The Outlaw Stakes His Claim (3 page)

Deleting Parker’s texts and shoving the phone back
in her coat pocket, she scanned the bar. No one really paid much any attention
to her. A few men were groping on some barely dressed women, other guys were
talking loudly at a table, and there, in one of the very farthest tables on the
other side of the room, partially hidden in shadows, was the guy she had seen
on the side of the road. He had a nearly empty bottle of whiskey in front of
him and a glass beside that. Even from the distance he looked three sheets to
the wind. His eyes looked glossy and red-rimmed, and his short blond hair was
messy around his head. She stared at him for a few seconds, and although she
knew it was rude she couldn’t bring herself to look away. He looked huge
sitting at that small table, and she didn’t miss how many of the people kept
their distance from him.

The waitress came back with her food and set it in
front of her. “You need anything else?”

Hope pulled her attention from the biker, and knew
the answer to her question before she even asked it. “Who is that guy over
there?”

The waitress turned and looked. “That’s Dallas, one
of the members of The Grizzly MC.” She faced Hope again. “Over the past month
or so he has been coming in, but before that I only saw him in town on his
bike. Not sure why he hangs out here though when the club has their own hangout
spot.” She shrugged. “Not my concern, I guess. He pays for his liquor, and no
one messes with him, not unless they want him to shift on their ass.”

“Shift?”
Hope asked.

The waitress nodded. “Yeah, The Grizzly MC is made
up of some very big and scary bear shifters. Hence the whole ‘Grizzly’
patch
.” The waitress chuckled, but Hope could tell she
wasn’t trying t be a bitch about it. “Not sure what goes through his head when
he sits there, but it’s kind of sad, even if I know he could wipe out this
whole bar even so drunk he could hardly stand.” Mara shook her head slowly. “I
see a lot of sad people come in here, mainly to drown their sorrows or mask
their anger. That one though,” she kept staring at the biker, “he has something
really dark inside of him.” The waitress didn’t say anything more, and left
Hope when another customer called for her attention.

She shouldn’t have looked over at Dallas again, but
all she kept hearing in her head was that was the waitress telling her that he
had something dark inside of him. He lifted his glass and finished off the
amber colored alcohol inside of it. But as soon as that glass hit the table he
was slowly lifting his eyes and staring right at her. There was this spark
inside of her, this curiosity and fear, and something else that moved within
her. Hope didn’t like how it felt, didn’t like that it had her heart racing and
her palms sweating. She didn’t even have to be beside him to know he was
dangerous, but not just in a violent way.

He leaned back in the chair, keeping his eyes
trained on her. Hope let her gaze linger over his leather vest. It looked worn
in, but cared for. His shoulders were impossibly wide and even through his dark
long-sleeved t-shirt she could see that he was packed with hard, bulging
muscles. That strange sensation intensified inside of her, and she realized
that it was lust. Never had she looked at a man and instantly felt so drawn to
him. When she had seen him standing on the side of the road there hadn’t been
any arousal, but she had certainly sensed this growing awareness in her body.
And now, as he stared at her with his bloodshot eyes, his messy hair, and this
animal aura that surrounded him Hope realized that this stranger was not only
dangerous to everyone around him, but to her as well.

Chapter Three

The sound of the front door crashing against the
wall had her drawing her focus away from the biker and to the man that stepped
through the entryway. He was big, with a nasty flannel shirt on with stains
under the arms, a pair of torn and stained jeans, and an oil stained baseball
cap. A groan had Hope glancing at the bar and watching as her waitress rolled
her eyes and started murmuring something to the old man who was making drinks.

“Get me a drink.” The flannel wearing man yelled out
and started walking toward the bar, but he found an empty table, just a few
feet from where Hope sat, and took a seat. He hadn’t looked at her but there
was no mistaking that he was checking out the scantily clad women over by the
pool table. Compared to them Hope was dressed like she was about to brave a
snowstorm, what with her long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans.

The waitress brought him over a pitcher of beer and
a glass, but before she walked away he reached out and slapped her on the ass.
Mara rolled her eyes, and when she went to walk by Hope’s table she stopped
her.

“You okay?”

Mara rolled her eyes again and glanced over her
shoulder at the guy. “I’m good. That is Frank. He’s been in here a few times
over the last six months. He’s a trucker, thinks he owns the world and all the
women on it.” The waitress leaned in close. “He’s a damn pig, and if he never
came in here again it wouldn’t be too soon.” Before Hope could say anything the
waitress was going back to the bar and talking softly with the bartender.

Hope would just eat and get out of here. When that
man had eyed her like she was some kind of piece of meat outside, she should
have just gone to her room and called it a night. This place was clearly a bit
too rough for her. She started eating, but couldn’t ignore the loud and
obnoxious way the flannel guy kept taunting the women across the bar, and
saying all kinds of degrading and nasty things. But fortunately Mara went to
his table and set some fries and wings in front of him, and that seemed to shut
him up before a fight started.

Ten minutes passed without incident, and the sound
of classic rock blasted through the jukebox. Hope was nearly done with her
meal, but of course she couldn’t have finished and gone unnoticed.

“Hey, sweet
thang
.
You
ain’t
like the other whores in this place.”

She glanced up—despite knowing she shouldn’t
have—and made eye contact with the asshole. He grinned, showing a gap between
his yellow front teeth. His eyes were black and beady, but there was no denying
that he had all his attention right on Hope, and that she needed to just leave.
She might be book smart, but she wasn’t street smart, and this guy looked like
he didn’t like hearing the word no. She didn’t respond and reached for her
purse to grab some money to pull out.

“Hey, I was talking to you.”

She hurried her actions, grabbed a ten dollar bill
and tossed it on the table.

