Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4) (47 page)

“Nothing,” Zeke
grumbled.  “Honor is blackmailing me.  She threatened to schedule six more
dates – all of ‘em with your motorcycle brethren - if I so much as give you a
dirty look today.  It’s fuckin’ bullshit.”

Wrath’s amusement was
uncontainable as he guffawed loudly.  “Atta girl,” he praised Honor with a firm
nod.  “She’s growing a backbone, Zeke.  That’s good news.”

Zeke smiled faintly
and nodded.  “I guess it is,” he admitted as he heard Honor’s light footsteps
approaching the door.  Holding his breath as the screen door opened and Honor
walked out onto the porch, fresh - faced and smiling, Zeke’s heart flipped in
his chest.  She looked beautiful.  And happy.

And she was leaving
with another man.

FUCK.

“Wrath, I’m so sorry
I kept you waiting,” Zeke heard her apologize as Wrath’s eyes widened on Honor,
his interested gaze sweeping up and down her body. 

“Wrath,” Zeke
warned.  “Remember… She’s
mine
.”

  Wrath looked from
Honor to Zeke and grinned evilly.  “Not for the next few hours.  I think I’m
gonna see what I can do to turn this pretty lady’s eyes my way, Sheriff,” the
other man taunted with a wink.

Zeke couldn’t blame
the other man for wanting to try, but he also couldn’t help the growl that
escaped his mouth.

Turning stern eyes to
Zeke, Honor pointed at the lawman.  “Don’t you dare,” she told him, refusing to
be intimidated as Wrath snorted with amusement. 

Zeke pressed his lips
together and glared at Wrath, his eyes promising painful retribution if the
motorcycle riding nightmare so much as stepped a hair out of line.  “I’ll pick
her up in a few hours at the park, McKay.  Make sure you take care of what’s
mine
,”
he remarked pointedly before cupping his hands around Honor’s neck, pulling her
toward him and dropping his mouth to hers.

“Zeke!” she squealed
against his lips as her hand met his chest and tried to push him away.

Ignoring her protest,
he kissed her quickly, but deeply, making his point to Wrath in a way he
couldn’t mistake.  Especially when Honor’s body softened against his and her
lips returned his kiss.

Releasing her mouth,
he dropped a quick kiss to her forehead as she panted in his arms before
grinning at a scowling Wrath McKay.  “That ought to hold
my
Kitten
over,” he informed the other man with a smirk.  “I’ll see you both soon,” he
declared with a grin as Wrath took a dumbstruck Honor’s arm and guided her
toward the steps. 

Zeke watched as Honor
followed docilely behind Wrath and waved at her when he lifted her into the
passenger seat of his truck.  He didn’t like seeing her leave without him, but
he couldn’t help consoling himself with the knowledge that it would be his
taste in her mouth all afternoon. 

And as the truck
disappeared down the gravel driveway, he turned and went back into the house. 

After all, he had a
memorable evening of his own to plan for the love of his life.

Monday, July 4, 2016

11:35 am – The
Hell Hounds MC Clubhouse

Honor

“Again, Wrath… I am
just so sorry about that back at the house.  I don’t know what’s gotten into
Ezekiel lately,” Honor fretted out loud as Wrath turned into the rock road that
led toward both the garage she knew he owned and the huge building that housed
the Hell Hounds’ motorcycle clubhouse.  She’d only ever visited the garage to
drop off her car, but the clubhouse was visible from the parking lot.  “Are you
sure it’s alright to bring me to your clubhouse, Wrath?” she asked worriedly. 
“Don’t you need to be a member or something to go in there?”

“Babe, you’re with
the President,” he reminded her with a smile.  “And as President, I can do
whatever I want, including taking a pretty lady to my clubhouse.”

Fidgeting in her
seat, Honor forced herself to smile.  She didn’t want to be rude, but visiting
his motorcycle brothers’ base of operation wasn’t exactly on her bucket list. 
She knew she didn’t need to be frightened.  The Hell Hounds riders had been
nothing but kind to her for years, showing her every possible respect when they
visited the café. 

But this was
their
turf, she thought to herself nervously as she scratched at the skin on the
top of her hand.  Those men inside the big warehouse looking building wouldn’t
need to be on their best behavior inside their own territory.  And it didn’t
help that
all
the members of the biker group Wrath led were freaking
huge
. 
She didn’t think a single one of them was shorter than six feet tall, and they
all looked like they could bench press a Buick!

“Honor,” Wrath called
softly as he covered her anxious hands with his.  “Sweetheart, you’re gonna
make your hand raw if you don’t quit scratchin’.  If I send you back to Zeke
with your hands bleeding, the lawman’s likely to lose his mind and shoot me on
sight.  You don’t want my death on your conscience, do you?” he teased gently.

“Of course not,”
Honor denied, automatically stilling her hands as she tried to pull them from
Wrath’s grip as unobtrusively as possible. 

Letting her go, Wrath
nodded toward the building.  “I can guarantee you that no man, brother or not,
will bother you on my property.  If they do, they answer to me and everybody
here knows that I’m not exactly a man that tolerates assholes.  Especially men
that are assholes to women.”

