Wrapped In Leather (25 Days of Christmas: Bikers & Mobsters)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“Damn, that’s a fat ass,” Flynn says, staring at Vi as she slides down the stripper pole.

I take a hearty swig of my beer and wait for him to take his shot.

He lines up his shot on the green felt. “Eight ball. Side pocket.” Vi blows him a kiss right as he draws the cue back. He fucks up, hitting the ball too hard, and scratches.

I snatch his crumpled fifty-dollar bill off the ledge of the pool table. Maybe I should split my winnings with Vi since it’s her ass that won me the game.

“Thanks, darlin’.” I shove a twenty in the side of her G-string. Flynn flips me off.

“Anytime, Ice.” She does a twirl, showing off her best asset. I slap the rose tattooed on her right cheek.

Flynn stumbles back, clutching his chest like he’s been shot through the heart.

I light up a cigarette and lean against the bar, surveying my prospects for the night.

The usual cut sluts are here. Vi, Gloria, Kass, Annie, and Dacia.

I frown as another song belts through the sound system.

The heavy guitar riffs are just enough to give me a fuckin’ headache.

I should probably call Tawny and let her know I’m off work, but she’s going to nag that I came by the clubhouse first. Not that it’s any of her business. I’m a grown man. No woman is ever going to lead me around by the balls or store them in her fuckin’ purse.

“Who pissed in your Cheerios?” Bowen asks, offering me a toke of his joint.

“He must have heard the news,” Cyrus says, snatching the joint from between my fingers before I can take a hit.

“What news?” I signal to the prospect behind the bar for another beer.

“Better make that a shot,” Grits tacks on, joining our group.

“What?” I snap as they all stare at me wearing shit-eating grins.

“He wasn’t here when Prez got the call,” Cyrus says as Bowen punches him in the nuts and reclaims his joint.

“You got the shortest straw.”

“Fuck.” I scrub a palm over my face. I know where this is going.

“You’ve got Neva duty,” Grits says, barely able to contain his laughter.

“Fuck all of you.”

“All cock orgies aren’t my thing, brother.” Cyrus pats me on the shoulder, and I kick him in the ass once he’s taken two steps. He goes stumbling forward and drops his joint.

“Ice,” Stetson, our club’s VP, calls my name from the other side of the bar. “Prez wants you in his office.”

“Here we go,” I mutter under my breath.

“Good luck,” Flynn tells me, his voice masked with pity while his expression is one of pure amusement.

I meander toward Prez’s office that overlooks the bar of the Blackwood Knights MC clubhouse.

Nothing good ever comes from being assigned to ‘Neva duty’.

She’s Prez’s daughter. The club princess, who has a wild streak and a taste for trouble.

She should arrive back in Blackwood any day now for her winter break.

She’s been away at college for about three years.

She comes home for the occasional visit or holiday but never stays for long.

Her visits, no matter how short, always come with her getting into some situation the club has to rescue her from.

I blow out an exasperated breath, then snuff out my cigarette on the brick wall outside of the door to Prez’s office and drop it into a nearby trash can.

Before I get my fist fully raised to knock, Devil calls me into his office. “Come on in. I can hear you pacing.”

I shake my head and pinch the bridge of my nose. Why couldn’t he have tasked Storm with the job? She’s his bratty sister.

Prez sits behind his desk, stern, no bullshit expression on his face. “Got a job for you,” he says, voice gravelly, sounding as though he’s been chewing rocks. He’s as tough as he sounds. You don’t get to be the president of an outlaw motorcycle club by being soft.

The man is as brutal as it gets, except when it comes to daddy’s girl.

“What’s up?”

“Need you to pick up something precious for me. Neva needs a ride home for holiday break. Some dipshit got hammered and sideswiped every car on her street. They won’t have a rental for her until next week, and she refuses to fly.

Last time they lost her luggage, and you know how stubborn she can be. ”

What he means is how fucking spoiled she is. She’s got her old man wrapped around her finger. Devil Knight isn’t the kind of man who takes no for an answer unless it’s coming from Neva’s lips.

