Brax
Authors: Jayne Blue
Brax
Great
Wolves M.C. - Book Six
By
Jayne
Blue
Copyright
© 2016 by Jayne Blue
All Rights Reserved
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This is
a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses,
places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s
imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Brax
It’s dangerous to owe me something. Most people know that. And
I always collect. For over a decade, that’s what my club depended on me for and
I was glad to provide it. I did the things no one wants to hear about. Deadly
force and bloody hands were just another Tuesday in my world. I’m not sorry.
I’m not on some quest for redemption. Fuck that shit. You might not like me,
but you sure as hell need me. Call me the lesser of two evils if you want. As
long as you don’t have to see what I see or know what I know. And that’s just
fine with me.
Now we live in a different world. My club has a legitimate
business and flush bank accounts. I like it. I was starting to get too old for
the other shit, anyway. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be ready when the day
comes the Great Wolves M.C. needs their enforcer. And I know that day will come.
It always does.
“Brax!”
I ducked just as an empty beer bottle flew at my head. I
raised my hand and caught it before it would have hit the far wall. Setting it
down I thrust my middle finger up at Tate across the table. I sat in one of the
back offices of the bar going over plans we had for an expansion later in the
year.
The Wolf Den
used to just be our clubhouse. A place for only
patched members to hang out. But two years ago things changed for the better.
New leadership came in and now we run a cash business out of here.
The Den
has turned into a local hot spot with a cover charge, weekend band, and lines
of customers wrapped around the parking lot. In some ways, I have the same job
as always. The Enforcer. Except now I serve as general contractor, wrangling
carpenters, plumbers, and other subs while we take things even bigger and
better.
“What the fuck, man?”
Tate smiled. “I’ve been calling you for five minutes. There’s
someone downstairs asking for you. You ready to take a meeting?”
I carved a hand through my hair, pulling it out from under the
collar of my leather cut in the back. “Who the hell wants a meeting? It’s
Saturday.”
Tate pointed to the security monitors against the wall behind
me. We have hidden cameras downstairs on the main floor, behind the bar and in
the kitchen. My eyes widened as I turned and looked. I expected to see some
beefy-fingered electrician chatting up one of the waitresses while he waited
for me with a handout for work that wasn’t quite finished. I sure as shit
didn’t expect to see
her.
She perched rod straight on one of the bar stools with a little
black purse in her lap like the Queen of England. She was a fucking bombshell
with long blonde hair, a short skirt, and tits that strained a little against
the buttons of her white cotton blouse. Clean, classy. But with a little bit of
dirty mixed in. I could see the outlines of a black lace bra beneath that shirt
and mouthed a thank you that I spent a little extra cash and went for high-def.
Her black, high heeled shoes with crisscrossed laces screamed,
fuck me.
Though I can admit that might have just been me. She cocked her head to the
side and reached next to her to grab some fruity little drink. A Sea Breeze,
probably.
“She says you know her?” Tate said.
“The fuck? Does she
look
like my type?” The second I
said it, the words
hell, yeah
flared in my mind. Yeah. Even Tate wasn’t
buying it. He leaned against the door jamb, one hand shoved into his jeans
pocket and the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.
“She says her name’s Nicole Ridley. Mean anything to you? She
wouldn’t tell me what she wants. Just said she needs ten minutes of your time.
Now I was about to say, don’t sell yourself short, but I kinda got the
impression maybe she was a little classier than your usual.”
Heat scorched through me at the mention of her name and
settled right between my legs. I looked at the monitor again. The fuck if it
wasn’t. She’d changed. More curves. More money, probably. She downed the last
of her drink and took a breath. She’d done it for courage. God. Just like the
last time. Fifteen years melted away in my head and I saw her as she was then.
She met me under the bleachers. I thought it was a little obvious, but it had
been her choice. I leaned against my bike as she walked toward me, unsteady.
Cheeks flushed. Man, that little blue-and-gray polyester dress with the slit up
the side and the big felt “L” across her chest. She’d set her pompoms on the
seat of my bike then she took a swig from the flask I carried and I watched her
nose crinkle as the whiskey went down. She wasn’t used to anything that hard. A
bead of amber liquid had moistened her bottom lip and she’d licked it away as
her eyes flashed.
