Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Two nights. Three mornings. Eighty-five hours, give or take. That’s how much time I’d spent with Merci.
Tangled in sheets that now smelled like sex, sweet magnolia, and leather. Under her, when she took control and ground into that piercing she loved so much. Inside her, every thrust feeling less like a fling and more like a fucking claim.
More than one burnt breakfast. Long walks with Chaos through the woods and even longer showers. Filthy whispers at dawn, midday romps, and waking each other in the night with our tongues.
I wondered how much time a person needed to fall in love. If Reaper and Merrick were any indication, it happened in a heartbeat. I just never thought it’d happen to me.
I was smitten. Devastatingly, stupidly, head-over-fucking-heels for a woman I wasn’t supposed to touch. But I didn't care anymore. I’d tell her today. Lay my cards on the table, my heart on the line. We’d figure it out together.
A shrill ring shattered my racing thoughts in the quiet morning. Merci woke, stretching over me as she reached for her phone across the nightstand. I tightened my arms around her, wanting just one more second of her warm body pressed against mine before Merrick and Kenna returned that evening.
“Hey, Kenna.” She sat, swinging her legs over the side and yanking on a tank top. The fabric clung to the curves I’d mapped with my fingers. “Yeah, I’m home. Sounds like you’re making good time.” She wriggled into her shorts. “See you guys soon.”
I closed my eyes, scrambling for the right words.
“So, they stayed in Fort Worth last night and got on the road early. They’re an hour out,” she said, her clipped tone already creating a chasm between us. “You need to go. Now.”
I stood, sheet pooling at my feet, wrapping my naked body around hers from behind. My chest pressed against her back. “Let’s talk first.”
“About what?” Merci grimaced. “We don’t have time. Eva’s going to drop off Brisket on her way through. You have to get out of here.”
I groaned. This wasn’t going how I wanted. What I needed to say required time. Processing, for her and me both. Now she was slipping away like smoke through my fingers.
“Hellcat, I want—”
Merci interrupted me. “This was fun,” she said, already heading down the stairs.
I followed, smirking to hide the crack in my chest. “Just fun?”
“Just fun.” She shot a smile over her shoulder. “We got it out of our system, right? We always knew this had an expiration date. And it’s today.”
“Right.” I rubbed the back of my neck. How the hell did she sound so certain?
“Now that we’re done with”—she gestured in the air between us—“this, we move on. You go back to whatever flavor of the week you’re enjoying, and I go back to working insane hours and my battery-operated boyfriend.”
“Is that what you really want?” My voice came out rough.
I wanted more. I never wanted to fucking stop.
“Yeah, just friends?” She extended her hand like we were closing a business deal. The same hand that’d been wrapped around my cock two hours ago.
I stared at it, bitterness rising in my chest. I pushed past her and headed out the door. “Got it. Just friends. I got shit to do anyway. Drop Chaos at the clubhouse later, OK? See you. Friend.” I spat out the last word and didn’t bother to look over my shoulder to see her reaction.
* * *
Guilt coursed through me hours later when Merrick swung by the clubhouse to chat with Thane. But a foreign ache pulsed in my chest beside it.
I hadn’t counted on how brutal it’d be to walk away after learning every inch of her body. I hadn’t expected her to dismiss me. To end us with surgical precision. And maybe it was because she hadn’t felt the same way. No one ever did.
I sat at the bar, nursing a Jack and Coke. Going to bed sounded worse. Cold. Empty.
A large, tattooed hand squeezed my shoulder as Fuse moved to sit beside me. “Haven’t seen you here lately. Where’ve you been?”
“Around,” I muttered.
“Does the reason you’re here have anything to do with the fact that Merrick’s back?” Fuse asked, a knowing gleam in his eye.
I furrowed my brows in fake confusion. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve spent a lot of time with Merci lately.” His simple statement came out as an observation, not a judgment or accusation.
“Have I?” I shrugged.
Fuse narrowed his eyes. “You have.”
I sipped my drink. “We’re just friends.”
Fuse shook his head. “Merrick might be oblivious, but I see it. You’re falling for her. But you can’t. It’s against the code. If Merrick finds out, you’ll be ‘out bad,’ or worse.”
I scrubbed my beard. “I know,” I said quietly, my throat tight and my chest aching. “No one’ll find out. It’s already over. We got it out of our system.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Do I have a choice? She says it’s over. So, it’s over.”
My phone rang before Fuse could respond. Jessa’s name flashed across the screen. My stomach dropped. She’d never called me, only texted, and it was late.
“Jessa?”
