Chapter 11

Ryder

I woke the next morning with the taste of Danielle still on my tongue. I rolled over and ran my hand down my stomach to stroke my cock. I'd stayed naked after she left and laid in the bed for what felt like forever. For the first time in a long time, I'd thought about someone other than myself or my problems.

She needed to run hard and fast from me. I'd get addicted to her soft body, her innocent moans, her goodness. It pulsed all over her like a light in a dark night.

My body tensed as I pulled on the head of my cock roughly. I should have gotten out of the bed and muscled her underneath me the night before. She needed a fuck as bad as I did, and not just any fuck - the kind of fuck I could give her.

She'd been hurt by someone. That much was obvious. But who?

And did any of her past have to do with Tanner King? Obviously so. Why was he after her? What the fuck did the prick want?

Anger burned through my stomach as I rolled over and pressed my face to the bed. I cupped my hands around my shaft and rolled my hips, diving deep into the scent and sounds of the night before. I worked myself over the edge twice before finally getting up for a shower.

Dani was in trouble, which meant I needed to stick close to her. The guys wouldn't approve and it was probably more dangerous for me to be anywhere around her as much as Tanner loved to throw daggers my way, but it was what it was.

I wasn't going anywhere.

After drying off, I gathered my sheets and tossed them in the washing machine. A long day at the shop would do me some good. I'd dive into working on a beat up old car and forget about everything for a little while. The guys would help me with Tanner. They always had. It's what we did for each other.

"Uncle J?"

I glanced over my shoulder to see Jason looking like beat up shit. "Did you hit that cop in the face last night?"

He glanced down at his hands. "I didn't mean to. Something inside of me broke open. I was scared, like someone was going to kill me or something. I just reacted."

I turned and grabbed the front of his shirt like I always did. "You hit a cop in the face, and not just any cop, a fucking woman. Who raised you boy? You don't hit women. I don't give a flying fuck who was after you or what you were up against. Unless she has a gun to your head or a knife in your chest, you don't strike her."

"I'm sorry." He glanced up, his deep blue eyes a mirror to mine. The sorrow in them stilled me from my rant.

"What were you doing with Cade King, Jason? You know those mother fuckers are evil pieces of shit. Is that what you want to be? You want to grow up to sell little girls into their worst nightmares? You have no clue of the shit those people do to women. What the fuck is wrong with you?" I tightened my grip on his shirt as anger birthed deep inside of me again.

"What? No. I was interested in pledging to their MC. Nothing else." He held his hands up.

Some part of me understood why he would pledge to their gang. It was the only one that would take him. Mine sure as fuck wouldn't. He was too young and inexperienced.

"You don't pledge to the Black Hearts and hang around getting high and drinking beers, son. You step into a role of kidnapping women, breaking them and putting them out on the streets to make a dollar for your President." I patted the side of his face and turned away from him to work on my laundry again. "You're going to end up dead."

"Like my dad, right?" His voice broke a little.

I glanced over my shoulder. "Don't push me away, Jason. I'm all that you got."

"Weren't you and Tanner like brothers at one time, Uncle J? Weren't you his right-hand man?"

"That was before he turned into a monster. At one time, Tanner King was just a pothead with a bike. Fuck, we all were." I closed the lid and walked past Jason back toward the living room.

"Ryder." The tone of his voice stopped me. He sounded so much like Roberto that I had to turn around. He'd never called me anything but Uncle before.

"Do you love me?" He glanced back down at his hands as his shoulders rolled in and he started to cry.

"Fuck," I whispered under my breath and marched back down the hall, pulling him into my arms. I cradled him against my chest and pressed my chin to the top of his head while he cried.

"Yeah. I love you. I'm scared as fuck for you too. You're doing everything Robby did. You're following his path and I don't know how to stop you, Jason. I've tried helping, yelling, beating the shit out of you, ignoring you." I moved back and cupped his face. His pained expression drove nails into my heart. "I'm not a father. I don't know how to be one, but I'm trying here. I need you to stay away from Tanner King, boy. He's going to be the end of you."

He nodded and moved back in to hug me again. "I'll try. I promise. I'll try."

"That's better than nothing." I hugged him until he calmed down, then turned and grabbed my keys. I had to get the fuck outta there before I broke down too.

Nothing was going the way I had planned, but then again, life never asked my opinion.

*

"There you are. Almost late." Axel glanced up and smiled. "Hand me that wrench over there. The one wrapped up in my rag."

I walked over to the table and grabbed the tool for him. "Almost isn't late." I handed it down to him and slipped my hands into my pockets. "I slept with the cop last night."

"What?" Axel pushed up from the position he was in on the floor. "Have you lost your goddamn mind?"

"Maybe." I reached up and brushed my fingers by my lips. "There's something about her, Axel."

