Taking a Dare - A Hellion MC Novel (28 page)

"I had to talk with you last night, Miss Wanton," Dee
thundered, hand on canted hip. "Don't make me come at you
again."

"Listen, you old hag…" Wanton started and with that I
became unstuck.

"Wan-TON!" I yelled, slamming the bowl I'd been
holding down and stomping to where she stood. Jilly turned off the
water and I heard a couple of 'shh' noises coming from the
different corners of the room. Someone else must have turned down
the stereo in order for everyone to be able to hear what was gonna
happen because the room became even quieter.

"You are
this
close to being sent home," I
hollered, leaning towards her with my thumb and forefinger very
close together and
very
close to her nose. "You have a
choice. Either shut the
fuck
up
and get things done
or keep that yap of yours going and go home. What's it going to
be?"

The black haired Honey glared at me and then blinked
before I saw something moving in her eyes.

Aw, shit.

She was gonna make her play right here in the middle
of the hive with everyone avidly watching and listening. I held my
breath waiting for whatever it was she was gonna spew.

"Really, little miss high and mighty? You think you
can send me home? Ha!" I didn't know what she thought she had on
me, but she obviously thought it was good enough to get me to back
my shapely ass down. "You think your shit don't stink but I heard
you were seen making out with Dare on Saturday night right out in
the open. Tsk! Tsk! And you being an engaged woman and all."

Fuck!

"I'm not engaged," I ground out.

"Sorry? I didn't quite hear you," the stupid fucking
cow said, cupping a hand behind her ear.

"I broke off the engagement with March," I said
louder. "And my life doesn't concern you or have any bearing on
whatever shit you're trying to start with Jilly."

She made a duck-face as if to show her superiority.
"Your daddy thinks it does. He asked me to keep an eye on you while
we're here and oh yeah, I've gotten quite an eyeful."

"She ain't your business, Wanton," Dee yelled, wiping
her hands off before rounding the island where she'd been
working.

"Oh, but it does if she thinks to send me home." The
woman's face was lit up in triumph and I was confused about what
exactly she knew or had simply guessed. Her eyes never left mine as
she waded in. "What if your dad hears about your little bit of play
with Dare, hmm? Think he'll send away the person that has been
keeping tabs on his precious girl?"

The slut was actually smiling and I longed to slap it
off her face.

"What a bitch!" I heard someone, I think it was the
tall Carly, mutter.

"Okay," I said and managed to relax both my body and
my voice. "Then what'll you think will happen? That I'll be
excommunicated? Turned out into the street?"

She eyed me as if I'd lost my mind. And maybe I had.
But, I don't think she'd ever seen me in the full-on,
princess-challenged position—something she didn't seem to like
much.

"I don't think so," I laughed. God, yeah, I knew my
place in Hellion society! There was no one except for Dallas that
could even offer a motherfucking suggestion my way that I had to
obey. "You tell my pops and he'll tell
me
to take care of
it. Because
you
, of all people, should know he won't put up
with Honeys causing shit in the club."

I got another blink only this one was of a different
kind, helping her to remember the last girl who'd tried something
in Spokane. From what I'd heard, sweet little Wax was now working
her shit on the south portion of our town.

"I can see you're getting it, Wanton. I might get my
ass chewed by my pops, but you'll be out of the Honeys and probably
out of a job too, since you're just the stock-puller at HC. But,
me
?" I leaned into her, hoping to make her understand.
"Darlin', I'm
the
Hellion princess and as such, I can either
be your
best
friend or your
worst
fucking nightmare!"
I ended on a shout.

Much to my surprise, the entire kitchen exploded with
clapping and girlie squeals of appreciation of my little speech.
Wanton's head was down as if the kitchen floor held the secrets of
the universe.

I held a hand up to quiet the room. "As I said, it's
your choice whether you want to stir shit up and go home or keep
your mouth shut and do some work. Those are your only two options.
So...what's it gonna be?"

I saw her dark brown eyes blink as they regarded me.
I only hoped she saw the sincerity in my face.

