Lauren
Michael looked ready to devour me in one bite. His dark eyes were large and round, his fingers urgently tugging on my neck as he pulled me to him. His legs hit the bed and he threw himself back, yanking me with him. We landed with a thud, but he didn’t give me any time to situate myself with the positioning.
Keeping himself on his back, he pulled me up toward him, making me straddle his hips. “Fuck, you’re so damn beautiful.” He gripped my hips and stared up at me, moving my hair a bit out of the way to get a better look. His hard cock pressed against my wet slit. I needed him to move, just an inch so I could get him inside of me.
Telling him I belonged to him wasn’t a little thing; it was my everything. I’d promised myself to him, but I knew I had been his since we were kids. No one made me feel the way he did. No one made me feel as safe and cared for as Michael. And now, after proclaiming what we both already knew, he was teasing me with his cock.
“Michael, please.” I wiggled my hips, enjoying his eyes rolling back from the sensations I was causing in his cock. “I need you.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” He folded his hands behind his head and gave me a grin that either gave me the go ahead to have my way with him, or was his way of teasing me even more.
Deciding I didn’t care either way, I reached down, wrapping my hand around his thick shaft and slowly began to sink down onto him. Each inch that made its way into my pussy stretched me, filling me with satisfaction. Once I sunk my way all the way back down to his hips, I braced myself on his chest, feeling the hard muscles of his beneath my hands. I licked my lips while staring at him. He tried his best to give me a noncommittal glance, but I knew he wanted me to move just as much as I did.
“Just gonna lay there?” I teased, and slowly began to pull upward, almost letting his cock leave me before I sank back down with more force and speed. He grunted, and I did it again. And again. Within a few strokes, I was less concerned with the cocky grin on his lips and more concerned with how good it felt to have his cock in me. My clit ground against his pelvis with each new thrust, which made me move faster.
His hands weren’t behind his head anymore, but on my hips, guiding me up and down, pulling me hard down on him. My being in control had lasted all of ten seconds, but that was fine with me. His grunts matched my own as I rode him harder. My breasts swayed in front of his face, and he craned his neck to catch one in his mouth. His tongue lashed across my nipple while he sucked hard on my breast.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” I chanted each time my ass landed back on him with a slapping sound. His nails dug into my hips, creating a hot pain that soared through my body. His tongue continued to work its magic on my nipple and my clit rubbed hard against his body. “I have to come, Michael. Please, please let me come,” I begged him. I knew I was begging and I didn’t care, so long as it meant I’d find my release.
“Fuck, yes, Lauren. Come for me. Ride me hard, baby, ’cause I’m coming with you.”
I pushed away from his chest, sitting straight up on his cock, which earned me another groan of pleasure from him. I moved from my knees, to my feet, and began to ride his cock harder than ever. He moved one hand to reach between us, and began to play with my clit as I moved up and down on him, making each stroke even harder thanks to the leverage my feet gave me.
I threw back my head, gripped my knees, and slammed down hard on him just as he pressed on my clit. I screamed out, loud into the room, not caring who might hear me while my orgasm hit me. Intense, blinding waves of pleasure tore me from myself. I rode him through my release, each time his cock stroked my pussy the waves extended. I could have stayed in that motion the rest of my life, it felt so heavenly. As my orgasm began to subside, he pulled me down to him, rolling us over until he was on top of me.
“Why the hell didn’t we do this sooner?” he grumbled as he pushed my thighs back toward my torso. “Hold your legs for me, Lauren. Open yourself for my cock.”
Still in a bit of a haze from my own orgasm, I nodded and wrapped my arms around my knees, tugging them closer to my chest. With one hard thrust, he was back inside of me, nearly knocking the breath out of me. How could anything that hurt so much feel so fucking good? His cock rammed into me, harder and harder, faster and faster, until holding my breath wasn’t an option anymore, but a necessity.
