rtbpdf (10 page)

Raptor

Adriana told me where she lived and I took the
scenic route, so she could enjoy the ride and I could enjoy her arms around me
that much longer.

When we arrived at her home, I was a little
taken aback. Having found out that her mother owned ‘Dazzle’, I’d expected, I
don’t know… a mansion on the hills or something that hinted of wealth. Instead,
her house was small and quaint, and nestled inside of a quiet little
neighborhood, inhabited by retirees who apparently spent most of their days
making their yards immaculate.   

As I shut off my bike, the front door of her house
opened and a woman stepped outside. She had a smile on her face, but the look
in her eyes was frosty.

“Crap,” mumbled Adriana, getting off of the
bike. “I thought she’d be a work.”

I could tell right away where Adriana got her
beauty from. The woman had the same dark hair and green eyes that she had,
although her skin was a slightly more olive, and she was much shorter.

“Hi, Mom,” said Adriana, as the woman
approached us

“So, this is the friend you mentioned in your
message?” she asked, looking at me like I was some kind of leper.

“Uh, yes. This is Trevor. Trevor, this is my
mom, Vanda.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, trying to be
cordial under the circumstances. The circumstances being that she didn’t like
me.

Vanda nodded and looked at my leather jacket.
Her face went from unfriendly to downright hostile. “You’re in a gang?”

“We call it a club,” I said, not liking the way
she said it.

Vanda looked at Adriana and said something in
what I assume was Portuguese. She answered back, quickly, and then they
proceeded to argue about something. Something, obviously being,
me
.

“Well, I think this is my cue to leave,” I
said, dryly. “I’ll keep in touch, Kitten.”

“Uh, okay,” she replied, looking embarrassed.

I turned to Vanda. “Glad we had this chance to
get to know each other,” I said. “Your daughter has my number, Vanda, if you’d
like to give me a call sometime. We can pick up where we left off.”

Vanda’s eyebrows raised and she almost looked
amused. But it was quickly replaced by what I could only describe as indifference.
And maybe relief. “Goodbye,” she said, and then turned and walked back toward
the house.

Adriana glared at her mother’s back.

I sighed. “She’s a tough win.”

Adriana turned to look at me. She touched my
arm. “I’m sorry. My mother had a bad experience with some bikers, once. She’s
frightened of all of you now.”

“I wouldn’t call that frightened,” I said,
smiling. “Hell, she seemed like she was ready kick my ass.”

“I know; she was more angry at me, than
anything else.”

“What happened?”

She sighed. “My parent’s store was robbed,
about ten years ago.”

“By some bikers?”

“Yes. We lived in Florida at the time.”

“What club?”

“Hell’s Demons, I believe they were called.”

“Oh. Those fucking guys. Yeah, they’re assholes.
The ones that I’ve met, anyway. Did the bastards who did it go to prison?”

“Actually, the police never caught the guys who
did it. They had masks on.”

“So, now she doesn’t trust anyone wearing
patches?”

“She doesn’t trust bikers, period.”

I looked at the house and saw Adriana’s mother
staring at us from inside of the doorway.

“I guess I can’t blame her, but she shouldn’t
lump all of us in a pot, like that. I’ve never robbed anyone in my life. None
of my brothers have, either.”

“I know. Anyway, forget about her. I’m not
going to let her opinion change my mind about you.”

I grinned. “And what is your mind telling you
about me?”

“That you’re a decent guy.”

“Decent. I don’t know about that,” I said,
thinking back to some of the things I’d done in my life, especially in my teens.
I may not have robbed anyone, but I had a temper. I’d lost it more times than I
could count. I also had the scars on my fists to prove it.

“Well, you’ve been good to me,” she said,
kissing me on the cheek again.

As she was about to pull away, I grabbed her
around the waist and pulled her to me, kissing her fully on the lips. She
stiffened up but then to my delight, began kissing me back. Relaxing, I slid my
hand around the back of her head and shoved my tongue inside, wanting to taste
every part of her.   

“We can’t,” she said, pulling away, suddenly.

I frowned. “Says who?”

 She looked over her shoulder at the house. “My
mom’s watching us.”

“So. Let her watch,” I said, trying to pull her
back to me.

“You don’t understand. She’s going to freak
out.”

As if on cue, the front door opened and Vanda
stuck her head out. “Adriana!” she hollered, looking furious. “I need you! Come
inside.”

“I’ll be right there!” she yelled back.

Vanda said something in her language.

Adriana, rolled her eyes, but didn’t answer
back.

“You want a kiss goodbye, too?” I called out.
“All you have to do is ask.”

Vanda glared at me and closed the door.

I smiled grimly. “Fucking-A. How old are you,
Kitten?” 

“I know,” she said, her face flushed. “Believe
it or not, she’s normally not like this.”

“I want to see you again,” I said, starting up
my bike. “And from the way you were kissing me back, you feel the same.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

She nodded toward the house.

***

Adriana

Trevor’s eyes burned into mine. They were
filled with lust and anger. Before I could react, he grabbed my wrist and
pulled me back over to him, taking my mouth, hard and fast. Then, just as
quickly, he released me. 

“You’re a grown woman. You can do what you
want, see who you want, and fuck who you want,” he said, his eyes burning with
frustrated need. “And something tells me that right now, we both want the same
thing.”

I found myself panting, he had me so worked up.
Had we been alone, there was no doubt in my mind that we’d be all over each
other until I made sure that he was inside of me, putting out the fire he’d
started. The guy definitely knew how to kiss a woman.

