9. Paige
9
PAIGE
I won't claim the bikers don't still scare me a little, but now it feels more like having three big scary guard dogs on my side. And maybe, just maybe, they actually care about what happens to me? It could just be the aftereffects of dreaming about them, but I don’t think so. I think in spite of who they are and what they’re capable of, they have a strict moral code. It’s just a lot more brutal than most people’s.
“You sure you wanna go back?” Savage stayed behind when Crank and Poe went out to bring back breakfast. Apparently Crank only fed himself this morning when he went for coffee.
I’m sitting cross-legged on one of the beds in the other room, flipping through channels on the TV. I turn it off and throw the remote onto the bed. “No, but I feel like I need to. I should at least try, right? I know a laundry business isn’t that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a big deal to me. I hate that he’s ruining something my mother worked really hard to build. She started with nothing, you know? Taking in neighbors’ clothes when I was a baby. Uncle Walter didn’t even get involved until she’d already invested in the move to commercial customers.”
“What’s your feel on him? Nice guy someone’s putting pressure on, or asshole out to make a buck?”
I pull my knees close to my chest and sigh. “He was fun when I was little. He was always doing cool stuff and telling stories and jokes. I don’t think he stayed in the same place for more than a year when I was a kid. But when I think back, he always had a plan that was going to make him rich, and then we never heard about it again. He didn’t start working with Mom until he met his wife and she made him settle down. I don’t want to think the worst, but if someone offered him a way to make more money and do less work, he’d probably take it and not worry about the details.”
Savage nods. “Fucking family.”
I find myself smiling sympathetically. “You sound like you speak from experience.”
“You could say that, but I haven’t talked to the people who raised me in years. Better for all of us.” He shrugs, not sounding angry about it exactly, more like it’s an old wound, long since scabbed over. “The Sons are my family now. Every single one of my brothers has chosen to be there, and we’ve fought for the right to stand at each other’s sides.”
“That sounds nice.” And a little scary. “I guess I don’t really have any family now aside from Uncle Walter. Mom raised me on her own after she got pregnant in high-school. Her parents disowned her when she refused to chase my dad down.”
“You don’t have any contact with him?”
I shake my head. “Nope. It’s not a mystery or anything. He’s just some deadbeat from her hometown. I’ve met him like twice and whatever magical bond there’s supposed to be never appeared. I'm sure she could've gone to court and tried to get child support, but when I was old enough to ask her about it once, she just said that the only thing she needed from him, he already gave her. I’m sure it was tough at first, but I don’t remember ever being cold or hungry. She taught me to take care of myself and never let anyone tell me I need a man.” Then I look at him and realize how silly that sounds. “Though I guess right now I need three.”
He laughs, and it makes me grin in return. “You remind me of my little sister. She was half my size but she fought dirty. If anyone pissed her off, she’d wait until she could get the drop on them and kick their ass.”
“She sounds… intimidating.”
“Yeah.” His expression darkens suddenly. “She was.”
Oh no. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to?—”
He holds up a hand to stop me. “Nah. It's fine. She lived more in eighteen years than most people do in their whole fucking lives.”
Great, now that we’ve bonded over family trauma, everythings awkward. “So anyway, I guess my thought was that you could help keep me safe while I figure out what’s actually going on.”
“What’s your end goal?”
“Honestly, I just want to get the company back to legit business and not worry about stolen money anymore. How hard can that be?” My smile is sheepish, because I know this is going to be anything but easy, and some of that is my fault. “If I could go back in time, I would’ve left the money there. Maybe they would’ve known I found it, but so long as I stayed away, I bet my uncle would’ve let me go.”
“Paige, if it comes down to it, you need to understand that you hired us to keep you safe, and that might mean safe from him. If his choices threaten you, we will remove him from the equation.”
“What?” I hold up both hands and wave them in front of me. “No, no, no. I know he’s mixed up in a lot of bad stuff, but I don't hate him, you know?”
I can tell from the intense look on Savage’s face that he’s dead serious. In a messed up kind of way, it’s almost… hot? No. I’m just getting all mixed up because I can still remember all too well the way he looked at me in my dream when he was about to?—
There’s a quick, patterned knock on the door and then it pushes open, letting in Poe and Crank with what looks like enough food to feed an army.
