Chapter 12
12
Scorpio
Karma thinks Grim will accept the two of us, but she either doesn’t know him as well as she thinks she does, or she’s letting wishful thinking get the better of her. The guy’s been staring at me with murder in his eyes ever since he joined us, not saying much. Karma tried to get the conversation going valiantly, but all I got was a very strong urge to be somewhere else.
As he walks back into the bar without her, I wish I’d removed myself from the table we were sharing. Because she’s not with him. She probably went to finally get those tattoos she’d come here to get. She wants us to get to know each other better—and by that she probably means have sex. She hasn’t said it straight out, but she’s been hinting at it more and more since we got to LA. But I’m sure he’d rather kill me than fuck me and I don’t want either of those things.
This dive bar we’re in is the kind of place where anything can happen, because everyone here is up for anything. Normally, I like places like this. But no one’s looking good enough to have and after this past week with Karma, I’m kinda afraid no one ever will again.
Grim doesn’t come back to the table. He parks himself by the bar downing a couple of double whiskeys in short order before chasing them down with a beer. He looks like he’s gnawing at the bottle every time he brings it to his mouth.
The place is pretty full and very noisy. Two girls are going down on each other in the middle of one of the pool tables and there’s a lot of cheering going on due to that, but the guy’s got eyes just for me. Laser focused and just as hot. I don’t know if I should ignore him, leave, or go up to him and see if there’s any credence to Karma’s delusions.
He’s hot. In that older-guy-who’s-been-around-some way. And other ways too. Big but not too bulky. The kind of guy you want watching your back because he makes you feel instantly safe. And those tie up leather riding pants he’s wearing over his jeans fit him like he had them made specially. And that bulge in the front… if he’s fully hard it’s impressive, and I somehow doubt he is. But I’ve had the chance to check him out plenty in the past and long ago decided he’s not my type. He doesn’t strike me as a guy who likes taking it and I’m not letting a guy fuck me, not even for Karma.
The whole thing’s fucked anyway. A man and a woman doing me together? That’s like a scene straight from my worst nightmares. I’ve been ignoring that side of this whole situation, since I can still kinda feel Karma’s pussy clenched around my cock from earlier today. But maybe I should stop dreaming too.
Joker wants me up north. He’s almost ready to go after Eden for real and I should be there. He screamed at me for a good five minutes when I told him I’m staying in LA for a couple of more days. Then he calmed down and told me to at least make myself useful by meeting with some MC while I’m down here, see if they wanna join our war with the Devils. I told him I had better things to do. That led to another five minutes of cursing me out. So I didn’t tell him about Karma, because then the cursing might never stop.
I just told him to call me when he’s had a chance to calm the fuck down, ended the call and didn’t answer the ten times he’s called me since.
But I’m reconsidering that now. Grim over there has downed a couple more double shots, his laser eyes are getting hotter, and he’s gnawing on his third beer. A perfect recipe for something bad to happen.
Karma won’t be back any time soon. She’s been talking about the tattoos she wants to get non-stop for the past two days. So I doubt she’s leaving that woman’s studio until she has them.
Plus, it’s better that Grim and Karma figure shit out on their own without me.
How can his cold blue eyes burn so hot? It’s a question that’s been forefront in my mind since he got here. However stupid it is. I don’t need to know. I just need to know he won’t try to murder me in my sleep. And I’m pretty sure he means to. Or just right here in the open.
I don’t usually worry about shit like that with anyone. But here I am, running away.
After I stand up, ready to leave, I actually consider telling him I’m taking off and where I’m going. But that’s part of Karma’s dream, not mine. I’m perfectly fine sharing her in a way that doesn’t involve Grim and me being in the same room.
But I’m not giving her up. I decided that on that marathon ride from Illinois. Though whatever we’re doing might not last very long. We’re starting our dance with the Devils soon. And not many live to tell about that.
I can feel Grim’s eyes boring into me even after my back is turned. And once I’m outside in the dark parking lot. The lights from the street—the ones that work anyway—don’t reach here and especially not to the side of the building where I parked my bike next to Karma’s earlier.
I should’ve figured he came out after me. No way I could still feel his eyes on me in the windy parking lot as hard as I did if he wasn’t right behind me. But I wasn’t paying attention. Something that’s been a problem lately, since my mind’s so full of Karma and all the shit that’s been trying to keep us apart when it’s so good when we’re together.
My first warning is the crunch of a beer can getting squashed by his boot. Not much of a warning. Because the next minute, all the air leaves my lungs in a rush as he pins me against the concrete wall of the bar, the gravelly surface of the facade scratching my cheek as he uses one arm across the back of my neck to push me against it. I know it’s him. I can still feel those blue laser eyes of his on me.
