Saving Glory (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club Book 4) (10 page)

RAP RAP RAP

Glory’s heart almost pounded out of her chest when she was jarred from a deep dreamless sleep. She squealed in dazed confusion as she felt steely arms grab and push her to the other side of the bed. A big, strong body was shielding her between himself and the door in an instinctive protective move.

“Jules?” Glory stared at the ink tattooed on his back, her eyes still unfocused and dull from sleep.

“It’s okay, babe,” Jules reassured her even as he lunged to the side of the mattress, grabbed the clothes on the floor and began to get dressed.

Glory scampered off the bed to do the same.

RAP RAP RAP
the door shook on its hinges.

“Whoever the fuck that is has about five seconds to get the hell away from my door before I put a goddamn bullet right through it,” Jules yelled.

“Don’t shoot the messenger, brother,” Reno said. “Boss wants to see you.”

“Now?” Jules called out in exasperation.

“Definitely now,” Reno crowed. “Told me, if you’re not out in five, to come in and get you. Even gave me the master keys.”

Glory heard the jingle of a heavy key ring through the door.

“You open that fucking door and I’ll cut off your dick and shove it up your ass!” Jules roared.

“I’ll do you a favor, man, and tell Prosper you’ll be out in five.” Reno chuckled out his response. “But you want to be careful what you threaten, brother, because you sure as hell don’t want to have to answer to my old lady about that missing dick thing.”

“Goddamn it, Reno, I’m not kidding. You tell Prosper anything you wanna tell him, just get away from that fucking door!”

“Now you’re down to four minutes, man, stop wasting time yelling at me, and give your woman a proper goodbye. Then get your ass out to meet with your prez.” Glory could hear Reno’s boot heels beat a retreat across the wooden floor.

Glory looked from the rumpled bed to Jules and back again in dismay.

“They know we’re— we’re—” Glory paused looking for the right words. Her face flushed pink while her hair hung around her shoulders in wild disarray. “This is so damn
embarrassing
. If Prosper says anything to Pinky, then she’ll tell the girls and I will never hear the end of it.” Glory buttoned up her dress with shaking fingers.

“So the fuck what? You’re a grown woman. Nobody’s business what we do or don’t do together. Even Prosper’s not going to go interfering with shit that personal.” Jules pulled the T-shirt over his head then bent and tossed Glory her panties.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” Glory was not convinced. “Still wish everyone in the damn club house didn’t know we were in here together.”

“Why the hell not? They’re bound to find out sooner or later. Might as well get it over with.”

“Bound to find out what?” Glory lifted her dress and tugged her panties up. She paused as she strapped on her sandals and gave Jules a wary look.

“About us,” he said, matter of fact.

“Jules—this was a one- time thing. I can’t do this with you again.” She frowned. The events of the past two days had been unexpected, confusing and alarming to say the least. The run in with Santino had been a total—she searched her mind for a word that could even come close to describe it and landed on—mind fuck. The incident had thrown her into emotional turmoil for sure. But she was a big girl and the choices she made were her own, especially when it came to who she shared a bed with. And while the choice to spend the night with Jules was something she took full responsibility for, she had no intention of repeating that particular moment of weakness.

“Why not?” He buttoned up his jeans, then bent to pull his boots on.

Glory finished strapping her sandals and stood up, then she said with a gentle tone, “Honey, you’re good at whole bunch of things, but relationships aren’t real high on that list.”

“Relationships
?” He paused mid pull and looked up at her.

“See that? The way you said that? You said the word ‘relationships’ like you were spitting poison out of your system.” She looked back at him and sighed.

And though she knew this was coming, knew this would be the end result of their night together, she couldn’t stop the swell of disappointment that sprang up at the startled look on his face.

Because even if there were moments during their time together that Jules had appeared to be commitment minded, in the end it had turned out that his idea of what it took to make a relationship work and hers were worlds apart.

Jules’s voice pulled her out of her reverie. “Okay Glory, I ain’t got time to argue with you. We can try to play it your way, but I wish us both good fucking luck with that. Because if you think that this ain’t gonna happen between us again? Babe, you are wrong.”

Glory gave him a look of startled surprise.

“Really? That look? You doubt it? Think about it.” He pulled her close and lifted her chin gently. “I'm one hundred percent sure you’re in my bed again.”

Glory looked into those beautiful blue eyes, felt the heat of his body so close to hers and despite her inner resolve, she was ready to rip off her clothes and leap into that bed again with him right then and there. God's honest truth.

She let out a long slow sigh. Jules was right.

There was no way she could see him flexing in the lake house every day without wanting some of that.

Without wanting some of him.

That is if she lived through whatever dastardly deed Santino had lined up for her.

“You’re right,” she blurted out.

“Damn straight, I’m right,” Jules agreed, but with none of the smug arrogance she had expected to hear in his voice. There was only something that sounded strangely like relief and maybe a little bit of happiness.

“I love being—” Glory hesitated, because despite Jules’s rough and ready vernacular, she had no desire to be crass about the night they had just shared together. So she waved her hand toward the rumpled sheets and tried again. “I love being with you.”

