Ember – Placeholder Chapter
I woke up before Wheeler, sore as fuck, but satisfied. That man knew his way around a woman’s body and his cock was nice to have in my mouth. The ache in both my pussy and my throat was what stirred me, in fact—but it wasn’t the uncomfortable sort from a guy not taking his time.
The sign of some good sex. Good sex I desperately needed the night before.
Lying in his bed now, though, I knew it was only a temporary fix—don’t get me wrong, I loved it. I didn’t regret it, either. But there were more pressing issues now that I had gone and shoved that attraction to Wheeler out of the way and he’d gotten his dick wet.
This business with the fire.
Jameson.
Now my … ties? To this motorcycle club.
On waking up, I realized that I hadn’t gotten my purse from my tent. It had my ID, my wallet—meaning my money—and more importantly, my phone. I knew numbers by heart, but I was essentially out on my ass with nothing. Zilch. Things weren’t looking good. The only thing that was working for me right now was the fact that Wheeler had volunteered to help me.
Honestly? I didn’t know why.
I watched him while he slept. It was still early, and while I was used to insane rehearsal hours, Wheeler obviously was not. He snoozed beside me, flat on his back with his arms behind his head. He looked like a man who was basking in paradise and I was a little jealous that he could be in the middle of all of this and still look like he didn’t have a care in the world. Maybe that’s why he had been so nonchalant the night before.
Maybe this was shit he was used to.
Admittedly, it made me curious. That was a bad thing—I had been curious about him the day before, but that was when I was thinking about having a quickie with a stranger and having no strings attached with it. This was different. I would be staying with him for who knew how long.
“Just remember what this is, Ember.”
Wheeler stirred, and I thought that I had woken him up. He just shifted on the bed, and in spite of myself, I smiled.
God, he was just a man. Nothing to be curious about with him in the slightest.
I decided to get up then. I wobbled a little, but made my way to the bathroom to do my business. A quick shower, washing away what I hadn’t the night before. I was tempted to get off again—such a shame to waste residual arousal when it lingered—but I didn’t want to risk being caught and needing to explain that one away. No. Thank. You.
I changed into the clothes that I was supposed to have gotten into the night before. Technically, the girl that he had borrowed these clothes from was my size, but she obviously was comfortable wearing very little. It was a tiny crop-style spaghetti strap tank and an equally tiny pair of cotton shorts. It barely covered my ass, but it was better than being completely naked. I didn’t have a toothbrush, but I did bum some of Wheeler’s mouthwash so that I wasn’t walking around with funky morning breath.
When I came out of the bathroom, freshly washed and somewhat back into my own head, Wheeler was up. He hadn’t gotten out of bed, but he had sat up, leaning against his headboard. His bare chest was inviting; I saw that there were scratch marks on it.
Damn, I must have gone hard.
He was scrolling through his phone and didn’t look up when he spoke to me.
“I see you’re getting all settled in.” Then he looked up. He smirked at me. “You sleep good?”
I nodded and sat at the edge of his bed.
“Yeah. Better than I expected.”
“Good sex will do that to you.”
I rolled my eyes. But then again, he wasn’t wrong.
“Whatever you want to tell yourself to make yourself feel good. Listen … I realized while I was getting ready this morning—all my personal information and shit, I left at the festival. Wallet. Phone. That puts me in a bit of a bind.”
“Well, you’re staying here, so I don’t see how it would. You can use my phone. If it’s a matter of money, it’s not like I’m poor.”
“Sounds like taking charity.”
“Sounds like I’m offering help to someone who needs it. Don’t think too hard about it. If I didn’t want to give it, then I wouldn’t have offered. Anyway.” I shrugged and stretched, and slid out of bed. Despite my best efforts, my eyes fell and lingered on his cock. It was still so big even if he wasn’t hard.
“My eyes are up here.”
I flicked my eyes up to his face, rolling them.