He slides a piece of paper across his desk with her address and cell number on it. Bastard is about as old school as it gets. Still uses a fucking flip phone. Says he doesn’t trust smartphones.

He digs into his pocket and drops a set of keys on the desk in front of me. “Take my cage. I just had it serviced and got new tires.”

I snatch the keys off the desk and take a glimpse at the address and punch it into the navigation app on my phone. Fourteen hours there and back. Fuck me. Seven hours in a vehicle alone with Neva will be the death of me.

“I’ll leave early.”

“Better get on the road now. Big storm blowing in, and traveling will be a bitch if you don’t get in front of it.”

“Got it.”

“Take care of my girl and while you’re there. Give this to Diesel.” He hands me an envelope stuffed with cash. “Do it in private. Tell him I said it’s his holiday bonus.”

“Don’t be mad, babe. You know how it is.”

Tawny glares at me, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. “You don’t even know why I’m pissed.”

“I’ll be back by the time you’re off work tomorrow.”

“We were supposed to have dinner with my family, J.” She shakes her head. “Guess you forgot about that.”

I cup hand over the back of my neck and rub. Fuck. I forgot all about it. “Tomorrow. I’ll make it up to you.”

“You always do this. Make promises you don’t keep. This is your last chance. I can’t keep doing this.”

I should do the right thing. End things now. Because she’s right. I’m always letting her down, but she knew when we started I was in the club and the club will always come first. I’m not ready for something serious. She knows that too, but the sex is fucking great. I’m a selfish bastard.

“You know you can’t stay mad at me.” I tug her arms, making them drop to her sides. I wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head.

“I mean it. I deserve better than this back-and-forth loop we seem to be stuck on.”

“I hear you. You want more, and I’m not there yet.”

“You’re thirty-four years old. Don’t you think it’s time you wanted more than hanging at the clubhouse and getting wasted?”

“That’s not all I do.” I kiss her neck, and she pulls away.

“We’re never going to be on the same page, are we?”

“I can’t answer that.”

“Right. I’ll tell you what. While you’re on this road trip, decide.”

“Decide what?”

“If you’re ready to grow up. If you don’t show up for dinner tomorrow, then I have my answer.”

“Babe.”

“No.” She holds a palm up flat. “Think about what you want. We’ve been doing this for two years and you don’t even take me to the clubhouse.”

“Because it’s not your scene.”

“I need a commitment. I want to be with someone who sees a future with me. You freaked out because I wanted a drawer in your dresser.”

I lick my bottom lip but don’t argue. What she wants and what I need are two very different things. I’m not ready to settle down and play house. An ol’ lady isn’t even in the distant future for me. My life is good. I’m not looking to change a damn thing anytime soon.

“Let’s call it now. One day isn’t going to change how either of us feels. Was fun while it lasted, yeah?”

“You bastard,” she cries out as she slaps me. Black tears, stained with mascara, roll down her cheeks as she pounds against my chest with her fists while hurling every insult in the book at me. I don’t try to stop her. I stand here and I take it. I deserve it for breaking her heart.

Tawny’s a good woman.

But she’s not the one for me.

She shoves at me one last time. “Just go.”

“Take care of yourself, babe.”

“Guess I know why they call you Ice.” She shakes her head and picks up a glass off the counter and throws it at the wall behind me.

That’s my cue to get the fuck gone.

She’s still cursing me as I pull out of the driveway. “Fuck you, Ice Delgado.” She throws rocks at Prez’s truck. She had better not have scratched the paint job.

I swing by my place and grab my go-bag that I keep packed for nights like this. I never know when Prez will send me on a run. I do a quick inventory check, making sure I have extra cash and my piece.

Never know what kind of trouble I may meet on the road or what brand of it will be waiting for me with Diesel and his crew. Devil should have stripped their colors years ago.

But it’s seeing Neva again that I’m worried about.