Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (54 page)

"It won't," I said. His other hand dipped to the small of my back and when I saw the look in his eyes, I knew exactly what he wanted from me. Again. "
River
." I almost felt guilty for sounding as if I wanted it just as much as he did, maybe even just a little bit more.

"Nobody can see us out here, baby." He rocked himself against me, forcing me to feel his cock lengthen and press directly against my sex. I squirmed against him and he growled. "Shit, if you were wearin' one of those goddamn skirts, so fuckin' short with nothin' on underneath, I'd be right the fuck inside you again right now, makin' you come." He leaned forward and wrapped his teeth around the edge of my chin, slightly tugging until I moaned and flinched. When I dipped my head back, he released me, then growled again and slapped my ass. "Let's get you back inside."

I tightened my arms around him and giggled in his ear as he lifted me up from the table and carried me across the lot. But before we could even get back through the door of the club, around twenty or so Harley's suddenly roared past the gates, screeching and crackling across the gravel as their wheels spun against it. River let me down to the ground as quickly as possible as they all pulled into a single file line in front of us before spreading out like an eagle's wings on either side, with ten on one side and nine on the other, leaving a single open space in the middle for one of them to roar up from the back of the line. He blasted past all of them like a bolt of lightning being struck down from the sky, only stopping just mere feet from River, who had almost immediately shoved me behind him as a way to keep me from seeing, or being seen. I grabbed onto his arms to keep from falling back, and he looked behind him and held me tighter to keep me from dropping straight to the ground.

When the man in front of River, with his pale skin and awful black hair, stringy black goatee and eyebrows as bushy as uncut grass, cut the engine on his bike, he raised his leather clad hand, then made a fist, which forced the other bikers behind him to do the same. He removed his helmet and draped it across the edge of the handle, then gradually lowered his sunglasses to the tip of his nose. I felt River's grip tighten when the man peeked around him to try and get a good look at me. My eyes shot straight down to his cut, and on one side, embroidered with yellow letters read,
Stark Bastards MC, MBC
. On the other side, just above his pocket and much like the Shadow Riders, read 'President'."

He ripped off his sunglasses, revealing a hard set of green eyes, and placed them on top of his head. Then he folded his hands one over the other, looked up at River and chuckled. "Well, well, well, motherfucker. Been a long, long, goddamn time but I see some shit's finally changed around here. For starters, the lot's bigger. And I see you've finally managed to switch your team colors on me," the man said in a voice much deeper than River's and Wolf's combined. "And you know I ain't talkin' 'bout the letters in that goddamn cut and jacket." He kicked the stand out on his bike and threw a leg over it to stand straight to his feet. When he got in River's face, they were around the same height and build, though River was slightly taller, at least by a few inches, and a hell of a lot more fit. "What's her name, brother?"

"I ain't your brother, asshole," River shot back. "What the fuck are you even doin' here, Laz? The Shadow Riders got no goddamn business here with you or yours, and you got no goddamn good enough reason to be on this side of town again. Let alone, this side of the fence."

"Actually, I got a damn good reason for it,
VP
. For bein' on both as a matter of fuckin’ fact, so that's where you're wrong," he replied in a mocking and disdainful tone. "See, my own goddamn VP heard there was a party goin' on here tonight, which there seems to be unless I'm goin' fuckin' crazy again, which is entirely fuckin' possible, but from the looks of, it ain't. We also heard that uh, Chino and the Dragons are in town for it too, yeah? That they're right inside at this very fuckin' moment, dancin' and fuckin' with their own bitches and maybe even a few others." He chuckled. "And let's see...hmm...." He pressed his finger to his chin and then snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, we also heard that the reason they're here is 'cause they're lookin' to help you take down that motherfucker Ricky Fontaine and his crew for good. And that the shit all started 'cause of this bitch you're so goddamn unsuccessfully tryin' to hide behind you." He peeked over at me and winked. "Hey darlin'." He turned his eyes back to River and dropped his hands around his waist. "Any of this shit startin' to ring any goddamn bells for you, motherfucker?"

Oh.

Shit.

River looked between every man on his bike, then turned back to Laz and sneered. "Where the fuck did you even hear all of this shit from, asshole?"

"From Fontaine himself. Son of a bitch called up my Old Lady the other night while we were gettin' it in, askin' if she had a place that he could stay for the time bein' since, if you recall correctly, they were fuckin' on the regular not long before he got locked up and she hooked up with me."

He shook his head and snickered. "You still with Marlene. Jesus
Christ
."

"Bitch's got every single one of my kids and another goddamn one on the way." He laughed. "Anyway, this asshole let it slip to her that you and the Lairs hooked up, and that you wanna take him down for good over some pussy and his kid." He bent forward and opened his arms wide and grinned. "We're all ears about hearin' just how you plan on actually makin' that shit happen."

River released me from his grip and crossed his arms. "Are you shittin' me with this bullshit, motherfucker? You cut outta here just before we officially patch you in to start up your own goddamn club on the other side of town before eventually headin' off to Miami to expand your sector. Now you're comin' back here to seek our help so that you can be in on scrappin' Fontaine? For what, motherfucker? 'Cause you think he might get to your girl again? Or 'cause you're afraid he's already got her--?"

Laz laughed aloud and jerked his broad shoulders. "Ain't that the same goddamn reason you're really lookin' to fry up this motherfucker, Riv? Sometimes a bitch just ain't a bitch, amirite, motherfucker?"

River waited a moment and slightly bobbed his head. Then he spun around to me and stared straight into my eyes. "Do me a favor and get Blue," he said. "Send him out here for me and you stay inside. See if you can find my mother and make sure she's alright after that shit with Wolf."