“Shut up. I have plenty of ogling rights, given how much you stared at me yesterday.”
Wheeler laughed.
“All right. You got me on that one. Listen, give me a few minutes so I can wash up. We can go downstairs, get you some better clothes from Elise—that’s who you’re borrowing from—and figure out things from there, all right? I need to let Satan know you’re here—”
“Satan?” Who in the fuck?
“Satan. The president of the club,” He explained. “I tried to tell him about you last night, but it was late and he’s older, so he doesn’t do late nights much anymore. You’re going to be staying here; he’s going to be knowing about it.”
That made me apprehensive.
“Is that … going to be all right? I’m not gonna, like, have to be a club girl or something, am I?”
Wheeler paused and thought about it.
“Nah. You’re my guest for now. Meaning that the others aren’t allowed to and won’t touch you unless you give the go-ahead, and if you don’t that means I can bash their skulls in.”
“You don’t really stick up for your boys or friends or whatever to say that you’re in the same club.”
“I, yeah, well.” He shrugged, and left it at that. “I’ll be out in five minutes. Don’t get into trouble while I’m gone.”
Wheeler was out five minutes on the dot. All he wore when he came out of the shower and doing his thing was a very low-set pair of sweatpants. I managed not to stare too long and stood up to join him in leaving the room.
“A couple things to keep in mind while you’re here,” he said, leading me downstairs. “Don’t wonder around too much when there’s a bunch of the boys here. Don’t ask too many questions unless you’re asking me. The club girls are nice, but easily threatened if their favorite looks like he’s eyeing someone else a little too much for a little too long. I’m gonna introduce you to Elise and Bones. They’re both good people. If I’m not around, hang around them.”
I stared at him.
“That’s reassuring.”
“It’s not really supposed to be; it’s just fact.”
I frowned, but filed that away. I wasn’t going to argue. I knew bikers enough to know that one on one, they weren’t too bad, but in huge groups …
And I was in the middle of a rowdy swarm of them.
It made me wonder why Wheeler was with them. He had the aesthetic, but not the vibe.
There were a few of the Satan’s Sons up already. Not a lot, but enough that their stares as Wheeler led me down and to the back made my skin crawl. It was so uncomfortable in a way that having men stare at me while I performed didn’t make me feel. There was always a stage and protection that separated me from them. Here? I was in their territory. I was very, very much aware of that.
I was a strong girl, but not stupid. I wasn’t going to tempt fate, and stayed close to Wheeler as we went to the back. He brought us to a door and knocked.
“Hey, Bones? Elise? You two up?”
“Hold on, Wheeler!”
The voice on the other side was high and breathy and took me off guard. A moment later, the door came open, revealing a petite woman about my size, an obvious bombshell of a babe. She was bright eyed and wide awake, which surprise me since it seemed most of the club hadn’t woken yet. She smiled at me.
“Oh, Wheeler, she looks perfect in my clothes. Hi, honey, I’m Elise. You can totally keep those, by the way.”
I was shocked, honestly, and didn’t know what to say. I looked up at Wheeler for explanation, and he was trying to hold back a laugh.
Nice to know he thought that this whole thing was funny.
I scoffed at him and turned my attention back to Elise.
“Thanks for loaning me these,” I said. “Really a lifesaver.”
“Oh, no problem, hun. How long are you staying here? I guess you’ll need more clothes, yeah? Wheeler said you were a guest.”
She backed up and into the room, letting us in. There was another biker in her bed, lounged out. He was awake, too, though he looked more tired for it than Elise did. He gave me a curious look, but unlike the looks that I had gotten from the others that were awake, he didn’t make my skin crawl.
“Ember, Elise and Bones. Elise and Bones, Ember. She came from the festival last night and lost a lot of her shit. I’m putting her up in my room for now.” He looked to Bones directly. “One of the rich boys from the festival is trying to pin the fire on her.”
At that, Bones’ brow rose.
