Chapter Eleven

 

 

I looked over the different brands of condoms as Lauren talked to the pharmacist.

Condoms.

That was pretty fucking important.

Once she opened up to me, I’d tried to get her back into bed. She’d casually asked if I’d used a condom every time last night and it was as if a bomb had been dropped into my lap. I couldn’t remember. I’d just woken up and let my baser instincts take over.

She hadn’t freaked out or gotten emotional. She just said she was going to pick up some emergency contraceptive at the pharmacy. The woman, who up until twelve hours ago had been a virgin, was just going to casually pick up some Plan B.

That was the thing with Lauren. She threw everything I thought I knew about women right out the window. I’d woken up this morning and immediately reached for her, only to find an empty bed. Leaving was something I did; I’d never been on the receiving end of it though.

It turned out, I didn’t like it much.

Look everyone, Mike’s the girl now.

The redhead had turned me into a stage five clinger. Me. The guy who couldn’t commit. Suddenly, I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else being with her, and walking away? Yeah, that wasn’t going to fucking happen.

What the fuck was I doing?

Had I agreed to monogamy?

I began gathering condom boxes by the armload, earning me a judgmental look from a woman buying tampons.

“Safety first,” I joked.

She rolled her eyes and walked away.

There was a tap on my left shoulder. “Hey, I got it. We can go.”

I turned and Lauren gave me a shy smile while holding up a small white paper bag. Her eyes widened when she saw what I had in my arms.

“Do you really need all those?” She whispered.

I nodded. “This should get us through the next week and then I’ll see if I can order them in bulk online.”

She giggled and headed for the front. “Whatever you say, Tex.”

As I paid for everything, I couldn’t help but recall David’s words to me on his wedding day. I’d been giving him a hard time about giving up being a bachelor to sleep with only one woman the rest of his life and he’d laughed before telling me, “Mike, there’s going to be a day when a woman comes along and throws your entire fucking life upside down and you won’t want it to go back to the way it was before. And when that day comes, I will laugh my ass off and tell you that I told you so.”

Thinking about it made me want to pay him a visit and punch him right in his smug face.

Not that he was right. No, this was just us seeing where things went. No crazy long-term commitments.

 

“Hey, do you have plans for the fourth?”

Lauren froze with her hamburger halfway to her mouth. “No—why?”

Her t-shirt slipped down her arm and I leaned over and kissed her shoulder. “Because I wanna do something with you.”

After the trip to the pharmacy, we’d spent the afternoon watching movies on the couch. I wanted to be inside her again, but I was content with taking it slow. That was something I never thought I’d say.

She took a bite and chewed it slowly, narrowing her gaze, before answering, “You sure you won’t be tired of me by then?”

See, that was Lauren—completely unassuming. “Well, it’s only next weekend. I probably won’t try to get rid of you for at least a couple of weeks.”

She slugged me playfully in the arm. “You’re such an ass.”

“Your ass. Remember that. Come over…I’ll cook for you again. We can sit on the porch and watch the fireworks.”

Jesus. What was she doing to me?

I couldn’t even just sit next to her and watch television. I was hyperaware of the closeness of her body and it wreaked havoc in my head.

Lauren shook her head. “No.” It felt like my stomach had just dropped through the carpet and into the apartment below. Seeing my expression, she clarified, “I’ll come, but I want to cook for you.”

“Deal. Come here,” I pulled her into my lap and twisted a strand of red hair around my finger. She shifted forward and then her eyes widened when she felt my hard-on. I shook my head. “We can wait. It’s okay.”

She regarded me thoughtfully. “Am I supposed to wait? We have protection.”

And with that, all rational thought left the building. I pulled her oversized t-shirt off with a growl as her hands pawed at my belt, trying to get it undone.

I managed to get her bra off with one hand, while the other untied her sweat pants. As much as I wanted to sink into her, I took the time to grab a condom before sitting back down on the couch. Lauren climbed back into my lap and I almost came just from watching her mouth as I slowly sank into her. It opened wider and wider until it looked like she was screaming soundlessly.

It was right about then that my cell phone started ringing. I ignored it and thrust up into her, eliciting a soft moan from that sexy mouth.

She placed her hands on my shoulders and rocked her hips forward, pulling me in deeper. “Mike,” she whispered. “I’m close.”

My phone rang again and I cursed. I was not stopping right now. I slid my hands under her ass and moved her faster to the soundtrack of my ringtone and her moaning.

Her hands tightened and then her mouth fell open as a shudder worked its way through her body. I’d been so focused on getting her to come last night that I hadn’t paid much attention to the way she looked when she actually did.

She was so fucking perfect.

My phone began chiming with text messages, but I had more important things on my mind. Like how to make Lauren’s face do that all over again.

Her eyes fluttered open as she came back down to earth. “Do you need to answer that?”

I shook my head and clenched my teeth. I needed to focus. Just as her eyes began to close and her mouth dropped open again, someone began beating on the front door.

“What the hell?” Lauren clutched her chest and froze.

I slid her off my lap and grabbed her clothes off the floor. “Go into the bedroom and lock the door. Okay?”

She nodded shakily, but did as I said. The person sounded like they were trying to break the goddamn door down.

