BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (76 page)

Chapter 7

              “Come on, man. All you’ve been talking about is how heart broken you are and you can’t keep moping around about this chick.”

              “She’s not some ‘chick’, Grant.” Adrien gritted his teeth as he gripped the steering wheel of his jeep with both hands, his cell phone wedged between his shoulder and his jaw as he listened to his best friend try and convince him to go out to that new bar.

              “You know you told me last week that you wanted to go scope out the new competition, and this is the perfect chance. I’m meeting a girl there…”

              “Of course you are.” Adrien interrupted, barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes. One thing was certain, his friend never had problems of the female variety. To be honest, he hadn’t either until a certain, gorgeous someone had knocked him on his head and flipped his whole world upside down. Grant kept talking as if he hadn’t said a word, which as far as his friend was concerned, he hadn’t. It wasn’t news to him.

              “…you can just come out for a few hours, scope it out, have a few drinks to drown your sorrows and forget about that chi…Morgan.” Grant caught himself just before Adrien could call him out again. But he couldn’t deny that getting sauced enough to numb the constant pain that had plagued him since that fateful day at the cabin was sounding more appealing by the minute.

              “Alright, alright,” Adrien said, finally giving in to his friend’s pleadings. “But just for a few hours. We’ll have a few beers, I’ll check out the new bar, and then we leave, okay?”

              “Okay! You got it, no problem buddy. Listen, I’ll pick you up at eight from your place. No reason to take an extra car.”

              “Just a few hours, Grant. That’s it.”

              “A few hours. Yeah, yeah, of course. No problem at all.” Adrien just shook his head. There was really no telling what his friend was up to, most likely something he wouldn’t like, for instance, setting him up with one of the seemingly hundreds of eligible girls that Grant knew. Adrien opened his mouth to reiterate his point one more time only to find that Grant had already hung up. He threw the phone in the passenger seat, shaking his head, but he couldn’t keep the small smile from curving his lips. If there was one person who could cheer him up, it was Grant Fisher.

              Six hours later, Adrien was sulking at the bar, cursing his best friend for being a no good, low down scoundrel. He tipped back his glass, downing the last of the Jack Daniels neat he’d been nursing and gestured to the bartender for another. His gaze was pulled back to the dance floor, or more specifically the woman currently dancing far too close to a muscle bound jock looking meat head as the DJ played some techno crap from the small stage in front.

              He had felt it as soon as they had entered the bar. It was like a punch straight to the gut, knocking the breath right out of him. He hadn’t even needed to see her to know that she was there. In the same bar that Grant had just happened to ask him to go out on. Adrien shot another glare in Grant’s direction but it was useless. His friend was too busy flirting shamelessly with the stacked blond that had latched onto his arm the minute they had walked inside.

              His gaze was drawn back again despite every ounce of will power he had inside him. Drawn inexorably back to Morgan. His body clenched in painful desire as he watched her sway to the primal beat of the music. Her moves were fluid and oozed a sexuality that set his teeth on edge. He lost himself in the rhythm of her hips swaying back and forth, calling to him like a siren luring sailors to their untimely deaths.

              With a curse he drained the alcohol, grimacing slightly at the burn but savoring the heat that momentarily obliterated the anger that was starting to beat in time with the lust coursing through his veins.

              “Fuck.” Adrien bit off the word, already searching out Grant in the packed crowd. He had to get the hell out of here. And now. Despite his best intention he cast one last look towards the dance floor and the sight of Morgan dancing so close to another man stabbed through him. He tried to shake it off. The anger. The pain. He could feel his fists clench as rage filled him and his vision turned red around the edges. Adrien forced himself to look away and started walking towards Grant. If he had to drag his friend out of there kicking and screaming, he couldn’t stand there and watch Morgan with any one else for another minute or he was going to do something he would really regret. Like ram his tightening fist into the douchebag’s face.

              “I have to get out of here,” He growled the words softly to himself, ignoring the sideways glance of the guy sitting next to him. He didn’t care. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was douchebag running his hands all over his mate. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it without scaring her away even more. He took another step towards where Grant was still shamelessly flirting and froze in his tracks. His amber eyes narrowed, looking pure, angry gold in the dim, flashing lights of the bar. There was something wrong, he could sense it. Well, more wrong than his mate hip to hip with some strange guy.

