Kellan (11 page)

Then, finally, the last surge of pleasure flowed through me and Kellan finally eased up. He drew himself out of me, leaving me boneless and spent. He curled his body around mine and held me close to him. He whispered my name as he placed soft kisses across my forehead, my cheek, and down the column of my throat.
 

Chapter Ten

Kellan
 

I let her sleep as I righted the room and pulled my jeans back on. For as little as she was, Mallory was a bona fide bed hog. She lay sprawled on her stomach, her arms and legs splayed out to the side. I couldn’t help it. Somebody had the air conditioner blasting, but I pulled the sheet down so I could see all of her. The tiny hairs along the small of her back prickled and gooseflesh covered her.
 

“Fuck,” I whispered. Mallory Rhodes had the sweetest round ass I’d ever seen. I didn’t want to risk waking her, but I couldn’t keep my hands off her.
 

I could tick off a thousand reasons why last night had been a huge fucking mistake. I’d just got done giving Brax shit for taking things too far with Jeanette. She was too good at what she did for us. Brax always left a mess after every relationship he ended. And here I was, fucking the best thing that had ever happened to
The Wolf Den
.
 

I knew it was no exaggeration. Mallory was magic on that stage. By next Friday, we’d have lines wrapped twice around the building waiting to get in. Waiting to catch just a glimpse of her. As much as that thrilled me for the club, there was a little part of me that wanted to keep her all to myself. And because I couldn’t keep my dick in my pants, things were about to get way too complicated way too fast.
 

Sure, maybe she’d be cool. Maybe she’d understand this could only be a one-time thing. We both needed to get it out of our systems. If I thought of it that way, maybe fucking her was the exact right thing to do so we could both just focus on our jobs here.
 

She moaned and shifted. I froze as Mallory went to her back. She lay with one leg twisted in the sheets, the other fell to the side, exposing her luscious, pink pussy. I hadn’t had a chance to taste her there yet. Dammit, everything about her was just perfect. She wasn’t rail thin, she had curves to her, starting with that plump round ass I loved gripping when she rode me hard. Knowing I might wake her, I took a chance and sat on the bed next to her. Luckily, the girl slept like the dead. She only whimpered a little when I trailed a finger between her breasts, down the slope of her stomach and between her thighs. Dammit. She was mine. I wanted to keep it that way. How the hell was I gonna let her come back here every weekend, watch every guy in the place want what I had and not lose my fucking mind?
 

She had a little diamond stud in her belly button and I had to suppress the urge to lick her there. Fuck. I just wanted to tie her up the way she was with her wrists and legs splayed wide. My dick stirred and throbbed thinking of how much fun I’d have torturing her with my tongue while she wriggled for me. We’d been rough and wild together last night but I’d only just started. I held back a little, knowing the whole thing was probably a huge mistake. I didn’t want to hold back with her next time.
 

Shit. Next time. I needed to get that idea out of my head quick. This was just a quick hookup. That’s all it could be. Just enough to release the pressure for both of us, just a little. I had to let her go. Except, the thought of not having her right here when I woke up tomorrow morning too made a little knife twist in my belly.
 

Her lips parted and she licked her bottom lip in her sleep. I leaned down and kissed her. Still, she didn’t wake up. I got bold and smoothed her shock of pink hair away from her face. The rest was bleached platinum, almost white.
 

I leaned over and checked my phone on the bedside table. It wasn’t quite nine o’clock. Anyone from the club who wasn’t married usually ended up staying here on the weekends. I had a strict rule. Bring anyone you want to warm your bed, just don’t bring one of the customers. I didn’t need this place getting a reputation as a fuck farm for the M.C.
 

So, technically, I hadn’t broken my own rule. Mallory wasn’t a customer. But fuck. This could complicate the shit out of everything I was trying to build if things got weird between us.
 

My phone vibrated in my hand. Brax was calling from downstairs. Mallory grunted and flipped back over to her stomach. With her leg crooked under her, that perfect ass went high in the air. It was everything in me not to grab a handful and wake her up for round two.
 

