Spider

The bar was nearly empty. I glanced down at the clock on my new phone, saw that it was nearly two in the morning and put the thing away. I hated the damn iPhone, but at least it was easier to use than the last smartphone I’d had and destroyed one night when I’d had too much to drink. I had yet to learn how to use this one completely and really, I hated learning new shit about technology. I wasn’t a big fan of it, but it did tend to make my life easier.

I stretched out in the booth with Bash right beside me. He should have left more than an hour ago when Uncle Jack had left. The man had been drunk off his ass, which was unusual for the old man these days. Finding out his granddaughter was in Creswell Springs, that she hated him, and that she was living with Hawk Hannigan hadn’t made for a perfect night.

Raider had made sure that Uncle Jack had gotten home okay and now he was back, starting to close the bar down for the night. He was also flirting like crazy with my female as she helped him behind the bar. She was filling the dishwasher with dirty glasses while Raider wiped the bar top down and restocked the liquor and Colt shut down the register. I gritted my teeth when Willa giggled for the fifth time in as many minutes at something Raider said.

“Take it easy, man. You keep filing those teeth down like that and you’re going to need a trip to the dentist.” Bash swallowed the rest of his beer and pushed the empty bottle across the table with the other empties that still littered our table. Willa had told us an hour ago that she wasn’t cleaning up our mess, so we were going to have to throw our bottles away before we left.

“Do you feel this way when Raven laughs with me?” I asked my friend without taking my eyes off of Raider as he handed Willa a glass for her to put in the dishwasher. “This rage and need to make someone bleed?” Because if it was then I was sorry. Not so sorry that I was going to stop, because Raven was my family and I loved that girl to death, so I wasn’t going to promise not to make her laugh. Still, I would attempt to not do it in front of Bash, because shit, this was hard to watch.

“Sometimes.” Bash shrugged. “But I’m not jealous of you and Raven. You don’t love her like that, and she would murder me in my sleep if I went all caveman on her and said she couldn’t see you. So I try to ignore it.”

“Do I have something to worry about with Raider?” I asked the question even as Raider stepped closer to Willa and whispered something that made her raise her head and look right at me. She gave me a grim smile and turned back to what she was doing. What the fuck was that about?

“If Raider was going to make a move on Willa he would have done it already. Everyone knows that when Raider sees something he wants he doesn’t care whose toes he steps on to get it. He isn’t scared of you, so she would have already been in his bed if that was what either of them wanted.”

Raider might not be scared, but he would be if he kept flirting with my female. He was going to swallow some teeth in a matter of seconds if he didn’t step away. “Willa, are you about done?” I called out. There was no way I was leaving here without her.

She turned around to face me, her face tight. “I have a few more things to do. Go on, I’ll catch a ride home with Raider and Colt.”

“No fucking way.” I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re coming home with me.”

Her eyes narrowed on me. “Then shut up and let me work.”

Raider chuckled and I sent him a death glare, which he pointedly ignored. “Go on, Willa. I got this.”

“Are you sure?” She was already taking her apron off but she looked undecided. “I still have a few things…”

He nodded. “I’m sure. See you later.”

“No she fucking won’t,” I growled as I stood.

“You won’t keep your balls very long if you keep that up,” Bash assured me with a grin. “Willa is a lot like Raven and you will do well to remember that, my friend.”

I flipped him off as I pulled my keys from my pocket. “You would do well to get home to your pregnant female, fucker. And maybe put a ring on her finger while you’re at it.”

“Fuck off,” Bash called after me. “Don’t rush me.”

Willa was already going out the door before I could catch up with her. Without a look over her shoulder to see if I was following, she headed for my bike. I grimaced. So she really was mad at me, but I had no idea what I’d done to piss her off. “What’s wrong?” I demanded as I reached her.

She turned around quickly, her face set in angry lines but her eyes were full of hurt. That hurt gutted me. “You can fuck me in the back of that bar with the possibility of anyone walking in, but you can’t kiss me in front of Raven or your MC brothers? That says a lot about how you feel about me, Spider.”

