Chapter 4
Pyre
“Pyre.”
I paused as we were walking by Cypher’s office door, looking over at my brothers suspiciously. “Did you fucking tell on me?” When they all pasted innocent looks on their faces, I sighed and stopped at Cypher’s door.
“Tell on you about what?” Demo asked, sounding as nonchalant as he could, as I continued to glare at them.
“The fight in the bar.”
“Oh no,” Warrant said with a shake of his head. He waited until I had the door open before he added. “We didn’t tell him about that.”
“Then what-”
“Better not keep him waiting,” Jury muttered with a smug grin.
“Get in here and shut the door, Pyre.”
Mouthing, I’ll get you fuckers back for this, I stepped into my president’s office and closed the door.
I didn’t know what they’d done, or said to Cypher, but it was clearly something.
Though I knew it wasn’t that I’d spent the night in one of Owen’s jail cells because they’d been right there beside me.
Whatever it was, they needed to pay for not minding their business.
Cypher watched me with knowing eyes as I sat down across from him with his monstrosity of a desk between us. “Prez.”
“Have a good time last night?”
I studied him. He looked relaxed, calm, but was watching me with those intense eyes that always saw too damn much.
I wasn’t about to rat myself out if he didn’t know what happened at the bar.
I knew that trick. If he did, and knowing him as well as I did it was almost a certainty that he knew, he’d let me know in his own way soon enough.
“Sure,” I commented, tone carefully blank.
He arched a brow. “Good enough to end up spending the night in jail.”
It wasn’t a question. I swore inwardly, but just shrugged. “Guess so.”
“Owen called,” he told me.
My lips twitched. “And you didn’t bother to come bail us out?” The others probably wouldn’t find it as funny as I did. No, that wasn’t right, everyone would except Scythe.
“Figured you guys could use a cooling down period.”
“So, why you only talking to me?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest and leaning back in the chair.
“Just checking in.” He leaned forward, his forearms on the desk.
I frowned. “About what? It was just a fight.” We got into plenty of those. Though I was rarely the one who started them.
“Just making sure you don’t need to talk about losing your cousin’s kid. I know you’re close with your family.”
“It’s a fucking shame,” I told him, “but no, that’s not bothering me.” Not in the way he was asking. Yeah, it still hurt not to see Brandon with his mom in the flower shop, but I wasn’t spiraling or on a rampage about it.
“Then what is?” he asked, picking up on some nuance in my tone I hadn’t even realized was there.
I was like a bug under a microscope. And I really didn’t appreciate it.
“Don’t use your CIA interrogation techniques on me, Cypher,” I said with a scowl.
He was my president and I’d show him the respect he was due, but that didn’t mean I had to spill my whole fucking life to him. Not before I was ready anyway.
“I’m not,” he insisted, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. “I’m just asking. Something’s up, Pyre.” He was too damn perceptive.
“I’m fine.”
“That why you ended up kicking the shit out of some guy who touched Rae?” One corner of his mouth slowly started curling upward. “Unless that was the problem? You have a thing for Raeleen, Pyre?”
“What’s with all of you?” I snarled, thoroughly pissed off that everyone kept bringing this up. “Just because Warrant decided to get himself an old lady doesn’t mean that the rest of us will.”
“The rest of us aren’t jumping to anyone’s defense,” he pointed out. “Normally when you guys brawl, it’s a fairly contained event.”
“There were four of our brothers right there with me in that jail cell after kicking the shit out of those guys,” I shot back. “They needed to learn what no meant.”
“They did,” he agreed. “We don’t put up with that kind of shit in our town. However-”
“No. No, however,” I told him. “That’s it.”
He considered that, then nodded. “If your brothers weren’t there, you might have done permanent damage to one or more of those guys. They weren’t fighting beside you so much as preventing you from killing someone.”
He had me there. I saw red last night and was nearly feral. “Yeah, well, learn what no means.” I wasn’t willing to say that I’d been wrong. I hadn’t been.
He jerked his chin toward the door, letting me know I could go.
Standing, I stalked to the door, my already foul mood even darker now.
When I was working over a problem I really hated it when others butted in and tried to help.
I’d come to the solution on my own without anyone else poking their noses in.
I knew my brothers were only doing it because they cared.
Didn’t matter. I needed the time, and space, to figure out what I wanted to do about my semi-empty life on my own.
Who knew if pursuing this attraction I had for Rae would help with that? I wasn’t really looking for anything short-term, but I had no clue whether I was suited for long-term either.
“Pyre.”
I paused in the doorway and looked over my shoulder at Cypher. My eyebrow shot up as I silently asked what he wanted.
“You know that what’s said inside my office stays in my office? Anything we talk about in here the others will never hear about.”
Nodding, I walked out. It was his way of saying that I could talk to him about anything. Of course I knew that. We all did. Cypher had this ability to dig until he figured out exactly what it was you needed. Then he always made sure you got it. I just didn’t want him digging at me right now.
If I knew what my problem was, I’d have no issue talking with my brothers. They were assholes, but I could go to them with anything. Just like they could come to me. Most of us were too fucking stubborn to do that, but the silent offer was always there.
I sucked in a lung full of clean fresh air as I stepped outside.
It was mid-July and the morning was already starting to warm up even though it was only eight.
Owen had kicked us out as soon as he’d walked through the doors.
He claimed to not want to deal with us anymore and we were ruining his day before it even started.
Getting on my motorcycle, I tried to outride my thoughts. Unfortunately, they were still there with me as I pulled up in front of the little house I’d bought in town.
The ranch life wasn’t really for me, so I hadn’t bought a larger place like some of the other guys.