“The fuck? Brax. You want me to send her back or not?”
“Yeah. Why not?” I tapped my fingers against the table. “But
send her to Colt’s office. I’ll meet her there.”
Tate nodded and backed out of the door. Colt was our club
prez. He and our V.P. Kellan were away for a few weeks down south, leaving me
in charge. I moved to the room next door and sat behind Colt’s desk, the big
red-and-black wolf logo above my head. Though we’d left the one percenter shit
behind, anyone in this town knew who the Great Wolves M.C. were and what we
were capable of. Which left me curious as hell why someone like Nicole Ridley
would voluntarily walk back into my life.
She did though. Tate opened the door. She paused in the
doorway, looking from him to me and back again, unsure. I gave her a sly smile
and gestured toward the chairs in front of Colt’s desk. She clutched that purse
tight to her chest and gave an unsteady smile to Tate as he nodded and closed
the door behind him.
Yeah. I’m a dick. I could have put her at ease right away with
a genuine smile and maybe a quick hug. But man, she stirred something in me.
Standing there with that tiny pulse beating just above her breast. God, close
up, she really did look just the same. She had dark brows that slashed in a
straight line above those flinty gray eyes. That pouty bottom lip she liked to
catch between her teeth. I remember wanting to know what it tasted like and
getting the chance to find out all those years ago.
“Hello,” she finally said, her voice sexy and low, just like I
remembered. “Thank you for seeing me. I wasn’t sure if you remembered who I
was.”
I let her off the hook a little. She sighed and smiled when I
stood up and offered her my hand. “Sit down, Nicole. It’s good to see an old
friend. You looking for a donation to the class reunion?” I meant the last part
as a joke and she laughed a little, but she was nervous still.
She took a seat and I couldn’t help watching as she crossed
her legs. I got a flash of pink cotton panties and thighs that didn’t quit. I
should know. I remembered that too. She’d been timid at first or wanted me to
believe that she was. But once we got started, it had been all her. She’d
leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed me, threading her hands through my hair.
She said she loved it long, called it Viking blond. I still wore it like that
and I caught her looking at it now and wondered what part of that night flashed
in
her
memory. God, for me it was her delicate hands loosening my belt
buckle, her nails painted alternating blue and silver to match the school
colors.
“I’m good, Brax. And it’s good to see you. This place.” She
spread her hands and gestured like a runway grounds crewman. She folded them
quickly in her lap again but not before I saw the little tremble. “Your club
has done amazing things down here. I never thought I’d live to see the day
downtown Lincolnshire would be so vibrant.”
I nodded. “It’s been hard fought. But yeah. We’re moving in
the right direction. What’s up, Nic?”
Her eyelids fluttered at the nickname. I guessed maybe no one
since high school had called her that. Certainly nobody like me should have
even then. It was too familiar. I was rough, dangerous, nothing but a thug. But
none of them knew what I knew about her. That one night, after the last game of
the season, the Homecoming Queen, the captain of the cheerleading squad needed
something she thought only I could give her.
“I . . . I didn’t know who else to turn to. I probably drove
by this place a dozen times, afraid to get out. Afraid of what you might think
of me if I came in here asking you for what I need.”
Her cheeks colored with a rosy blush that spread down to her
chest. It took everything I had not to stare at her there. God. She was even
sexier now than she’d been under the bleachers that night. Older, with curvy
hips and lines of wisdom near her eyes. It looked like she’d earned them all.
I reached across the desk and caught her hands where she
fidgeted with her purse strap. I couldn’t stand it. As much as I liked watching
her like this, it wasn’t fair to her. “Nic, what is it? What can I do to help
you? I seem to remember telling you once a long time ago that if you ever
needed anything, all you had to do was find me.”
She smiled and it damn near melted me. Her shoulders dropped
and her lashes fluttered like birds’ wings as her eyes glistened. Then her
story came gushing forth. “It’s my kid brother. I don’t know if you remember
him. Doug? He was five years behind us.”
