Faith’s Temptation (Dueling Dragons MC Book 1) (5 page)

“Ax, what’s up, man?” We clap and bump shoulders. I slam him on the back with my hand. Dander and dirt flies up. “What the fuck? You turnin’ to dust or some shit?”

He laughs. “Suck my dick.”

We both step back and finish chuckling. I pull a pack of Camels from inside my cut and slip one in my mouth. “So, what’s the deal on some pussy?” I wink at him, taking a deep drag of my smoke.

He lightly shakes his head. “Never put it past a Porter boy to want anything less. Come on, we got a few ‘fire breathers’ in here.”

Exhaling, I clap him on the back one more time and we start to walk toward the clubhouse. “Now, you know the Lollys are usually loose as fuck after having all you dirt-bags in them. What about some nice, clean pussy?”

Lollys are the girls we’ve had around for a while. They usually go for the prospects because they think they are easy targets, and hell, one day that guy is going to get patched, right? So, why not go for the easy prey? The Lollys are really only good for two things: a quick fuck and suck.

“What do you think this is? A whorehouse?” he chuckles, pushing open the swinging door.

I’m instantly hit with my childhood. Just the smell alone brings back all the memories of getting drunk here for the first time. Walking into the huge 18 by 18 room, I look in the far corner where a couple of couches are set up with a few prospects getting their jollies off with some of the Lollys. I usually don’t fuck around with ‘em, but I need to bust a nut.

Faith has been runnin’ through my head day and fuckin’ night. I have the best dreams about her submitting fully to me and being mine. But I have a feeling she is going to be a hard nut to crack when it comes to the hard and dirty side of things.

I continue walking around the big, open room looking at things that remind me of being here five years ago. I’ve come back for visits, but I usually never come to the clubhouse. Something about this place takes me back to a fucked-up time in my life.

“So, you meeting up with Manuel while you’re here?” Axel asks as we walk toward his office.

“Yeah,” I give him a nod. “Tomorrow at noon. Hoping to get things laid out for the final run."

Placing his hand on my back, Axel looks me dead in the eyes. “I’m proud of ya, son. Proud that you’ve stepped up and handled this shit your pops got this MC into with the Leyba family. I don’t know if any of these guys would have stepped up like you have.”

Looking at the man that has become more of a father to me than my own father ever was, I see the emotion in his face. “You’ll definitely make a better Prez than he ever could’ve,” he concludes.

“You really gonna spoil the night with some emotional shit?” I give him a side eye as we continue across the room. We both laugh loudly and I notice her—a tall and lanky redhead who looks vaguely familiar.
Well, she’ll have to do, I guess
. Faith is a redhead, but she isn’t tall like this girl.

She notices me eyeing her. She slowly excuses herself from the conversation she’s having with a couple of the prospects and makes her way toward me. I turn and ask our house bartender for a beer.

“Comin’ right up.” Cami is beautiful…But what am I saying? The only thing around this club besides the dirty bikers is the hot ass!

“Well, well. If it isn’t little Ryder Porter.” The redhead slinks up, stopping about eight inches from me. She’s close enough that her body heat radiates from her nipples and warms my chest.

“Tonya, how you doing?” Axel says, standing next to me.

“Just fine now that Ryder’s back in town.” She licks her big, red lips.

“Oh, yeah, you’ve been waiting for me?” I reach forward and loop my finger in the belt loop of her shorts.

“Yeah, maybe I have.” She smiles and turns to walk away.

“Whoa." I grab her wrist. "Where the hell you think you’re going?”

She stops, giving me the hottest look, which makes my cock hard as fuck, and says, “Well, you don’t think I’m going to suck you and fuck you right here, do you?”

How the hell am I supposed to respond to that? I stand there looking at her dumbfounded for about thirty seconds before she starts pulling me toward a back room.

“Well, Ryder, I guess I’ll catch you in a few,” Axel calls out to me.

I throw my hand up in the air and walk with Tonya. “You’re in for a wild night, Ryder,” she purrs back at me with a huge smile on her face.

That’s right. Tonight is going to be one hell of a ride.

Two weeks later…

Faith

DING.

“Order up!” Charlie yells from the kitchen window.

“Yeah! I hear ya!” I holler back at him from across the diner. I have been serving these guys for the past two weeks. Things were a bit rocky at first, but I think I’m coming right along.