“Willa…” I didn’t know how to defend myself or my feelings for her. Didn’t know how to tell her that I hadn’t thought about how it would look to her that I hadn’t kissed her goodbye that afternoon or that I’d kept my distance all evening. Neither had been because I didn’t want to, because I had been aching to taste her lips all day like an addict ached for a needle in the arm. The only reason I hadn’t kissed her was because I wouldn’t have been able to stop at just a kiss, and fucking her in the bar again wasn’t an option.

“This is just sex,” she told me and it was like a stab in the chest. She had said those same words Tuesday night, but I hadn’t believed her. The way she was standing there glaring up at me didn’t make me believe the words any more now than I had then, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Then her chin trembled and I saw the tears fill her eyes. “It’s…just sex.”

“It’s whatever you want it to be, baby. I’ll take whatever you want to give me,” I assured her as I caught her around the waist and pulled her into me. “I’m sorry if you felt like I was ashamed to kiss you. That wasn’t it at all. I just didn’t want to kiss you and then wind up in the bathroom with the entire bar listening because I can’t keep my hands off of you.”

We stood there for several minutes before she started to relax against me. When she did I took half a step back so I could look down at her. It felt like a long way to look down. She was so small, my perfect pocket Venus, while I was a giant. But I never felt like I had to treat her like she was going to break. She might be small, but she wasn’t fragile. My female was one of the strongest people I knew. Especially if she could still want to even be near me with our past between us. I was going to have to deal with that soon, I knew, but for now I just needed to get her home and into bed. Or in the shower. Maybe against the door of my apartment.

My dick grew uncomfortably hard and I lifted her into my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist immediately and held onto my shoulders as I carried her the last few steps to my bike. “I’ll fix this tomorrow,” I promised as I set her on the back of my bike before climbing on and starting the powerful hog. “Hold on tight, baby.”

I broke every traffic law there was in Creswell Springs getting back to my apartment. Her arms tightened around my waist, her face buried in my back and I thought I felt her smile. She loved being behind me like this. I drove faster and felt her laughter as it shook her body and vibrated against my back. Reaching the parking lot, I wasted no time getting off the bike and lifting her into my arms, carrying her the same way I had less than ten minutes before.

My arms were hard around her, binding her to me physically as I hoped to do emotionally. Willa lowered her head and started kissing my neck, making it hard to walk with the raging hard-on in my jeans. Somehow I got us upstairs and into my apartment without tripping. As soon as the door was closed and locked behind us I started tearing off her clothes.

Willa jerked my cut off my shoulders and started clawing my shirt open, her nails piercing through the thin material of my old white shirt and shredding it easily. The jean shorts she had been wearing tonight landed on the floor as soon as I unwrapped her legs from around my waist. Her panties were gone with just two little tugs at the sides and she laughed at how barbaric I got when it came to undressing her. “Maybe I should stop wearing panties.”

“When you’re here that would be a good idea. When you aren’t with me then you’d better fucking wear those freaking granny panties or something. Just for my peace of mind. Raider doesn’t like granny panties.” Willa snorted out another laugh, her fingers getting tripped up in my belt she was laughing so hard. “That isn’t funny, Willa.”

“Jealous?” She raised her head and lifted a brow at me. My growl was my answer and she grinned mischievously up at me. “Good. I want you to be jealous. Just don’t kill anyone.”

Suddenly my jeans were open and my dick was being carefully pulled free. Willa muttered a curse as she lowered her eyes to my weeping cock before falling to her knees in front of me. The damp heat of her mouth burned my pulsing dick as she took me into her mouth, swallowing the tip the way I had taught her four years ago. She moaned, enjoying the taste of my desire. My balls tightened and I knew that I wasn’t going to last long if she kept that up.

I felt like a wild animal the way I was continuously growling around her, but I couldn’t contain the growl of pleasure-filled pain that escaped me as I lifted her away. A loud pop filled the air as her mouth released my aching tip. I was mindless with my need for her, to be inside of her. I tossed her onto the bed and turned her onto her stomach.

