Spawn
The tiny woman I met standing guard over Lash’s woman in the hospital wouldn’t leave my mind. I should be trying to figure out a way to get Troian to forgive my brother, and I was, but I kept coming up empty. Instead, I continued to go back to the nurse. When she’d bowed up on me at Troi’s bedside, it amused me for sure, but it also impressed the fuck outta me. There were very few men who would do that, let alone a woman and a petite, delicate one to boot.
I was a lover of women. I liked them in all sizes, shapes, and looks, although due to my size, I often ended up sticking to those on the taller and thicker side. The nurse was neither of those, but what I wouldn’t give to have her naked and in my bed. I bet she’d be a wild one. Despite how feisty she was, she inspired this protectiveness in me too.
I’d been struck by her and had to fight not to gape at her like an idiot when I first saw her. It was more than just the fact she placed her small body between Troian and me. It was her utter beauty and her fierce protectiveness. She would be one to defend her man and family to the death.
She was younger than me. Probably, if I were to guess, her mid-twenties, which was Troian’s age. That made me a good decade older. At six foot six, I was more than a foot taller than her. It didn’t matter. Instantly, I knew I wanted her. Her pale, creamy-looking skin and her fit, petite, though curvy body made me want to touch her all over. She had the most beautiful blue-gray eyes, which were perfect with her delicate features of a small nose, high cheekbones, and full lips. That mouth of hers fueled some fantasies about what she could do with it.
I knew I was a dog, but I couldn’t help it. She hit me hard, and it hadn’t lessened in the last few days since meeting her. In fact, she occupied more and more of my mind even when I was supposed to be working. No woman had ever done that. I was known to be able to shut everything out and focus.
Add to all that her hair. She’d had it up in a bun, but I knew it would be long, most likely past her shoulder blades. It was a light brown color with lighter streaks in it. They weren’t from a bottle either, I’d wager. They were natural. Her quick mouth and the fact she was a nurse told me she was smart. A stupid woman would bore me to death in seconds. They might be alright for a quick tumble and then send on their way, but I wanted more than that.
Like most, if not all, of my club brothers, I was getting older and wanted to settle down. Well, maybe not the guys still in their twenties—Sandman, Shadow, Remus, Romulus, and our newest member, Gravel. Hell, even our only prospect, Rhaines, might not. The rest of us were in our thirties or a bit older. We wanted to have a stable life with a wife and kids. Or at least I did. I found I was jealous, in a way, of Reaper, Ink, Maniac, and, hopefully, if we could get Troian to forgive him, Lash.
Shit, if she didn’t take him back, I didn’t know what would become of him. He loved her like crazy. You could see it. Losing her forever would kill him, literally. I wanted to love and want someone that much. That made me think of Kimera. God, even her name was pretty and so unusual. An unusual name for what I thought was an intriguing woman.
The one thing that ruined my daydreams about her was the thought she might not be free. Sure, she didn’t have a ring on at the hospital, but not everyone wore one. Yes, I’d checked her left hand. However, in her case, I figured she was the kind of woman who would unless it was a work thing since she was taking care of people all day. I could see it then.
I wanted to know if she was married or in a serious relationship. If she was married, was she happy? Did he treat her like a queen? If the answer to any of those were no, then I’d have a hard time thinking it would be wrong to take her away from her man. To me, there was no moral dilemma. If he didn’t take care of her properly, then I would. If she had a boyfriend, then that was even better. If there were kids, I wouldn’t care. They were part of her, so they’d become mine.
God, what the hell was I thinking?This was crazy shit, especially after a single meeting that didn’t last more than fifteen minutes if that. I needed to have my head examined. No, you don’t. You need to find out if our woman has a man. If so, run him off, whether he’s a boyfriend or a fiancé. If he’s her husband, then watch and wait to see if he’s worthy, my inner demon said. That bastard wouldn’t stop. He was the part of me that pushed me to do things I maybe shouldn’t. I came by my name, Spawn, partially because of him. As I aged, I’d gotten better at ignoring him, but Kimera was arousing him to come out.
Ten years ago, when I came to the Punishers as a prospect, I’d been looking to leave the shit I’d gotten involved in behind. The thought of being in an MC sounded exciting and fun but also something I would love as I saw more of them. I loved riding and had a bike. I was fascinated by their lifestyle, even if I didn’t know everything they did. I liked how they talked about how they were brothers. I came to them after I met Mayhem. We’d both been at a local bar having a few drinks. That had been an eventful night for both of us.