“Darlin’, you think I could get a refill?” Lloyd, a heavyset, dark-haired trucker says from the end of the bar.

“All right, give me a few seconds, Lloyd. I gotta get Hank his country fried steak before the gravy solidifies or he’ll send that shit back.” I grab the plate out from under the warming lamp and head across the diner toward another overweight, greasy looking man.

“You know, Faith, I think you’re the best thing to happen to Layla’s,” Lloyd says to me as I scurry away.

“You’re just sayin’ that ‘cause you think I’m pretty.” I head over to the coffee pot, grab the carafe, and head toward the trucker.

“Well, you know I can’t give away my secrets.” He smiles, showing that he’s missing about half his teeth.

Mental note: Truckers have dirty mouths!

“It’s all right, Lloyd. She’s just too wet behind the ears to realize you’re still kissing her ass because she’s so new.” Layla has the most impeccable timing for interrupting things, and right now, I welcome her interruption.

“Oh, damn it, Layla. Why you gotta tell my secrets?” Lloyd pounds his fist on the counter and laughs.

“Those weren’t secrets. Those were bad intentions,” Layla counters him back. “And you know I can’t let you take advantage of her like that.” Walking toward the register, she laughs the whole way.

“Speaking of secrets, Lloyd. You got some money for me?” She turns around, crooking her finger in a come-at-me gesture.

“Awe, Layla. Sweetheart, Sugar Bear, Sweet Tits.” He bats his eyes at her like it’s going to work for a butter-up. “Don’t bust my chops right now. Times are rough.” Almost sulking, he looks down at the counter. “I’ll go work out in the truck shop for a few hours.”

She waves him off. “Ya know I’m giving you shit. You don’t need to work in the shop. You need to eat and then go rest so you can keep on truckin’.” She gives him a half hug, and that is the moment that I realize who Layla is—a gentle soul, but someone who will fight with the best of ‘em also if needed.

The past few weeks have been interesting to say the least. When I first came here, it was just going to be temporary. Now I think it might actually be worth staying here. So, I guess I’ll make the best of it. I’ve made a few friends—if you can call them that. A couple of pudgy truckers and a line cook.

Layla and I have gotten a little closer, but in a more sisterly way. We often talk together. She tells me about what it was like taking over the truck stop and all the stuff she had to learn to be able to do it. For being such a rigid-tempered person, she is actually really laid-back once you get to know her.

With everything going on
he
hasn’t had time to run across my mind. Honestly, I am a little thankful for that.

But in an instant, he floods my mind.
What a perfect time!
His lips. Oh, those soft and sweet lips. I wonder what they would feel like on my skin. That telltale tingle ripples through my core again, just thinking about his lips and what his mouth alone could do to my body.

I shudder a little too hard and Layla stops her endless chatter with Lloyd. “You okay over there, Faith?” She walks over to me and starts to rub my shoulder. “You all right?”

“Yeah.” I shrug and shake my head. “Yeah, I’m fine. You know, it’s one of those unexpected shivers that you get once in a while,” I say, hoping she’ll believe me.

“Hmm. Well, I know it’s not because you’re cold or anything. Since it’s like 90 degrees outside right now and you weren’t under an AC vent.”

Here she goes trying to come up with a reason why things happen. She’s one of those people who think absolutely everything happens for a reason. And I mean everything!

At what seems like the best timing ever, the diner phone rings.

“Oh, I’ll get it.” I rush over to the phone behind the servers’ station. “Layla’s Truck Stop, this is Faith. How can I help you?”

“Faith, ah, just the person I wanted to talk to.”

And that is when I hear the voice I’ve been waiting to hear for weeks now.
It’s him. It’s Ryder.
I almost feel like I could do jumping jacks, I’m so happy.

No, Faith. Keep your cool!

The images of his gorgeous body flood my mind as his voice curls around my eardrum.

“Y-ye...yes....”
Pull it together Faith!
“Yes, that’s me,” I say on a little too high of a note. Clearing my throat, I continue. “Is there something I can help you with?” I ask with as snarky a tone to my voice as I can muster.

“Ah, my sweet girl, what a mouth you have on you. What I wouldn’t do to… ” He starts to go into details, but I cut him off.

