Biker's Bride: A Bad Boy Romance (Demons MC) (Includes bonus novel Kinged!) (28 page)

Around midnight, my phone rang. I checked the caller ID and it was Amy. I swiped right and answered.

“What’s up Amy?” I felt a little worried.

“Hey, Darcy, you okay?”

“I’m fine, kiddo, why are you calling so late?”

“I got your text. I wanted to make sure you got home safe.”

I laughed. The text had completely slipped my mind.

“Thanks, but I’m fine. Home safe and sound.”

“Well, how did it go?”

I wasn’t sure how much I could tell her. She was my best friend, but she also didn’t approve of the way I lived sometimes. She didn’t understand what it was like for the majority of people in this world. She got lucky and landed a perfect, rich future-husband, while the rest of us have to work hard for every scrap. Regardless, I was desperate to share about Rex, but I had to be careful how much I told her. I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.

“It went pretty good. I met a guy.”

“Oh yeah? Another guy?” I could sense the sarcasm in Amy’s tone.

“This one’s different, Amy. His name is Rex and he’s not like the usual idiots I date.”

There was a short pause on her end. “Did you say his name is Rex?”

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s just an odd name, is all,” she said, though I could tell something was off.

“What’s up?”

“Remember how I first met Shane?” She spoke slowly and quietly.

Of course I remembered. It was the strangest story in the world. Back when Amy was just another anonymous girl, working for tips during the day and coding her app at night, I convinced Amy to sign up for a dating website called Matchstick. That’s how she first met Shane, though he had used a fake name at first. It wasn’t until his company bought her app that they realized they had been sexting with each other for the past few days.

“I might recall some fairy tale story about an online rando,” I said, jokingly.

“Well, the name he originally used was Rex Blue.”

“Huh. That’s pretty weird.” I didn’t know what it meant. Rex was a pretty uncommon name. As far as I knew, those two men were the only ones in the world who used it, though that couldn’t be true.

“I know. Probably a coincidence, but still weird,” Amy said, still whispering.

I laughed. “Are we dating the same guy?”

“I hope not, since he hasn’t left my sight all night.”

“Oh gross, I don’t need to hear that.”

Amy laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Whatever kiddo. I’m going to bed.”

“Alright. Sleep tight, Darce. See you tomorrow.”

“Night, Amy,” I said then hung up.

I turned away from the mirror and plopped down on the couch. For the most part, I was lucky. I had a relatively easy childhood, and I was blessed with decent looks. I had been with my fair share of guys over the years. But of all those men, I had never been in a relationship that lasted longer than a few months, and I was beginning to crave more long-term companionship. Maybe making out with a dangerous stranger in a bathroom stall wasn’t the best way to fall in love, but at least I was trying.

I turned on the television, wrapped myself in a blanket, and spaced out in front of some crappy reality show. I thought about Rex, his muscles, and the way his hands roamed my body. I hoped he would call, though I wasn’t sure why. He probably wasn’t the serious relationship type, but I wanted to find out.

––––––––

T
he next morning, I felt like shit. I stayed up too late and drank too much, and I was paying for it in spades at work. I huddled down in my chair and tried to act invisible as Marissa droned on about wildlife preserves or something. I was way beyond hung over to even try and deal with her.

Rex hadn’t messaged me, although I didn’t expect him to. There was something strange about him in those last few minutes, as if he were afraid of something. I could tell his mind was elsewhere, even if my mind was firmly locked on his chiseled body. In fact, my mind had been firmly locked on his full lips ever since I left him. He definitely was an arrogant, quiet asshole, but I found myself powerfully attracted to him.

Before I could get too lost in daydreams, my phone rang. I groaned at the noise, and then answered.

“Darcy Thatcher speaking.” I hoped it was Amy offering a magical cure to my headache.

“Darcy, it’s Janice. Got a few minutes to meet with Shane?” Janice was Shane Green’s personal assistant and all-around awesome lady. They apparently were good friends, at least according to Amy, but nobody knew that and they didn’t act like anything other than business associates at work.

“Sure thing, when?”

“Right now, if you’re available.”

“I’ll be right over.”

