Dearest Biker MC The Complete Series Box Set Read online

  But then, it had been exciting. Then, I had been doing my best to get Adam’s attention. Now, I had it, almost exclusively, and I wanted to do more than just sit around in the apartment all day. I still was doing subtle things to try to get him to have sex with me, but he wasn’t taking the bait.

  Part of me was inclined to try to push him to it again, but I didn’t have the energy. I was worried about what was going to happen with Kline, and I didn’t know how to be the aggressor if he wasn’t even coming for me when I slept naked in bed beside him.

  So, I decided the only thing we could do to make me happy was to go out. “Come on! I’m going nuts in here! I don’t want to go far, please!” I begged.

  “You wait until he gets here, then you want to go out on the town?” Adam replied, giving me an incredulous look.

  “You don’t go out on the town on a Sunday morning. I just want to go to breakfast!” I insisted. “Please! Come on, please!”

  I knew I had to beg to get him to do what I wanted sometimes, and right now, that was fine with me. If it was the only way to get things to go my way, then I’d do it. I wasn’t above manipulation.

  “Fine, we’ll go out, but we are going to the diner,” he said after I relentlessly hounded him for over an hour.

  “That’s fine with me!” I replied gleefully, running to the back to get dressed. I didn’t really want to go to the diner, but it would suit my purpose. It would get me out of the house, and I’d be able to order pie. As far as I was concerned, that was the best I could do at the moment, and I’d take it.

  We headed down to the diner, walking slowly side by side. Adam had offered to take me on his bike, but I didn’t want to ride. We’d be there and back again so fast, it wouldn’t even feel like we’d gone out.

  Though Adam was reluctant to let me walk down the street, he went along with the plan to get me to stop badgering him. I was starting to see a pattern for getting my way.

  We got to the diner, and Adam scanned the place. There were several of the other members there, which seemed to make him relax. So, we headed to the back booth. A pretty girl with red hair came to take our order. She was different from the waitress we had had before, but she was pretty just the same.

  I liked her, and she laughed when I ordered the pie for breakfast. Adam ordered bacon and eggs, and we both settled in. It wasn’t long before Aaron came through the door, looking like he’d been hit by a bus. Since it had been a few days since Adam had last seen him, he waved him over and offered to let him sit with us.

  “Damn, you look like shit,” he said. When Aaron sat down, he gave him another look. “And, you smell like shit.”

  “You don’t smell like a bed of roses yourself,” Aaron replied tartly. “So fuck off.”

  “Geez, man, are you drunk?” Adam asked.

  “A little,” he admitted.

  “Things that bad? You can’t tell me that you were out all night. I know for a fact Zach wasn’t out because he’s been staying with me so much, Vanessa’s been wanting him at home.”

  “Yeah, and it’s getting annoying,” he replied. “I get that she misses him, but geez.”

  “You can’t blame her for that,” he said. I felt bad. This girl sounded like she put up with a lot from the MC, and I knew I was part of that problem. If I hadn’t been having the trouble I was, then I wouldn’t need Zach to stay with us. But then, if she wanted to date a member of the Folded Flags, she had to realize what she was getting herself in to.

  “What if I wanted to have some beer when I woke up?” Aaron asked. “Since when is that such a crime?”

  “You smell like vodka.”

  “I don’t care what I smell like! It’s none of your business!” Aaron snapped. Adam held his hand up.

  “Okay, okay, you’re right, I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you. I know you’ve been through some shit, and I don’t want to see you wind up like so many of our other brothers, if you know what I mean.”

  Aaron nodded, and though I wasn’t thrilled that he was drunk and sitting with us, I did feel sorry for him. I didn’t know much about him, but since Adam had told me so many of the men here were ex-military, I was sure the poor man was struggling with something from his past.

  There was no way I could judge him for what he went through. Hell. It had to have been Hell.

  “Well, let me get you something to eat,” Adam said. “You hungry?”

  “Starving,” Aaron said. I lost interest in what the two were talking about, and instead, looked around the diner. It had been the first time in a long time I really took the chance to look around.

  When I’d left, it had been owned by a different person. Zach was the owner now, but he wasn’t around. He didn’t work on Sundays, and from what Aaron said, it sounded like his girlfriend wanted him home with her. But, there were a lot of other people there. Some of them were sporting leather jackets or vests with the MC logo on it, while others just looked like families who were out for breakfast.

  I saw a young couple with their baby and wondered what it would be like to be so innocent and happy again. They didn’t have to worry about anyone coming after them. They could just go out to breakfast, then go home and have a good day.

  There would be no worry that some maniac was going to kill them, or that the dad would go off and kill the maniac. God, my life had become so complicated, it was hard to believe that it was even mine.

  My mind was brought back to the table when I heard Aaron mention Kline.

  “From what I understand, he’s got some shit he’s dealing with back home,” Aaron was saying. “His family is pissed, and from the sounds of things, so is his boss.”

  “What do you mean?” Adam asked.

  “They don’t see why he’s wasting his time and potentially risking his life coming all the way out here after a college girl because of a little money,” he drawled.