“Is there something important you’ve called for?” I bluntly ask him.
You know you wanna hear what he has to say.
Keep it professional, Faith.

“Oh, yeah, is my sister around?” It sounds more like a statement than a question.

“Hang on. Let me see if she’s here.” I start to turn away from the counter to look for this woman when I realize I have no idea who his sister is. “Wait, who’s your sister?”

I hear laughing on the other end of the phone. “Layla, of course.” He laughs even harder once he says her name.

Standing there staring at the back of Layla’s head, trying to put the pieces together on how these two are related, I scratch my head and get her, just like he asked. “Layla, you have a phone call.”

She turns around, nods her head at me, and finishes up her conversation with Lloyd before walking over to me. Since they’re done chatting, I get back on the phone. “She’ll be right with you, sir.”

“Oh, I love hearing you say ‘sir.’ Gives me all kinds of dirty ideas,” he purrs into the phone.

Completely in shock and not knowing what to say, I cover my mouth with my hand.

“So tell me something about yourself, Faith, while we’re waiting for Layla,” he says ever-so-casually.

I have no idea how to respond to him, or if my words would even come out right if I tried, so I just ignore him and hope that he won’t continue.

“Oh, look. Here she comes,” I say to him as she strolls up to me with a strange look on her face. She must see the odd look on mine. “Well, you have yourself a blessed day now.”

“Oh, yes, you’re going to be a fair challenge. But I can promise you this: I get what I want and I keep what I want.” He clicks his tongue on the other end of the phone. “I know you felt the connection between us, so when the time comes, don’t fight it, just let Ryder take control,” he says in a commanding tone that drips with raw sexuality.

“Excuse me, but I am not someone that you can just have and keep. I actually like being myself and not being told what to do,” I snarl into the phone as I begin to shake from frustration. I’ve never been talked to like this.

Layla stops in front of me, staring right at me, mouthing the question, “What?” I shake my head at her and hold up my finger to signal one minute.

“Faith? Did I lose you?”

“No, you didn’t lose me. You didn’t have me in the first place. But I’m here,” I reply.

“I’ll be back in two days. You’ll have dinner with me. I’d love to get to know you.”

He is asking me on a date? He isn’t asking me, he’s telling me. Is he kidding?

“I don’t think so. I’m not interested in going anywhere with you. So my answer is no. Sorry.” I let the cockiness seethe through my voice.

“Faith, run for as long as you want, but I’m not giving up on you. I like a chase and I love a challenge.” He clicks his tongue again. “So run, run while you can ‘cause I’m coming for you, baby.” I can hear his smile through the phone.

“Get over yourself, douchebag!” I say with disgust as I hand the phone over to Layla. “Here, he’s all yours!”

After ending the most pointless conversation of my life, I grab my smokes and head for the back door. Slipping my earbuds in, I hear Seether. Lighting up my smoke—nasty habit, I know—I take a drag and look around the parking lot of the truck stop.

Who does he think he is? Why is he so stuck on me? Looking down, I survey my body. Shrugging, I start to think about some of the comments that Beau used to say about my body. He loved every inch, or at least that’s what he said.

***

“I like your tits, Faith. I think they’re perfect.”

I can hear Beau’s voice ringing in my mind. He always loved everything about me, even down to the beauty spot that I had on my ass. Didn’t know that I actually had one ‘til Beau and I were fooling around down by the pond on the backside of my daddy’s property.

“Oh, my God, Faith!” Beau starts to snicker as he is rubbing my back and legs. “I have always heard the joke about you having a beauty spot on your ass or some shit like that. Well, babe, you actually do have one. Only one, and it’s perfect.” I feel Beau bend over and kiss my ass cheek.

I start to laugh, thinking about that afternoon together and what he did to me that day.

***

The sound of the truck’s air brakes hissing pulls me promptly from my thoughts of Beau.
Ugh, I am so sick of thinking about him!
I toss my butt into the parking lot and exhale before walking back into the diner.

Stopping at the sink, I push the soap pump and it spits soap all over my apron. “Shit. God damn it.” I turn on the water, grab a paper towel, and wet it. I try to wipe the soap off my apron.

Looking down, I don’t even notice Layla as she comes storming toward me from the kitchen. The second she reaches me, she locks her arm in mine and starts pulling me backward toward the door.