Unattainable (22 page)

What the fuck was going on? Did she
love ZZ? The very thought of her rolling off him only to hop back
on ZZ was making him want to not just slap the bullshit out of her
but beat her fucking face in.

He couldn’t even fathom it, it was just
so…

Fuck.

Tegen and ZZ…together? ZZ was too old
for her. ZZ wasn’t just too old for her, ZZ was in over his head in
some dangerous shit. Anybody, any one of the Horsemen’s enemies
could follow him home and use Tegen against the club.

Fuck that. No way. She obviously didn’t
love the motherfucker if she’d been more than happy to be choking
on
his
dick for the past two days.

His fists clenched.

If Tegen was going to be in any
brother’s bed, it was going to be his. It was him who she’d been
fucking obsessed with all these years; it was him who’d popped her
shit; it was him who’d fucked her, he couldn’t even count how many
times, over the past two days. Him. Her. No one else.

Jesus.

Fuck it.

He didn’t even care how ridiculous he
knew he sounded; he was just that out of his mind with anger and,
fuck him straight to hell, jealousy.

Anger because she was going to split on
him the second his old man lifted lockdown. Jealousy because it was
ZZ she was going to be going home to. Jealousy because he was
pretty positive whatever Tegen and ZZ had together, if it had
lasted years already, that she wasn’t just going to quit the guy’s
dick cold turkey because Cage had her during the last few days. And
more anger because, why the fuck didn’t his old man tell him
anything? Anything at all!

If he would have known, he never would
have touched the bitch! He would have let her fucking bullshit piss
him off as usual, but he would have sat on that shit instead of
acting on it. Acting on it, despite the fucking awesome sex, hadn’t
gotten him anywhere but dug in deeper inside the mess that was
Tegen Matthews.

Now it was too damn late. He was dug in
way too deep. He wanted more and he wasn’t going to wait for that
feeling to come back again, with someone else, not after years of
having boring, pointless sex with far more women than he was going
to ever admit to, not after having what felt like the best sex in
his entire fucking life with that crazy bitch. Because, shit, what
if it didn’t ever come back? What if this was it? Say, he didn’t
scoop this bitch up right here and now, and instead he waited for a
less crazy bitch, with a lot less baggage, to come along but
instead he ended up like Tap. Old and alone.

He was so fucking sick of being
alone.

“
Ellie?” Danny shrieked
from behind him. His sister suddenly shoved past him and went
running for the front door where, holy fuck, Ellie was standing,
dressed in full leather, holding a helmet under her arm. And
walking in behind her…

Cage’s eyebrows popped up.

“
Is that Dirty?” Ripper
whispered. “Or did Prez start handin’ out cuts to pretty
boys?”

“
Meeting!” Deuce
bellowed.

“
First order of business,”
Ripper said dryly. “Does Dirty need a new name?”

“
Meeting!” Deuce yelled
again, pointing to his office. “Right the fuck now!”

Ignoring the gaping stares of everyone
inside the clubhouse, Dirty turned to Ellie, who was still wrapped
up in Danny’s arms while the girl jumped up and down and
squealed.

“
I, uh, I have to go,” he
said, frowning at Danny’s back, wondering why the fuck she wasn’t
letting go of Ellie.

Ellie gave him a small smile. “I’ll be
fine,” she said and let out a little laugh. “I’m in good
hands.”

Danny finally surfaced and glanced up
at Dirty, and then back to Ellie. “I’m confused,” she said. “Did
you two come here toge—”

Danny stopped talking and abruptly
swung her gaze back to Dirty. And just stared.

Dirty truly liked Danny; she was one of
the few people he could stand to have touch him. They’d gotten to
know each other fairly well a few years back when she’d been down
and out over Ripper leaving, but she didn’t know jack shit when it
came to his past or what he did in his spare time. And he aimed to
keep it that way.

“
Oh my God, Dirty,” she
whispered and Dirty flinched, dreading what she was going to say
next. “You look so—”

Ellie snatched Danny’s arm. “Danny,”
she said. “Please tell me you have something other than leather I
can wear, I’m begging you. I’m sweating like crazy. I think even my
knees are sweating.”

