Rush - Blue Devils MC Book 2 (Book 1 Included FREE for a short time only!) (12 page)

He held his breath, knowing he might be asking for too much, knowing how much she’d always hated his bike, but instead of turning him down flat, she looked up at him and said with a bit of surprise in her voice, “Yeah, I would actually like that. Let me go find a hair tie, though - I think this would go better if my hair wasn’t whipping around in my face.” They stepped into the darkness of the house, and as Rush flipped on one light and then took Turbo’s leash off, Blue fetched a hair tie from the bathroom.

“Hey, do you know how to braid?” she asked him casually. “If not, I can; it’s just a little too long to do it comfortably.”

“Uhhh…” He stared at her, unsure of what to say. The idea of braiding a woman’s hair was just so…intimate. He’d never considered doing something like that.

“Sure?” he said, uncertain. “If you split it into three sections for me, I could probably figure out the rest.”

They went into the living room and he sat her down on the arm of the couch so he could easily reach her hair. As he folded the hair into a simple braid, he breathed in the scent of her shampoo.
God, she smells so fucking good!
He shifted his weight, trying to adjust himself without hands. It was heavenly, breathing in her scent.

Finally, he got to the end of the braid and clumsily wrapped her hair tie around the end. She reached back and patted the braid. “You did great, Rush! Maybe you should’ve gone to cosmetology school
and
culinary school.” She grinned at him and he laughed.

“I think I’m probably better at tuning bikes, but okay.”

“Is it okay if I ditch the vest?” she asked him, and reluctantly, he agreed. He knew it was stiff and hot, but goddammit, he hated to have her give up that protection.

But, he knew that, even more importantly, he needed to stop acting like an overprotective parent. He was going to drive her away if he didn’t. He took the vest from her and walked it to his office, stuffing it back into the closet.

They walked out into the garage and he got onto his Harley, backing out into the driveway and reorienting the bike in the right direction before he had her hop on. He pulled out slowly onto the street and then picked up speed on the edge of town.

They began winding their way up through the hills, the headlight of his Harley cutting through the darkness, her small, pert breasts pushing against his back. It was agony and joy, all wrapped up in one. Her generous hips and thighs were plastered against his; her arms were wrapped around him. He’d promised her that he’d be incredibly careful on this ride, but it was hard to concentrate. Hard to focus on the road.

Finally, they got to the top of Homestead Mountain and they looked out over the Copper Lode valley. The lights of the city lit up the landscape, spread out into the craggy valleys of the mountains. The air was cooler up there, and Rush felt Blue shiver. He walked over to an outcropping of limestone rocks and leaned against them, letting the day’s heat seep out and into his body.

“Come over here,” he said, his voice low. Rough with desire. He pulled her willingly against him and although there was no way she could have missed his erection pressing against her, she didn’t pull away but instead settled happily back into his arms.

He breathed in the silence of the mountain, letting her scent intoxicate him. He couldn’t make a move on her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy every moment of her in his arms. Slowly, rhythmically, he rubbed her arms, letting his eyes drift over the view.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice breaking the silence. “I didn’t realize how much I needed this. I never really knew what the attraction was to riding a bike, but I think I’ve figured it out. The freedom that comes from tearing down the highway…it’s not anything like what you get by driving in a car. It’s a totally different world. I…get you a lot better now.”

He pulled her up against him in a hug for just a moment, but he didn’t want to break the peace that had settled over her. Didn’t want to push her farther than she wanted to go.

Finally, he said quietly, “We should head back. You should be sleeping and healing, not taking bike rides with me.”

“Yeah, but in a small way,” she said, turning and smiling at him, “bike rides
are
healing for me.”

He resisted the urge to reach out and grab her and kiss her and mark her as his and although it killed him, he just smiled back and they got on his bike and rode back home.

Because that’s what a gentleman does, and if nothing else, Rush learned how to be a gentleman from his parents.

That night, as he laid on the hard floor and stared up at the ceiling, Blue sleeping quietly in his bed, Turbo snoring loudly at her feet, a memory popped into his mind, one he’d forgotten about long ago.

After days of asking, Blue had finally talked Rush into taking her to his house for dinner. He gave in, mostly to make her happy, but it also didn’t hurt that Mom and Dad were bugging him, too. He hated to do things just to please them, but pleasing them and Blue was a combo punch he couldn’t ignore any longer.

