Taking a Dare - A Hellion MC Novel (23 page)

Dr. Dawson had tried talking to my angry, livid
father but he wasn't going for anything my shrink had to say. And I
could tell that his reaction was making her nervous, causing her to
stumble over her words.

In the end, though, pops never stopped me from seeing
her and seemed to take heart as I reconnected with my life. But our
relationship, the specialness between a girl and her dad, had been
broken. Gone were the soft looks and words and in came the pit
bull, hell bent on me staying in my right fucking mind, as he
called it.

And throughout the years, especially after my mom
died, it had only gotten worse—keeping me in his sights at all
times and hand-picking the men I was 'allowed' to date or be with.
It was time to cut the apron strings, though. Especially if what
Dare and I had brewing between us was going to have a chance.

Just as the water had started to take on a hint of
cold, the warmth of it only covering my lower half, I'd decided
'prune' was not a natural state for a human and had gotten out.

Wrapping myself in the warm, sweet smelling robe
hanging on the back of the door, I put the room to rights before
grabbing my cell, another glass of wine and sitting down at Lulu's
table.

I needed a plan of attack when taking on my dad.
Without one, the war over me and my freedom would probably be long
and loud, possibly inflicting pain on both sides.

Something I wanted to avoid on every level.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dare took his time going back into the clubhouse,
filing away the info Leif had let fly as he took both Trey's and
Bishop's words to heart. What
was
he gonna fuckin' do about
Ryley and the goddamn vise his nuts were in?

Almost without a thought, he reached into the Hive's
kitchen and pulled off a room key before heading behind the bar to
grab his personal bottle and a glass. There was no way he wasn't
getting as fucked up as possible after the day he'd had. And knew
he'd be in no shape to ride by the amount of alcohol he was
prepared to consume in order to put it all behind him.

Better to get a room in advance rather than be
disappointed later.

Going to a table, choosing a chair with its back to
Gus and his minions seemed to help calm some of the shit in his
head. Just as it did when his other single council brothers pulled
out chairs to join him. It didn't take long though and their Honeys
moved into the group, wanting to share in the fun.

"Has anyone ever seen you with your hair down, Bish?"
Little Carmi asked from her perch on the arm of Bishop's chair as
she played with his braid. "I mean, I've never seen it down and
I've seen a lot of you, baby."

Both Dare and Si cracked up at the familiar
complaint. Everyone in the club, both Hellion and Honey alike, gave
the man grief about having waist length hair he never allowed to
wave free.

"He has to take it down to wash it, right?" she
continued, her eyes sweeping around the table on an owlish blink
causing Dare to throw back his head as Silo bent his own towards
the table in their mirth. As soon as things subsided to chuckles,
Dare saw Tight coming towards their group along with one of the new
girls.

"Hey guys," Tight greeted and pulled the younger
woman towards the table. "This is Livvy." As the tall brunette
introduced the much younger strawberry blonde to the Hellions, Dare
poured himself another drink. Just the week before he would've been
all over the new girl with her fresh-faced, innocent sexiness and
lack of brittle edges a lot of the other Honeys seemed to hold. His
eyes roamed over her burgeoning curves, noting the girl's long legs
showcased by a pair of low-slung cut offs. But his mind was on a
different sort of clean—one of brown and aqua, that could shoot
smart-ass comments off quicker than shit and who could make a man
forget his own name with her fuckin' kisses.

That wasn't the way to play it, though. Not with Gus
in the ever-filling room.

"Plant that pretty ass right here," Dare offered,
pushing back his chair and motioning to his lap. "Livvy, is it?
That's a pretty name."

Both Bishop and Silo were looking his way as if he'd
gone crazy. "For show, dig?" he mumbled, raising his glass to his
lips and canting an eyebrow to his brothers while the new Honey
gingerly rested her butt on one of his legs. Dare snaked an arm
around her waist before looking back to the table.

"Uhm," Silo began and slid his eyes to the clubhouse
door.

"Gotta know your audience, asshole," Bishop advised
and pointed his glass to where Silo was staring.

