Breaking the Rules (Roaming Devils MC #1) (5 page)

“Uh, you’ve got a visitor.” One of the nurses peeked inside the room.

She frowned. “Who?”

Ella glanced toward the window and saw a motorcycle. She smiled. It’d been two weeks since she’d last seen Ryker. She thought about him at odd hours of the day and wondered what he was doing. She felt silly. They weren’t in high school anymore. It was stupid that she questioned whether or not he thought about her. At night, she found herself peering around the parking lot of the clinic to see if he was out there watching her. Protecting her. She didn’t know what he wanted but was glad he stopped by. The nurse offered to stay with Hunter while Ella went to talk to her visitor. She came around the corner and stopped when she saw Razor and another guy waiting for her at the desk.

“Can I help you?”

He smiled. “I threw my back out lifting some heavy boxes. I need you to check it out for me.”

She didn’t know what he wanted but it didn’t really matter. Ryker had promised her that Razor was his problem not hers. If he came to check up on her, then the best thing to do was placate him so that he went away. “Sure. Right this way.”

Turning, she led him to an exam room and waited for him to enter. Once he was inside, she closed the door and stared at him.

“What do you want?”

“What do you think?” He sat on the exam table and stared at her.

“I gave you what you wanted. We’re done.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Not even close, sweetheart.”

She stared at him.

“What? You don’t think I know that my son has been fucking you behind my back?”

“I haven’t seen him in over two weeks.”

Razor folded his arms over his chest. While he played the biker part, he looked nothing like his son. Ryker had warm eyes that looked at others with compassion and understanding. Razor’s eyes were cold, dark, and dead. She didn’t know much about him other than what she’d experienced. The only person she remembered in Ryker’s life was his grandfather. The other man had his arms folded over his chest. He had a wildness in his eyes that wasn’t so easy to explain. Both men had long hair and leather cuts that reeked the typical biker profile. She wasn’t fooled by their calm demeanor, though. If they wanted to be ruthless, they would. And she figured they didn’t have any regard for an audience. “So that’s how we’re going to play this.”

She took a deep breath. “What do you want?”

“Well, I told you to stay away from my son and that didn’t happen. He held your hand and let you cry on his shoulder in the hospital. Then you invite him over for dinner and let him fuck you.” He stared at her. “So I’m upping the requirements. I need fentanyl every week. You get me what I want, then you can do whatever the hell you want with my son.”

She arched an eyebrow at his request. He was pretty bold. She’d give him that. Extortion was the name of the game and she wasn’t playing. “And if I don’t?”

“That’s where things will get interesting.” He stroked his chin. “You know, men in our club don’t settle with one woman. Ryker is no different. We fuck them and share them. We don’t settle. At some point, you’ll become club property. Chances are it will be really soon.”

“Club property?”

“Yeah. Our little fuck bunny. How many cocks do you think you can take in one night?” He slipped from the exam table. “I think Christy’s the record holder at twelve.” He took in her body. “I think you’d break that record. I know several of the guys would enjoy it too.”

“Ryker would never let that happen.”

“Oh. You really think he will go against me? For you?” Incredulity filled his tone. “I don’t think so, sweetheart. This is his life. It’s in his blood. You’re just a nuisance that won’t go away.”

He left her in the exam room. She reached in her pocket for her cell phone and dialed Ryker’s number. Walking a few steps toward the door, she closed it and waited for Ryker to pick up.

“Yeah?” he said.

“I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Meet me at my apartment.” She hung up and pocketed her phone.

After stepping outside, she saw a few of the nurses eyeing her. Great. She didn’t need the suspicion. Sighing, she checked the time.

“I’m going for lunch. I’ll be back later.”

She left the clinic and went home, meeting Ryker at her doorstep. He didn’t say anything until they were inside, locked behind her front door.

“Your father came to visit me today.”

He pursed his lips. “What did he want?”

“Fentanyl. Apparently, he thinks I can keep his tab open since I didn’t abide by his terms and stay away from you.” She swallowed. “He said I’d become club property if I didn’t get it for him. That apparently all your club members would gang bang me or something. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

Ryker rubbed his forehead.

“I’d be committing a few felonies and could potentially lose my job if I do what he wants.” When he remained silent, she stared at him.

“I’ll handle this.” He moved to leave.