He was dreading it though; the chances of it going well were pretty much zero. First of all, Blue still thought he was some hick kid from the wrong side of the tracks, an inaccuracy he was loathe to disabuse her of. He drove a beater car because to drive a nicer one meant getting money from his dad, which he’d rather roast in hell than do. But to an outsider? It was downright inconceivable that a Blackburn would intentionally drive a piece of shit car.

And speaking of Blackburn…he’d been intentionally vague when he’d introduced himself as “Rush,” no last name, the night of her dad’s wedding.

She already knew him; she just didn’t know it.

He broke out in a cold sweat.

When he pulled up in front of the Blackburn mansion and parked in its grand cobblestone driveway, he shrunk down in his seat, bracing for it.

She didn’t disappoint.

“Timmy Blackburn??!” she’d exclaimed, turning to him in horror.

“Shhhiittttt…you do remember.” Which was probably a stupid thing to say, but it was what he was thinking, and he was 17 and stupid was his middle name.

“Of
course
I remember!!!” she’d hollered and hauled off and hit him as hard as she could on his shoulder. “Everyone called me ‘Muddy Hanny’ for the rest of the summer!”

His lips quirked at that - he couldn’t help it - and she yelled, “I swear to God, if you tell me that you started that nickname, I’ll punch you in the eye!” She cocked her arm just in case, and he caught it in his.

“Would you believe me if I told you that it wasn’t on purpose? I saw you start to slip a little in the mud, and reached out to steady you but then I slipped a little too, and I ended up pushing you down instead. I felt bad and I knew I was going to get it when I got home but then when you stood up from the mud, you were just covered from head to toe, and you looked like a mud monster come to life. I was ten - I couldn’t help myself. I laughed.” His lips quirked again and she glared at him a minute longer. Thinking.

It’d been their only real interaction before she’d been sent off to boarding school and he’d held out the ridiculous hope that she’d somehow been struck by selective amnesia at some point during the last seven years and he’d be able to bypass this conversation.

Apparently, luck was not on his side.

“You got in trouble when you got home?” she finally asked.

“Oh yeah, I got it all right. Your dad called my dad and I couldn’t sit down for a week.” His voice was light, joking because he was cool and didn’t show emotion, right, but she stared at him and he could tell she was trying to decide if he was being serious. He was, although he’d die before he admitted it. His dad didn’t hit him any longer - the joys of growing taller than your father by the 8th grade - but when he was younger…

“You kept this from me since the wedding - you knew how upset I’d been over it,” she stated. It wasn’t a question. He hesitated for a moment and then nodded. Reluctantly.

“Don’t hide anything from me ever again, Rush. Promise me that you’ll always tell me, no matter how hard it is for me to hear.”

“I promise,” he said, staring, unblinking, into her eyes. They kissed then, and passion flared up inside of him and she sucked on his bottom lip, pulling it into her mou—

Rap rap.

Blue leaped away from Rush with a shriek as he turned to find the butler at the driver’s side window. He rolled down the window casually, as if having a conversation with the butler in the driveway was the most normal thing in the world to do.

“Sir, your father and mother are waiting for you.
Inside
the house,” and then turned and walked away. Blue couldn’t stop laughing.

***

As Rush laid on the uncomfortably hard floor and listened to Turbo snore, he felt a knot of panic curl up in his stomach. He’d promised Blue that day to never lie to her, no matter how hard the truth was for her to hear. Some might say that he was 17 and naïve and they’d be right, but…

What would happen when she found out what the Blue Devils had become in her absence? After she’d left for college, John Abernathy had continued to run the Blue Devils but then Paul Whitson had taken over after John’s motorcycle accident, and then when Paul had died of lung cancer, his son Brock had taken over the reins. And God, what a mess it became from there. Drug running, gun running, illegal shit that…

Well, that landed them in their current predicament. Sure, Lain had killed Brock five days ago (had it really only been five days ago?? It felt like a lifetime ago!) in order to force the Blue Devils back into legal territory, but it was all the days before that which Blue wouldn’t overlook. She was a bleeding heart liberal, law-abiding citizen. He was a 1%er, an outlaw biker. They were about as well matched as oil and water.

But…he couldn’t let her go. Just 48 hours after he laid eyes on her in that damn hospital bed, he felt a protectiveness for her that went far beyond even their high school love.

She was his world. And like Turbo, he’d follow her to the ends of the earth, if she would have him.

All he’d have to do is hide the last eight years of his life from her. Simple, right?

And with that, he fell into a troubled sleep.

