Authors: Amanda Anderson
“Everything will be alright Storm. I’m not a bad guy, I won’t hurt you or anything.”
She turned and ran from the room.
XXX
Nick couldn’t sleep. Preach had ordered him to take Storm over the border and stash her in a safe house until all this was over. That was the deal. He had to get her out. It chapped his ass good too, but the men were working on a plan that he couldn’t be part of anyway so this was as good as he could do.
Shadow had found Daisy, but he couldn’t get to her without raising alarm. She wasn’t the only kid being held and Shadow had looked more haunted than usual when he’d returned so Nick didn’t want to imagine what the man had seen. Daisy was safe though. For some reason she wasn’t being kept with the others. One of the women was caring for her and while she wasn’t being treated well, she didn’t appear to be being abused.
That had been the only thing that had allowed him to leave. She was ok. Shadow had headed back out to keep watch. He had vowed to do anything he had to make sure she stayed unharmed.
He had met Nick’s eyes when he’d made the promise and Nick hadn’t argued. The man was fierce and he kept his word.
Law had led them to this shitty little safe house. Nick was pretty sure there were roaches would be bigger than the rats, but he was exhausted.
“Maria.” Law smiled when he saw the woman open the door.
She was tall and slim with hair shiny, black hair that reached her waist.
“Hello Lawless.” She melted into his arms and he accepted her without hesitation.
The woman pressed kisses along Law’s neck and pulled him inside. Nick followed along with Storm who had been silent since they had left her father.
The door closed behind them and the woman pushed Law away. “You dirty son of a flea bitten dog. What are you doing here?”
Nick felt his brows raise.
“Maria. You know I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be. We need you to help watch this woman and you will be rewarded.”
“Who is she and why would I help you do anything?” She spoke in heavily accented English.
“Because I will pay you well if you do the job and I will end you if anything happens to her. I’m not asking. I am going to leave this woman with you and you will make sure she is safe when we get back for her. If she isn’t, I will make you suffer.”
Nick watched the woman step back. She glared at Lawless like she hated him, but she nodded.
“She looks like she loves you as much as I do Law.” Storm said as she stepped into the light of the single lamp that burned in the tiny living room. “I’m Storm and I promise I will not be a problem.”
“My name is Maria. One night. She can stay one night.”
“She will be staying two. Someone will be here to retrieve her the day after that and she will be whole.”
“Fine two nights, but no more and this needs to be the last time.” Maria’s spine was rigid.
Law gripped her jaw. “You will do as I say because I say it. You will be compensated, but don’t think about turning us away if we come to your door again. Your debt hasn’t been paid and until it is we own you. I’m paying you because I’m just that fucking nice. Don’t push me.”
Storm had stepped back against Nick’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her and tried not to think about how perfectly she fit against him. Her hair smelled of flowers and he filled his lungs with the fragrance before he could stop himself.
Law turned to Nick. “We leave in the morning.” Then he walked off toward a hallway that led to the back of the house.
Maria spent the next several minutes cursing in Spanish and from what Nick could pick out, it wasn’t praise for Lawless. That man has balls of brass if he was asleep back there.
Storm pulled him from his lesson in Spanish curses with a touch to his arm.
“I don’t want to stay here. She obviously doesn’t want me to.” Her eyes were huge and dark grey like a thunderhead.
“It will be alright. We need you to be safe so I can get Daisy back. Then we can head home and forget this shit.”
“Valentine…”
“Nick. Ok, just Nick.” He corrected her.
“Ok. Nick.” She ran her hand over the cupid tattoo on his forearm. Her touch was soft and it was doing things he didn’t want to think about right now. “Thank you, for this and everything and I hope you get your daughter back.”
Nick’s heart was pounding. If she didn’t stop touching him he was going to kiss her and she would probably cut his throat for it.
“You can stay in the room with that,” Maria rattled off a few more colorful cursed and pointed down the hall. “You can stay in the room next to that.” She said to Storm. “It is smaller, but it is safe and it is clean.”
“Thank you Maria.” Storm said.
Maria just threw her hands in the air and continued to curse as she closed herself in a room on the far side of the house.
“Go to bed Storm.” Nick said although all he wanted to do was pull her close.
“Tell me everything will be alright. Tell me and I’ll believe you.” She whispered.
“Everything will be alright Storm.” That was the last of his strength. His lips touched hers and she ignited in his arms. She was a flame in the darkness and he knew he would be scarred from her touch.
Her hands ran under his shirt to touch the hot skin beneath.