I sat back in my chair and nodded, even though I had no idea
who the hell the kid was. Why would I? People like Nicole Ridley usually
steered way the hell clear of me back then and still do now.
“What’s he done?” I let out a sigh. I’d heard this shit a
thousand times. Messed up with dealers probably. If she’d said it was her
sister, I could have predicted the problem there too. Caught up with some
douche who liked to use her as a punching bag maybe? Yeah. Not my scene. Not
back in the day. Not now. I didn’t get involved in other people’s shit. Club
business kept me busy enough. Good as it was to see her, this conversation was
about to be over quick.
“It’s a long story,” she said. Yep. They always were. Except
they always ended the same way. “Doug’s in trouble. The bad kind. He’s a good
guy who’s made a lot of mistakes. Look, Brax. I swear to you. I wouldn’t have
come here if I had anywhere else to go.”
“Scraping the bottom of the barrel, are you?” It was a dick
thing to say. I know that. I was about to tell her to go to the cops and leave
me out of whatever the hell little Dougie got himself into. But the way she
glared at me and got her back straight. In that instant, I could see what this cost
her. She expected me to say something like that and she was ready for it.
“I can pay you.” She fumbled in her purse, pulled out a thick
wad of hundreds and set it on the desk. It was a bit of an insult.
I shook my head. “Nicole, look around. That’s not the racket I
run anymore. I don’t need your money or the headache of what your brother has
probably gotten himself into. It’s been my experience if it’s the bad kind of trouble
like you say, he’ll only end up right back there in less than a year.”
She crumbled a little; her lip quivered. But her eyes flashed
steel and she took a breath and straightened her back again, ready to fire at
me with both barrels. I wasn’t dealing with a sweet little cheerleader anymore
looking for a walk on the wild side. This right here was a grown woman filled
with fire and fury. And she wasn’t done with me.
“You were right. I
do
remember what you told me all
those years ago. And I
do
need something. I wish to God I didn’t. I’ve
heard a lot of things about you over the years, Brax. But no one’s ever said
you weren’t a man of your word. I need something from you. I need help. And I’m
not stupid. I know you don’t give anything away for free. If you don’t want
money, maybe there’s something else you
do
want.”
She licked her lips. That little blush spread across her chest
and deepened to red. Her breasts heaved as her breath hitched. Nicole Ridley
might be a lot of things, but like she said, stupid wasn’t one of them. She
uncrossed her legs and recrossed them. It wasn’t a blatant invitation. No. But
with the subtle shift in her posture and the glint in her eyes, her meaning was
clear. Whatever my price, she was willing to pay it. Slowly, with steady
fingers, she opened another button on her blouse. I got a flash of silk, lace,
and the snow-white slope of flesh and tan lines.
“Baby, you sure you want to be in a position to owe me that
much?”
She kept her eyes locked with mine and didn’t move. I’d issued
a challenge and she wasn’t afraid to rise to it. Fuck, if I didn’t feel my own
need rising against my jeans. I couldn’t help it.
Was I still the kind of guy who could take it from her like
that? Again, my mind flashed to that single night. Nicole had been wild,
reckless, and I still remembered the sound of my name on her lips as she cried
out and begged me not to stop.
Yeah. I could be that guy.
This wasn’t fifteen years ago. Back then, we could both afford
to be a little reckless. Now, though? We were grown-ups. I didn’t know her
story anymore. She’d been Daddy’s little princess. Got all the good grades and
the scholarships. Nothing bad ever happened to people like Nicole Ridley. I was
the baddest thing she’d ever tangled with. Neither of us had lived long enough
to have strings attached yet. Now we did.
Was it worth it to see how far she meant to go with this? I
didn’t see a ring on her finger, but that didn’t mean shit. She could have all
kinds of baggage besides an old man who didn’t pay attention to her enough. I
rose slowly and stepped around the desk, perching myself on the edge of it.
From this angle, I towered over her. She craned her neck far back to keep eye
contact with me. A tiny pulse in her throat quickened.