Ryker (Roosters Book 2) Read online

  Well, the double standard was at an end because now I’d lost my V-card. Now that I knew just how incredible sex was, there was no way I was going back to being celibate. I’d just have to find ways around big brother. The closer I got to the compound, the more I started to feel a little antsy. Had I been wrong for walking out on Ryker like that? We hadn’t shared more than first names with each other, and I doubted he’d stick around for long. Guys like him usually didn’t.

  The Prospect manning the gate gave me the once over before letting me inside. He shook his head, and I had to wonder what the hell that was supposed to mean. I’d taken all of four steps into the compound when Flicker appeared on the steps of the clubhouse, his arms folded and his gaze disapproving. He met me halfway across the parking lot, his hand gripping my upper arm as he looked me over.

  “Jesus, Laken. You look like you’ve been fucked three ways to Sunday.”

  I smirked. “Probably because I have.”

  Flicker scowled, and I could hear his teeth grinding together. “Who the fuck touched you?”

  “No one you know. Just some guy passing through town. Guess you don’t tell quite everyone what to do around here.”

  “It was for your own good, Laken. Did you even use a fucking condom? What if he gave you something?”

  I squeezed my thighs together. No, we hadn’t used condoms, and that had been my choice. I’d wanted to feel everything, and not have any barriers between us. But when Flicker put it that way, maybe I’d been a little too hasty to tell Ryker to put the condom away. I’d just have to make sure I got tested, just to be safe. And until then, I’d avoid men. It wasn’t like they didn’t give me a wide berth anyway, thanks to big brother here.

  “I’m fine, Flicker. I just want to go home and shower.”

  “Christ, are you telling me that you’re walking around with his cum still all over you?” Flicker’s scowl deepened. “You want to know why I treat you like a child? It’s because you do stupid shit like this, Laken.”

  His words hurt, but I’d never let him know that. Flicker was all I had left in the world, and his opinion mattered to me. For the most part. His obsession with keeping me chaste had gotten out of control, though. I’d been waiting to find out that he was going to trade me to some biker to sweeten a deal or something, not that the Dixie Reapers had ever done something like that, but I’d heard rumors of other clubs doing similar crazy shit.

  “Go home,” Flicker said with a bit of a growl to his voice. “We have some new blood coming in today, some big shot who wants to make a deal, and I want you to make yourself scarce. From what I’ve heard, the guy’s a real ladies’ man, and if he sets his sights on you, he might not take no for an answer.”

  “Fine.”

  I brushed past my brother and continued down the road that wound through the compound, until I reached the house I’d been sharing with him. My mom had died when I was sixteen, and Flicker, being a lot older, had taken me in. No one had any idea what had happened to our dad, and while we had different moms, he’d never looked at me differently. To him, I was just his baby sister, Laken.

  Flicker never locked the house so the door swung open when I turned the knob. When it shut, I leaned against it a moment and closed my eyes. I had this sinking suspicion that instead of gaining my freedom by losing my virginity, I’d just locked my cage up even tighter. Now he’d be even more vigilant, and I had only myself to blame. I kicked off my shoes, leaving them by the door, and made my way to my bedroom. I didn’t have my own bathroom like Flicker did, but I knew he wouldn’t be home anytime soon. After pulling my dress over my head and letting it fall to the floor, I walked across the hall to the bathroom and started the shower.

  The hot water felt good, easing my aches. Not that I regretted what I’d done. Ryker had been amazing, and despite the hint of caveman I saw in him, he’d been surprisingly tender at times. It was almost a shame I wouldn’t see him again. I certainly wouldn’t have minded spending more time with him, especially in bed. I smiled as I washed my hair and thought about how incredible it had been. There hadn’t been much I hadn’t let him do to me, and I’d loved every minute of it. In some ways, giving complete control over to him had been freeing, which was funny since Flicker tried to control my every move and I just felt stifled when he did it.

