Wild Heart (15 page)

She sat on the edge of her bed as the sobs wracked through her body. This wasn’t fair, her mother had been good and pure and she didn’t deserve to be taken from this world so early. Ani clutched at her stomach as she rocked back and forth, trying to calm her emotions. There was a roomful of people just outside of her door and she had to hold it together for them and for her dad. She held her mother’s blanket up, taking in the light lavender scent as a hand came down against her shoulder.

“Ani?” She looked up to see Stevie dressed in his black suit standing at the edge of her bed.

“I’m fine, Stevie. I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she choked on her words as he took a seat next to her on the bed, engulfing her in his arms.

“She isn’t truly gone, Ani, we both know that. She’s here with us in spirit.” Stevie’s words were soothing against the storm raging throughout her body.

For a moment she stilled, taking in what he was saying before the storm raged back through her. This time causing an anger she’d never experienced to ring out. “I want her, not her spirit!” Ani jumped off the bed and out of his arms.

She grabbed the closest thing to her, an old softball trophy that sat on her dresser, throwing it as hard as she could against the wall. Splinters of gold and red went flying everywhere as it shattered. Next was a picture of her and Kate that went flying toward the same target. The sound of breaking glass reverberated throughout the room as she grabbed the next frame. The picture of her parents and herself at her high school graduation, she traced the line of her mother’s smile, she had been so proud of Ani. She choked again as the grief coursed through her body, collapsing her to the floor. Stevie caught her mid fall, holding her as her father came in the room, taking in the shattered glass around the floor. He knelt in front of her and gently stroked her hair as she cried.

“Ani, my baby girl, everything in this world happens for a reason. There’s a reason your mother needed to go and we have to trust that it’s all going to be ok,” his words were soft as he spoke, “There’s a reason that everything happens. God brings people into our life and takes people from us; it is not for us to ask why, but to learn what we are supposed to from those people.”

She sat at her desk, contemplating the words that her father had said. There was a reason why Knox had come into her life, she didn’t know why, but she knew eventually she would find out. As for Cash, she would deal with him later; it was time to put some separation in their relationship and she wasn’t going to continue feeling guilty for the choices she made.

As she headed out of her office toward Kate’s she saw the same man who had threatened her in her office the previous week. He eyed her from the teller line as he got his receipt from his deposit and left. She walked over to the teller that had waited on him, “What was that man’s name?”

“Honestly, I have no idea who that man is, but he makes deposits for A.L. Construction,” the teller smiled over the counter at her.

“Ok, thank you.” Ani took off in the direction of Kate’s office, pausing at the doorway to let Kate finish her phone conversation.

“Ugh. That was Mr. Johnson, apparently he forgot about his phone bill and needs to overdraw his checking account again,” Kate closed the screen on her computer.

“He’s a sweet old man; you gotta think though, most of our customers live on a fixed income. That doesn’t leave much room to spare.”

“I know, that’s why I never charge him for it. Besides he brings me pepper jelly during the holidays.”

“What do you know about A.L. Construction?”

“Um,” Kate turned and grabbed a folder off her credenza, “They have been in business for ten years, incorporated, and the owner is a Joseph Murray. Mr. Murray lives in Gatlinburg and they have two commercial accounts, three loans that total most of our loan portfolio. Why? Problem with their accounts?”

“You know the group of bikers that keep coming in here, the Renegades; they are making the deposits into that account.”

Something in Ani’s gut wasn’t sitting right with this; she wasn’t sure if it was because of her run in with the biker last week or if it was her biased opinion of them altogether. Though Knox and the group she had met over the weekend seemed genuinely nice, but what they had going on that she wasn’t aware of was a totally different story.

THREE WEEKS LATER

“You got that screwdriver, Babe?” Knox’s voice echoed off the walls of the compound’s garage.

“Yeah, here you go, lover,” she smiled as she came toward him; this man was beginning to consume her world. It seemed as though anytime she wasn’t at work she was with Knox. The more she had gotten to know his softer side the harder she found herself falling for him.

She watched as he took apart the engine of the old Harley sitting on the rack in front of him. He’d been working on this old motor for the past two weeks. The sweat on his skin glistened in the light coming in through the doors. She could never tire of watching him work on motorcycles, especially when he was shirtless. He pushed the black Ray Ban sunglasses down his nose and looked over at her.

“Why do you look so devious?” he smiled.

“Oh nothing,”

“Known you long enough now to know when you have that look in your eyes, it’s because you’re plotting something,” he pushed the glasses back up, wiping his hands with the worn cloth sitting at the end of the work bench and sitting onto the old car seat next to them.

“Who me?” her eyes held the same sarcasm as he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward him with a squeal.

“Aye, you.” His hands lifted her and set her down onto his lap, facing toward him as his fingers traced down her arms.

“Well, if you must know. I’m planning to take over the world; one M.C. at a time.”

“So I’m nothing more than a pawn piece in your ploy for world domination,” he ran his hands along the bare flesh of her outer thighs, “I like these shorts, by the way.”

“Way to change the subject.”

“Couldn’t help it. You come prancing around here in shorts this short, it makes my imagination go wild,” he eyed up at her.

“I want to learn to ride,” she glanced past him to the old Harley that sat at the back of the garage.

“Aye, what was that about changing subjects?”

“There are a few other things I want to do on a motorcycle too,” she leaned down and kissed him, grinding her hips down against his semi hard cock.

“Keep that up and you’ll get your wish.” His hands traveled underneath the back of her shirt, burning across her skin as he touched her.

“First. World domination,” she chuckled as she stood from his lap, laughing at the groan coming from Knox as she twirled and went toward the main clubhouse. She could hear Kate’s light, airy laughter as she walked down the hallway.

