Morning Glories (Devil's Hornets MC Book 3) (2 page)

The clock said it was 3 AM, and she’d only been in bed for a few hours. She got up to go to the bathroom so she could clean up a bit, because all that nipple tweaking, pussy tapping and deep fingering was done in reality, but it was done with her own hand. The same way she’d been doing it for a month, but her body just decided to make it better with Jack as masturbatory material. Looking into the mirror, she saw that her tear streaked face was still flushed with the power of the orgasm she’d had and was disgusted that this was her life. Her whole life, she had been waiting for a man like Jack to come along, and when he did, he tore through her life like a pleasure cyclone. She wouldn’t have ever thought she’d feel something for a drug dealer… a man that did the same thing as her con-man father. Jack wasn’t anything like her father, but one thing they had in common is that they’d both left her alone without warning or anything she could do to fix it. She was there when the Reapers had practically threatened her if she and Jack were lying about being together, but she thought he’d be able to work something out. If not, she was at least waiting for a letter, a smoke signal, or something from him that said this was hard for him too but didn’t get anything. Not a word or a note or a fuck you, and as much as it hurt, she knew it was what had to be done. This was it… she was done with Jack. She took a deep breath and one last look at her sad face and turned out the light. It was the right thing to do; she knew that, he knew that… probably everyone knew that, so why did she feel so shitty about it?

CHAPTER TWO

“What’s she been up to?” Jack tried to ask Billy who was also called Loud Mouth about Natalie without saying her name. It didn’t seem like he even should be allowed to let it come out of his mouth, but after six weeks, it was physically killing him not knowing.

“Who?” Loud Mouth asked as he stuffed his mouth with curly fries. The man was given the name Loud Mouth because he wasn’t much for words, but somewhere along the way, the name must have just stuck.

“Don’t play games, Mouth, you know who I’m talking about.” Jack watched Loud Mouth eat his food like he didn’t have a care in the world, and it was probably true. What the fuck did he care that Jack was killing himself trying to work too many hours, fight with other club house fighters to get out aggression, and was drinking way too much.

The large man sat back in his seat and stared at him. It was like he was either assessing him or trying to figure out how much to tell him. Loud Mouth was one of his closest friends, but that wasn’t really saying much. Jack didn’t have time for friends, so he didn’t cultivate them, but the man sitting across from him could be quiet for hours on end, but he would surprise you with how much he noticed. That’s the kind of buddy he liked.

“Yeah, I do, but I don’t know if I want to tell you anything.” Loud Mouth must have been done with his assessment because he went back to the shitty food he was shoveling down his throat. Jack almost missed the carefree way the man ate. Food didn’t appeal to him anymore. It was as if giving up Natalie had made his body shut down. He couldn’t feel anything but pissed off, frustrated, and irritated. That had to be getting on everyone’s nerves because he got on his own nerves. When he could see in people’s eyes that they didn’t want to be around him, he wanted to tell them— ‘I don’t want to be around me either.’

At least Loud Mouth was truthful when he told him he didn’t want to give him any information about Natalie, but damn that kind of stung. “Well I’m not asking for much. Just what she’s been up to and how she’s doing. Stop being a pansy ass.”

Loud Mouth Billy had a grin that he was battling to keep off his face, but was losing, and it annoyed the hell out of Jack. It wasn’t like Jack could complain that much since he was the one who’d coaxed the man with dinner so he could get some answers about Natalie before he broke down and went to her himself. That would be a disaster. He was already driving down her street more than once a day just to catch a glimpse of her and driving by her house at night to make sure she was okay. It didn’t matter that they had the strongest protection detail on her; he didn’t feel right unless he checked himself.

The man replaced the grin with an intense look, and Jack thought he may get a bit of information out of his friend. “She’s doing a little better now. It was rough in the beginning. She hadn’t been sleeping, and her eyes stayed puffy. My girl is good for playing down her pain though, because she had a chipper voice and a smile on her face all throughout the day, but the nights were killing her. She never said that, but I could just tell.”

“Why didn’t you ask her about it?” Jack picked up his fries and slid them through the ketchup, but he didn’t even try to put it to his mouth. Just the smell alone was making him sick. What he needed was a double shot of whiskey.

“Because she’s a warrior. I didn’t want her to know that her chipper tone and smiling face wasn’t fooling anyone. She came to work every day with that happy attitude, and she stared out the window for hours looking for you and waiting for you to come by. When the brothers came in, she talked with them and stood by my side. I thought the big men frightened her, but I started watching her, and she was just waiting for any news about you.”

Jack thought he wanted to hear this, but now that he’d heard how she was doing, all he wanted to do was to go over and comfort her. Well that and fuck her sweet, soft pussy so hard she’d forget he’d ever left.

“Don’t you go over there fucking it up,” Loud Mouth said as he went back to eating his free meal. The man could put away a ton of food, and Jack was feeling nauseated just watching him pack all that away.

“Fucking what up?” Jack was startled by the heat in Loud Mouth’s voice. The man was a beast. It was a wonder he wasn’t dead with the force The Reapers used to take him down. He was in an alleyway for who knows how long bleeding, but he was up and at ‘em in no time. When he found out Natalie was returned, he volunteered to work with her at the shop. The whole crew laughed until he stood up and said ‘What the fuck’s so funny?’ Even though his name was making fun of him because he didn’t talk much, that was the first time that anyone had ever heard him raise his voice. Everyone agreed he should take on that detail, and not another word was said about it.

