Taking a Dare - A Hellion MC Novel (19 page)

I didn't say anything as I dropped my eyes to the
remains of the yolk on my plate.

"Calling bullshit, girlfriend," Lock whispered into
the quiet of her kitchen. The same fucking words Dare had used.

It went quiet between us again.

"I cut him," I mumbled, using my fork to draw
patterns in the detritus of my plate. "He shut down. You know, like
when I told him last night was all we could have. He completely and
totally shut down, Lock."

"Oh, Rye," she whispered from around the last of the
sausage in her mouth.

"He told me that I'd bought into Pop's agenda and
then asked me if I was really gonna let him go," I confessed, my
voice quiet in the large space. God. It hurt to even remember the
look on his face or rather the absence of any look. In my mind, it
was the lack of any emotion in Dare's face, his voice that had
created the hole within me I'd been ignoring.

Into the continuing silence, I felt my bestie rustle
next to me, sliding off her stool and grabbing my plate. "How're
you gonna play it, Rye? For the rest of the week and all?"

Goddamn.

Lock again hit the nail on the head in one go but the
her words didn't stop. She half-turned back to me, catching my
eyes. "Here's what I think: he's wanted you and only you forever,
girlfriend. None of us could compare. That's the reason why he gave
this fucked-up speech to every girl but you. The thing is though,
now that you've had him, can you really let him go? After only one
night? Really?"

Fuck!

She'd said it outloud and straight up. The question
that my heart had been harboring since I'd left him.

But the echoing answer that careened throughout my
insides scared me even worse than her question.

I deliberately changed the conversation to more
mundane doings and it wasn't until I was getting things together to
perform my morning ritual of makeup and hair that I allowed
thoughts of him in again. Thoughts of all we'd done and what we'd
said.

I wondered why he hadn't given me the same speech he
gave every other girl. There'd been time and even more than enough
opportunity. But he hadn't cautioned me in the least.

Actually, I remembered he'd said he
loved
having me there. And he'd asked me to stay the night.

Had he meant it? Compared to what Lock had said, I
couldn't doubt it.

God.

Had he spoken from his heart?

Did he feel the same as I did? That it had killed
something within me to know that whatever we'd done was only a
one-time thing? That I couldn't imagine being around Dare and not
being with him especially since I'd dumped March.

Was there a way for us to be together and not have my
pops go nuclear and follow through on his ultimatum?

I closed my eyes and decided whether you were fifteen
or fifty, guys would fucking do your head in.

Chapter Nineteen

"Can't find shit on them," Bishop said after all the
men were seated, and Trey had summed up what Missoula had
experienced in doing runs on the eastbound 90 freeway to give
background to the Spokane Hellions. "Have looked everywhere and
even contacted the Vigilantes and SP's. No one's heard of
them."

"Try searching by the Black Knights of the Czar,"
Dare offered and got Gus's black glare as a response. Geez, if the
man could've ripped off his head and shit down his neck, the old
fucker would've.

"The whose-a, what-a?" Trey shot back, dragging
Dare's reluctant glance back to his pres.

"They might've gone by another name someplace else.
Heard the full name and thought maybe…" Dare offered slowly.

"Where'd you hear that other name?" Gus challenged,
glowering at Dare before moving his eyes to Bishop's fingers, which
flew over the keyboard of the laptop he'd brought to the meeting
with him.

"Around," was all Dare was willing to say with the
other Hellions in the room. He'd planned on telling the council
about Jim but hadn't had the chance. He was not giving Gus or Leif
any more ammunition against him and he knew that having a cop,
especially a County Sheriff, as a biological brother would be a
problem.

Having ties to a civilian was always trouble and
cause for concern.

"Yeah, okay," Bishop offered. "Got something here.
Well, what do you know? Seems they formerly wore cuts that read
'BKC'."

"Wasn't that who Rodriguez pledged with?" Huff asked
with a frown. "I mean before he took the gavel of the Ghosts?"

"I've heard of them," Leif growled reluctantly,
seeming to take his cue from his dad's tension. "Bunch of
cheap-shit motherfuckers if you ask me."