“Fuck. Michael. Fuck. I have to.” Before I could even ask or tell him, my orgasm ripped through my core. My eyes clenched tight as he fucked me harder through the waves, dragging them out until he finally stilled over me, releasing his own string of curses as he found his orgasm.
“Goddamn, Lauren.” His hot breath washed across my face as he collapsed on top of me, then rolled to his side. He hauled me up against him, unfazed by the fact that his come was slowly seeping out of me.
“You didn’t use a condom,” I whispered into the air, but not looking at him.
“I know.” He kissed my head. “I should have. I mean, I always do, but I haven’t been tested in a few months.”
“Aren’t you worried about me? I mean I wasn’t a virgin—” His laughter caught me off guard.
“No shit, but you also aren’t the wham-bam-thank-you-man, type.” He kissed my neck. “Don’t get pissy because you’re a good girl. I love that you’re a good girl. I’ve always loved that about you.”
“Good girl? After what I told you I did?” I turned in his arms to get a look at his face. He stared back at me with confusion. “The drugs.”
“You ran drugs to make messy ends meet. I get it. That doesn’t make you a horrible person, Lauren. It’s not like you could have asked your ma for money.”
“No. I mean, she’s not doing bad now, finally met a guy worth her time, but she wasn’t exactly on her feet for most of my life.” I never blamed my mom for our circumstances growing up. Mom may have settled down with the wrong guys, but it wasn’t because she didn’t care about me. She didn’t think she was worth anything better. She didn’t think that way anymore. Not since meeting Frank.
“She with someone again?” He stopped kissing me and wiped a strand of hair from my face. “We haven’t really talked about her. I mean, I knew her ex was long gone, but I didn’t know what happened after that.”
I wrinkled my brow and pulled back from him. “How’d you know she broke it off with him?”
He sighed, looking at me a long minute as though he was thinking through a big decision. “Do you really think I would leave you all alone while I was in juvie? I had eyes on you almost every minute of the day. School was easy, but it took some doing to get the guys to drive past the house at night. It got a little trickier between school ending and me getting out. Once I was free and clear, it got easier to pop by and make sure your ass was safe. When your ma finally got rid of that asshole and you got into college, I backed off. You moved out, then I lost track of you, and by then I decided to leave you on your own.” His eyes darkened while his fingers trailed down my arm. “Worse decision I ever made. If I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have met up with Colton, and you sure as hell wouldn’t have been slinging drugs for that Tanner fuck.”
I let what he said sink in. He’d been keeping tabs on me the whole time? “You stalked me?”
He grunted. “I watched you, over you, made sure you were safe.”
“So…the guy senior year. The one who asked me to prom on a dare…he ended up taking me, and even brought me flowers that night. Begged me to forgive him. Your friends did that?”
His jaw tensed. “That fucker was lucky I didn’t let the guys beat him fucking senseless. Matthew wanted to put his fist through his face when he’d seen the little display in the hallway. He never would have pulled that shit if I’d been there.”
“I could have handled it on my own. I did handle it on my own.”
“Yeah, you ignored it. Like you always did.”
“There wasn’t a point to fighting. Those idiots would have just kept it up. If I showed them how much it hurt, how humiliated I was, it would have only fueled their enjoyment. James only wanted to impress Dianna, that little princess prom queen. Not sure why she hated me so much, but she gunned for me all of senior year.”
“She had a thing for me.” He gave me a grin that spoke to his male ego. “Got pissed when I wasn’t interested in her—’cause I obviously had a thing for you.”
“We were friends.”
He laughed. “Woman, never were you and I just friends—and you know it.”
I did. The bond we held back then only strengthened with time, even with us apart. “Still, you didn’t need to send your boys after James like some thug. I only went to the prom with him after that because he begged, like his life was dependent on it.”
He laughed. “It sort of was…as far as he knew it.”
“Michael!” I hit his shoulder, but it was more of a tap against his strong muscles.