              His glare turned towards Morgan and he growled again, deep and low in his chest. Douchebag’s hands were everywhere, but even from that distance he could tell that Morgan was trying to push him away. Douchebag just wasn’t getting the message and when Adrien saw the other man grab his mate roughly by the shoulders to pull her close his vision went red with a violent rage he didn’t even try to contain. He was rushing forward before he could stop himself.

              There was no one else in his world except for Morgan, the guy who was getting rough with her, and his fist slamming straight into douchebag’s nose. The pain of impact shattered through his knuckles, but he barely felt it. The pain of seeing his mate with someone else far eclipsed anything else.

              “What the hell?” 

              He watched douchebag spin away, a surprised look caught on his already bruising face. Before Adrien could even take a step back, stars shot across his vision as the other guy spun back, landing a pretty good hit himself across his left cheekbone. He would have a black eye before morning that was sure. His only reassurance was that douchebag would look worse than him in the morning. He was already holding his sleeve up to his nose, trying to stem the flow of blood. Adrien grinned in savage glee as douchebag grimaced back at him.

              It had all happened so fast, no one had time to react at first but soon Adrien felt strong hands pulling him back. He struggled for a moment, an overwhelming desire to slam his fist once more into douchebags face but then he glanced over and saw her. Morgan, staring at him in wide eyed shock and horror and everything fled from his system except a keen regret. Because she was staring at him like he was some sort of monster.

              Grant snuck out of the packed bar, the sound of the crowd reacting to the fight loud enough to hear even from outside. He let the door swing closed behind him, not worrying about anyone following him out. Everyone was too interested in the guy that Adrien was currently beating the shit out of. He pulled his cell phone from the back pocket of his jeans. Grant dialed the number and held it to his ear, staring out into the dark evening skyline with a wide grin he couldn’t keep off his face.

              “Hey, Darrel. Yeah it’s Grant. Grant Fisher.” Grant listened to his friend joke on the other line before interrupting. “Hi, I know it’s been a long time. You’re still the sheriff down near Alpine county, right? Great. Great, I have a favor to ask.” 

              It was so loud in the bar that Adrien didn’t hear the sirens until it was too late.

              “All right, everyone. The shows over,” The officer sauntered into the bar, his gaze trained on him. “I said, the shows over. Now get out the hell out of my way.” The crowd dispersed and Adrien tried to casually disappear along with it, but the hand on his arm stopped him.

              “Uh uh. You stay right here. And you too, ma’am.” The officer held on to both him and Morgan and he could already see her working herself up to say something that she would regret. The temper was evident in the flush in her cheeks, and she had never looked more beautiful to him.

              “Now, listen here, deputy Fife, I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing–.”

              “What she means to say, officer, is that she didn’t have any part of the…confrontation.” Adrien shot her a sharp look as if to say
don’t say anything else or you’ll get us in even more trouble
, but Morgan just turned her glare on him.

              “Confrontation, is it?” The officer said slowly, chewing on the words. “The way I hear it is you started an all out brawl in the middle of this fine establishment, and this lady was your accomplice.” The man looked sharply from one to the other, “and it’s Sheriff Mayhew, by the way.”

              It took Adrien’s brain a long moment to comprehend what was happening as the sheriff took out one set of handcuffs and slapped the pair on his own wrists. Morgan was much less accommodating, yelling the whole time that she was just an innocent bystander, which seemed to make the sheriff believe even more that she had been part of the fight.

              “Come on,” The sheriff said, leading them both outside with hand cuffs on, “A night in a cell should cool you both off.”

              “Just wait a minute, Sheriff! Morgan had nothing to do with it. Just let her go.” Adrien pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears. He looked around futilely for his friend Grant but he was nowhere to be seen either. What the hell was happening? They were put unceremoniously in the back of the cop’s car and Adrien turned to look at Morgan. She was studiously ignoring him.