"Yeah, she's a good girl. Men like us always hope to find a good girl to settle down with." He popped me with the rag. "Don't be stupid, Jon. You know as well as I do that you would never work with a good woman. You're a whore and you'll never give up Candace King fully."

"Sure I will." I turned and walked toward an old Chevy truck we'd been working on for a week or more. "I wouldn't have fucked her the last time I saw her if I had already met Danielle."

"Sounds like love." Ellie popped up from the other side of the truck, half-scaring me to death.

"Shit, El." I smiled and reached out to tug on one of her pigtails. She was too cute for her own good.

"Love?" Axel walked up and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "No way. He just met this broad two days ago."

"Three." I pulled away from him and started tinkering with the truck. "She's wrapped up with Tanner, man. So is Jason."

"What?" Axel moved around the front of the truck and put himself in my line of sight.

Ellie moved in beside him. "Not Tanner King again, right?"

"The one and only." I shrugged and stood at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Where's my ride, guys? Anyone home?"

"Nathaniel Hayes." I smiled and walked over, extending my hand. "It's been a while. You still frisking girls and busting potheads outside Kadia?"

He chuckled, his bright blue eyes filled with excitement. "Oh yeah. Your boy Caleb is working up there now too, but I'm sure you know that."

"Flex?" Axel moved up and offered his hand to Nate. "Hey, brother. Long time no see."

"I thought Flex said he had a new job as a bouncer." I smirked. "I had no clue it was at Kadia. Small fucking world."

"Or just a really slutty club with great drugs." Nate turned and pointed to the dark blue Mustang we had sitting in the corner. "She done?"

"Oh yeah. Just finished up the paint job last week." I turned and walked toward the car. "How did I miss seeing your name on the paperwork?"

"It's for my girlfriend. I had another guy drop it off because we've been so damn busy."

"What's the word on the street?" I reached down and brushed my hand over the hood of the car. It looked good. Damn good.

"Erik's put a hit out on Fredrick Carrington's daughter. You didn't hear that shit from me." He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair before glancing down at the car. "How about you guys? Anything new?"

"No. Tanner King is fucking with my personal space again, but what else is new. I'm going to have to put that fucker in the ground just to get some peace around here."

"Yep." He pulled out his wallet. "You should have done that shit forever ago."

"It's way overdue. I know." I glanced over my shoulder as Axel walked back toward us.

"Hey, Nate. You ever talk to old Mason Thomas?" Axel handed Nate the keys and an invoice.

A smile haunted Nate's lips. "He's married now. He's out of the game, man. No more racing for him."

"No, I knew he'd been married for a while, but I'd really like to get in touch with his guys. We'd love to work on some illegal soup-ups here at the shop. Any of his guys still street racing?" Axel glanced over at me.

I chuckled. "I thought you were just giving me grief about being a better person."

He rolled his eyes. "Not a chance. I like you guys how you are."

Nate took the keys. "I'll get one of them to stop by over here. I know he has a few friends from his original crew still racing. I don't think he's doing it though."

"That'll work." Axel stuck out his hand and Nate shook it. "Don't be a stranger man."

"Not at all." He turned back to me. "What's up with Hyde? Erik needs an outside job done in the next few weeks. You think he might-"

I held up my hand. "I don't get involved in that crazy shit Hyde does, and I don't want to know any-fucking-thing that Erik Bertinelli is involved in. I'm trying not to die anytime soon."

He nodded. "Fair enough."

"I'm interested in hearing how you're doing with your boss wanting to take out Fredrick. You're still working for him too, right? So... where's your loyalty at?" Fredrick Carrington owned the nightclub, Kadia, where Nate and Flex worked, but Nate was part of Erik's mafia syndicate.

"Tough times, man." He ran his fingers back through his hair again. "I'll always protect Erik." He glanced back toward where Axel was and back at me. "Just like you and Jeremiah will always stand beside each other."

"Unless the mafia comes, then it's all Axel at that point." I stuck my hand out. "Take care man."

"You too. I'll see you around. Let us know if you need help. I still owe you one." He pulled me into a quick hug and left as quickly as he showed up.

"Nate gone?"

I turned to face Axel. "Yeah. You alright?"

"Oh yeah. I don't claim any part of my family out in Cali, Jon. You know that. Those bastards are as sick as Tanner is."

"Yeah, but Tanner is fucking with us, and your kin has fucked with the Castalettas in Chicago and now the Bertinellis here in New York. Stupid if you ask me."

"I agree. Let's just keep my last name hidden, and everything should be fine. I don't want any part of what my cousin Adam is doing with his syndicate. I'd rather forget they all existed altogether."

"I know the feeling all too well." I got back to the truck I was working on and tried to ignore the feeling of trepidation filling my insides. We lived in a fucking powder keg.

Something was going to blow soon.

I just hoped it wasn't me or anyone I cared about.