"I'll play nice," she said when she dragged her full
countenance up to mine and clenched her jaw.

Not having a need to rub it in, I simply patted her
shoulder in reply before I went back to stand by a now smirking
Lock. "Fucking awesome, girlfriend," she whispered and I heard the
noise in the kitchen move back into the regular range.

"Thanks," I whispered back but my stomach was a mess
knowing that my Honey position, as I'd so firmly stated, might be
in jeopardy after I confronted my dad.

I'd made my decision and needed to let him know that
I was choosing a future with Dare in whatever way I could have
one.

*.*.*.*.*

It didn't take much for the kitchen to become almost
unbearable. Too many bodies, hot burners and the oven going all
contributed to the heat. And, like most times when there were more
than two sets of ovaries together and under pressure, tempers began
to flare. The gentle teasings became out and out snarky on the
borderline of mean between the Honeys.

And in the rough and tumble world of the Hive,
everyone had to have the last word.

Finall,y a group decided to hit the mall to see about
some new clothing for that night's bar-b-que, leaving only a
handful of us behind to oversee the last remaining bits of the prep
work for the cook-out.

I needed air. And another round of quiet. As well as
some space to re-think all that Dare and I had talked about…and
done. Not to mention time to prep myself for another go-round with
my pops.

I pushed through the door and lifted my arms to allow
Montana's breeze to dry all the perspiration that had accumulated
as I walked the length of the driveway and back, going all the way
to the chain-link fence which bordered the property.

Walking and thinking.

Remembering what Dare'd said about us not being over
or if we ever would be. God! That sounded like something that
smacked of permanence. I wasn't sure Dare was a stick-around kind
of guy.

But he'd been making all the right noises of one last
night.

Every time I replayed his words in my head, I got
tummy tumbles and felt my heart take up a new rhythm.

To admit to loving me? I'd been looking for him to
just admit that he'd wanted to be with me so when he finally
confessed his feelings, I'd been shocked. Surprised enough to own
up to my own feelings as well.

Jay-sus, that was huge since the Honeys had more than
told of a Dare who just wasn't that kind of man. That he liked his
fun and all but was abso-freakin'-lutely not looking for love or
anything long term.

But he'd flat-out told me that he loved
me
.

Said the words straight up and more than once.

And I had, for only the second time in my life, said
it to another person (albeit it was to the same guy) only nine
years, seven months, 3 weeks and four days later than the original
utterance.

"Rye!" I heard someone call and stopped in my tracks.
Looking around, I saw Dee sitting on one of the picnic tables and
waving me over.

"You needed a break, too, huh?" I asked, climbing up
to sit next to her on the tabletop.

"Too much estrogen-doings in there for my taste," she
agreed, lighting up a cigarette and pushing her hair back from her
face. I didn't respond although I completely agreed.

After a time of easy quiet between us, she murmured,
"thanks for not busting my chops about me and your dad."

I shrugged. "It's not any of my business."

"Yeah, I know. But still…" Dee's voice trailed off.
"You and Dare, huh?"

"Are we that transparent?"

Her head turned towards me and I saw she was wearing
a little smile. "I was there during one of the convos, remember?
Plus, your dad might've mentioned it a time or two."

"Mentioned or yelled?" I asked with my own grin. I
knew my pops and if the topic was Dare, any conversation would've
been of the loud variety.

"When it comes to Gus, is there a difference?" she
shot back quickly.

I couldn't help my chuckle and idly wondered how long
she and my old man had been together since she seemed to know him
pretty well.

"Are you the girl from before?" she asked quietly
after the silence had again grown between us. "The one he couldn't
get over?"

"Yeah," I answered back just as softly with a
nod.

"I wasn't here on that run. My mom had just passed
and I was in Helena," she stated. "But when I came back it was like
Dare had turned into a different kid. Mouthy and so fucking angry
at everyone and everything. Even rode his machine like he was
suicidal." She stopped and shook her head. "It was Dare at his
worst and was so fucking hard to watch."