“Oh? Why? She’s never run with us before. Leech is the one that was all ‘hey, let’s light this bitch up, oooh.’” Bones rolled his eyes. “Dumb kid. We’re not going to have peace for a while.”
“Yeah. Well. What’s his name? Jameson …”
“Mathers,” I supplied.
“Yeah. That one. Apparently some bigwig fuck. Got it in his head to tell people that Ember was involved. Since she wasn’t, and this shit is on us, I’m keeping her here.”
“How’s Satan feel about that?”
Wheeler shrugged.
“I haven’t asked him yet, but I can’t imagine him saying no. He has a soft spot for pretty girls in trouble.”
“He has a soft spot for anyone in trouble.”
Bones looked back to me while Elise continued to rummage around her things for clothes. I wanted to tell her to stop, that I certainly didn’t need the steadily growing pile that was in her arms, but my attention was drawn to Bones.
“And what do you think about all of this, missy?”
I shrugged.
“I think Jameson is a piece of shit and I think your people probably shouldn’t have committed a hefty arson, but hindsight is twenty-twenty, you know?”
For the first time, Bones smirked.
“Oh, I like her. Don’t piss her off, all right? Should let her come around often once all this blows over.”
“If it blows over,” Wheeler said. “I doubt it will. But that’s not the point right now—”
“No, point right now is you getting her settled, kept away from those animals out there, and Satan’s blessing in keeping her here.” Bones stood up and stretched. “I’ll back you on this one just because this should be Leech’s problem, not yours—but letting him take care of it would be a disaster.”
Wheeler smiled again and looked down at me.
“See? I told you Bones was good people.”
I didn’t know who this Leech person was, nor was I sure I liked my fate being handed over to someone who called himself Satan, but I would take it where I could and assume that Wheeler knew what he was talking about. It was the only reason that I nodded to him and smiled at Bones.
“I hope that’s true. It’d be nice to have a friendly face around other than Wheeler’s.”
Bones snorted.
“I’m far nicer than Wheeler, I can guarantee you that—”
“Bones, hush. Stop trying to show off to the girl; she doesn’t need all that from you.”
Elise came back over, sliding a folded pile of clothing into my arms. It was a lot more than I was expecting.
“Are you sure that you want to give me this much—”
“Oh, honey, I have so much more than that, it’s no trouble at all,” she said. She sat herself down on the edge of her bed, and Bones sat up, pulling him toward her. She squealed out as he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck, biting at her.
They were a cute—couple? Was that how they worked? I couldn’t imagine them as anything less than that. They were definitely too close to just be fuck buddies.
“All right, come on. You can get changed into something normal. Then I’ll let Satan know you’re staying here with us.”
I nodded.
“Nice to meet the two of you,” I told Bones and Elise. They were already kissing each other, and certainly not interested in anything that I had to say to them.
“We’ll … follow … at some point …” Elise waved at us. The growl from Bones said that that might or might not actually end up being the case.
I laughed.
“They’re cute,” I said as soon as the door was closed and Wheeler and I were making our way out. Wheeler snorted.
“They’re gross and a mess, but they’re in love, so I guess that gives them passes in the greater scheme of things, if you want to go that far.”
“Aw, don’t be a Negative Nancy,” I said. “I like them.”
“Well, that’s a plus. Like I said, if you need anything and I’m not around, they’re the ones to go to. Bones has been around for a long time, and Elise is a sweetheart. This chapter growing into what it’s been hasn’t changed them for the worst, which is more than I can say about others.”
Wheeler didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t ask anymore questions, either. I didn’t want to pry—didn’t want to know. I had the information that I needed to stay out of the most amount of trouble.
We walked out, and I was about to ask Wheeler what exactly it was we were going to do about all this, when he suddenly stopped. I ran into him, bumping into his side when he came to his halt.
“What—”
“Well, well. Who’s this cute little thing?”