"Okay." As I raced back inside for Blue, who sprinted out the door as soon as I told him what the hell was up, I searched the club for Jolene, only to find her in what was once known as River's bedroom, and sitting on the bed with Wolf. "Oh." I couldn't tell if they had been engaged in much of anything despite the door being only slightly open, but from the flushed look on her face and the intense gaze in his eyes, I knew that whatever the hell it was, was something neither of them hadn't intended for me or anyone else to see much of. When I tried closing the door, Wolf hopped up from the bed, grabbed onto the knob and jerked it back. I stumbled inside and stared up at him. He glared down at me for a few seconds before glancing back at Jolene, but didn't say another word and quickly bolted not long after, leaving us in there alone. "He smells like a liquor cabinet if the bottles were left open." I dropped against the frame and crossed my arms while staring at her. Tears suddenly rolled from her eyes and down her cheeks, and I knew without her saying a single word about it exactly why. "And he's River's father, isn't he?" I asked her.

Her eyes shot straight up to mine in surprise before she finally bobbed her head and dropped her face into her hands. Immediately, I closed the door and joined her on the bed. And I took her in my arms the same way she had with me before, and allowed her to sob until she just couldn't anymore and her entire body nearly gave out beneath me.

"And he didn't actually 'find' you on the side of that road did he? He knew that you would be there," I finally said while doing as best as I could to hold her against me as she sobbed. When she didn't respond, I turned my eyes up to the ceiling and cursed myself for being able to actually put everything together; from the way Verna spoke about them, from what Jolene herself had told me earlier that day in the park, to the look on both of their faces as they exited the kitchen, to whatever the hell it was they were doing before I had walked in on them. She started sobbing even harder, shaking and rattling her head, and I slightly pulled back to look her in the face. Her eyes were completely bloodshot, red as beets just as much as her cheeks and the tip of her nose. "You have to tell your son the truth about this," I said. "He and Wolf are on the verge of killing each other at this point, and if you continue not to say anything about this, it's only bound to get worse."

"It's
been
getting worse, honey," she said, pulling out of my arms. "Long before you ever thought to show back up here, it's been getting worse." She rested her hands on her knees and breathed in and out slowly to calm her sobs.

"Then why continue to keep quiet about it after all these years? Why not speak up about it and end all of this?"

"Because it wouldn't end anything between them. Learning the truth would change nothing for River in terms of how he feels about Wolf. In fact, I think he'd be even worse off in knowing. They both would."

Seconds later, there was a knock at the door.

As she finished dabbing her eyes, I hopped up from the bed and opened the door to a panicked and pale, yet unexpected face. "Courtney?" I asked, eyeing her up and down. "What the hell are you doing here--?"

"River wanted me to come and find you," she said.

I arched a brow and leaned back on my heel while glaring at her. "Did he?" I asked, my tone stern.

She made a face and slightly rolled her eyes. "No, not really. He doesn't even know that I'm here yet, I don't think. But one of the girls out front said that I could find you back here and I was hoping that we could talk." She peeked behind me at Jolene. "Alone."

"That should be my cue," said Jolene, standing from the bed and wiping her face.

I spun back around to her and frowned. "Where are you going?"

"She said she needs to talk to you alone, Mia, and the last thing I want is to get in the middle of two women who've been with my son."

I turned back to Courtney and sneered. "Depending on how the hell this conversation goes," I said, "you might need to."

"It won't be anything like that," said Courtney. "I swear it." She raised three fingers and crossed her thumb over the tip of her pinky. "Girl Scouts Honor."

"Somehow I'm having difficulty picturing you as much of a Girl Scout, though I'm sure you enjoyed the skirts."

She looked down at my shorts and smirked. "Takes one to know one," she shot back.

I grinned and chuckled, though both were anything but sincere. "Fair enough." I remained skeptical as hell, but stepped back from the door anyway and allowed her inside, while Jolene took a quick exit to the right and hurried down the hall. "We'll finish this later!" I hollered out to her before hesitantly closing the door. When I turned back to Courtney, she moved around the room like a snake, just slithering from one side of it to the other. She dropped her head when she realized I was staring at her and turned back to me with tears in her eyes.

"The last time I was in this room wasn't such a happy memory," she said. "I had just been with River--"

"
Oo-kay
." I folded my arms.

"And I had lied to him about my age," she continued. "He was on the verge of kicking me out after I told him."

"How the hell old did you tell him that you were?"

"Seventeen," she told me.

"And... how old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"
Wow
." I crossed the room, shrugging. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why he chose you."

I peered. "What?"

"I mean you're pretty and you seem smart, but..." She waved her hands and dipped her head back. "Why did he choose you over me?"

"Outside of the fact that you still have the word 'teen' still attached to your age?" I said.

She fell to the edge of the bed in almost a collapse. All I could hope was that she didn't start sobbing uncontrollably because comforting River's mother was one thing. A girl he had previously used for sex, who also happened to be Ricky's sister, was most definitely another. "I know that I've made mistakes," she muttered. She brought her hand up to her mouth and chewed her nails. "It's what people my age do, right? We make mistakes all the time and we try to learn from them, but... Deep down, I still think that I'm a good person. I
am
a good person. But he didn't think so."

"To be quite honest, I don't think that River thinks about you all that much. But if he did--"

"I'm not talking about River," she snapped. Her eyes shot straight up to mine and she sighed. "I meant Ricky. He knows that I went to see River... and he knows that I'm here tonight."

"What?"

"He found out where I've been staying, and contacted me at the hotel this morning--"

"Did he ask you to come here tonight?" I asked her. My pulse started thumping out of control the moment she nodded her head. "Why?"