“I hated the idea of you going with someone else, but I wasn’t there to take you, and I knew James would be a fucking gentleman after that.” He leaned back on the pillows, staring up at the ceiling. “You were never alone, Lauren. And you won’t be ever again. I know I gave you the impression I’m gonna bail after this is all over, but I’m not. I’m not going anywhere.”
He meant it. I could see the sincerity in his eyes, in the way his jaw relaxed. Tired from all the talking, and the energy used up from his intense lovemaking, I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said again, gripping me tighter to him, holding onto me as though it would be me slipping out of his grasp.
“I know, Michael. I’m not either.”
***
Walking into the coffee house near school shouldn’t have made my stomach so fluttery. Had it been any other day, it probably wouldn’t have, but Michael and I were meeting Tanner. Michael’s reaction to Tanner hadn’t been as warm as I hoped, but I understood him. Michael saw anything putting me in danger as a failure. The prank James pulled on me senior year had been Michael’s fault, according to him, because he hadn’t been there to stop him. Tanner’s part in my attack over a year ago was a failure on Tanner’s part, but if I knew Michael, he held on to some of that guilt, too.
I wondered if either of them had ever stopped to consider that the responsibility for my life belonged to me, and not to either of them. By the glare on Michael’s face the moment we caught up with Tanner at a corner booth, I would guess not.
“Michael, this is Tan—”
“Right. Sit. I’ll get you a coffee.” He pulled out the chair for me and once I was seated he headed over to the counter to order our drinks.
I couldn’t hold the smile over watching the large, muscular, and tatted Michael standing at the cashier ordering me a latte. The young girl behind the counter took the order with wide eyes. I knew that feeling. Michael’s presence was often overwhelming and usually a bit intimidating.
“Your boyfriend seems a little pissed off, and I haven’t even said hi yet.” Tanner nudged me with his fist.
I looked over at him, he’d given up The Matrix look and went casual. Just a plain t-shirt and jeans, it had to have been the most normal I’d ever seen him dressed. Both arms were riddled with tattooed phrases and words. I probably could spend most of the afternoon reading them and not get halfway done.
“I told him everything, Tanner. He can be a little intense.” I gave him a soft smile.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Everything? Well, why aren’t you standing, then? I thought he would have busted your ass from the rumors I heard about this guy, and from what you told me.”
“Shut up.” The heat in my cheeks caught me off guard, and I looked over my shoulder to get a gauge on how long Michael would be. “Wait. What’d you hear about him?”
Tanner laughed. He had a different sort of laugh. Not quite a snort, but not an all-out chuckle either. Sort of like a mixture of the two. “I did a little recon on this guy, took a look at his business and shit. While I was scoping out his garage, I met a hot little number who looked really disappointed he wasn’t in the office. You know me, I can’t let a woman walk away so upset.”
I didn’t even try to hide my eye roll. Tanner kept his hands to himself when it came to me, but other women were all free game, and he played daily. “So naturally you picked her up.” I waved a hand in the air to get the story rolling again.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, so I offered my services. Asked if she was okay, blah, blah, blah, then she mentioned your little boy over there. Turns out she’s been fucking him off and on for a few years now.”
The news shouldn’t have surprised me, and it sure as hell shouldn’t have made my stomach twist into so man knots, but it did. “So?” I was never good at hiding my thoughts from Tanner any more than Michael.
He laughed again. “Don’t worry, your man there has made it plenty clear to her that they were just fucking. But anyway, I started asking her about him, casual like, just wanting to make sure he was as much of a standup guy you told me he was.”
I looked over my shoulder. Michael smiled at some little kid walking past him but still hadn’t gotten my drink. “And?”
