Reckless Love (Satan's Prophets MC, Book 2) (Satan's Prophets MC Series) (6 page)

Mick got called to take on another bounty hunting job. He hated leaving town and his son, but he needed the money. His goal of saving up for a house was almost met.

He hopped in his pickup and decided to take the main route out of town. Mick was lost in thought until he saw Renee walking on the sidewalk in front of the movie theater. He had to look twice. Who the fuck was that guy walking with her? He stopped his truck as he neared them to get a good look at the guy’s face. Mick didn’t recognize having seen him around town.

Who the fuck was he?

Mick sat there for another minute trying to control his anger. He shook his head, thinking she’s the mother of his kid and out with some douche bag. He wondered if the guy even knew he was Michael’s father.
Probably not,
he thought as he revved up his engine, his fingers tightly clenching the steering wheel. He shifted into gear and sped out of town. The only satisfaction Mick got was seeing the guy’s face turn pure white.

Renee was frozen midstride, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She couldn’t take her eyes off of Mick as he drove away. Peter tugged on her arm to get her moving again and pulled her into the movie theater.

Mick was wrong; Peter noticed Renee’s agonized expression. He stopped just inside the theater. “I assume that guy’s the baby’s father?”

Renee nodded her head, yes, her mouth incapable of speech just yet.

Peter’s lips curled in disgust. “A biker? Wow, Renee. What the heck were you thinking?”

Renee flinched from Peter’s accusing tone of voice and meekly hung her head down. Her voice was low and trembling. “I wasn’t thinking, that is obvious. Please, Peter, I can’t get into all that right now. I really think I should go home. You… shouldn’t waste your time with me.”

“Nonsense. We came to enjoy a movie, right?” He tried to smile. “Let’s not let anything bother us tonight.”

She halfheartedly agreed. Renee was sorry she didn’t ask him first what movie they were going to see. There was so much blood and gore and it was absolutely terrifying to her. She wanted to leave early, but Peter was enjoying it and wouldn’t budge. Finally it was over and Renee’s night was officially ruined.

That night, Renee lay in bed thinking of Mick. She knew she couldn’t be with him, but why did her heart do flip-flops every time she saw him? If only things could be different. If only he would get out of that damn club. Why couldn’t she be a stronger woman? She didn’t know. Jaz and JD seem happy enough. Why couldn’t she be like Jaz and handle the MC life? What was wrong with her?

But then she thought of her son. She had to make sure he had a good upbringing, got a good education, and not live an outlaw biker’s life. She still had hope that someday she would meet a nice guy and have her dream house with the white picket fence. She wondered if maybe Peter could be the one. She decided to spend more time with him to find out.

* * *

Peter was very attentive to Renee on their following dates. They spent a lot of time together talking about old times and laughing over silly little things. He would show up at Renee’s house with fresh-cut flowers or candy, and Renee thrived on all the attention.

But whenever they ran into her friends, Peter would turn into a very different person.

One night, they ran into Jaz and Lori at the ice cream parlor. Renee was having a fun time talking to her friends, but Peter just sat there quietly not wanting to join in the conversation. When Jaz tried conversing with him, his answers were a yes or no, nothing more. Jaz finally gave up on him thinking he was an awfully shy person.

The same thing happened on a few other occasions whether it was running into her friends or a friendly customer from the store. Renee noticed how he would get quiet and moody. She tried to talk to Peter about that a few times, but he would just brush the conversation off. His usual excuse was that he was just tired from a busy day at the veterinary clinic.

One night, Peter took Renee to a restaurant in the neighboring town of Green Grove. Renee was enjoying his company until his face turned sullen during the dinner conversation. Peter told Renee he didn’t think her friends liked him very much and they made him feel uncomfortable. He would be happy if they didn’t have to spend any time around them. Renee’s hand holding her water glass froze halfway to her mouth.

“Peter, don’t be silly, I’m sure that’s not true. They’re my friends and I think you are wrong about them. Besides, we live in a small town and we are going to run into them often, so you’d better get used to seeing them.”

Peter grabbed her by the wrist and set the glass she was holding back down on the table.

“Peter, you’re squeezing my wrist.” Renee caught a flash of anger in his eyes and was surprised by his unusual show of jealousy.

Peter smiled one of his most charming smiles and asked Renee to forgive him. “I’m sorry, darling. Your skin is so soft and flawless and I forget how delicate you are, like a china doll.
My
china doll. You’re so beautiful, Renee, you can’t blame me for wanting you all to myself.”

Renee smiled back, thinking she had to be mistaken, completely dazzled by his flattering words.

“Just you and me, Renee. We have each other and that’s all we need.”

