Renegade Reject (21 page)

I shake my head at his words.  Leave it to a brother to tell like it is. 

Ice smiles as she looks back at the ballerina.  “Does your routine include showing your tits and ass?”

“And her pussy!” Rum shouts as he walks away.

I can’t stop myself from saying, “Yes, we can’t forget the pussy.”

The brunette’s eyes keep darting between Rum and Ice, and she stutters, “I, I, I....”

Ice finally shakes her head and says, “Just go.”

The brunette doesn’t even say goodbye before running out the door.  When the door shuts behind her, Ice and I burst out laughing. 

“Well, that’s two for two,” Ice says as our laughter dies down.

“But we still have one more.  Maybe she’ll be a winner?” I say with a shrug. 

Ice doesn’t seem too optimistic at our chances of finding a new dancer as she heads toward the bathroom.  She’s probably right, but I can only hope the third girl will work out.  I won’t be able to dance much longer.  A few weeks at the most, and I’ll be showing.  I need to help her find a few girls before I leave her high and dry. 

I sit at the table for a few minutes, but then get up and walk to the bar.  After grabbing a soda for Ice and me, I go back to my spot.  I can’t stop myself from looking for Preach.  I haven’t seen him yet, but I’m sure that he’s somewhere around here. 

A couple more minutes tick by before my phone rings.  It’s Skittles, asking if I’ve seen Leah.  I let her know that I haven’t, and I don’t really care where she is.  If my guess is right, she probably tested dirty, or Ice found out she was selling more than drinks at The Kitty Kat.  If so, she’s gone.  After getting off the phone, I look at the clock.  It’s been nearly twenty minutes since Ice went to the bathroom.  I hope she’s not sick. 

When our next interviewee walks in, I decide to go check on Ice.  I stumble as I step into the hallway.  Looking down, I see Ice’s phone on the floor.  I have known Ice for years, and I’ve never seen her without her phone.  I reach down and grab it then start to call out to her. “Ice.”

When I don’t get an answer, I realize something is wrong.  Bad wrong.  I run toward the bathroom, throwing the door open without knocking.  Empty, no Ice.  I continue down the hall, screaming her name.  I’m just getting to Kidd and Ice’s room when Preach comes rushing toward me.  “What the fuck’s wrong?”

“Ice is gone!” I scream, slinging the door open.  Empty again. 

I start to go to the next door when Preach reaches out and grabs my arm.  “I thought you two were doing interviews in the common room.”

“We were, but she had to go to the bathroom.  Then her ass just disappeared,” I say, trying to jerk away from him and continue my search. 

“Did you check the bathroom?”

I have to stop myself from popping off.  This situation is too serious for me to be getting an attitude.  “Of course, I did.  She wasn’t there, and her phone was lying on the floor in the hallway.”

I start to say more, but am cut off by the sounds of boots coming from upstairs.  Rum rounds the corner, and I can tell by the look on his face something is wrong. 

He looks toward Preach and says, “Krista’s bitch ass is gone.  The fucking door was locked.  She must have went out the window and shimmied down the tree.”

The reality of the situation hits me like a sledgehammer.  Oh my God!  “She’s got Ice.”

“What?” Rum shouts. 

“Ice is gone.  She went to the bathroom and never came back.” 

A second later, Preach has my hand and is leading me back to the common room.  He pulls me into his side, whispering into my ear.  “She’ll be okay, baby.  We’ll find her.”

The man holding me right now is my Preach, the man I love.  With all this going on, I need him too much to worry about what has happened since I came home.  I lean into him, grasping his hand in mine.  He keeps his arms around my waist, walking to Kidd’s office.  Timber is sitting at Kidd’s desk, and Preach leads us to him. 

He lifts his chin. “What’s up?”

“Ice is missing. She said she needed to go to the bathroom.  It’s been twenty minutes.  I went to check, and I found that on the floor,” I say fast, breathing heavy, and handing him the phone.

I can feel my heart pounding, and a wave of dizziness crashes over me.  I start to wobble, nearly going down.  Thankfully, Preach pulls me back to him.  “Calm down, baby.”

I take a deep breath, and I do my best to listen to him.  I need to stay calm for the baby.  I’m not supposed to have stress. 

Timber jumps from his seat. “Call in every brother you can get a hold of.  We gotta fuckin’ find her!”