  I finished my shower and pulled on a tank top and shorts before heading to the kitchen to find something to eat. I’d skipped dinner last night, wanting to sneak out when Flicker wasn’t looking, and I hadn’t had breakfast today. My stomach was ready to stage a revolt if I didn’t eat something soon. It looked like one of us would have to make a trip to the store soon, as the cupboards were almost bare, and the fridge contained bottled water, beer, expired milk, and some juice that I didn’t even remember buying. I wrinkled my nose at the offering.

  I settled for dry cereal and toast with some water, then carried everything to the kitchen table. Flicker’s house was pretty awesome all things considered. There was a large bay window in the kitchen that overlooked the backyard. He’d let me plant some rose bushes outside the window, and I always enjoyed looking at them while I ate. Truthfully, he’d tried to make this place a home for me, had never made me feel like I wasn’t welcome. I knew that having his kid sister here had to be a bit trying at times, especially when I’d been younger. It was no secret that any hook-ups he’d had, he’d kept to the clubhouse, but now the Pres had moved the Prospects into the rooms in the clubhouse to free up the duplexes for patched members. I didn’t know where Flicker was going now for a good time, and I wasn’t going to ask. He still came home smelling of cheap perfume and sex, so I knew he wasn’t abstaining, but there were just some things I didn’t need to know about my brother.

  I finished my meal and decided to see what was on TV. I wasn’t up to socializing at the clubhouse, and Flicker had said to stay away. Not that I could care less about some guy who wanted to set up some sort of deal with my brother’s club. All the guys were nice to me, but they could be real assholes when they wanted to be, and I was sure the new guy would be no exception. Just what I needed. More testosterone in my life. Having Flicker watching my every move was bad enough, but add in all the Dixie Reapers? Yeah, my life could be hell sometimes. It was like having an infinite number of big brothers. Even the Prospects felt like they needed to keep an eye on me, and I was older than some of them.

  Why did men always think having a dick made them superior to women? I’d never understand it. We were the ones who carried a human around inside us then gave birth to something the size of a watermelon, but being able to pee standing up gave them some sort of superpowers? I snorted. Yeah right. They were delusional, every last one of them.

  I was just closing my eyes, my long night having caught up with me, when the front door slammed open, and Flicker roared out my name. I sighed, wondering what the hell I’d done now. Prying myself off the couch, I padded to the front entry and stared at him, trying to figure out why he looked both furious and ready to sneak me out of the country. What the hell was going on? Big brother looked almost panicked.

  “You slept with fucking Ryker Storme?” Flicker said.

  “We didn’t exactly exchange last names,” I said, flipping my hair over my shoulder. “But yeah, the guy I spent the night with was named Ryker. How did you even find out? More of your crew spying on me?”

  “He’s here,” Flicker said, his voice dropping. “And had he not been talking about the hot piece of ass with a swan feather on her hip in metallic ink, I’d have never known it was you. But no one else in this fucking town has that tattoo. Hell, Zipper is the only one within a hundred miles who will mess with those inks.”

  “I’ll bite. Who is Ryker Storme? Must be someone important for you to damn near have a coronary because I spent the night in his bed.”

  “Ever heard of Trent Storme?” Flicker asked.

  I shrugged. The name was familiar. I thought about it a minute before the name clicked into place. “The President of the
Hades Abyss MC?”

  “Yeah. Ryker Storme is Trent’s son. You just fucked the prince of the Hades Abyss MC. Do you know how much shit this could bring to our door?” Flicker asked. “Every guy in that meeting knew exactly who Ryker was talking about. It’s no secret that you have that silver feather on your hip. Who the hell else but you would get something like that around here? Zipper inks more butterflies and panthers than anything. Not to mention I really didn’t need to hear about how tight my sister’s pussy is.”

  I winced and commiserated with him. Yeah, just like I didn’t like hearing about how big his dick was when the club sluts started talking.

  “It’s a little late to change things now. I don’t have a time machine,” I said. I honestly didn’t know what he wanted me to do about it. Even if I could change things, I wouldn’t. Being with Ryker had been beyond amazing.

