Thrash (7 page)

That got a snort of laughter and a sideways glance. “True enough.” He was quiet for a moment, then got right into it. “Wrath is a blunt man. He was a specialist in Iraq. Good guy. He organized most of the benefit.” He looked at me from the corner of his eye. “None of us are what we seem.”

I nodded, studying my hands in my lap. “I’m starting to learn that. Who else is in the club?”

“Well… You’ve met Layla. She’s… with Rage. He’s a strong man, great leader. I’d follow him into hell if I had to. I’m VP, then there’s Wrath, our sergeant-at-arms. We’ve got the old guard, Mick and Crowe, who provide counsel and wisdom. There are two new members: Nyx, and Jackal. Sons of bitches proved themselves in the past few weeks. Don’t know much about them other than that they are both hard-headed and they don’t back down from a challenge. Loyal and proud men. Both of them served with Wrath.”

I nodded, noting names and impressions. Impressions wouldn’t be enough to accurately portray the club, but they were a useful place to start. Something puzzled me, though. “I’ve seen more men around than that.”

Thrash shook his head. “You’ve seen prospects. We haven’t inducted them yet. We only accept the cream of the crop. We need more than numbers. We need loyal men with something to offer Fire and Steel. We’ve noticed that if members don’t have a skill to contribute, they start to get uneasy. And we start to wonder why they’re with us. If you want to be a real part of a real team, you have to always make sure you’re bringing something to the table. You have to be able to really be yourself, too, otherwise it won’t last.”

“And that’s what you have among Fire and Steel?” I asked.

He nodded, pride laced into the gesture. “When we get our full contingent, you’ll be asked back to add them to the mural. If you want. We’ll pay you then, of course.”

That was a nice check in the box. “So it’s going to be a constantly changing piece?” I asked.

“I hope not. You don’t leave the club once you are in.”

I looked at him, openly puzzled. “But the names I painted over -”

It was as if a sheet of ice descended between us, unseen but definitely felt. “That was different.” His tone told me it was the end of
that
discussion, but he tried to soften his voice after that. “You’ll meet our men. Maybe it will start to make sense over time. We aren’t what you think we are.”

“How do you know what I think?” I said.

His choice of words had nothing to do with me, though. “Because I know what everyone in this fucking town thinks,” he said. “And they are wrong.” His jaw tightened and his body tensed as he gripped the steering wheel.

I sat there quietly for a moment, then turned in my seat to look at him directly. Bracing myself – and my skirt – with my leg, I said straight-forwardly, “If I was the person people thought I was, I wouldn’t be here.”

He glanced over at me. And yes, he noticed my bare, crooked knee. But he also caught my steady gaze. He saw me.

“I’m looking forward to going to this event,” I said stubbornly. “To meeting these people.”

“And are you looking forward to being my date?” he asked, his grin returning. I was starting to wonder if that grin was a mask. He meant it, but he also meant it to hide whatever else he was thinking.

Mask or not, I liked it.

“Who said I was your date?” I murmured playfully, turning back to the dashboard and folding my hands in my lap.

“Beautiful woman like you? Dressed up pretty as a pie like that? I hope you’re my date.”

I blushed and smiled at the road. “I am. And I am glad you will be the one introducing me to your club.”

The best part about admitting this was the fact that I really
was
looking forward to it all, and not just because it was a part of my job.

When she stepped out of the truck, the sun lit up her hair and her skirt like fire. She seemed like she was straight out of a fifties television show, not a girl in front of me. With me. Even if I had to bait her into coming.

I’d never been that guy before, the one who had a girl interested in him, really interested. No, Rage and Sean always got the girls who wanted to stick around. Rage had Layla; Sean was dead.

Girls liked me, sure. I’d had my fill of them. They got their fill of me. And then they left. I’d never met a girl like Nora.

Of course, I couldn’t tell her that. I didn’t even know her, not really. I didn’t want to send her running before I could even get a chance to show her what and who I really was.

