Know Me (DEFIANT Motorcycle Club) (5 page)

Only my panties remained as an obstacle and Orion made short work of those
as he lowered me onto my back, settling his considerable weight over me.  My knees were on either side of him, poised and tense.   Orion reached between my legs, pushing a finger into my core.  He suddenly stretched over and grabbed a small bottle from the bedside table. 

“The wetter, the better,” he explained wryly, rubbin
g the oil into my pleading center. 

I felt a sense of unreality as he pushed my legs wider and
began pushing his dick against me, trying to ease it inside.  I bit my lip and stared at his face.  This was Orion Jackson, I reminded myself, the man who had once picked me up and placed me happily on his shoulders so that I could see above the circus crowd.  I remembered how he had looked up at me with merry blue eyes, asking, “That better, baby girl?”  And I had nodded and hugged him before returning my attention to the elephant tricks in the ring. 

Orion massaged my thighs.  “
Stop clenching up,” he commanded. 

“Will that keep it from hurting
?” I said, then hated myself for uttering such a childish question. 

His face softened
just a touch and he kissed me on the forehead.  “It’ll hurt like a bitch this time anyway.  But a little less.” 

I nodded and Orion pulled
me into a long kiss.  I closed my eyes and felt the tension in my muscles melt away.  And then, with a mighty thrust, Orion Jackson drove himself into me.  

The cry which broke from my lips was automatic.  Orio
n was right; it did hurt.  As I opened my legs as wide as possible I was afraid he might be too much, that he wouldn’t fit inside of me.  

At my first whimper Orion moved his mouth to my neck, kissing tenderly as he cradled me to his broad chest.  But he
continued to thrust deeply and with increasing pressure.  His rhythm intensified and what was at first a sharp pain receded into a dull ache.   And then my body began to open up, becoming used to the iron feel of him.   A part of me which had never been touched before awoke and I moved my hips, trying to satisfy it. 

Orion groaned and
swore profusely as my hips bucked and I felt the same sense of exhilarating power as I had when I took his dick in my mouth.  Sex could be both a tool and a weapon.  Even though I’d never used it, I’d always known that.  Growing up among the club it was hard not to see the truth, no matter how much Crest tried to keep me out of the way. 

I pulled my knees all the way back, opening so wide I thought I might break in half.  That brought Orion to the edge.  His hands went underneath my ass and he lifted me, pulling me against the ri
gid invasion of his pulsing organ. 

“Orion,” I moane
d and he stiffened, hissed an obscenity and then shot an alarming stream of warmth inside of me as he came with a series of mighty plunges, clutching my breasts. 

“Fucking shit
,” he panted, rolling off me and onto the bed. 

I closed my
legs and pulled my dress over me like a scanty blanket.   Orion raised his head and gave me a vulgar grin as he propped himself up on an elbow. 

“What?”  I asked, self-consciously playing with the ends of my hair. 

“For a virgin,” he explained, grabbing my dress and tossing it impatiently to the floor, “you sure know how to work it.” 

I squeezed my legs together, feeling vaguely irritable.  “Look, I hadn’t done that before whether you want to fucking believe it or not.” 

Orion laughed uproariously, rolling onto his back.  In a fit of anger I jumped out of the bed, grabbed my dress, and pulled it on in a hurry.  I sure as hell wasn’t going to lay there like a blinking ingénue and let him mock me.  Orion continued to laugh.  I threw a pillow at his face. 

“I’m glad you think I’
m funny you dickhead.” 

He wasn’t about to apologize but he stopped laughing and gazed at me playfully.  “Kira
, that goddamn cherry of yours was in there so deep I’m not gonna be able to sit tomorrow.  Jesus, you were tough to pop.”  He grabbed my arm and yanked me roughly back into the bed, kissing my shoulder.  “Trust me,” he said in a serious voice, “there was no mistaking your innocent status.” 

I rolled my eyes.  “I’m so glad to hear it.”

“Look at me.”  The tone in his voice dared me to disobey. 

I looked at the man who had been my father’s best friend.  The man who was
now my lover.  His bright blue eyes were not unkind as he reached out and pushed my hair aside.  “You okay?”

I stared him straight in the eye.  “Fine,” I sai
d, although there was a pulsing soreness between my legs coupled with an alarming leaky feeling.  But I’d be damned if I’d show Orion Jackson any further weakness. 

He gently pushed me to my back and kneeled between my legs, running his hands over the contours of my body.  “Kira,” he said mildly, “you learned how to ride a bicycle, right?”

“You know I did.  You helped Crest teach me.”

The mention of my father’s name clouded his eyes for a moment.  I sat up and touched his face, letting him know it was all right. 

“You kept yelling at me to let go,” I said, resting my head against his shoulder. 

“Yeah,” he remembered with a shake of his head. “And then you did.
”  He pulled back, gazing at me clearly.  “And you were okay.”

“Yes. I was okay
.”

“Anyway,” he sighed.  “The point I was trying to make is that fucking is the same thing.  You get the feel of it, you let go, and then you can ride like hell.”  
 

