Chapter Seven
A nother Moment in Time
“I don’t want to go,” Daisy said.
Anthony kissed the top of her head. “Then don’t.”
“People are going to start suspecting something is going on.” Daisy looked up at him, tilting her head back.
“Who cares if they do? They haven’t noticed yet.”
She sighed. “True.” She rolled over and snuggled against him, looking up at him. “I love these moments with you.”
They were once again naked after making love, and they were in her bedroom. Whizz and Lacey were at the club with her brother. Sally no longer lived with them. She knew they were hoping to adopt again soon. Sally’s room was empty, and she was not moving back anytime soon; after all, she now lived with Steven.
Her parents were amazing, and she knew there were a lot of kids that needed their love. She was already looking for a new place to live so they could adopt more than one child. She didn’t want anyone to lose their chance of having a good home because she was being selfish. She loved Lace and Whizz. They were her mom and dad, and they never would stop being hers, but it was time for her to let others take her place.
“I’m thinking of renting an apartment,” Daisy said.
“You are?”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s time I did. Don’t you think it would be nice if we didn’t have to sneak around anymore?” she asked.
“I’d like that.”
Daisy smiled. “So, you’re in?”
“Yes, I’m in.”
She pulled away from him and went to her desk, pulling out the local paper she had seen. Turning back to him, she spun to see that Anthony had pushed the blanket off his body, and had one hand wrapped around his thick length.
“I’m trying to talk about something serious here,” she said.
“Oh, trust me, this is serious. There is no way I am going to be able to watch you walk away and not want you.”
She rolled her eyes.
“That is even sexier. My little siren with attitude.”
Daisy burst out laughing. “You’re crazy.”
“I’m crazy for you, now come here,” he said.
She held up the paper.”
“That can wait. You know that wherever you choose I won’t argue. Come here, I need some loving.”
Daisy wanted to argue with him, but what was the point? They only had these fleeting moments together.
Dropping the paper to the floor, she walked over to him, taking her time and hoping she looked sensual rather than stupid.
She stepped right in front of him, and Anthony reached out, grabbing her hips and pulling her close.
Before she could ask him what he was doing, he pressed a kiss to her stomach, then another, and he actually trailed his lips up until he took one of her nipples into his mouth. She let out a moan. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she closed her eyes as he bit down. She cried out, but then he growled against her breast, sliding his tongue over her sore nipple before moving onto the next.
Anthony was always pushing her, driving her higher, making her take more of him. He would hold her at the precipice of pleasure, waiting to push her over the edge, and there were a lot of times she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle it.
He was always there, guiding her, holding her when it got a little too much. She trusted him. He was the one constant in her life.
Daisy cried out as suddenly he pulled her down to the bed and took possession of her mouth. She kissed him back, and he locked their fingers together, pushing her hands above her head.
He broke the kiss first, trailing his lips down her neck, and then biting on the pulse. She loved when he did this. There were times she was pretty sure he went out of his way to mark her body. She would try to hide it from everyone, not that it mattered. She once had a hickey on her neck, and no one had paid any attention to it. No questions as to who gave it to her or how she got it. It was then she realized that she and Anthony, to a certain extent, were invisible to everyone. She didn’t mind. They were able to make it work.
Anthony pulled her hands up over her head, and with his other he stroked down her body, cupping her tit, and taking the nipple back into his mouth. She let out a cry, and he growled against her body. She didn’t want him to stop.
He moved his hand down, going toward her pussy. His fingers stroked between her slit, but he wasn’t done, he went to her core, sliding not one, but two digits inside her. At the same time, his thumb danced across her clit.
“You’re so wet for me,” he said.
She whimpered his name as her orgasm was already starting to build. She didn’t know how he managed to do this. It was like her body was not her own.
Higher and higher she climbed, until she thought she was about to fall off the peak. Only, Anthony had other ideas, and he pulled his hand away. She didn’t have to wait long as his cock stroked between her slit, bumping her clit.
She cried out as the pleasure once again struck her hard.
He was not going to make it so easy, though. He pulled back, holding onto his dick, and then pressed inside her. Slowly, making each inch count as he started to fill her up. When it got to the final couple of inches, he slammed them inside her, making her cry out.
He was so big, and she stared up into his blue eyes, once again getting lost in them. Daisy had come to see that each time she looked into his eyes, she saw more of him. Tabitha hadn’t been wrong all those years, and she saw it now more than ever.
Anthony loved her, cherished her, adored her, and they were partners. That love was not quick or easy. It was a love that had flourished between them as kids and only gotten stronger. She loved Anthony, just as he loved her.
“I want you to come with me,” he said.
“Always.”
That is what they would be, always together.
Always.
****
P resent Day
“Hey,” Constance said.
Anthony looked up to find Constance standing in the doorway of Daisy’s room, flowers in hand.
“Hey,” he said.
“Still no change?” Constance walked into the room and he noticed she limped just a little.
There were bruises on her face, just as Anthony had them. He didn’t give a fuck about his cuts and bruises, though.
“None.”
“Can I come in?”
