Fractured & Formidable: The Sacred Hearts MC Book V (17 page)

“God Red, stop!” I cried arching off the bed a little. “I
need you up here! Now,” I said before she could get any ideas that she’d
screwed up or done something wrong. She crawled up my body and kissed all along
the way and
that
heated my blood almost more than her sucking my dick.

I groped at the bedside table for a condom but her warmth
settling above me and her gentle voice, “Stop,” stilled my movements.

“Just stop, not tonight,” she murmured and slipped me inside
her and holy motherfucking Jesus!
That
felt
good
. She rode me
gently, hands caressing my chest and stomach and it just came popping out of my
mouth,

“God, Sugar! If this is what I get, I need to get in to more
fights!” her laugh was high and sweet, musical to the ear. I let my hands hold
her hips and smoothed them up and over her silky skin to cup her breasts. Soon
I was lifting my hips to meet her downward momentum, and our breaths were
coming so ragged and uneven there was no more room for talking.

She was so fucking beautiful and she worked me so damned
good, so sweet and fucking innocent and for such a long time, building me up
slowly until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I saw stars when I came, these white
flashbulbs going off at the edges of my vision so bright, so white hot, and I
was vaguely aware of her crying out in purest fucking pleasure, such a sweet
clear sound… This was perfect.
She
was my perfect, and God damn it I
loved her so.

Mandy…

About a week or so after the fight, just after the New Year
celebration at the club, Everett stuck her head into Soul Fuel’s kitchen and
asked me, “Do you know who was supposed to be here today?”

“It’s Tuesday, so Grinder isn’t it?” Everett made a face.

“He’s not here yet and I’m wondering if I should call Dray.”
She looked thoughtful for a moment or two. I sighed and set down the piping bag
full of French Silk icing. I’d been decorating one of my mom’s decadent
chocolate cakes, a recipe I unabashedly stolen from her recipe book for the
shop, and it was no surprise; we sold the cakes whole and by the slice almost
faster than I could keep them in the refrigerated display case.

I considered my childhood friend for a long minute and words
need not be spoken for each of us to understand the other’s reluctance to call
either of our men. Grinder may make us uncomfortable with his overly
flirtatious nature and close proximity, but he wasn’t necessarily a
bad
guy. Involving Dray or Zander would make them upset with him, but
not
involving
them may make them upset with
us…

“Give him like ten or fifteen more minutes?” I hazarded.

Everett gave me a pained look, “He’s already an hour late.
He was supposed to be here when we got here… Hell,
before
we got here.”

I bit my lower lip, “What if something happened to him?” I
asked and Everett came more fully in to the kitchen. Lexie having it handled
out front as far as I could tell.

“That was what I was thinking,” my friend admitted and her
phone appeared out of her apron pocket. She dialed and put it on speaker,
sliding it onto the counter between us. It went without saying that if we were
delivering bad or worrisome news that we would do it together.

“Baby what’s wrong?” Dray answered his phone by way of
greeting.

“We aren’t sure,” Everett hedged.

“Grinder isn’t here, we’re hoping he overslept or that you’d
heard from him?” I posed the last as a question and Everett and I looked at
each other, each visibly holding our breath. Dray swore, low and vehement away
from the phone.

“No, haven’t heard shit. Is there someone there causing you
problems?” he demanded.

“No! No! Nothing like that,” Everett assured him, “We were
just worried about him is all, it’s not like any of the guys to just not show
up. At first we thought he was just running a bit late but, um, it’s been like
an hour, hour and a half…” she trailed off.

“Dray we really don’t want him to be in trouble,” I said
softly.

He scoffed, “Grinder may be a pain in the ass sometimes but
he’s a reliable stand up dude. Look, call Rev, have him come in if he can, or
find someone else who can. I need to touch base with Trig and Dragon. I’ll talk
to you later,” and he hung up. No goodbye, just silence through the phone and
the screen flashing, noting the call had been disconnected.

Everett and I looked at each other, she tapped across her
phone’s screen and Zander answered on the second ring, obviously winded and his
music blaring in the background.

“Just a sec.” He huffed into the phone. The music stopped.

“Everett what’s up, my Red okay?” he asked and I smiled,
blushing faintly.

“I’m fine, but Grinder didn’t show this morning, Dray asked
us to call you and see if you could come baby sit, and if you couldn’t, to see
if you could find someone who could.”

Zander blazed out a gusty sigh and was silent for a
heartbeat then two.

“Shop busy?”

“Very,” Everett stated dryly and she and I exchanged a look
of pride.