I couldn’t do it though. Not until I knew how she’d be in the morning. I prayed we could still work together.
 

I slid my jeans on, ran a comb through my hair and grabbed a clean shirt. I left a note for Mallory on the bedside table. Tate would have the kitchen fired up and I wanted her to join us for breakfast. There was no point trying to hide what happened here from the rest of the guys. They could judge me if they wanted but at least they’d know that Mallory was off limits to any of them.
 

I swung my cut over my shoulders and pulled my arms through it. Mallory groaned behind me and my dick clenched. She was dreaming. I hoped it was about me.
 

I ran a hand hard through my hair and closed the door softly behind me. Laughter rose from the kitchen. Sounded like we had a full house. I headed down the hall and into the bar. Catching Brax’s eye first, he sat at the long table closest to the bar. Tate, E.J., Joker, and Mac sat around him. Jeanette stood behind Brax. She tousled his hair and leaned down to kiss him as she put a plate of eggs and sausage in front of him.
 

Great. So much for our talk. Jeanette’s eyes damn near had little hearts bursting out of them when he looked up at her and patted her hand where it rested on his shoulder. She caught my eye and her face fell a little. All I could do was give her a nod and a smile. Who the fuck was I to give either one of them shit now?
 

“Must have had a rough night to sleep in so late, huh?” I took a seat across from Brax while Jeanette put a plate of eggs and sausage in front me too.
 

“Thanks, hun,” I said. I gave her another smile and her expression seemed a little more relaxed. Jesus. Did she really think I’d fire her for whatever she did with Brax?
 

“Everybody all set?” she said. “I’ve got to get home.”
 

“You need a ride back into town?” I said, shooting Brax a pointed look.
 

“No,” Jeannette put up her hand. “Really. No. I’ve got my car.”
 

“Just hang out,” Brax said. “I’ll follow you out.”
 

Brax’s tone was harder than it should have been. Jeanette cocked her head. I shrugged my shoulders and kicked Brax under the table.
 

“Just give us a few minutes, okay?” Brax said, softer this time.
 

Jeannette nodded. “I’ll just be in the back. We’ve got some stock to shelve anyway. Lou’s still around here somewhere. He can help out.”
 

Lou? Damn. We were running a damn frat house.
 

As soon as she was out the door, I set down my fork and leaned forward. “You didn’t have to run her out of here because of me.”
 

The rest of the guys made a racket with plates, forks and chatter . Narrowing my eyes, I studied Brax a little harder. His expression looked grave. He watched the door behind the bar, waiting for it to close all the way, then he rested his chin on his fist and looked at me.
 

“What’s the trouble?” I asked.
 

“Maybe nothing,” Brax answered. “Colt called. Somebody tried to break into the gym last night. And we’ve maybe got another issue a little closer to home.”
 

Brax kept looking behind the bar. Satisfied Jeanette wasn’t going to walk back out, he leaned in and lowered his voice.
 

“Heidi’s not coming back.”
 

Heidi. She was one of my best waitresses. The one who got squeezed a little by one of the customers before Mallory put that fire out.
 

“Okay, what did she say?”
 

Brax shrugged. “Her boyfriend called for her about an hour ago. I couldn’t get her to come to the phone. Something’s got her scared. I was thinking maybe you and I could go out to her place and talk to her.”
 

It didn’t make a lot of sense. Sure, things got a little dicey last night, but it never got out of hand and I talked to her after it was over. “She was fine when she left here,” I said. “Sonny walked her out to her car. What’s she afraid of?”
 

“She’s not the only one,” Tate chimed in. “That new hostess we hired, Liza. She called this morning too and said she’s not coming back either.”
 

“What the fuck’s going on?”
 

“Like I said,” Brax said. “They both sounded scared. You got some time this morning? Why don’t we see if we can figure out if something happened?”
 