He took a long breath. “And, he seems to be. I don’t know, she had more to say about the crazy shit he did in bed than anything else. Told me her mouth pissed him off a few times, and he told her if she didn’t start watching what she said, he’d spank her so she wouldn’t sit for a week.” He shook his head a little and laughed. “She didn’t believe him, so she got right up in his face and flipped him off, using a few colorful words at the same time. Let’s just say your man is as good as his word. But if he ever lays a fucking hand on you, I’ll cut it off.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Tanner, his hands don’t do anything I don’t want them to do. I promise.”
He eyed med quietly. “The bitch was telling me the truth, wasn’t she?”
I sensed Michael behind me. “Yes.”
“Here.” Michael slid my latte over to me and yanked out the chair beside me, throwing himself into it and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Thanks. Didn’t you want one?” I asked sweetly. These two men at on one table would be enough to drive any laid-back person to an anxiety attack. Luckily for me, after the year I’d been having, it didn’t faze me in the least.
“Coffee and sugar. No thanks. You still like the sweet shit.” He started to smile, but quickly hid it when Tanner cleared his throat. “Hey.” He nodded toward him.
Men could be complete apes. I rolled my eyes again.
“Lauren tells me you know this guy who attacked her last year when she was doing drops for you.” Michael went straight to the matter. No bushes to beat around.
“Yeah. A client.” Tanner leaned back in his seat.
“Client? That’s what you call the guy who almost raped her?” Michael’s voice rose, as well as the throbbing vein in his neck.
“I stopped him before it got that far.” Tanner leaned over the table. “Don’t start getting all fucking high and mighty with me. If she hadn’t been looking for your sorry ass, she wouldn’t have found me at all.”
“Okay.” I put my hands out in front of each of them. “Before this little chat continues, let’s get one thing straight. Lauren does what Lauren wants to do, and if Lauren gets herself into trouble, it’s no one’s fault but Lauren’s. Got it?”
Both men turned their hot gazes on me. Michael looked a little more irritated than Tanner, but neither said a word of contradiction. Michael leaned back in his chair, pulling his hands back to rest in his lap. At first. When I thought they had both cooled themselves down, his hand crept into my lap and his fingers wrapped around my thigh, digging into my skin. It was a quick pinch, over in a second, but it was full of meaning. Watch your tone.
“She wasn’t so mouthy before.” Michael muttered across the table.
Tanner leaned back and nodded while chuckling. “No, she wasn’t.”
I rolled my eyes at them both and took another sip of my coffee.
“About this…client. Do you know his name? His real name?” Michael’s phone started buzzing in his pocket but he ignored it.
“Yeah. Leonard. Daniel Leonard. Owns some garage franchise or some shit. He’s been off my clientele list after that incident, shoved him off to my competitor. Lower quality, higher price.”
Tanner hadn’t told me that before, just said I wouldn’t ever have to deal with him again.
Michael took the information Tanner gave him and folded his hands back over his chest. “Daniel? You’re sure?”
“Yeah, middle aged guy, got a kid—some asshole of a kid. Daniel bitched all the time about him not wanting to go into his business. Wanted to build skyscrapers or some shit.”
“Pierre?” I asked. I knew Pierre’s last name was Leonard, but I never heard anything about his father or family. Most of our conversations were laced with veiled threats. “Pierre’s last name is Leonard,” I said to Michael.
“I know.” Two words, and he didn’t even look at me.
How did he know? I never told him, and he didn’t seem at all surprised to find out Daniel Leonard was his father.
“That fucker is probably the one bank rolling this whole mess. Do you still have contact with him?”
Tanner shook his head. “Hell no. Once I cut off a customer, they stay cut off, or they get cut out.” He grinned over what he probably saw as his witty humor. Tanner really needed to be taken in small doses at first.
“Did he know Lauren’s name? Where she lived? Anything like that?”
“I wasn’t even living there at the time, Michael. I was still living on my own in that studio apartment. Even if he knew where I lived, he wouldn’t know now.”
