Dead souls mc complete s.., p.74
Dead Souls MC (Complete Series #1-5), page 74
“You don’t have that kind of control over me.”
“Watch me,” he said.
I shoved him away from me as I stumbled onto my feet. I didn’t want to hear another word of what anyone had to say. If they thought for one fucking second I was going along with this asinine plan, then they were wrong. If they thought for one fucking second that they could control my actions any longer, they were sorely mistaken.
I was shoved out of this town against my will once before. I sure as hell wasn’t going to let that happen again.
So instead of saying so many things I knew I would regret, I turned and began walking down the road.
Walking back towards the only place that ever really felt like home.
5
Diesel
I watched her walk down the block before I took after her again. What the hell did she think she was going to do? Walk all the way back to her house? With fucking Rex prowling god-knew-where? After being filled in on the entire story, I knew Brynn’s safety was paramount. I knew Rex wouldn’t let the fact that she was really alive and back in town just go. And I knew I’d do whatever it took to keep her out of harm’s way.
Beyond that though, I needed to do this to get Dean’s help. The club needed it. We would never survive if we didn’t have the Black Hornets backing us up. We would never be able to take Rex down on his own.
I jogged after her and gripped her arm again, stopping her in her tracks. Only this time, she didn’t turn to face me with that beautiful stare of hers.
“Look, I know this is a shitty situation. But my club needs your father’s help. And this is the only way your father will allow it.”
With my words, she slowly turned to take me in, looking at me as if I had lost my damn mind.
“My father’s more reasonable than that,” she said.
“Not when it comes to you. We both know that.”
“Look, when my father told me--”
She drew in a deep breath as I released my grip on her arm.
“When my father told me that you were now the president of the Dead Souls, I was shocked. Really. I knew you were batting between my father’s club and them, but I never did know which one you picked. Much less how quickly you climbed the ranks. But the second he insinuated that you guys were in trouble, that solidified my want to come back home. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Because there hasn’t been a damn moment that’s gone by that I haven’t thought about you, D.”
I gazed into her darkened eyes, trying to hold myself back. I knew people were gathering to watch. Pouring out of the bar to witness the negotiation currently taking place. The protection of my club hinged on her agreement to marry me, but the protection of her hinged on her agreement to even allow me around her.
I’d protect her from the shadows if I had to, but I sure as hell didn’t want to.
“So, if you came back to help, what’s the problem?” I asked.
“The problem? What do you mean, ‘what’s the problem’? Are you that thick, D? It’s marriage. It’s a lifelong commitment.”
“And once this is all over, if you want a divorce I’ll give it to you.”
She scoffed and shook her head, folding her arms over her chest.
“Is that really all marriage is to you?” she asked. “Just a sheet of paper to sign and resign when it’s no longer convenient for someone?”
“This marriage bonds the two clubs. Nothing else.”
“Nothing else? Well, what if I want something else, D? What if I want love and romance and a genuine connection with someone? Huh!? What if I want to only get married once and do it the right way. Not because I was being forced into it.”
She thrust her arm out and I looked back, taking in the sheer amount of men standing on the porch of the damn bar. They all looked at me, waiting for me to reconcile with Brynn so we could get this fucking show on the road.
But I knew Brynn. And I knew if she didn’t want to do something, there was no forcing her.
Fuck.
This was going to be a lot harder than both Dean or I thought.
“I can’t marry you, D. I can’t marry anyone because I owe it to some fucking agreement. I came home to make sure you were okay, but I also came home to restart my life here. It has been ten years, and I am so sick and tired of staying away. I want to open up a restaurant here. To class up the damn place a little bit. To try out my own recipes and put smiles on people’s faces with my food.”
“So, you did the chef thing,” I said with a grin.
“Yes, I did the ‘chef thing’, asshole. I got my GED and went to culinary school. Been working in Los Angeles as a sous chef and now? I want to open my own place.”
“That’s good,” I said. “I could help you do that if we were married.”
“If we were married. Jesus Christ D. You mean you don’t want to help me, in general? You know, just because you’re a nice guy and all?”
The sarcasm was heavy in her voice, and I knew I’d already lost this damn fight. I took a step towards her and she allowed me the closeness. My hand rose up her arm, feeling the hairs on her skin stand up against my palm. I smoothed over her shoulder and cupped her neck, drawing her face closer to mine. I stopped within mere inches of her lips, my eyes darting in between hers. Taking in the bubblegum smell of her breath and the softness of her skin.
Brynn had always been an avid gum-chewer.
Then, she shook her head and pulled away from my grasp.
“I know my father’s only doing this to try and protect me, but I don’t want to get married like that. Even if it is to you, D.”
My brow furrowed deeply as she held her hand up in the street. A lone cab pulled up and she got in, then rattled off the address I’d memorized as a teenager. She shut the door and looked up at me, then the cab pulled away. Carrying the only girl I’d ever proclaimed to love. Carrying away the only face that kept me afloat during the horrendous times in my life.
Carrying away the only source of warmth my body had felt in years.
