Lock and Key (13 page)

Well, don’t we have plenty in common?

I remember that feeling well when half my unit had been blown to bits in a mine field. It had later been cemented in the pit of my chest when I was told Wreck had been killed, and I was thousands of miles away.

“It was a smart thing to do though, leaving,” said Alicia. “Ruby said it was better for you to start over somewhere new. Clean slate. She was right, wasn’t she?”

Grace only nodded.

Clean slate, my ass. No such thing. Oh, Grace.

“What you went through was brutal, honey. No denying it,” Alicia said. “I always hoped we’d see you again, and here you are. Look at you, you look great, so pretty…”

Grace blushed and let out a laugh. Her features relaxed for just a moment like a young girl’s. Something pinched in my chest.

“And you are still a hot mama!” Grace said in a throaty voice that sent a ripple right through me. She took Alicia in her arms, and they clung to each other. A sob escaped Grace’s lips.

“Suzi, get her a whiskey!” I yelled.

I grabbed her one arm, and Alicia pushed her down into an armchair. Boner came running with a glass full of whiskey. She gulped the liquor and swiped away the wetness at her beautiful greenish brown eyes. Jump and Alicia sat on the end of the sofa next to her.

“Where you been, hon’?” Jump asked, a hand on her shoulder. “You come back to stay?”

“I’ve been moving around,” Grace said. “I could never sit still in one place long enough. I never felt I could settle down.”

I squeezed my eyes shut.
All that evasiveness and wariness she had offered up to me at the bar suddenly made sense, as did her crazy nomad existence over the past years.

“I came back a couple of weeks ago because Ruby’s sick. She needs me, and I need your help.”

“I heard she’s been in the hospital,” said Jump. “You need help with the medical bills?”

“No, nothing like that. She’s got good insurance,” she said. “It’s cancer. She needs a bone marrow transplant. I thought maybe you all could come get tested, put out the word, as well. We don’t have a match yet. I don’t even match. Found out today. Do you believe that?” She brought the glass to her lips once more and drank. “I was supposed to match. I’m her sister.”

Oh, shit.

“Honey, I’m so sorry,” Alicia murmured, her hand went to Grace’s knee.

Grace cleared her throat. “Jump, I was also hoping you could help me find my dad. If he’s still alive, he’s the only relative left. It’s worth a shot.”

“Lock here is good at investigative shit,” Jump said. “You just give me whatever you got on him, and we’ll get on it, right brother?”

“Absolutely,” I said.

She took another gulp of her drink “Thanks,” she whispered.

My pulse skidded with the sound of that breathy whisper. The same whisper that had taken my breath away sixteen nights ago with “
Oh, God, yes. Don’t stop. Miller, you feel so good. What are you doing to me…”
I shifted my weight, my hand slid down my chest.

“Ruby’s son is such a cutie,” said Alicia. “She gave him Dig’s real name, didn’t she?”

Grace nodded and gave Alicia a half smile.

“That’s sweet,” Alicia said.

“Sure is,” Boner said. He eased down on the arm of Grace’s chair and ran a hand over her hair.

Grace took another drink and rested her arm on Boner’s leg. Her eyes darted up at Alicia. “She did it for me, you know,” Grace said. Alicia’s eyes widened at her. She nodded and squeezed her hand.

Holy shit, that’s right. Grace and Alicia had been pregnant at the same time fifteen years ago, but Grace had lost her baby in the attack.

Boner rubbed her shoulders. “Dig saved Ruby’s hide more than once, helped her get on her feet after all was said and done. And he sure made her little sister real happy.” His voice was unusually gentle, his eyes soft. He planted a kiss on her forehead. Shit, here was infamous club history I had always heard about playing out before me. Witnessing volatile, crazy-ass Boner’s sudden transformation into a soft-spoken, caring big brother with Grace was nothing short of amazing.

Grace parked her empty glass on the table. “There’s something else I need to know.”

“Shoot,” said Jump.

She straightened her back, and her eyes cut to his.

“Where did you bury my husband?”

