Know Me (DEFIANT Motorcycle Club) (4 page)

Rachel cheerfully escorted me around Quartzsite’s finest dusty boutiques in an ancient Malibu.  She said perhaps next week we could talk our way into a drive to Phoenix.

“You know,” she said cautiously, “when things die down.” 

I sunk further into the passenger seat and didn’t say anything. 

Rachel patted my hand.  “I know you’ve had a hell of a few days, hon.”

“It hasn’t been the best time,” I agreed.  I couldn’t get the sound of my father’s rage-filled scream out of my head as he charged into the SF’s, meeting his own death not as the fierce fighter he’d always been but as a desperate parent trying to save his child. 

I sniffed and poked at the shopping bag in my lap.  “Seems a little cold to be shopping for a new wardrobe the day after my father’
s murder.” 

Rachel frowned.  “Well, there’s a hell of a lot of cold in this world, Kira.  I get the feeling your dad did his damnest to shield you from it, but you can’t change who you are, where you came from.”

I smiled weakly.  “At least I got to see him once more.” 

Rachel pulled the car over onto the sandy shoulder of the road.  An RV with Canadian plates lumbered passed and honked.  She flipped off the white-haired driver and turned to me seriously. 

“You got more than that, Kira.  You’re alive.  Now Casper told me how it’s gonna go and I get the feeling that this thing with Orion isn’t sitting too easy with you.  But it seems he’s giving you the best chance he knows how.  You’re out of the SF’s reach and this way you won’t be passed from man to man.”

“No,” I agreed.  “Only one man.”

She smiled knowingly and pushed a lock of hair out of my face.  “Is that so bad?  I see the looks between you two.” 

I thought about Orion’s fingers inside of me, his mouth on my breasts, the way he lo
oked at me as if he could scarcely control himself.  I also thought about the electric response of my body when he touched me.  Maybe Rachel was right; maybe this was the best he could offer. 

And w
ith a jolt I realized that perhaps, when my father sent me to his old best friend, he’d known as much. 

***

Once Rachel deposited me at the clubhouse I was at a loss over what to do next.  She tied on her server’s apron and returned to the bar, winking at me before disappearing into the dark building.  Orion was nowhere in sight and it seemed poor form to go around sniffing after his whereabouts like a lost puppy. 

Sitting in Orion’s room and staring at the wall proved an unappealing way to spend the time.   I tried to page through the books I’d purchased the day before but I only kept
reading the same familiar lines again and again without letting them sink in.

I wandered outside, stepping over rusted vehicle parts and the scattered detritus of forgotten garbage.  A dry wash ran about fifty yards beyond the clubhouse and I knelt beside it, trying to picture the cracked and desiccated surface roiling with rainwater.  The temperature was easily in the low nineties by mid afternoon and I could well imagine the harshness of the approaching summer months.  I wondered if I would be here long enough to find out. 

As I meandered along the edge of the wash, I noticed two of the Defiant were watching me.  They idled against the side of Riverbottom, smoking cigarettes and talking in voices which were too low to reach me.  Perhaps they had been ordered to keep an eye on me, but I also didn’t miss the way their bodies shifted as they stared up and down.  I figured it was better I couldn’t hear them. 

As the daughter of Crest Tolleson, I’d been expressly off limits to any man both in his circle and out of it.  It was a protective shield I’d never fully
appreciated until now.  I supposed here I was off limits as well, but for a different reason.  Here, I belonged to Orion.  At least for now.

I meandered
by the wash for a long time; examining pretty rocks and small objects which had been left when the temporary waters dried up.  Several times tiny squirrel-like creatures skittered across my path.  One curious fellow reared up on his hind legs and observed me boldly for a full minute before resuming his travels. 