“He knows.” Michael nodded. “I’d bet my bike on it.” He grabbed his phone from his back pocket when it started buzzing again and sighed. “Fuck. I gotta swing by the clubhouse. You’re off today,” he said to me as though it were his decision to make. For a split second, I wished I had at least one shift at the cleaning service to throw in his face, but I didn’t.
“You think this Leonard ass is the one gunning for our girl?” Tanner stood as Michael did, shoving his hands in his pocket.
“Not our girl. My girl.” He pulled my chair back out and held my arm as I stood.
I opened my mouth to once again inform them of my independence, but clamped it shut when he squeezed my arm. I went with yet another eye roll instead.
“Possessive son of a bitch, huh?” Tanner asked me with a grin.
“He’s a little skeptical of most people, Tanner. Don’t take it personally.”
“Are you now having a conversation about me while I’m right fucking here?” I could feel his glare on me, so there was no need to look at him.
“I guess he doesn’t like that any more than I do.” Tanner’s laugh made my grin even wider as Michael pulled me to his side.
“That’s enough of that shit. I get your point.” He swiped my latte up and held it out to me. “Finish this if you want it; you can’t take it on my bike.” Turning his attention to Tanner, he held out his hand. “Thanks for the information. If we need your help, we can count on you?”
Tanner grabbed his hand and the two men who had at one point or another saved my ass shook hands. “Don’t even have to ask. You tell me where she needs me and I’m there.”
“Thanks.” Michael linked his fingers through mine and pulled me from the coffee house before I could do little more than wave my goodbye. Tanner shook his head at me, but I could see his shoulders shaking from his chuckles as we passed by the window.
“Why are we going to the biker club?” I asked, dropping my empty coffee cup into the trash can near the parking lot.
“Need to talk my old president again. Turns out he may have somewhat of a connection to that James asshole.” He handed me my helmet as I took my place behind him on his Harley. “Just want to get a few verifications. I’d drop you off at home, but I don’t think you’d stay, and I don’t feel like chasing you down today.”
The engine roared to life before I could throw out my objection. He was right, though. I wouldn’t have just sat idly by at his house while he continued to hunt down the asshole trying to hurt me.
Michael
Bikes lined up, filling the courtyard of the Predators’ clubhouse. Saturdays were busy with the members who worked off club grounds coming in to relax and shoot the shit. Women paraded around the lot by their old men who wanted to show off their goods before heading into the bar. Inside we’d find more of the same, but the women would be trolling the lounge for unattached bikers.
Lauren slid off my bike and removed her helmet, looking nonplussed about where we were. I remembered it wasn’t her first time in a club hangout, but fuck, it should have been.
“Think they’ll have bottled water in there?” she asked with a grin, jerking a thumb to the club entrance.
“Don’t drink anything I didn’t hand you personally. Got it?” I gave her ass a smack before I headed toward the clubhouse. I heard her little yelp, but didn’t give a fuck. That ass was mine, and I’d slap it, spank it, or fucking lick it whenever I wanted to. Better she get used to that now. I wasn’t fucking around when I said I’d never leave her again. That woman was all mine, and I meant it for the long haul.
A few members called out greetings to me as I stepped up onto the patio encircling the club. I pulled Lauren closer to me and made the rounds with my hellos and introducing her. I could see the steam building in her as I explained she was mine to anyone who walked up to us, but she didn’t understand the fucking longing in most of those assholes’ eyes. They were my brothers, even without my kutte, and I’d fucking kill anyone who tried to get at them, but I’d also chop off the dick of any single one of them who touched my girl.
“Why don’t you just tattoo it on my forehead,” she muttered as I held the door open for her.
I wanted to slap her ass again, just to let her know I heard, but instead let it go. A few of the women inside were going to notice my return, and I didn’t need to make my mark on Lauren just yet. I needed a few minutes alone with Mickey, and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on that if I had to worry about a cat fight starting out in the bar area.
“Mike! What brings you in?” Johnny, the VP and oldest member of the club, slapped my back hard with a toothy grin. The tats from his youth displaying up and down his arms, as well as across his back and chest, were faded, but not less notable.
