Lock and Key (18 page)

Heads snapped our way, gasps dotted about the room. Erica’s eyes widened at the counter, and the light buzz of chatter in the coffee house was suspended while Heather held center stage at the Meager Grand Cafe. She waited for our reaction. Lock and I only continued to hold onto each other and stare blankly at her.

Heather’s eyes sizzled. “Asshole!” She turned on a dime, her long, bright red hair swished against her back. Her high-heeled booties clacked mercilessly on the polished wood floor. She pulled on the door, gave us a final death glare, and stormed out.

Lock’s gaze darted over me. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said softly. “Don’t you need to go after your girlfriend?”

Just confirming.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he said. His lips began to move again, but I quickly pressed my fingers against them.

“I don’t need an explanation,” I said. “And you don’t owe me one. I know what that was, and I know what this is. No worries.” I clambered off his lap.

His grip on me tightened, and he pulled me back over his legs. “Whoa. Stop right there.”

“Excuse me?”

His brows snapped together. “Number one: Heather’s just a club bitch making a play where there is no play to make, and, most importantly, she had no right to even make it.”

Poor Heather. She had obviously forgotten that vital line item in the biker babe handbook: To fuck a biker is a privilege. If you are chosen, consider yourself lucky. Never question, never say no, and never, ever make your own demands.

“She and I have hooked up a few times,” Lock said. “Same as she’s hooked up with a lot of the guys. This, I’m sure, is not news to you. And although I do appreciate that you with all your club life experience get that without my having to explain it to death and without you getting yourself into a snit about it, I still find it necessary to make a reference to it.”

Alpha arrogance coupled with articulate gentlemanly concern. Un-fucking-believable.

Hold on, I liked it.

I bit down on my lip to make myself concentrate on what he was saying and shove back my amusement. He was certainly fired up. Was that good or bad?

“Number two: You made a play of your own back there.”

My face prickled with heat. “What?”

“It was priceless,” he said. “You didn’t get pissy or bitchy. Didn’t say a fucking word. No, what you did was smooth and subtle. Don’t think I didn’t notice, and don’t think I didn’t find it hot.” His hooded gaze fell to my mouth. “Extremely hot.”

I shot him a glare.

He ignored my glare. “Number three—” he said.

My eyes widened.

“You and me are happening. It’s not an illusion, and there’s nothing confusing about it. It just is.”

“It just is?” I said. “What the…?”

“Yeah, Grace. You and me. It’s happening.”

“Lock, there is no ‘you and me.’ You and me barely know each other! We have a few things in common, like a sexual episode and dead biker relatives, but that’s about it.”

He leaned into me, his features dark. “A sexual episode?” he asked. “Are you kidding me? We can’t keep our hands off each other, woman!”

I made a scoffing sound and jerked off his lap, but he tugged me right back on once more. I shot him another glare. The corded veins in his neck seemed to pound at me.

“Grace…” His voice was low and slightly threatening.

“Keep it down, would you? We’ve made enough of a scene in here as it is. Even Erica’s watching.”

“I don’t give a shit who’s watching,” he said. “Admit it.” The silver in his eyes glinted at me. His large hands bound my wrists in my lap. His face was now only inches from mine. The air was sucked out of me.

“Say it,” he said. “You know it’s true.”

I let out a heavy sigh.

“Grace?”

“Okay! Yes. I’m attracted to you.”

“Very nice, and?”

Demanding, bossy, son of a
…

“Babe,” he practically growled. His thighs tightened into absolute rocks under mine.

“And I liked sleeping with you.”

“You liked
sleeping
with me?” His eyes flared. “We fu—”

My fingers flew to his mouth. “For God’s sake!”

He snorted air from his nose like a wild horse and latched onto my hand at his mouth, pulling it away.

“Grace!”

I leaned into him. “I liked
fucking
you a hell of a lot,” I whispered. “How’s that? Is that better?”

“Oh, much better. Extremely accurate, in fact.”

“Good. But a good fucking doesn’t constitute a ‘you and me’ of any kind.”

Lock’s dark eyes simmered. “Are you shitting me?”

I groaned, and my head sank in my hands. The couple at the next table stared at us.

“It was amazing,” he said. “We clicked, it was a whole other level of…”

“So we have chemistry!”

“It was more than chemistry! There was something honest about it, something real.”

“Come on, that night all we shared was booze and desperation.”

He shook his head. “We didn’t drink that much, and I wasn’t desperate. I wasn’t even looking, and you weren’t either. Don’t make excuses, Grace, and don’t you dare bring it down. Don’t.”

I sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But we don’t even know each other. So we’re attracted to each other, we indulged…”

His fingers pressed into my flesh. “We indulged alright. Imagine if we get to know each other better?”

Yes, imagine.

His dark eyes bored through mine and demanded a reply.

“I can’t do this, Lock. I told you, I’m here for Ruby.”

“When was the last time you did do it?”

I glowered at him.

He leaned in close to my face. “That’s what I thought.”

I shook my head at him. My gaze fell to my oversized stainless steel watch that hung loosely on my wrist. “Dammit!”

“What is it?”

“I need to pick up my nephew from pre-school and take him out for dinner. I’ll just make it. Could you take me back to the hospital so I can get my car?” I asked.

“Let’s go.” He lifted me out of his lap, took my hand in his and led me towards the door. He stopped to tuck several bills in the tip jar.

“Thanks guys.” Erica nodded at us.

Lock lifted his chin at Erica, and I waved to her as he tugged me out the door. I sincerely hoped our variety of drama this afternoon didn’t make Erica and her clientele too wary of us in the future.

