Honey Whiskey (A Bastards MC Novel) (27 page)

The reality was sobering. Rocker
tried to keep order, but there were panicked questions and angry
declarations. Should we go into lockdown? Could it be a copycat?
Why Tink and Ellie—what made them targets and were the rest of the
Ol’ ladies safe? What else did we know? We needed to figure out who
was behind this and take down these pricks before anyone else got
hurt. We would find them, and we would kill them.
Slowly.

In the end, Rob had to raise his
voice to get control of the meeting. His words were stern, but we
trusted him. There was no need for a lockdown because we wouldn’t
be able to destroy an unknown enemy. However, like last summer, we
would go on alert. Ol’ ladies, sisters, cousins, and protected moms
would not be left alone. Children would be taken to and from
school, and the clubhouse would become a daycare for non-school
hours. The Brats, as our club whores called themselves, would buddy
up—even if they objected—and would not go anywhere alone. We would
be vigilant and more aware of our surroundings.

The vote went around the table and
we agreed. The eleven of us sat as the rest of the club filed out,
everyone somber and in a hurry to get home and hug their loved ones
or pull one of the girls into their room and release some tension.
As the door closed, Rob leaned forward, worry etched on his
face.

“
Tell me we’ve
got somethin’ on this prick. Anythin’,” he
demanded.

Wizard, our computer whiz kid that
could find anything about anyone, shook his head. “I have her
drivin’ through a traffic light on the way to work. She’s alone in
the cah. She nevah pulled into the lot. So, somewhere from the
light on Western Main to Elm, she went missin’. There isn’t a
single security camera in the area. Whoever got her knew they were
in a blind zone.” He sighed, tapping a few more keys on his tablet
before adding, “The security system in her house wasn’t triggered.
But, they were disabled ten minutes aftah she went to work, right
about the time she was drivin’ through the light where I got a time
stamped picture. Twenty minutes later, whoever was in the house
left and reactivated the alarms.”

“
Do any of you
have any idea of possible perps?” Hawk asked, sounding like his
dad. “I can’t plan an attack if I don’t know who I’m goin’ aftah.
Give me somethin’, anythin’, to investigate, and I’m on
it.”

King shook his head, typing away
on his own iPad. “We’re still diggin’. We’re lookin’ at anyone that
has a grudge. Every dad. Every husband, boyfriend, and sleaze ball.
Every mom. So far, the only one that’s made parole hasn’t bothered
to come home or even call his family.”

Wiz sighed. “If we just had one
single clue, I’d blow it out of the watah.”

But, we didn’t. Whoever this was,
he was smart. He knew we’d be watching. Breaking into her house
while Tink was very obviously somewhere else proved that she hadn’t
defaced the picture herself. Making sure she made it to the light,
but not to the hospital, made it clear they knew where to kidnap
her. Just like with Ian and Ellie, this was not a spur of the
moment attack—it had been well thought out. There was no sloppy
evidence left behind. We wouldn’t know who did it until they got
sloppy or until they came forward. If they got sloppy, that meant
they were panicking, which meant they would kill. A ransom demand
would be much better.

As Rob closed the meeting and
dismissed us, Neo caught my eye. He hadn’t said much during the
meeting, but sitting between Tank and Wiz, he probably hadn’t had a
chance. Now, though, he nodded his head to the side of the room and
stood up.

“
Drop L.K. off
at the gym this afternoon.” I didn’t need him to explain more as I
walked towards him. He knew she was the only woman involved in this
that didn’t know how to take care of herself. “I’ll be there in an
hour, and I’ll stay as long as it takes.”

I nodded, walking around him and
into the main room. I was still numb. This was how we lived. When
you were the vigilante group, you took on someone else's fight as
your own, and fought their battles because they couldn’t. But, it
brought the war to your front door. I hated that Joes was here in
the middle of this shit now. I needed to get to my room, pull her
into my arms, and prove to myself she was safe.

