Her Grizzly Outlaw (11 page)

It had been years since he had
seen Alexis, and although he was twenty-five, and Alexis was several years
younger than he was, he had always seen her as so much more mature. He eyed her
up and down, took note that she was curvy like a woman, had dark long hair the
same color as her father Brick’s, and stared at him as though she was curious
about something. He scrubbed a hand over his jaw, felt his several days’ worth
of beard covering his flesh, and grinned at her. “Goddamn, Alexis, you haven’t
changed. Well, not since I saw you a couple years ago for that big ass
Thanksgiving dinner at your folks’ house.”

She smiled and nodded. “You
haven’t changed at all … well, I take that back.” Her cheeks turned pink, and
he suppressed his chuckle of amusement that she was embarrassed. She lifted her
arm and pointed to his cut. “So you finally patched in, huh?”

He nodded. “Yeah, couple years
ago. But The MC life was always for me.”

“Yeah, I suppose it was.” She was
silent for a moment. “What are you doing here if you’re a Brother?”

He lifted a dark eyebrow, finding
it funny that she would ask that. Besides the fact The Brothers of Menace and
The Grizzly MC were close as hell, worked together when the time called for it,
and had saved each other’s asses in the past, Dakota was here for more than one
reason. “Helping these guys restore this bike.” Although he didn’t tell her the
other reason he was here, one that included a spunky Grizzly MC daughter that
could give him blue balls with just the way she walked.

“I didn’t mean it like you
shouldn’t be here.”

He started laughing when it was
clear she had thought he was offended. “I know, I know.” Since the whole shit
had gone down at the graduation party all those years ago, they had only seen a
handful of times when they actually saw each other.

“So, big time college grad, huh?”
He took a step closer to her and then stopped. He was trying to go into a more
neutral conversation, because bringing up shit, or even thinking about the
situation that very well could have ruined their friendship didn’t seem smart.
He shoved his hands in the front pocket of his jeans. “Your old man said you’re
going to start managing the club finances.”

She nodded.

“I hope you’re ready for all
that.” He was being serious, because all that club shit was going to be right
in her fucking face now. No more pretending like things were okay and legal,
even though she knew better than that. He had a feeling that for a lot of years
when The Grizzly members had found their old ladies, it was hard telling them
exactly how they kept their club going. It wasn’t just about the legal business
they had with the bar and even the mechanic shop that they were working on with
The Brothers, one that Dakota worked at. It was about the selling of guns,
sometimes drugs, and even the prostitutes that made The Brothers of Menace a
lot of their revenue.

“I hope I am, too.” She looked
down at her feet, and the silence stretched between them for a few seconds.

“Hey, maybe since you’ll be in
town indefinitely we can get together for lunch or something and catch up?” He
wanted to talk with her, wanted to get to know the girl he had grown up with
again. He felt like after the almost fight at the grad party with
Nico
,
she
had looked at him in a different light.

“Sure, but I’ll probably be busy
for a little bit as I get settled in, and then with
Nico
—”

“He can come along,” Dakota said
and smiled, not about to make it seem like he wanted more than a friendship
with her. They had been friends for years, all their lives in fact. He didn’t
want her thinking he desired anything more. “Listen, that altercation four
years ago at the garage is behind us. We have both grown, and there isn’t any
animosity between us anymore.” He might not be tight with
Nico
in the sense that they hung out all the time, but they were both adults, had
moved on from that drunken high school bullshit, and were working toward being
immersed in their clubs.

“So you guys talk a lot?”

Dakota shrugged and grabbed a
dirty rag that was already covered in grease from the shelf beside him. He
cleaned off his hands and stared at Alexis. “Okay, the whole animosity and
altercation thing isn’t really the truth. I mean I am pretty sure he’s still
pissed deep down, but he is kind of a hardcore guy when it comes to you.” He
smiled, knowing that although they weren’t bringing up the old shit anymore,
that when it came to Alexis,
Nico
was one possessive
son-of-a-bitch. “And rightly so, but I’m over it. Why hang onto that shit when
there isn’t a point?”

“Yeah, I’ve told him that before,
but you know how a Grizzly is.”

He chuckled softly. “Yeah, I do.
But I was serious about catching up. Aside from the few times I saw you for
holidays and shit, it’s been too fucking long since we actually talked.” He
stared at her, right in the eye because he hated how weird this was. “Besides,
I actually have someone I’m dating, and I’d like you to meet her.” Dating was
kind of a stretch. A huge fucking stretch in fact, because Dakota had never
made anything official aside from telling her flat out all that was going on
was a little screwing. But she had been all for it. She was a cute girl, too
superficial for him, and one that he had been with sexually a few times. But
the constant bitching about meeting more of his family instead of the guys he
hung out with when they partied, Dakota had finally relented. Seeing as the
woman he really wanted, the female that he had hoped would be at the clubhouse
when he
arrived,
was most definitely off limits, he
was going to have to move on.

“Really?”
She looked surprised, and
sounded like it, too.

He was tempted just to tell
Alexis the girl was a fuck buddy only, but he kept his mouth shut on that
regard.
“Yeah, hard to believe, huh?”
He started
chuckling, but it was a little tight sound.

“No, of course
not.
I just
thought you were never going to get serious with anyone.” She shrugged.

And
I’m not, because who I really want is off limits, and I like my dick and balls
very much.
“Alexis, I think I said that when I was like sixteen and that bitch Sheila
slept with my friend.” Just thinking about that skank pissed him off, and that
damn “friend” that he had beaten to the ground, pissed him off royally.

