Enough (15 page)

He tucked away my helmet before his lips grazed mine with a tenderness that surprised me. I moved into him so I could wrap my arms around him as he brushed kisses one atop the other across my lips. When he pulled back from me, I only wanted more. He hugged me to him and we walked into the clubhouse together—my worries gone.

The industrial-sized kitchen held two of everything—refrigerators, stoves and dishwashers. The kitchen was sleek and modern, the total opposite of the club’s dive bar feel. Definitely different people in charge of each space.

MJ welcomed me with one of her hard, fast hugs before she gave me the tour of cabinets, pantries and all the other important stuff. I started mixing pancakes, humming to myself.

“Girl, you’re a natural. I’m headed out but I’ll be back to help set up.” She waved and booked it out the kitchen door. With so much energy, I wondered if she walked in her sleep.

I found my groove and became a pancake-making machine. MJ said to plan on thirty guys, at least 150 pancakes. With six pancakes cooking each round, it’d take lots of rounds of pour, flip, remove and slide into the warmer before I had enough. Bacon-covered sheets filled both ovens and I had more ready to go in when those were done. I checked the time, pleased to find I was ahead of schedule. Once I finished cooking pancakes, MJ helped me set out the condiments and get organized while the last of the bacon cooked. I lit the Sterno cans under the chafing dishes, and everything was in place.

“Breakfast is ready,” I hollered like MJ instructed me. Of course, she’d disappeared again.

Lots of teasing remarks flew my way. The other bikers made Dare go first, and he piled six pancakes on his very sturdy disposable plate along with a handful of bacon.

He winked at me. “Won’t be any left after they taste your cooking. I’m getting seconds and thirds now.” He shot a smug smile at a biker named Romeo who’d razzed him most.

Grumbles echoed as the guys lined up.

“Come sit with me.”

I grabbed coffee from the carafe and followed him to the table where we’d placed butter, syrup, jelly, powdered sugar, peanut butter and other miscellaneous stuff. Dare poured half a bottle of syrup on his mound of cakes. We sat down at a huge wooden circular table in the back corner, and I snagged a piece of bacon. He growled but continued cutting his pancakes.

He popped a bite in his mouth and moaned. “Perfection. How do you make ’em light? Normally they’re heavy in the middle.”

“Magic.” I winked at him.

He threw his head back and laughed. I loved the sound of his laughter, light and melodic. I bet he had a wonderful singing voice.

Compliments flew through the clubroom from the twenty bikers who ate my breakfast. Pride filled me, partly because of my skill but more because of their appreciation.

“You eating?” Dare scowled at me as he worked his way through his stack.

“While I cooked, I had to test it all to make sure everything tasted delicious.”

He glared at me suspiciously. “How many?”

I held up three fingers. “And lots of bacon. In the name of quality control.”

He nodded his approval. The room smelled of bacon, wood and the spicy scent of men. Underneath, I smelled a mild scent of stale beer, but not strong like during the party.

I walked toward the counter through the maze of reject diner tables that held bikers as diverse as the multi-colored tables scattered across the floor.

MJ stood in the kitchen, a plate in hand, eating pancakes and bacon. “Damn good.”

I put out the rest of the bacon and pancakes before retreating to the kitchen to clean up.

Zayn stuck his head in the kitchen. “Headed to open up, no hurry. Thanks, Mama.”

MJ’s brow arched at Zayn’s words. I rinsed dishes for the dishwasher and didn’t respond.

Soon the space was clean and I felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

Dare and Jericho swung through the door carrying two empty pans. “We cleaned you out.” Jericho set his pan down on the counter. “Tell me you’ll cook here, full time.” He flashed a smile at his mom. “No offense.”

“None taken, she’s got skills, more than those other girls for damn sure.” MJ chuckled. “And me, no doubt.”

Dare beamed with pride and my heart did a happy dance.

“You already hired me for a job I like.” My eyes met Dare’s, and now they smoldered with another kind of heat.

“I hadn’t tasted your cooking,” Jericho complained as they headed out the door. “Make yourself at home,” he called over his shoulder. “Bake a little.”

“My boy, he’s always thinking.”

I laughed and headed out to clear the other stuff from the tables. Dare sat talking to Jericho when I walked up, kissed his cheek and asked if he needed to get back to town.

“Don’t hurry on my account.” He kissed me, but it wasn’t quick. My womb tightened and I wanted to fuck him. Those bedrooms were close by, but paper walls were not my friend. I broke the kiss and walked away, feeling his gaze on my ass.