“Ani! Help!” Kate called from the couch where Rage had pinned her down and was playfully tickling her.

“Bloody woman, you are evil! Where did you put it?” Rage asked.

“I’m not telling you!” Kate laughed out.

“It was a limited edition! I can’t get that one again.”

“I don’t care! It had naked women in it!” Kate rolled off the couch taking Rage to the floor with her.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Ani giggled from the chair she sat in at the bar.

“Your damn wicked friend stole my Playboy,” he answered Ani before turning back to Kate, “Last chance or that fancy leather jacket I bought you is going back to the store.”

“Ok, ok. It’s in Charon’s room.”

“Christ, woman, he’s probably already gummed up the pages!” Rage hopped from the floor and took off running up the stairs.

Kate laughed as she made her way over to where Ani sat, “You wanna beer?”

“Sure. Hit me bartender,” Ani checked to see if Rage had gone up the stairs, “We still on for tonight?”

“Of course!” Kate slid a beer across the bar toward her.

“What the hell are you two plotting in here?” Jameson strolled in from the kitchen, a plate in hand as he made his way toward them.

“Nothing. Where’s Starla?” Ani tried to bluff as well as she could.

“Don’t believe you. Don’t believe you one bit. You women get together and start whispering, means you’re plotting,” he plopped down at the bar next to Ani, “Where’s my drink?” he acted as though he were offended.

“You tell me where Starla is and I’ll make you a drink.” Kate leaned across the bar and stared at him.

For a moment he stared back before rendering the fight useless, “She’s dropping the kids off at her sister’s and then heading this way,” he mumbled as he took a large bite of his sandwich. “Still don’t know what you women are doing in the clubhouse.”

“Oh come on. You know it smells better in here,” Ani laughed.

Between Starla, Kate, and herself they had scrubbed probably three years of liquor, smoke, and God knows what kind of bodily fluids off every wall in the clubhouse. Though most of the members still didn’t like the women to be around the club, they did appreciate the cleaning and cooking. Even though Rage and Knox both had rooms here, they stayed at Knox’s cabin most nights. And the girls didn’t step foot at the compound without them.

“Yeah, ok. But the first of you to put some pink shite in here is getting banned. Permanently.” He took another bite of his sandwich, “Where’s my drink?”

“Here.” Kate slid the beer across the bar toward him and sighed.

“We partying already?” Charon came in and took the seat on the other side of Ani.

Charon was a huge beast of a man, covered in tattoos. His hair hung long and stringy down his back. Most of the times that Ani had seen him, he’d had it tied up in a ponytail or tucked under a beanie hat. He had brilliant blue eyes that stood out from his dark hair and the same deep accent that the other men had. He lived at the compound permanently; and had been there the first day Knox had brought Ani over. He’d been one of the only members to seem as though he truly enjoyed having the girls around.

“So your name is Sharon? Nice name, same as my aunt.” Ani smacked Kate’s arm at her boldness.

“It’s Charon, as in the ferryman to the underworld,” his face was stern as he looked over the bar at them, causing Ani’s stomach to turn. Knowing Kate, she’d probably offended the man.

“Oh, where’d you get that name from? You kill a man?” Ani dropped her face into her hands; she couldn’t believe Kate would actually ask him that. Then again, she could.

“No, got it because of my handsome singing voice.”

The two stared at him, wondering about the weight of truth in that statement. His face stayed blank and it wasn’t until Kate let out a loud belly laugh that a warm smile spread across his face showing his sarcasm.

“Yeah, and Repo got his from repossessing cars.” Kate giggled.

“You leave me the hell out of this,” Repo said from the end of the bar, shooting a tall glass of tequila.

“It’s from repossessing souls,” Charon whispered across the bar toward them, a playful laughter coming from his throat. “Bastard’s getting old though so he only repossesses the innocence of trashy women now.”

“No, that’s later tonight,” Ani smiled deviously toward Kate.

“What’s later tonight?” Starla came in sitting a bag full of liquor bottles onto the counter.

“Nothing,” Kate smiled.

“Plotting,” Jameson gave Starla a kiss before heading out to the garage.

“Aye, this must be my queue to go,” Charon stood from his chair, grabbing his beer and headed out after him.

“Lawd, I thought they’d never leave,” Kate said exasperatedly.

“Time to go get dolled up ladies,” Starla smiled.

The three headed up the stairs towards Knox’s room, grabbing the bag that sat on the dresser. Ani emptied the contents onto the bed and each girl grabbed the dress they had packed, quickly changing. The sun had already set behind the trees, so they didn’t have long before the guys would be chugging beer. The dress Ani had brought was a dusty blue and shimmered all over, it was short and backless, exposing just enough skin. She put on the gold chain that Knox had given her and draped it down her back. Starla was gorgeous in a black skintight dress, and Kate in a cream colored one. They fixed their make-up and hair, slipped on the sexiest heels they could find and headed off downstairs.

Just as she came down the stairs, the rumble of the men’s voices caused Ani to pause until Kate’s hand landed on the small of her back and pushed her on into the room. She walked out and caught eyes with Knox whose mouth had already dropped open, in shock by the way she was dressed. She hoped that their plan would work and he would want to actually go out instead of haul her back upstairs and lock the door. She nervously looked around taking in the shocked expressions of the other men as well. Jameson was staring at Starla in a way that Ani had never seen before. Kate had already pranced up to Rage and was coaxing him with their plan to go out. It had been weeks and though they partied, hard, they hadn’t gone out to party and the girls wanted to get a taste of the nightlife.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Knox eyed her up and down.