Biker's Claim: A Bad Boy Romance (Demons MC) (Contains bonus book Cocked!) (18 page)

I
didn’t know
why I’d reacted so strongly to what Clutch said out in the living room, but I was angry with him anyway.

I sprawled out on my bed, legs half covered with a thin sheet, and stewed. What right did he have to tell me that I was making a mistake? Even though he didn’t really say that, I could tell that was what he was thinking. I knew he had my best interests at heart, but it was still tough to hear someone I cared about tell me that my big sacrifice and important plan may not even happen or amount to anything.

I’d already put so much of myself into this. I’d seen and done things I’d never wanted to do, all for the good of the club. It pissed me off that Clutch could be so cavalier and act like all of that was for absolutely nothing.

I sighed and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Truth was, I knew I was getting mad because I was having those same thoughts. It wasn’t like he was telling me something new, something I hadn’t realized already.

But it was hard to hear. I didn’t want to be Jetter’s wife, but I also wanted to do something to help this war.

As I lay there, my phone started ringing. I reached over and picked it up, answering it on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Janine.” It was Larkin.

“Hi, Dad. What’s up?”

“We have to talk.” He sounded pained, like he didn’t want to be having this conversation.

“Okay.” I sat up, worried.

“I heard you met with Jetter this morning.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it first. I figured it would just be easier for everyone if I went.”

He sighed. “It’s fine. Jetter seems very taken with you, though. I can’t tell if he’s lying or not.”

“I have no idea,” I said honestly. “He told me a story, something about you actually.”

There was a pause. “What did he say?”

“There was a girl named Jolene. He said he was dating her, but then she left him for you. One night you brought her on a drug deal and she got shot. Jetter left the Demons because of that.”

Larkin laughed. “That’s true.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but he told it backward. Jolene left me for Jetter, and that fucking bastard was the one who got her killed.”

I blinked, surprised by that. “Why would he tell it to me a different way?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but you have to be careful when you’re around him. I told you Jetter is a crafty son of a bitch.”

I had no clue what the story was meant to prove. He had to have known that I was going to ask Larkin about it sooner or later, and as soon as I did, I’d find out the truth. Of course I believed Larkin over Jetter. I trusted my own adopted father over some stranger who betrayed the club a long time ago.

Whatever half-decent feelings I had for Jetter instantly vanished. He hadn’t been such a bad guy earlier in the morning, but now I realized that the whole thing had been an act. Jetter was still playing games, trying to get into my head, and probably trying to get into Larkin’s head as well.

“That bastard,” I said. “He’s just messing with us, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know where any of this is going. But he stopped by not too long ago, and we had a talk.”

I felt a hollow pit in my stomach. “Just tell me.”

“He wants to move the wedding up. Two days from now.”

I took a short breath and slowly let it out. He wanted to move the wedding up. It was still happening.

I didn’t feel relieved.

“Okay,” I said. “Whatever you need. Better sooner than later I guess.”

“You don’t—”

“I do,” I said, interrupting him, “so stop saying it.”

“Okay then. Two days and you’ll be married.”

“Okay.”

“Stop by the clubhouse after work later,” he said. “We’ll talk more about it.” He paused. “It’s almost over. I promise. All of this is almost done.”

“Okay. See you later.”

He hung up.

I stared at the phone, worry running through me. In two days, I was really going to marry this guy, some stranger I barely knew. Some stranger I didn’t like at all.

When the man I really wanted was sitting out on my couch, nursing a head wound.

I sighed, standing up. I had to get to work pretty soon to do a late shift. Hopefully Clutch was going to feel up for it, but I didn’t blame him if he sent a pledge to watch me instead.

I walked out of the room and went into the bathroom, starting the shower.

I was just not going to think about it. Jetter would be my husband soon and that was that. No need to linger on it, or wonder what else could have happened in my life. I was claimed and it was happening, whether I really wanted someone else or not.

I undressed and let the hot spray of water run down my skin, doing my best not to think about the man in the other room.

C
lutch said
he was fine to take me to work, but he definitely didn’t look fine. I wasn’t in the mood to argue though, so he slapped a few bandages on the cut and we headed out. At least he wasn’t actively bleeding anymore.