Aw, fuck.

Ryley!

She'd entered but hadn't moved away from the door,
her whole body still as she stared at him. He caught the emotion in
her gaze, one that combined both confusion and disbelief before
sliding into one of pain. The same sort of fuckin' hit that was
filling his chest at what she was avidly watching.

Ryley dragged her eyes away and began stiffly walking
to the back of the room to where her dad was holding court. It was
evident she avoided Dare and his table as she moved.

"Oh, fuck," he groaned, not realizing he'd even
allowed it to come out of his mouth.

"Livvy, why don't you come sit with me since Dare's
got a royal stick up his ass tonight," Silo offered, glancing at
his brother before patting his own thigh. The girl twisted to look
at Dare, but his gaze was steadily on Ryley, his cheeks echoing the
hue in the Spokane princess's face. He didn't even take note when
the girl moved from his lap to Si's.

Dare turned back to the table but his mind was
whirling as he tried to anticipate the damage he'd caused in his
bit to convince Gus that he and Ryley weren't anything special. But
he should've known his lie would backfire.

"I said not fucking now, Ryley!" came the roar from
the back of the room and at the sound everyone within the clubhouse
fell silent, every eye trained on the back table.

"Finally, the bitch get hers," Dare heard Wanton
whisper from the next table over and turned to see the black-haired
woman wearing a catty smile. "It's about fucking time!"

He never heard if Ryley responded because his heart
began booming too loud in its fury to hear anything. No one, not
even her old man had the right to talk to Ryley like that!

He heard the clacking of her boots as his girl
quickly made her way across the floor, and he tried to see her
expression as she passed but her head was down and hidden by her
beautiful hair. As she closed in on the door, Bishop leaned over
and offered, "you're up, amigo. Thinking you need to work some
damage control."

In a flash, Dare was on his feet, avoiding both
people and chairs as he rushed to get to her and found Ryley
halfway across the forecourt by the time he'd finally made his way
outside.

"Ryley! Wait!" He yelled but she ignored him using
her long legs to increase the distance between them. "Stop,
sugar!"

She gave him the bird but kept moving until they both
heard Leif's shout from behind. "I fucking
told
you to stay
away from her!"

Her brother's words halted her in her tracks before
she turned to face the men behind her.

"Go away," she demanded, her voice like acid in the
gentle night air. Dare didn't know which one of them she meant and
didn't care as he closed the space between them and snagged her by
her waist.

"Ryley, I…" he started, bending his head towards
her.

"Get your fuckin' hands off her!" Leif bellowed.
"Haven't you already done enough damage, you shit? First, you
almost destroy her then you want the fucking chance to do it all
over again? I'll see you in hell first!"

"Oh shut the fuck up, Leif," Ryley bitched as she
struggled to get out from Dare's hold. "God! The fucking drama of
it all! Jay-sus!"

Both men stopped all movement. Dare had expected her
to be crying or some such shit but she only sounded…annoyed. So
much so, Dare dropped one of the arms he had been using to try and
contain her. In a move much like Gus had used on Dare, she pointed
a finger at her brother.

"You don't need to fight my battles for me, Leif.
This is between me and Dare," she said, using her forefinger to
punctuate her words. "And its private, so drag your fuzzy ass back
inside."

"But, Rye…" the other man started but at her low
growl and extended arm which pointed in the direction she wanted
him to go, Leif shut his mouth before shooting her a glare and
turning around.

"As for you, cowboy," she announced, skewering Dare
with a scowl so deep, he felt it in his guts. "One thing you may
not know about me since we really don't know each other very well
is that I don't play fucking games. And I don't share. So you can
go back to playing with the Honeys because we're done."

He allowed her words to float in the air around them
and just gazed into her beautiful face, her cheeks still flushed
with emotion.

"No," he said after a bit.

"What'd you mean, 'no'?" He was guessing from the
shocked tone her voice held that it wasn't a word she heard often
from anyone but her father.

