Pretty Boy (The Reckless Order MC #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter one

Pretty Boy

It was a slow, lazy Sunday afternoon at the Reckless Order clubhouse. I stifled a yawn, sleepily nursing my beer in the corner.

And the view was incredible.

“Stop staring at my ass,” Lila growled.

She bent over the pool table, lining up her shot with laser-like precision.

Her black jeans were practically glued like a second skin to the peachy swell of her ass and the plump curve of her hips.

Her shirt gaped open, revealing a teasing glimpse of her cleavage, straining at the lace of her dark purple bra.

“I wasn’t staring,” I protested.

She scoffed and cast a skeptical glance at me over her shoulder. God, those fiery eyes rimmed in smokey black kohl would be the death of me.

“I was admiring,” I added with a sly grin. “There’s a difference.”

She huffed and returned her focus to the game.

“I should gouge your eyes out with this pool cue.”

“Come on, it’s a compliment,” I said. “Don’t pretend that you don’t like the attention.”

“Oh, I love attention,” Lila said. “Just not from you.”

I placed a hand over my heart in mock pain.

“That hurt my feelings, Lila.”

She hummed, examining her purple nail polish.

“You’ll get over it.”

Lila knew she was drop-dead gorgeous. Her long, ink-black hair spilled down to her waist, with vibrant purple highlights. She took after her mother’s side of the family from Brazil, with smooth golden-brown skin, dark eyes, and lush curves, compared to her father's lily-white ass from Kentucky.

Growing up in a motorcycle club, she was surrounded by bikers at all times, and they were eager to get their hands on a beauty like her. At twenty-seven years old, she certainly had the libido to keep up with them. So, she had no end of choices when it came to sex.

Except for me.

Lila would never, ever let me lay a finger on her.

Hades shook his head as he circled the pool table, calculating the best angle for his shot.

“You two should just fuck out your frustrations already. My ex-wife loved to do that. I swear, she would pick fights just for the make-up sex that came afterward.”

“I’d be willing to give it a try,” I said.

Lila didn’t even deign to glance in my direction this time, pretending I hadn’t spoken.

“Don’t encourage him, Hades.”

I chuckled, draining the last of my beer. Ever since Lila and I were teenagers, we had this verbal sparring match going back and forth between us, brutal, merciless. She could make grown men weep with her sharp tongue.

Then we hit our twenties, and things took a different turn.

Every insult became riddled with an unbearable level of sexual tension. Lila enjoyed teasing me with what I couldn’t have. Flaunting her body on purpose just to bait me, then pulling away with a wicked little laugh.

The game between Lila and Hades progressed until it came down to the wire. And Lila won.

“Pay up,” she declared, holding her hand out.

Hades grumbled and slapped fifty dollars into her palm.

“I’ve got kids to put through college, you know.”

“You should have thought of that before you agreed to play pool with me,” Lila said. “I leave no survivors. Ask Pretty Boy.”

“Hey,” I said. “Don’t drag my name through the mud.”

“I cleaned out your wallet last week. You didn’t even have a penny to your name. I was almost embarrassed on your behalf.”

“Here we go again,” Hades muttered under his breath.

I chuckled, wetting my lower lip with eager anticipation at Lila’s open invitation to do battle. It didn’t matter if she hated my guts. I liked riling her up. She was breathtaking when her eyes snapped, and every word she flung at me was like a poisoned barb.

“Why don’t we do a rematch?” I offered.

Lila gestured to the table with a shrug.

“You must be a glutton for punishment. What are the stakes?”

In an instant, I pushed out of my chair, rising to my feet. Hades passed his pool cue to me.

“Good luck, brother. She’s out for blood. Especially your blood.”

I grinned.

“That’s part of the fun.”

Stepping closer to Lila, I came within a few inches of her and dared to reach out, tracing the waistband of her jeans.

“If I win,” I said, low enough for her ears alone. “I want you to model some of that lacy lingerie from your shop for me. My choice. I’ve had my eye on those microscopic thongs for ages.”

Lila narrowed her eyes. Her shop, Noir Delights, was a banquet of everything sexy and skimpy, silky and lacy. In every color. For every body shape and size. A lot of the lingerie had been designed by her own hand, too, which made this wager even better.

