Throttle MC: A Stepbrother Romance (17 page)

At the end of the day, I quietly packed up my small box of things.  I had asked Barbara not to tell anyone else I was leaving.  I didn’t want any sort of a goodbye party or anything like that; I hadn’t been there long enough to deserve one. I simply went back to Barbara’s office, told her goodbye, and nodded when she asked me to call her if I ever wanted to come back to Cheyenne. Then I slipped out the front door as others were shutting down their computers and getting ready to leave for the weekend.

When I walked out into the late afternoon sunshine, Ryker was sitting on his bike, which was parked next to my car. My stupid, formerly oil-burning car, which had brought us together on that stupid road just a few months ago.  I closed my eyes as someone with an invisible knife stabbed me in the gut.

“Ryker,” I murmured, trying to keep the pain out of my voice.  I hadn’t seen him in so long. I had hoped – somehow – that I would manage to get out of town without having to see him again before I had gone. And now, here he was, right in front of me. The idea of having to walk away from him was almost more than I could take.

“Heard this was your last day,” he replied. He glanced down at the small box I was carrying.  “Put that in your trunk and come with me.”

“But...”

“Don’t ask questions.  Just do it.”

I was so dumbfounded at seeing him here, after both of us doing everything we could to avoid one another, that I didn’t have the wherewithal left to do resist. Mutely, I opened up my trunk, threw in the box, and slammed it shut, all the while staring at him in confusion.

“Come on. Here.” He handed me his helmet. I strapped it on and got on the bike behind him. He started the engine, and with a flick of the throttle we were off.  I was at a loss as to where we could be going. Then it occurred to me that maybe his plan was to take me to the bluff, to say goodbye.  I didn’t think I could bear it. I opened my mouth to tell him to turn around, to take me back to my car, but instead of turning right, in the direction of the bluff, he turned left.

We drove along highway through town for a bit, and then he turned left again onto a smaller street that I didn’t recognize. Eventually, he turned into the driveway of a small, white house with dark red trim. He parked the bike and cut the engine.

“Ryker...” I began, and then I realized where we must be.  This was where he lived now.

“Come on, get off the bike,” he replied easily. “Hurry up. I don’t have all day.”

A thin ribbon of exasperation threaded through the storm of emotions coursing through me.  In spite of everything, Ryker Stone sure did have the ability to irritate me when he wanted to.  I got off the bike.

“What are we doing here?” I complained as I pulled off my helmet. “I’m not really in the mood for you to give me a tour of your house, Ryker.”

“Ah, you’ve figured that much out, anyway,” he grinned. “So, yeah, welcome to my castle,” he announced, sweeping his arms wide to showcase it. Then he strode toward the front door, motioning for me to follow. “Come on! What are you waiting for?”

“Dammit, seriously?” I shot back. Were we really going to do this right now? What did he think, that we were going to crack open a beer on the back porch and drink a toast to the good times? In spite of myself, though, the irritation surging through me felt good.  It was a damn sight better than the agony I felt when I had first seen him standing next to my car. More cleansing.  Good, let’s go with anger, then.

“Ryker, you need to take me back to my car right now!” I fumed, refusing to move from the spot.

He turned and looked at me, then slowly crossed his arms and shook his head with a teasing grin.  “Nope.”

I couldn’t stand it anymore.  His eyes, that grin that I loved so much, that melted me every time I saw it... I couldn’t be here. I just couldn’t. My eyes filled.  “Fine, fuck it, then,” I said angrily, swiping at the tears that threatened to stream down my cheeks. “I’ll just walk.” I hooked the helmet over his handlebar. “Goodbye, Ryker.”

Turning on my heel, I started down the driveway, willing myself not to start sobbing until I was far away from him. I hadn’t gotten more than a few steps when I felt his hand on my arm, pulling me around.  I started to yank it away, but he held me firm. Furious now, I looked up at him, ready to spit out the first hateful thing I could think of, but when my eyes met his, the expression on his face stopped me in my tracks.

“Hadley,” he said, looking stricken. “God, Hadley. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have played you like that. Please,” he continued.  He took me by both shoulders, and his touch was suddenly so gentle I wanted to weep. “Come on inside.  I need to talk to you. I promise, you want to hear this.”

Ryker put his arm around my shoulder and led me toward the front stoop. His touch, the smell of him were so familiar, so much what my whole body craved, that I wondered how I was going to survive the next minutes without completely losing all my resolve. 

He opened the front door with a key he had pulled out of his back pocket, and led me through the entryway into the living room. I looked around at the still-bare walls and the half-empty boxes as he led me to a low leather couch facing the front window.  He pulled me down and sat next to me. “Hadley,” he said, his voice low and urgent now. “Why are you leaving?”

“You know,” I said stubbornly, shaking my head. 

“Tell me. Why?”

Why would he make me say it?  “Because, Ryker!” I cried.  “I can’t stand to see what the club is going to do to Cheyenne. I don’t want to be here, watching it happen and feeling guilty.”

“Hadley, your dad had me come talk to him a bit ago. He wants to move The Throttle away from meth. You convinced him, Hadley. He doesn’t want you to leave, and he thought about it and realized you’re right.”

I looked at him dumbly. “What?” I whispered. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he grinned back at me. “He wants him and me to steer the club toward other businesses. Together. I tried to get him to do it, too, before.  But you’re the one that ended up changing his mind.”

I couldn’t believe it. My father had actually listened to me.  And he didn’t want me to leave. It was so much to take in. I sat looking at Ryker, and for a moment, I was so, so happy.

And then I remembered the main reason I was leaving Cheyenne.