“No, Ryker. I don’t think you will handle this. You’re not going to go against him, are you?” He didn’t say anything and Ella knew she was right. “Maybe I should have just rescued my father on my own.”

In contemplating making a deal with the Devils, she’d known in some part of her a sacrifice would need to be made. She’d been blinded by the need to have her father returned safely and soundly that she hadn’t really cared about the consequences of her actions. Somewhere deep inside she wanted to believe she could trust Ryker. That she saw some good in him all those years ago that outweighed the image of the club. The longer she stayed entangled in the mess with Razor the more she wondered if she’d made a huge mistake. She was in way over her head where they were concerned and the longer she waded there, the deeper she sank into their world.

And she didn’t like it.

“My father knows I’ve been hung up on you for a while. Since fucking high school. He’s fucking with you to get to me.” He met her eyes. “I’ll handle it.”

“Get to you about what?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Is this about not settling down with one woman?”

He tilted his head at her question. His eyes implored hers, though he refrained from saying any more. This issue must have been a hot topic between them. Razor didn’t want him with her, but specifically, he didn’t want him to settle down period with anyone.

“So it is.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about that. I don’t want anything to do with any of you.”

And she didn’t. Her father had warned her numerous times about guys like him. Ruthless criminals that thought they were above the law and hated authority. What was she thinking in wanting to be with one romantically? She should have known better. Choosing this lifestyle was just inviting trouble where trouble didn’t belong. She went to the door and held it open. He stared at her a moment before stepping outside. He didn’t say anything and she didn’t bother waiting around to listen even if he had. She slammed the door behind him and let out a slow breath.

She was done with the Roaming Devils.

Chapter Four

Ryker stalked into the clubhouse, looking for Razor. His old man was sitting in his normal seat, smoking a joint while some chick gave him a lap dance. Ryker grabbed the girl’s arm and shoved her away from him.

“You want to fuck with Ella to get to me?” Ryker grabbed his father by the shirt and jerked him up. “Then let’s go, asshole.”

Razor jerked out of Ryker’s hold. “You need to get your head out of her cunt and back on the club.”

“You need to stay the fuck away from her or we’re going to have bigger issues than we have now.” Ryker stood his ground, staring into his father’s dilated eyes.

“You think you’re man enough to tell me what to do?” Razor asked.

Ryker glanced around. “I think you’re obsessed with her. You want her and she doesn’t give you the time of day.”

“She did that first night.”

“No, she didn’t.” Ryker stepped away from him. “Ella is mine. Stay the fuck away from her and that includes going after her for your little fentanyl habit.”

Razor stared at him. “Or what?”

“You’ll get your wish.” Ryker went to the bar and poured himself a drink. “The hard way.”

For the first time in Ryker’s life, he saw a moment of fear in his father’s eyes. He’d always talked about Ryker taking over the club. It was his goal. His dream. There were only two ways for that to happen. Death or his father stepping down. His father had no plans to abdicate his throne, so Ryker was pretty sure he’d gotten his message across. Now he needed to figure out how to get Ella back.

Ryker left to do his work for the day. His mind was a fucked up mess and that was how his father liked to keep him. He wanted control over him. He wanted absolute submission. Ryker was the only one that butted heads with Razor in the club. Everyone knew it too. They were one and the same, yet Ryker was meaner. He wouldn’t hesitate one second to put a bullet in his brain if he hurt Ella. He was pretty sure his father knew that too.

He collected money from his drug runs and took it back to the club. He didn’t bother talking to his father as he went to one of the back rooms. Two club whores were getting it on in the room and he kicked them out. Moments later he pulled out his phone and called Ella.

“I’m really busy right now. What do you want?”

“I want to say I’m sorry and make it up to you.” She didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity. “Ella, that bullshit with my dad has stopped. He’s not going to bother you again. I—” What did he say? His heart threatened to beat out of his chest as the nerves kicked in. He didn’t know what he could do to make it up to her. She was scared of the Roaming Devils and she should be. He was dabbling where he didn’t belong but like the junkie he was, he couldn’t let her go.

“I just need to see you.” He sounded desperate to his own ears. There was something pathetic about the way he was attached to this woman. He’d never wanted someone as badly as he wanted her, and the craving he had wouldn’t go away easily. He’d tried. First it was fucking other women, any woman he could get, and there were plenty to go around. Then when that had stopped working he’d turned to drugs. Everything he did only intensified how much he wanted her.