  “He’s only here for a week, checking things out. Torch wants to reach an agreement with Trent Storme. We can always use more allies. The club talked things over after Ryker left, and we want you to lay low until Ryker leaves. Maybe you should stay somewhere else.”

  I rolled my eyes. Yeah, because I had so many options. If I’d ever had somewhere to go, did he honestly think I’d have moved in with him indefinitely? He wouldn’t let me work, so I had no income for my own place, and the only friends I had were here at the compound. I’d ditched my high school friends when it became apparent they were only hanging out with me to drool over the bikers in my life.

  “I’ll just stick close to home. But you’re going to have to restock the kitchen if you don’t want me leaving the house. I’d starve to death before morning.”

  “Fine,” Flicker said. “I’m hoping no one opens their damn mouth about who you really are. With some luck, Ryker will lose himself in alcohol and club pussy. Maybe he won’t even remember you in a few days.”

  That hurt. A lot. And for some reason, I didn’t like the thought of him spending time with the club sluts. I had no claim on him, and I knew it, but I’d felt special when I was with him last night. Then again, if he was bragging about me to my brother and the other Dixie Reapers, I was likely just another piece of ass to him. That’s probably all I’d ever be to anyone. Who would want to settle down with Flicker’s sister? He was the treasurer for the Dixie Reapers, and if anything ever happened to me, he’d wreak havoc and start kicking ass. Most of the time when a guy paid attention to me, I had to wonder if he was trying to find an in with Flicker and the club. It’s why Ryker had been perfect. I’d figured a complete stranger was a safe bet for some no strings fun.

  “I’ll stay here,” I promised my brother. “He’ll never know I’m here.”

  “See that it stays that way.”

  Flicker shook his head and disappeared out the front door.

  It suddenly felt like the weight of the world had settled on my shoulders. I had the most incredible night of my life and still managed to fuck things up. Sometimes I wondered if Flicker would be better off if I did take off, just vanished one day for parts unknown. He was always bailing me out of trouble, usually brought on by too much drinking. I’d been detained more than once for drunk and disorderly, and there was the time I spray-painted the high school, or the time I TP’d the principal’s house my senior year. Yeah, I hadn’t been an angel. There were times I wondered why he even let me stay here.

  Feeling sorry for myself, I went back to the living room and flopped onto the couch. So much for going to the doctor. I figured something like this would be time sensitive, not that I’ve ever had to research STDs before. I’d just wait out Ryker and hope he hadn’t given me anything that couldn’t be easily cured. On the plus side, I could make a dent in my to-be-read pile. I probably had over two hundred books on my Kindle I hadn’t had a chance to read yet.

  See, silver lining. I’d just find me an awesome book boyfriend, and then I’d be like, Ryker who?

  Chapter Three

  Ryker

  The gorgeous girl I’d taken back to my motel about a week before still haunted me. The Dixie Reapers had been more than welcoming, and I’d had more club pussy shoved at me than I knew what to do with, but they just didn’t interest me. I couldn’t bring myself to fuck someone so thoroughly used after having my very own virgin for an entire night. Not to mention they all looked worn around the edges and wore so much makeup it looked like a mask. I wondered where my little ex-virgin was and what she was doing now.

  Hell, I wondered who she was doing now. Someone that sensual, that sexy, wouldn’t exactly be lounging around her house on a Friday night. I might have been her first, but now that I’d popped that cherry, I had no doubt she’d be looking for her next hook-up. Maybe I should have made sure she had my number before she ran off. I didn’t know how long I would be in town, but we could have had some fun. And maybe I could have talked her into going home with me, if I ever went back home.

  Being the son of the President of a club just wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Everyone had assumed I’d follow in Dad’s footsteps and take over one day. And hell, maybe I would. I never wore my cut, but I had one. I was wearing it now just because I was hanging with another MC, but it generally stayed buried in my bag when I was on the road. There was a sense of freedom in just being an average guy and not Trent Storme’s kid. I’d joined the Marines and served twenty years in an attempt to distance myself from that life, but the minute my dad had heard I was coming home, he’d enlisted my help.