"A few years back, we had a beef with the BKC
assholes in Seattle," Gus offered, looking to Trey. "Lost a couple
of brothers in the war that went down."

"Any ties to Mexican drug runners?" Dare tried to
keep his tone casual but caught the glances from the Missoula
council that looked at him in surprise, the Spokane group caught
his roaming eyes but their faces expressed disbelief. Dare was the
usually the last one that had knowledge or info on these kind of
doings. But, for once, his club chose not to quiz him about his
knowledge. Not in front of their guests.

A voice came through the speakerphone. "Heard a rumor
a couple of months ago about a club in Montana that had connected
with the Vita Diablo's out of Guadalajara."

"Think we're gonna have to have a meet, Trey," Gus
growled with a heavy scowl. "If that shit's true, they've got a lot
more fuckin' fire power than we'd counted on." Turning to point his
face at the phone in the middle of the table, he asked the brother
on the line to get as much info from his contact as possible and
report back.

"It's clear I need to put more pressure on Ham Banks
for a meet but don't want us to go in blind." Trey's voice was firm
as he wrapped up the meeting with a bang of his gavel. "Tomorrow.
Same time, same place."

As the men filed out, Dare held to his seat as did
all the Missoula council members. Leif, the last in the line of
Spokane men, closed the conference room door behind him.

"Spill, Dare," Trey said, skewering the youngest
council member with narrowed gaze as soon as the lock clicked into
place on the conference room door.

"Found out my fuckin' brother Jim is the goddamn Big
Horn County Sheriff," he said without looking up from his avid
study of the tabletop. "Saw him when we were in Billings and he
just now called me to ask what I knew of the fuckin' Czars. He says
his men stopped a truck that had a shitload of Mexican meth and
gave me the fuckin' club's full name."

"Why is he calling you after all this time?" Brand
asked. All the brothers were familiar with each other's stories of
their pasts so the question wasn't out of line.

Dare shrugged. "Dunno. He didn't want anything to
fuckin' do with me when I saw him in Billings."

"How'd he know where to fuckin' find you?" Huff
questioned.

"I was wearing a HC t-shirt under my Hellion cut.
Says he asked around and found out I was part of the club's inner
circle, whatever the fuck that means." Dare ventured a glance and
saw all the other council member's eyes were on him. After the crap
he'd gone through in the previous twenty-four hours, their
concentrated interest was too much to take. He shoved his chair
back and stood. "Got shit to do."

But the blowing mud of his day wasn't over. Not by a
long shot when he viewed Ryley at his desk, working the keyboard as
he'd barreled into his office.

Sitting in his chair as if she belonged there.

Glancing behind him, Dare closed and locked his
office door.

*.*.*.*.*

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I heard him say,
his voice no longer flat and uncaring but more along the lines of
shocked curiosity. I glanced up but didn't allow my eyes to take in
anything but the outline of him against the closed door before
dropping back to the keyboard.

"Needed to check in with Haven and Lulu said I could
chose any manager's office since you were all in a meeting," I
responded, trying to keep my eyes on the screen. But all of my
girlie parts had gone to red-alert with the knowledge we were alone
in his office.

"So you chose mine?" he asked and I denied my eyes
the treat of looking at him.

"Yep," I acknowledged, moving the mouse to click
where I needed it to go. "Pops would never think to look for me
here."

"Ryley," Dare growled out in warning and I understood
his frustration. Just a few hours earlier I'd told him we had to
stay away from each other. But there I was, on his computer, not
fucking caring in the least I was going against my own rules.

"We need to talk." I kept my eyes on the monitor as I
manipulated the mouse his hand held every damn day.

"Thought we got it all fuckin' said this morning," he
rumbled on a low note and I bit my tongue to prevent my frown at
his complaint. At least he was talking to me with feeling instead
going robotic.

"Not quite, cowboy," I murmured before dragging my
eyes to him only to see he was in full Hellion mode: legs spread
and planted with his arms crossed in challenge across his chest.
Purposefully, I shifted my eyes back to the monitor. "Seems you
were holding out on me. Lock and I talked."