***

Jesus stood on the side of the road, smoking a cigarette, the red hot tip glowing bright in the darkness. He could hear the
joda
girls in the vans, crying, sniffling, whispering, moaning…it was enough to make a man crazy.

This was supposed to be an easy job. This was supposed to be easy money. Instead, those
puta madre
Blue Devils double crossed them and didn’t deliver the guns as promised. How the fuck were they supposed to deliver these girls to buyers across the US if they didn’t have the guns to protect them on the way? Was he supposed to send his men off with sticks and rocks and tell them 'good luck'?

He couldn’t risk transporting the girls in twos to their customers like they’d originally planned, which meant he had the FBI, the US Border Patrol,
and
his slimy porn-loving customers all looking for him, all pissed as hell.

The
Chupacabras
were not babysitters, for fuck’s sake. If they didn’t figure something out, and quick, he knew he’d start losing members. No one signed up to wipe the noses of 30 sniveling little girls, even if the payoff was supposed to make it worth it. Some of the guys were starting to think that the payoff was never going to come, and really, could he blame them?

This was all the Blue Devils’ fault. After this was over, he was going to burn their little clubhouse to the ground. He was going to make them pay for thinking they could double-cross the mighty
Chupacabras
.
No one
double-crossed them and lived to tell about it. He would make an example out of the Blue Devils.

Jesus would help them meet their maker.

Chapter Twelve

Hannah Blue

Hannah woke up with a big stretch and then stared up at the ceiling. She could hear Turbo snoring at her feet; Rush laying on the floor, his own breathing heavy and deep. She could just lay there, and…be.

Think.

Think about what the hell she was doing there. And what the hell was going on between her and Rush.
Fuuuuuck.
This couldn’t work out. Thirteen years wasn’t some kind of panacea, fixing everything like magic.

She closed her eyes and went over the day that had torn them apart the first time. The day she’d looked forward to for so many years, and then…pain.

She fussed with Rush’s cap and then Lain’s, trying to get them to look respectable. Guys being guys, they’d somehow managed to put the damn things on backwards in their first attempts at getting dressed. They’d both decorated their caps - Lain with a giant B, Rush with a giant D, both in the brilliant signature blue of the Blue Devils. Copper High School principal Mr. Vinestein would’ve had a heart attack if they’d put the Blue Devil’s mascot on their caps, so they’d stuck with letters instead. Who could get angry about two letters of the alphabet, right?

Hannah stood back and admired her handiwork. Finally, the caps were on, the cords hanging down on the right side, the robes were straight, and her guys were handsome. “A girl just might take a shine to you two,” she said, smiling, and then added, “Well, at least one of you,” and winked at Rush. He grinned down at her, laughing, and gave her an impromptu (if careful) kiss, making sure not to knock caps, while Lain huffed with pretended indignation.

She looped her arms through both of theirs and dragged them over to wait with the rest of the high school graduating class. Lain spotted Melissa, his crush of the week, and hightailed over to her, leaving Rush and Hannah alone. Well, relatively alone, considering their fellow graduating class surrounding them.

“Well Blue, we made it. Can you believe it? We’re finally finished with this fucking school.” He grinned with relief and happiness and she grinned back.

“And this fucking town,” she added. “I mean, Copper Lode is fine and whatever, but I’ll be so happy when we move to California. I can’t wait to go to Stanford. No more cacti, no more rednecks who need to take off their boots to count to twenty, no more heat waves of 115 degrees. Paradise is what that is.”

“Stanford?” Rush repeated, seeming to have missed everything she said after that. “California? I thought we were going to go to Arizona State University in Phoenix. That’s only a couple of hours away from Copper, so I can come back home and help John and Lain out with the club on the weekends or whenever.”

“Well, sure, I applied to ASU and I know we both got in, but I didn’t think we’d actually go there,” Hannah said, confused. “I thought we were just applying there to make your dad happy.”

“And I thought we were applying to Stanford to make your dad happy,” Rush snapped back, the tips of his ears growing red. Hannah saw the warning sign but plunged ahead anyway. She wasn’t about to back down from one of the most important discussions of her life because of some red ears, dammit.

“You’re actually being serious?” she said, aghast. “Phoenix. Phoenix, Arizona? You expect me to go to school in Phoenix, Arizona??” She tried not to shout, but it was hard to contain herself. Rush had decided to wait until graduation night to spring this shit on her?! “And who the fuck cares how close we are to Copper - you can’t possibly be serious about continuing as a Blue Devil after graduation. It’s just a—” She waved her hand around in the air, as if that completed that thought.