The cool air wrapped around us. “Crap!” I groaned.

“Now what?”

“I have no idea where to take him! I don’t know Rapid City like I used to.”

Lock shook his head and laughed, swung his arm around my neck as we made our way towards his Harley. “I’ll take you out.”

“You don’t have to do that.” I took the helmet from his hands.

“I want to Grace,” he said. He took the helmet out of my grip and fit it on my head. “And I’d really like to meet Jake. Anyway, you’ll get better service if you got me with you.”

“I’ll just bet,” I muttered as we climbed on the back of the bike.

“Lock is a funny name, huh Aunt Gracie?”

“It’s a nickname, Jakey. Just like your Uncle Jake’s nickname was Dig, right?”

“Yep!” he nodded his head. “So my nickname’s Dig, too?”

“No, honey. You’ve got to earn your nickname. It’s unique, and it sticks.”

“What’s oo-nique mean?”

“Unique means original or one of a kind. Like you are to Mommy and Daddy and me. There’s only one Jakey for us.”

He grinned up at me. “Why ‘Dig’? Is there a reason?”

“You know he never told me. It was some sort of big secret.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him. His eyes went round, then he burst into giggles.

I couldn’t tell my nephew the real meaning of Dig’s nickname. Digging a hole in the hills deeper than any of the other recruits to hide a few dead bodies wasn’t the sort of thing you shared with a little boy.

“What about Lock?” Jake asked.

“I don’t know that, either. I just met him though, I didn’t think it would be polite to ask.”

“Oh,” he said, a pout formed on his tiny lips.

“His real name is Miller.”

Jake nodded.

“You want me to find out, honey?”

Hang on, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe I wouldn’t want to know.

Jake’s face lit up, and his clear hazel eyes beamed up at me. “Ask him, Aunt Grace! Please! It’s gotta be some super tough reason to go with that super tough bike.”

Oh brother. The fascination begins early.

“You liked his bike, huh?” I grinned down at him.

Jake nodded and kicked his feet against his mattress.

“Me too,” I laughed and dropped down next to him on his red race car bed. I drew his Spiderman comforter over us and kissed the top of his fluffy blonde hair.

“You know, Lock had a brother who was good friends with me and your Uncle Dig. His nickname was Wreck, and he used to fix cars and bikes. He was a really good rider and driver, the best. He never once got into an accident on the road.”

“So, why did they call him Wreck then?”

“It’s called irony, sweetie,” I said. “It’s sort of like a joke. He used to fix up everyone else’s car and bike wrecks, never his own.”

Jake frowned at me.

“I’ll explain it better tomorrow. Too tired now.” I yawned. “Can I sleep with you tonight, Jakey? Your bed is just too cozy, and my tummy is so full I don’t think I can get up again.”

“Yay!” he shouted. Jake put his hand in mine under the warm, thick bed cover and his little fingers tickled my palm.

“That was a mighty good buffalo burger, wasn’t it?” I said. “I missed those.”

“But Aunt Grace you had yours with cooked onions and blue cheese. That’s gross!”

“Only cheddar and bacon allowed?”

“That’s right. That’s the perfect burger,” Jake said. “Lock knew that too.”

“Yeah, he’s really smart, just like you,” I said. “Fine, next time, cheddar, bacon and barbecue sauce only.”

“Good,” Jake said. “Can we go for ice cream again tomorrow?” He grinned up at me.

“You’re a little ice cream freak, you know that?”

“I know,” he said.

“Did you brush your teeth?”

“Hmm.”

I tilted my head at him and narrowed my eyes.

“I did, Aunt Grace!”

I leaned over him and sniffed at his cute face. He giggled, and his small warm hands rubbed my face. I made a show of sniffing his minty sweet smell.

“You did brush. Good for you!” I said. “How about we go for ice cream after we see Mommy tomorrow?”

Jake’s eyes clouded. “When’s Mommy coming home?”

“I’m not sure, honey. The doctor is going to let us know. I don’t like not knowing either.”

His tiny mouth stretched open and he yawned. I drew his warm little Batman pajama-clad body next to mine, planted a kiss on his soft cheek and rubbed his back.

The Mickey Mouse night-light glowed next to us casting shadows against the wall from the race car mobile hanging from the ceiling and the large Tramp stuffed animal on his miniature desk. I had bought him that toy at the Disney store in Dallas along with the
Lady and the Tramp
DVD a couple years ago. Tramp seemed to stand at attention over us, his large soft brown eyes full of doggy love. He was our trustworthy bodyguard against the Boogeyman of the long night that lay before us. God knows what would find us in the morning.

“Love you, Aunt Gracie,” Jake breathed and rolled over. My eyes rested on the large framed photo of Jake, Ruby, and me that Alex had snapped in front of a huge pile of nachos at a restaurant in Denver two years ago. Our excited smiles hummed at me in the delicate light.

“I love you too, Jakey,” I whispered.

“What do you mean you’re looking for Ray? I don’t want to have anything to do with that shithead, Grace!”

Ruby’s face tightened as she attempted to sit up in her bed. I had to tell her. Lock and I were set to leave first thing tomorrow morning.

“We need to explore all our options, Ruby. Like it or not, he is our biological father. There is a possibility he is a match, and I’m going to find out. I’m not leaving this stone unturned. No way.”

“Isn’t he too old for this sort of thing?”

“He’s just at the cut off point, but it’s still worth the try,” I said.

Ruby pressed her lips together. She shook her head and her eyes tightened over me. “How did you find him? Oh, let me guess!” She raised her hands in the air. “You asked the club for help?”