My sister sobbed into the phone. “Can you come pick me up?”
My adrenaline spiked. “Where are you? What’s wrong?”
Between choked breaths and tearful sniffles, Jessa tried to explain. “My friends ran when the party got raided. The police are gone, but I’m out of money for an Uber. I’m alone, and even if I wasn’t, it’s too far to walk home.”
“Send me your location.”
I showed Fuse the pin.
“That’s an abandoned-warehouse-turned-nightclub. Popular with the younger crowd for getting drunk and taking Molly.”
“She’s not even old enough to drink,” I growled. I grabbed the spare helmet from behind the bar.
“It’s not the kind of place that checks IDs,” Fuse said as he followed me to our bikes. “If it’s the place I’m thinking of, it’s known for date rapes and ODs.”
Fucking great.
Fuse followed me on his Street Glide into the dark night. Broken glass glittered under our bikes’ headlights as we pulled up. Jessa was tucked into a doorway, hidden in the shadows, when we arrived. She looked small, with her arms wrapped around herself and her shoulders hunched.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I barked. My voice echoed off the crumbling brick walls that surrounded us in the desolate, industrial area. “What made you think this was a place you should be?”
Jessa flinched like I’d slapped her, then straightened with the steel I’d come to expect. Her eyes shone with tears in the dim glow of my headlights. “I didn’t know, OK? My friends said it was just a party.” Her voice shook. “I didn’t realize how bad an area it was until we got here.”
My chest tightened, fury boiling over because she didn’t have a parent to make sure she didn’t end up in a shady part of town in the middle of the night. “You could have ended up in a body bag. Or worse. Do you have any idea what happens to girls on this side of town?”
“You think I don’t realize that now?” she snapped. “I made a mistake. You’re right. I’m wrong. Congratu-fucking-lations. I just wanted to have some fun and—”
“Fun?” I cut her off, stepping closer, my boot kicking a scrap of metal across the pavement.
Rage toward our mother roared in my chest. Sure, she was sick now.
But she’d let this girl grow up fending for herself.
“You’re fifteen. You should be having sleepovers and doing your nails, not going to a fucking underground rave. ”
Her tears carved tracks through the smudged makeup on her cheeks.
“Hey, easy, brother,” Fuse rumbled from behind me. His calm authority cut through my storm. He laid a hand on my shoulder. “Yelling’s not going to help. She’s here. She’s safe. And, most importantly, she called you. You act like this, and she’ll never ask again.”
I shrugged him off, but his words hit like a punch to the gut. He was right. Fuse always fucking was, thinking about the long game while I swung wild.
Jessa stared at the ground, and something cracked in me. Not just anger. Guilt. She’d reached out—trusted me—and I’d just torn into her.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” I muttered, dragging a hand over my beard. “Get on the bike, kid. We’re going to the clubhouse. You can sleep there tonight. And tomorrow? We’re talking rules.”
She sniffled. I handed her the helmet. She latched it under her chin and crossed her arms as she glared at me. I glanced at Fuse, hoping for some help with the fuming teenager standing before me.
“You can ride with me if you want to stay mad at Hatchet for a bit longer,” he offered. “My bike’s more comfortable anyway.”
He cut his eyes to me like I was the problem. He might be a friend and a brother, but he wouldn’t let me bulldoze her. And, as pissed as I was, I appreciated it.
Jessa’s eyes met mine, and I nodded calmly. She climbed behind Fuse with shaky hands, clutching his waist.
When we arrived at the clubhouse, Fuse had helped her off his bike and said goodbye.
I’d settled Jessa in the guest suite. Chaos had curled up in bed beside her, and I’d left them both, needing space to think.
I headed down to the empty bar and poured myself a double before pulling my phone from my cut to send a text message.
Me: I need a good lawyer. Any recommendations?
The heaviness of the night weighed on me, but I’d be damned if I let it crush Jessa. Surprise shot through me when Everest responded immediately. I’d expected him to be asleep.
Everest: You know, there are a lot of different kinds of lawyers, right? Did you get arrested?
Me: Family lawyer. I need custody of my little sister before her mom dies.
Everest: Got it. Let me ask around in the morning.
Before I woke up, I had the numbers for two lawyers that Everest said were the best. I dropped by to borrow a T-shirt and shorts from Kenna for Jessa, and knocked on the suite door.
“Go away,” Jessa rasped.
“I’m coming in,” I warned. I gave her a minute and opened the door. I threw the bag of borrowed clothes on the bed. “Get dressed and then come downstairs so we can talk.”