“You running out?” he asks in a hoarse voice, whiskey heavy on his breath. But he sounds sober. “Karma’s not gonna like that.”
“But you do, right?” I ask.
He scoffs and that’s the only answer I get. This is so surreal. He’s using his whole body to press me against the wall, that bulge in his pants is definitely more than only a half hard dick and I’m stupidly thinking he could make this whole scenario hurt a lot worse if he wanted to. As it is, it feels more like a rough embrace, especially with his mouth so close to my neck his hot breath is tickling me. And making my hair stand up in what I’m not sure is an entirely bad way. But I fucking hate being held down.
“She’s not gonna like me killing you either,” I say, which makes him laugh like I’ve said the funniest thing.
“Yeah, you think you got a shot?”
“I know I do,” I say. “You’re old enough to be my father.”
So why am I not taking my shot? Why am I just standing here letting him hold me down?
He scoffs again. “How do you figure? I got ten years on you, tops.”
“In some weird backwater, inbred type of way you could be,” I counter.
It’s a weird position to have a conversation, and I swear his cock is actually getting bigger. So’s mine.
“Right. So why are you just standing there?” he asks meanly, actually grinding his cock against my ass as he presses me even closer to the wall. “Is it because you like this?”
He’s pressed even harder against me, so for all my talk, I probably don’t have a chance to get him off me right now. I need an opening, I need to destabilize him, all sorts of advice from Honey in that line is sounding in my head. But so’s a bunch of other crap I don’t ever think about. Like how much better this would be if we were naked.
He’s gotta move sometime unless he means to keep me pinned against this wall forever. I’ll get my chance then.
“I think you do like it. I heard things about you,” he snarls in my ear, making yet more goosebumps rise on my arms. And more blood fills my already painfully hard cock.
“Yeah, what’s that?” I should be ending this. Not going deeper into this conversation.
“I heard you like the bikers as much as you like the whores,” he says and moves his arm from the back of my neck to wrap it around the front. A python’s got nothing on this guy’s strength and he’s not even showing me all of it yet. It should frighten me not make me want to feel it all.
But those memories that live in the darkest parts of my mind won’t have any of that. Not like this. Not ever. I take the little opening he gave me and twist around. I don’t get far, because he’s like a wall in front of me, just as hard and immovable as the one at my back. I have my knife out, but I’m not using it to free myself yet. No idea why. At least none that I want to admit to myself.
“Oh, yeah, you heard things about me?” I ask. “So you must’ve heard I like to hear big tough motherfuckers like you moan like little bitches when I ride them.”
The derisive scoff tells me what I already knew. No way that’s ever gonna be him. Sorry Karma.
“I’m into the same thing,” he says, his eyes once again burning holes into me.
“Not gonna be me,” I say and finally press my knife against the wall that is his stomach. “Get back.”
I’m pretty sure that’s disappointment in his eyes now. That and a whole lot of anger. But I’m making the right call here.
“You’re not gonna stab me,” he says and actually steps closer, pressing his thigh against my groin. So now he knows just how hard he’s made me. Changes nothing.
“I will cut you,” I promise him.
He looks real deep into my eyes and then nods. “I believe you.”
Then steps back like that’s all it took from the start. Whatever that was. I kinda miss his weight against me. The night is much colder without it. Whatever the fuck that means.
“Pity you had to bring a knife to this party,” he says. “I thought we were getting somewhere.”
It’s my turn to scoff. “Right, and where’s that? Rape?”
I should put my knife away, but I don’t trust him not to make another move.
“Nah, I don’t roll that way,” he says. “But I definitely felt a spark in the middle of all that. Didn’t you?”
I shake my head and walk past him to my bike. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to turn my back on him again, but neither is letting him read truths from my eyes. I feel like he can do that. Besides, it would be hard to claim that the way he manhandled me didn’t give my ideas I haven’t had in a very long time. Whatever all that might’ve led to wouldn’t exactly be rape. But I’m not going down that road. Ever.
“So what do I tell Karma?” he asks as I mount my bike.
“Don’t worry about that,” I say and sling my helmet on. “I’ll tell her all she needs to know after I fuck her next.”
There’s that rage he’s been trying to downplay lighting up his eyes again. I’m half expecting him to lunge at me as I rev my bike. But he lets me ride off. And I feel his laser eyes on me even after I’m so far away I can’t even see the bar in my rearview anymore.
He definitely could’ve just beat me to death in that dark parking lot if he wanted to. So maybe he wasn’t lying about the spark. It’s a strangely warming thought. Goes well with my throbbing cock and the goosebumps still tingling right under the surface of my skin.
But being with a man and a woman? Especially when one of them has such a clear love for using his strength on me?
That’s a fucking nightmare I will not be walking into ever again. No matter what. Sorry Karma.