Work crawled along like usual, especially considering it was a late shift. I hated doing the dinner rush and then getting some of the drunk idiots that came in late. I got off at one in the morning, and poor Clutch was stuck sitting in a booth for eight hours doing absolutely nothing.

Not that he complained. He ate dinner, and then he ate a second dinner a few hours later. I tried not to stare at him too much or spend too much time at his table, but it was hard. The anger had long since faded, and that anger was replaced with this gnawing need.

Not to mention guilt. I hadn’t told him about the wedding getting moved up yet, because I was afraid of how he’d react.

I didn’t want to hurt him. Actually, I didn’t know if I could hurt him. Sure, we were fucking, and he said things that made me think it was more than just that, but I didn’t really know what he wanted. Maybe he was just using me for sex for a while, until I was finally married and not in his charge anymore.

Maybe I was overthinking this by a mile.

But I couldn’t help it. Clutch didn’t exactly make any of this easy for me. He was a hard man and impossible to read, and I had no clue what he wanted.

And forget about what I wanted. Was he just a hard cock that made me feel good? I’d thought that at first, but the more I was around him, the more I realized it was much more than sex between us. We had something in common, were kindred spirits in a way.

It was all so messed up. As my shift wore on and the night got longer and later, I resolved to tell him. I was going to tell him as soon as it was over.

The clock hit midnight. I took a few orders, waited on a few tables, and suddenly it was one in the morning.

My feet ached as I gathered my stuff up. Clutch was absently playing with a stack of saltshakers as I walked over to him.

“You all done?” he asked without looking up.

“Yeah, all done.” I sat down in the booth across from him. “But hold on. I want to talk before we go.”

“Talk away, princess.”

I took a deep breath. “Larkin called me before we left my apartment earlier. They’re moving the wedding up. It’s two days from now.”

His face didn’t react. “Okay,” he said.

I was a little taken aback. I had expected a bunch of different reactions from him, but ambivalence wasn’t one of them.

“Um, okay, yeah. Just thought you should know.”

“Thanks, princess.” He slid out of the booth. “Where to now?”

I stood up, confused and a little hurt. “Back to the clubhouse,” I said. “I need to talk with Larkin.”

“Got it.” He headed out to the parking lot.

I followed him slowly, not sure what that was all about. I didn’t need him to break down and beg me not to marry him or something crazy like that, and besides, Clutch wasn’t that kind of man. But I thought he might be surprised or angry at least. Instead, I got nothing.

Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it was for the best if Clutch didn’t care either way. I followed him out into the deserted parking lot, and we made our way over toward his bike.

I suddenly got a strange feeling. There was a large black van parked two spaces over from Clutch’s bike. The lot was empty otherwise, and the streetlight seemed to be out.

“Clutch,” I said.

Two men burst out from the van suddenly, coming at Clutch.

I couldn’t believe how fast he reacted. The first man came at him with a knife, and he quickly dropped backward as the second man went around them both, heading right for me.

Clutch stepped around the knife attacker and tackled the man heading toward me. I heard a struggle and saw Clutch covered in blood. I dropped back, ready to run, but I couldn’t leave him there. The two men rolled again and someone grunted. Clutch rolled away from the man, and I saw a knife sticking out of the man’s chest.

The knife attacker was heading toward me then. I didn’t see any vest or patch on his body, but his eyes were crazy. He was short and hairy, and he had this wicked grin on his face.

“Come here, girly,” he said. “I won’t hurt you.”

I couldn’t see Clutch. I had no clue if he had been stabbed too or what had happened. I couldn’t think, so I simply turned and started to run as fast as I could.

But the man caught me. I felt him grab me from behind and lift me up. I tried to punch him and landed a blow to his nose, but that only made him curse and hold me tighter.

“Don’t fucking fight, you stupid bitch,” he said. “I’ll cut your pretty fucking face if you hit me again.”

“Help!” I screamed. “Rape! Help!”

“Fuck cunt,” he said.

And then he gagged and dropped me. I fell to the ground and looked up.