“What are you looking at?” she asked.

I’d been standing there, staring at her for far too long. My face burned. I hoped she wouldn’t notice.

I turned my gaze towards the school grounds. “You,” I replied honestly. “You look hot, sweetheart.” I cocked a grin to keep from sounding too soft, but a smile spread across her face fit to light the sky, and before I knew it, I had wrapped my arm around her waist.

To my surprise, she neither cringed nor leaned on me. Her body accepted my touch naturally. For one stupid split second, I wanted to crow to the sun, bare my teeth at life and laugh. Then I got ahold of the impulse and looked down at her.

Whatever she saw in my face brought a slight pink to her cheeks. She smiled and looked over the front of the school, at the throng of people, caught up in their food and children and activities.

“I’m looking forward to this,” she said quietly.

My feet started steering us automatically. All she had to do was suggest a thing, and everything in me was ready to make it happen…

Damn it, I hoped her heart was beating as fast as mine. That way she wouldn’t hear it thumping in my chest. Vague ideas began to raise through my head, stiffening my cock and sending adrenaline through my limbs: of leading her straight to the first private spot, pushing that mane of hair from her smooth cheeks.

She had such a delicate face. Those fragile features were framed by a lion’s fringe, wild and uninhibited. Something about the contrast got me more hot and bothered than I would have thought possible. I hadn’t gotten a flash like this since puberty. This was primal.

This was trouble.

Fuck. My palms started to sweat with nervousness. This was no time to lose it. Had to keep my cool.

That’s what I did. I kept shit to myself till I got it under control. No one made me do shit. I did it my way. I had even gotten through puberty without too many cringe-worthy moments.

Now, I was walking through a parking lot with a woman and contemplating acting like a damned fool.

Layla’s laughter behind me made me jump a little. For half a second, I felt like I was thirteen again and she called out teasingly, “So you finally brought a lady?” We had known one another too long.

I cringed, but neither of the women seemed to notice.

“Nora.” Layla’s grin got even bigger as she took note of Nora’s dress and my arm around her shoulders.

My eyes narrowed. That all-knowing smile meant I was going to hear about this later.

“I’m so glad you could come,” Layla said sweetly. “DeMarcus didn’t tell me he was bringing you, but I am sure glad he did.” She winked at me. “Why don’t we show your date here around while you go see what the guys are up to?”

Great. She was right, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave Nora with her. I really didn’t want to hear my date giggling over my life story.

As if to make matters worse, Layla was joined by Emma, Wrath’s lady.

“I think Cullen said something about wanting to see you.”

“Cullen?” Nora asked, glancing at Layla.

“Oh, sorry, Rage,” Emma corrected herself. A catlike grin spread across her angular face as she hugged Layla from behind. “He’s Layla’s baby-
daddy
.”

Layla smacked her in the arm, her scowl faint. The joke was allowed if it came from Emma. The two of them had quickly become best friends. They were more alike than they gave each other credit for.

“What?” Emma asked.

“You know I prefer father of my child.”

“Same thing.”

“Not quite,” she murmured. I knew that tone of voice. It was the same one she had used as a child when we stole her favorite books and hid them around the clubhouse to keep her out of our hair.

We had all been so sure that we were men back then. We had needed to talk about anything, about everything, without Sean’s little sister around.

Now she was the glue that held our club together. And she didn’t want to be called a baby momma. So we all shut up about that.

“You going to be all right?” I asked Nora.

“Go on, DeMarcus. She’ll be fine. I promise I won’t corrupt her. Much.”

Nora smiled shyly and nodded that she would be fine.

As she waved to me, I tried to ignore the way Emma was eyeing her. Damn it. Not only would they tell her about “When DeMarcus was a little boy,” but they’d probably scare her off.

I wasn’t stupid. I knew what was up. That was my job. As Fire and Steel grew in manpower, the women were creating their own circle. If there was friction among the women, shit would get unpleasant fast. I had heard good MC’s brought to blows over women’s feuds.

