Eden's Joker (Devil’s Nightmare MC Next Generation, Book 7)

Chapter 18

Man, but she even tastes like all them good things she’s packed with. I have no idea how I managed to leave her there, unsated, practically begging for me to fuck her. Or at least kiss her some more. But I can’t do that. I can’t even touch her. Else the mission fails. All the way while I was sneaking out of Pleasantville the pull to go back was real. But a little taste is all I can give her. All I can let myself take.

She may be sweet, and she may be gorgeous, and I may want her more than I’ve wanted a woman in a good long while. But so are hundreds of other women. This one has a role to play, a purpose to fulfil and it’s not to get me off. How would my brothers feel if I just took her for myself and fuck our revenge? They wouldn’t be too thrilled about it, that’s for sure. Hell, they’d probably cut me out and fuck her up themselves.

I suppose just taking her for myself would be some sort of revenge against the Devils in itself. But not nearly enough.

I was mostly back on track with the plan by the time I returned to the Inn. Back to seeing Eden just as a means of making the Devils pay, not a woman who makes my cock harder than any other I can remember. But that’s not saying a lot. I forget women easily. It’s never been my thing to want to settle down in marital bliss.

As always, the bar at the Inn is rowdy, smokey and packed with the lowest society has to offer. This now includes two additional Devils Nightmare MC brothers—Ruin and Edge. They have a reputation of being psycho killers, worse than even the rest of the Devils, and are reputed to be ready to kill someone for looking at them wrong. They’ve been around for the past couple of days, and I’ve yet to see that side of them. All they do is bitch and moan about how the Devils didn’t take them along on this latest ride they went on.

The other three Devils, the ones who have unwittingly been feeding me info on the Devils’ movements for the past year, are doing a pretty good job of pretending they don’t know me. So are the Forsaken Outlaws. And my guys are staying well-hidden. But it’s anyone’s guess how long that will take before it falls apart.

We’re playing poker which is all we seem to be doing day and night here. The smoke is making my eyes water and I’ve probably had one too many shots of whiskey trying to get the memory of Eden’s soft lips off my mind. My cock’s still throbbing for her and it’s been hours since I left her. The alcohol’s not taking the edge off either.

“You gonna make a bet, Joker?” Edge asks me pointedly. Edgily, even. Maybe this is how he got his name. Making snippy remarks when he’s down on his luck in poker.

“I’m out,” I say and lay down my cards.

Tonight’s not my night for winning and I’ve learned a long time ago it’s best to get out while the getting’s good.

“Me too,” Edge says, tossing his cards down on the table dramatically. “It’s been a shit night for me all around.”

“Maybe it’s because of the full moon,” I say.

That gets me a lot of strange looks from everyone at the table. But that’s my way. Joker by name, Joker by nature. I play the part of the fool well. It makes people trust me where they shouldn’t, because I always get the last laugh.

“It’s not technically night anymore,” Fossil points out, nodding at the window where sunlight is coming through a crack between the boards covering it.

The last two cards get dealt and Fossil of all people wins the pot. He’s got the worst poker face, but the best luck in cards.

“Another hand?” Fossil asks, looking hopefully around the table.

“I’m done,” Edge announces. A look passes between him and Ruin, which I’m not sure how to read. Apparently the two of them are BFFs from way back so clearly, they can communicate silently. Me and Scorpio can do the same thing. Just not so much lately.

I shake my head. “I’ve had enough cards for tonight.”

The rest say more or less the same thing and then Edge, Bane, and Archer and some of the Forsaken split. That leaves Ruin, Karma, Fossil, and me at the table. I wish Edge had stayed, so I could get a better feel for him too.

I ask Karma a couple of questions about the war with the Devils, just to see Ruin’s reaction. She pretends not to know anything about it, which is the safest thing to do all around. Ruin gives nothing away.

“So rumor has it, Ice used to be like a father to you and Edge,” I say, eyeing Ruin.

Ruin gets a very constipated sort of look on his face and Fossil audibly gasps. This is more than a rumor. I heard it as fact from him, Archer, and Bane.

“Where’d you hear that?” Ruin snaps, finally showing me more of the killer he’s supposed to be.

Fossil downs another double shot then lays his head on the table. A second later, he’s snoring. Probably faking because he doesn’t want to be a part of this conversation.

“Around,” I say evasively.

Maybe I shouldn’t have gone down this lane. It’s not been a winning night for me and I guess this could just be more of that.