“
Uh, yeah,” Danny said,
looking flustered. “Just let me grab Harley and we can go to mine
and Ripper’s room, I have a ton of stuff in there.” Before they
walked off, both women shot him one last look. Danny’s was full of
confusion but Ellie’s was…

She gave him a knowing smile. And
that’s when it clicked.

She hadn’t been sweating, or maybe she
had, but that wasn’t why she’d asked Danny for clothing. She’d been
protecting him. Just like earlier when she’d very slowly wrapped
her arms around his middle, stopping when he’d started to freak
out, giving him time to adjust to it.

She was protecting him from
himself.

Her wearing his jacket. Her protecting
him. Her smiling at him; a secret smile that only the two of them
knew the meaning behind it.

His breathing grew uneven. Then he
found himself picturing her naked again, seeing her standing there
in his bathroom doorway, her hair wet, hanging long down her body,
her huge breasts, tipped in large dark nipples, heaving with deep
breaths, the dark triangle of hair covering her pussy…

His dick punched forward.

“
What…the…fuck.”

Dirty shoved at Cox, whose face had
suddenly appeared only inches in front of his own.

“
Seriously, brother,”
Ripper said, having joined them, studying Dirty. “I didn’t know you
had skin under all that fuckin’ hair and filth.”

“
You are Dirty, right?”
Cox continued, looking him up and down.

“
Naw, dude,” Ripper said,
grinning. “He ain’t. He’s clean.”

Cox snorted. “Nice one,” he said and
held up his fist. Ripper bumped it with his own and then they both
went back to studying him.

“
Fuck off,” he muttered to
both of them. “And back the fuck up.”

Cox shrugged. “Whatever, dude, but you
know, I can’t really help myself. You’re lookin’ really fuckin’
sexy.”

The corner of Dirty’s mouth lifted and
he started to relax for the first time in days. At the club he
could be the man he wished he really was. He could shoot the shit,
joke around, talk about women the way the other boys did. It didn’t
matter that it was all show and that most of his brothers knew how
shit really went down for him in the bedroom. Not that any of them
knew why he dosed the club sluts, but neither did they
ask.

“
Speakin’ of sexy,” Ripper
said. “Ellie kinda bottomed out in the ass, yeah? Whatcha doin’
with her anyway? Is that what this meeting’s about?”

“
I’d still fuck her,” Cox
said. “Her face is still bangin’. Who gives a fuck about her
ass?”

Ripper burst out laughing. “Dude, you
just miss ass ’cause your old lady ain’t got one.”

“
Fuck you,” Cox shot back.
“I miss pussy. Period. I don’t give a fuck what’s packin’ in the
back, I just want some goddamn fuckin’ pussy. I’m ’bout ready to
blow and fill Kami up with all the fuckin’ spank juice she
wants.”

“
Fuckin’-A,” Ripper said,
backing away, looking disgusted. “Keep your Sparky Marky and the
Spunky Funk stories to your fuckin’ self.”

“
I am!” Cox shouted.
“That’s the fuckin’ problem!”

“
MEETING!” Deuce roared,
spurring the three of them into action, jogging across the room and
into Deuce’s office. The table was filled except for Ripper and
Cox’s designated seats, so Dirty headed for the back of the room
and took a seat beside Anger on one of Deuce’s two leather
sofas.

Once everyone was seated and had shut
up, Deuce turned to him. He watched his prez give him a long
once-over but, unlike everyone else, Deuce didn’t
comment.

“
Tell ’em,” Deuce said.
“Start from the beginnin’.”

As if it weren’t bad enough they were
all staring at him like a circus sideshow freak.

But he sucked it up, his
all-over-the-place emotions and crazy thoughts, and explained to
everyone what had gone down. From his ride, to hearing Ellie
scream, to finding her in the alleyway with Officer Dipshit, to
today on the street. He told them all of it and what he missed,
Deuce filled in for him.

“
Yeah,” Tap said. “Fucker
is definitely playing games. He musta made you in that alleyway,
Dirty, knew the Horsemen had her from the get-go. Ain’t no man
stupid enough to take it to this level on a fuckin’
hunch.”