“Fine,” she finally said. “I’ll be home around nine. I have to check on my dad since I spent my lunch hour with you.”

She hung up and he blew out a breath. He knew in the back of his mind that he should let her go. She didn’t need to be mixed up with the club and all the shit that came with it. She was too damn good for him. He knew this and everyone around him knew it too. Ryker hung his head and thought about what he wanted to do. If he really cared about her, and he did, he would cease all ties and continue to focus on the club.

But there was a part of him, deep inside, that simply couldn’t. He couldn’t walk away from her. He couldn’t stop wanting to be near her. To hold her and breathe her in. He wanted to protect her and cherish her. God, he wanted to do everything for her, everything a man was supposed to do for his woman. It was such a stupid thought that he could be that for her. That she would want him to be that for her.

Ryker took a shower and changed his clothes. He wanted to do so much, yet he didn’t know how. She’d talked about books she liked and the characters she fell in love with. Ryker would never admit it to anyone, but he’d read those books. He wanted to be that man that she searched for.

He pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. He stared at the devil’s face on the back of his cut. Men like him didn’t want to be some romanticized hero in a novel. Men like him took the woman he wanted and made her his. He pulled the cut on and attached his knife to his pants.

The club was all he knew. It was the only family he had. It had been drilled into his head from the time he could understand it that this was the life he’d lead. This was his legacy. One day he would take over and the thought of what a sad and lonely existence he’d lead scared him. Some men had women they went home to at night, but those women knew and accepted their role. Ella wouldn’t do that.

Ryker left the clubhouse and went to grab some dinner for him and Ella. He sat outside the free clinic, drinking his soda while he watched her. Her blonde hair was pulled back away from her face even though a smaller, shorter strand had fallen from the tie sometime during the day. She blew at it in annoyance while she scribbled on a clipboard, writing something for the nurse standing next to her. She wore blue scrubs, something he’d grown to like on her. He loved the tight pants and oversized sweatshirt she’d worn the first night he’d visited, but the scrubs were his Ella. She only had a thin coat of makeup, and a sheer gloss on her lips. She was beautiful without even trying.

When it was time for her to leave, she stepped out in the parking lot and spotted him leaning against his motorcycle. She stopped in mid-stride and stared.

“What are you doing here?”

He chewed on the straw in his drink. “I don’t know. Watching you.”

She glanced around. “You know that’s creepy, right?”

He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

She clutched her bag tighter to her body. “Well, I’m fine. My mom called, so I’m not going to visit my dad tonight. I’m on-call tomorrow, so I’ll spend my free time with him then.”

“I got us something to eat,” Ryker commented. “Cheeseburger plain, large fry.”

After a moment, she nodded. “I’m starving.”

He tossed the empty drink into the trashcan next to him. “Get on.”

Ella looped her bag over her head so that it went across her body. Then she climbed onto the back of his bike with his help. He drove the bike the short distance to her apartment. After grabbing the food, he followed her up the stairs and waited while she undid all five locks on her door. Once the door opened, he stepped inside and set the food on her table.

“Let me change my clothes. It’s the first thing I always do when I get home. Then we can eat.”

Ryker didn’t say anything as he made himself at home. He went to her small kitchen and poured them something to drink. She came back in a pair of short shorts and a tank top that gave him a pretty damn good outline of her braless breasts.

“So is this to make up for your father coming to see me?”

He set her glass down and took a seat at the end of the table. “Among other things.”

“You never did tell me why I’m a problem. Is it because he thinks I got you arrested?”

“No. He wanted me arrested that night.”

“Why on earth would he want you arrested?”

“Club business on the inside.” Ryker rubbed his forehead. “I don’t want to talk about that bullshit with you. Not tonight.”

“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, making herself comfortable as she ate her cheeseburger.

“I don’t know.” He lifted his glass. “Anything but that.”

“I was attacked twice today.” She held her wrist out to him. “Junkies wanting drugs.”

He reached for her hand and smoothed his thumb over the back of her wrist. “Did they bite you?”

“One did, yes. They come in wanting narcotics and sometimes they get violent. The first one was a mother. I had to wrestle with her to get her off me, then turn around and called social services for her kid. The bite was from a kid, though. Thirteen, maybe. It didn’t draw blood, but it hurt like hell. I bathed it in alcohol and that hurt like hell too.”