Then I needed to call my boss.
There was no way in hell I was going back to Maine and leaving Jo
here alone. Yeah, my brothers would keep an eye on her, protect her
if she needed it, but, if something happened to her… I couldn’t
even let the thought finish because it made me too sick. Maybe it
was time for me to give my notice anyway. Jo was building a life
here, and I needed to be where she was.

Chapter 25

Jo

I’d waited until long after I
heard the two of them walk down the hall before I slipped from the
bed and sprinted into the bathroom. I didn’t want anyone else to
walk in the room and see me buck ass naked again. My cheeks were
still burning. I’d never gotten caught going down on anyone
before—not even my unpredictable roommate in college had seen me
doing that to Will, and she’d come home at the most random times to
find us in many sexual poses. Of course it would be Rocker that
would literally catch me with a dick in my mouth.

Laughing to myself, I grabbed a
cup of water, wrapped a towel around me, and walked slowly back to
bed. I needed coffee, but Matty had told me to stay here and that
was exactly what I was going to do. I’d had enough trouble to last
a lifetime walking around this clubhouse alone, and I had
absolutely no desire to repeat that mistake.

I propped myself against his
pillows, smelling his musky scent on the bed, and smiled. God, I
was so happy that I could seriously scream. Had it really been just
over a week ago that I’d told Teagan I was sure Matty would never
forgive me for moving to Boston? I’d been so convinced that I’d
blown it, and now I was in his room, in his bed, and I was most
definitely his.

Looking around, I realized that
his room was exactly what I would expect—simple and tasteful, even
in the middle of a motorcycle clubhouse. It was clean, unlike some
of the other rooms I’d seen that had empty bottles strewn
everywhere, and the light blue walls made the room seem larger than
the others. It was quite bare. A giant Bastards flag hung on one
wall and pictures of Sammy were on every available surface. Except
for next to his bed. That held ‘our’ picture—the one I had kept on
my desk for years, and the one he had on the nightstand at our
apartment. We were young, I’d been maybe 25 and he’d been around
28, just babies compared to now. His arm was thrown around my
shoulders in that brotherly way he used to hug me, and we were
laughing at whoever was taking the picture. We looked like a happy
couple without a trouble in the world. It made me miss the kids we
used to be.

I picked up my left hand, staring
at the ring. Reaching out with my other hand, I twirled it on my
finger. Yes, it was real. Matty had really proposed, and I’d really
said yes. Holy shit! Young, womanizing whore Matty would never have
asked me to spend eternity with him, so maybe I didn’t miss our
younger selves as much as I’d thought.

The idea made me realize that
there were so many things we needed to talk about, so many secrets
we still had buried, and so many things to work through. I had been
ready to demand answers when I’d gotten home last night, but seeing
him at the bar, devastated and drinking his pain away, brought back
every memory I had of him from ten years ago, when Bex had left
him. That reminder was as effective as a sharp slap in the face. My
life would be nothing without that man and I could not lose him.
While I was still very curious about everything, I wanted to push
it away and just be happy, at least for a little while.

Looking at the ring made me
realize that, for the first time in years, I wasn’t worried. Being
with Matty was so different than being with Will. I didn’t have to
wonder if I was going to come home to a husband that rejected me
and made me feel like I was hideous inside and out. Matty would
spend eternity helping me battle those demons. And I would do the
same for him.

Over the past few days, I’d come
to the conclusion that even though I might not look like Taylor, or
that beautiful girl that had been with him last night—Rebel was
it?—I was what Matty wanted. Me. Cellulite, stretch marks, pudge,
and all. It was my body that made him hard, my body that had him
gasping out in pleasure for hours on end. It was my mind he loved.
I was awkward, geeky, stubborn, and had the tendency to say the
most inappropriate thing at the most inappropriate time. He loved
me anyway.

He wanted to marry
me
. Matthew
Murphy, the Greek-God that hundreds of women lusted after, loved
me. Matty, my annoying, but hilarious, best friend in the entire
world, said that he would want me forever. Mateo, the bad ass
Bastard, asked me to marry him. And I’d said yes.

