The Run (The Hell's Disciples MC Book 4) (20 page)

Listening to Poncho and Rock babble, I lean back in my chair and stare out into the fire, catching sight of Neo, chatting up Rock’s little blonde broad. It’s only a second before Rock catches sight of it and growls.

Those two, man, they need to get it together. 

“Got a question. What do you think of Neo?” I ask them both. It’s a party, not really time for business, but I just can’t let it rest. I don’t know how I feel about the asshole. He rubs me the wrong way, like he’s here for all the wrong reasons.

Neo’s new, so he hasn’t been prospecting for us very long. His uncle is a patched member down in Cali. He asked for a favor, give his nephew a shot, so we did, and I’m not sure it’s gonna work out.

“Eh,” Rock grunts. “Don’t think he can hack it,” he states, watching him and his blonde chat. “And if he doesn’t get the fuck away from El, he’ll be leavin’ a lot sooner.” Fuck, Rock and El are a mess.

“Gettin’ the vibe he’s up to somethin’,” I confide to them both. Something about the guy seems off. He seems untrustworthy to me. I smell a rat.

“Yeah?” Poncho asks.

“Yeah. He was coming outta room one after cleaning it, and suddenly money goes missing.” I’m just not real sure how he’d do it. That safe’s hidden and the combination is unbreakable. Nevertheless, I don’t trust the kid as far as I can throw him.

“Wanna do somethin’ about it?” Poncho’s ready to take my back.

“Keeping an eye on him tonight, feeling him out.” And the second he steps outta line, he’s out on his ass. 

There’s something to be said about being around family. Whether by blood or by choice, we’re family, and that shit runs deep. It’s good to be around them when you can just sit and enjoy it.

“So, real shit, brother, what’s up with you ‘n Lennon?” Rock asks as he looks over to where her, Lil, and the girls are, dancing and laughing.

Fuck if I know the real answer to that question. We are whatever we are. Labels make shit complicated anyways. We’re cool.

“Don’t know.” I tell him honestly. “I like her. I like coming home to her.” Something I thought I’d never say about a woman. “She’s always happy to see me.” Another thing I never thought a woman would feel about me. “She fucking likes me. It’s not the bike, the club, or the cut. She makes it hard not to like her back.”

No motherfucker in their right mind would pass up a woman like Lennon. She’s pretty unique. Most of the bitches around here are out for number one. They need their rent paid, their rocks off, or some kind of title to brag about to their friends.

Lennon doesn’t want a goddamn thing from me, other than me, and that shit is hard not ignore.

“Yeah?”

“Fuck yeah.”

She stands out like a neon sign in a dark room, bright and eye-catching. Her hair’s flying around her face, swinging wildly as she dances to the music. Hands above her head, she spins and twists to the beat. 

Lennon picked the song. “My music,” she’d said, handing Tyler a scuffed-up iPod. ‘Breakfast in America’ plays loudly as she dances happily.

Tonight she’s mingled with everyone she can, and danced with anyone willing. I lost her a few times, but somehow she’s always seemed to find me.

Walking into the group of people standing around the trailer, watching the girls dance, I find Lil, alone and drinking with a fond smile on her face.

“I’m fun and wild, but I could never be free like that,” she muses out of nowhere, gazing up at the trailer.

“Like what?” I ask her, following her eyes back up to the roof of the trailer.

“Wild at heart ... a free spirit.” Turning towards me, Lil smiles that sweet smile of hers. Lilly’s special. For one, she’s smart, too goddamn smart. She’s strong and she’s fun. She’s a good fucking friend.

“You’re pretty crazy, Sis.” I’ve seen some shit. Lil has a wild streak.

Shaking her head, she purses her lips and argues, “No, not like that. Lennon’s like the moon, Buck.”

The moon? What kinda crazy shit is she spewing? “What?” That’s Lil, what she lacks in being a free spirit, she makes up for with her wild imagination.

“Lennon. She’s the moon. That pull you feel to her, you can’t fight it. You and everyone around gravitate towards her. They can’t help it. I can’t help it. No one can. She has a pull.”

The moon. Lennon is the fucking moon. Watching her dance, like everyone else, it makes perfect sense.

“Yeah,” I agree. Fuck, I don’t know what else to say to that. I feel it, that pull.

“Yeah?” Lil asks. “Look at her. You can’t stay away from her. No one can. You just want to be near her, listen to her, touch her.”

Lennon and Peaches twirl around each other, both laughing and smiling, but it’s Lennon I can’t stop watching. Lil’s right.

“When did you meet her?”

“It was my eleventh grade year, a month into the school year. Lennon was in tenth. I was standing out front of the high school with Peaches, waiting on the guys when we both heard a bike. She pulled up on the back of a red Harley, arms around a dude we didn’t know. She hopped off and looked right at Peaches and me, and I swear we both felt it.”

“Felt it?”

“That pull, whatever it is about Lennon that can’t be missed. She walked right up to me with a smile from ear to ear and introduced herself. From that day on, up until the day she disappeared, we were great friends.”

“Where’d she go?”

“Don’t know. Just like she showed up, she left just as suddenly. One day in July, after the school year ended, we were at a party at the club. One minute she was there with me, and the next she was gone.”