Even if it was to you. I wondered what she meant by that. I stood on the corner and watched as her cab faded into the darkness of the horizon. Faded away into the dusty roads of Redding. I hadn’t been back to the area I grew up in since pledging with the Dead Souls. It was actually Brynn’s death that turned me off to pledging the Black Hornets. The day after her funeral I told Dean I was no longer going to be a prospect for them. And he was nice enough to let me go. I threw myself into the Dead Souls MC, hoping to push away the pain that had built up in my chest from her death.
I stood there, my arms hanging at my sides, as memories bombarded my mind.
The first time I ever took Brynn was the night we gave our virginities to one another. I sat against a tree I’d peeled the bark away from and she did what she could. Kissed a little bit of my neck and fumbled around trying to get my cock out. I used way too much tongue kissing her and she tried to do the kind thing and keep her grimaces at bay. I pulled her hair a little too tightly and she wrapped her hand around my cock a little too hard.
But the second I’d slid into her and felt her tightness, I knew I was home.
Everything I enjoyed now as a man, I’d tried on her as a teenager. Smacking her ass. Pulling her hair. Burying my tongue between her thighs. I’d slid my dick into her ass more times than I could count and fondled her sweet pussy underneath the stars on the football field as her name breathlessly poured from my lips.
But my favorite memory of us was when we almost got caught. Just days before the shootout. Just a week and a half before I had buried what I thought was her.
It was the last time I’d ever put my hands on her, and to this day I always wondered what was about to slip from her lips.
“D. Yes. Inside. Put them inside. Please.”
I slipped my fingers into her warm heat as my pinky finger traced the puckered blossom of her ass. She bucked into my hand as I pressed her against the wooden wall of the shed. My lips nipped her neck as her hips rolled, her asshole sinking down onto my pinky finger.
I filled her completely, and the look on her face was one I’d never forget.
“Oh shit, D. So good. Don’t stop, please. Your tongue. I need your tongue.”
“I love how vocal you are,” I said into her neck.
I sank to my knees willingly for her as my head poked underneath the skirt of her dress. My tongue raced around her clit, sucking on its juiciness and feeling it pulse against my tip. Her walls fluttered around me as I stuffed her full, pressing all of the buttons I’d become all too familiar with. Her juices dripped onto my palm. Her ass clamped down onto my finger. She rose to her toes and her thighs began to contract, and I knew how close she was.
How close she always came before I backed off and teased her.
“Don’t stop. Don’t stop. D, please. I… I-I-I-”
“Say it,” I said.
I peeked out from underneath her dress as her eyes flickered down to mine.
“Say it,” I commanded.
“D. I…”
“Brynn?”
The sound of her father’s voice that night was still the only thing that scared me more than anything else in the world. Because I knew if he caught me with my fingers impaling his daughter’s body he’d never let me pledge his club. Hell, he probably would have never let me walk again. And to this day, I was convinced she was about to tell me she loved me. Those three little words that had been rattling around in my head for weeks every time I looked at her. Every time she wrapped her lips around my cock and every time she let me pour myself into her, I wanted to say them.
But I never was sure if she felt the same way.
Had her father not come looking for her so damn soon after sending her out to the shed, I might’ve known if she felt the same way.
“Any luck?” Dean asked.
He stepped up beside me, his shock of white hair filling my peripheral.
“You know how Brynn is,” I said. “Once she makes up her mind…”
“I’ll talk with her.”
“ Dean, is the marriage really necessary? If all you want me to do is protect her, then I can do that. Make her move in with me.”
Dean’s eyes panned over to my profile before he raked his eyes down my form.
“I’ll talk some sense into my daughter. But this deal stands as is. You want our protection, you become family. That’s it. We ain’t compromising our code because you wanna get on Brynn’s good side.”
I clenched my jaw to keep from firing back at the man who single-handedly possessed what we needed.
I fucking hated deals like these.
“You still living in that same house?” I asked.
I saw Dean nod before I turned to look at him.
“Talk with Brynn. And if she doesn’t want to get married then we alter the deal,” I said.
“You heard me--”
I walked right up to Dean’s face. I was tired of his shit and this stupid fucking deal. I got that he wanted to protect Brynn. I was happy to help protect her. Hell, if she actually wanted to get married, I would marry her in a second. I loved her as much as I did when we were teenagers. But if Brynn did not want that, then I sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to force her to do it.
“I fucking heard you, so now you’re going to hear me. You need protection for her just as much as my club needs protection in the form of your guys. You want Brynn covered, you got it. Done deal. But if you don’t want to compromise this whole ‘family initiative’ thing you got going on, you are being a fucking idiot. If you haven’t realized, Brynn is her own person. If she doesn’t want to get married, then I won’t force her into that. I’m not compromising my morals to get on your good side. I’m trying to figure out what the fuck will give me Brynn without pissing her off and making her run for the damn hills. Because the second she’s unwatched, that’s when Rex will strike. You know it. I know it. And they fucking know it.”