Even though Dare had talked about it, what Dee was
saying made his pain during that time seem more real somehow.

"It got so bad, Trike had to send him out with a crew
to Butte, figuring that keeping the boy too tired to cause trouble
was the way to go." I watched her crush out her smoke before she
continued. "But it was my man, Big Duke, who denied Dare's request
to join the Spokane chapter."

Wait…what?

Dare had made a formal request to the Hellion
president at the time to come to Spokane? "When was this?" I asked
in a high, tight voice, both hands gripping onto the lip of the
tabletop beneath me.

"Think it was when he was fixing to turn twenty. Duke
flat-out told him he couldn't switch chapters just to follow
pussy."

That would've been when I was eighteen. The age when
I could've been with him without my family doing anything. But by
that time, I'd thought he'd moved on to someone else and I'd been
working to forget him…and the 'us' my heart yearned for.

"With all due respect, Dee," I began. "Your old man
sounds like a dick."

Her head turned to mine and I again saw her smile.
"Yeah. He was. Pissed me off a lot. And him basically telling Dare
to chose between being a Hellion or having you made me see red. It
was wrong. Just as wrong then as it is now."

"So Pops told you what he asked Trey to do?"

"Yeah and how he told you that if you went to Dare
then you were disowned," she stated flatly. "With all due respect,
Ryley, your dad is a bit of a prick."

I nodded and sighed. She was preaching to the choir
on that one.

"So what are you two gonna do?" I watched her light
another cigarette as her question hung in the air between us.

I looked down at my hands before answering.
"Honestly? I don't know. I've got responsibilities in Spokane, a
life. Just like Dare has here. But I don't know about a long
distance thing."

"So you won't even consider doing a re-lo to
Missoula?" she asked, laying it out plainly. "I know what Haven
means to you, baby girl. But there's no reason there can't be a
Honey Haven Two."

I felt my heartbeat pickup at what she'd said and I
shot my eyes to hers.

"Want to know what I think?" she asked quietly,
waiting for my response. As I gave another nod, she went on. "I
think your old man's mouth is making threats his heart won't allow
him to do. Trey won't take Dare's cut. Nor will Spokane ever pull
their support from another Hellion chapter." Her voice was firm,
resolved in what she considered to be facts. "Anymore than Gus will
disown you, Ryley, for being with your man."

"But my dad hates Dare," I tried to explain.

"And other couples don't have that issue of not
getting along with the in-laws?" Dee laughed, crushing out her cig.
"Somehow, I don't think you two are alone in that situation."

I stared at her. "You make it sound so easy."

"I never said it would be easy. But I don't think
it's impossible either." She slid her butt off the top of the table
and stood. "And you know you've got the support of both Hives to
help if you need it."

I needed her take on one more thing before we went
back inside. "Dee? Do you think Dare can commit to just one
girl?"

She looked at me unblinking for more than a few
seconds. Long enough for me to steel myself against what she was
going to say.

"Seems to me he already did a long time ago and in
his own way. Dare may not have stayed out of their beds, but he
wouldn't let any other woman in his heart, Ryley. And I'm guessing
it was because it was already filled with you," she replied, saying
almost the same words that Lock had said the other morning in her
kitchen.

Words I was beginning to think might be true.

Chapter Twenty Seven

As soon as Dare's ass was off his bike, he went
looking for Ryley.

He needed to settle things between them, to plan the
future he was determined to have with her. And he was not going to
be deterred, not by her dad, her brother or some kind of fuckin'
bar-b-que.

The clubhouse was in chaos as the men filed in,
grabbing drinks and chairs or even a Honey. The run had been a
success in promoting the bonds the two clubs had between them and
everyone was still caught in its high.

"Hey, cowboy," he heard Ryley offer from behind him,
surprised he could even hear her soft voice in the growing noise of
the teeming room.

He didn't say a word but grabbed her hand and pulled
her towards the stockroom door, a place he thought would give
enough privacy to greet her properly. He closed the door and
immediately took her in his arms, angling his face as his hand went
to the back of her head.