I nodded. The timing couldn’t be worse. Liza and Heidi were top notch employees. We paid and treated them well. We’d just had our best night of business since we opened. It made no sense for them to bail on me now unless there was some other kind of shit going on I didn’t know about.
 

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll make time for this. You run it by Colt?”
 

Brax nodded. “We’re all on the same page.”
 

“How bad they hit the gym?”
 

“Not bad. Broke one of the door handles and cracked a window, but nobody got in. Alarm system got tripped. Colt called his brother down there to check out the tapes and make a report.”
 

“Well, fuck.” I sat back in my seat. “Yeah. Let me just get some coffee down my head and we’ll ride out there and talk to Heidi and Liza. I don’t like the sound of any of this.”
 

“You think the girls and the gym break-in are connected?” E.J. asked.
 

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Other than happening at the same time, who knows? Why don’t you ride out with us? We’ll check in with Colt on the way and see if Jase had anything new to share with him.”
 

I looked around the table. Everybody but Brax had their heads down. God. They’d been through so much shit over the last few years under our old leadership. Colt and I had promised them peace. I for damn sure wasn’t going to let some piece-of-shit thugs make me break that promise.
 

“Everybody just simmer the fuck down,” I said. “We still live in a city, for God’s sake. Just because some shit happened, doesn’t mean WWIII is starting. Just do your jobs. Nothing’s different than it was yesterday.”
 

Mac nodded and dropped his shoulders. He met my eyes and gave me a hard look and nodded again. I hoped like hell I was right. Every man at this table had fought hard and earned a fucking stretch of peace. No matter what it took, Colt and I were going to give it to them.
 

“How’d we do last night?” I asked Tate, flipping the subject the best way I knew how. Tate’s eyes lit up. He reached over and grabbed his tablet from the top of the bar. I swear to God I saw dollar signs in his eyes when his screen flared to life.
 

Smiling, he slid the tablet over to me. I did a double take when I saw the number.
 

“Shit,” I whispered, then covered my mouth with my hand. “This is right?”
 

Tate nodded. I turned the tablet so the rest of the guys could see. The take was three times higher than the previous weekend. It was just the kind of news they needed to get their heads back in a good space. Money always seems to do that. And this was more money than they’d seen when we were running
shakedowns for our old president. Good money. Legit money. The kind they could all use to build their futures. Nobody and nothing was going to take that from them as long as I had breath in my body.
 

“Damn!” Joker sank into the seat next to Tate and slapped him on the shoulder.
 

“Trust me,” I said. “Didn’t I tell you assholes to trust me?”
 

Mac nodded. Tate leaned over, grabbed Joker’s head and kissed it.
 

“Fuck me,” E.J. said, then whistled low. “That band, Kel. That’s some magic fucking beans right there. I mean, they’re all good. Chicks seemed to like that guitar player, but it’s that girl. She’s hot as shit and she’s going to keep ’em lined up. Whatever we’re paying her, whatever we’ve got to do to keep her happy, let’s do it. Man. Seriously. Fuck!”
 

I caught Brax’s eyes again. The corner of his mouth lifted in a sort of half smile as he looked at something over my shoulder. The hair on the back of my neck prickled as I heard a door shut quietly behind me. Mallory had come downstairs.
 

Chapter Eleven

My face froze as Brax gave me an eyebrow raise.
 

“Uh, hey, Mallory,” E.J. said. He coughed loud to clear his throat. Mac and Tate got to their feet and made an awkward exit toward the bar. I turned as Mallory walked up next to me. She smiled and gave the guys a little wave and a shrug, tucked her hair behind her ears and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans.
 

“Hey, guys,” she said.
 

Brax ran a hand across his chin and I had the urge to smack the smirk right off his face. Jeanette came out from behind the bar with another plate of eggs.
 

“You hungry?” she said to Mallory, trying to lift the tension.
 

“I’m good,” Mallory said, her voice sexy as hell and a little bit groggy. “Though I’m not going to turn down coffee.” She sat down next to me and reached for an empty cup. E.J. slid the pot toward her and she shot him a smile.