“She just left?”

“I guess. I never heard from her or saw her again. Stitch said he saw her crawl onto the back of a red Harley and ride off.”

The thought of Lennon on the back of some other dudes bike suddenly makes me want to punch something.

It hits me that I don’t know a goddamn thing about Lennon before she came here, and I wonder if I really want to. Maybe her past is better left there, but I’ll be damned if I can stop the fucking questions from coming. 

“Where’d she stay when she lived here?”

“I have no clue.” Lennon is just as much of a mystery to Lil as she is to me.

“Do you trust her?”

Without hesitation, she says, “Yes, with my life.”

Lennon

The way he looks at me is like second nature. Watching me move, his eyes never leave my body. He has no control over it. Buck can’t help it, and I don’t blame him. From the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew there would be no going back, and he knew it to. It’s just taken him a while to see it, that is until now.

Standing on the thin metal roof of the trailer, I smile, feeling like I’m on top of the world. I feel invincible, unbreakable. I can see everything from up here. A half-mile in each direction; the fire, the party, the parking lot, the hotel, and all the people enjoying every fucking minute of this night.

It could be the booze, it could be the night, or it could be that I’m finally free. Free to feel, to be wild. There’s something so beautiful about living here, like the club does, free and un-fucking-touchable. Nothing can get me here because I’m safe with Buck.

My reality is a beautiful mask on something ugly, but not tonight.

Listening to the mellow beat of L$D, I sway, feeling so alive and so damn happy I could burst.

Buck’s in lounger at the pools edge, holding a bottle of liquor and watching me. He’s smiling and laughing, shaking his head at me. He likes me today.

Walking to the edge of the trailer, I look down at the dirt below and back at Buck. Scooting to the edge of his lounger, he gives me the slightest jerk of his chin, warning me. I can’t live in a bubble, it’s impossible. I crave the rush of a life lived on the edge.

I leap into the night sky. Throwing myself off the side of the trailer, I close my eyes for only a moment. With my arms in the air and my legs dangling underneath me, I float through the air, then I start to fall fast. Catching a glimpse of Buck’s stunned face, I smile broadly before I hit the water.

The cool wash of the water hits my overheated skin, making me gasp. The rush of the jump travels through my veins to my feverishly beating heart, crushing it against my ribcage. Kicking my legs hard, I swim for the surface, holding my breath.

The first thing I see is Buck kneeling at the edge of the pool when I break the surface. He’s so damn mad, yet he looks proud as hell. Everyone around the pool cheers and hollers.

“The fuck Lenn―” I don’t let him finish. My wet fingers wrap around his shirt, tugging him in with me. Buck goes under mad and comes up stunned as fuck. I had to do it.

He swipes the water away from his face. “Babe.”

“Swim with me,” I say, paddling away, but I don’t get far. Grabbing onto my arm, he hauls me back through the water towards him.

“Bring your ass back here,” he growls, jerking me into his wet body. Tearing his cut off, he tosses it at Rock, who’s smiling like a fool.

“Hang that shit up to dry on the chair, and then get the fuck outta here. That goes for all of you.” No one questions him. They all get up and do as he says, leaving us alone.

I’ve lost all control and all sense. Everything feels so right. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he doesn’t push me away. Sliding a hand up the curve of my ass, he rests his hand on my lower back. 

“Why the fuck did you jump like that? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” He smiling. He’s not mad.

“Why not?” Everything in life is a jump, but it’s usually metaphorically. I leapt, literally, into life.

Buck feels good against my body. Legs wrapped around him, I lean in close. I stare at those fucked up eyes watching me carefully. I think I intimidate him a little. He’s so handsome in that unusual way, messy and rough, and I’ve realized recently how much I really love it.

“Buck?” He grins when his name passes my lips.

“Shut up and give me that mouth,” he demands. 

Strong fingers wrap around the back of my neck, pulling me face to face with him. A shiver snakes its way up my back with the touch of his skin on mine. He presses his lips to mine and kisses me roughly.

One minute I’m in the pool, wrapped around Buck, and the next I’m up over his shoulder, being carried out of the pool.

“You want me to stop.” He says running a hand up and down my leg.

“No, don’t stop ... don’t ever stop.

My back meets the rough edges of the cedar siding of the bar when Buck sets me down, pushing me against the wall. Leaning into me, he drags his rough hands up my sides, fingers grazing my skin until his hands are under my tank, palming me, exploring me. He takes a moment to savor it, and I can see his eyes roaming with a predatory gleam.

“Buck.”

Burying his face in my neck, he inhales. “I’m blaming this shit on you, Lennon,” he says in my ear, biting my shoulder. Fine. This shit is my fault. I’ll gladly take the blame.

“Mmhmm.” I manage to hum. His teeth sink into my soft flesh, tasting me.

“Shit.” Kissing the sting away, he groans, “Should’ve never let you in, but I did, and now you’re mine, baby.” 

I’m not even sure how I got here behind the bar, but all I know is I’m not stopping him.

Rough lips run up my neck, my jaw, and then meet my lips. Taking my mouth, he kisses me hard until we’re both breathless, thirsty for air.