He gave her a tender, if slightly triumphant, smile.

“But Jules, we’ve gone down this road before and I think we can both agree that it doesn’t end well,” she reminded him.

“So maybe this time we take a different road,” he offered.

“I’m not sure you’re the
turn over a new leaf
kind of guy, Jules.” She said with surety and a tinge of regret.

“What makes you think I was talking about me?” He teased her with a smile.

“I’m trying to have a serious conversation here,” she scolded him.

“Continue, by all fucking means.” Jules responded and tried his best to look chastised.

“I’m just saying that there’s this
thing
between us. A powerful attraction between us and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t work.” Glory groped to find the words for a situation that she really had no explanation for.

Jules, it seemed, had no such problem.

“Not how I see it. From what I remember, it always has worked between us. And it sure as hell seemed like it was working for us last night,” he continued with a wicked gleam in his eye, “I’m pretty sure by those little whimpering noises you made and the way you clamped your legs around my back that you—”

“I did,” Glory shot out, embarrassment coloring her face.

“A couple of times.” Jules smiled at her.

More than a couple. And damn if her toes didn’t curl at the thought.

Glory forced herself back to the matter at hand. “What I am saying is that I think we can both recognize that, as two healthy adults, we have needs and urges. And as you pointed out, we have a pretty good track record in that area, so I suggest that we satisfy those needs together—if you’re willing.”

“Good track record?” He raised an eyebrow.             

“I’d say so, yes,” Glory confirmed.

“So let me get this straight.” Jules’s eyes turned hard as he regarded her slowly. “You’re saying that once in a while you might have the urge to be fucked good and hard and you want to use my dick to get that done?”

“I guess that’s what I’m saying.” Glory ignored his look of outrage and her own aforementioned inner resolve to the contrary. Because selfishly-speaking, great sex with Jules, with none of the complications, angst and heartache, sounded just about damn perfect right now.

“So just so to be clear one more time—you want to hotline me for the occasional hook up? Booty call? Friend with bennies kind of thing?” His tone had turned more aggressive now.

Men and their fragile damn egos,
Glory thought as she saw Jules cross his big forearms and flex slightly.

“Well, I guess it could go both ways. So yes—I mean no—I just meant—” she stammered at the sudden realization that while this sounded like a great idea to her, it had probably sounded pretty insulting to a man like Jules—
to a total control freak, used to getting his own way—
guy like Jules

“I didn’t mean to offend you, Jules. Forget I said anyth—”

“I’m in,” Jules interrupted her.

“You’re in?” Glory asked breathlessly, and felt a shiver run through her body. Before she had time to completely digest the possible ramifications of her reckless proposal, Jules closed the narrow distance between them.

“I’m definitely in,” he repeated in no uncertain terms. Then he sealed the deal with a long, slow kiss that made her head spin.

After Jules made arrangements with a prospect to bring Glory home, he went to the club house to see Prosper and find out what the fuck was going on.

“That was a hell of a lot longer than five minutes,” Prosper growled out in greeting. “Close the damn door.”

“Sorry, I was—uh—busy.” Jules looked around the room, surprised that it was just the two of them in it. “What do you need?”

“What I
need
is to smoke a pack of Marlboros and to shoot back a hit of whiskey without my woman breathing down my goddamn neck,” Prosper told him. “But what I
want
is for you to get your head out of your ass.”

“What’s this about?” Jules narrowed his eyes. Because this conversation better not be going where he thought it might be going.

“What the fuck are you doing, Jules?” Prosper challenged.

“What the hell kind of question is that?” Suspicion at what the boss was getting at stabbed Jules like a hot poker.

“Thought that ship had fucking sailed.” Prosper glared at him.

“You got something to say, Prosper, you better well say it. ‘Cause I got things to do,” Jules snarled.

“And I got an idea what those things are and who you plan on doing them with,” Prosper snarled back.

Yeah. The prez was definitely going there.

“With respect, boss, I sure as hell would like to know when what I do on my own time became your personal business.” Jules clenched his jaw. Then he went over to the bar and poured himself a shot, his hand shaking in anger.

“Everything that touches this club is my business, brother.” Prosper's tone held an edge of weariness.

Jules remained silent, but splashed another shot of whiskey in his glass.

Prosper moved next to Jules and, in a show of brotherhood, put a hand down hard on his shoulder. The he reached for the bottle and poured out a double shot.

“Thought you were laying off the stuff?” Jules frowned. “Doctor’s orders?”

“Yeah. I was. I am. But near beer ain’t gonna cut it this time.” Prosper raised the glass to the light, swirled it around a couple of times then shot it back. His face contorted in an expression of pure bliss before he opened his eyes, focused them straight on Jules and got down to it.

“Unless you’re planning on going the distance with her this time, do me a favor and leave the woman alone. The strong bond that Glory and my girls share had them bitching and moaning every damn day she was gone. For fuck’s sake, it even had me flying across the country to bring her back here. My daughters are happy and my wife is damn delirious. So all of that means peace at home for me. And I damn well like it that way. Happy wife—happy life and all that bullshit. And now, you’re about to blow all that out of the water because you got it in your mind to dick around some place you’ve already been before—and failed.”