“
He knows we need him for
this deal to go through,” Ripper said. “I guarantee he’s gonna play
that card tryin’ to get at Ellie.”

“
You think he’s gonna try
and pull a trade?”

“
What fuckin’ else? He
might have a hate hard-on for us, but we’ve been fillin’ his
pockets for too long now, him and his parents. Ain’t no way he’s
gonna bite the hands that feed him by tryin’ to turn us in to the
Feds. Nah, this is about him gettin’ to Ellie.”

Dirty stayed silent, just listening to
his brothers talk it out, shooting ideas and possible scenarios
back and forth, trying to figure out what Mooresville was really up
to, until someone said something and he lost his shit.

“
Who gives two fucks about
the fat black chick?” Bucket said around a mouthful of smoke. “We
need this fuckin’ deal to go down easy. We got too much cash ridin’
on this shit and if anyone, the Feds, the ATF, anyone gets wind of
what’s about to go down here, we are fuckin’ through. We can all
kiss this club good-fuckin’-bye. Let’s cut our fuckin’ losses and
just give ’im the bitch.”

Dirty didn’t think, he just reacted,
and he wasn’t even too sure as to what he’d actually done. One
minute he was listening to Bucket run his mouth, and the next
everyone was shouting and he was hauled off Bucket, his fists still
swinging. Bucket jumped to his feet and Dirty tried to lunge for
him again.

Deuce slammed him backward into the
wall and held him there.

“
What the fuck, brother!”
Bucket yelled. “What the fuck I do to you?”

“
First off,” Deuce yelled,
pointing at Bucket. “Watch your fuckin’ mouth. Been knowin’ Ellie
her whole damn life. She’s Danny’s friend and no one’s givin’ her
to Mooresville if I can help it!”

Then Deuce turned back to him.
“Second,” he yelled. “You keep whatever bullshit you got goin’ on
inside that bald fuckin’ head of yours REELED THE FUCK IN! We’re
discussin’ business, you dumb motherfucker. You wanna knock heads,
you do it after the fuckin’ meetin’. You fuckin’ feel
me?”

He nodded.

Deuce leaned in. “You got somethin’ you
need to tell me? Somethin’ like why the fuck you ain’t got no hair
and don’t smell like my fuckin’ toilet after Cage comes to
visit?”

Dirty didn’t respond and the moment
Deuce figured out he wasn’t going to, the man nodded once and
released him.

“
Everyone sit the fuck
down!” he shouted and everyone sat right the fuck down.

Glaring at everyone in the room, Deuce
shook his head in disgust. “Don’t see how,” he muttered. “I’m
always the voice of fuckin’ reason in this circus.”

• • •

“
Ellie?” Danny asked,
pausing in rummaging through her clubroom closet. “I didn’t want to
ask in front of everyone, but how did you get those bruises? Are
you the reason we’re on lockdown?”

Ellie nodded, but was unsure of what
she should or shouldn’t tell Danny. She didn’t know the ins and
outs of the MC, and honestly did not want to make any more waves
than she already had.

Danny pursed her lips together. “Okay,”
she said softly. “I get it. I’ll get the scoop from Ripper, but I’m
here if you need to talk, okay?”

Ellie stared at her old friend who,
unfairly enough, didn’t look a day over twenty-two. If there wasn’t
an adorable little blonde girl sitting on the bed right next to
her, who looked like yet another drop-dead gorgeous direct
descendant of Deuce, Ellie would have never guessed Danny had been
pregnant.

“
You look great,” Ellie
said. “And your daughter is beautiful.”

Danny’s eyes found her daughter and her
lips split into a smile. “Thank you,” she said.

Ellie suddenly felt very uncomfortable,
like she was intruding on a private moment, one she couldn’t even
relate to. She had experienced moments like this with her own
parents, catching her mother or father watching her, a small smile
on their face, lost in thought.

But she’d never witnessed it as an
outsider, a third party, watching a mother gaze at her daughter,
the look in Danny’s eyes telling Ellie that this little girl was
Danny’s whole world.