He frowned at her. “Your job is dangerous.”

She smiled. “Yeah, well, I’m tough. I also had to give a lecture to a teenager about sex and STDs. Then I had to call social services on another teen whose mother hadn’t been home in three days. They came to the clinic because they thought their mom may have been put in the hospital.”

Ryker let her hand go. “I don’t know why you’re at the free clinic. You should be doing something great like trauma surgery or something.”

She smiled. “A doctor wears many hats if they are a good one. It’s not always a glamorous life. Besides, I am doing something great. I’m helping people whether they realize it or not.”

Ryker shrugged. “Those punks are in good hands, I’ll give you that.”

She snorted. “What about you? What exciting things did you do today?”

“I don’t want to talk about me.”

“Why not?” Ella pushed her chair back and turned toward him.

“Because what I did today has to do with the club, and we’re not talking about the club tonight. Plus, I can’t tell you most of it anyway.” Ryker sat back in his chair, staring at her. “Drop it.”

Ella stood. “Yes, sir.” She saluted him. “Excuse little ole me for asking little ole you a question.”

He reached for her and dragged her over to him. She didn’t fight him as he pulled her onto his lap. Instead of saying something, he kissed her. She felt perfect in his arms. He gripped her wrists and held her to him while his tongue dipped inside her mouth. She kissed him back for a moment before pulling away. Her nipples beaded to tight little points beneath her tank top and he couldn’t resist the urge to brush his thumbs against them. She let out a soft gasp.

“You can talk to me about anything. Just not the club.”

“Fine.” She cupped the back of his head. “When’s the last time you had sex?”

“Two weeks ago.” He smirked at her. “Oral with you is the last thing.”

“That’s not sex. You didn’t even get off.”

“Oh, I got off.” He leaned forward and sucked her nipple into his mouth, shirt and all. “In the parking lot. Barely made it downstairs before I fucking came like a rocket shooting into outer space.”

She glanced down at him. “You really haven’t done anything in two weeks?”

“No.”

“What about a lap dance?”

He chuckled and gripped her hips, rubbing her pussy against his cock. “Just you.”

“I don’t believe you.” She pulled away from him. “Two weeks and nothing?”

He watched her as she walked across the apartment. “Why don’t you believe me?”

“There are women everywhere in that club. Your chair is right there for them to spread their legs in your face.” He tilted his head. “It’s not plausible,” she finished.

“No?” He stood and walked toward her. “Why do you think I want some other woman? Maybe I just want you.”

“Maybe. But you’re really going to say you don’t get hard?”

Ryker smiled at her. “Not like I used to.”

She blinked a few times. “What does that mean?”

He pulled his cut off and set it on the sofa. Next went his shirt. “It means that you’re the only one that gets me off. If I put some effort into it, yeah, they can get me off. But I don’t want that. I don’t want a girl sucking my dick for the sake of an orgasm or a group of girls letting me fuck them all night long.” His hands went to his pants next and undid them. “I want you.”

“You want me to get you off.”

He wanted her any way he could have her. Ryker stood before her in the buff, tossing his clothing to the side. “Here’s the thing, Ella. You’ve been my walking fantasy since we were in school. Sex or no sex. I want you.”

“And what happens when you have me?” She stared at his cock. “What then?”

“I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not a good man. My life is the last thing you need complicating yours. You’re so damn special and perfect that I teeter back and forth with pulling you closer and pushing you away. You don’t need me, I get that. But I need you.” He shook his head. “I can’t explain it.”

She met his eyes. Instead of responding, she lifted her shirt over her head, revealing her perfect breasts to him. She tossed her clothes to the side and slipped her shorts over her hips and off her legs. She didn’t wear panties and Ryker’s mouth watered.

“Let me get a condom.” She walked past him and Ryker followed her. She headed toward the bathroom, where she’d changed, then reached for her scrubs. He smiled. She’d brought some home from the clinic. She wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her. Standing, she blushed at him watching her. “I wanted to be prepared. I didn’t think you were in the mood to just hold me again tonight, if…”

“I would have,” he said, taking them. “If that’s what you wanted.”

It would have damn near killed him, but he wasn’t rushing anything with her. She could lead and he’d follow like a pup. Her hand rested on his chest as he leaned in to kiss her. Pulling her closer, he rubbed his cock against her belly.