“Glory said pretty much the same thing.” Jules rubbed the back of his neck and scowled.

“Smart woman.”  Prosper grunted.

“Maybe it’ll work this time.” Jules’s voice held a glimmer of hope.

“With your track record?” Prosper snorted. “Not a chance.”

“My what?”

“Your established pattern with woman.” Prosper told him. Then he nodded to Jules’s back pocket and commanded. “Open your wallet.”

“My wallet?” Jules shook his head in impatient confusion. “What the fuck does my wallet have to do with this, boss?”

“Just open your goddamn wallet and empty it out on the bar.” Prosper drained the rest of the whiskey from the glass in one long gulp. Then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at Jules expectantly.

Jules frowned
his response. Wherever this was going, Jules had a real strong feeling he wasn’t going to like it. But then again he really didn’t have much choice, Prosper was his president, and you didn’t say
fuck no
when he asked you to do something. Might as well get this shit over and done with once and for all.

Jules shrugged his shoulders, then slipped two fingers into his back pocket, unhooked the chained leather wallet and threw it open. Then he pulled out his driver’s license, a couple of credit cards, a hundred dollar bill and a few ones.

“That it?” Prosper stared at him with suspicion.

“Shit, yeah, that’s it.” Jules wished the boss would get to the point.

“That’s everything?” Prosper asked again, his expression one of disbelief.

“Well, yeah,” Jules assured him. After a slight pause he added. “Except for these.”

Then Jules pulled out six Crown skinless condoms from the billfold.

“Aha!” Prosper stabbed his finger at him. “And there you fucking have it.”

“Have what?” Jules cast a wary eye.

“My point.” Prosper smiled with satisfaction.

“Your point?” Jules scrubbed his hand over his face in frustration.
Really? He was going to make a big deal out of a few shields?
“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s your point?”

“Established. Fucking. Pattern.” Prosper paused between each word. Then he added smoothly, “You carrying half a dozen rubbers on standby is a pretty clear indication that you’re not exactly commitment minded.”

“The only thing that that’s a clear indication of is a desire not to get the clap,” Jules snorted. But when his eyes met Prosper’s, he winced with sudden uncertainty.

“Look, Jules.” Prosper laid a heavy hand down on his shoulder. “I know that it bothered you that things weren’t right with you and Glory when she left. But the fact is, from what I remember, things weren’t exactly all hearts and flowers between you before she went away either. And then Bambi lying about you being the father of her kid? I know that didn’t go down easy.”

“Yeah, I’ll give you that.” Jules scowled in agreement, because all things considered, the last year or so hadn’t exactly been a bowl of cherries. “So what are you saying?

“Just take a minute to think things through, that’s all. I just don’t know if you’re sure you wanna go there, brother.”

“And why would that be?” Jules wanted to know. “I thought you liked her. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard you say on more than one occasion that Glory is a damn good woman.”

“She is a damn good woman,” Prosper agreed. “You get no argument from me there.”

“So if we’re both cool with keeping it casual, what’s the harm?” Jules pressed him.

“Brother, I’m an old fuck and don’t mind saying I’ve had my share of women.” Prosper looked down at the empty glass in his hand.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning I’ve learned a few things about females along the way. No matter what Glory thinks she wants now, or whatever she’s telling you she agrees to, she’s kidding herself. Because she sure as shit ain’t the kind of woman you fool around with casually. I just want to make sure you know that. Because after what that little girl has been through, I don’t know if she can take another disappointment. Even if she brings it on herself.”

A myriad of wise-ass comebacks flashed through Jules’s mind—
Mind your own fucking business, you don’t know what the hell you are talking about, and fuck off
topped the list. But of course, he didn’t say any of them. The first reason being that he had nothing but respect and love for the man. The second reason was, that deep inside, Jules knew that Prosper’s take on the situation was dead-on.

Jules slumped his big shoulders slightly and said miserably, “I hear ya, boss. It’s just that nothing felt right when she was gone. And I’m pretty damn sure it’ll feel all wrong again if she leaves. From the minute I found out she was coming home all I have wanted to do is to keep her here with me. I guess I haven’t really thought much beyond that.”

“I get it, brother.” Prosper gave him a commiserating look.

  Through all this bullshit interrogation about his personal, the one thing that Jules was sure of was that his boss had his back. And really when it came down to it, he knew that Prosper only wanted the best for Glory too.

“Hey, boss?” Jules was the first to break the comfortable silence that had settle between them.

“Yeah, brother?”

“What kind of woman is she?”

“What?” Prosper looked up from the joint he had begun to roll.

“You said that Glory wasn’t the kind of woman you fool around with. What kind of woman is she?”

“Ahh—that’s easy, my man.” Prosper chuckled softly as he regarded the intense look on Jules’s face.

“She’s the kind of woman you marry.”