“We’ve grown apart,” Ruin says, his eyes flashing angrily. “Not that it has anything to do with you.”

Oh, but he’s wrong about that.

When I first heard he and Edge were like the sons Ice never had, I thought about adding their deaths to the mix of revenge my brothers and I are about to deal out. But from what the other three Devils tell me, I could be doing Ice a favor getting rid of them. He doesn’t like what they’ve become and on top of it, Edge is now fucking his other daughter Summer.

“It might,” I say before I actually know how to follow it up. But I do my best thinking on the spur of the moment, with no pre-planning, adlibbing like a true Joker.

“How’s that?” Ruin asks and I now suddenly have his and Karma’s undivided attention. As well as Scorpio’s. He’s sitting at the next table over with Grim, because he seems unable to not be close to Karma. I’ll have to talk to him about keeping more distance. Luckily no one seemed to notice that I suddenly have his undivided attention. They’re still hanging on my every word. So why not give them a little surprise?

“I recently parted ways with my MC,” I say. “The Lost Sons MC, maybe you’ve heard of those bastards?”

For what it’s worth, Karma shows no sign that she had. She’s a great actress. Between that, her perfect poker face, and a smoking hot body, I’d bet good money she used to be a whore before she became this warrior woman sitting beside me now.

“They don’t think I measure up anymore,” I continue.

“Not blood in, blood out with you guys then?” Ruin asks.

“No, they’re a bunch of pussies in that and many other ways.”

Scorpio rolls his eyes at hearing that. He really needs to work on both his acting skills and his poker face.

“I was thinking of joining the Devils now that I’m a free agent,” I say. This time Scorpio nearly tumbles out of his chair and even Karma gasps in surprise.

“Since you’re tight with Ice, you could put in a good word,” I add. “I thought. But seeing as you’re not…”

Ruin looks as surprised as everyone else at hearing this. Kinda hopeful too. I wonder why that would be…

“I’m not involved with any of that,” Ruin says. “It’d be weird if I suddenly came asking…”

“But you can put in a good word?” I ask, locking eyes with him. “The Lost Sons might be a bunch of pussies, but they accused me of shit I didn’t do and stripped my colors because of it.”

“So now what? You want revenge?”

“I want justice.”

Ruin leans back and takes a swig of his beer, the expression on his face poker straight. I can’t get a read off him.

“Why don’t you join Karma and the Forsaken Outlaws?” he suggests. “They’re also looking for justice.”

“They’re more about running from justice,” I say, which gets me a dark look from both Grim and Karma. But it’s not a lie. Every member of the Forsaken Outlaws is on some Most Wanted list or another. That’s why they never stick around in one place too long.

“No, I want the bloody kind of justice. The kind you Devils deliver,” I say and finish my beer without taking my eyes off his.

He doesn’t say anything. Meaning I shocked him. I suppose. I have no idea. Maybe it’s time to end this conversation.

I laugh and slam my beer bottle down on the table. “Relax, dude. I don’t need the answer right now. Just put the feelers out, OK?”

“I can do that,” he says. “But I’m not all that high up… my word doesn’t count for shit with the Devils these days.”

“I bet it counts for more than the word of your drunken, brawling friends.” Meaning Fossil, Archer, and Bane, who can’t seem to get to the toilet without also getting into a fight with someone. And they have to piss all the time.

“Not much more,” he says.

I stand up and stretch, yawning loudly. “Do what you can. Now I gotta get some shuteye. It’s been a long day.”

I don’t wait for any sort of reply, don’t hardly look at anyone’s reaction. I just clear out of there.

I’m sure Scorpio will have about a million questions for me about this, but I don’t wait for him to come after me to ask them. I don’t have the answers yet.

I had no plans to say any of that when I walked in here tonight. But some of my best ideas came from spur-of-the-moment bullshit.

Maybe infiltrating the Devils and fucking them over from the inside is a way to go too. Then I can have Eden all to myself and get my revenge another way.

What an idiotic thing to think!

I should’ve realized it was my cock doing the talking tonight. It’s still hard for her, even after all these hours. Not a good sign.

I gotta get my head back on straight and speed this shit along. Before my cock leads me too far astray and I fuck up the one thing that has any hope of giving me peace—revenge on the Devils like they’ve never known. Revenge that will destroy them. Like they’ve destroyed my life. Only then will I have peace. Eden’s just the pawn that’ll give me that revenge.

I will have her. Just not to keep.