Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (18 page)

"Mama," Avery called out again.

I wrapped my hand over her ear and leaned into Styx, whispering. "I am not staying inside this pussy eating playground filled with nothing but
cock
stroking idiots like your VP back there. I’m out." I dashed around him, but he reached out for my arm and pulled me back.

Holding tight as I tried to yank away from him, he moved in close and glared. "I can't let you leave tonight, darlin'. On VP's orders, I can't."

"I--"

"Mia," a strong, deep voice hollered out to me over the music. Crisp and rugged, I knew exactly who it had belonged to. "Mia," he called again.

I peeked over Styx's shoulder and saw River staring directly at me, his steel blue eyes piercing right through me as if I were nothing more than a thin sheet of glass. He drank back the rest of his beer and shoved the girls aside as if they were just disposable chess pieces on a table. I was suddenly his only focus which felt just as bad as being completely invisible.

"Oh,
great
." I ripped my arm out of Styx's hand, headed back outside to the parking lot and went straight for the tow truck.

"Mia!" River called out to me again, his voice lowering as it rumbled in anger.

I didn't say anything in response. What the hell could I say to him that didn't include the phrase 'drop dead, you sick freak'?

"MIA!" he hollered again.

"Mama?"

"It's okay, baby," I said to Avery, yanking back the door to the truck. I placed her inside as she continued rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"MIA!" River's fury intensified just as quickly as his harsh sounding footsteps. His feet hit the ground so hard, I’d have sworn I felt it moving beneath me. "MIA! Goddamnit!"

I pushed Avery's legs inside the truck and slammed the door. "Mama--" she started.

"It's okay," I told her again. "Lay your head back down in the seat and go back to sleep."

"Mama, there's a big man standing behind you. And his face is bright red."

I sighed. I knew he was there before she even said anything. The weight of his body hovered over me like a rain cloud.

"I'll be right back, baby, okay?" I told her. I turned on my heels and looked up into River's eyes. My God, this man was intoxicating -- sweaty and smelly and insanely beautiful, even as he had royally pissed me off in more ways than one. I still couldn’t deny how much and how hard I wanted him to make me
scream
. "Can I talk to you for a second over here?" I asked, pointing toward the other side of the lot as I tried my damnedest to keep my cool.

He moved in behind me, so close that his erection, which seemed to die down once he had moved outside, was suddenly rising within seconds and bumping against the side of my ass.

Oh God.

Once we stopped, I moved as far away from him as I could, forcing a car length distance between us when I felt him moving too close into my personal space. I needed to think clearly and this son of a bitch was the worst kind of distraction to have.

“Mia.” He grunted, and swallowed so hard while staring down at me that his Adam's apple bobbed. "What the hell were you thinkin' runnin' outta there like that?" he asked, his voice low and unbelievably intense. “Lookin’ like you’d lost your goddamn mind.”

I glowered. "What?" Was he serious?

"You ran outta there like your goddamn skirt was on fire--"

"What the hell were you actually expecting me to do?" I snapped. "Stick around and have my daughter continue to see what it's like for women of all ages with no ambition in life to actually land on their knees and trade sex for a pound of crack? Or is it just the attention and affection they're seeking from the lonely bikers of the world?"

"You're reachin', babe," he growled and slipped his fingers inside the loops of his jeans to adjust them. I looked down and saw his cock pressing even harder against the fabric and gulped.

This man may not have wanted to admit to much when it came to what
that
actually meant, but it seemed my being pissed at him was more of what kept him going than anything, just as it had earlier in the morning.

I dragged my eyes back up to his face and exhaled sharply, hoping like hell that he hadn’t noticed me staring. "I don’t think I’m reaching for much of anything,” I said. "The fact is that you knew I was showing up with my kid tonight and
this
is what you had us
both
walk into. All that crap you said earlier about shielding her from stuff like this was just that, crap."

"I didn't have a fuckin' choice, doll," he spat between clinched teeth. He leaned down even further toward my face and I dipped my head back. The smell of whiskey and beer on his breath practically inflamed every part of my body. "It was hard as fuck tryin' to get those other motherfuckers on board with this shit. I had to promise 'em somethin' to show that shit wasn't gonna change too much with you and your kid bein' here."