“Thanks, he’s expecting you.” She hung up.

I hadn’t been invited into Shane’s office since I first started at Adstringo. Most new hires at least got to meet Shane once, despite how notoriously private he was. He rarely engaged in any non-work associated conversations, and nobody knew much about his personal life. Whenever I tried to pry anything about him from Amy, she would tell me that he prefers it if people didn’t know details about his life and drops it. He was frustratingly enigmatic, but also cold and distant. I understood what Amy saw in him, but he wasn’t exactly my type.

I was more into the hot-blooded, asshole wild man, apparently.

I closed down my laptop, unplugged it, and carried it over to Shane’s office. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, so I figured it was good to be prepared. As I got closer, Janice smiled and gave me a wave from her desk outside of Shane’s office.

“Head on in,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said, and pushed open the door.

Inside, his office was simple. I was surprised all over again at how clean and empty it felt. There was a table with chairs, shelves with books, filing cabinets, and Shane’s desk.  As I entered, he gestured for me to sit in a chair facing him. For a billionaire, he was shockingly Spartan in his tastes.

“Hey, Mr. Green,” I said, and smiled.

“Hi, Darcy, how are you?”

“I’m pretty good.” I sat down and looked at him expectantly.

He cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable. “Well, Darcy, this isn’t exactly a business meeting. So call me Shane for now, if that’s okay.”

“Sure, Shane. What’s going on? Is something up with Amy?”

He looked a little surprised. “No, Amy is fine. It’s actually you I want to talk about.”

That was surprising. Even though he was engaged to my best friend, he had barely shown any interest in me beyond what was expected. Amy said he was just difficult to get to know, but I had a feeling he was just too busy.

“Okay, spit it out. What’s up?”

He looked uncomfortable again. “Are you seeing a man named Rex?”

I laughed. “I guess, sort of. Not exactly seeing him. I take it Amy told you.”

He nodded. “Yes, she told me. Does Rex spend time at a certain bar called Drake’s?”

That gave me pause. It wasn’t unusual for him to know the name Rex, but how did he know about Drake’s? I remembered then how awkward and strange Rex had acted when I mentioned Shane’s name the other night.

“Yeah, he does. Do you know each other?” I didn’t see how they could, but it was the only explanation I had.

“We do, in a sense.” He looked incredibly pained, as if the conversation were causing his actual physical discomfort.

“Wow, that’s a crazy coincidence.” I didn’t know what else to say. I waited for him to continue.

“Darcy, you shouldn’t see him. Rex Latour is bad news. Very bad news. He’s not the kind of man you want to get involved with.” Shane looked serious as he spoke, his eyes clear and wide.

My eyes narrowed. Was Shane Green giving me dating advice?

“I’m not really sure how that’s any of your business,” I said slowly.

“It isn’t. And I would never have this conversation if you weren’t an important person to Amy. I’m only looking out for you here, I hope you believe me.” He held up his hands in a conciliatory gesture.

“I understand your intentions are good, but I’m an adult, Shane. I make my own choices.”

“Of course. Of course. But, and this is the last thing I’ll say, I know Rex Latour. He was a friend of my brother’s, back when my brother was involved in some pretty awful things. Rex has a violent reputation. I think you should stay away from him.”

What did he mean, a violent reputation? I saw the way he fought those guys, but other than that he seemed harmless. I supposed it was pretty intense the way he took those two guys down, but something about that drew me toward him. I had the distinct feeling that Rex may have been dangerous, but he wasn’t dangerous to me.

“I appreciate your concern, Shane.” I could tell this conversation was difficult for him. It was the most we had spoken without Amy around since I moved to the city, I realized. I didn’t go out with Amy and Shane, mostly because they didn’t go out at all, as far as I knew. He avoided public attention to an insane degree, and hated talking about his personal life. I realized I hadn’t known he even had a brother, let alone a brother that was involved in illegal activities. I doubted anyone knew that beyond his closest friends and family. I mentally made a note to cut him a little more slack in the future. He clearly loved Amy, and was going outside of his comfort zone to try and protect someone she cared about.

He nodded. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

“Tell Amy I said thanks for her concern.” I stood up to go.