“Good, if it’s busy and one of those cockbites is around,
they’ll think twice before causing trouble in front of a bunch of witnesses. If
it drops off and I’m not there, call me. I’m going to finish this set, grab a
shower and I’ll be on my way.”

Noises of agreement were exchanged and like Dray he hung up without
saying goodbye, which oddly, made me smile. Mostly because I knew that meant he
was driven, focused on getting through his weight lifting and out of the shower
so that he could get down here. I looked a little forlornly at my cake. Everett
rolled her eyes but she was smiling.

“Better hurry up and finish getting that thing decorated.
You’re going to be all but useless when Rev shows up.” I smacked her in the
chest lightly with my dishtowel that was over my shoulder.

“Oh like you can get anything accomplished with Dray here!
Last time he was in the shop you were all but dry humping in the office.” I
stuck my tongue out at her. Evy scoffed and with a wicked gleam in her eye,
deposited her phone in the pocket of her apron.

“Had a skirt on and I can tell you, there wasn’t anything
dry about it.”

“Everett Mary Moran!” I screeched and she pushed out of the
kitchen door laughing her head off at me. I stood there red as a beet and
prayed that she was just trying to get my goat and she hadn’t
really
had
sex in our office, which was at least, thankfully, well away from any
foodstuffs.

I finished placing the line of frilly decorating around the
top and bottom of the cake and with a sly smile, brought out the thin but solid
chocolate ivy leaves arranging them artfully on the top. I picked up the piping
bag with its liner tip and piped out vines in a dark chocolate fudge icing,
adding thin curls of chocolate as the vine’s little curling offshoots near the
leaves. A fine dusting of some silver leaf on the leaves to give them the
appearance of frost and the cake was perfection. I brought it out front and was
sliding it into the refrigerated case when movement on the opposite side of the
glass caught my attention.

I looked up smiling at whatever potential customer was
standing there but the smile softened and turned to something much more
intimate when I met Zander’s devilish grin, warmth and love radiating from his
chocolate caramel eyes.

“Hey Sugar,” he murmured, and I could see that he was
touched by the decorating job on the cake which had most definitely been
inspired by him. 

“Hi, come on back if you’d like,” I invited.

“Sounds good.”

He followed me back in to my kitchen and no sooner had the
door shut behind us, closing out the front of the shop, he was pulling me back
into his arms. He tucked his nose behind my ear standing on his toes to do it
and breathed in deeply.

“God you smell so fucking good,” he growled.

“I missed you too,” I said softly with an edge of laughter.
We’d just been together the night before, although I had left his house in
favor of going back to Evy and Dray’s, so that I could be up, showered, and
have all of my things at my disposal to get ready for my work week on Tuesday.

“I should let you work, huh?” He pressed a reverent kiss to
the skin behind my ear in that way that always made me shiver. I felt his lips
curve into a smile before he pulled away, going flat on his feet, his arms
reluctantly sliding from my waist as he let me go.

“Might be a good idea,” I conceded. “Still have to make a
living.” I turned and smiled at him.

“So what’cha making today?” he asked, slipping up onto the
vacant stool.

“Just finished a cake, the baked goods case is looking a
little barren so I was about to start in on some cupcakes, then I’ll get to
work finishing up some truffles…” we chatted amicably about chocolate and I
loved that Zander not only listened to me but was genuinely interested. He sat
at the counter and asked questions as I moved about the kitchen and plied my
craft, a smile cementing itself to my lips. I felt warm and safe and happy and
I really liked that Zander expressed interest; that he cared about not just me,
but what I did, what made me happy.

Eventually there was a comfortable lull in the conversation,
and he picked up a mostly empty backpack that he had stowed near his feet. I
didn’t even know he’d had it with him. I worked diligently, folding the vanilla
batter in my industrial mixing bowl as I prepared to transfer it into my batter
dispenser for nice, neat, even pours into my cupcake liners, all the while
paying attention to what he was doing, curious.

“Thought if things got quiet I would draw a little while you
worked. Get some work done of my own,” he commented, withdrawing a box of paper
and a kit of art pencils from the bag. He laid out a clean sheet of white paper
onto the countertop and opened up the pencil kit which held an array of
drawing, shading and colored pencils of some very high quality.

“I love to watch you draw,” I confessed and he grinned at
me.