The weekend party with the Demon Seeds ran through Tuesday morning when the last of them roared out of the gates. Dig and I had begun our little charade that wasn’t much of a charade on Friday night. The entire weekend we had been inseparable, but we didn’t do “the deed.” We had done everything but in his bed every night and every morning, and by the time Sunday rolled around I was desperate for him. He was desperate for it too, but was keeping himself in check. His self-control amazed me. Dig was a hundred times the man that someone like Trey Owens was or could ever hope to be.

I figured it was because he didn’t want me to get attached to him or clingy if he deflowered me. Bikers didn’t do attachments, did they? They were all about freedom, their bike, the open road, and a good time on their own terms. Several of the older members of the club had old ladies and kids, but a twenty-seven year old sexy man like Dig? He certainly wasn’t boyfriend or relationship material. He could have anyone he wanted whenever he wanted, and I was sure they lined up for him regularly. I had no delusions about that.

Yep, I knew that once my lunatic weekend in One-Eyed Jacks Land was over, I would get right back on the bus to Reality.

The Demon Seeds left, and Dig brought me to my house on his bike. This was the big goodbye. I held my breath as he popped the kickstand. I leaned on his shoulders and swung off his Harley.

What should I say? ‘Thanks for the good time?’ God no. Um…

Dig dismounted and followed me to the front door.

Oh. Very polite.

I shoved the key in the lock and turned the knob. “Get your bikini,” he said. “We’re going to the Hippie Hole for a swim.”

My eyes popped open. He invited me!

It was a pretty warm day for early September in South Dakota. When we had left the clubhouse earlier, all the men were setting off for their favorite swimming hole in Big Falls with plenty of beer, weed, and food to unwind after the long weekend. Dig hadn’t said a word about it ,and I hadn’t asked.

“Oh, okay,” I said. On the inside, I jumped up and down for joy.

We entered my house and passed the kitchen to get to my room.

“Peanut, what the fuck?” He stood in the center of the glass strewn on the floor of the kitchen, his eyebrows knit together.

“Oh.” I shrugged and let out a sigh. “I had a spaz before I came looking for you at the club Friday night.”

His lips twitched as he stared at me. He shifted his weight; his heavy boots crunched shards of glass and plastic underfoot. Emotion flickered across his features, and he took in a breath.

The sudden silence in the room pressed in on me. “What?” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “What is it?”

“Come here,” he said, his voice gruff.

I didn’t hesitate. Under his burning gaze I scooted over to him, my boots crunching over the debris. He lifted me up in his embrace, hooked my legs around his waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and his mouth took mine in a gentle kiss. His hands pressed into my ass under my skirt.

“This shit’s over for you, baby. You’re with me now. You got that?”

My heart pounded in my chest. I only nodded at him and rubbed the back of his neck with my fingers.

“Ruby will be fine in jail, we’ve got her protected,” he said. “I don’t want you worrying about her. She’ll be out in no time, you’ll see. I’ll take you to visit her whenever you want.” He studied my reaction. “Either you stay with me, or if you want we can stay here. What do you say?”

Together with Dig. We were together.

You’re with me now.

My legs tightened around him, and I bit my lower lip. Dig’s head tilted at me. “What is it?” he asked.

“I’m with you, now?”

“Yeah, baby.” His lips brushed my mouth.

“Does that make me a club bitch?”

He laughed. “Hell, no. It makes you mine. This sweet ass is only mine, baby.” His fingers dug into my bare skin and my insides seized.

“Oh.” I averted my gaze. My fingers played with the worn collar of his faded club t-shirt.

He pinched my rear, and my eyes shot up to his. He scowled at me. “Come on, spill it,” he said.

“I was just wondering. Does that mean you’ll still be, um, partying like before?” I asked. I just couldn’t come out and say it in plain English. What if he laughed at me and said something like: “Of course, Peanut, I’m a tough biker dude. Deal with it.” I knew I’d be crushed. All this was already too good to be true. My heart stopped as I waited for his reply.

“What did you call me at the party… a man-whore?” he asked.