  “Do they know about us? How do they know he’s risking his life?” Adam pressed. He had a point. It would be key information to know whether Kline was aware of the MC.

  “They know that he’s following a young girl, and they aren’t sure where she ran off to. I mean, they know she came here, but they also know there had to be a reason. And since no one knows that that reason is, they tell him that he’s being an idiot. But, I think part of it is the fact that his boss is pissed,” Aaron said.

  I knew he was throwing in some of his own opinions because he was drunk, but I wanted to tell him it didn’t matter what the reason was. The fact of the matter was that this man was coming after me, and I wanted nothing to do with him.

  It wouldn’t matter if I gave him the money and the paintings back. He wanted me dead, and I was sure he wasn’t going to stop until he had accomplished that.

  “Well, it’s good to know where he stands. It might be helpful to us later on,” Adam replied. Aaron nodded, thanking the waitress when she brought his food. I said nothing, but I was glad to know more about the situation. It didn’t change anything we were doing, but it did make me feel better to have a bit of an idea of what was going on.

  We finished our food and left Aaron at the table. Adam already paid for all the food so his friend wouldn’t have to worry about the tab, but when we were outside, I wasn’t ready to go back to the apartment. I knew it was going to turn into the same day that all the others had been.

  Movies and beer, that was it, and that’s not what I wanted to do with the day. So, I grabbed Adam’s hand.

  “Can we please walk around just for a bit? Please?” I begged. “We’ll stay together, and we can go back to the apartment after that. Please!”

  “You know that’s not a good idea,” he replied. “We’re vulnerable when it’s just you and me out here.”

  “But we know he’s not in town,” I argued.

  “No, we don’t know that,” he said. “We know that he wants you dead, and we know that he’s in trouble with his family. That’s all we know.”

  I stuck out my lower lip.

  �
�That’s not going to work on me this time,” he said. “We’re going home.”

  “Please!” I begged. “I want to walk around just a bit!”

  Adam sighed. “Fine. We’re going to head back in the direction of the apartment, but we can take the longer way around if you want.”

  “Yay!” I said happily. “Thank you so much!”

  I wanted to kiss him, but instead, I put my arm around his and together we set off. I was happy Adam wanted to make me happy, and he understood what I was going through. It wasn’t easy, but it was a lot easier with him.

  He started to tell me the stories of the other men who were in the MC. He told me all about Zach and how he had gotten with Vanessa, how Nathan had found out about his surprise baby. He told me how Spencer tended to be the asshole of the bunch and how Aaron struggled with a lot of PTSD after his time in the service, so he now drank to drown it all.

  The more he talked about them, the more they seemed like other people, just like me. I wasn’t sure if it made me feel better, or worse. I was glad to have such a solid team behind me, but I was sorry that I brought this kind of trouble on people who were just living their lives.

  At the same time, I knew I didn’t want to say goodbye to any of them, and after this was over, moving on with my life might be the hardest thing that I ever had to do.

  Hell, I wasn’t even sure I could.

  19

  Adam

  I tried to keep from limping during our walk, but it was nearly impossible. By the time we got back to the apartment, my leg was killing me, and I was about ready to yank off the damn prosthetic and burn it.

  There were times I found myself rather jealous of Nathan. I wasn’t jealous of the guys who got to come home with all their fingers and toes like he was, I was jealous of the fact that he had both legs. Sure, he lost his arm, and I acknowledged that had to be terrible, but I did imagine life would sure be easier with one arm than with one leg.

  Then again, the injuries we sustained weren’t really things that we talked about, so I had a feeling he’d say the same about me. He didn’t like that he had one arm, and he made it clear to everyone.

  Hell, Spencer had spent hours trying to modify the kid’s bike so he could ride easier. That was something I didn’t have to worry about. I didn’t need both legs to ride, just the one foot that I could feel was enough to keep me balanced when I sat.

  I pulled off the prosthetic in a much less dramatic way than I wanted, setting it down on the couch. I didn’t say anything, taking a moment to catch my breath, though I was glad that I had my cream nearby. To my surprise, Erika grabbed it off the table and started massaging the cream into the scar.

  “I’m sorry. I guess I really should have thought about that before I asked you to walk so far. I know it has to be hard for you. I take my body for granted,” she said. She looked genuinely upset with herself, so I put my hand over hers.

  “It’s okay. I had a good time. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out there seeing the town, it was nice to be able to do it not on the back of my bike. I got to see a lot of things that I ordinarily miss,” I said.

  She gave me a look. “Okay, now I know you’re just trying to be sweet to me. You are very clearly in a lot of pain over here, you don’t have to pretend.”

  I laughed. “Why the hell do you think I sit down for a living?”

  “I never thought about it!” she said. “To be fair, you were at the shop long before you ever got into the military.”

  I fell silent. She did have a point, and we both knew why I left. I hoped she didn’t blame herself for what happened to my leg. Sure, she was the reason that I left the shop, and I often told myself that she was the reason why I joined the service.