Nodding her head to agree, Peter kissed her wrist where the imprint from his fingers was already turning pink.

Mick smiled as he looked down at the check in his hand. Seven grand. He was getting worn out from all these cat-and-mouse chases with the bail jumpers, but he couldn’t stop now, not when he was so close to his dream of owning his own home.

He stopped off at a small diner for some lunch and ran into a friend of his that he hadn’t seen in years. Adam was a tattoo artist and owned his own shop a few blocks away. As Mick sat there catching up on old times, a thought popped into his head.

“Hey, Adam, when you’re done with lunch, how about I follow you to your shop? I’ve been meaning to get a new tattoo.”

“Sure. Let’s go, man.”

Adam unlocked the door and flipped the closed sign back over. Mick looked around the little shop and was surprised at the drawings that hung on the wall. They were good with plenty of detail, but not nearly as good as his former mentor’s drawings were. Sad memories came back to Mick of his days working with Jaz’s father in his tattoo shop. Nick was a one-of-a-kind tattoo artist. His drawings were very intricate and colorful. Men and women traveled miles just to have him work his magic on their skin.

Adam broke him out of his memories when he asked, “What did you have in mind?”

After giving it some thought, Mick came up with the perfect tattoo. He explained how he wanted it done, and Adam sat down to start drawing. Mick looked at the tattoo when it was finished. It was perfect. He already had a ferocious-looking tiger tattooed on his left pectoral with its paws raised up and the claws out, ready to pounce. He had Adam tattoo a tiger cub inside the protection of the raised paws with the name “Michael” underneath it. The message was clear:
you fuck with my kid, you pay.

“It looks great, man.” Mick smiled, putting down the hand mirror. “We could sure use you back where I come from.”

“Oh yeah? Where is that?”

“Fulton. The closest tattoo shop is two hours away. I think you’d do a fantastic business there. It’s a good central location to neighboring towns.”

Adam paused as he was cleaning up his tools. “I’ll think about it, but I’m getting by here. Money’s not the greatest, but I don’t feel like moving away from what’s left of my family that lives here.”

“You ever change your mind, come see me. I did some tattooing years back. I can help you out ‘til you get up and running. Ever hear of Nick Wallis?”

“Hell man, who hasn’t? He was legendary with his famous designs. Don’t tell me you worked with him.”

“Yep. Up until he was murdered.”

“Heard about that. Bad medicine, messing with those boys.”

Mick put his shirt back on and shook Adam’s hand. “Thanks again. Guess I’ll see ya around then.”

Gradually, Peter became more controlling and possessive, and Renee, having had little experience with men, mistook it for affection.

Peter stopped by Renee’s house to invite her for breakfast one Saturday morning. They were sitting in a booth near the back of the diner. Renee looked around the room at all the empty tables closer to the front windows. “Peter why are we sitting way back here?”

“Don’t you know by now, darling?” Peter reached over and took a hold of Renee’s hand. “I’m a greedy man, Renee. I love spending time with you and have a great day planned for us. I figure we’ll go for a little ride over to the lake this afternoon. Just you and me. We can sit and talk and just enjoy us being together.”

“Sorry, Peter, I can’t. I promised my friends I would go with them to a town meeting today.” 

“But I had the afternoon all planned out for us,” he whined, “and I want to spend it with you.” Peter’s grip tightened on Renee’s fingers. His voice was shaky. “I thought you were really into me, Renee. Was I so wrong? Do I mean nothing to you?”

Renee looked down in surprise at Peter’s hand squeezing hers. “Peter, let go of my hand. You don’t know your own strength.”

Peter gave her fingers one more hard squeeze before he let go. He couldn’t seem to help himself. He closed his eyes, trying to stay calm.

Peter forced a smile, but underneath the table his hands were clenched into fists. In a silky-smooth low voice, he coaxed, “Come on, darling. Say you will. Pretty please.”

Renee was a little torn at this point. She really wanted to hang with her friends, but she didn’t want to rock the boat. Peter said he really cared about her and he treated her so special most of the time. She wondered what had happened in Peter’s past to make him so insecure. She knew from all the tender words and praise he showered on her that he really did care for her. She sat there and thought that maybe with time, Peter would become more comfortable and trusting in their relationship. She was still hoping to find her happily-ever-after.

“All right, Peter,” she agreed. “I’ll be waiting for you to pick me up later.”

When Renee was getting out of his car, Peter tried to pull her close for a kiss. Renee turned her head away and his lips landed on her hair. She pretended she didn’t know what he was up to and hurriedly got out of the car. She didn’t want to get into that stage of a relationship with him just yet. She felt it was too soon.