Preach doesn’t bother replying, just turns and walks us straight out of the room.  He takes me straight to Grams, placing a kiss on my forehead before letting go of my hand.  I watch him walk toward Reese before I grab Grams’ hand and bury my head in her neck. 

“Ice is gone. She just disappeared,” I say, fear for my best friend eating away at me. 

She doesn’t have time to respond before Reese shouts out, “Get everyone on lockdown, right now.  Ice is fuckin’ gone.”

I hear a shouted “
Fuck
!” from outside, and my tears start to fall. 

A minute later, Kidd walks through the door.  He looks around the room and growls out, “When’s the last time anyone saw her?”

I pull away from Grams.  “She told me she had to go to the bathroom.  That was about twenty minutes ago.”

He stares at me for a second, then looks toward Rum.  “Bring me Krista.”

I can see the fear in his eyes before he responds.  “She’s not here, Pres.”

“What the fuck do you mean, she’s not here? I put you in charge of her ass!” Kidd shouts, taking a step toward Rum. 

“I know, Kidd.  I was watching her, I swear.  I just came down to get her lunch, and Ice called me over to ask a question.  I wasn’t away from her door more than ten minutes.  I made sure the lock was secure before I left her.  She must’ve climbed out the fuckin’ window.”

When I see Kidd’s eyes fill with fear, I grab my Grams’ hand again. “They have to find her.”

PREACH

Stepping outside of the clubhouse, I see Reese talking on his phone.  I swear I can see the tension leave his body as he lets out a long breath.  Turning to look at me, he pushes the phone into his pocket.  “Go get, Kidd.  We need to head to the hospital. Chipper found Ice.  She’s beat up pretty bad, but at least she’s breathing.  Timmons’s isn’t, though. Chipper took him out.”

I take a second to let his words sink in and say a quick prayer.  I may be a biker, and I do my fair share of shit that’s not quite right, but even I know that God deserves my thanks right now.  Finding Ice alive is a miracle. 

Rushing into the clubhouse, I go straight to Kidd’s office.

“Pres!” I shout. “Chipper found her. He’s taking her up to the hospital to get looked at.  Timmons is dead.  Let’s roll out.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I head toward everyone else.  “Get your asses in gear.  Chipper’s taking Ice to the hospital, and we need to get over there to show our support.”

Not waiting for a response from anyone, I walk toward Daisy and grab her hand.  “You’re on the back of my bike.”

Instead of fighting me, which is what I expected, she squeezes my hand and follows me out of the clubhouse.  As soon as we reach my bike, I swing my leg over.  I barely have time to sit my ass down before Daisy is sliding on behind me.  When she wraps her arms around my waist, I know that everything is going to be alright. 

It only takes us twenty minutes to get to the hospital, but I swear it feels like hours.  I pull Daisy along as I follow Kidd into the emergency room.  As soon as we step inside, Chipper motions us over to the waiting area.

“Where’s she at?” Kidd asks as he steps next to his brother.

Chipper nods toward the double doors leading to the exam rooms. “They got her in the back.  She was throwing such a fit that they made me come out here.”

“What the hell are they doing to her?  Why’s she throwing a fuckin’ fit?” Kidd growls out.

“They’re just checking her over.  I don’t’ think she’s hurt, but you know my girl.  If she doesn’t get her way, she gets pissed.”

Kidd’s body becomes even more tense before he asks, “What in the hell is she pissed about?”

Chipper chuckles before answering. “She wouldn’t stop bitchin’ the whole way here about how she was gonna piss her pants.  When they threw me out, they were just letting her go to the bathroom.”

Kidd shakes his head, anger pouring off him.  I can tell he wants to say something, but Chipper stops him. “She’s fine, Kidd.  She’s just a little beat up, got a bruise or two, but that’s all.  She’ll need you to keep a level head when she talks to you, man, because she’s got a lot of shit on her mind right now.  She’ll need you by her side.”

“What the fuck did he do to her?” Kidd asks, anger and pain making their way through his voice. 

“It’s not Timmons that’s bothering her.  It’s Krista. She was there,” Chipper responds. 

I feel Daisy squeeze my hand and look down at her.  She has tears in her eyes, and I can tell she’s barely hanging on.  Leaning down, I whisper in her ear, “It’s okay, Little Flower. Ice is gonna be fine.”

She lifts up on her toes, placing her lips near my ear.  “I love you.”