“She’s gotten herself back together a little. In the mornings, she doesn’t look like she’s caked on the make up to hide the bags under her eyes, and it doesn’t look like she’s been crying all night.” Loud Mouth thought about what he was saying as he took a huge bite of his deluxe bacon cheeseburger. “I think she started dating a few weeks ago.”

The man had said that last sentence so quietly, it took a few minutes for Jack to put it together.

“WHAT?” Jack’s voice was loud, but he didn’t care. “What do you mean she’s dating? Do you think she’s dating or do you know she’s dating?”

Loud Mouth sat back in his seat and looked at him so long Jack thought he was going to challenge him to a fight. Loud Mouth was a large man and so was Jack, but he was a bit leaner. It wouldn’t matter to Jack though because he’d beaten larger and tougher men. Like the adage said, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog that counted. With the information he’d just received, he had a fuck load of fight in him.

“This is why I wasn’t going to say anything. You’ve left that woman alone for over six weeks, and now that she’s come to the realization that you’re not coming back and moved on, you want to let pride force you back. Leave her alone like you’ve already done. She’s been through a lot, and she’s had little support or people to back her up. She deserves a bit of happiness.” Loud Mouth shook his head like he couldn’t believe Jack was mad. He’d taken Natalie’s side, and Jack should be happy she had such great supporters.

“You didn’t answer the question… do you think she’s dating or do you know it?” Jack was like a dog with a bone. He had to have some answers, but he could tell he wouldn’t get enough to satisfy him from Loud Mouth.

The deep sigh signaled the end of this conversation was coming soon, but Jack didn’t care. He needed to know the answer to the question.

“I know she’s dating, and I’d appreciate you not pissing me off so I can finish the meal I let you bribe me with.” Loud Mouth tucked back into his food like he’d never eaten in his life, but Jack couldn’t give it up.

“Who is she seeing?” Jack asked quietly. He hated that Billy was right about the assessment of Natalie and the state of their relationship, but he still wanted to know the answer to the question he asked, and he didn’t care if it really was his business or not.

“I don’t think anyone seriously… yet.” The man put all his focus on his meal, and Jack knew there was something he was leaving out.

“What are you not telling me? Come on, Loud Mouth, you are the worst with personal secrets.”

Everyone knew that once you got the man going, he may spill or he may clamp up. He seemed to be very protective of Natalie, so it was possible he wouldn’t get anything but grunts and head nods, but he was going to keep going until either the man got mad or one of them left the building.

“It’s just that some of the guys come around a lot because they want to show her they are serious about her protection, and a few of them have been very friendly with her.” Loud Mouth had broken and gave him some information, but it made Jack even madder than he was before.

“My club brothers? Friendly? With my girl?” Jack was trying to keep his voice down, but he probably should have considered going to another restaurant if he was going to be asking questions like this. It was hard for him to make complete sentences, let alone remain civil.

“She’s not your girl, Jack. You let her go. She’s free as a bird and has been since you told Smith she was nothing to you and you wouldn’t be back to see her.” Loud Mouth looked around as if he cared that they were getting loud and causing a scene. Jack had been there when there was a full blown brawl and Loud Mouth sat in the middle of the whole thing sipping on a milkshake; he knew the man didn’t give two shits about the people around him.

“Smith wants a reason to hurt her, and I’ll not be that.” Jack hit his hands on the table making a loud bang. He knew he’d hurt Natalie with his words and his absence, but he wanted her alive. He could feel the anger building up in him and thought to schedule fight time with the club. He’d not done that since he was a much younger man needing extra money. The illegal fighting within the Devil’s Hornets was quite a money maker, but it was brutal. He needed the brutality tonight… to give and to receive. The animal within him, the one he thought had been tamed with age, roared to life. He needed to beat the shit out of something or someone. It would be perfect if he could fight himself, but it was too hard to do, so fighting another loser would have to do.

“I understand what you’re doing and why. We all do, but that doesn’t take away the fact that there is a beautiful woman who’s sad and neglected flitting around her shop. There are lots of people who want to fill up her nights and change the look on her face from sadness to the look women get when they get ridden all night.” Loud Mouth looked like he was way too happy to tell him these things that Jack had already known.

“Yeah, I get it.” Jack was pissed, and there wasn’t anyone to be mad at but himself. This was the decision he’d made, and now he had to live with it. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to kill someone. He needed something, and at this moment, he could see why he had so many customers wanting drugs. An escape was definitely better than this. “I’ve got to get going.” Jack stood up from the table and put ten more dollars than the meal could have cost, but he didn’t want to wait for the total; he needed to get out of there before he took out his frustrations on Billy.

“I didn’t really want to tell you that, but I figure you’re probably going through it too. Just leave her alone if you’re not going to keep her. She’s a nice lady, and she doesn’t deserve to be dicked around like you’re doing to her.” Billy went back to eating like he didn’t just flay Jack open with his words. “Oh yeah, stop getting so close to the store. She doesn’t know you creep around different times of the day; I’ve heard from patrol a few times a night, and she better not find out.”

Jack just nodded to the man who was putting away an enormous amount of food. Pulling out his phone as he walked to his bike, he wrote a short note to Ruthless, the man in charge of fights.

I’m in. Tell me the time.

This wasn’t going to be pretty, and he hoped to hell he was well matched because he felt like he was running from the devil and had so much built up rage in him that he hoped he didn’t kill anyone. As he sat there waiting to hear from his club brother, he sat on his motorcycle and contemplated what he would do if he couldn’t go right… damn… now because this rage that was all bottled up was about to blow his lid off. It was just his luck that the response came quickly.

Ruthless – Come now.