“Yes, Daisy would want you to,” he said and sat back, letting out a breath. Whizz and Lacey allowed him to stay with her, but with the agreement, he went home, changed, and ate.
At the moment, he couldn’t go back to their place. There were too many memories, and right now it was a little fucked up in his head that he’d been living with Daisy, and the truth was, no one fucking knew.
No one knew about him or Daisy, or the fact they were married and had been together since they were sixteen years old. Everyone had been so focused on Tabitha and Simon. The two clubs. Then it was about the Monster Dogs MC.
He and Daisy had been happy to play the roles they had been dealt. Now, though, as he saw the ring on her finger, he didn’t like it. Anthony was pissed off. Their secret relationship shouldn’t have been so easy to pull off.
“She looks so ... tired,” Constance said.
He heard her sniffle.
Staring across the room, he glared at her. “Don’t. Daisy doesn’t need to hear that shit, so if you don’t have it together, fuck off.”
“Dude, seriously?” Rachel asked, coming into the room.
He watched as Rachel, Markus, Miles, John, Blaise, and Damien stepped into the room. They all looked like shit. He hadn’t checked in with any of them. He had been so focused on getting Daisy healed. It was in that moment he realized how fucked up everything was.
“You’re right,” Anthony said. He was not going to apologize.
He didn’t want to fucking talk.
Daisy would often tell him there would come a time he was going to have to talk. He looked at the men and women in his room. Everyone had gone to high school with the Monster Dogs MC. They had all been there when it got ugly. They all had each other’s backs.
When he told them what he wanted, none of them questioned him. They all hated that the Monster Dogs, in essence, got away with that they did. It was time for them to pay the price.
“How are you all?” Anthony asked, biting the words out slowly.
Miles was the first to burst out laughing. “Well, Daisy has her work cut out for her, when she stops sleeping. Seriously, we all risk our asses for this, and that is all you’ve got.”
“We would all risk our asses for this,” Constance said. “No matter what. What started in high school should have ended there but didn’t. Fucking Daniella. When did she turn up?”
Miles nodded. “I don’t know, but she fucked everything up. Daisy didn’t see her coming.”
“None of us saw what was coming,” Anthony said as he rubbed at his temple.
“Well, none of us blabbed,” Miles said. “Someone must have alerted them. They had to have known. They didn’t even fucking know we registered, and then they started to attack. They were ready.”
“Aren’t you curious?” Rachel asked.
Anthony looked at the team they had made, and they didn’t know. He had kept it a secret, because he had known they wouldn’t agree.
****
I s This Where It Went Wrong?
Anthony drove up to the old lake. The text he had gotten from the anonymous number had been cryptic. He never usually responded to texts like this.
Pulling his bike to a stop, he turned off the light, and then he saw him.
Climbing off his bike, he reached into the back of his jeans, where he stored his knife just in case.
Luke put his hands up. “I didn’t come here to fight. This is not a trap.”
He didn’t trust him. “The text I got was from you?”
“I knew you wouldn’t come if you knew it was me.”
He wasn’t wrong. There was no fucking way he would have done anything for this son of a bitch. As far as Anthony was concerned, this guy and all the Monster Dogs MC needed to die. He knew Luke wasn’t like the rest of the club. The man had a sense of honor. He’d been the one to serve Ryan up. He had offered to kill the man himself. They had both figured what Ryan had done wouldn’t result in war. An eye for an eye and all that shit.
Only, that hadn’t happened, and now Luke looked like he had aged by ten years.
“What do you want?” Anthony asked.
“I know what you’re planning to do.”
He glared at him and was not going to bite. There was a chance he didn’t have a clue and was just baiting him.
Luke shrugged. “You can deny it all you want, but I knew this day would come, and this needs to happen.”
Anthony continued to stare at him. Usually, his silence unnerved those around him. It was why he stayed silent and allowed those closest to him to just leave him alone. People hated the silence, as it made them nervous.
The man opposite him laughed. “Do you really think you’re going to get into the Monster Dogs MC clubhouse and wipe out the whole club without help from the inside? It doesn’t matter how many weapons you have. It is not enough, unless you have my help.”
He waited, allowing the silence to fill the gap. This was too good of an offer, and he knew from experience that anything that sounded like it was too good to be true often was.
“Why?” Anthony asked.
“Why what?”
“Why are you doing this? You’re betraying your club.”
Luke laughed. “Do you think I’ve got much of a choice? After everything?”
Anthony waited for more and Luke shrugged. “You know, you were a hard man to like through high school and that hasn’t changed.”
“I never tried to be liked at high school and there is no way I’m starting now.”
“The club hates me,” Luke said. “Because I don’t agree with them. I don’t agree with their stance over what happened to Ryan, nor their view on Tabitha and Simon. I don’t agree with any of it. My dad is pretty much keeping me as a prospect because I handed Ryan to Simon. I tried to right the wrong of the club, and yet I’m the one being treated like a social leper. I’m not a rapist, and I will not support a rapist either.”
This was partly a surprise.
“What do you want?” Anthony asked.