“Yeah?” he asked, then voice pitched lower, “Need to draw on
you again?” I blushed and he laughed.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

I moved about my kitchen and poured about five baker’s dozen
cupcakes, sliding them neatly into the industrial ovens and setting the timer
for them. I sighed and washed up my bowls, measuring cups and spoons and the
batter dispenser in the industrial sink before setting to work on the chocolate
icing.

I was just pulling the cakes out of the oven and Zander was
just starting to add detail to his drawing, when Trigger poked his big blonde
head into the kitchen.

“Figured you were in here,” he grunted and pushed his way
in, Dray followed and was scowling, his look as dark as the rest of him, eyes
snapping with impatience.

“The fuck Rev? You’re supposed to be looking out for my
girls,” Dray griped.

“He is, Dray.” Everett said from behind him, “The kitchen is
the best place for the guys on watch, out of sight of the straight-laced
customers, out of mind… Just because we love you and understand, doesn’t mean
the rest of the world doesn’t judge and it’s the best you’re going to get.
Mandy and I need to make this shop work.”

My best friend crossed her arms and I sighed, taking the
last of the cakes out of the oven to cool. She and Dray didn’t disagree often
but when they did… oh boy. I wiped my hands on my apron from where they were
slightly damp from sweating inside the oven mitts.

“Our business, our rules,” I said firmly and Dray and Evy
both looked at me surprised. I didn’t put my foot down often, but when I did,
Dray generally backed off and respected my wish on the matter. Likely because I
asked for so very little. Trigger and Zander watched the entire exchange with
amused smiles and glints in their eyes.

“Whatever, we’ll talk about it later back at the house,”
Dray grumbled and Everett and I smiled because generally that meant we’d won
our way. Not always, but generally.

“What’s up VP? Partner?” Zander asked leaning back on his
stool, pencil forgotten on the counter besides his drawing and in danger of
falling onto the floor.

“Got someplace private we can talk?” Trigger looked from me
to Ev apologetically, “Club business.”

Everett snorted and I gave her a sharp look. She was
irritated easily by secrets, which after Jerry, didn’t surprise me. Still, I
was well aware there were certain things we simply should not know for our own
safety and wellbeing.

I gestured to the office, “A bit cramped but Shelly’s not in
today, she does most of her work from home now. Feel free. Can’t hear a thing
when the door is shut.”

“Thanks Red,” Trigger said softly and the three leather and
denim clad men ducked into the back office shutting the door behind them.
Everett gave me a dirty look.

“Go wash your face!” I exclaimed and made a shooing motion
with my hands, which made her smile and shake her head.

“It’s not like I would ever say anything.” She rolled her
eyes.

“I know, but did you ever stop to think that Dray isn’t so
much worried about that, as he is about you going through the stress of
potentially being grilled? Sometimes it really is best if you don’t know, then
when you’re asked you won’t be lying.”

Everett sighed, “Scares me too sometimes,” she confessed,
“The idea of him possibly going to jail, to prison, all because he was trying
to protect one of us, stop us from getting hurt before it happened.” She
scrubbed her face with her hands and gave me a look, one that I shared, bleak and
frightened.

The police couldn’t do anything until an actual crime was
committed, so there wasn’t really any help there. I nodded solemnly and Everett
and I shared a quick hug before she went back out front to rescue Lexie from
having to wash windows. It was the slow time of day.

The three men didn’t stay in the office for very long.
Fifteen minutes to a half an hour. When they emerged, their faces were
carefully schooled into lines of neutrality which told me that whatever it was,
it wasn’t good.

“Hey Red,” Dray said quietly.

“Yes?”

“Think you could get Em to agree to stay at the club house
tonight? The both of you.” His dark eyes were pleading and my heart sank.

“It’s bad, isn’t it? Grinder I mean.”

“We don’t know Sugar, that’s the God’s honest truth,” Zander
stated.

I nodded, “I’ll get her to come.”

Trigger smiled, “Thank you. Sunshine, Hayden, and the girls
will be there too if that’ll help you convince her.”

“I’ll do my best.” I promised. Dray stalked out front and
Trig went over to look at what Zander was doing. He gave a low whistle.

“Art Deco, nice man.” They talked for a while about their
business and I listened, intrigued, softly asking a few questions here and
there. They had a location almost completed and ready to open just down the
block and across from their favorite bar, The Spot, on old Main Street.

Eventually Trigger left and Zander and I settled back into
the tranquility that was just being around one another while we respectively
worked. Everett poked her head in close to closing.

“Wrap it up girl, apparently we’re staying at the club
tonight. You don’t need to talk me in to anything.” She gave a gusty sigh and I
smiled and nodded.