  I could have been an asshole and turned him away, but he’d seldom asked me for anything. So I’d agreed to check out the Dixie Reapers and see if they were the kind of club Dad might be interested in. So far, everything seemed fine. There didn’t seem to be any drugs in the clubhouse, and even though they did have club sluts like every other MC I’d seen over the years, they weren’t into selling women. From what Torch and his VP had told me, they made a good bit of their money off arms deals, and while I’d speculated that they might be running drugs, the members seemed clean. I’d found that clubs who dealt in drugs had a tendency to sample the product, and that wasn’t happening here. Couldn’t fault them for the arms deals, though. There was good money in guns. A lot of clubs were into a lot worse.

  I sipped my beer and winced when I realized it had gotten warm. Pushing it away, I decided to step out for some fresh air. A few guys were smoking on the porch so I kept walking. The Dixie Reapers were welcoming enough, but I preferred spending my nights with a woman in my bed, not running my mouth with a bunch of bikers. If I went back home, I’d have to get used to it. No way my dad wouldn’t demand my presence at the clubhouse on a regular basis. I’d avoided his life for so long, but I didn’t know how much longer I could keep running.

  It was nearly pitch-black outside, the moon and stars hiding behind the clouds that had rolled in over the last hour. I was so busy staring up at the sky, I didn’t see the other person slinking along in the dark, until soft curves plowed into me. Instinctively, my arms went around her and held her against my chest. Had to be a woman with those perky breasts and rounded hips. Maybe my night was looking up. I didn’t think a club slut would be prowling around out here, but the luscious body pressed against me was mighty damn tempting.

  “Sorry,” she said, trying to free herself from me.

  Wait. I knew that voice. My arms tightened, not wanting to let her go. “Laken?”

  Startled eyes met mine. “Ryker.”

  I didn’t know what she was doing in the compound, or why she was sneaking around, and I didn’t much care. I was going to consider it a miracle that I’d found her again. And she felt damn good in my arms. The white tank, booty shorts, and flip-flops were a contrast to what she’d been wearing the last time I’d seen her, but she was still sexy as fuck. If anything, I think I liked this look on her even better. Not that either compared to having her naked in my bed.

  “I shouldn’t be here,” she murmured, pushing against my chest.

  I refused to let go, though. No way was she slippin
g through my fingers again.

  “I think you’re right where you’re supposed to be.”

  “I can’t be caught here,” she said, trying to twist away from me again.

  I didn’t understand why she couldn’t be here. Had she snuck into the compound? And if so, who had she been looking for? If she wanted to get down and dirty with a biker, I was more than happy to oblige. The way she’d screamed my name last time I didn’t think she’d have any objections to another round. It wasn’t unheard of for a woman to come back begging for more. My fellow Marines had called me the pied piper of pussy, and for good reason. Once the ladies knew what I was packing, they followed me around just waiting for another taste. Sometimes I was nice enough to indulge them, especially the ones with talented tongues.

  My cock was already hard and pressing against my zipper, just thinking about getting inside her again. From the way her nipples were poking against me, it was safe to say the attraction wasn’t one-sided. But I didn’t have a place on the compound where I could take her. They’d offered me a room inside the clubhouse, but I didn’t want to parade her through there, especially if she wasn’t supposed to be here. I could put her on the back of my bike and go back to the motel, but the Prospect at the gate would still see her. For whatever reason, she wanted to hide.

  “Come on,” I said, taking her hand and leading her around the back of the clubhouse. It was even darker back there, and I found a spot where no one would be able to see us. The music was pulsing inside, and we could hear the sounds of everyone partying. And then some. From the pounding and cries of pleasure on the other side of the wall, it sounded like someone else was getting their dick wet.