I touched my sore center
tentatively.  “Hell might have to wait.”   

Orion pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one, handing it over to me. 
He chuckled.  “I don’t doubt it.” 

I took a shallow inhale and passed the cigarette back to Orion.  He leaned against the wall on the far side of the bed and smoked in silence for a few minutes before snuffing the cigarette out.  I figured
now that the evening’s chore was out of the way, he would make his exit and leave me to my own devices until he was ready for a repeat. 

Instead, Orion propped two thick pillows up on the bed and pulled me to his chest.  I was surprised at the way his arms tenderly circled me and
I sank against him gratefully as he stroked my hair.  I thought about what Rachel had said about being alive.  I was glad to be alive.  I knew Crest would be glad I was alive.   

“Orion?” I asked sleepily as I listened to the measured thud of his heart. 

“Yeah?”

Now that I’d had a taste of this new world I wanted more. 
“You’ll show me everything?” 

He tipped my
head back and kissed me passionately but didn’t go any further.  “I will, Kira,” he promised, his fingers threading through my hair again.  “There’s no stopping that now.” 

Orion was gone early the next morning.
I touched myself gingerly as I slid out of the bed.  Deep inside I was sore as hell and the rest of me felt rather stiff. 

As I stumbled into the bathroom, I noted the ringing silence throughout the house.  As I stood under the hot water I kept thinking about that decisive moment w
hen Orion entered me.  A warm feeling curled in my belly and traveled between my legs.  I wished he was there.

I’d gotten over the strange sensation of wanting him the moment he’d kissed me.  Orion Jackson wasn’t one to pour out the contents of his mind and heart but as I remembered the way his arms curled around me it was enough to make me feel somewhat tender about him. 
 

The house was still strangely empty when I emerged from the shower.  The kitchen clock told me it was only 7am.  There was no note anywhere.  I frowned, pouring a bowl of Rice Crispies.  At some point Orion or someone else had cleaned up the mess from the macaroni and cheese.  I peered out the kitchen window and noted that the bikes which were usually lined up outside
Riverbottom were missing.  So whatever it was which pulled Orion away involved the rest of the club.  I started to feel uneasy. 

Rachel had only mentioned that she lived in one of the trailers on the outskirts of the property.  She didn’t say which one.  The closest dwelling was an old Airstream which appeared to be nicely kept.  A row of clay pots
containing aloe plants were lined up in the dirt to the left of the door. 

“Good morning, Sunshine.”  Rachel swung the door
open, winking.  “You looking for your man?  They all took off before the sun came up.  Didn’t you hear all those bikes peeling out of here?”

I shook my head.  “I’ve been told I sleep like a rock.
Besides I’ve been hearing bikes since the cradle.  I guess the noise doesn’t make a dent anymore. Where did they go?”

She shrugged.  “
Casper doesn’t run his plans by me.  Club shit, I guess.  Says they’ll be back tomorrow.” 

Club shit. 
The words made me cold.  I remembered where I’d heard them before.  From Crest as he grimaced under the weight of an unknown burden.  Only hours before he was murdered. 

I swallowed.  “You think it had something to do with me?”

Rachel cocked her head.  “I doubt it, hon.  You worried about the SF’s?  Cops netted a bunch of them and every NoCal club is pretty pissed off over the Warlocks.”

I wanted to know about the man who killed my father.  “And Ruger?”

A look of doubt flitted across her face.  “I don’t know,” she admitted.  She pulled at my arm.  “Come in.  I’ll make you some coffee and you can tell me about your night.” 

I followed Rachel into the tidy interior of the trailer.  She motioned to a small table and I sat down, watching her fill the coffee carafe with water. 
She wore only a bra and a pair of cutoff shorts.  I stared at her body with envy, knowing I would never be anywhere near as voluptuous. 

“So,” she said, grinning at me mischievously. 

“What?” 

Rachel snorted and slid into the seat across from me.  “Must have been some rendezvous. 
Orion ordering the boys out of the house all damn night?  Un-freaking-heard of.”

“Oh,” I said in a small voice, toying with a terrycloth dishtowel. 
“It was…good.”

“
’Good’?” she mocked me.  “Why you holding out?  Orion Jackson is hotter than a motherfucker and he’s more than ‘good’.”

“Well,” I said slowly.  “I don’t exactly have anything to compare him to.” 

Rachel’s mouth fell open.  “Shit,” she said softly, and nodded to herself.  “That’s why.” 

Something she’d said raised a question. 
I squirmed.  “You and Orion…”I started to say. 

She answered quickly.  “A few times.  When I first came here.”  She shrugged.  “It was nothing.  I’m with Casper.” 

I tried to digest that information.  “You love Casper?”

The coffee finished burbling and Rachel rose to pour a few cups.  “Aw, you know better. Don’t g
o throwing that word around, sweetie.”

I did know better.  “My dad only ever loved my mom and after she left him flat he never kept a woman more than a few months.”   

“See?  And these guys?  They call themselves Defiant for a reason.  And it’s not a warm and fuzzy one.” 