  But the fact of the matter was that I had been the one to make the decision. I chose to join, and I had been sent overseas. I was the one who had been in combat, and I had gotten my own leg injured. It wasn’t her fault.

  Still, it was nice to see her being so caring.

  After she had finished with the cream, she set it on the table and gave me another smile. “Do you want to hang out and do nothing now?”

  “I need to go down and check on Tanner,” I said. “I always do on a Sunday evening to make sure he’s alright in there.”

  “I can do it,” she said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be right back,” she said. She was off the couch and out the door before I could say anything else, and I closed my eyes, leaning my head on the back of the couch. The silence felt strange. I had gotten used to being around her every minute of every day, and with her downstairs, even for just a few minutes, I was struck with the quiet in the apartment.

  How the hell was I going to go back to this when she was gone? Though she very much made it obvious she was happy with the life we were currently living, I had a sneaking suspicion this was something that wouldn’t last for her. She was too young, too full of life to want to do this forever.

  She’d never said that, and I had another feeling she’d tell me that wasn’t true if I were to ask, but she couldn’t hide something like that from me. I had a feeling I knew her well enough to know that she really did like it in Boston. The whole reason she came back was because she’d gotten in trouble.

  Perhaps there was the fact that I was here, too, and she did want to have the chance to finally have sex with me – but would that have been enough to take her out of Boston without the driving force that was behind her?

  I didn’t even know how to bring up the topic. The way she looked at me told plainly how she felt, but I still feared I was too old. I was afraid there were far too many reasons why she and I wouldn’t work, and I didn’t want her to make a decision when she was so young that would impact the rest of her life that way.

  The door opened, and she came bouncing back in, happy as ever. “He’s doing fine. Said it’s been really slow, and he’s probably going to go home soon.”

  “Did he have much?” I asked.

  “A couple of nostrils, that was it,” she said with a shrug. I nodded. I’d let him keep the full pay for that. He didn’t have to come in at all on a Sunday, and I wasn’t going to take money from him if that was all he made. He was trying to make it in life, too, and the whole reason he was here was because he had to have it.

  Erika turned on the TV and snuggled against me. “What do you want to watch?”

  “Anything really, I’m not picky,” I said with a sigh. I was tired from the walk, and really didn’t care what she put on to watch. I was likely going to get a beer and zone out for a while, anyway.

  “Well, let’s do something funny,” she said. “I could use more laughs right now.”

  “I’m probably going to snooze right here if you don’t mind,” I said.

  “That’s fine with me,” she replied. “I’m happy as long as we’re here.”

  I smiled, but said nothing. She hadn’t felt that way this morning. But then, she seemed genuinely apologetic over the fact she had pushed for me to go with her and was trying to make it up to me now. She put on a cartoon and set the remote down, and the two of us sat in silence for a few moments.

  I just felt myself about to drift off when my cell phone started ringing. Though I thought I had been relaxed, the suddenness of it was enough to make me nearly jump out of my skin. I yanked it out of my pocket and put it to my ear. I only had to glance at the screen as I picked it up to see that it was Zach.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, trying not to be frantic.

  “Kline was just in here. He ran his card for payment,” Zach replied. My stomach dropped.

  “And?”

  “He wasn’t asking around or anything, but he was a real sleaze of a guy. I wanted to kick his teeth in as soon as I saw his name, though his accent and his looks gave him away,” Zach said. “I’ve got the alert going through the MC, so just sit tight where you are. You’re home, right?”

  “Yeah, we’re here,” I said. I had my arm around
Erika, pulling her close to me. I didn’t want to think of that guy pounding on the door.

  “Well, I don’t think he knows exactly where she is. It seems to me like he’s just looking at this point. He didn’t seem to be on a mission when he was in here, more like a guy who is tired of doing something he set out to do,” Zach said. “But do not let the girl out of your sight.”

  “The fuck I will,” I agreed. “I’m surprised you didn’t do something to him, you sound pissed.”

  “I didn’t for her sake. I wanted to put a bullet in his head the moment he turned around to walk away. But, she didn’t want that to happen, so just know that he’s in town. We’re going to have to figure out what to do next,” Zach replied.

  But, I was glad that he cared enough about her to not. Clearly, there was more to how he felt than he was letting on. Perhaps they were thinking of her as my girlfriend even more than I was.

  “We’re going to stay in,” I assured him. “All the locks are sealed.”

  “Good.” Zach had to go, and he wrapped up the conversation. But, as soon as I hung up, I didn’t feel tired anymore. The fight was returning, and I was worried I was going to have to do something that night.

  I looked at Erika. With how close she had been sitting against me, there was no doubt in my mind she had been able to hear every word Zach said. I wondered how she felt, but I didn’t know if she wanted to talk about it. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to talk about it.

  So many things were hinging on the fact that this guy was in town, and I didn’t know what that would mean for anyone. If Carl got involved with him directly, there was no telling what he would do, either. He did what he wanted – he wasn’t going to hold back if he didn’t think it was best.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She nodded, sinking against me further. “This is all going to work out, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” I assured her. “We’re going to make it through this, and you aren’t going to have to worry about that guy anymore.”