“It’s just a what?” Rush repeated in a low, threatening tone of voice. “Just a passing phase for me? Something I’ll grow out of?”

Hannah swallowed, hard. Maybe she had been a little too ready to believe her dad when he’d made those comments. Maybe she had because she’d wanted the words to be true.

“The Blue Devils are my family, Hannah,” he said, and she flinched at his use of her first name. He
never
called her Hannah. “John has been more of a father to me than my own father could ever dream to be. John loves me for who I am. John accepts me. There are no strings attached with his love. There are no ‘if’ statements. He doesn’t love me because I am continuing the Blackburn lineage. He doesn’t love me because he wants cheap labor. He loves me for me. And Lain is my brother, more than Samuel ever could be. Let my dad have Samuel. He can continue the family business and the family name and everything else that means so fucking much to my manipulative asshole of a father. I can be who I want to be in the Blue Devils. I can be me!”

He was breathing hard and the room full of 250 graduating seniors and their teachers were silent and Hannah realized that she never should’ve ignored the red ears. Everyone was staring and her face was flaming hot and then Lain was there, standing next to Rush. Always next to Rush. Taking Rush away from her. And for the first time, she hated Lain. She hated his easy smile and his laughter and his thoughtful nature because if he wasn’t such a good goddamn guy, Rush wouldn’t have chosen him over her. Rush wouldn’t have decided to stay in Copper Lode.

“Fine, choose your little club,” she spat. “Your little club and your little friend and your little town. I’ve got a graduation to attend and a town to get the hell out of.”

She stalked to the back of the quietly forming line, happy for once that Blackburn and Wright were nowhere near each other alphabetically. She held her head high and ignored the pitying glances.

She was going to walk across a stage, get a piece of a paper, and then never look back.

Never.

***

She opened her eyes to find Turbo licking her face and Rush staring down at her with worry in his eyes. “Everything all right? You look…upset. Is your head hurting you?” He reached out to touch her bandage and she raised her hand to bat it away - to push him away because she didn’t want his goddamn pity - but instead, somehow she found her hand curled around his arm, pulling it close. Pressing his palm against her cheek. She laid with her eyes closed and took some deep breaths.

And decided to lie. Because there was no way to fix this chasm between them, so why bring it up? It would only hurt the fragile happiness they’d built.

“Just…remembering,” she finally said, opening her eyes, and Rush’s eyes went soft with worry. She knew he thought she was talking about the
Chupa
kidnapping.

That wasn’t a lie, that was simply…misleading. There’s a difference.

He stroked her hair and said softly, “Let me get up and make breakfast. You just take it easy this morning.”

Which made her feel even more guilty as she heard him banging around in the kitchen. She got Turbo’s brush out of the cabinet in the hallway where she’d spotted it yesterday while looking for towels, and spent some time just brushing Turbo, over and over again, until his coat was clean and he was blissfully happy and his brush was full of black and gray hairs.

“Blue, breakfast is ready!” Rush called out, and she patted Turbo on the head.

“Time to go eat, buddy,” she told him. “Thanks for hanging out with me.” He jumped off the bed and then hobbled off towards the kitchen, his joints obviously stiff. It was hard to think that someday—

She cut that thought off. She’d lost enough people in her life. She didn’t need to go looking for trouble.

As they were finishing up yet another amazing breakfast from Chef Rush as Hannah teasingly called him - his ears turned red when she said it but this time with embarrassment, not anger - they heard a knock on the front door. Rush checked his phone. “No one called me so it must be a Blue Devil out on the front porch. The guards would’ve called me otherwise. Hang out here - I’ll be right back.”

Turbo trotted behind Rush, happy to find a new person to pet him, and Hannah listened from the kitchen as she heard Rush greet Lain and…was that Ella’s voice?

“Hi, lady!” Ella said from the doorway of the kitchen, and then came over to give Hannah a hug. Hannah could hear the guys still talking in low voices out in the foyer, but Ella’s voice drowned them out. “Lain is calling a meeting of the Blue Devils, so I thought I’d come over here and hang out with you while they’re gone doing motorcycle…” she waved her hand in the air, “things.”

“Hey, Blue,” Rush said, coming into the kitchen. “I gotta run, but the three guards will stay here, and so will Ella. Please, you two, don’t dream up any conspiracies to take over the world. I promise I’ll be back soon.”

