, I knelt in front of Ridley. Taking her soft hand in mine, I stared into her eyes, letting her see the conviction in mine.

“No one is going to hurt you. We’ll deal with the threat, but for now, you’re safe here.”

Bull stopped. “She can’t stay here.”

Ridley’s eyes widened as she stared at her dad.

“There’s no room for her at the clubhouse, and even if someone gave up their room for her, I don’t want her here around all the shit that goes down,” Bull said.

Ridley looked from her dad to me. “Then where am I supposed to go?”

Bull’s gaze focused on me. “You take her home. You’ll protect her.”

I shot to my feet. Yeah, I fucking wanted to protect her, but putting Ridley under my roof was like asking the fox to guard the henhouse. I’d gotten hard just carrying her in from the gate, and Bull wanted me to share a house with her? Was the man fucking insane? Touching her would be all kinds of wrong and start trouble. I’d never wanted to fuck someone so badly in my life, and I had a feeling that once I’d had a taste of Ridley, I’d never let her go.

But what if it’s all kinds of right?

No. I couldn’t take her home with me. I wouldn’t.

Her bright blue eyes stared at me, complete trust shining in their depths, and I knew I was well and truly fucked. How the hell do you say no to an angel? Especially one as gorgeous as Ridley.

“Fine. She can stay with me.”

I had a feeling I’d just damned myself to hell. Blue balls were going to be the least of my problems.