When my mind began wanderi
ng it was filled with unpleasant things.  Dice. Talon. Mario. Ford.  All the others who’d belonged to the harsh world of the Warlocks. Punctuating the memories of all those rough men and their tumultuous stories was always the face of my father.  And then the scream of wrath which had ripped from his throat as he met Ruger and the other SF’s in a final, furious battle that he’d lost.  I hadn’t asked Orion what he knew of the massacre and I hadn’t sought out the internet since I’d arrived. I already knew more than I wanted to.  Whatever else there was would surely not add any comfort. 

The two club members who had been watching me disappeared and were presently replaced by others.  Finally, I grew thirsty enough to make my way indoors.  I waved at the
Defiant men, looking them in the eye.  Crest had always warned me not to keep my head down.  He said something in the base natures of all men demanded that challengers meet them face on.  He said they would never respect one who looked away, especially not a woman.  Crest Tolleson was a wise man. 

The clubhouse was quiet, though the smell of recent cigarette smoke hung heavy in the main living room.  The sunken couch was shabby and the table in the center was badly chipped, but the place wasn’t too badly tended, leading me to wonder who was keeping it up.  In the shadows of the bar I had glimpsed two other women
besides Rachel.  They were young and watched me with quiet curiosity.  I wondered who they were to the Defiant men. 

With a sigh I straightened out the couch cushions and made my way into the kitchen.  I wasn’t
even sure who else lived here besides Orion.  Obviously the men tended to wander in and out of the club headquarters as necessary, but I’d also counted a half dozen trailers on the bare ground beyond the property.  Rachel had mentioned that she occupied one of them with Casper, who seemed to be a man of some importance around here.  I’d seen the patch on his jacket which made him second only to Orion. 

As I entered the kitchen I felt a blush creeping over my skin, remembering what had happened the last time I was in there.
It wasn’t like me to fall under a man’s spell so easily.  I shied away from the things other girls sought so eagerly and pushed aside the urges in my body as stubbornly as I could.  Perhaps that was why Orion was able to reach me.  All it took was one resolute touch and he saw through me plain as if my story were written on my face.  Of course, Orion Jackson had lived two of my lifetimes.  His benefit of experience was something the tentative boys of my past didn’t have. 

The sight which greeted me in the kitchen caught me off guard
.  I stopped dead in my tracks and stared, feeling rather than hearing the gasp in my own throat. 

I hadn’t seen Orion since our brief, heated tryst this morning.  But he must have found his way back here at some point.  No one else would have left a
large box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the middle of the table with the word ‘KIRA’ scrawled across the front in black magic marker. 

I picked up the box, listening to the lose pasta rattling around inside.  It had been my favorite meal as a kid.  A simple one that I was capable of making all on my own very early on.  I used to take some pride in cooking up
big batches of it and placing servings in front of the bemused Warlocks as if I’d just slaved over a gourmet extravaganza.  And Orion remembered. 

The box stayed in my hands for a long time as I stared at it, seeing not the familiar pictures on the front but the faces of the past.  My father, his Warlock brothers.  Orion.  With a sigh I rooted around in the rickety kitchen cabinets until I found a serviceable pot for boiling water. 

The light was fading outside and the sounds of the bar were growing louder.  I peered out of the window and saw more bikes parked outside.  Still, no one entered the house.  I had dumped the pasta into the boiling water and was stirring carefully when I happened to look up.  Orion stood in the doorway staring at me.  I hadn’t even heard him come in.

As he leaned casually against the wooden door frame, my breath caught at the sight of how imposing he was.  Almost with a will of their own my
eyes strayed down his body; roaming across the black leather cut and dark cotton shirt which bulged with muscle.  And then my gaze lingered over the evident swell of his manhood.  He caught me looking and smiled knowingly.  I turned back to the boiling water. 

Orion’s
voice was glib and sarcastic.  “Hello, dear.  Dinner almost ready?” 

“Mock if you want.  But I make a mean mac and cheese.”

Orion laughed lightly and I glanced up.  “So some things don’t change,” he said.  Then he looked me over, his face growing more serious.  “And some things do,” he said so softly I almost didn’t hear.

