Chapter nineteen
Anastasia
Raider gives me a rundown on the basics of how to ride.
He climbs onto his bike, starting it with a roar and giving me chills.
I stand there watching him, a need like I’ve never felt building deep in my core.
Raider holds his hand out to help me onto the bike.
I settle in behind him, shifting to find a comfortable position.
He reaches back, catching me behind the knees, pulling me so that my front is flush against his back.
I place my hands on his shoulders until he revs the bike, shooting us forward.
Squealing, I wrap my arms around his waist, holding on tight.
I feel more than hear him chuckle under my hands.
As we pull up to the gate, it slides open, letting us through without us having to come to a full stop.
Raider nods at Satchel, who is manning the guard shack until Twitch is ready.
We pull onto the road and shoot off in the opposite direction of town.
In a flash, we’re pulling up to a fire hall.
Remedy comes swaggering out with a small bag of supplies.
“Looking good, Anastasia. Badass biker chick looks good on you,” Remedy ribs me, causing Raider to growl.
“When he comes for you, that’s on you,” I laugh, shaking my head.
Remedy just smirks as he holds the bag out to Raider, who just throws a thumb in my direction.
I panic at the thought of having to keep up with the bag and ride until Raider pops open one of the side compartments where he drops the stuff inside.
They do some kind of handshake before we’re off again.
For the first twenty minutes after that stop, I’m thinking about all the instructions he gave me about leaning, not fighting him and just riding.
We pull up at a stop sign, and Raider looks back at me grinning.
“Relax, Tasia. Enjoy the ride. It’s meant to be freeing. Just hold on and flow with me,” he calls back to me.
“I’m trying, but I don’t know how to relax,” I call back to him.
Something I can’t identify flashes across his face before he gives me a quick nod.
We pull away from the stop sign, starting the ride slowly and steadily.
He reaches back, placing his hand on my calf, squeezing lightly before rubbing it.
That simple gesture helps me to understand that this ride is more than just him and me on a bike, it’s about me laying my trust in the man to take care of us and have a good time.
So, I relax for the first time since I can remember—fuck probably the day Shea was born.
I let go of my control and lay it at another’s feet.
We ride for what seems like forever, taking turns this way and that way.
We go in and out of the marsh, up and around the college, past the baseball fields and back toward Auntie Lynn’s house.
We pull down the long driveway, and my chest grows tighter and tighter as we go.
As we break the tree line, and the house comes into view, my vision swims. What was a large plantation home is now nothing but a blackened pile of ash.
Raider pulls past the house slowly following the old service road that runs along the edge of the property to the pound.
The breeze blows through the tall grass of the hayfields.
We pull up to a small patch of grass that has been mowed and leads to the dock that sticks out over the water.
Raider kills the bike, holding a hand out to help slide off the bike.
My legs are a little shaky from the ride.
Raider slides off, grabbing the supplies Remedy gave us and my hand.
We slowly make our way towards the dock.
We walk all the way to the end and sit. Raider immediately pulls my leg into his lap and pulls my pant leg up to work on the injury.
I look out over the water as comfortable silence falls over us.
“I haven’t been out here since the day I came here to wait for you, and you never showed,” I finally whisper out.
“That was the day after my first party at the club,” his words sound lost, but he doesn’t stop his work on my leg.
“Yeah, it was. The worst part is I didn’t know why you didn’t show until my sister told me she was pregnant.” Honesty is the only way we’re going to heal the hurt that’s been caused.
His head snaps up, his eyes reminding me of the man I saw the night I first arrived. “You think I didn’t come to meet you because of Shea?”
“Not at the time. To be honest, I just thought you forgot. Then, my sister shows up telling me she’s pregnant, and it’s your baby.
She told me when she told you about it, you told her to get rid of it or else.
What else was I supposed to think?” I throw my hands up as frustration grows deep in my chest.
Why can he not understand this?