              The tension was so thick between them he could have swam through it, but it choked him, preventing him from saying all the millions of things that were running through his head, chief among them, an apology for getting her into this mess. But she refused to even look at him for the entire, painful ride.

Chapter 8

              Morgan paced the tiny cell, counting as she went. Five paces in one direction, and five in the other. It turned out there was only one cell in the jailhouse that deputy Fife, as she so kindly referred to him as in her mind, had dumped them into for the night. He had shoved them in unceremoniously after removing their handcuffs with an admonition not to kill each other because he didn’t want to deal with the paperwork. Then, he had left. That was it. Shoved them in the cell, turned off all but one of the overhead lights, and left them locked in the tiny box together. It was the last place she wanted to be.

              She was so angry she could barely stand it, the rage boiling through her veins threatening to bubble over, and underneath all that was the heat of desire so strong it felt like it was burning her from the inside out. Even though she forced herself not to look over at the cot where she knew Adrien was sitting against the far wall, she could still feel him. With every ounce of her being, she could sense him, watching her, staring at her.

              Adrien had tried to talk to her at first, but she had ignored him. At least on the outside. On the inside was another story altogether and it was a battle of epic proportions as she wrestled within herself. Because the truth was, she still cared for him, her emotions running deep and unfathomable, and her body still craved his like a drug.

              Morgan continued to pace, and continued to pretend to be ignoring him. She hoped he was falling for it. She prayed he wouldn’t see through the thin façade of nonchalance to the turmoil underneath.

              “Morgan, I just wanted to say again how sorry I am I got you into this mess.” His deep voice echoing in the tiny cell had her jumping as he startled her. She turned to him despite herself and had to brace against the lust the poured through her. It was all tangled up with the anger that still raced across her body, fueling it on to even greater heights. Morgan had to swallow hard several times before she could get any words out at all.

              “I don’t want to talk to you, Adrien.” She finally said, hating the tremble in her words that had nothing to do with fear.

              “That’s fine. You can just listen,” He said, leaning forward on the cot, making the space seem that much smaller as it was dominated by his big body. So much bigger than her own. The contrast seemed imminently apparent to her and she had to turn away, her breath suddenly coming in short panting inhalations. 

              “Well, I don’t want to listen either. It will make things a lot easier if we can just get through this night in silence.” She bit off the words, staring out through the bars of the cell to the rest of the empty office. The lights were dimmed, and she was grateful that Adrien couldn’t see the flush that was staining her cheeks a bright ruby red. Although maybe bears had better vision in the dark that humans. The thought sent another shiver tripping down her spine, reminding her of all the turmoil and heartache she had been through in the past week.

              “Please, Morgan, if you would just let me explain…” His softly spoken words trailed off but she refused to turn around, refused to give in an inch because she knew if she did she would be naked and underneath him on that cot in less than a minute. There was something about him that she couldn’t resist, even now with knowing the truth about him, the way he had hurt her. She could still feel her desire for him raging wildly inside her. Morgan crossed her arms across her chest, trying to separate them as much as she could in the tiny cell. But it was no use. She could still hear his voice, feel his presence like a physical touch as he continued.

              “Morgan, I just need you to listen, I need you to know…” He paused for a moment, waiting for her to turn towards him but she didn’t, she couldn’t, “anyways, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk. I understand that a lot happened, with Harris at the cabin and everything. I just want a chance to explain. To tell you the real truth, not his skewed, fucked up version of it.”

              “You’re saying none of what that creep said was true?” She barely whispered the words, still refusing to turn and face him. After a long, fraught moment, he sighed. It was a rough breath that sawed out of his chest and it told her every thing she needed to know.

              “No. No, some of what he said was true. It just wasn’t the way I wanted you to find out. I wasn’t ready for it to–.” Adrien cut off abruptly and she couldn’t stop herself from asking. The words were out before she could stop them.

              “Wasn’t ready for it to what, Adrien?”

              “I wasn’t ready for it to end,” He said on another sigh, “I wasn’t ready for you to hate me, to look at me like you do now. Like I’m…Like I’m a monster.” The utter agony in his voice had her turning around before she could stop herself.

