Ryder: MC Biker Romance (Great Wolves Motorcycle Club Book 8) (16 page)

Ryder

I took Jules back
to the rooms Ridge, and I had been renting near the shop. I didn’t want her in
her place it was too easy a target for her Daddy. She was still in shock and
disbelief about the dirt we had on her father.

We were trying to
sort it out when she dropped her latest bomb on me.

“I have to go
back.” I was 100-percent against Jules leaving my side and heading back to The
Judge.

“I won’t let you.”
I was serious. I would not let her. We may have evidence to put the squeeze to
her Daddy but he was about to be a cornered animal, and that was the most
dangerous kind.

“You can’t tell me
what I can and can’t do. The Judge needs to think I am still on his side. I
need him for one more thing.”

“I don’t want him
touching you ever again.” My jealousy had been contained till now. I’d kept a
lid on it knowing it was the only way Jules could stay safe, by staying close
to The Judge. But now I could protect her. We had what we needed. We even had
the feds thanks to the surprise of Boone or whatever his name was.

“I don’t either
but..”

“But nothing.” I
pulled her close to me and kissed her hard on the lips. Jules kissed right back,
and I knew what we were headed for. I couldn’t stop it. I wouldn’t.

I pushed her back
up against the wall and lifted her skirt up as far as I could get it. She
clawed at my back. I ripped open the blouse she wore and freed her breasts from
her bra.

“Ryder,” she said
between breaths. The place could have fallen down around us, and I wouldn’t
have noticed.

I pulled her
panties to the side, and nothing was between us. She held on with her legs, and
I drove in and up. She was pinned between the wall and me.

It wasn’t going to
take long because it had been so long. I pounded once, twice three times and
felt her spasm around me.

“Harder, harder,”
she said, and it was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I was more
animal than man. I lost my head and could only feel her hot skin around mine.

“Yes, Ryder, yes,”
she said, and I came hard. Her little moans mingling with the heavy breaths I
was taking. I lifted her up and carried her gently to the small bed I’d called
home since I’d gotten to Southwood.

“You’re so fucking
good,” I told her and it was true. It was the truest thing I knew. I wanted to
be inside her again. I wanted her to stay with me and until we got her Daddy
thrown in prison. I couldn’t let her leave.

So, of course,
that’s exactly what she fucking did. She
was determined to play a part I didn’t think she needed to play anymore. We
could go to the cops now. We could nail Sonny Maldonado to the wall.

“I’m not going to
be in danger. I know that. The Judge is mine now. Not Daddy’s.”

If I didn’t want
to kidnap her myself, I had to let her go.

I hoped she knew
what she was doing.

Fucking women.

She went back to The
Judge, and I went to the police with our evidence.

To say it was met
with suspicion was putting it mildly. Every detective that interviewed me
seemed to be against me.

They were used to
doing what The Judge or Sonny said and here I was throwing it all in their
faces.

But this time, it
wasn’t just our word as witnesses. I had evidence. I had video. I had solid
rock shit, and they had to take it in.

We spent an entire
day and into the evening being interviewed. Ridge told his story again. Bret
told hers. They looked at our videos. They also grilled us over and over. Like
we were liars.

The Southwood
Police did not want to arrest the Devil’s Hawks. It was clear. So was our
evidence. It wasn’t until Boone, uh, Kyle, appeared that shit finally started
happening.

“Special Agent
Kyle Duvall.” He looked very different. His cut was gone so were the leathers.
He had a killer business suit on, though, and every cop in the room knew they
were dealing with some serious FBI shit.

Jesus, he’d been
under the nose of Sonny Maldonado all this time.

“My agents can
help with the roundup.” And there it was.

The roundup. Devil’s
Hawks were on the ropes. Finally, because Duvall corroborated our story and our
evidence. Cruz, Bret, Ridge, and I all told our stories at least three times.
Hours went by but slowly we noticed one Hawk after another being paraded
through the hallway, in cuffs.

It was a victory.

But still, the
entire time, I knew Jules was with The Judge.

The only thing
that made it bearable was knowing Sonny Maldonado thought he had succeeded. He
thought he’d scared Jules into submission. Instead, his club was being
dismantled piece by piece.

And the net was
tightening around him.

Still, I had yet
to see him at the police station. And that had me scared as hell.

Jules

The Judge was
taking phone calls. I heard his side of the conversation. I listened intently.

“Of course. Yes.
I’ll work on it. As always. This is not a tragedy, just more complicated.”

I knew it was
Daddy issuing his orders to The Judge.