“Just need quick word with Taylor.” I hauled Lauren up to my side. Johnny may have been nearly thirty years older than me, but that didn’t make him any less persuasive in the women department.
I noticed the sharp stares at Lauren from a small cluster of women standing across the room. Two of the three were old flings––the third one looked too fucking young to even be in the bar, let alone trying to get in my pants.
“He’s in the back. Working on some paperwork or something. Fucking garage business. Man, I could not have been smarter staying away from that shit.” Johnny shook his head. Deep scars covered his chin and half of his face, documenting his long trial with the Predators.
When Mickey pulled me into his special auto team, Johnny tried talking me out of it. Said he’d go to bat for me with Mickey if I needed. He wouldn’t let me get yanked in that shit, but I was young and fucking stupid. Thought my balls were made of steel.
“This your woman?” His eyes washed over Lauren’s body. She tried to smile while he took stock of her. Johnny wouldn’t touch her, or any other woman in the place. His old lady would cut off his balls if she even suspected his hands had been on any other piece of ass besides hers.
“My name is Lauren.” Her chin thrust upwards and her shoulders rolled back. I wondered if she would keep trying to look so damn tough if she knew how much her posture exposed the roundness of her fucking tits. The cotton t-shirt she wore stretched over her breasts as she thrust her hand out for him to shake.
Johnny laughed and clasped her hand. “Nice to meet you, but if anyone else asks if you belong to this asshole here, better just say yes. You don’t want any of them thinking they got a shot at you.” He gave her a wink that sent a heated flush to her cheeks.
I leaned in close to her ear. “The man asked if you were my woman, Lauren. Would you rather I tell him no?” I slid my arm around her waist, letting my fingers dip into the waistband of her shorts. Her stomach tensed at my question and she gave a little shake of her head. Johnny watched the exchange with an entertained grin.
“I need to have a few words with Mickey. Would you mind keeping an eye on my girl here?” I kept my fingers on her waist but looked toward Johnny. “Is Nikki here with you? Maybe she can babysit. “
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Lauren shot at me, yanking my hand away from her.
I smiled. “It’s just a saying, Lauren. Some of these women aren’t all that happy to be seeing me here with you on my arm, and the guys who aren’t attached to some piece of ass at the moment are just waiting for a chance to get to you.”
“I’ve been in a club before, Michael. I did just fine.”
“You were dating the VP of the club, that was different. And I don’t ever want you to remind me that fuckhead had his hands on you again, understood?”
“Shit. I thought you looked a little familiar. You were Colton’s girl for a while.” Johnny pointed a finger at her, but kept his eyes on me. “You aren’t in with those assholes, are you?”
“Fuck you for even asking that.” I looked around the club, the amount of men casting glances at my girl was starting to piss me off. Some of them didn’t know me, new members, and they wouldn’t know how possessive I was until my fist connected with their faces. “Lauren’s a friend from high school. She had a momentary lapse in sanity a while back and got mixed up with that prick.”
Johnny studied me for a long minute. “There’s more here than you’re telling me.”
“I don’t know how you guys know Colton, but he wasn’t a bad guy,” Lauren interjected, then shrunk back slightly when our glares met her. The last thing I wanted to hear was her defending the VP of the rival club in the area.
“There’s more,” I admitted to Johnny. “Mickey’s mixed up in some shit that’s coming down at her door. I just need to talk with him.”
Johnny took in a deep breath. “Tell me everything. If that fucker is mixed up with the Fallen, I want to know about it.” He looked over both shoulders then jerked his head to the right, where a spot near the corner of the room was empty. We moved away from prying eyes and ears. Lauren leaned against the wall. “There’s been some concern among the older members lately, Mike. Mick’s been getting messy with his car trafficking shit; most of the club knows it’s the secondary income for the club. Since it’s been operating without any club votes, some of the members want it to stop. The cops have been by the garage at least twice a month over the past six months snooping. The newer members are getting scared. This generation ain’t like mine. Some of them have the heart for it, some of them just want to ride their bikes and wear their kuttes with pride. Without the new members, though, the club is gonna fold. The Fallen are gonna start picking off the weak guys like the fucking vultures they are.”