Shaking her head,
Honor blushed.  “Oh, I never thought…”

“Yes, you did, baby,”
Wrath corrected her gently.  “And after everything that’s happened to you – I
don’t blame you.

“That wasn’t your
fault,” Honor whispered.

“Once upon a time,
one of my prospects hurt you.  The bastard wasn’t a brother yet, but he was
damn close.  Knowing that eats at my soul.  Honor, what he did to you is always
gonna feel like it’s on me because I let that filth into my club.  What I can
promise is that it will
never
happen again.  Every one of my brothers
and prospects know that both you and your sisters are under this club’s
protection. Dishonoring or disrespecting any one of you means there would be
swift and harsh retribution,” he vowed solemnly.   “So, just to say, babe, on
this property, you are as safe as a newborn baby in her momma’s loving arms. 
Alright?”

 Throat tight, Honor
nodded wordlessly.  Because, really, what was there to say? 

“Now, I need to get
our grill loaded up in the bed of the truck to take over to the cookout at the
park.  Since it’s about a million degrees today, I’m gonna take you into the
clubhouse so that you’ll be comfortable.  Nobody in there is gonna hurt you. 
Okay?”

“Okay,” Honor
acknowledged softly, nodding slightly as she watched Wrath throw open his car
door.

“Where’s Storm?” she
asked a few seconds later when he pulled open the passenger door and helped her
down from the truck. 

“His mom’s got him
today,” Wrath replied unhappily as he dropped a hand to her back and guided her
toward the door.  “I’m gonna try to steal him away for a burger when we get to
the park though.”

Honor smiled and
nodded.  “That’d be wonderful.”  And she meant that.  Storm McKay was a great
kid.  The same age as her niece, Heaven, the little boy was a constant source
of amusement when he ate at the café.  Always smiling and joking, no one would
ever know that the young boy’s mother was one of the most conniving and vicious
gossips in town.  Yes, Darla McKay Tilden was one woman that Honor could safely
say she’d be happy to never see again, but in a town the size of Paradise, that
was unlikely.  Thankfully, the woman detested the basic fare her restaurant
provided and rarely ate there, but she’d been in the café enough for Honor to
dread her visits.  Nothing was
ever
good enough, and the uppity woman
wasn’t shy about letting the waitresses know her displeasure.  More than once,
Honor had been forced to take over for one of her employees because of that
horrible woman’s nastiness.  And it didn’t help matters that two years ago,
Darla had married the sitting mayor. 

It had been a scandal
of epic proportions since she’d been cheating on Wrath for the last year of
their marriage.  The miserable woman, however, had done her best to make the
affair Wrath’s fault, saying that she’d only cheated because he valued his
‘brothers’ more than he’d valued their marriage.

It was a lie, of
course.  She valued Mayor Tilden’s money more than she’d valued the family she
created with Wrath, if you asked Honor.

“It’ll be good to see
Storm again.   He’s a great kid.  You’ve done an amazing job raising him,
Wrath,” Honor praised.

“Thanks.  Luckily for
me, he was born a good kid,” Wrath said with a humble smile as he held open the
steel door for Honor to precede him inside the building.

Squinting as she went
from the bright sunshiny morning into the dim light of the clubhouse, Honor
gasped when her eyes adjusted. “Oh, my,” she yelped, spinning around to stare
at the now closed door they’d just walked through as she threw up a hand to try
and  rub the image she’d just witnessed from her burning eyes.  Seeing a naked
woman down on her knees between one of Wrath’s brother’s splayed legs while she
sucked on his ding-a-ling was NOT the image she’d expected to find when she
walked inside what had appeared to be a cavernous game room.

“Jesus, Rocky!  Put
on some fuckin’ clothes, dammit! And zip your shit up, Ghost!” Wrath roared.

“I tried to fuckin’
warn them not to start that shit out here in the common room, Prez,” a voice
that Honor instantly recognized belonged to the unsmiling biker that everybody
called Giggles rasped from the corner.   “Told ‘em you and Miss Honor were
comin’ back for the grill.”

“Sorry, Prez,” Honor
heard Ghost apologize softly.  “Thought me and Rock had more time.”

“Yeah, sorry, Wrath,”
a feminine voice whined.

“Don’t hand that
sorry shit to me, motherfuckers.  You point your apology at the woman behind
me,” Wrath spat angrily.  “I just got done guaranteeing her that she’d feel
comfortable around us, assholes.  Pissed as fuck to know you assholes could all
prove me wrong in record time!”

Lightly touching
Wrath’s stiff arm, Honor looked up to see his harsh face eyeing Ghost and the
woman furiously.

“What’s going on out
here?  Fang and I got the potato salad and macaroni and cheese loaded in my
car.  We all should get a move on or…Oh, my gosh!  Honor?  That you?” another
woman’s voice asked as Honor reflexively turned to see who was talking to her. 
Seeing Aimee Jarvis staring back at her in shock, Honor lifted a hand to wave
weakly at a woman with whom she’d graduated high school.  Dressed in a tube top
and a pair of tight denim shorts that left very little to imagination, Honor
could only imagine the trouble Amie was getting up to here at the club.  Her
classmate had been as wild as the wind in high school and seeing another
leather clad man wrap an arm around her chest and grope her ample breasts,
Honor thought she could safely assume that not much had changed for the other
woman.  “Hey, Aims.”