Lila considered, propping one hip against the table.

“The only thing I would ever model for you would be prison orange,” she replied. “After I stab you for touching me.”

I withdrew my hand, just to be on the safe side. Lila was barely five-foot-two but she knew how to fight dirty.

“What do I get if I win?” she countered.

“You could ride my face,” I suggested, leaning in until we were close enough to kiss. “Strangle me with your thighs.”

Lila smirked and tapped me on the chest with her pool cue.

“Oh, no, no, no. You would enjoy that too much, Pretty Boy. When I win, I intend to make you suffer.”

That seemed to be her primary mission in life, even when we were kids.

On my sixteenth birthday, my dad announced he couldn’t deal with a delinquent son with a juvie record half a mile long. He wanted to move on, to marry his girlfriend, to start a new chapter and build a better life for himself. And I was holding him back.

So, he put me on a bus out of town. I landed in Juniper Creek, Colorado, a long, long way from the Chicago neighborhood where I grew up.

Two days later, I stumbled into the Reckless Order's clubhouse, looking for a meal, or a job, or a wad of cash to steal.

Instead, Lila’s father took me under his wing. Otis “Hillbilly” Parker became my mentor and Sponsor, teaching me how to be a biker, vouching for my position in the club as the Prospect. He saw something in me worth saving.

I grew up alongside Lila, although I wasn’t adopted in any official capacity. I ate dinner at the same table, and slept under the same roof with her.

As an only child, Lila was used to being the apple of her father’s eye, with no competition from anyone else for thirteen years of her life. My invasion of her home was not a welcome one.

“If you lose,” Lila mused. “You have to be my errand boy. For a month. No complaints.”

“One week,” I countered.

She wrinkled her nose.

“One week? That’s practically nothing. You should consider yourself lucky that I’m not making you clean my apartment wearing a busty French maid outfit, with an extra short skirt.”

I huffed a faint laugh.

“Oh, sweetheart, I hate to disappoint you. But I don’t have the legs for that. Or the tits. You, on the other hand, would be perfect—”

Lila made a noise of disgust and shoved me in the chest, pushing me aside.

“You’re a filthy pig.”

I caught her wrist. She boomeranged back to me. I circled my thumb in her palm, holding her gaze.

“Two weeks, tops,” I said. “Take it or leave it. I’m the Treasurer around here. I have responsibilities with the club that I can’t just abandon because you want me to fetch your groceries.”

“Fine,” Lila relented. “But I get the first shot.”

She twisted out of my grip and moved away, putting the table between us. I could still feel the lingering heat of her skin on my palm. I curled my fingers closed, wishing I could hold onto that heat a little while longer.

“Fire away, princess.”

Hades took the seat I’d vacated, stretching his legs out as he crossed his arms to watch the show.

“She’s going to slaughter you, brother.”

“We’ll see,” I replied. “Maybe I’ll let her win.”

Lila flicked an irritated look in my direction as she racked up the balls.

“Do you really expect me to believe that you would simply roll over and give up the opportunity to see me in a tiny pink thong? I don’t think so.”

Hades chuckled.

“And that’s exactly why you will lose, kid."

Secretly, I was grateful that the clubhouse was mostly empty at this hour of the afternoon.

Lila went for the jugular and didn’t let up, keeping me on defense until the last possible moment.

I did my best to hold my ground and fight back, but in the end, Lila won.

She grinned, smug as a cat with her triumph.

“I look forward to having you entirely at my mercy for two whole weeks.”

“Best two out of three,” I said.

Lila shook her head, pushing her pool cue into my hand.

“Not a chance. I intend to savor my victory as long as possible. Besides, I’ve got plans tonight.”

“Hot date?” Hades asked.

Jealousy slithered between my ribs. I should have been used to it by now. A steady stream of guys had been knocking on Lila’s door ever since she started dating at fifteen. She was rarely single for long.

Before she could reply, the clubhouse door opened and Hillbilly stepped in.

“Where’s my beautiful little girl?” he boomed in his Kentucky drawl.

Lila beamed and flung her arms around his neck. He chuckled, kissing her cheek.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“Starving,” she replied. “Where are we going for dinner?”