Storm was drowning. She had never met a man like Valentine. He wasn’t scary like the men in the club, but he was just as dangerous. He didn’t try to intimidate her. He seemed to like her strength and she drew courage from that and he wanted her. It wasn’t the same sort of want that she saw when other men looked at her, he wanted her in a way she didn’t understand.
She pushed him until he sank down on the couch and pulled her over his lap. His hands gripped her hips and pulled her down hard until she felt his hard shaft through the denim of their jeans. His hands skated up her back and found the clasp to her bra. With just a flick of his fingers it loosened and her breasts were free of their confines. Her shirt was tugged off over her head and her bra followed it to the floor.
The look on his face when he looked at her body made her feel bold. She ran her hands up her body and cupped her breasts and watched as his breathing increased.
She plucked at her nipples until they were diamond hard and his groan was the only thing that told her he had reached the end of his control.
A surprised sound escaped her when his hot mouth closed over one taut peak. He wasn’t gentle, he sucked hard, using his tongue and teeth to bring her pleasure.
She bucked against him and he ground against her. This was madness, but nothing had ever felt so right.
“Nick please.”
“I can’t fuck you tonight, not like this. This isn’t right Storm.” Nick was going to die, but he couldn’t do this. She was scared and he was supposed to help her. He shouldn’t have let things go so far, but he had lost his mind and when he had seen her tits he’d had to taste them.
“Why not? I’m not a virgin Nick and I won’t expect anything in the morning.”
Her words hit him hard and jealousy burned in his gut which made no damned sense.
“I don’t give a fuck if you are or not right now. This is not what I expect from you. Fuck, tomorrow, you wake me up in the morning and still want this then I’ll be more than willing, but this feels wrong, like I’m taking advantage of you.”
That’s when her felt it, she was crying. He held her away from him so he could see her face. Tears. There they were. They flowed from her eyes like rain from a storm cloud. She fell against him and her body shook as she let herself sob for whatever secret pain she had held inside. Nick wrapped his arms around her and just held on. He had no idea what else to do. He had never done anything but fuck women and leave them. What the hell was he supposed to do?
“Everything will be alright Storm.”
It sounded lame even to him, but he had no idea what else to say.
Storm laughed.
“You really suck at this you know?” She sniffled.
“Yeah, I’m not much good at this, but I am here. I’ll be here. You’re stuck with me. If you stay, I’ll stay.”
He’d made a deal with Chester and with Preach. He paid his debts. He doubted it would be too terribly hard especially since her glorious tits were currently pressed against his chest.
“Yeah, because you made a deal.”
Her tears were back and there was anger behind them. “There’s always a deal or an obligation. I’m tired of being that to everyone. Why can’t I just be me? Why can’t that be enough for anyone? It’s never enough, never. There always has to be the promise of more.”
She stood and it took all Nick’s strength to focus on her face and not her gloriously bare tits.
“How long until that obligation gets old, hmm? How long until I’m something you hate? He wouldn’t help you save your daughter if you didn’t agree to this. How long until you hate the sight of me? How long until I can’t entice you to let me stay and be part of that family?”
Her pain was killing Nick. He understood feeling like an obligation. He understood never belonging and always feeling like he had something to prove. He knew Granny hadn’t felt that way now that he was older, but as a kid he had wondered if she’d resented having another mouth to feed. Choo-Choo’d had a reason. His mom had died. Nick’s mom had just gotten tired of having him around and dumped him.
He stood from the couch and picked up her shirt. He walked to her and pulled the thin fabric over her head. It wouldn’t help much, but it would hide her and help him think a little better.
“Listen. You aren’t an obligation. I’m going to dump your ass on Granny P. and be done with you.” He pressed his finger to her kiss swollen lips when she started to speak.
“I will probably see you most days since I happen to live in the house with her right now and I’ll need her help with Daisy, but you will totally be her problem. Preach has a job set up for you and that is his thing because that’s what he does for his family. You are a part of the club. You are his family. They love that club, but they want you to make a real life because they see something in you that needs that.”
“They just want to be done with me.” She sniffled.
“Wrong. That’s not the way it works. That crazy man in there is making damned sure you are safe because it matters.” He lifted her chin. “You matter.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say goodnight sweetheart and please wake me up in the morning because I am going to be miserable all night.”
Her cheeks pinked and she gave him a saucy grin. “I’ll think about it.” She kissed him one more time before she picked up her pretty pink bra and headed for the hall.
It was going to be a long night.