“Are we expecting guests?” I ask as they line up a buffet of fast food on the dresser.
“We're hungry.” Poe shrugs. “Besides, we didn’t know what you like, so we got a little of everything. Come pick your poison before Crank eats it all.”
“Fuck off,” grumbles Crank, pausing unwrapping his burger to give Poe the finger.
I hurry over and grab a chicken sandwich, some fries, and a soda. Poe wasn’t kidding, between the three of them, they manage to decimate the entire spread. Big men need a lot of energy, I'm realizing.
Once we've eaten, we pack up and wait outside while Poe unhitches his bike from the trailer behind the van and Crank gets behind the steering wheel. He has to run the seat all the way back and down before he fits properly.
“How do you decide who gets to drive the van?”
“Gets to drive the van?” Poe shakes his head. His hair is tied back, showing off the end of the tattoo. “The van is the shit seat. We only take it because nobody wants a pissed off mark riding bitch.” He slings his leg over the inky black motorcycle and settles into the seat like it’s part of him. “Ever ride?”
“What? No, never.”
“You can ride with me,” says Savage like it's already decided. “Get on.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“Get on the back of my bike.”
“But…” I look between him and Poe, confused.
Poe shrugs. “It's fine. Go ahead. We’re all good for a ride or two.”
I could pretend that he wasn't trying to make that sound dirty, but it’s pretty damn hard with the way he's smirking at me. “Um, so how do I do this?” Savage's bike is a deep forest green, faded out to a glistening black at the edges. It matches his eyes. Did he do that on purpose? Or maybe he just likes the color. It suits him, though.
“Climb up behind me.”
I reach out, almost putting my hand on his shoulder and then pull back. “Maybe I should just ride in the van.” I feel like I know him a little better now after the talk we had before the others returned, but this feels different. Intimate.
“Come on, kitten. You know you want to,” he says, the dare clear in his voice.
“Why would you call me that?”
“Because you’re only fucking twenty and you’re already down about three lives because you keep sticking that curious little nose into things.”
“Doesn’t that mean I should be more careful, not less?” I am pretty curious. About what it feels like to ride a motorcycle… and about him between my legs while I’m doing it. I don't know what it is about them that makes everything feel like it wraps around to sex, but being around them is like going to the beach on a hot day, when the sun is beating down on your skin and you can almost feel the pull of the cool water before you even dip in a toe.
“Fuck that,” Poe says with a snort. “Use ‘em all. I don’t know what happens after we die, but I’m pretty damn sure nobody’s handing out bonus points for the risks you didn’t take.”
That sounds like a very biker point of view. “Okay, okay.” I climb onto the back, using Savage as leverage to get into place on the seat behind him. When I’ve settled in with my legs on either side of his, I have to work very hard on not remembering the end of my dream, when his hips had mine spread wide and he was about to—”Where do I hold on?” the question comes out in an embarrassing squeak.
“To me, kitten.”
“Uh, okay.” I try to get a good grip on his vest without getting too close.
Savage takes my hands and pulls me right up to him, wrapping my arms around his chest. It puts me flush against his back with his tight butt squeezed in between the insides of my thighs. “Don’t be shy. You want a good grip.”
Poe laughs. “Nice and firm.”
“Not everything’s about sex!” I snap.
“Isn’t it?” And that's when Savage starts the bike.
The sudden roar makes me gasp and clutch him harder, digging my nails into his leather. The motorcycle rumbles to life, and the vibration feels way better than it has any right to. My hips are dying to move, but I take a deep breath and relax into the warmth of Savage’s back. I glance over at Poe. The smoldering look and cocky smirk he sends my way makes me think he knows exactly what I’m feeling right now.
Crank starts the van and pulls out. Poe follows him closely, and then Savage with me clinging to him with a death grip. The rumble of the engines turns into a roar as we get out on the main road. By the time we're on the highway, I’m riding the high of feeling the wind rush over me as the steady vibrations of the bike surge through my legs and drive heat right into my core.
If this thing makes me orgasm on the way, I'm going to roll right off and die.
But what a way to go.