MJ had left when I returned to the kitchen. I checked out the fridge and pantry, deciding on pie. Cans of apple, cherry and pumpkin lined one shelf. Pudding lined another and bruised bananas were left over from breakfast. I decided on two apple and one banana cream.

By two I finished baking and went to find my man. They had disappeared from the clubhouse, but I didn’t know where to look. I thought about the long hall of rooms but wasn’t brave enough to go there. What if they held bikers? Naked bikers?

I headed out the front door of the club and spotted the two lying on the ground working on Jericho’s bike. “Be ready in a few,” Dare mumbled, and then cursed as some kind of fluid shot out all over his front.

I dragged one of the lawn chairs over and lay back to let the sun soak into my skin. I relaxed in the warmth half asleep when a shadow blocked out my rays.

Chapter Seventeen: Lila

“Red.” His voice was husky.

I glanced up with one eye still closed. “I think the bike won.”

He had grease on his hands, and some kind of greenish liquid on his white T-shirt and across his arms.

“Yeah.” He frowned at his shirt. “Come help me wash it off.” It wasn’t a request.

Jericho still lay under his bike grumbling as he reconnected some hose. I grinned and followed Dare inside.

He turned in to the same room we’d used at the party. His grease-smudged fingertip brushed my chin. “When I get all this off me, I’m gonna fuck you until you scream my name. You were so damn beautiful out there in the sun.” He stripped off his shirt and dropped it on the floor before heading into the bathroom.

While he showered, I thought about him, all the ways I wanted to please him. Today, if I was brave enough, maybe I could turn his world on the side, the way he always did for me.

In mere minutes he opened the door from the bathroom and walked straight toward me, hair wet, chest damp, and all man; not even a towel hid the best bits.

Power flared inside me. I grasped his biceps to turn him before I pushed him down across the bed. I slipped off my clothes and stood between his legs, massaging his balls with one hand and his cock with the other.

His hips arched off the bed and I traced the liquid beading on his tip. My index finger flicked his piercing.

“Harder.”

I twisted my hand and dragged a nail up him, scraping gently. Pleasure played across his face in small sighs and a tightening of lips. I studied his expressions, learning his body.

My rough strokes drove him faster until his hips bounced, but he deserved a wild ride, not a quick one. My hands left his cock when I bent to suck his sac, reveling in his sounds of pleasure.

Today I’d show him another way we could make love. Brutal, long and satisfying. I slid my hands under his ass, squeezing with the rhythm of his thrusts. My mouth traveled to his groin and legs, licking and biting. I cupped him, but his strokes turned to rocking motions. I moved up him. One long lick from balls to tip, before I slithered up higher. My tongue teased the rough terrain of his chest while he pushed against my mound. The friction drove me wild, but I suppressed my needs because it was his playtime.

When I bit hard into the corded muscle of his neck, he bucked under me. I sucked on the tip of his chin before moving up to his lips, and higher still until he could feast on my breasts. He hungrily lapped at my nipples, using his hands to move my breasts close together. His cock plunged between my slick folds with his tip pushed against my clit in perfect rhythm. My body burst in a fast, intense orgasm. My hands stroked him with light, slow movements.

“Now, inside you.” He panted the words and arched up into my touch.

“Yeah?” I crooned. “Need to be massaged by my hot, tight pussy?”

“Yeah. So tight and hot. Always wet for me.” Hunger burned on his face.

“I can rock your world in ways you never imagined.” I licked his nipple. “Do you want that?”

“Yeah, Red.” His hands dug into my hips.

“Then you lie back, and I promise you’ll explode.”

His lips parted and sounds came from him. I took it as a yes.

I waited until he receded from the edge of climax before I let my hands trail lower, across his taint, and my slippery fingers played with his pucker.

“Now. Now. Now.” He almost bellowed the words.

I’d found an unexpected pleasure point, which opened up new possibilities. I let my finger trail back over his taint to his cock. I twisted until my ass faced Dare. I smoothed the condom over his straining erection before I let him push up inside me. I circled my hips.

“Red.” His voice was hoarse.

I circled in slow up and down movements. He gripped my hips, squeezing tight. I wanted to touch myself and come again.

“Dare.” My husky voice sounded different to me. “I’m coming again.”

“Let’s go.” He pushed up into me.

“Can I come first, right now? While you’re inside me.” I bit my lip. “I dare you not to come, yet.”