I took a sip of the strong, black coffee.  “Rachel? You ever hear any talk over what happened between Orion and my dad?” 

“Well,” she said slowly.  “I know it was ugly but not ugly enough to be final, if you catch my meaning.”

“I do.” 

She looked at me with sympathy.  “Does it matter at this point?”

I lowered my head into my hands.  “I guess not.” 

We sipped our coffees for a few minutes and listened to the quiet noise of the desert.  Rachel glanced at the clock over the sink.  “Still got to get the bar open, hon.  You can hang out here if you want.” 

“Hey,
I don’t suppose you need any help over there.  I don’t think I can just sit around all the livelong day and watch the shadows pass.” 

She raised an eyebrow.  “Sure, we
could always use some help.  But did you run it past Orion?  He might not like you mixing in with the boys.”

I gave a short laugh.  “Does everything need to be run past Orion?”

Rachel nodded soberly.  “Yes,” she answered. 

In the end Rachel decided there was no harm in letting me polish some shot glasses and wipe down the tables at Riverbottom.  I got the idea the patrons weren’t the sort who kept regular hours but Monday morning likely wasn’t a popular drinking occasion no matter where you were. 

Rachel was her usual chatty self and I listened carefully as she told me about the men.  She had definite opinions about all of them and she spoke freely.  Teague was an asshole.  Maddox played too hard.  Brandon was still wet behind the ears despite being a former Marine.  She rattled them off one by one as if recounting the traits of her brothers. 

“And Casper?” I smiled, rolling pretzel crumbs into a pile. 

“Hard ass with a wicked humor who gets me hotter than the desert sand in July.” 

I had one more question.  “Orion?”

That one she hesitated to answer.  “Yeah, he’s tough.  Don’t think you can lie and get away with it.  I swear there’s a supernatural sense in those wild blue eyes.  But you should make up your own mind about him.” 

“Fair enough.” 

The two women I had seen were a pair of sisters named Talia and Adele.  Rachel said Adele was sweet but Talia was a sneaky bitch who hid it well under innocent eyes.  She was on and off again with Grayson, a blustery ex con from New York who was the newest to the club. 

I enjoyed Rachel’s company a great deal.  Crest had never approved
of my associating too freely with the women who hung around the Warlocks, though a few of them had taken an interest in a motherless girl being raised among men.  Maybe my father saw them as something inferior to what he expected his daughter to be.  Or maybe he figured I was something like my mother and wouldn’t be happy in their rough world. 

When the door to the bar opened I was startled.  We’d been idling around for a few hours and aside from the brief occasion Talia popped her head in only to be barked at by Rachel, we hadn’t seen anyone else. 

There were two of them and they wore denim cuts which said ‘Mojave Marauders’.  A quick glance at Rachel told me she was immediately uneasy but in one blink she buried the look.  She motioned for me to retreat and turned to smile at the men. 

“Been a while, Angelo.  Boys aren’t around but I’ll get you whatever you’re thirsty for.” 

I headed down the hallway which led to the back door, all the while feeling eyes appraising my bare legs. 

One of them chuckled, addressing Rachel.  “Fresh meat?”

I sharply turned a corner and flattened myself against the wall. 

“New girl.  Her name’s Kasey and don’t get any ideas.  She’s already spoken for.” 

“Who’s doing the speaking?”

“The boss.” 

“Ah, enough said.  Just give us a few cold ones and we’ll enjoy the atmosphere for a few minutes before leaving you to your housekeeping.”

The fact that Rachel felt it necessary to lie about my name was enough to
let me know I ought to stay put until the place was clear. 

Angelo and his buddy drank and casually joked with Rachel for about twenty minutes before moving on.  I heard the crank of their bikes as they fired up the engines and rolled out. 

I counted to fifty and returned to the bar.  Rachel was folding white dish towels. 

“Did Orion tell you to do that?”

“Give you an alternate identity?  Not in so many words.  He said anyone who would ask after you doesn’t need to know anything.” 

I nodded, a growing disquiet in my gut.  “So he’s worried.” 

Rachel straightened the long chain of the silver cross she wore around her neck.  “He’s being cautious, Kira.  If he was really worried he wouldn’t have left you here alone.” 

R
achel let me linger around a while longer and then decided it probably wasn’t a good idea for me to be hanging out in the bar until I talked to Orion. 

I wasn’t especially pleased at the thought of returning to the silent house.  But with the ache in my most tender parts I wasn’t up
to walking around too much.  I looked through the pile of books I’d acquired and finally settled down for a long spell with
Dune. 
I’d always loved the intricacies of Frank Herbert’s world and my new, sparse surroundings were strangely reminiscent of Arrakis, the perilous desert planet.  Reading had been my escape ever since I was a little girl.  For a long time my most prized possession was a small case filled with Golden Books with titles like
Pokey Little Puppy
and
Tawny Scrawny Lion.
 

The
day passed quickly and as the darkness began to descend bringing with it the yips of nearby coyotes, I was struck by the sudden recollection of who had given me that treasured book collection.  It had been a birthday gift.  From Orion Jackson, my father’s best friend.