“It’s not smart to
do that. Wait. Sonny. Yes, that’s your best option. I will. Yes.” He hung up
the call.

“What’s my father
want?”

“They’re arresting
Devil’s Hawks, rounding them up actually, and he’s naturally upset.”

“Is he running?” I
asked. That was my fear.

“Yes. The
authorities are issuing an all-points bulletin for him, but we’ve got him
covered you and me.” The Judge winked at me and acted like I gave a damn. As if
I would be happy that he could help my Daddy escape.

“What did he ask
you?”

“Just to slow
things down on my end. I’m going to be sure David and his partner are
monitoring his exit route so he can get through.”

“Monitoring.”

“I won’t have your
family thrown in jail. Don’t worry.” The Judge made a step toward me and put a
hand on my hair. I also could see the look in his eye that indicated he was
ready for me to entertain him.

That was over.

“I’m not worried,
Richard. I’m not worried in the slightest.”

“Because you know
I’m on your Daddy and your side. Good girl.”

“Just the
opposite.” I pushed his hand from my hair.

“What?”

“I have every
single bullshit case you’ve handled uploaded to the cloud.”

“What cloud?” The
Judge was confused. When it came to technology, he had Irene, not iPhone.

“The last few
weeks I’ve been rifling through your files going back years, way back.”

“You? You’re
supposed to be decorating. I indulged your whims.”

“Yes. And I’ve
taken complete advantage of the situation.”

“What are you
saying? What’s going on?”

“You’re calling
off David. And when they bring my father in you’re not letting him go.”

The Judge was
shocked and appalled that I would talk to him this way. I had never once done even
the tiniest thing to rebel against him, and he wasn’t’ having it. “You won’t be
dictating to me little one. This is absurd.” The Judge was so used to me being
docile and passive. He believed me to be his pet. I’d played my part perfectly.

“Absurd? Absurd is
you thinking I want my father anywhere but in prison for life.”

“Without him,
without me, you have nothing,” The Judge said.

“You tell the
police right now where Daddy was headed, and I won’t send all the proof I have
to the newspapers.”

“What?”

“See? I showed him
my phone.”

“Carl Perdue,
arrested on trafficking, evidence disappeared, case dismissed by Judge Wexler.
The next day a lovely deposit in your offshore account.” I slid my finger from
image to image, and The Judge watched.

“Del Ray Hobbs, arrested
on murder charges, witness statements were thrown out, case dismissed by Judge
Wexler. The next day that account again gets a line in your ledgers. Which you
keep right here.” I walked over to the cabinet and presented the drawers like I
was on a game show.

“You betrayed me.
You were mine! How could you? And you betrayed your own blood. What kind of
whore does that?”

“Oh, very nice
Richard. You call the police right now.”

He did as I asked
through pinched lips. I listened as he told the police where to find Sonny
Maldonado.

“M-50 where it
runs into Walcott.” He hung up the phone.

“Good work. And
tomorrow. When they show up in your courtroom, there will be no mercy or
special deals. You hold them all over with no bond.”

“Or you’ll do
what? You ungrateful whore!” The Judge walked forward and slapped me hard
across the face. I didn’t know he had it in him, and it stung. I put a hand up
to my cheek. But although it hurt it didn’t knock me down. He wasn’t strong
enough. He also wasn’t fast enough.

A hand pulled him back,
and he went tumbling away from me. The Judge kept his balance but barely. He
backed up, and his back was at the bank of windows in the office.

Ryder. Shit. He’d
seen The Judge slap me. I was scared. I didn’t want him to ruin his future because
of Richard Wexler. There was murder in his eyes.

 “You talk to her,
touch her, even think about her again in your pathetic life and I kill you.”

“Who the fuck are
you?”

“I’m Ryder Montrose,
and I’m the last thing you’ll see if you ever come near her again.”

“Ryder don’t!” He
was about to punch him in the face. I figured that would shatter the man’s jaw.
I grabbed his arm.

“Why don’t? This
asshole has treated you like property for months.”

“Because. I want
to.” There needed to be blood and violence. That was a language I grew up with.
That was what I knew, but I knew it couldn’t come from Ryder.

The rage I’d
suppressed. The hate I felt for my Daddy and for every second I’d spent
tethered to The Judge boiled up.

“You’re just as
base as you father.” The Judge was now hurling insults in my direction. I
balled my fist tight and with the same force I’d hurled a rock at my Daddy’s
henchmen on the side of the road so long ago now, I used to punch Judge Richard
Wexler square on the jaw.

And he went down
hard to the uncarpeted floor of his office.