I pulled my boxers on over my still painfully hard dick and grabbed my gun from the dining room table before going over to it. I looked through the peephole and saw my father.

“Fuck.”

I threw it open. “What the fuck do you want?”

He laughed as he took me in, “Watch how you talk to me, Junior. Why weren’t you answering your phone. Too busy boning Little Red Riding Hood? She’s a piece.”

I grabbed him by his shirt and growled, “Don’t say a fucking thing about her.”

He wrenched himself free and sarcastically responded, “We got a mess for you to clean up if you can spare some time.”

I hadn’t spoken to him in four years. I found after thirty seconds that I hadn’t missed it. “Let me get dressed. Wait out here—you’ll scare her.”

He grinned like the Cheshire cat. “Oh, Junior. You afraid if she meets your daddy, she might wanna trade up? You fucked her, now drop her and get back to work.”

I resisted the urge to hit him. I didn’t have any fear that I couldn’t take him, but I knew that Grey would come down on me for it. So, I played the part of good little soldier and went back inside to get dressed.

Once the front door was locked behind me, Lauren poked her head out of the bedroom. “What was that? Is everything okay?”

No. I’m indebted to an outlaw MC that expects me to drop everything every time they snap their fingers.

Instead, I gave her a reassuring smile. “Yeah, one of your neighbors came home drunk and ended up at the wrong apartment. I did check my messages though and I’ve got to get down to the station. Can we finish this later?”

She looked over at the clock. “It’s getting late and I’ve got to work tomorrow. Call me?”

I crossed the room in two strides and took her in my arms. “Absolutely. Get some sleep.” After a quick kiss, I faced the firing squad waiting on her porch.

“Let’s go.”

My father smoked a cigarette leisurely while leaned against the railing on the stairs. “No, fuck it. You’ve obviously got something more pressing to deal with. What I wanna know is when you got desperate enough to fuck the same chick twice—that ain’t your M.O.”

He was right. It wasn’t. And now, I remembered why. The MC knew everything about me, including all the people in my life. They kept tabs on those people.

After vaguely admitting that her upbringing had been rough, would she really be okay with dating a guy who was in bed with a one percenter motorcycle gang?

He stubbed his cigarette out with his boot heel and then tossed it in front of Lauren’s door.

I bent down and retrieved it. “Don’t throw your shit down here. Show some respect.”

He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t realize I’d raised a fucking pussy and here I’d been proud of you for turning out just like your old man. You’re on thin ice, dickhead. You know where to meet us.”

My father left me standing on the stairs and fired up his Harley. I dutifully followed after him, cursing the way my life had turned out.

We drove down into that familiar canyon and pulled up outside the old Wagon Wheel motel. I killed my truck and stared wearily ahead at the various bikers and club whores roaming the property. I no longer felt young; instead, I felt every bit of my thirty-one years.

There was a tap on the driver’s side window and I climbed out. “Hey, Goblin.”

Goblin was this twenty-two-year-old kid that had apparently had no higher aspirations for himself and thought an illegal club was a good career path. From what I’d heard, he was a gangbanger before, so maybe this was a step up.

“Mikey, hey. You know, since you’re not a club member you could call me Little Ricky. That’s what my mama calls me. It’s better, you know?”

I sighed, “Do I look like your fucking mother, kid?”

He shook his head and dejectedly made his way back into the clubhouse. I was in rare form tonight. I stood a real chance at pissing every member off before I left.

Grey walked out. “You’re late for church.”

I scratched at my beard. “Since when do I show up for church? I’m not patched in.”

He opened the door and ushered me in. “Right now, I don’t give a fuck if you’ve ever even ridden a bike. We’ve got problems.”

The bikers all filed in and sat down, leaving me a spot near the back. Then Grey took my biggest fear and made it a reality. “We got word tonight that there’s another MC moving into the area. They’ve contacted several of our guys and I want it shut down before it turns into a fucking shit show.”

I’d often wondered when they would pull me into a turf war. I could ensure that there wasn’t a police presence when they were moving drugs and guns. I could also pay off the right people when needed. This was so much bigger than that.

If this club was looking to take over the area, then they weren’t going to play fairly to do it. They’d take out bikers, families, and even cops to get it done.

Sweat ran down my back as I worked through every possible scenario. “Who’s your source?”

Grey paused and looked back at me. “Excuse me?”

I stood up and faced him. “Who’s your source? This is some heavy shit.”

His jaw tightened, while his face remained blank. “You want sources? Alright, I’ve gotten the exact same story from both the Mexican Mafia and Lone Star Syndicate. The Sons of Death are trying to poach the local gangs. I didn’t fucking build this club up from nothing to let it fall apart now.

“I want kuttes worn all the time. We fought and earned the rights to that lower rocker. We are the MC of Texas. I’ve reached out to our other chapters and they’re sending in the troops. Mike, I want the entire force backing us. You see any of these guys, take them out. Broken taillights, driving a mile over the speed limit—I don’t fucking care. Just send a message.”

I nodded. Sure, I’d just get the entire police force to back me in taking out a rival club.

Absolutely.

Yeah, no way this was going to blow up in our fucking faces.