              “I don’t hate you, Adrien. I was scared and confused and heartbroken. How did you expect me to react to that bombshell? ‘oh, by the way, I’m half bear’, ‘well, that’s just great, honey’. I mean, give me a little credit for not checking myself into an insane asylum, okay? Because everything that happened that day was totally crazy!” She realized by the end of her speech that her voice was raised, echoing off the cinder block wall but she didn’t care. Morgan’s pulse was racing hard and fast in her chest and she was breathing heavily as she looked at him.

              “I know it’s a lot to process,” Morgan snorted at the understatement, but he just continued to speak, “Heck, I’m one of them and it still took me nearly twenty years to come to terms with who I am. With what I am. I never expected you to just be okay with it, but I was hoping, well, that your feelings for me, and mine for you would at least help you to be more understanding. At least give me a chance to explain. To show you.”

              “Understanding? Understanding!” Morgan planted her hands on her fist as her temper flared, “I think I’ve been more than understanding, Adrien. And yes, it is a hell of a lot to
process
, as you put it,” She snorted again, shaking her head, “I mean, what the hell were you even doing there tonight, Adrien?”

              “I don’t even know, honestly,” Adrien had to look away from the anger shining in her green eyed gaze. “Grant called about some girl he wanted to see and he needed a wingman. Which is a load of shit because Grant Fisher has never had any problems getting a lady once he’s set his eyes on her. But he said he…” His words trailed off and a look of surprised realization drew over his face. “That son of bitch.”

              “Who, you?” Morgan asked, sarcasm thick in her voice, but he just shook his head.

              “Grant. My friend, Grant. He set me up. Somehow he knew you were going to be there and he was tired of me moping around like some heartbroken cub and he set me up!”

              “Well, it doesn’t matter how you got there, Adrien. You shouldn’t have done what you did. Gone all macho he-man and punched that guy for no reason.”

              “No reason!” Adrien was on his feet and she took an involuntary step back as her breath hitched. He really was much too big. “There was plenty of reason!”

              “No, there wasn’t, Adrien. You had no right to do that.” Morgan tried to make her voice firm but every step closer he took had the fire in her veins ratcheting that much higher and the anger just fueled it on.

              “I know…I know words can’t make up for what I did. The way I acted back there. It was stupid and I should have known better. But I saw you with that guy and I just snapped, you know?” Adrien whispered the words and she turned on him with a sharp scowl.

              “We were just dancing, Adrien! And besides like you have any room to talk.” She tried to turn away, the pain of that night coming back to hit her hard but he wouldn’t let her. He was taking up too much room in the cell and there was nowhere for her to go, nowhere for her to run.

              “Look, that night at the bar you ran off before I could explain, again! That was Sera. She’s been hounding me since the beginning of the summer, but even more so since we got back from the cabin. She is Harris’ daughter,” Adrien looked at her as if that should mean something, but all it told her was that Adrien had bad taste in women. Because if that Sera chick was anything like her father, well, let’s just say she hoped the apple fell a long way away from the tree that time.

              “It’s complicated,” Adrien finally said after she didn’t respond, “It’s really complicated, but I’ll just say that I want no part of her, or anything to do with either of them. Harris has some idea that if I mate with his daughter then his position as leader of the clan with be safe.”

              “Wait a minute, that creep is your leader? You voted for him?” Morgan looked at him aghast and he shook his head firmly.

              “Harris is
not
my leader, and it doesn’t exactly work that way. Look, I told you, it’s complicated.” He sighed, trying to find the right words.

              “And I don’t care,” Morgan took a step towards him until they were toe to toe with each other, poking him in the chest with one finger, “I know what I saw. She was all over you! And you weren’t exactly pushing her away.”

              “You have it all wrong!” He growled the words as anger got the best of him and Morgan could feel it rumble through her, spiking her desire until it felt like a volcano about to explode inside her.

              “No, I don’t!”

              “Yes, you do! Just,” Adrien didn’t get any more words out before his mouth was hard on hers, wiping away all rational thought and anger, and leaving only raw, pulsing want as the volcano finally erupted.