XXXX
Nick couldn’t turn his mind off. His dick was as hard as a spike again. Every time he got it to settle down he thought about how Storm had felt against him and the damned thing and stiffened until he thought he would die.
It had been almost four hours since he had left Storm in the living room and he needed to sleep.
He heard a click and opened his eyes a crack to look toward the door.
There was a sliver of light coming in and he could see someone standing in the crack.
“What?”
“Can I talk to you?”
The voice wasn’t familiar. It held a heavy Mexican accent and a feminine lilt.
“No.”
“I can provide pleasure for you senor. You rest then. You need sleep.” The door opened a crack wider.
“No. Close the damned door. I’m not willing to catch anything or be robbed tonight.”
He heard a giggle and frowned as he sat up and turned on the lamp by the bed.
The woman standing in his doorway wasn’t what he’d expected. It was Storm. She stepped into his room and shut the door behind her.
“I’m still not looking for company.” He said in a stern voice that she hoped he believed.
“I don’t remember asking.” She leaned against the door as if she meant to block him from escaping. “I have things to say.”
“Well go ahead, doesn’t look like I’m sleepin’ anyway.”
“I won’t fuck you.” She crossed her arms and raised one dark brow.
“Don’t believe I asked you to. I’m pretty sure I sent you to bed telling you I wouldn’t fuck you so I’ve already made this deal. Maybe you should be talkin’ to Law.” He prodded just to see what would come of it.
“I’d rather sleep with a rattlesnake.” She spat.
“Careful what you wish for darlin’.” Law spoke as he rose from the cot in the corner.
Storm jumped as if he were the devil himself before she covered her reaction.
“My old lady might object to the fucking anyway so don’t worry your pretty little head about that.” He stood and stretched before he walked toward the door.
Nick watched as Storm stood frozen to her spot.
“When will you stop looking at me like that?” He spoke so low that Nick almost missed it.
“I’ll never unsee what you did.” She whispered back.
“Those men would have hurt you. They deserved what they got and I don’t regret it, not any of it. I’d do it today or tomorrow if I thought it needed doing.”
Law kissed her forehead and moved her out of his way so he could leave the room.
“I’ll be in the next room if I’m needed.” He didn’t wait for an answer.
Silence settled over the dimly lit room as Storm stood unsure by the door.
“Was there more?” Nick asked just to break the tension in the room.
She shook herself and adopted her former badass pose.
“I’m no freeloader. You can get me out of here in one piece, but you don’t have to do anymore. Chester won’t know the difference and I won’t tell. I’m not fucking you so you’ll help me.”
Nick shook his head. “Not the way it’s going to go down. I made a deal with your old man. Fucking you wasn’t in it. So you can stop with all that shit. That out there was me letting you know that so it is nice to know you got it loud and clear. We end up in bed, it will be because we both want to be there.”
“He’s not really…” Her voice cracked. “We aren’t even related.”
She looked deflated and her lip trembled again. A woman’s tears made Nick feel more helpless than the Mexican drug cartel. What the hell was he supposed to do? He climbed out of bed, thankful he’d slept in his boxers and stood there like an idiot.
“You want to sit down or something?”
He needed to get to know her if she was going to be living with him after all.
“I meant what I said…” Distrust was plain on her face.
“Look, I’m too stressed to fuck. Even if I wanted to, I doubt I could get it up.” It was total bullshit. He would have absolutely no problem getting hard for her, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Ok. I guess I should get used to being around you anyway…” She walked toward him and he wanted to groan. She wore only a pair of soft cotton shorts and a tank top that did nothing to hide the absence of her bra.
She was testing him, teasing him.
She sat on the end of the tiny bed and he sat back at the head and pulled the covers over his lap, just in case.
“So where are we going?” She asked.
“Colorado.” He figured he should keep it short and sweet.
“Why there?” She stretched her legs out and made herself comfortable.
“It’s where I grew up. Preach thinks you will be better off there with my Granny P. He says he has something in the works that will give you a job, a legit job.”
“I’m not helpless. I can get my own place and my own job. I really don’t need anything. I shouldn’t leave him right now.”
“I know he’s sick. From the looks of it he hasn’t got much time left. Wants you to be ok. It’s what dads are supposed to do.”
“He isn’t my father.”
Nick pursed his lips. “Why all this then? How did you end up with him?”
“He and some of the brothers rescued me from a hippie commune my mother had joined. She had been spending some time with Chester and I liked him. Then she joined this commune and I was put in some weird things I didn’t understand. I ran away and found Chester, but he thought I was better off with my mom. I was nine. I sent him a letter telling him that my mom had arranged a marriage for me.” She shrugged. “The guys got me out.”