Moans and whimpers echoed off the walls as I entered her in one long, rough thrust. “James!” she cried, and I was lost. Willa pushed up onto her knees giving me a deeper angle while she touched herself. She was on her own this round, because I couldn’t stop and think about finishing her off in my wild race to mark this woman as mine by pouring my seed into her.

The end snuck up on me faster than I was expecting and I shouted her name as my body tensed and I filled her up with my release. “James, please,” Willa cried, so close to the edge but still so far away. I pulled free from her, turned her onto her back and entered her again just as quickly. She was wet with her own desire and my release, making the first stroke wet and scalding hot. My dick was still rock hard although I had just about had a stroke from the power of my last orgasm.

“You feel so good inside of me,” Willa breathed, her nails digging into my biceps. “I don’t want it to end, James. Please, don’t let it end.”

Her words stopped me mid thrust and I blinked as if seeing her for the first time since we had entered my apartment. What the hell was I doing? Was I really fucking her brains out when I should be making love to this female? How was she ever going to understand that I loved her if all I was doing was fucking her?

Willa made a noise in protest, lifting her hips to urge me on. “James…”

Muttering a curse, I pulled free and fell onto the bed beside her, pulling her across my chest. Lifting her up by her hips, I filled her again with my throbbing cock. Her eyes were slate gray now with a mixture of unquenchable desire and confusion. I swallowed hard. “I don’t want it to end either, Willa. Ever.”

She bit her lip, because there was no denying that I wasn’t talking about the sex. Everything I was feeling was shining back at her in my eyes for her to see. For her to take or for her to tear apart. I didn’t care which one right then, just as long as she knew what was going through my mind, what was filling my heart now and forever.

I held my breath as she just sat there, straddling my waist with my dick deep inside of her tight little body. If she got up and left me hanging, I would understand, but I hoped to God that she didn’t. I wasn’t good enough for her, had never been good enough. Which was why even after I’d found out the truth I hadn’t gone after Willa. But with her here, with her so close I could touch, there was no way I could keep my distance ever again.

Willa sat there for nearly two full minutes, deciding if she wanted what I wanted or not, before finally putting me out of my misery. She smiled and lowered her head until her lips covered mine. “Okay,” was all she said before taking me on the ride of my life.

Willa

I had a bad feeling I was going to get into a fight tonight.

It was Saturday so the bar was overflowing with not only the MC members but also with ol’ ladies and of course more than the usual sheep. The ol’ ladies were starting to warm up to me, especially since I’d made it obvious over the last few weeks that I wasn’t into their men. Spider had helped me out in that department too, showing openly that we were together by kissing me whenever he entered the bar—no matter what I was doing.

Helping with the ol’ ladies had put me on the shit list of more than a few of the sheep though. I’d learned that Spider hadn’t touched any of them in years, which had surprised me as well as secretly delighted me. That hadn’t kept them from wanting his attention though. That he had officially claimed me as his had pushed some buttons and the claws had been sharpened and were aimed at my back now.

For two weeks now I’d been subjected to bitchy cattiness from those skank ho cunt monkeys. For two Saturdays, ever since Spider had come in one night and just kissed the breath out of me in front of everyone, I’d been subjected to taunts, supposedly accidental elbows to the stomach, and more than a few spilled drinks on me. Last Saturday I’d even seen some slut trying to work her charms on my man, only to be shot down quick and humiliatingly hard in front of her friends. That same sheep was causing trouble tonight and I was one bitchy comment away from tearing her hair out of her not-so-pretty head.

I stood behind the bar, trying to get my anger under control. Spider and Bash hadn’t come in yet tonight, although I knew that Spider would be here any time now. He always came in when I was working and stayed until closing so that he could drive me home. In the two weeks since he had basically begged me with his eyes to make whatever was between us more than just sex, he had been the most amazing boyfriend any girl could want. Which made holding the past up between us like a shield around my heart hard as hell.