"It has to change, at least somewhat!" I hissed. "At the very least, you could've given me a heads up."

"I told Styx about the party," he replied.

"When? Five seconds before we walked inside?"

River turned back toward the club and glared at Styx, who hovered in the doorway. After a few seconds, he pulled his beer up to his mouth, wrapped his lips around the neck of it and turned away.

River's eyes returned to me. They roamed up and down my body and he tilted his head. "That the same shit you had on earlier today?"

I looked down at myself and lifted my shoulders. "I didn't wake up early enough to change clothes,
OR,
apparently to get my own child from school. Thanks for that by the way, no really THANK YOU for that. Because of you and your crew, I more than likely won't be able to take her back to that school again once all this shit is over. What the hell were you thinking sending two of your 'boys' to get her from her class like that? I get it, threats work for you, but when it comes to school authority, that shit doesn't exactly 'fly right'. You should've woken me up so that I could've at least called my parent's--"

"Did you get 'em on the phone tonight?" he interjected.

Taken aback and a little rattled by his tone and how calm he had suddenly become, I waited a moment before answering. "Yeah," I said. "I got them on the phone just before showing up here."

"And what'd you say?"

I shoved my brows together and wrinkled my nose. "I told them that Avery and I were going to Disneyworld with some money I had saved up and that we'd be down in Orlando for the next few weeks."

"It's gonna take more than a few goddamn weeks for this shit with Ricky to--"

"I know that," I shot back. "I'll think of something else when the time comes, but you really didn't give me much notice or time to prepare something a little more genuine or long-term." I lowered my head and dug my heels into the ground. "But speaking of Disneyworld, they told me that you had them get a bunch of toys and things so that Avery wouldn't feel so out of place in being here."

"Yeah." He shrugged. "No big deal, just some shit I thought she might wanna have around her to make her comfortable. Didn't look like she ever had too much to begin with."

"I'd like to say that I didn't want her growing up to be as materialistic as our society has become, but the truth is that I'm just not that deep. And reality is that I couldn't afford much for her aside from food, clothes and shelter; sometimes the first two were scarce despite help from my parents. So in all sincerity, thanks, for that. But I'm still not happy about what you did with the school. Even if they were too busy pissing themselves to call and tell me about it."

"Once all this shit blows over, you want her back in that school, I can make it happen for her."

"It's okay," I said. "Maybe I should just homeschool her instead, I don't know. But then again, look at me. It's not as if I'm exactly all that
equipped
to teach her much of anything about life, let alone the workings of math and science."

"You're not some kinda shit mother," he said.

I peeked up at him and winced. "Thanks.
I think
.”

"What I'm sayin' is that my daughter had a shit mother. Bitch left her on my goddamn doorstep when she was just two months old with a note attached to her forehead tellin' me she was mine and that I was needin' to take care of her 'cause she couldn't anymore." He rested his hands on either side of his waist. "I didn't even know the bitch was fuckin' pregnant."

"What happened to her?"

"I don't fuckin' know. She dipped out for good not long after, and I ain’t seen or heard from her since. She was what they call a 'travelin' club whore' long before she hooked up with me, so it's possible she got caught up in some bad shit someplace else."

"Hm."

I peeked around him at the truck and saw Avery sticking her head out of the window, staring at the both of us. A sad smile crossed her face, but I couldn't tell if it was because she was afraid to leave, or like me, afraid to stay.

"I can't take her back in there," I told River. He arched a brow, then turned on his heel to face her. And when she waved at him, he actually lifted his arm and waved back.

"She looks just like you," he said.

"Thank God," I blurted. "I mean..." I covered my face in embarrassment. "I mean that she doesn't really favor Ricky too much. Not that I would love her any less or something crazy like that if she did, but--"

"I feel you, darlin'. My girl doesn't look anything like her mother either, 'cept for the muddy brown eyes. Just like her smarts, she didn't get that shit from me. And if it's worth any goddamn thing to ya, I didn't mean for your girl to see all the shit that was goin' on inside."