“I’m... God, I’m so... I mean, that’s so great.  Thank you, Ryker,” I said sincerely.  I looked up at him, my eyes shining. “You have no idea how much this means to me.” I looked away, out the window. “But I still have to go. You know that.”

“Why?” he asked.

I stared back at him. “What do you mean, why?”

“Tell me why,” he pressed. His eyes were glinting with a strange light.

“Why are you making me say this, Ryker?!” I cried. “Because of you, okay? Because I don’t want to be here anymore.  It’s too hard!”

He moved closer. “So, you’d stay, if... this... wasn’t a problem?” His face was so near mine now, I could see the stubble of his beard, imagine the roughness of his cheek if I reached out to touch it.

“Yes,” I whispered, reddening. “Of course I would.”

“Then stay,” he murmured. His lips came down on mine. What was he saying? My mind reeled as I dizzily returned his kiss for a few moments, then finally broke away.

“Ryker...”

“Your dad told me Randi talked to him. About us. Seems she figured out a while ago that there was something going on between us.”

I stared at him. “She asked me about it,” I said, stunned.  “I had to tell her – it was clear she knew anyway, somehow.”

He chuckled. “She asked me about it, too.  I told her to go to hell, but she wasn’t taking no for an answer.” He leaned down and brushed my lips with his. “My ma’s nobody’s fool. Anyway, I guess she told Lon, and somehow, he hasn’t decided to fuckin’ kill me.  If you can believe this, he actually gave us his blessing.”

This was too much to take in. I stared at him, my eyes wide, and shook my head in disbelief.  “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe this is happening.”

“It is happening, though,” he murmured. “Hadley. I love you, babe.” He kissed me again, and my body felt like it was melting under him. “You’ve had me around your little finger since the first day I saw you. You need to fucking stay, because if you leave, I’m coming with you.”

He pulled me close and leaned me back against the couch until our bodies were pressed against each other. For the first time, when his mouth came down onto mine, I let myself think, “He’s what I want.  He’s the one.  He’s mine.”  His lips pressed mine open, and I eagerly returned his kiss as our tongues probed and danced together.

When he pulled away, we were both breathing hard. “Ryker,” I gasped.

“Fuck, I love it when you say my name,” he growled.

“Ryker,” I repeated, more urgently now.

“Yeah, babe.”

“Take me to bed.”

Hadley started working at the clinic again a couple of weeks after she had officially quit. I convinced her to take a little time off before she started back, and her boss was so happy to have her back that she didn’t argue one bit. We decided to take a little vacation, so we loaded up the bike and took it around some of the scenic byways of Colorado for a week, ending up at Estes Park. It was... well, fuck, it was amazing. Since Hadley was already packed up and ready to leave Lon and Randi’s place, I convinced her to move in with me. When we got back from the trip, we loaded up her car with stuff and drove it over to my place. 

Correction:
our
place.

Eventually, at Barbara Hensley’s suggestion, Hadley did decide to go back to school to become a substance abuse counselor. She liked the idea of both of us working on cleaning up Cheyenne.  And I think it made her happy to feel like she’d finally found something of her own. An identity of her own, apart from who she was to the club.

The Throttle seemed to accept Hadley and me as a couple with very little difficulty. Hardly anyone even blinked. They just started referring to her as “Ryker’s old woman” now, instead of “Lon’s daughter,” and that was that.  Except for Jimmy, of course.  He didn’t say anything about it, but it was easy to tell it ate him up inside. He never did do very well with the idea that someone else had gotten something he wanted, especially me. First I got the VP position, and then I ended up with the girl.  I wish I could say I felt bad about that... but I didn’t.

How could I feel bad about it? I was happier than I’d been in my whole goddamn life.  Hadley... well, she was a revelation.  I could sit around and watch her doing the most miniscule things, and it was like I’d never seen anything so amazing. I couldn’t get enough of her. And the truly amazing thing was, she felt the same way about me.

The night we got back from our trip, I took Hadley into our bedroom and made love to her.  I realized that night that before I met her, I had never
made love
to any woman. Hell, it would never have occurred to me before Hadley. But this... this was different. She was in a playful mood, and we sparred for control, laughing, until eventually she ended up on top of me. I watched her ride me, climbing higher and higher, and thought how she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Just when I knew I couldn’t hold out any longer, Hadley threw back her head and called my name, and I emptied myself inside her with a shudder as she came crashing down around me.

The next morning, Hadley got herself ready for work and I sat around with a cup of coffee, gazing appreciatively at her hot little ass as she padded from room to room. I realized as I watched her that somehow or other, Hadley was always going to come crashing into my life, sooner or later.  I had never been one to believe in fate, but somehow, Hadley and I had been inevitable.  We were always going to end up together. And once we met, there was never going to be any turning back.

Hadley finished getting ready for work, kissed me long and deep, and then headed out the door for the clinic. I took a final swig of coffee and was starting toward the kitchen when the door swung back open. “My car won’t start,” she complained. “And there’s a puddle of something that looks like oil underneath it.”

I shook my head and laughed.  “I’ll take a look at it.  You want me to take you in on the bike?” I asked.

Hadley looked down skeptically at her outfit. “Yeah, but I’d better change out of this skirt into some pants,” she frowned.

“My loss,” I smirked, and she swatted at me and headed into the bedroom to change.

“Might be time to get a new car,” I said as I followed her down the hallway. “Yours is getting to be more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Oh, no,” she shook her head, laughing. “We can never get rid of that car.  It’s what brought us together, after all.  Good think you know how to fix cars, because you’re stuck with it now. And me,” she added, smiling wickedly.

Babe,” I said, “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be stuck with.”

THE END