“I can last forever, take what you need.” His words were halting between hard pants for breath. “This torture feels so damn...I never...” His words were muffled by his grunts of pleasure.

“I’m touching my breasts, imagining your mouth is on them.” My fingers twisted my nipples with a sharp pain. Pleasure shot through me and I spiraled higher. “You make me feel beautiful when you worship my body.”

He struggled against his own climb to the edge.

“Can I finger my pussy?” I purred the words. “Please, it’d feel so spectacular.”

“Touch yourself.” His voice was gruff, like he’d scraped it across rocks.

I circled my hips in the same slow dance. My hand trailed low until I found my clit. We were intimate friends, and I’d be done in seconds. My left hand stroked my nipple. The flicks became an impatient pulse and the sensation tightened my nipples and shot straight to my womb. My muscles spasmed around Dare’s dick. I stroked myself through the climax, yelling my release. Dare held still even as his breaths came fast and shallow.

“Fuck me.” His words a whisper. “Red.” He said my name in a sigh of breath.

I wet my finger with my juices and glided lower until I pulsed against his anus and slipped it inside.

His breath left in a whoosh. I pushed into him and found the special gland, pulsing my finger against it.

With a fierce and feral yell, he pushed up off the bed with his orgasm. Then he flopped back, thrashing as he came long and hard. Slowly I slipped my finger free.

Pride swelled inside at my ability to give him the same kind of out-of-control pleasure he gave me. When the shudders subsided, I turned to lie atop him.

His hand fell across my back and he sighed—the sigh of an appreciative man.

“Magic.” He kissed my head.

“I know you have a magic cock,” I joked.

His chest rumbled with laughter, but his eyes stayed closed. His heartbeat echoed in my ear, slowing over the next few minutes until I was sure he slept. Scooting off him, I put on my clothes and peeked out into the hall. Empty. I decided to let him sleep awhile and headed to the kitchen.

“What the hell did you do?” Jericho’s deep voice boomed.

I flinched and turned to see him and the guy named Romeo with cards in their hands and curious frowns on their face.

“You’ll have to ask Dare.” I struggled not to giggle, not because it was funny really, but because I was embarrassed and still riding high from my own good time.

“Holy fuck, I never thought I’d hear him scream like a girl.” The other guy shook his head.

I picked up my pace and disappeared into the kitchen. I found some strawberries in the fridge and decided I’d make Rock another strawberry pie. He’d put up with all my foul moods while Dare had been gone.

I lost myself in the baking when I heard Dare’s voice. “Red.” Looking up, I was surprised almost an hour had passed. I set aside my nearly finished pie and headed to find the grumbly bear.

“What?”

He sat with the other two guys. “Come here.”

“I’m here.” I grinned and sat on his lap.

“What did you tell these ass hats?”

“That they should ask you about anything they had questions about.” I kissed his chin.

He frowned down at me. “Next time you make me pass out from one of your tricks, stay the hell in bed until I wake up.”

Heat burned my cheeks. “Yes, sir.” I gulped, trying not to laugh.

“Good girl. You ready?”

“Give me ten minutes to finish a pie and we’ll go.” I kissed his forehead and escaped.

Jericho and Romeo started in with questions before I’d moved off his lap. Smiling to myself, I headed back to the kitchen to finish my pie, satisfaction filling me to the tip-top of my curly hair.

* * *

Weeks stacked on top of each other like dominos set to fall. We’d navigated two months of this strange dance without stepping on each other’s toes. But more, I didn’t feel consumed, sucked dry, like I normally did with the men in my life. An idea planted roots in my brain—I wasn’t the failure.

My swings from elation to nervous dread lessened every day as I started to believe in myself. Dare valued and respected me in a way none of the others had despite their promises and whispered words of love. I’d take Dare’s actions over all the proclamations in the world.

Wednesdays became my favorite day of the week. Taking care of Dare had become second nature and I enjoyed it, especially since he didn’t expect it. However, cooking breakfast for the entire club—it stoked my self-esteem in a way nothing ever had. The guys showed appreciation in a playful way. The Angels of the world sneered at me in my apron serving pancakes, but she and others like her would never feel my pride in caring for people. It had been programmed into me at birth, I think, and I was done apologizing for who I was.

On my fifth Wednesday, like clockwork, I had the pancakes, bacon and sausage ready to serve by a quarter to ten. Humming a happy tune, I carried out the huge serving dish of pancakes. Another like it waited in the oven. A few more trips and I’d laid out my spread.