Fire and Steel was in my blood. I had known any woman I brought by would have to be more than just my girl. And I’d never been interested in bringing a woman back to the club just for her to become a bunny. The bunnies served a purpose, sure, and they were pretty well off with us, but I’d always liked to keep things either brief and compartmentalized or close and permanent.

Either Nora would get along with the others, or she wouldn’t. But I’d been willing to risk it. I liked her that much.

Probably should have have given her a head’s up, though.

I shook my head, and gritted my teeth. I was stressing over something I had no damned control over. Better to focus on what I could do.

I searched out Rage and the others.

I knew exactly where they would be, heading straight for the wood and charcoal grills. That’s where they would congregate.

I could smell the meat smoking. Beer would hold us over till it was ready. By then we’d be just plastered enough to relax.

“Hey man, didn’t know if you were going to make it.” Aidan gave me a slow smirk. “Saw that piece you were with.”

“From all the way across the yard?”

He saw the look I gave him. He just smirked.

“No,” he said. “Emma texted me a pic. Nice legs.”

I fought the impulse to break his face. I had gotten used to Wrath since the raid. He’d proven himself again and again lately. But I remembered the conversation in the truck, the way my chest had tightened when Nora had talked about him. How had we gotten on that subject? I couldn’t remember. She’d said she wasn’t interested in him like that, but it had taken me by surprise to realize how much I wanted her to look at me instead.

Would she want me next to the hulking monstrosity that was Wrath?

Damn it, I had never been jealous of him. Now I was struggling with whether I should be worried or not.

My brain knew it was stupid. Emma and Aidan were virtually inseparable. The two of them had been hot and heavy for months with no signs of slowing down.

I wished there had been a minute to get over that shit before we got here. “I dunno what women see in fuckers like us, but I’m not going to argue.” Aidan flipped a slab of burgers, one after the other, and took a swig of his beer.

I changed the subject. “I didn’t come by to talk about tail. I want to know what’s going on.”

He knew what I meant, and his face fell. He lowered his voice and moved on to flipping the ribs. “Sent a couple of prospects out to survey the place. Haven’t heard anything from them besides the occasional text of jack shit.”

I scowled. “Bones must have spotted me. I didn’t think anyone noticed.”

Wrath shrugged. “You never know. Maybe someone did, maybe they didn’t. They’re being careful now, though.”

“What’s Rage say about it?” I asked.

Rage came up beside me and clamped a hand on my shoulder. “I say this is a barbecue for families and kids. We don’t need to worry about it till we get something definitive.” He shoved a beer into my face. “Take it. You look like you need one. Nerves from your date got you worked up?” Great, not him, too.

“Fuck off,” I muttered, but he was right. I took the beer. “She’s not a date. She just wants to get to know your dumb asses for her mural. Wants to ‘get a sense of your personalities.’” If I sounded bitter, neither man pointed it out. This bugged me even more than their teasing would have, so I pushed. “So don’t be shocked when you walk in to a bunch of horses’ asses and donkeys on fucking wall.”

Rage said, “If that were the case, you’d be in the center.”

Wrath stuck to the grills. Man did know when to keep out of shit.

“Did you talk to your sister yet?” Rage asked.

“Not yet.”

“I saw her here a little earlier,” said Wrath. “Got her burger and one for your mom.”

Shit, my mom was here.

I shook my head. “I’ll find her.”

“You do that. And have some fun. Today, he can wait,” Rage reassured me.

I nodded. “Today.”

Aidan passed out burgers to children and families.

I never got used to it, holding these functions, talking about business in code. Acting like we were calm and normal. That we didn’t have blood on our hands.

We did what we had to. When we had to protect people, our family, our community, shit happened. We dealt with it. And we would deal with our current problem, too.

Rage pushed me away from the grills. “Go on. I’ll send you the location. Now go see your girl. You are on a date, after all.”

This wasn’t a date, and Nora wasn’t my girl. Not yet.

But the night wasn’t over.