* * *

Jaz made JD a quick salami-and-cheese sandwich for lunch. She was in a hurry because Lori was due over any minute. The town’s special committees group was having a meeting to
plan for a corn-and-clam slam
and, as usual, Lori volunteered her, Renee, and Susanna to help out. It seemed that Lori had to get involved in every little thing that happened in town, which amazed Jaz. When Lori, her friend from college, settled down in Fulton, she made fun of the little hick town relentlessly. She referred to Fulton as Mayberry and wanted to name their motel Aunt Bea’s Inn. It wasn’t long before Fulton worked its country charm on Lori and she fell in love with the small town.

Jaz heard a horn blowing and burst out laughing like she did every time she heard it. She knew instantly who it was. Lori always did her three short honks and told the girls that was her signature blow job. Jaz laced up her black Converse high-top sneakers, folded a faded red bandana and wrapped it around her head, then bent down and gave JD a quick kiss, but he was having none of it. He pulled her down onto his lap and kissed her long and deep. Jaz threw her arms around his neck and leaned in for more. Outside, the car horn beeped three more times. Jaz sighed. She got up and checked her eyeliner and red lipstick in the mirror on the wall, then grabbed her purse off the coat rack and ran out the door.

“Where’s Renee? I thought you asked her to come, too?” Jaz asked Lori, disappointed at not seeing Renee in the car.

“Of course, I did. But she called me back a little while ago and told me she changed her mind. She was waiting for Peter to pick her up and they were going for a drive down to the lake. I swear, he doesn’t want her hanging with us anymore and that pisses me off.”

Susanna raised her voice unintentionally. “It worries me more, to be honest. And when I ask her questions about him, she gets closemouthed and says everything is fine. I don’t know? I just have this feeling like he has some kind of hold over her.” Susanna shook her head and looked at her friends. “I just don’t like him.”

“Me neither,” Jaz agreed, “but I think
she
really does, so what can we do about it? We’ll just have to keep an eye on them, that’s all I guess we can do.”

“Drive on, Lori, and let’s get this meeting over with.” Jaz pointed her finger at Lori and spoke in a firm tone of voice. “And don’t volunteer us to work in any booths like you did last time the town had a celebration! I want to have fun, not be stuck standing in one place all night.”

Lori shifted her little green Volkswagen into gear and drove away. She started giggling. “Don’t worry. I learned my lesson in that kissing booth last summer. Who knew this town had so many old men in it? Ugh!” Lori twisted her lips with a disgusted snort. “Thank goodness the old geezers were thrilled with a peck on the cheek.”

“Oh yeah,” Susanna quipped. “That was funny… until that old guy wanted a kiss on the lips because he saw you planting a lip-lock on the younger guy before him. I thought I was going to pee my pants watching the stink he put up.”

“Well… it wasn’t
that
bad kissing those old, wrinkled-up, prune lips.” Lori shuddered. “Besides, I had to give in before the old prick had a heart attack.”

* * *

Peter needed to stop at the clinic before he picked up Renee to take her to the lake. He was pissed off. “These fucking animals,” he mumbled to himself as he unlocked the clinic’s back door. “Why do I have to come in on my day off just to feed them? Why can’t that skinny little pea-brain bitch of a secretary do it?” The more animals he fed, the madder he got. “They treat me like shit, those fuckers. Hell, I’m the hardest working one here! I ain’t gonna be their slave. Fuck that shit.”

Peter mumbled his little mantra over and over
before
he
walked to the cabinet where the supplies were kept. He opened one drawer after another, not finding what he wanted, yanking the drawers so hard that he broke one of the hinges. Peter paused to wipe the beads of sweat off his brow, then spotted the rubber gloves where he left them by the mice cage.

He reached in and grabbed one of the live mice that were kept as food for the Boa Constrictor. He lowered the mouse into the snake’s glass case, his heart pounding as he stood there and watched the snake eye up the mouse. Gradually the snake began to uncoil itself while its head moved slowly, watching and waiting for the perfect time. The snake moved like lightning, clamping its jaws onto the mouse and quickly spiraling around it, squeezing until the mouse was dead. Peter pulled down his zipper and reached inside, finding his cock erect and throbbing. He fondled himself slowly, watching as the snake moved its jaws forward to engulf the mouse. Seeing the mouse disappear—little by little, deeper and deeper, so trapped and helpless—really excited him.

Peter moved his hand faster now as he watched the end of the mouse’s tail disappear into the snake’s mouth. He came hard, shooting his load on the snake’s glass case. Peter stood there feeling a sense of calm invade his mind. He felt content with the world, in control once again.