“Adriana!” called my mother again.

I jerked my head toward her. She was definitely
treating me like a child. It made me so angry and embarrassed that I almost
jumped back on his bike, just to spite her.

“You’d better go and see what she wants,” said
Trevor, smirking. “Before she comes out here with a paddle.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, backing away. “She isn’t
always like this.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay.”

His eyes swept over me again. “Mm… I’d better
get out of here before I kidnap you. Are you free after work?

“I don’t know. I have school tomorrow. Early.”

“So is that a ‘no’?”

Fuck it
.

Krystal was right. I needed to get laid. It was
time to find my own dark side. I smiled “Actually, it’s a ‘yes’. But, only for
a little while.”

“Sweet. Call me when you’re done working,” he said,
putting his sunglasses on. “We’ll meet up.”

“Okay.”

Then he was gone and I was left to deal with my
pissed off mother.

Sighing, I walked up to the house and opened
the door, ready for a battle. It didn’t take long.

“What are you doing with him?” she asked,
looking disgusted.

“His name is Trevor and he’s a nice guy,” I
replied, closing the door behind me.

“He’s trash, Adriana.”

“No, Mama, he’s not. He’s a good guy. You don’t
even know him.”

“I know his kind and so do you. He’s in a gang.
A gang! I saw the patches on his jacket. Those are dangerous guys. Not what you
need to be surrounding yourself with.  I don’t want you seeing him again.”

I pursed my lips. “I’m an adult. I can make up
my own mind on who I want to see.”

She stared at me angrily. “So, what you are
saying is that you
are
seeing him again? Even if I beg you not to?”

“Trevor is a great guy. You didn’t even give
him a chance.”

“How can you do this, Adriana?” she asked me,
looking tired and defeated. “You know what happened in Florida. What kind of
people these bikers are. They are nothing but criminals.”

“Trevor isn’t a criminal. These guys are
different, here. The Gold Vipers. It’s not like it was in Florida. They are
nothing
like the Hell’s Demons.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is that what he told you?”

“Well, not in so many words.”

“Of course not. He wants you. You’re a
beautiful girl, Adriana. Men will say whatever you want to hear to get into
your pants.”

I bit back a smile. “I realize that. I’m not
sixteen, though. I’m twenty-one.”

“Yes. See. Just a babe.”

Exasperated, I sighed. She would tell me this
when I was thirty. That was her way.

Vanda wagged her index finger at me. “You
realize that your father is probably turning in his grave right now, knowing
that you’re seeing this guy. How can you do that to him?”

“Papa’s dead,” I said. “But if he were alive,
he’d at least give Trevor a chance.”

“No,” she said. “Never. Your father was almost
killed because of a man like,” she wrinkled her nose. “Trevor. I didn’t tell
you but, one of those bikers shot your father.”

I stared at her in shock. “They did?”

She nodded. “Yes. He was shot in the shoulder.
They wanted my wedding ring,” she said, staring at her left hand, which had the
replacement band. “The one that was handed down from his mother. It was
two-karats. Beautiful. After stealing almost all of the jewelry in the shop,
they demanded that, too.”

“What happened?” I asked, my voice hollow. I
hadn’t heard that part of it. I knew they’d gotten the ring, but hadn’t heard
the actual story behind it.

She smiled sadly. “Your father, he was so
sentimental. You remember? Always telling stories about your grandparents and
their farm.”

I nodded. My father’s parents had traveled from
Germany, when he was a young boy. They moved to Iowa and bought a farm. This
was several years before he met my mother, which was on a trip to Florida,
after his mother had died of cancer. Vanda’s family had also been immigrants.
They’d moved from Portugal when she was a teenager, to Miami. Her father, my
grandfather, had been a wealthy jeweler, and that’s where my mother had found
her own passion for diamonds and gems. Eventually, my parents married and they
opened up their first jewelry shop in Florida. “Yes. I remember.”

She sighed. “He was so attached to that ring.
It was an heirloom. A symbol of our marriage. Obviously, he didn’t want them to
have it. Told them they couldn’t have it. Even told them why.” Her lip
quivered. “But, those ingrates didn’t care and I could see right through them.
I told you father that it was okay. That they could have the ring, but he kept
arguing. Well, they shot him before I could get the ring even off of my finger.
Then, they laughed when it was over. Made fun of your father, lying there
bleeding and dying. Can you believe such evilness?”

“No,” I whispered, imaging the horror. It made
me sick to my stomach.  

“So, you see, those are the kind of people that
you’re dealing with. The kind that join these ‘gangs’,” she said, her face
darkening.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

 “You were so young; he didn’t want you to
know. Didn’t want you to be frightened.”

I sighed.

“Adriana,” she said, grabbing my hand. “There
are so many good boys out there. Don’t waste your time with this guy. You’ll regret
it later. You’ll be hurt, in one way or another.”

“Mama…”

“Just, please…” She squeezed my hand. “Think
about it, okay? For your father’s sake, at least?”

I let out a ragged sigh. “Yes. I will definitely
think about it.”

She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “You
are all I have,” she said, her eyes shining with tears. “I don’t want to lose
you, too.”

“You won’t,” I said softly.

“Remember what you father used to say? You
can’t predict your own destiny, but you’re responsible for choosing the path
that leads you to it.”

 “I know, Mama. I know.”