“I will tell her that,” he said, and smiled. I could tell he was relieved.

I grinned back, and then left the office. Janice was talking on the phone as I passed, but she gave me a slight nod. I walked quickly to my desk, my head buzzing with conflicting thoughts and ideas. I was hung over and barely holding myself together, and certainly not in any state to process all of that information. I buried my head in my heads as Marissa launched back into whatever story she had been telling before I stood up and left. It was going to be a long day.

T
wo days later, Saturday afternoon, and I was spending the day on the couch. My conversation with Shane kept replaying in my mind, over and over. He seemed genuinely worried about me, although incredibly uncomfortable. I didn’t really know Shane, and suspected nobody but Amy really did, but his warning seemed heartfelt and kept ringing in my ears.
Rex Latour is a violent man. Stay away from Rex Latour.
I sighed and looked out the window.

Before I could fall too deep into another daydream, my phone rang. I swiped right and held it up to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Darce, it’s Amy. What’s up?”

“Not much, kiddo, how are you?”

“I’m fine. I heard Shane talked to you.”

I laughed. “Yeah, he gave me a stern talking to.”

“I’m sorry. Seriously, I didn’t tell him to do that. I only found out about it today.”

“Yeah, well, I would have told you earlier, but you’ve been MIA at work lately.”

Amy sighed. “I know. I’ve been swamped with the new app launch, I haven’t had time for anyone.”

“Anyone but Shane.”

“I know, I’ve been a crappy friend. Let’s get dinner tonight?”

Lately, my relationship with Amy had been strained. We were best friends, sisters even, but her job and her new relationship were all consuming, and we barely had time to see each other. That worked fine when I lived in a different city, but we had no excuse anymore not to see each other. I knew how busy she was because I worked on her app, but I also knew she could have been delegating some of the responsibility. Amy was a very particular person, and liked to micromanage as much as possible.

“Yeah, definitely,” I said. I needed to be more understanding, and she was definitely trying at least.

“I’ll pick you up at like seven. My treat,” she said.

“Free food? Sounds good to me.”

She laughed. “I thought you’d say that. Anyway, tell me more about this Rex guy.”

“Not much else to say, I guess. He’s not really my normal type.”

“Oh no? No backwards hat and popped collar? No trust fund?”

I laughed, picturing my last boyfriend. He was a typical, snobby New Yorker asshole. He came from a wealthy background, like I did, but his parents never lost their money. It didn’t last very long.

“Not at all like that. He’s tall, lots of muscles, rugged. Covered in tattoos. A little scary actually.”

There was a pause at the other end. “A lot scary, according to Shane,” Amy said.

“Don’t start with me. You know I can handle myself.”

She sighed. “I know you can. Just be careful.”

“He’s a big puppy. All bark and no bite. But god, those muscles.”

“I understand that,” Amy said, laughing.

That was probably the most comfortable conversation we’d had in weeks. I missed her, if I was honest with myself. I hadn’t moved to Philadelphia to be closer to her, but that definitely was a huge bonus. I didn’t have any other good friends in the city, and her distance made things hard. Eventually, our conversation wrapped up, and I promised I’d see her later that night.

I lounged back on the couch again and looked back at the TV. I had on some reality show about female wrestlers, and I couldn’t help but reflect how time in front of a camera can turn a perfectly normal person insane. Amy was going through something like that. Her rich and famous boyfriend was reclusive, but there were still paparazzi hounding their every move. I knew I couldn’t judge her too harshly. There was no real way for me to understand what she was going through, and a lot of it she couldn’t talk about because of Shane’s obsessive privacy. I knew he was good to her, but sometimes I thought he was a straight up asshole. He was pretty controlling, although Amy said she didn’t mind it one bit.

As some red-haired amazon girl got into the ring with a pale British chick, my phone buzzed again. I checked the screen, and it was a text from a number I didn’t recognize. Curious, I pull it up and read it.

hey spoiled girl, come to drake’s tonight
was all it said. But I knew exactly who it was from. A thrill ran through my stomach and up my spine as the memory of him came roaring back: dangerous Rex Latour and his dreamy green eyes.