I smiled as I turned and cuddled
his pillow, smelling him. I couldn’t remember a time when I was
this content. I drifted off to sleep, happier than I’d been in a
long time.

*****

Strong arms lifted me back into a
wall of muscle and a deep sexy growl against my ear pulled me away
from dreamland. I managed a small sigh and a smile as I reached
over my head and tangled my fingers in his hair. The move pulled my
breast off the bed, earning me another growl as Matty cupped me. I
wiggled my ass against him in response.

He sighed, leaning into my neck
and biting me gently. His fingers found mine, twining between them
and tugging them away from his head. He moved them to the
headboard, guiding me to close my fists around the wooden slats.
Teeth and tongue burned a trail over my shoulder and down my back.
Fingers slid down my sides, up and over the outside of my breasts,
skimming my ribs, and onto my hips before curling into my flesh and
holding on tight.

Each breath I let go was ragged. I
was so incredibly turned on that I was sure I’d die of combustion
if he didn’t offer me some relief soon. He shifted his body over
mine slightly, using a knee to part my legs as his tongue left wet
loops around my spinal cord. Releasing the grip on my flesh, his
hands suddenly stretched across my lower back, and his tongue
traced the words on my flesh.

“
You are. You know that
right?”

Lifting my head off the pillow, I
turned my head to see him, but his ‘tsks’ at my movement made me
immediately drop back down. “I am what?” I asked, completely
breathless.

“Enough the way you are,” he
repeated the words of my tattoo, his voice husky. “You are more the
enough.” His left hand moved to mine, enclosing it in his giant
palm and forcing me to keep it around the wood at the top of the
bed. His right moved back to my hip and pulled me back on my knees.
It felt like I was doing a yoga pose, and I started to
struggle.

He moved in behind me quickly
before I could escape, hard on soft, and just as I was about to
object, he entered me slowly. My gasp was throaty and full of
relief at having him so close again, and I giggled as the same
sound came from his mouth.

“You are everything!” Pulling out
excruciatingly slow, he leaned over and kissed the words before
pushing back in without hurrying. I bit my lip as I felt every inch
of him ease inside me.

“Tell me!” he demanded. “Tell me
how much you’re worth to me.”

“Matty!” All I
could manage was a frustrated grunt. “God, Matty, please?” I wasn’t
above begging at this point. I just needed to feel more of him, and
I needed to feel it faster.

He chuckled, slowing down his
pumps, if that was even possible. “Tell me. I know how much you’re
worth to me. I know what you think of yourself. I want to hear you
tell me how much you think you’re worth to me.”

My mind processed the words for a
minute, because nothing made sense. I tightened my grip on the
posts since it was the one thing I could control, and realized what
he wanted. “I’m worth everything to you.” He shoved in faster,
harder, but still not at his usual pace. The contrast was
delicious, and I cried out, “Everything!” before I could stop
myself.

“That’s right!”
Matty growled back before nipping my neck. “You are enough the way
you are!” His hand grabbed a handful of flesh before backing out
and slamming in at a mind-numbing pace. “You. Are. My. Everything!”
He accentuated each word with a deep, hard thrust.

He was so honest and raw in that
moment that it almost distracted me. Almost. Then, all thought was
gone as he picked up the tempo, in and out, fucking me stupid. The
hand on my hip shimmied back up my skin, grabbing my boob just
rough enough. His thumb and finger pinched, pulled, and rolled my
hardened nipple, and I couldn’t hold on anymore.

My muscles tightened around him,
trying to coax out his release so we could have it together. His
low grumble of appreciation pushed me over the edge again and I
gasped for air, every nerve on alert. His fingers moved quickly,
finding a home at the apex of my thighs. Expertly, they move to my
clit, flicking and massaging. I’d stayed relatively quiet, the fact
that it was the middle of the day and there were people around
always in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t hold back a second
longer. I cried out, loudly, as his fingers pulled another orgasm
from me.