“If they’re weak, why would you want them?” Lauren asked.
“They have the balls, sweetheart, it’s not that they don’t. But they don’t have the stomach to fight a president who goes behind their backs, a president who has allowed more than a few go to prison for his shit.” Johnny gave me a meaningful look. “I heard about the attempt on you while you were locked away. That was fucking bullshit. No one here knew about it, man. I would have stopped him if I’d known.”
“He tried to kill you?” Lauren’s eyes widened and she stepped between me and Johnny. “You didn’t tell me that.” She fisted her hands on her hips. Johnny stepped back a little to give her room and looked on with amusement. Not many women would have the balls to do what she just did. The woman had no idea how strong she really was, or how much at that moment I wanted to kiss the breath out of her. If only to make sure she remembered who was in charge around there.
“I was a loose end, Lauren. Sitting in jail being asked a shit ton of questions about the club and Mick, I was a liability. It wasn’t personal.” My explanation didn’t appease her at all; if anything her eyes grew wider and the tension increased in her body. A body I wanted to strum with my fingers; the angrier she got on my behalf the more I wanted to claim her again and again, and didn’t give a fuck who watched.
“How are you not a loose end now? Didn’t you come here to talk to him a few days ago? He knows you suspect him and that guy, what was his name, Matthew, for having something to do with the car accident. You made yourself another loose end because of me.” She held back the tremor in her voice pretty well but I could see the panic in her eyes as she started to get herself all riled up.
“I’m not a threat to him, or the club, Lauren. But he is a threat to you.”
“Wait. What’s Matthew got to do with this?” Johnny gently nudged Lauren back to the side.
I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair. “Fuck. I’ll just start at the beginning.” I went on to tell him everything I knew so far, everything Lauren had told me and what Bixby had managed to dig up. Johnny could be trusted, that I knew. When I opened my own garage, he’d been the one to send a few guys my way for work. He watched out for the club members. More than once, he’d been asked to challenge Mick for the president seat, but he never went along with it. He loved his club, he loved his brothers, but he wouldn’t go against his president. Not yet. He watched out for his brothers and the club from the VP chair; taking on the president seat wouldn’t give him as much freedom.
After I finished the story, that sounded a hell of a lot like a damn soap opera before I was done, Johnny’s arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes were dark and narrow. “This kid, Pierre, he put his hands on her and is still breathing?”
“He was just trying to scare me.” Lauren placed a hand on his forearm and damn if the big guy didn’t soften his smile in her direction. “I’m fine.”
“I can see that, sweetheart. If I ask you to go over to the bar and get yourself something to drink, think you’ll be able to do that for me?” He didn’t know Lauren—talking to her like a little girl wasn’t going to get her to do anything.
“No, but if you ask me to give the two of you a minute so you can discuss this all behind my back, I’ll do it.” She smiled just as sweetly when she gave him her answer.
He threw his head back and burst out in laughter. “Fuck, she’s gonna be a handful for you.”
I took a deep breath. “Already is.” I removed her hand from his arm and pointed to the bar. “Go get yourself something to drink. I need to talk to Johnny for a minute.”
“I can help, if you’ll just tell me what you’re thinking. I can help. I mean, this is because of me.”
“Get your drink.” I gave her a little shove toward the bar. I wanted to give her a slap on the ass, but too many people were watching, and she’d more than likely start a fight with me over the action. The last thing I needed at that moment was to have to haul her ass over my shoulder and out of the club to deal with her. She’d comply well enough if I kept my Neanderthal tendencies to a minimum. But later, later I’d get all the grunts and moans I wanted from her while I did whatever the fuck I wanted to her—and she’d love every damn second of it.