“Come and get it, boys,” I announced to the room.

More than forty pairs of eyes stared at me before chairs scraped back in a cacophony of screeches. I headed to the kitchen to clean up first, and then I’d chat with the guys later. Carrying out the second pan of cakes, I stared at three empty pans. I transferred the empty pan for a full one of cakes before I hurried back to the kitchen for bacon.

Placing the bacon in the empty serving dish, I scanned the room for Dare, but he was a no-show. On the days he didn’t bring me, he usually strolled in by ten thirty. What was keeping him away
?

Zayn sauntered up with a wink. “Mama, that was great. I’m going to bust I ate so much.”

My laughter rang out at his always outrageous compliments. “Thanks. Why do you call me Mama?”

Zayn’s brows lifted and I think his cheeks turned pink but he ducked his head too quick. “It’s a compliment, the highest one, we give old ladies and others who go out of their way to take care of us. I guess, a sign of our respect.”

He scuffed his boot, more than ready to flee this conversation. “Zayn, you’re too sweet. Thanks, and for the other times as well. I’ll bring some red velvet cake by the shop later.”

He grinned up at me. “Do I have to share?”

I frowned and shooed him toward the door. “Get your bad self to work and open up the shop for me.”

“Dare’s not going get any the way this crew is eating today.” Zayn gave a lazy wave and left the club.

I didn’t like it that Dare still hadn’t showed up, but maybe something came up, like club somethings. I returned to the kitchen to bring more pancakes out for the third dish. I’d just set the dish on the counter when a hulk of a guy, huge and tall, walked up to the table in a vest and nothing else on his top half. I’d never seen muscles like that, he even made Rock look small.

“Hey, honey.” He looked me up and down in a way I’d seen too often from guys in the club.

This guy who I’d never even seen before stared at me with empty plate in hand, not even bothering to pretend to load it up.

“Hey, I’m Lila, nice to meet you.” I grinned up at him.

“Thorn. I wanna fuck you.”

Whoa
,
what an offer
. No one had propositioned me before, but I hoped to avoid a scene. I decided to try a joke. It’d worked before, even if no one had been that blunt about their interest. Most of the guys had a great sense of humor.

“Unfortunately, that’s not possible.” I gave him a wink, turning to leave.

But I never made it. Next thing I remember, I hit the wall and crumpled to the floor—my face on fire.

Hands over my face, I curled into a ball, afraid the next blow was seconds away. I hadn’t even seen the first one coming. Panic hurtled through me at the thought of how much damage the giant could do to me.

How could I think I am safe?

MJ’s face blurred in front of mine. She spoke, but the words were jumbled by the ringing in my ears. Slowly her face came into focus and the ringing subsided. Shouts sounded loud behind MJ, but her words finally penetrated my fog of pain.

“Can you walk? I need to get you away, now.” She sounded panicked.

“Yeah, give me a hand,” I croaked, and braced for the fresh wave of pain standing would create. Sucking in a fortifying breath, I pulled to my feet swaying from the way everything spun. As soon as the shifting room settled, I let go of the biker woman. I’d taken worse and walked away on my own. Head up, I strode through the door to the kitchen and out the back door. Vertigo threatened and I propped myself against the club wall. Fresh air cleared my head, and redoubled the pounding pain in my cheek. I knew I’d have a shiner, and I hadn’t even looked in a mirror.

Experience is a fucking bitch.
This reminder hurt me as much as the first time my father had laid me out on the floor. Betrayal churned with my pain until tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let a single drop of water run down my cheek.

I willed my body to settle. How could I drive with the world jumping around? Shit, my keys and purse were under the counter at the bar, and going back in there would suck. A bony hand rested on my arm, definitely not Dare’s hand.

Scenarios of vengeance with Dare as my hero played through my brain. No one ever rescued me because I wasn’t a fucking heroine, just a girl to slap around. I needed to remember.

MJ pressed a bag of peas to my cheek. I grabbed the peas and held them in place.

Same shit different day.

She spoke to me, but I tuned out all her apologies and excuses. I’d heard them all. Even though I wanted nothing to do with her or the club, I let her lead me to a car and drive away since I couldn’t see well enough to drive myself.

“Look, Thorn’s a special case. I didn’t know he...”

I quit listening.

Wasn’t every abuser a special case with some excuse for his shit? No doubt the fault was mine, but I didn’t want to know what I’d done wrong this time. Instead, I mourned the loss of my dream—the one that died when I hit the club floor.