"It's not your fault.
So much
." I wrapped my arms even tighter around myself and stared up into his eyes as they completely drank me in. "This is a double edged sword kind of situation," I said, "because I need your help but I can't expose her to the kind of life you live. Not without, I don't know, corrupting her or something."

He eyed me up and down again, his expression covered in words I had no idea of comprehending. Then he turned back to Avery again and tapped his foot on the ground. "You won't have to, babe." He backed away from me and moved toward the truck. "You won't."

I stood frozen in both fear and shock as he yanked the door back on the tow truck and reached inside for Avery. Without even an ounce of hesitation, she jumped straight into his arms, giggling as he carried her back over to me and sat her down to the ground at my side.

"Styx!" he hollered back toward the club. "YO, STYX!"

As if he had been standing there the entire time, Styx raced out and over to us. "Yeah?"

River bent his mouth to his ear and lowered his voice. "Round the bitches and prospects up in the back," he said. "Then get the brothers together out front so I can let 'em know about Mia and her kid. You and Trucker stick around too.”

He stared at him for a long time, his eyes dancing between River’s face and his fists, before finally bobbing his head. "Yeah." He pat him on the back and headed back inside the club.

River turned back to me, then dropped his eyes down to Avery and nodded. "She like her toys?" he asked.

I tried to hide a smile as Avery reached up for my hand and started swinging it back and forth. "She can actually talk, you know," I told him. "It's okay if you want to just ask
her
."

He glanced at me, then focused his eyes on the ground and dropped to a squat in front of her. He rested his arms on his legs, and as the muscles in them twitched, he leaned in. "The dolls and the toys," he started, his voice cracking as what sounded like nerves began to kick him right in the center of his throat. It was both endearing and somewhat surprising, considering both his size and normal attitude. "Did the boys do good in picking that stuff out for you?"

She looked up at me for approval. I blinked once and nodded to let her know that it was okay to speak to him.

"Yes," she said.

"Good--"

"How old are you?" she asked, just as he was picking himself up from the ground.

He stopped midway at her question and I tugged on her hand.

"How old does he
look
?" I asked her, albeit jokingly.

"Old. But not as old as Pop-pop."

From across the way, Eightball burst into a fit of laughter. River glared at him and snarled. And just like any snake in the grass, he slithered off into the night.

"He's not that old," I said to Avery. "He's just old enough." River's eyes met mine again and from the look he gave me, as if he literally wanted to devour me whole right then and there, I wanted to faint right at the base of his feet. Instead, I exhaled.

"They're all rounded up for you," Styx called out from the door, distracting us.

River nodded. "We’ll put your girl down before you have to meet ‘em, yeah?” he said. Then he pointed his head toward the club. “You ready for this shit?"

I wrapped my hands around Avery's ears and shook my head. "No." He made a face and took a step back. "But seeing as I don't have much of a choice..."

He threw his hand in front of himself and bent forward. "After you two, doll."

I smiled at him, then turned back toward the club and silently whimpered.

Here I am, walking straight back into the open mouth of hell.

Chapter Ten

After placing Avery in bed and watching her fall asleep all over again, River and I left her in the room with Verna and returned to the front of the club.

One by one, each member lined up along the wall on the opposite side of the room like soldiers at River's presence. Or better yet, like paper ducks inside a shooting gallery.

I chewed down on the inside of my lip until it almost bled, only stopping when I felt River's large, calloused hand gliding down to the small of my back. I turned my eyes up to him and he glared at me just before bending his mouth down to my ear and whispering, "Just be cool. Alright?"

"I think if I were anymore cool right now, I could freeze snow."

He snickered. "Just be you, darlin'. Like you are with me. These motherfuckers won't know how take your shit, but I know that you can give it right back to 'em ten-fold." His fingers curved into me and my breath caught just as I sucked in air in an attempt to calm my bubbling nerves. "Let's go."