Clutch had him in a chokehold from behind. The man tried to swing his knife, but Clutch grabbed his wrist, twisting it, making the man lose the weapon.

“Janine,” Clutch said, “call the club. Get Noble, Dow, whoever down here right now.”

“Okay,” I said, breathless, and fumbled for my phone.

The man was struggling, but Clutch dragged him back toward the van. I called Dad, and he answered on the second ring.

“Hey, sweetie,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Dad,” I said, “send some guys. It’s Clutch. We were attacked.”

“Where?”

“The diner.”

“Stay there.” He hung up.

I put my phone away and walked toward Clutch. He was struggling with the guy but had managed to throw him to the ground. Clutch had his gun out and had it pointed at the man’s head.

“Clutch,” I said.

He glanced at me. “I’m okay.”

His head wound was bleeding again, but he looked okay otherwise.

“You’re bleeding,” I said.

He grinned at me through the blood. “I noticed.”

“The guys are coming.”

“Good.”

I glanced back at the other man, lying motionless on his back.

“Is he dead?” I asked.

“Yes,” Clutch said. “And you will be too if you make a move or a sound,” he growled at the other man.

The man just smiled at him silently, not moving a muscle.

I took a few steps back, my head spinning. Another corpse. Another dead body because of me. Clutch had saved me again, and this time in a much harder, more violent way. He had stabbed a man to death, plunged a knife into his heart.

All because of me. Everything was because of me.

I felt dizzy, so I quickly leaned up against the bike, taking deep, gulping breaths.

“You’re safe,” Clutch said to me. “You’re safe. Just breathe. Breathe, Janine.”

I listened to his voice, keeping myself calm, breathing deeply, breathing deeply.

“Who are you?” Clutch asked the man.

“Now I can make a noise?”

“Be a smartass and I’ll waste you.”

“Fine,” the man said. “I’m surprised you don’t recognize me.”

“Why the fuck would I?”

“You kicked me in the face earlier today.”

I stared at the man as it really sank in. “You’re a Rebel?” I asked him.

“Bingo.” He flashed a grin that was missing a few teeth.

Clutch bashed him in the head with his gun. The man fell back but wasn’t knocked out. He groaned.

“You fucking cunt. Don’t look at her,” he said.

“You don’t get it,” the man said. “You really don’t get it.”

“Explain it to me then,” Clutch said, pressing the gun against his skull.

“It’s all over. Everything is over.”

Clutch started saying something, but it was drowned out by the sound of motorcycles roaring into the parking lot.

Dow, Noble, Larkin, and Ford all pulled in, their bikes screaming power and fury. They cut their engines and got off the bikes. Larkin came over to me and wrapped his arms around me.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Two guys,” I said. “Clutch killed one.”

“Damn, man,” Dow said, looking at the body. “Right in the heart. Solid aim.”

I shuddered. There was a lot of blood.

“He says he’s a Rebel,” Clutch said.

Larkin let me go and walked over to the man. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Leeroy,” he said. “Lavoy was my cousin.” He spit onto the ground.

Clutch growled, but Larkin held a hand up.

“Who ordered this?” Larkin asked.

“Go fuck yourself, you old cunt.”

Larkin nodded, and Clutch bashed him again with his gun. This time Leeroy buckled and dropped over, knocked out.

“Well shit,” Noble said. “The fucking Rebels tried to kill you two.”

“Pack up him,” Larkin said to Dow. “And get rid of that body.”

“Got it.” Dow got to work right away on the dead body.

“Noble, stitch Clutch up and then follow us to the clubhouse. I’m taking Janine back.”

“Got it,” Noble said.

“Fuck that,” Clutch cut in. “I want to talk to this fucking cunt some more.”

“You will,” Larkin said, “soon enough. Let’s get him back and then see what he tells us.”

Clutch grunted but didn’t fight.

“Come on, Janine.” I followed Larkin over to his bike and we climbed on. “You okay?” he asked me.

“I am, thanks to Clutch.”

Larkin nodded. “We owe him a lot, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do.”

He fired up the bike and we headed back toward the club.