I still fully intended to get some property at some point, even if I didn’t run cows or sheep on it.
But for now this little two-bedroom home was enough for me.
I was hardly ever here anyway. My cousin Jay was the only family who lived here in Sentinel.
The rest of my clan were over in Oregon.
I’d been used to moving around thanks to the military, but it’d been nice to settle somewhere that I had some family, besides my club of course.
My house usually sat empty as I was typically either at the clubhouse or off on assignment.
My declining to go on the current mission had surprised Cypher.
That was probably what’d put me on his radar.
Over the last couple years, I’d started going on more and more of our operations.
They kept me busy. Kept my mind occupied.
Stripping as I made my way to the back of the house where my bedroom was, I replayed last night in my mind.
I hadn’t missed the fact that Rae had nearly broken that fucker’s wrist. A grim smile formed as I thought about the shock on the guy’s face when she’d pulled that move.
I’d been damn proud of her for that. I also wondered where she learned it.
I reached into my shower and turned the water on.
Not bothering to let it heat up, I stepped in, hissing as the cold spray smacked me in the chest. It hadn’t mattered that she’d gotten him to back down on her own.
The minute he’d touched her, I’d lost my senses.
No one would’ve been able to talk me down.
My brothers hadn’t even tried. Cypher was right, I might have done permanent damage to someone last night, and honestly, I didn’t even care. He touched what belonged to me.
She didn’t really. At least not yet. And I’d been fighting the urge to make her mine for a while now. I hadn’t been ready before. Didn’t think settling down would be worth it. I was re-examining that idea now.
Rae had been the only one who had tried to stop me. Hearing her calling out my name in that soft, slightly melodious, voice of hers had only riled me up further. Someone had touched her after she’d told them no.
I slapped a hand against the tiled wall and dunked my head under the spray of the shower head.
I was still too worked up over this. And I didn’t even know why.
It hadn’t been a lie when I told my brothers that I found Rae hot.
She was sexy as hell. And we sure as hell didn’t like when men didn’t take no for an answer. But this was more than that.
It was rare for me to lose control the way I had.
Rae just called to me for some reason. She brought out this overly protective side in me.
Which was why I’d mostly given her a wide berth for the last few years.
She’d moved here three years ago. I frowned when I realized that was when I’d started taking on more and more with Sentry Securities.
Why had that never occurred to me before?
I’d spoken to her the day of Brandon’s funeral. My cousin, Jay, had asked me to handle a couple of things so he and his wife Mary could focus on their other children and what they needed to do to lay Brandon to rest. That was the first time I’d talked with Rae for more than a few seconds at a time.
I still remembered the first day I’d seen her.
She’d come out of one of the local grocery stores and I’d been floored.
She’d been in black jeans, a black t-shirt with some punk band name on it, and had been wearing the brightest smile I’d ever seen.
It was a good thing I was still sitting on my bike waiting for one of my brothers to finish whatever the fuck he’d been doing because she might’ve knocked me on my ass otherwise.
As she passed she met my gaze, smiled even brighter—though I wasn’t sure how it was possible—and said hello in that soft, eager way of hers.
I nodded at her, completely dumb struck and unable to return her greeting.
She’d continued on her way unfazed by my lack of response.
From that point on, if I saw her coming, I went the opposite way.
I wasn’t embarrassed by my response to her. I just knew she was fucking dangerous. At that time, I hadn’t been looking for anything more than I already had in my life. Money, work, and the occasional fuck were all that I needed.
Now? A lot had changed in three years. Sighing, I scowled down at my dick. Just thinking about her made me hard. “Shit.”
I knew better than to ignore my hard-on.
I would just lay down and end up picturing her anyway.
Seemed I couldn’t get her out of my head once I started thinking about her these days.
Grabbing a hold of my cock, I groaned as I imagined it was Rae’s hand.
If she was going to plague every damn thought, she was going to help me get rid of some tension.
Reaching over, I pumped some three in one soap into my palm then stroked it over my dick.
Closing my eyes, I pictured her on her knees, her big brown eyes staring up at me as she opened her mouth.
Her pink lips would part, tongue peeking out.
I just knew she would give me the best head, her sweet lips wrapped around my cock.
Huffing out a breath, I put my free hand against the tile again, steadying myself as I pumped my fist over my length.
Scythe mentioning her red lips on my dick last night had put images in my head that were almost enough to make me fucking come in my jeans.
That was why I’d gotten so pissed at him.
Imaginary Rae stuck her tongue out, blinking up at me innocently as she waited for me to come in her mouth. Fuck. I wasn’t wasting any time drawing this out. I wanted to come so I could get her out of my head. The more time she spent there the worse it would be for me.
My balls drew up and the pressure built.
My fist tightened and my movements sped up.
The pleasure was fucking electric as I fantasized about her begging me.
She was desperate to touch me, but I’d ordered her to stay where she was.
It was torture to me, because having her hands and mouth on me would be like a fucking dream come true, but I needed to give myself some kind of punishment for doing this.
I was supposed to be leaving her alone, not dreaming about all the things I wanted to do to her.
“Fuck, Rae,” I growled as cum shot out of my cock and coated the shower wall. My breaths came fast and hard as I released my dick and put both hands on the wall. My damn knees were practically shaking. That was what she did to me. She had the power to put me down on my knees if she wanted to.
Smacking off the water, I dried myself off and forced all thoughts of the gorgeous woman out of my mind as I dragged on a pair of sweats and flopped down onto my bed.
None of us had slept last night, so I was going to get some shut eye before Cypher ended up calling us back to the clubhouse.
It didn’t matter what I should or shouldn’t be doing, I knew exactly what I was going to dream about.