“I thought we’d get a double order of spicy-sweet barbecue ribs at the Old Spruce Pub. With a side of those mozzarella sticks you love.”

Lila snuggled under his arm with a contented noise.

“Oh, that sounds delicious. I can’t remember the last time we had a Daddy-daughter date together without the boys butting in.”

“I heard that,” I said.

She turned and stuck her tongue out at me.

Hillbilly had made so many sacrifices for the club, for us. And I appreciated everything he did for me over the years—putting a roof over my head, saving my sorry ass from a life in prison, training me into the man—and the biker—that I am today.

But a faint pang still twisted in my chest to see Lila so close to him. I wish I could have been that close with my own father.

“Don’t burn the place down while I’m gone, gentlemen,” Hillbilly said.

“Those expectations might be a little high, Dad,” Lila teased.

“We’ll be on our best behavior, Prez,” I said.

Lila snorted with doubt and turned away. My gaze strayed to her ass, mesmerized by the sway of her hips until she disappeared from sight out the door.

Hades cleared his throat loudly.

“It’s never gonna happen.”

“I didn’t say anything,” I protested.

He scoffed.

“You were fucking drooling.”

I couldn’t argue with that, so I changed tactics, diverting Hades’s attention to another topic.

“You’re right,” I said. “Maybe I’d have a better chance with your ex-wife instead.”

Hades’s grip tightened on his pool cue until his knuckles turned deathly white. By some miracle, he didn’t snap it in half. He was so still and so silent that I could have sworn the temperature in the room dropped to arctic levels.

“Kidding,” I amended quickly. “I’m kidding. It’s a joke.”

“It’s not funny,” Hades growled.

“Are you going to beat me senseless with that pool cue? Or can we get this game started?”

“That depends,” Hades said through his teeth. “Will you keep talking about my Jenny?”

“Nope,” I said. “No, sir. Her name won’t even pass my lips again.”

“Good,” he grunted.

I blew out a breath of relief, grateful to dodge that bullet.

Even though Hades split with his ex-wife a few years ago, it was still a tender subject.

He didn’t like anyone sniffing around her.

But it was only a matter of time before Jenny remarried.

She was a beautiful, kind woman with a big, warm heart.

Hades would have to get used to another man in his ex-wife’s life at some point.

“Are we playing for cash? Or bragging rights?” Hades asked.

“I thought you had to put two kids through college?”

He shrugged.

“They’re still young. I’ve got time. Besides, they’re smart like their mother. My Jenny went to college on a full-ride scholarship. I’m sure our kids will do the same. And you’re not Lila. I know I can beat you with my eyes closed.”

“Hey, if you want to trash talk, you better put your money where your mouth is, brother,” I said, holding up a twenty dollar bill.

“Fine by me.”

Hades matched my bet and the game began.

By the halfway mark, I was losing. Badly. There wasn’t much I could do to recover and my pride gradually withered. As I lined up my next shot, my phone rang in the pocket of my cut. I grumbled under my breath.

Club rules dictated that we were supposed to pick up our phones at any time, day or night.

If a brother needed help, we dropped everything to back him up, no questions asked.

The only exception to that rule was when we had a good reason to reject the call, like juggling kids, or spending the weekend away on a honeymoon.

My phone rang again.

“You better answer that,” Hades said.

I grabbed my phone and glanced at the screen to see Lila’s name. As the President’s daughter, she had the contact information for every member of the club, plus wives and girlfriends.

But if she had a choice, she would never dial my number.

“Miss me already, sweetheart?” I said with a smirk.

“It’s Dad,” she replied, her voice pinched.

My smile dropped. Prickles of dread spider-walked up my spine. Something was very, very wrong. Fearless, confident, bold Lila almost sounded…scared.

“He’s having chest pains,” she continued, fighting to stay calm and collected. “He can’t breathe either. I called an ambulance and I’m taking him to the hospital.”

My blood went icy cold.

There was a running joke in the Reckless Order that Hillbilly would outlive us all, remaining President for eternity. He would never die, never be replaced.

Logically, of course, we knew that was impossible.

But we couldn’t fathom what the club would be like without him. No one could fill his shoes.

I gestured to Hades, circling my finger in the air to wrap it up and move out.

“We’re on our way. We’ll meet you there in ten minutes.”