“You’re no
different than your thug father. You’re a Devil’s Hawks idiot just like the
hundreds I’ve had in front of me,” The Judge wiped a streak of blood from his
mouth.

“Actually no,
she’s a Great Wolf and don’t fucking forget it. You ready to get out of here
Jules?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

He took my hand,
and I left the room that had been my jail, my humiliation, and my punishment
for striking back at Daddy.

I spit on the
floor as I walked out the door.

***

First,
my father came into Judge Wexler’s
courtroom in chains. Kyle Duvall told us he’d sent a team to cut off his escape
route thanks to the tip I’d forced out of Richard.

Daddy looked at me
with cold fury. I didn’t flinch.

Judge Wexler held
him over, no bond, and scheduled another court date. His eyes darted from me to
Kyle Duvall, to Ryder, and then to a diminished Sonny Maldonado.  I had never
seen my father penned up. I’d never seen him any way but in charge and
intimidating.

“Did you want to
talk to him. Say anything?” Ryder was by my side as the man who’d manipulated
my entire life shuffled forward and back into the holding cell area.

“No, I really
don’t. He knows I’m a part of putting him behind bars, and that’s all I need.
I’m done with his dictating my life. I mean totally done.” I didn’t want a
final scene. I didn’t want to let him know how I felt. I didn’t want him to
have anything of me at all. Ever again.

“Good. Okay,
Princess.” Ryder took me in his arms and hugged me. For all my brave talk I did
feel fragile, brittle, and a little out of my mind when I thought about what
we’d just pulled off.

Daddy didn’t make
a scene either. He looked as menacing as ever, and I feared he’d try to get his
revenge. But for now his club was in tatters, and he was facing a list of
charges a mile long.

At the end of the day,
sixteen Devil’s Hawks were arraigned and held.

The Judge played
his part. He did what I instructed. He would live through today with his
Judgeship intact.

But not much
longer.

After the last of
the Devil’s Hawks cases completed for the morning, Ryder and I left the
courthouse.

Special Agent Kyle
Duvall was also there, finally leaving after a crazy day in court.

“So I got the
files you sent on The Judge.” I had promised not to give them to the media when
The Judge gave up my dad. I had not promised anything about the feds.

“What will happen
next?”

“You’ll be
contacted by someone from my agency.”

“Not you?” Boone
was a scary looking biker, and somehow Kyle Duvall was a totally different kind
of imposing. He so completely looked like he was one of Daddy’s Hawks it was
still startling to see him shaved, in a suit, standing like there was steel in
his spine.

“No, I’m off to
another assignment. You two did great work here, though. You should be proud.”
Duvall looked at Ryder and put out a hand.

“Thanks, Duvall,
ever get up to Grand City let me know. I owe you a beer.”

“Thanks.” Duvall
gave us a smile, something I’d never seen him do.

“What’s your next
assignment?” I asked.

“Well, I’m
obviously no longer under cover so your guess is as good as mine.”

“Thank you Boone,
I mean Kyle. I went up on my toes and gave the mountain of a man a hug.

“Just doing my
job.” And with that Kyle Duvall left Ryder and me alone. Stunned. And for the
first time free.

“You seem to like
that Duvall, do I have to worry?”

“Maybe. He’s
pretty handsome.”

Ryder grabbed my
hand and tugged me close to him. He talked low in my ear, “You’re mine
princess.” And then he bit my earlobe.

I had no doubt we
were headed to my apartment.

The elevator closed,
and his hands were on me. His lips were on me like we were starving.

“Ryder.” I
breathed his name out as his kisses trailed down my neck. The doors opened to
my loft, and Ryder lifted me up and carried me across the room to my bed.

We kissed forever
as his hands smoothly took off every single stitch of clothes I had on. My blouse,
my skirt, my panties, all slowly gone as Ryder took his time.

I couldn’t control
the sighs and the moans that escaped my lips. The pure pleasure Ryder gave me.

“I’m never letting
anyone else touch you. Ever again.” He said and for a moment he lifted up and
looked at me with a fire that was intense. I felt burned. Scorched.

“Oh yeah, well
same goes for you. And don’t boss me around.” I pulled him down to me and
reached for the metal belt buckle that held his jeans on. I unhooked it and
slid down his jeans over his hip bones. I loved those hips.

Ryder pushed
inside of me, slow, hard, and deliciously. The problems of the world, the
Hawks, the Great Wolves, all of it melted away.

“God you feel so right,
Jules. God.”

And I gave myself
to Ryder completely, forever, no matter what happened next. I was his, and he
was mine.