Her words shock the shit out of me.  They’re words I never thought I’d be lucky enough to hear again, words I truly don’t deserve.  Why the hell she decided to say it now I’ll never know, but I could care less about her reason.  Pulling her closer, I wrap my arms around her.  “I love you, too. Always.”

She opens her mouth to say something else, but closes it when a nurse walks into the waiting area.  “Is there anyone here for Jenna Chandler?”

Daisy and I leave once she talks to Ice and is sure she’s okay.  I decide to take Daisy out to Chipper’s cabin, instead of back to her fuckin’ garage.  It’s the only place I can think of that we can be alone.  Tonight, I don’t give a fuck about Wayne and Holt’s threats.  I don’t give a shit about my worries that I’ll hurt her.  I just want to spend time with my Flower. 

Daisy starts to shake her head as soon as she climbs off the bike.  “Why did you bring me here, Garrett?  I know I said something back there that I shouldn’t have, but that doesn’t mean that things are fixed between us.”

I know exactly what she’s talking about.  She’s trying to take back her words, but there’s no fuckin’ way I’m gonna let her.  “Are you trying to say that you don’t love me?”

She looks at the ground before responding.  “I do love you, but I gotta be honest.  I don’t like you very much.  In fact, I hate you most of the time.”

Fuck, that hurt.  “I don’t hate you.  I love you.  I don’t give a shit what has happened between us, as long as we love each other.”

She’s quiet for a second, staring at me, deep in thought.  “We need to talk.  I’ve got something I have to tell you.”

I can tell by the sound of her voice that whatever she has to say is not good.  I know we need to talk, but I’m not ready to deal with all our shit just yet.  “How about we forget about everything that’s happened, just for tonight?  It’s been a fucked up day. Let’s not add to that by digging into our shit.”

She hesitates before responding, “Nothing else is as important as what I have to tell you.  I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks.”

“You love me,” I say as I grab her hand and start walking into the cabin. “I know I love you.  Right now, that’s all that matters.”

As soon as we step inside, I push her against the wall. “When we talk, all we do is fight, so no talking tonight.”

I slam my mouth onto hers and do my best to devour her.  Her mouth opens as a moan slips from her lips, and I plunge my tongue inside.  The taste of her, the fucking taste of her, it gets better every time.  Just the feel of her lips on mine has my dick pushing its way out of my jeans. “God, Daisy.  I want you so fuckin’ bad.”

She gazes at me for a second before placing a hand on my cheek.  “I want you too.  I always want you, but if we do this, it doesn’t change anything.”

Doing my best to ignore the last of her words, I place my mouth back on hers.  As I kiss her, my hands travel up her shirt.  When I reach her tits, I can’t stop myself from grinding into her.  My cock craves the contact.  It has a mind of its own and doesn’t want to wait to get inside her sweet pussy. 

She pulls back slightly, looking me in the eyes.  “If we do this, its just sex.  Nothing more.”

Never in my life have I known words could hurt so badly.  The fact that it’s my sweet, innocent little Daisy saying them just makes the pain even worse.  In response to the words I desperately want to ignore, I crash my mouth down to her sweet lips again.

At first, I can feel the hesitation, but after a couple swipes of my tongue, she gasps, opening to me. My tongue instantly reaches for hers, and they tangle together.  It’s almost like they are fighting out the things we can’t or won’t say with words.  Lashing at each other ferociously, she places her hands on my chest and attempts to push me back.  No fuckin’ way.  No way am I letting her go.  It’s as if she’s telling me this is goodbye, but I’m doing my best to remind her that she’s mine.

I kiss my way down her neck, nipping along the way, while my hands work her shirt up and off. Freeing her of her bra, I can’t help but stare at how gorgeous she is.  My cock is throbbing in anticipation.

“Fuck, baby, you are absolutely beautiful,” I growl out before taking her nipple into my mouth and flicking it with my tongue.  Daisy silently threads her hands into my hair, as if to pull me off of her. Raising my eyes to meet hers, I suck her nipple deeper, tearing a gasp from her sexy lips. Those hands that I was sure were going to pull me away just moments ago, are now holding me to her tit while I devour her.

I pull away, and she lets out a desperate groan that quickly turns into a needy moan as I encircle her other nipple, giving it the same attention.

“You taste so sweet, Flower. I can’t wait to dive into that hot little pussy of yours.”  Feeling more desperate, I make quick work of the rest of her clothes, stripping her nearly bare.

“You too... I want to feel your skin.  Please,” she begs.