A hand touched my arm and I flinched at the contact of callused fingers on my skin. I knew it wasn’t Spider so I naturally shied away from it, knowing he would be jealous if he saw some guy touching me. I might have told him that I wanted him to be jealous, but honestly I didn’t want him to hurt like that because I knew how bad it could feel.

Raider’s hand wrapped around my wrist and tugged me away from the bar a little so he could speak in my ear without having to shout over the loudness of the three ol’ ladies and their men cutting it up. “You okay?”

I didn’t look up at him but let my eyes go over his shoulder to the blonde with the fried out hair and washout face. Glassy, bloodshot blue eyes met mine and she glared at me like I had killed her puppy, or stolen her man. “Nothing I can’t deal with myself,” I assured him before turning away to grab a pitcher of draft and a bottle of Jameson. “I’m good.”

“Don’t do something that will get yourself hurt. Raven will kill us all,” Raider called after me and I had to grin.

Raven had officially warmed up to me. We’d become pretty close in the last two weeks, and I was glad. I didn’t want her to hate me, and I really didn’t want her to continue to hold me against Bash. She’d calmed down about it, and Bash was looking happier every time I saw him. The only problem was that Raven’s brothers and Spider were pressuring Bash to propose to Raven. I didn’t understand why he didn’t just do it because I knew he wanted that girl to have his last name more than anything in the world right now. Luckily, Raven didn’t seem to mind that Bash hadn’t put his ring on her finger yet.

With my tray loaded down with the big pitcher of beer and the biggest bottle of Jameson in the bar, I weaved my way through the crowded bar toward the back. Tanner and Matt were back there playing pool with a few college boys. They were hustling the two rich boys and making bank doing it. I wasn’t sure what the two brothers did for a living. Bash worked at Uncle Jack’s car and motorcycle garage, all of the Hannigans worked here, and Spider of course ran his uncle’s tattoo shop. I knew that some of the MC worked outside of Creswell Springs, and even outside of Trinity County. I also knew better than to ask what exactly they did do that took them away from home. Tanner and Matt sometimes fell into that latter category and had just gotten back from wherever it was that they had been working.

Seeing me coming with the beer and whisky, Matt rubbed his hands together and grinned at the two men he and his brother had hustled tonight. “Pay the lady, boys.”

The two college boys were handsome with rich-boy clothes and over gelled hair. They were huge though, with ink peeking out from under their designer polo shirts. They obviously had some huge balls to have walked into Hannigans’ tonight. But they would be leaving with empty pockets for the experience. One of them handed me a hundred dollar bill, told me to keep the change then tapped me on the ass as I turned to walk away.

I couldn’t contain the yelp that left my lips and I felt the air behind me tense. Next thing I knew Matt was on top of the college boy who had smacked my rear. “Don’t you fucking touch her again, dipshit. She is not club property. She’s an ol’ lady.”

I didn’t stick around to watch the show, but I would have to remember to thank Matt later. It was the first time I’d been called an ol’ lady, and while I hated that label it still put a smile on my lips as I collected empties from various tables on the way back to the bar. The next hour passed without incident and I was starting to relax a little.

Bash came in around ten. He was alone and looking harassed as he sat down at the bar. When I put a bottle of his favorite beer down in front of him he gave me a grim smile and a nod before swallowing half of it in one gulp. “Rough day?” I said. I wouldn’t know how his day had been because I was basically living at Spider’s apartment these days.

“I’ve had worse,” he grumbled before chugging the rest of the beer. I nodded and placed another in front of him, chucking the other into the big trash bin behind me.

“Raven?” I asked, wondering what had the worried frown wrinkling his forehead so badly.

Bash shook his head. “No. Just club stuff. Thanks for the beers.” He stood and glanced around. “Spider not here yet?”

I grimaced. “Not yet.” I was starting to worry about him. He had told me that morning that he had a leg piece he needed to finish today and would be running late, but I’d expected him at least an hour ago, since the guy he had been working on had come in to show off the new ink.

