I chewed the inside of my cheek, head spinning with everything I had learned. It made sense. I wondered how much it must kill Mac and Dalton inside. The club they grew up in, the club their dad ran, handed over to a slimebag of a man all because he was in the right place at the right time…
“That’s a lot of shit for a girl to process.”
Holly held up the empty wine bottle. “More wine?”
I checked the time on my phone, and was surprised to see we had been talking for almost two hours. “I’m tired, y’all, it’s been a long weekend. Without much sleep.” I winked at my friends, who groaned.
Maria said, “Now wait a damn minute, I spilled all the tea, but you didn’t even give us a drop.”
I all but dragged them to the door, but couldn’t not give them anything in return. “Dalton took me to their cabin out by Lake Sinclair. The man is… very talented with his hands, tongue, and other appendages. We swam in the lake, went to the bedroom, ate some food, went to the bedroom, he demolished me in a game of Scrabble, then we went to the bedroom. You get the drift.”
Maria and Holly groaned again, but I insisted I needed sleep. God’s honest truth, I was exhausted. I hugged them both goodbye, but as I went to shut the door, Holly stopped me.
“Okay, just one question. Was it always the bedroom or did you ‘see’ other areas of the house?” She used air quotations and swayed her hips suggestively. Maria laughed, and I couldn’t help but smile as I felt a blush creep up my neck. A blush that Holly, of course, noticed.
“You dirty dog, you.”
I rolled my eyes and shoved her out the door, but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I watched them until they were in the elevator and Maria shouted, “Love you!” as the doors closed.
Little things like that had me realizing I was going to be picking pieces of my heart off the floor for the rest of my life.
The next morning, I pulled into the clubhouse, my Triumph sputtering to a stop. I had barely gotten her started this morning, and she had acted funny the whole way here. I looked around before settling on Bobby, one of the guys who usually lingered around the garage tinkering on something or another.
“Hey, can you do me a favor?”
He got up from the couch as I approached,untangling himself from some girl.
“What’s up, Nicky?”
I tossed him my keys, which he caught easily. “Something’s wrong with my baby. Can you check it out for me? Please?”
He grinned, showing off a missing bottom tooth. “Are you kidding? I’ve been wanting to get my hands on that bike since the day you first pulled in.”
I thanked him, warning him to be gentle with her, before heading into the kitchen to start breakfast.
A few of the guys were hanging out by the coffee pot, and they greeted me with nods and hellos. Rodney was there, and poured me a cup which I happily took. Part of me wondered where Dalton was, since he was usually my morning caffeine supplier. I settled on something easy for breakfast, pulling out some biscuits I’d made and frozen. With those in the oven, I got to work on some sausage gravy. As I was cooking, my phone rang.
“This is Nicky.”
“Vixen, I need you to come upstairs.”
“Mac?”
“Upstairs. There are three doors. Knock on the one at the end of the hall. Now.” Then the grump hung up on me.
Wow, he was in a great mood. I grumbled and then turned to Rodney who was still lingering by the coffee pot. “Here, you can finish this.”
His eyes widened. “I can’t cook!”
I pulled up a recipe for sausage gravy on my phone and then texted it to him. “There. You can read, right? You got this, big guy. Mac wants me.”
He gaped at me, and I patted him on the back reassuringly as I left. Glancing over my shoulder as I opened the door, I found him scrolling on his phone with his brow furrowed as he mouthed what I assumed were the directions I had sent him.
I made my way down the hall, towards the stairs I had been told to never go up. The short hallway at the top was dark, except for a light coming from under the closeddoor at the end of the hall. Hesitantly, I knocked on it. It swung open with force, and I yelped in surprise when I was pulled inside. Mac had me by the wrist as he slammed the door shut, then he pushed me up against the wall. Pinning my hands above my head with one hand, he grabbed my chin in the other and kissed me like it was the only thing that could keep him alive. It was demanding, and rough. His lips exerted an almost bruising pressure on mine, but my body responded almost before my mind could catch up with what was happening.
He wedged his knee between my legs, pushing my thighs apart and rubbing me through my jeans. Kissing down my jawline, then to my neck, he growled, and I was unable to stifle my moan. One big hand moved to my breast, pushing up my shirt. He grabbed my nipple, twisting it painfully. I whimpered, but he soothed the hurt when he wrapped his mouth around it. He sucked and nibbled on my breast until I was panting. Suddenly he stepped back, leaving me a weak-kneed mess, grabbing at the wall for support. His eyes were wild, and he ran a hand through his hair. He started to pace the small room, and I took a wobbly step towards him.
“Mac, talk to me. What’s going on?”