“What in the world
are you doing here, sweetie?” the curvy blonde asked with wide eyes as she
looked from Honor to the MC President.  “Wrath, I don’t think Honor is the type
of girl that you wanna bring in here. No offense, Honor.  I swear I’m just
tryin’ to look out for you,” she added hastily with a kind look.  Directing her
attention toward Wrath, Aimee shook her head, her dark ponytail swinging from
side to side.  “This isn’t gonna be her scene, Prez.  Let me take Honor on over
to the park and we’ll wait for you there.”

Wrath chuckled without
humor.  “At least somebody has got their head on straight,” he remarked,
narrowing his eyes on Ghost and Rocky.

“Wrath, it’s fine,”
Honor assured him with a light hand on his arm.  Relieved to see that everybody
had their clothes back on, she smiled at the men.  “Maybe the boys can help you
load that grill now,” she suggested.

“Be happy to, Miss
Honor,” Ghost said gladly, nearly dumping Rocky in the floor as he shoved her
off his lap and jumped to his feet.  “We’re real sorry you caught us like that,
aren’t we, Rocky?” he said, slapping the voluptuous blonde’s bare shoulder as she
adjusted her own tube top.

Glaring at Honor,
Rocky pouted.

“Rock!” Wrath barked.

“What?” The blonde
whined.  “I was just doing my job, Wrath.  Taking care of your boys just the
way they like.”

Honor’s face paled at
that remark.  “What?  Your
job
?” she repeated, looking from the blonde
to Wrath.  “
That
was her job?”

“Aw, shit,” Giggles
cursed under his breath.

“Yep,” the blond
announced, popping the gum she had in her mouth.

“Babe, it’s not what
you think,” Wrath said quietly, shooting Rocky a look that would have silenced
a sane woman.   Instead, Rocky just shrugged her shoulders carelessly.  “Rocky
and Aimee are sweetbutts.  It’s their job to entertain the brothers.  In
return, the Club offer them protection and a place to stay.”

“And by entertain,
you mean…with their
bodies
?” Honor asked stiffly, shooting a look toward
an embarrassed Aimee.

“Yep,” the blonde
Rocky answered again.

“Will somebody please
get that bitch out of here?” Wrath growled, gesturing at Rocky.

“No!  Wait.  I want
to understand,” Honor said before Ghost could drag the other woman from the
room.  “You and your brothers use these girls for your own personal pleasure? 
Like… like
whores
?” she whispered violently.

“Aw, hell,” Giggles
muttered as he leaned against the bar on the other side of the room and tilted
a bottle to his lips.

“It’s not like that
at all, Honor,” Wrath denied with a sigh.

“It’s really not,”
Aimee offered loyally, taking a step forward as the towering man behind her
dropped his hand from around her.  “All us girls choose to be here, Honor.  We
can leave any time we like.”

Honor blinked.  “All
you girls?  As in, more than just you and Rocky?” she balked.  “How many do you
have?” Honor asked, looking at Wrath. 

“Two more women stay
here besides Aimee and Rock.  They all have their own room and bathroom on the
other side of the compound,” Wrath replied quietly. 

Shaking her head,
Honor could only stare at the man she was supposed to spend the afternoon with
a sort of stunned horror.  “I…you… this is prostitution, Wrath!”

“No, this is a fair
exchange of services, Honor.  No money ever changes hands,” Wrath contradicted.

“Sex for safety is
NOT a fair exchange,” Honor argued as her hands began to shake mildly.

Wrath frowned at
her.  “Listen, you may not agree.  You may not like it, but…”

“No more words from
you!” Honor threw up a hand to shut him up and turned to face Aimee and Rocky. 
“If either of you or the two other girls want a job that doesn’t include
servicing the men in this Club, I’ll be happy to hire you at the café,” she
offered hopefully.  “I offer both health and dental insurance and a nice
401-K.  I’m assuming you don’t have any kind of retirement plan, right?” she
questioned with a narrow look up at Wrath.

Wrath nearly choked
on his tongue.  “Babe, are you actually trying to coax the sweetbutts into
leaving the Club and working at the café?” he asked, unable to remain silent. 

“Oh, I absolutely
am.  If I could, I’d hire all four right out from underneath you and whatever
brother they’re havin’ to service at the moment!” Honor hissed.  “Using these
girls to sate your own carnal desires is despicable.  You all ought to be
ashamed of yourself,” she huffed, shifting her disappointed gaze over all three
of the men in the room.

“Well, I, for one,
ain’t goin’ nowhere.   I love the way they use me, chick. And  I can’t get
enough biker lovin’,” Rocky declared, stroking Ghost’s muscular arm.

“What?” Honor
blurted, surprised.

“I said, I’m stayin’
right where I’m at,” Rocky asserted.