She glanced down at the ground,
and he wondered about what was playing through her head right now. Was she
still thinking about what had gone down with him and
Nico
all those years ago? Was she thinking about how hard it was for her to believe
he was “seeing anyone”? The truth was after the holidays he was going to be
break
it off with the girl he was “seeing”, just cut ties
with her because he wanted to focus on himself.
And also
because it was difficult for him to get his dick hard for anyone else, especially
when all he could think about anymore was a Grizzly girl.

“God, I totally forgot that was
the reasoning behind that. All I could hear in my head was you saying that.”

He shrugged even though she
wasn’t looking at him. “It’s cool. That was a long time ago.” He grinned when
she glanced up at him, trying to ease the tension, and move past these old
memories. “Besides, I value your opinion. How many of the girls I dated did you
tell me were no good?” The truth was he was just anxious to get back into their
old friendship, and although he knew that Alexis would call him out on dating
the superficial woman, he really did value her opinion.

“A lot,” she said on a chuckle.

“And how many were actually bad
news?” He grinned even wider, knowing that she didn’t sugarcoat anything.

“All of them.”

He nodded. “Yeah, and even if we
were only kids at the time you knew, or your bear could scent out the bitch in
them.” That had both of them laughing harder now, and then he saw the woman
that consumed his thoughts more than he ever admitted to anyone. She got out of
her mother’s car, grabbed her purse and a brown paper bag, and started heading
toward the clubhouse. But then she stopped, glanced his way, and he swore to
God their eyes locked. Fuck, now he was imagining things, because she was too
young for him, the daughter of a fierce Grizzly bear shifter, and he was too
jealous and possessive. Hell, he wasn’t even with her, and knowing she went out
with the douchebags she did set his blood on fire. He may not be a shifter, but
he had these primal instincts inside of him that screamed he wanted her, only
her, and that anyone that touched her while she was with him would need plastic
surgery when he was done with them. And then she turned away and headed inside
the clubhouse.

God, Tawny Stoker was a man’s wet
dream, but up until this summer he hadn’t seen her as anything more than
Tarren’s
younger sister. But now eighteen, she had filled
out, was womanlier, and although she showed this persona of having this wild
streak, he saw something of her that was vulnerable, soft, and innocent.
Clearing his throat and pulling his focus away from Tawny, he stared at Alexis.
Had Alexis seen him looking at the other Grizzly girl?

“So, anyway, I’ll let you get
back to it. I’m sure the guys are anxious to see you. Just hit me up if you
want to do lunch sometime.” And then he turned and walked back over to the
bike, because being near Alexis, knowing she could probably scent the desire he
had for Tawny, had him on edge.

When he heard Alexis retreating
he turned and looked over his shoulder at the clubhouse. He could see Tawny
silhouetted behind the partially opened blinds, and his cock jerked in
response.

No,
man, back the hell away. Focus on something else, and smarten the hell up that
getting involved with her will mean a whole lot of Grizzly bikers on your
fucking case.

****

Tawny should not want Dakota.
Hell he was older than she was, was patched into another MC, and her father
would kill her. Oh, who was she kidding? Her dad was pissed at her on a regular
basis because she didn’t make it a secret that she liked the bad boys. She may
have gotten down and dirty in the back of their cars on a few occasions, even
gotten caught one of those times by Dallas, but she wasn’t a slut. In fact, Tawny
was still a virgin, a rebellious virgin, but one nonetheless. Maybe it was
because her father was so overprotective that she felt the need to test the
bounds he set, to make him pull out his hair and growl out in frustration? She
had never been with a male, never wanted to go that far with a guy, because she
knew what she wanted. And what she wanted was Dakota Mason.

She pictured Dakota in her head,
all big, raw muscles, a towering frame, and so damn attractive she had gotten
wet on more than one occasion just thinking about him. But despite the little
eye contact they had moments
before,
she knew she
would never have a chance with him. For one thing she was only eighteen, and he
was twenty-five. The women that she had seen him bring to the clubhouse gatherings,
ones that were thin, big breasted, and screamed of sex appeal, were not
something she could compete with. She was short, had a good amount in the chest
department, but she had always considered herself on the chubby side. But for
as long as she could remember, and when she actually started noticing the
opposite sex, Tawny had wanted him. There was just something about the fact he
wasn’t a Grizzly, that he was still part of the family, but had this mysterious
appeal to him. His hair was so dark, short and disheveled, and those eyes, God,
his blue eyes could lock her into this blubbering mess where she didn’t even
know her name. But he had always seemed to look right over her. Well, up until
she had seen him in the garage when her mom had dropped her off at the
clubhouse, and then she had seen him looking at her. This part of her, a very
girly part, couldn’t help but get excited that maybe he was seeing her as a
woman, and not as
Tarren’s
kid sister, and Dallas’s
youngest daughter.

She moved into the clubhouse,
walked through the main area and into the meeting room where she knew Alexis
was working on paperwork for the club, and where
Tarren
was probably bullshitting with her. Tawny pushed anything that had to do with
Dakota Mason out of her head. It was safest that way, especially for her heart.

Chapter Eight

Tarren
leaned against the doorframe and
smiled at Alexis, who looked as though she was about to lose her mind with all
the paperwork spread out in front of her. Stinger was sitting across from her,
his body covered in grease, and this smile on his face, almost transforming the
bear shifting biker into something gentler. “Hey,” he said to them.

Before Alexis could even say
anything Tawny pushed her way past her and placed a greasy bag on the desk in
front of Alexis. The other woman wrinkled her nose, the scent of burgers and
fries filling the small office.

“For the guys
working on the bike.
They specifically asked for the greasiest, nastiest thing I could scrounge up.
Tell them
it’s
burgers and fries from Dino’s.” And
then Tawny turned and left.