“Oh, I see. You’re one of those bitches that think
you’re too good for anyone, huh?”

Hope stood and grabbed her jacket.

“Frank, just leave her alone,” the old man behind
the bar yelled out.

“Stay the hell out of it, Bobby.” Frank stood and
grabbed his beer before striding toward her.

Hope looked at Mara and the old man behind the bar.
The waitress looked nervous, and the bartender looked angry. She felt eyes on
her from everyone in the bar, but turned her attention back to Frank. He
stopped a few feet from her and looked her up and down. She felt nude before
him, and actually crossed her arms over her chest and tried to cover her
clothed body.

“I mean it, Frank.
Don’t start
shit, especially not with the young lady. I’ll call the cops.”

Frank snorted. “Go ahead. I know a lot of people,
Bobby, a lot of cops that owe me favors.” Frank sneered over at the bartender.
“Besides, I
ain’t
doing
nothin
’ wrong.
Just asking her uptight ass why she
is snubbing me.”

She felt his stare on her and felt so damn dirty
after only being in his presence for the last five minutes.

“So, you think you’re too good for me, woman? ‘Cause
you sure do look out of place in here, so I’m thinking you might have a giant
stick up your ass.”

Hope went to leave, but he grabbed her arm in a tight
hold.

“I asked you a damn question.”

“Let go of her, or you won’t have the use of that
hand you got on her right now.”

Hope turned and looked at the man that had spoken.
Dallas was only a few feet away, and although she could see he was drunk, he
looked so damn fierce at that moment. He also looked pissed, and all that rage
was directed at Frank.

Frank started laughing and let go of her arm. He
lifted his beer mug to his mouth. He drank nearly half the contents before
slamming it down on the table with so much force that the beer that was left in
it sloshed over the edge. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and
grinned, but this wasn’t a humorous smile, but a sarcastic one. “You think
because you wear that cut and are some kind of bear shifting freak that you can
knock me down?” Frank lifted his hands in the air and grinned as he looked
around the room. “You’ve got to be fuckin’ kidding me.”

“Listen here, there isn’t going to be any fighting
in here.” Bobby, the bartender, yelled out.
“Frank, if you
want to get your ass kicked by a Grizzly member that’s on you, but you take
your dumb ass out into the parking lot to do it.”

Frank turned toward the older man and curled his
lip. “The only blood that will be shed will be this motherfucker’s.” He turned
back toward Dallas and held his arms out. “You really want to do this all
because you’re trying to be some kind of hero?” Frank started laughing. “Man, I
know all about you and your fucking club. You go around thinking you control
shit, and doing all sorts of heinous shit. You
ain’t
no
better than me or anyone else.” Frank’s face started
taking on a red hue. “And I am not afraid of your fucking freaky ass. Bring
it.”

Hope’s heart was pumping hard as she looked between
the two men. Whereas Frank looked angry and about ready to have an aneurysm,
Dallas looked calm and alert.

“Well, come on, fucker. You need to get knocked off
your fuckin’ high horse anyway.” Clearly Frank was drunk or stupid to be
talking to Dallas that way. Honestly, he was probably both and then some. “I
might not be in Steel Corner all that much, but you and your bear shifting
freaky fuckers need to learn that there are more powerful people out there than
you.”

Okay, Hope didn’t know if these two had a previous
beef, and she was grateful Dallas was standing up for her, but she certainly
didn’t want this huge brawl that was about to go down. “Thank you, but there
isn’t any need for violence. I’ll just leave, and everything can calm back
down.” She tightened her hold on her purse and, keeping her focus on the
ground, made her way to the front door. But Frank grabbed her upper arm again,
and before she could say anything or wrench out of his grasp the hair on her
arms stood up, and her heart started pounding wildly.
 
However, it wasn’t because this asshole had
his hand on her, it was because she felt the intense heat of someone right
behind her, and saw his huge shadow move along the ground. She didn’t need to
look behind her to see that it was Dallas, and she didn’t know why her body was
reacting like this because of a stranger.

“I told you to not touch her if you wanted to be
able to use your fucking hand,” Dallas said low and deep right behind her.

“Frank, just get the fuck out of here. It you have
any brains you’d know that this won’t end well for you.”

“Shut the hell up, Bobby,” Frank gritted out.

“The cops will be here soon, so I suggest you just
leave. All you do is start shit when you come in.” The waitress was the one to
speak, and for such a small thing she had a lot of strength behind her voice.

His breath brushed along Hope’s nape, and for just
one second she didn’t think about anything about him standing right behind her.
That thought was pushed away when Frank tightened his hold on her until a gasp
of pain left her involuntarily. Everything that happened after that was a blur
of action. A low, very animalistic growl came from Dallas a millisecond before
she was pushed aside by Frank with so much force she slammed into one of the
tables. The beer glass he had set on it fell to the ground and shattered. Her
head spun fiercely and she tried to stand; the residual beer that had been in
the glass caused her hand to slip on the ground as she tried to right herself,
and she fell onto her elbow. A sharp piece of glass sliced into her forearm, and
she hissed out in pain.

The sound of grunting and curses surrounded her, and
then there was silence. Everything had happened in only the span of a few
minutes, and when she looked up she saw that it had only taken those few
moments for torrent of destruction to fill the interior of the bar.
 
Several tables were turned on their sides,
glass was broken and littered the ground, and the patrons all stood against the
walls staring at the man currently standing in the middle of all that carnage.

Dallas slowly turned toward her, and the hard,
animalistic look that was on his face had her heart stalling in her chest.
Frank was at his feet, and although he had blood coming from his nose and
mouth, and his eyes were closed, she saw his chest rising and falling.