As we shuffled across the room, he pointed to the first man on the very end and nodded; a man so tall and wide, with the muscles in his arms bulging out from beneath his shirt, that he somehow managed to make Dog the Bounty Hunter look like a soft and fluffy, cuddly teddy bear in comparison. His eyes were hazel, his nose was somewhat smashed in like a bottle cap and his waist-length hair was stringy, grey, and looked as if it hadn't been washed in a few good years, which might have explained the leather do-rag. He was covered in bright, colorful tattoos from his neck all the way down to his fingers, and on his right arm,
SHADOW RIDERS, CBC
was diagonally written in bright, bold green letters, matching the color of the letters on the back of his cut.

"This is Tiny," River told me.

"Tiny?" I almost wanted to laugh, because, really? But given that he could've crushed my windpipe with just two fingers if I even looked at him sideways, I thought it was better to just smile and nod instead.

"Yeah, bitch, Tiny," he shot back. I flinched at his brash and unapologetic use of the word toward me and held my tongue. He made a face. "Biggie Smalls was already taken." I realized fairly quickly that this was certainly not a man to mess with, no matter how much I wanted to kick him in the side of the head for referring to me in that way. River's fingers dug into me and when I looked over him, his entire body had stiffened, his jaw was locked as he grinded his teeth and his other hand was balled into a tight fist. Tiny glanced at him for less than a second, then turned back to me and leaned his head. "So you're the bitch that's got this motherfucker's nose all wrapped up inside that goddamn pussy of yours?"

I blinked, startled. "What?"

"Your pussy, bitch," he said again, crossing his arms over his chest. "The sweet spot that's just achin' between those goddamn 'fuck me' thighs of yours? This son of a bitch has
clearly
been waitin' to get up inside
all
of that since this mornin'. Maybe even before then when you were--"

"Forget this asshole," River blurted. "He's a no good motherfucker when he's had too goddamn much to drink."

"Shit, VP," hollered Blue from the other end. "Don't blame the booze. This son of a bitch doesn't need a goddamn excuse to act like such giant motherfucker to anybody that walks through here. It's just in his goddamn DNA."

"Your boy's right,
Riv
,” Tiny mentioned in a slick tone. “I don't need any kind of goddamn excuse. But the shit's not to say that I don't finally fuckin' have one."

River dropped his hand from my back and eased in front of me to stare him down. "And just what in the fuck is that shit supposed to mean, asshole?"

Tiny opened his hands and smiled. "Means nothin', VP. Not a goddamn
fuckin'
thing." His eyes slid over to me once more before he bumped past River and lightly staggered to the other side and out of the club.

River watched the door until he heard the rumbling of a motorcycle, then turned back to me and shrugged. "Like I said, just forget that motherfucker, alright? He's pissed about alota shit goin' down, not just about you bein' here."

"Okay." I didn't really believe him, but the truth was that it didn't really matter all that much if I had.

"Come on."

He walked me over to the next member of the club, the treasurer, Snake, whose slithering tattoos, split tongue, jagged teeth and mismatched blue and green eyes quickly explained away his name. Though he didn't really manage to say all that much to me, unlike Tiny, he was actually pretty polite. As much as a biker can be, I suppose.

After that was Meathead (
self-explanatory)
, followed up by Bullet; with a bald head, pierced tongue and a set of earrings the size of saucers weighing down both lobes, he got his name thanks to the number of times he had been capped in just about every place on his body, including his skull (
which is why he kept his head shaved
), and the fact that he managed to outlast each one despite bleeding out on a few occasions during shoot-outs with rival clubs. His chestnut colored eyes gave off a complete shyness about him that his more than outgoing personality sure as hell didn’t seem to in the least.

Next came Shiver, whose bright blue eyes were just as expressive as the smile plastered across his face, and whose hair was cut just enough to let me see the specs of white growing up past the strands of sandy blond.

He took my hand inside both of his and kissed the back of it. "Nice to meet you, darlin’,” he said. “Now this may be inappropriate as fuck for me to say, seeing as how you’re standing here with VP and all, but I feel like I’ve got no other choice but to let you know that you sure are one
fine
piece of ass."

River dropped his head and moaned. "
Jesus Christ, motherfucker
."

"So, Shiver," I said, trying to move the subject along. I released my hand from his and stood back. "I'm almost afraid to actually ask this, but why the hell do they call you that?"