“To pledge allegiance to the Skulls. I’ve watched you guys. I know what you do, and I’ve never seen you as cowards. I know you do what it takes to keep your family safe, and that is what I want to be part of.”
Now, that he could understand.
“You know what I’m doing is not sanctioned by my dad,” Anthony said. “He doesn’t know, and once all of this is done, there’s a chance I won’t ever earn my patch.”
Luke threw back his head and laughed. “Trust me, you’re going to earn your patch. You’re too good not to.”
“Trying to kiss my ass?”
“No, stating a fact. I don’t play fucking mind games. Not in high school and certainly not now.”
“Becoming a Skull will not get you any closer to Tabitha. If that is what your game plan is.”
“I have no game plan other than to end the pieces of shit I grew up with. Trust me, it is easy to believe as kids that what we’re part of is important. That is what I thought. That is what ... I believed. I thought my dad was a good man, a kind man, an honest man.”
Anthony couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Seriously? Even I knew my dad grew up in a whole different way. I know what my dad is capable of.” He knew of the stories to protect Angel—he once snapped a man’s neck with his bare hands.
Now, he would have believed that of Killer, seeing that the man was built like a beast. There was a time he had doubts about his dad. Only, it was impossible to have doubts when there were men and his own mother who witnessed it. There was no way to deny the truth then. His father, when it came to Angel, his family, and the club, was a machine.
“So, what do you say?”
****
A Few Hours Later
“What did you say?” Daisy asked.
She handed him a mug of hot chocolate, and he thanked her and took a sip. It was so close to tasting exactly like his mother made. The hot chocolate was still tasty, but there was just something missing.
“It’s good,” he said.
“I know, but it’s not quite right.”
Angel rarely kept secrets, but her hot chocolate was one of them.
He sighed.
“So, come on, tell me, what did you say to Luke?”
Anthony gripped the back of his neck. He looked down at his woman, as she blew across the surface of her hot chocolate.
“I told him sure, that he could join the Skulls, but I warned him it might not be quite as easy as my word.”
“Do you think you should go to your dad now? We’ve got someone working on the inside.”
“No. He would stop it, probably put Luke to work, and I’m not going to do something that could jeopardize how far we’ve come.”
“You’re not worried?”
“Not yet,” Anthony said.
He sat down on the coffee table in front of her and reached out to stroke her cheek.
“You didn’t use the potential for him getting closer to Tabitha to help sway his thought pattern?” Daisy asked.
“No, I actually asked him if that is what he was thinking because there is no way in hell that is happening.”
Daisy nodded. “From the time Simon and Tabitha were kids, their fate was sealed.”
“So was yours,” Anthony said.
She looked at him.
“The day I first saw you at the nursery, I knew you and I were not going to stop.”
“Come on, Anthony, we were not quite like Simon and Tabitha.”
He looked at her and smiled. “Yeah, we were better.”
This made Daisy laugh.
“I love you, Daisy. I have loved you for a long time and I know a lot of people see it as verging on obsession, and maybe they’re right. I don’t give a fuck if they are or not. I knew the moment I looked at you that you were who I wanted. You were the girl I fell in love with. Sure, it wasn’t as easy as Simon and Tabitha, but that doesn’t mean you and I don’t have our own love story to share. Look at us now.”
“We live together in secret.”
“That we do, but only because no one gives a fuck what we’re doing.”
“Do you really think we’re doing the right thing now?” Daisy asked. She pressed her cheek against his palm.
“At the moment, it’s the only thing we can do.”
“He is still the enemy.”
“True, but he is an enemy who has only ever wanted to survive, and I can understand that. He didn’t want to fight through high school. Our circumstances changed all that.”
“I don’t know if we should trust him.”
“Then trust me.”
“That, I can do.”
****
P resent Day
“It was a mistake,” Anthony said.
Still, he couldn’t help the niggle that seemed to go off in his head. Luke had been the one to save Daisy, and in the process killed Daniella. That had been a big deal. Daniella had been one of the girls that hung around him at high school, hanging on his every word.
Anthony rubbed his eyes.
“Nah, I don’t think it was much of a mistake. Someone messed up,” Miles said.
“And right now, there is nothing we can do about it,” Anthony said. “As you all know, my dad is breathing down my neck, and I’m pretty sure anyone who even steps out of line will be crushed right now. We’ve got to play it safe, that is all we can do.” He never thought he would say those words.
“But we did what was needed,” Miles said.
None of them knew what his father was doing, and why he had no choice but to hold off in taking out the Monster Dogs MC. Lash finally confiding in him the nasty, ugly truth surrounding the club, was enough to set him on edge.
For years, his father had been trying to make the Skulls a safe place, even dealing with the Billionaire Bikers MC. Anthony hadn’t known what was at stake.
Glancing over at Daisy, his wife, his love, he knew their actions might mean women and children died because of them. She would hate herself. Daisy didn’t mind doing what was needed—fighting for the club—but the cost was going to be too high for her to bear.
Suddenly, he got to his feet, reached over, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, but there’s someone I’ve got to find.”