I tugged on his hair. “You are.”

His eyes softened over my face, and he grinned. “If I got it good under my own roof, I won’t look for it elsewhere.”

I smirked at him. “Well now, that’s quite a deal then,” I said. He chuckled. My fingers traced the side of his handsome face.

“You won’t get bored?”

“You don’t bore me,” he said, his voice just above a whisper.

“Hmmm.”

“Hmmm?” He grinned at me. “As long as you’re not too much of a bitch, we’ll be cool.”

“Women are not always bitches, you know” I said.

“Peanut, I don’t think there’s any bitch in you at all,” he murmured against my lips. “You’re nothing but sweet.” His tongue drove into my mouth. His eyes remained on me as he lifted my body higher in his hold.

“There’s more to me than sweet,” I said.

“Believe me, I’ve noticed. I’m looking forward to figuring it all out.”

I soared to the top of the world right there and then in that haunted house. He put me down on my feet and my boots chomped on the glass. It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.

“I want to see your room,” he said.

“You do?”

“I want a bikini fashion show, then you’re gonna strip for me.” His hand went under my skirt and rubbed the bare flesh of my rear. He shoved me into his erection.

“What about the Hippie Hole?” I asked.

He grinned down at me. “We’ll get there, Little Sister. Now move that sweet ass of mine.” He swatted my rear.

As requested I modeled my one and only bikini for him and made a dramatic display of it, then I began to take it off. Slowly. I had no idea what I was doing, but it didn’t matter. Dig loved it. Both of us laughed the entire time. He took his very hard dick out from his jeans and stroked himself while he lay back on my pink and yellow daisy quilt and admired my moves.

He crooked his finger at me. “Get over here, babe. My boy needs you.” That wicked grin of his made my insides curl. I crawled up on the bed, and we fooled around. I thought we would have sex, but we didn’t.

“Louder, baby,” he said against my wet skin. “Nobody’s home. It’s just you and me in here.”

His fingers and mouth kept working me, and I gave it to him louder. I was breathless from the orgasms and all the laughing. It was deliciously illicit to behave so brazenly in broad daylight in my parents’ house, in my pastel bedroom with the white eyelet curtains drifting in the breeze. But now it was my house, and for the very first time I could actually let it all hang out whenever and however I wanted to.

And I wanted to. I wanted to with Dig.

“One day soon I’m going to fuck you in every room in this goddamn house,” he said as he shoved his boots on.

“Promise?”

“Hell, yeah.” He planted a kiss on my forehead and took his jacket from my hands. The sudden tension in his voice caught my attention. I got the impression Dig knew what it was like to grow up in a haunted house.

“Right now we got to get moving.” He put his jacket on. “Want to get there before sunset.”

We got on his bike and zoomed toward Big Falls. Holding onto Dig as his bike forged through the wind at heart-stopping speed made my pulse jump in my throat and a new kind of energy pump through my veins. My legs squeezed around the machine of wonder that roared over the asphalt, my arms clung to Dig’s strong body.

This is where I want to be.

It was a fact, a truth that seared through me.

When we got to the Hippie Hole I stumbled off the bike in a daze, a smile plastered on my face. His eyes slid to mine as he unpacked the blankets. He reached in his saddlebag and handed me the burgers we had bought on the road. Dig took the helmet from my hands and planted a wet kiss on my lips.

“That your first long ride on a bike?”

I nodded.

“You liked that, huh?”

I could barely manage a grin.

“Yeah, you liked that a lot,” he said. Dig shook his head and laughed, his dark golden hair fell in his eyes. “Let’s go, goofball.” He planted a kiss on my lips again. “Got a bit of a hike ahead of us.” I linked my fingers in a belt loop of his jeans, and he led me to the swimming hole.

Boner’s blonde skinny-dipped and splashed water at several other nude or topless women, all of them hangers-on from the weekend party. Alicia, Jump’s new woman, was sunbathing in her tiny bikini on a large pink towel. We had met at the clubhouse over the weekend, and she had been somewhat friendly.