There had been a group of five men who were acting like total assholes. They were too loud, kept touching the waitresses inappropriately, and picked on other customers. I was at the bar, and my demon was pushing me to go do something to stop them. Yes, the bar had a bouncer, but he wasn’t much of one. He sat on his ass at the door and looked at people’s IDs. Earlier, there had been a shouting match between two men, and he hadn’t done more than watch with interest. Luckily, they settled down and left.
Those five didn’t. Instead, the main instigator eventually went too far. He grabbed one of the waitresses and dragged her onto his lap. He had his hand on her ass and was trying to get her to kiss him. She was protesting and struggling to get away from him. Others around the bar were watching the display but not doing anything to stop it. His friends were laughing, and even over the noise, you could hear their lewd comments. I threw off the reins holding me back, and I was up and crossing the room in an instant. Just as I reached them, I noticed someone else had decided to stop them. I hoped. He was a biker, and based on his grim expression, he wasn’t finding it any funnier than I was.
The biker gave me a chin lift and narrowed his hard-ass look at them. The idiots never looked up. They were too busy cheering on their buddy. I stepped up to stand right next to the grabby fucker. That was what got his attention. He glanced up at me and sneered. “What? Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yeah, you can let her go and take your friends and leave. No one wants to hear or see your shit. People are here to have a good time, not share air with fuckers like you. Didn’t anyone ever teach you manners?” I snapped.
“Fuck you. Who’re you to tell me anything, dude? Now, why don’t you take your ass back to wherever you came from and let me talk to this bitch? Do it before you get hurt,” he said with what I guess he thought was an intimidating glare. He didn’t know what intimidating was, but he was about to meet it. I smiled at him, and I saw that it took him aback. I leaned closer to him.
“Listen, we can do this nice and easy, or we can get ugly. Personally, I’d love ugly, but it wouldn’t end well for you and your buddies. Trips to the hospital could be involved. In fact, I guaran-fucking-tee it. Let her go, now,” I growled.
“You asked for it,” he said as he pushed the waitress off his lap, letting her fall on her ass on the hard, dirty floor. I heard the scrape of chair legs on the wood. I was ready. I wanted to help her up, but I couldn’t take my eyes off these assholes.
“Move, sweetheart. I don’t want you to get hurt,” I warned her. She scrambled up and away from us like a frightened rabbit. The one I was facing off with was rising up out of his chair like his companions. Suddenly, he launched himself at me, which he totally broadcasted. I nailed him with a right hook to his jaw. I heard a loud thump, and someone else cried out in pain. A darting glance to the left revealed the biker holding one of the other guy’s heads to the table. I think he slammed it off of it. That must’ve been the thump I heard.
I couldn’t help but smile seeing it. The guy I punched was shaking it off. I knew I’d rung his bell good. A third one came at me from the side at the same time as guy number one threw his punch. I ducked the punch, then pivoted to place an uppercut on the third guy. He went flying back and landed flat on his back on the floor. He was out cold. I danced away from the first one, who was trying for a second punch.
As I did, I saw the biker had knocked out the guy with his head on the table, and he was beating the ass off the fifth one. If he knocked him out, that just left my first idiot. I needed to get to work. Swinging back to fully face asshole number one when he came roaring at me, I gave him a right-left combo to the gut, and when he bent over holding his stomach, I placed a knee to his face while using my hands to drive his head down to meet my knee. That ended it. I heard the crunch when his nose broke, then he was falling like a felled tree, and he was out.
Swiftly checking that guy number three was still out for the count, I swung around to see if I needed to help my new friend. I didn’t. It seemed he was standing there waiting for me. He grinned. “Let’s put out the trash, then have a drink. I hoped it would last longer. Barely worth it, except they won’t be harassing the staff or bothering the rest of us. Nice job. My name is Mayhem. What’s yours?” he asked as he lifted his first guy over his shoulder.
Deciding to do the same, I lifted my first one, too. Together, we ignored the stares and whispers and carried them outside past the gaping bouncer and threw them not too gently in the gravel.
“I’m Aidan. Thanks for the assist. I could’ve taken them, but they might’ve gotten in a few hits before I did.”
He laughed. After we carried the other three outside, we sat down and ordered new drinks, and spent the next couple of hours talking. By the time the bar closed, I had an invitation to come check out his club. The rest was history.
Recalling that and how my life changed because of a chance encounter, I knew meeting Kimera was another life-changing moment. I’d wait and see what I found out. As much as I was dying to dig into her, I wouldn’t. This time, I planned to learn about someone the way others did. It should be interesting.