“I still don’t see why you guys live down here instead of up with the brothers.”
“Chester had to kill a few people to get me out. We ran. My mother blamed it all on him so we were safest here. He raised me as his daughter.”
“Have you been happy?” For some reason he really wanted to know.
“I’ve been happier than I would have been having babies at thirteen.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter all that much.
“Can I ask you something?” She chewed on her lip as if he could refuse her.
He nodded.
“Is that little girl really yours?”
Nick had never really thought that Daisy was anyone else’s kid. She did look like him more than he could deny.
“Her mama had a test done. Sent it to me a couple years back, but I never opened it.”
“You don’t care? You are willing to do all this for a kid that isn’t even yours?” Her beautiful eyes rounded.
“No kid should have to grow up like that.”
Her eyebrow raised. “This isn’t a one night stand. This kid will need you for the rest of her life or at least the next fifteen years.”
“It’s time I settled down anyway. Daisy needs a stable place to be and she needs a family.” Nick felt a lump in his throat. He had no idea why he was about to say this to this woman. She was a stranger. Maybe it was the darkness, maybe it was the fact that he was stuck with her, but his mouth opened and let it out.
“I guess she’s not the only one who needs a family.”
She was quiet for a long while and then she pulled her legs under her and crawled up the bed. She didn’t stop until she was nose to nose with Nick.
“I guess we all need something.” Her lips landed on his before he could stop her. She pressed against him until he leaned against the headboard.
“What happened to rule number one?” Nick gasped as she bit his neck.
“Maybe I need something too. Will you give me what I want Valentine?” She pressed herself against the obvious evidence of his need.
“It’s not morning yet.” He tried for reason.
“Just fuck me. Just tonight. We don’t ever have to talk about it or do it again. I just need it. I need to feel alive. I need to feel like life will go on. I need to know...”
Nick had never been one to turn down free pussy, but this felt wrong for some reason.
“Storm. This is fucked up. We have a lot going down. We are going to be spending a lot of time together and this won’t help anything.”
He grunted again when her shirt came off over her head. Nick felt his mouth water. Her tits were perfect. Perfect for his hands, perfect for his mouth. Her nipples were rosy and hard as little rocks and he couldn’t think past his need to taste them again.
Storm moaned as he suckled her deep into his mouth using his teeth as much as his tongue. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.
Her nails bit into his shoulders and the pain brought him back to sanity.
He pushed her back until he could speak.
“Sweetheart what is this about?”
“Promise me.” She kissed him.
“What?” She was killing him.
“Promise you’ll come back. Promise you’ll take me to Colorado.” Another kiss and she pulled his hand to her breast and he didn’t resist. “Promise me that I will get to be part of that family you told me about.”
“Fuck Strom.” He groaned.
“Yes, fuck me.”
“No.” He leaned his head against the headboard. “I can’t believe I’m turning you down again, but you need to know this isn’t necessary. You don’t have to fuck me to have all that. That is what you are getting because that’s the deal. This is just us. You want this you make me believe it’s me and not all that shit that matters. The club made sure you’re alright. I want you to want me.”
She shook her head. “Not for me. For Chester. When he’s gone I’ll have nobody. He’s all I have in this world.”
Nick took a deep breath and let it out hard. He had no idea what the dynamics were in the club, but that seemed off to him.
“Look, I don’t know shit about this club, but I do know a little, very little about family. That’s what they claim to be. I think you’re stuck with them.”
He lifted her face to his. “You’re stuck with me too until you decide to leave. No obligation. No duty. Just a friend maybe. I don’t have many of those.” He shrugged. “Maybe I should give it a try. It’s your call.”
Her head tilted in that same way Lawless’s did when he was thinking.
“Even without sex?”
She looked truly puzzled. “Damn darlin’ I’m a man, so I won’t say no, but that’s up to you too.”
Her arms wound around his neck and she pressed against him and he felt his body trying to say something about leaving it up to her.
“You need to go get some sleep darlin’, you’ve got a busy few hours ahead of you and so do I.”
Her hand trailed down his stomach. “I could…”
He grabbed her wrist. “You don’t have to pay me for being nice to you. Just take it and go to bed. Everything will work out. I can promise you that once I get you back to Colorado, you’ll never feel like you’re alone in the world again.”
The look of hope on her face almost doubled him over. He hoped he could keep his word.
“Lawless is in my room.”