“Where is everyone?”

His eyes bored into me.  “Gone for the evening.  On my orders.” 

“Oh,” I said, feeling a
little lightheaded.  I caught his meaning full well, remembering the way he’d whispered ‘Tonight’ in my ear.  As he’d already assured me, Orion always kept his promises. 

I gave the pasta another stir, the heat in my face having little to do with the
steam rising out of the pot.  Orion hadn’t moved from the doorway.

“Hey,”
I said, turning and frankly meeting his silent gaze.  “You think you could watch this for a minute?”

Orion shrugged but willingly took the spoon from my hand. 

“
Please the shit out of him.” 

Rachel obviously knew her way around men and I figured her
advice was worth gold.  In the bedroom I changed hurriedly into the one sexy article of clothing I had managed to find picking through the scanty merchandise of Quartzsite’s shops. 

I fluffed my long hair out and rolled on some red lipstick.  After I left the bedroom I paused by the bathroom mirror, running my hands over the smooth fabric of the slick black dress which scarcely covered my ass.  I looked cheap.  I looked
sexy.  I looked ready for the leader of Defiant. 

Evidently I wasn’t the only one well versed in the fine art of making macaroni and cheese.  Orion had drained the pasta and added the pouch of cheese.  He was ladling the gooey concoction into a pair of plastic bowls with a small frown on his face.  I laughed outright and he looked up, startled. 

“You have no idea,” I giggled, “what a sight you are, looming over the stove in your leather.”

Orion was unfazed.  With one easy move he pull
ed both his shirt and his cut over his head, tossing both onto a chair.  “Better?” he asked, lighting a cigarette as I sat at the table and stared at his muscled torso.

“Better,” I muttered. 

I took a small sip of the beer Orion handed me.  He sat across from me and began eating, his piercing blue eyes regarding me carefully.  I couldn’t quite read his look; it was as if he was going back and forth about something inside his head. 

The strap of my dress kept falling off my shoulder.  I wasn’t wearing a bra underneath.  Orion watched me coolly as I struggled to keep my dress up. 

“Let it fall,” he finally said, reaching over and pulling it all the way down and exposing the top of my left breast.  “Good,” he smiled. 

“So where were you today?” I asked. 

Orion didn’t like the question.  “Drink your beer,” he answered. 

“Are you trying to get me drunk?”

He swallowed a bite of food and lit another cigarette, taking several deep inhales before speaking again.  “I’m trying to get you relaxed.”  He reached underneath the table and pushed his hand between my knees.  “It’ll be so much nicer if you relax, Kira.”

I tipped the bottle back and let several long swallows pour down my throat.  In the process I loosened the tension in my knees and allowed Orion’s hand to slide between my thighs. 

He was observing me with close intensity.  I realized that he was waiting.  And that he wouldn’t wait long.  I placed the bottle back onto the table and let my thighs swallow his large hand, meeting his stare and nodding just perceptibly. 

Orion didn’
t waste any more time.  He pushed the table aside so roughly my bowl of mac and cheese clattered to the floor.  As he lifted me out of the chair my legs wrapped around him automatically.  I clutched at his broad shoulders and when his mouth covered mine in a crazy dance of heat and tongue, I was lost. 

The sensation was one of spinning as Orion carried me to the bedroom. 
As he deposited me in a kneeling position on the bed, he watched my face as his hands pushed the dress down over my breasts.  He ran his fingertips lightly over my hard nipples and then firmly massaged the valley between then, reaching over my belly and lower.  I bent into his touch, loving every inch of it and wanting him more by the second.

“
Shit, look at you,” he groaned, easing the tight dress over my hips. “You’re so goddamn perfect.”

I wanted to touch him.  So I did.  He waited for me to get my fill of feeling the hard outline of his aroused dick.  And then, without being coaxed, I
unzipped his pants and released him.  I stared at the giant organ in my hand, suddenly realizing it would somehow need to fit inside my tight depths.