Raider places my leg gently on the deck before shooting to his feet and pacing, something I’ve noticed he does when he is trying to process through his thoughts. I sit there, the need to apologize and tell him it doesn’t matter on the tip of my tongue, but my need to know stops me. I need to know.
Why her?
Why did he tell me he was going to come for me and then never show?
Why wasn’t I enough?
“Why, Watson? Why couldn’t you have just picked me?” I finally whisper the question I’ve never spoken to anyone.
“I didn’t pick her, goddamn it, Tasia. Don’t you get it?
” He fists his hands in his hair, looking up at the sky.
“I mean, it wasn’t until the day after you went missing, and we talked to Rusher, that it hit me.
She fucking drugged me, and I don’t even remember sleeping with her.
That’s why when she said the baby was mine, I told her to fuck off.
I was still just a prospect and got tied up with shit at the club.
By the time I got a chance to come find you, y’all were gone. ”
Staring at the man in shock, I want to say I’m surprised Shea would do what he is claiming. I’m not. Right behind the shock is the anger. She fucking did this on purpose as a way to control me and keep me from Raider, but why?
He looks down at me. “Why did you run with her? Why did you just believe what she said and go? That’s what I don’t understand. You fucking just left, no questions, no belief in me as your best friend.”
I want to make excuses to lie to him, but I can’t.
“I was hurt. In my head, you didn’t care and everything was a lie.
It was easier for me to put my head in the sand and run away.
Let’s not forget that Shea also told me that the baby's life depended on me leaving with her. No one could know about it, or everyone’s lives were in danger. ”
“You could have come to me!” he screams, cutting me off.
My head snaps back as if he struck me, and I climb to my feet.
“How exactly was I supposed to come to you? You fucking left here, Watson,” I spit his legal name at him.
“After telling me you wanted a future with me, you left me to go to a fucking motorcycle club party and then never fucking came back. Truth is, I waited every goddamn day for you. Like a stupid little girl, I would sit on the top step and just wait. You never came back. So, tell me exactly how I was supposed to come to you?”
Raider stares at me in shock for only a second before his hand is in my hair and his lips are on mine.
Done fighting the need for this man, I jump up, wrapping my legs around his hips, diving my hands into his hair and fisting it.
I pull him tighter to me as we fight for dominance of the kiss.
The hand not wrapped in my hair slides under my ass, holding me up so he won’t drop me.
Raider breaks the kiss, pulling my head for better access to my neck, where he peppers nips and kisses down it until he meets the collar of my shirt.
“Tasia,” he whispers over and over as if worshiping my name.
“Please, Raider, I don’t want to wait anymore.” Using the grip on his hair, I tilt his head so I can see his face. “Don’t make me wait any longer for something that we’ve both wanted for so fucking long.”
With a look of pure hunger on his face, he just gives me a nod, and we’re moving. I don’t care where we’re going as I plant kisses all along his cheek to his ear where I nip it before sucking the lobe into my mouth to soothe the sting.
“Raider, I’ve dreamed so many nights of sucking your cock. Of taking it so deep, I choke on it until tears are streaming down my face. Your hands in my hair, setting an unforgiving pace until I feel your hot cum slide down my throat.” I moan when the hand in my hair grips tighter, pulling slightly.
“Oh, my sweet Tasia, I am holding on by a thread. If you keep talking like that, then you’re going to get your wish right here and now,” his words trail off on a groan when I nip his ear again.
“Is that hold you have on the thread because of me?” I grind my needy pussy on his stomach searching for release.
“Tasia,” his words are primal.
“Let go. I need you, Raider. I need the man who takes what he wants and doesn’t apologize for it.” I whimper when the seam of my jeans presses on my clit.
Raider pats my thigh signaling for me to drop my legs. I do, and he lets me slide down his body. My feet hit the ground, and I ignore the slight pain in my leg. Raider uses the hold he has on my hair, pulling my head back slightly. I look up at him, confused about what he wants from me.
He leans down. “Oh, you can’t be all talk now, Tasia. I want you on your knees, hands behind your back.”