With a kiss on Hannah’s head that sent a shiver down her spine, Rush left with Lain. “I see Turbo has already realized that Hannah’s got a prettier mug than your ugly—” The front door closed, shutting out Lain’s good-natured ribbing of Rush. Turbo curled up on top of Hannah’s feet and promptly went to sleep. Hannah and Ella both looked down at him and then up at each other and burst out laughing. “I like to take it as a compliment,” Hannah said drily. “Like Lain said, maybe Turbo knows which of us is the prettier one.”

She winked at Ella, who said with a wicked laugh, “I’ve always thought of Rush as a pretty boy, but I suppose Turbo is more interested in the female variety.” They grinned at each other and then Ella settled down at a swing-out chair while Hannah cleaned up the kitchen from their breakfast. After she’d carefully shuffled her feet out from underneath Turbo’s sleeping form, of course.

“So, what’s the deal between you and Rush?” Ella asked. “A kiss on the top of the head isn’t drop-dead sexy, but it isn’t nothing, either. Are you two hooking up?”

Hannah made an exaggerated grimace at Ella. “I wish I knew. I really don't know what to think. Did Lain tell you how we met?”

When Ella shook her head, Hannah said, “Come to think of it, Lain may not know. He wasn’t there that night. It’s probably the only time they were ever apart for all of high school.

“Anyway, my dad was getting remarried in our backyard - his one and only shot at marriage after my mother divorced him - when this tall, blond, cute-as-shit guy started hitting on me. I was born here in Copper Lode and went to school here until the end of third grade, but then my dad enrolled me in private boarding schools back east and I pretty much never saw Copper Lode again. Even during school breaks, I was usually off on a grand adventure somewhere. I didn’t know a soul here.

“So here comes this guy who, even in my high heels, towered over me, and he started hitting on me, and I’ll admit, I was more than a little drunk at that point. I was 17, but all the waiters knew it was my dad getting married and didn’t dare tell me no. I could be a brat back then.” She winked at Ella and they both laughed. “Only back then, of course. I’m sweet as pie now.” She fluttered her eyelashes innocently and they both started laughing again.

It was damn fun being around Ella. She was the kind of person who naturally brought out Hannah’s playful side, a part of her that not everyone saw. Hannah was surprised that she was able to relax so quickly in Ella’s presence, but there was just something about her.

“Anyway, so it wasn’t until weeks later that I found out that Rush was actually Timmy Blackburn—”

“TIMMY?!” Ella broke in, squealing with laughter. “No wonder Lain wouldn’t tell me his name!”

“What?” Hannah asked, confused.

“I asked Lain what Rush’s real name was, and Lain refused to tell me. The one thing he’s flat-out refused to talk about. Oh my God, that’s hilariously horrible. What kind of a badass motorcycle gang member is named ‘Timmy’??” She burst out laughing again.

Hannah couldn’t help but laugh too, but also got a little panicky. “It is an awful nickname - only his family calls him that. But, Ella, you can’t! Promise me you won’t. Rush’d kill me. Even
I
don’t call him that.”

Ella’s laughter finally trailed off. “Okay, I promise,” she said, trying to be solemn but failing miserably. “But truly, that’s epic. Please continue with your story - you two met at your dad’s wedding.”

“Well, so Rush and I spent the summer together and I’d fallen pretty hard for him, so I begged Dad to let me spend my senior year at Copper High School instead of going back to boarding school. I gave him this whole bullshit story about how I wanted to get to know my stepmother better, but I don’t think he fell for that. I think he just didn’t know how to say no to me.” She grinned at Ella mischievously. “It’s
possible
I used that weakness to my advantage as a teenager.

“But, graduation night, Rush and I broke up. It was…awful. After I walked across the stage, I vowed to leave Copper Lode and never come back, in that very dramatic fashion that only teenagers indulge in, and took off for Stanford in California. I got my teaching degree there. After that, I spent the school year teaching in low-income schools in the US and then abroad, and then have spent my summers traveling the world. It’s been fun, but…” She bit her lower lip, staring down at the countertop, drawing circles over the granite, “I missed Rush more than I’d expected to.”

“Lain told me that your break-up tore Rush to pieces,” Ella said quietly, serious for the first time since she’d arrived. “That’s why Lain is so protective of Rush, and anti-you,” she said with a soft chuckle. “He just doesn’t know if he can trust you. Family means more than anything in the world to Lain, and Rush is his brother. The Abernathys practically adopted Rush, and Suzi, his mom, still calls Rush ‘Sonny.’ Did you know that?”