Bash’s eyes filled with lightning but he didn’t say anything as he twisted his way through the crowd to the Original’s booth in the back. I went back to work, but kept an eye on him, making sure he didn’t need another beer or something stronger. Before I knew it another hour had passed and there was still no sign of Spider. I pulled my cellphone out of my apron pocket and saw that he hadn’t texted me. Not that I had expected him to. Spider was not technology friendly.

I hit connect on his name and listened to it ring half a dozen times before he finally picked up. “Hey,” he said, sounding winded, and I frowned as the background noise started to make sense to me. There was music—sultry music—and a few catcalls and whistles.

“I was starting to worry about you. Everything okay?” I didn’t want to be that girlfriend, the one who checked up on her boyfriend like she needed to make sure he wasn’t doing something that would break her heart. Even if I did have plenty of reasons to think that, I still didn’t want to be a nag… Or have my worst fears confirmed. Right now I was just concerned for him. He was normally at the bar by ten at the latest most nights. It was after eleven and I’d been worried that he might have wrecked his bike or something worse.

“Just had to take care of a few things, baby. I’ll be over in a little while. As soon as I clean up the mess here.” I heard someone calling his name in the background. A woman. He muttered a curse. “I have to go, Willa.”

“Okay… Bye—” But he had already hung up before I could finish. Where had he been?

“Uh-oh,” a nasal, sweet voice said from behind me and I turned around to find my self-appointed nemesis standing there with an evil grin on her face. I was positive that her mother hadn’t named her Bubbles, because who the hell would do that to their child? If she wanted a stupid nickname she should have went with something like Band-Aid because that was about as big as her waist was. Probably due to all the coke she snorted. The little vial around her neck was only half full compared to what it had been when she had first walked in the bar tonight. “Trouble in paradise? Three guesses where he is…” She held up her hand and wiggled three fingers. “But I’m sure I only need one.”

I turned back around, ready to walk away from her before I really did punch her face in. It might actually make it more appealing if I rearranged some of her features, but I was above that. Or so I kept telling myself. Bubbles didn’t take the hint and followed after me. “I would say he was at Angel’s Halo pussy farm.”

“Oh, you mean he went to your house?” I sneered at her over my shoulder, then bit my tongue as soon as it had left my mouth. Shit. I hadn’t meant to play her game. Now I had fallen right into her bony little hands.

“No way, baby doll. I might be a sheep, but I got standards. We stay at the compound or at our own houses. I’m talking about the actual whorehouse, or as they legally call it, their strip club. Things can get wild over there, because that is where all the college boys tend to head. The MC doesn’t go there as often. It’s Bash and Spider’s shameful secret, since Bash’s old man left it to him. Your man bought into it and has kept it up while our wonderful club pres. was off shacked up with you. If things get out of hand Spider gets called out there to take care of business… And then he takes care of business with Topaz.”

I had meant to ignore everything that was spewing out of Bubbles’ mouth. Instead my ears had opened up even more to hear her over the din of the crowded bar. So Spider was part owner of a sleazy strip club, I didn’t care. How could I be judgmental about something like that when I’d known for years that my father had at least three actual bunny ranches in Vegas as well as a few strip clubs? They had been high-end clubs and ranches—with the amount of money left to me and Lexa by my father it had been a very lucrative business—and I had no idea what had happened to them after more than half The Red Dragons’ MC was basically slaughtered by the feds.

What had my stomach suddenly in my throat and bile threatening to choke me was that very last part. Really just one word had cracked my chest open. Topaz. Sure there were plenty of strippers who used that as their stage name, but I knew deep down that it was the same Topaz from Vegas. The same stripper that had filled Spider’s bed along with someone else the night my world had come crumbling down.

Instead of letting Bubbles know how much her words had affected me I turned my gaze on Bash. He had been looking down at his phone, frowning as he texted away. Something must have alerted him to my gaze. We’d become as close as siblings when we had bonded over learning to take care of Lexa. Having shared some frightening experiences such as a weeklong vigil in the hospital the first time Lexa had come into contact with peanut butter just days after her mother had died, had forced us to learn to love each other for the sake of that little girl. Bash had seen me at my best, which was when I had been with Spider the first time, and he had definitely seen me at my worst, when I had to bury my father.