“She dated Colton?” Johnny watched her making her way through the crowd of people to an empty seat at the end of the bar. Her washed out jean shorts and cotton t-shirt didn’t exactly scream biker chick.
I gave a little laugh. “Not for long. You know how he is, too much hunger for power in that guy.”
“Yeah, not like you at all.” He ran his eyes over me and laughed.
“Fuck you. I’m not controlling like that asshole. He doesn’t trust anyone, always thinks his chicks are cheating on him, or thinking of cheating on him. Lauren wouldn’t ever do that to me.”
“You love control as much as he does; you just need it for different reasons.”
As true as that statement was, I didn’t need a counseling session. “I would never hurt a hair on that woman’s head, if that’s what you’re saying.”
He laughed again. “No, I know what you do with your women. And by the way that girl looks at you, she knows it, too.”
“You know you get more perverted every year you age.” I tried to insult him, but fuck if he weren’t right.
“No more than you. Now. About this shit with your girl. Mick’s been hiding shit from the club; that’s why there’s so much tension around here lately. Matthew was in here the other night, looked like someone took a tire iron to his face.”
“Nah, just my fist.” I shook my head.
“He’s lucky you didn’t kill him.”
“I would have, except Lauren asked me not to, and she told me not to steal from him.” I had to add that part because it still made me want to laugh. The only thing about that memory was her telling me not to steal from her attacker.
“Yeah? The girl looks like more innocent than I’ve seen in a while, but something tells me there’s more to her.”
“Fuck yeah. I talked with Matthew. He said Mick sent him. He didn’t know why Mick would give a shit about the internship. But I think I have that part put together. This Daniel Leonard guy, who thinks Lauren lifted his drugs, is the father of the asshole at school harassing her about the internship. My gut tells me that’s what’s driving all this. I doubt Leonard gives two shits about the internship, other than his son wants what she has, but what I don’t get is how the club gets involved.”
“What was the name of the guy she worked for when she was running those packages?”
“Tanner.”
“Hmmm. That sounds familiar. Big guy, a little weird? Dresses different all the time…like some sort of fucking cartoon character?”
I grinned. “Yeah, that sounds like him. Lauren says he likes to reinvent himself a lot.”
“Yeah. I know him. Long time ago, before you were even a twinkle in Mick’s eye, he came to the club, reached out for business. Wanted to know if we’d like to partner up. Mick didn’t like the idea of running drugs or having any partners outside the club, and no one else did either. Thanked him for the offer but said no. He took it fine, just moved on.”
“I wonder if Mick said yes later on. Maybe not to Tanner but another dealer?”
“Man, if he’s slinging drugs, I haven’t heard a peep about that. Everyone seems to know about his little secret car ring, but no one has said a word about drugs.”
“How has this fucker been president for so damn long when everyone knows he runs shit behind the club’s back?”
Just as I asked my question, Mick walked into the bar with Lucy under his arm. His eyes swept the room. When he noticed Lauren, his smile dropped. Not by much, but enough that I noticed. He whispered something to Lucy and sent her off with a little pat to her ass.
I walked away from Johnny, reaching Lauren’s side at the same time Mick did. “Hey, Mick.” I draped my arm over her shoulders. She looked up at me, a little startled by my sudden presence, then to Mick.
“Mike, what brings you around? You know it’s a club members only bar.”
“I wanted to talk to you. A little chat is all.”
He eyed me, then Lauren. “Leave her here.” He motioned for me to follow him and headed back to his office.
“Stay put. Johnny will keep an eye on you but if anyone messes with you, you just find him, okay?”
“He looked angry to see me. I don’t know him. Why is he pissed at me?”
“It’s just how he looks, babe,” I lied. I kissed her hard enough to leave her dazed, and to let anyone know who saw that she was taken.