I caught his visibly flinch out of the corner of my
eye which told me too much, way too much, about what my bestie and
my man had shared. I placed those thoughts, those angry jealous
thoughts, aside and carried on. "Why didn't I get the speech,
Dare?"

"What?" he said and I could hear that his voice
lacked the strength I knew without a doubt he was hiding.

"You know the one," I threw out on a flippant note, a
couldn't-be-concerned tone as if it made no difference to me. "How
no girl has a hope of a future with you. That you may not even
remember their name after you worked it with them."

I slowly dragged my eyes to his and saw him wince
before his whole body tensed.

But he didn't answer.

"You never gave
me
that talk though," I
continued on through his silence, his narrowed glare. "Last night,
remember? You didn't warn
me
off."

I tilted my head, still holding his stare. "Why them
and not me, Dare, huh?"

His eyes got even narrower if it was possible.

"I'm not worth a warning, is that it?"

His brown eyes left my face and began boring holes in
the far wall as I continued.

"Or don't you warn off the women you connect with on
a run?" I kept my voice conversational though my body was starting
tremble with the tension that was filling the room.

"Shut it," he started, dropping his massive arms as
he stepped towards me.

"Shut what, cowboy?" I asked, trying for innocence as
I blinked up at his huge physique looming over the desk. "I just
want to know why, Dare. Why didn't I get the same fucking
warning?"

"Ryley," he rumbled, his deep voice offering caution.
"Need you to fuckin' stop."

I glanced down at the keyboard and took a deep
breath. "We both agreed this was temporary, that we have no
future…"

"I didn't agree to shit," he cut in harshly and I
raised my eyes to his and held his stare while I thought, tried to
work it out in my head.

'I fuckin' love having you here…'

'…was the best fuckin' week of my life…'

'Took me a motherfuckin' lifetime to get over
you…'

'This is bullshit, Ryley…'

'Let's just grab our shit and go…'

I stood up on shaking legs, my heart practically
booming out of my chest as the answer came to me. Hitting me hard
enough that I staggered.

"You want me. Not just for a while but for..." I cut
off my whisper because the flare of heat in his eyes told it wasn't
something I should've said outloud.

"Stop it," he demanded, taking a step around the side
of the desk.

"You didn't give me the talk because you
do
want me in your life…" I went on almost challenging both him and
myself to deny it. My body was trembling so hard even I could hear
the vibrations in my voice. And with my words, I saw a muscle begin
to jump in his jaw.

I was right!

He did want me!

I felt a warmth begin and as I gazed into his eyes,
it spread until it became a fire. A flame of desire that quickly
consumed all my doubts and fears. That swept through my dad's
objections and made everything between Dare and I crystal
clear.

I wanted Dare and he wanted me whether he actually
said it out loud or not!

My heart didn't a hard bump and I realized him not
admitting to it was starting to piss me off. Why was it so hard for
him to say, for god's sake?

"Well?" I demanded and felt my eyebrows lower and
come together when he did nothing but glare at me. We needed to get
this out in the open! "Stop being such a pussy and
tell me
,
dammit! I'm right flipping here! Say the words, Dare!
Say
it!
"

"Told you to fuckin' shut it," he ground out,
grabbing my upper arms and pulling me up against him until we were
nose to nose. "That's fuckin'
enough
…"

*.*.*.*.*

He hadn't meant for it to happen but she'd pushed him
and pushed him. Insisting he confess to something he wasn't ready
to admit to himself, much less to anyone else.

"
Say it!
" she yelled, just centimeters away
from his face.

Christ!

Staring deep into her aqua depths, he took the only
avenue he knew to take and pointed his mouth towards hers. And his
action seemed to change the tension between them. Altering it from
angry to hungry.

So damn fuckin'
hungry
.

Their tongues were tangling before their lips even
touched, hands gripping at any body part available as they slammed
together. Pressing in order to grind, fingers aching to touch skin,
not clothes.