The look on my face must have reflected everything that I was feeling inside. He stood and pushed his way toward me. Larger than life bikers stepped out of their club president’s way as he hurried toward me. “Willa?”

“Is it the same Topaz?” I whispered it and I knew he couldn’t hear me over the noise in the bar, but he must have been able to read my lips or maybe he just knew what my question was going to be. I saw the hesitation in his unusual blue eyes, the indecision on his god-like face and knew even before he nodded his head in the affirmative that the answer was yes.

“How…” My voice broke and I cleared my throat before starting again. “How long has she been in Creswell Springs?”

Bash grimaced and ran a hand over his face. For him, hurting me was like hurting Lexa and I knew he didn’t want to say anything, but he also knew that I needed the answers. Obviously Spider hadn’t planned on ever telling me. Regret at letting our relationship be more than just sex was starting to make my heart twist and my gut churn. “She came to us looking for a job a few months after Lexa was born. Tasha had beaten her up pretty badly and your dad told her she would be safe with us. We offered her the job of managing Paradise City.”

“Does Raven know you own a strip club?” Because I sure as hell had never known that. In over a year of living with this man I thought we knew each other well, but now I realized I had probably barely cracked the ice around his outer shell. That made me kind of sad.

“She’s always known. She does the books over there on Tuesdays.” He sighed. “Look Willa, after your breakup with Spider the first time, he was in bad shape. It was a long time before he got his shit straight after you just left him. Some things came to light about that night that you really need to know about. So before you go off the deep end again, let him explain this time, okay?”

“Why the hell is he over there now?” I demanded, trying to keep my anger in check. My entire body was one big ache right then. Last time had nearly killed me, but I’d had to push all of that down to take care of my dying mother. This time, if he shattered me, there would be nothing to keep me distracted from the pain.

“A bunch of the college kids that spend the summer at the frat houses were causing trouble. There was a fight that took all of the bouncers to deal with and while that was going on one of the girls was assaulted in the back. Spider went to deal with the guy who hurt her.” He bent his knees so that he was on my eye level a little more. I felt like he was talking to me like he talked to Lexa, trying to explain something that he didn’t want to but that needed saying. “I want you to remember something though, okay?” He waited for me to nod before continuing. “Spider doesn’t deal with females very well. He doesn’t have soft spots for them. Not even his mother. There have only ever been two females that he’s cared about. Raven is one of them. He would kill for her. It took me a little while but I realize that he has turned into another brother to her, and while their relationship still has the tendency to piss me off, I’m glad she has him.”

Bash reached for my hands and gave them a tight squeeze. People were shooting us curious stares but I didn’t notice. All I could focus on was what Bash was saying. “The other female is you, Willa. You switch something on inside of Spider that makes him different, a good different. I knew it four years ago. I know it now. So just listen to him… Okay?”

As badly as I was hurting right then, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make any promises. If I saw Spider just then I was going to scratch his eyes out. “I can’t listen right now. I just want to be alone.”

“Willa…” When he saw the tears shimmering in my eyes he muttered a curse. “Fine. You don’t have to do it tonight. Take a few days to calm down. But that doesn’t mean I can stop him from hunting you down, Willa. He’s going to want to see you.”

“If he can find me.” I pulled my apron off and tossed it into his arms. “I’m going to drive up to Seattle.” His eyes narrowed on me and I shrugged. “Stop worrying. I’ll be back. Lexa is here. I can’t go more than a few days without seeing that kid. I need to sign some papers anyway since the sale of the house is closing soon.”

Bash followed me out of the bar. “Your birthday is next week. Raven wants to do something special for it.”

“I’ll be back before my birthday.” I was turning twenty-two on Friday. I hadn’t even thought about my birthday, but that Raven wanted to celebrate it made a tiny fraction of the pain that was making it hard to take a deep breath ease up.