"No, I'm not going back inside. No, I don't want to
share you either, sugar. And no, Ryley, we most definitely are
not
fuckin' done," he said gently but firmly and watched her
blink slow and deep. He was beginning to think that blinking was
one of her 'tells', signifying she was processing whatever new info
she was given.

And while she was still thinking on it, he used the
arm he still had around her to shuffle her to the back of the
clubhouse, never taking his eyes off her face. If he remembered
right, he had the key for room three in his back pocket.

"But…" she mumbled, her eyes showing confusion.

"That's it, gorgeous. Work it out," he urged quietly
even as he steered them to the door of the room. He pulled out the
key and fumbled to remove the padlock with one hand uncertain if he
released her she wouldn't try to leave. He pushed her into the dark
room before closing the door, turning on the lights and shooting
the lock.

"But…" she repeated, blinking in the now lit room
even though he wasn't sure if she was seeing anything other than
whatever was in her head. "We're not done?"

Pulling her against him with both arms, he dropped
his forehead to hers. "Christ, Ryley. Will we
ever
be?"

Dare may not have won the war but he knew he'd won
the battle when her arms went up and around his shoulders, one hand
sliding into his hair as her lips reached for his.

"I hope not, cowboy," she breathed against his mouth.
"I
so
fucking hope not."

He just let his lips and tongue show his
agreement.

*.*.*.*.*

Dare kissed me so long and sweet and deep that I
couldn't think of anything beyond his mouth. So much so, I was
surprised to find he'd moved us to the bed with me straddling his
lap.

"Okay, sugar," he said firmly when we came up for
air. "Time to work this shit out."

"Out?"

"Fuck, yeah. Right the fuck out." The cheeky
one-sided grin he wore took some of the sting out of his demand. "I
ain't gonna let go of you and get the fuckin' impression you're
feeling the same. So we fuckin' need to work out how we're gonna
play it."

"Meaning…that we get some time together while I'm
here?" My eyes searched his to try and figure out exactly what Dare
was asking for.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Christ! For someone
so smart, you're fuckin' slow as molasses on the uptake."

"I beg your fucking pardon!" I made a move to get off
his lap, but he stilled my action with a hand on each cheek of my
denim covered ass and a light chuckle. His forehead came to mine
and I found my attitude changing, melting at the warm heat of his
eyes.

"What I should've fuckin' said was that I don't want
us to lose this, Ryley. Not while you're still here or when you go
back to Spokane," he rumbled. "And we need to figure out how to
make 'us' work."

"My pops won't have it, cowboy." What part didn't
Dare understand when it came to how far my dad would go to keep us
apart? "He wants your cut…"

"What do
you
want, sugar?"

I blinked into his eyes as I thought. I wasn't sure I
was ready to confess everything that was percolating in my heart.
But all that changed when he went a different direction.

"After you left last time, I was a fuckin' mess,
Ryley," he said quietly and he must have seen the question in my
face because he explained further. "Yep. Started fuckin' acting
out, got all mouthy and shit. Always in fights with anyone and
everyone. Got so bad that Trike asked to have me put on a crew who
was working out of town. Pulled me out of goddamn school and
everything, which was probably fuckin' best since I seemed to be
heading towards being expelled anyway. Spent more time in the
fuckin' principal's office than I did in class."

"Oh, Dare." I whispered around the lump in my
throat.

I saw him swallow deeply. "I walked around with a
hole in my heart and a fuckin' inch long fuse in my head. So strung
out on a girl that I couldn't fuckin' breathe without setting off
the ache inside." His voice died out but not the emotion he'd given
voice to. "I was like that for ten solid months, Ryley. Ten
long-assed, motherfuckin' months."

My heart broke at both his words and his rueful
tone.

"Your brother said you went through some shit too,"
he whispered, his hands caressing my thighs. "I fuckin' need to
hear about it from you, sugar. From how you saw it."

So I broke it down for him.

I told him of that time, that god-awful time after
leaving him and watched his face soften as he listened. He didn't
interrupt but just used his touch on my back, my arms and legs to
encourage me to continue when I stumbled through the re-telling of
the darkest year of my life.