I pointed behind him at our clubs as they stood, watching our interaction.
“So, you keep up your god damn code and see how far it gets you with Brynn. And in the meantime? I’ll be holding up my fucking end of the bargain by making sure your daughter stays safe.”
Then I stalked past the man, aiming straight for his shoulder before I headed to my bike.
6
Brynn
“Brynn? You home?”
I heard my father’s voice echo through the downstairs as I sat on the edge of my bed. My father hadn’t changed a damn thing about it. My softball and swimming trophies were still on the mantle. My bedspread was still green and purple and pink. The full-sized bed sat in the same damn place against the same pale yellow walls him and I had painted one weekend on a whim. Even the tie dye rugs in my bathroom hadn’t been touched.
It was as if I walked out of the present and straight into the past.
I drew in a deep breath as I heard my father come up the steps.
“Figured I’d find you in here,” he said.
“Didn’t you change anything?” I asked.
“Couldn’t step into the room once you left.”
I panned my gaze over to him and sighed.
“I don’t have a lot of energy in me to fight right now, Daddy.”
“Then don’t. Marry Diesel.”
“I’m a grown ass woman, Dad. You can’t force me to marry someone. This isn’t the olden days. I’m not your property to sell away for a deal.” Anger coursed through my body as I crossed my arms over my chest.
“I know I can’t force you, but I’m hoping you’ll at least consider it,” he said.
“Why?” I asked. “Why should I consider marrying Diesel when the two of you could strike a deal without me in the mix? What does this get you?”
“Your protection, princess.”
His eyes looked around my room before they fell back to me. He blinked a few times, almost as if he had a hard time believing I was sitting there. Then he breached the threshold of my room and came to sit beside me. It had taken me years to get my temper under control. It was something my mentor in culinary school had worked hard on. He always said ‘your emotions show in your food. Love it, and they’ll love it. Hate it, and they’ll hate it. But get angry at it? And they’ll get angry back.’ I worked day and night to control the temper I’d inherited from my mother. That dynamite explosion that happened the second someone attempted to question me. I couldn’t run a kitchen like that, I wouldn't be able to take direction like that, and I sure as hell would never be able to own my own restaurant like that.
“You know I can protect myself,” I said.
“You need more than that.”
“Because I’m a woman?”
“Because you’re outnumbered. Princess, it wasn’t just Rex that came for you that night. It was his whole damn gang. And it took all of us there that night to get them to back down. He was just a teenager back then. Now he is a part of a much bigger club, and he is somehow calling the shots.”
“But marrying Diesel?”
“It’s the only way I know you’ll be safe, princess. You’ll not only be family to us, but you’ll be family to them. Family to his club. Two clubs at your side to protect you from whatever the fuck’s about to rain down on our heads. You wanted to come home after I warned you, so this is the consequence.”
“I know you want to make sure I’m safe. But I don’t have to marry Diesel to solidify that,” I said.
“It’s the only way I will feel comfortable with this. Knowing that two clubs have strong reasons to protect you.”
“Well, hate to break it to you, Dad. But you’re not the only party involved in this.”
He sighed and slipped his arm around my waist. He pulled me close to him, my head falling to his shoulder. I knew he was worried. Tense. Determined. I got my stubborn streak from him. He had it in his mind that this had to work a certain way and I had it in my mind that it didn’t. The two of us would sit here all fucking night debating this moot point if we couldn’t come to some sort of compromise.
“I know you just want me safe,” I said. “And I’m thankful for that. I’m also thankful you aren’t having me marry one of the guys from your club.”
He chuckled as his lips came down onto my forehead.
“I mean, really. They’re old enough to be my fathers. And those new guys? They look like they would have no clue how to fuck a woman.”
“I shouldn’t have cussed around you so much as a kid,” he said with a groan.
“I wouldn’t be your daughter if you hadn’t,” I said with a grin.
I rose my head up from his shoulder and looked deep into my father’s eyes. I took in his age for the first time. How weathered and tired and worn he seemed. The deep-set lines of his crow’s feet and the bags underneath his eyes. The shock of white hair that had no trace of the blonde I had been accustomed to ten years ago. The permanent downturn of his lips and the way it sagged his cheeks. The stress of his lifestyle and the smoking and drinking were becoming evident in his features.
“Don’t make me do this, Dad. There are other ways to do this.”
“I’m only going to say this once, Brynn, because I’m not as strong as I used to be. You came back, so you follow my rules. Now, I warned you of the danger. I told you what was going on. And I know you’re strong-willed like me. But that man almost took you from me once, and that shit ain’t happening again. You make it work with Diesel, or you go back to Los Angeles. Simple as that.”
I took a long sigh and tried to reason with him. “Daddy, I won’t marry him simply because you want me to. Or because your club’s code tells me I need to. I want to marry out of love. I want to have romance. I want to marry a man I know will take care of me and treat me the way I deserve. Who will support me in my dreams and endeavors. I deserve that, Daddy. All women do.”
“I know you do,” he said as he cupped the back of my head. “I know.”