Wheeler stopped, because there was someone in front of him blocking the way. I looked around him fully, seeing a tall, thin man standing before us. He gave off a creepy vibe—and a dangerous one. I pressed closer to Wheeler on instinct.
The man leered at me. Wheeler put his arm over my shoulder.
“She’s staying with me for,” he announced. “She came from the festival.”
Realization dawned on the man’s face. There was something nasty in that, and I felt less safe than I felt already.
“Oh. I knew she looked familiar. Little Ember Amor, huh? Well, cops are lookin’ all out for you.” He looked to Wheeler. “You plannin’ on keeping her here?”
“For now. Until things get settled down.”
“You told Dad about that yet?”
Wheeler stiffened. I could tell he was getting annoyed with this person.
“I was getting ready to, after I got her some decent clothes to walk around in.”
The man’s eyes fell to me again, roaming over the bare skin of my exposed belly, breasts peeking out, my legs. I felt more self-conscious in the presence of him than I had ever felt in my entire life around anyone—man, woman, child, didn’t matter.
He smirked at me.
“Well, it’ll be nice to have some new meat around here anyway—”
“She’s not new meat. She’s my guest.”
The man scoffed.
“Whatever you say, Wheeler. This place is big, and you can’t be around her all the time.”
The man walked away. As soon as he was out of sight, I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding.
“Who the fuck was that?”
“Leech,” Wheeler said. His voice was tense, like his teeth were gritted. I looked up and his eyes were narrowed in the direction of the man—Leech. I frowned.
“I take it I should stay away from him.”
“Yeah. He’s not good news.”
Well, I’d figured that out for myself.
I kept my quip to myself and followed Wheeler back up to his room. He nudged me in.
“I’m gonna talk to Satan real quick and explain a little of what’s going on,” he said. “He’s not gonna care so much about the fact that your name was dropped, but he needs to know that you’re here, in case shit hits the fan.”
Well, that was reassuring.
“Hey—you okay?”
I hadn’t moved from where I was. I didn’t realize that I was looking at the floor, avoiding Wheeler’s gaze. I bit my lip and looked up at him. I hated feeling so … vulnerable. It was discomfiting and I didn’t know what to do with the sensation. I also wasn’t going to admit to Wheeler that I was feeling out of place, either. I shrugged my shoulders.
“Just—thank you. For all this. I guess it’s probably a little weird and out of place for you, but I appreciate this anyway.”
He smiled.
“Don’t worry about it. Like I said—we’re the ones that started the shit up to begin with. You didn’t have anything to do with it. Don’t worry about the others; I got your back, okay?”
Wheeler left, and I watched him disappear into a room just down the hall from his. I didn’t understand how he was so different from the other men that were surrounding me, but I wasn’t going to question it. I could have ended up with the freak guy we met downstairs.
Counting my gains instead of my losses, I went into Wheeler’s room and changed. Some of the clothes that Elise had given me were as skimpy as the ones that I was in, but there was a pair of shorts and a cute crop top that passed as something that I could wear during the day. They weren’t what I would usually wear, but looking at myself in Wheeler’s bathroom mirror, I didn’t look half bad.
I came out of the bathroom. Wheeler still wasn’t back. I plopped onto the bed and waited for his return. When he came back, he had a frown on his face.
Not good.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He sat down on the bed beside me and heaved a sigh.
“He said you could stay for now, but he was going to make a final decision based on what happened over the next few days. I think he’s sobered up a little more from Leech talking up the bullshit that they pulled. I think that he realizes that we’re not in as safe a place as he thought we were. Which—isn’t good that we’re probably going to be facing some hell soon, but it’s good he’s aware.”
I nodded.
“At least he’s not kicking me out on my ass,” I said. “That’s a plus.”
Wheeler laughed.
“It’s a plus, for now. Let’s just hope that it stays one.”
I smiled, and despite the situation, I was happy that at least Wheeler was here to make it a little bearable.