Ride with the Wind [The Ghost Riders 1] (10 page)

When he started to pull his boots on, Dominic stopped him. “We’re not through talking yet.”

“I’m going to get a beer, and I don’t want to walk out there in my sock feet.”

“You’ve got whiskey in here. Drink that.”

“I don’t want whiskey. I want a beer.”

“Fine. Bring back three. We’re going to need it.” Dominic stepped aside as Reece finished putting on his boots and walked toward the door.

Raven stared at Dominic. “What is going on?”

“Reece has been used a few too many times, and he’s reacting instead of thinking.”

“What do you mean?”

“He thinks he can keep from getting hurt again if he exposes you for the user that he’s labeled you.”

“I guess he’s right then. I’m using you to keep myself safe. That’s why I’m here in the first place. You both knew that when Chaz left me here.”

“But you’re not just fucking us because of that. You really feel something for us. Try and deny it. I can see it in your eyes. It was there the first time our eyes met.”

“How do you know it’s not just lust?”

“Yeah, Dominic. How do you know it’s not just lust?” Reece walked back into the room, closing the door behind him with his booted foot. He handed Dominic a beer then opened one of the ones in his hands and held it out for her to take.

She reached out and took it. He held on for a split second before releasing it and walking over to the desk and sitting down in the chair. He took a pull of his beer then stared at Dominic.

Dominic sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. She could tell that he was struggling to remain calm. She wondered what it would be like to see him void of all restraints. He’d be a wild man for sure. In any way other than sexually, she didn’t think it would be a good thing.

“Reece, can you honestly say that looking into her eyes this morning all you saw was lust? Because I felt a connection there.”

“Fuck, Dominic. I don’t know what I saw. I was a little too wrapped up in coming at the time.”

“Go ahead and lie to yourself if you want to, Reece, but you know you saw it. It’s why you’re wanting Ray’s and Tussler’s balls on a platter. They dared touch her. She belongs to us, and they hurt her.”

“Fine. I know there’s something there, but I want to be sure she knows it, too. She doesn’t walk away when she gets tired or just wants out. She has to give us a chance first.”

“I agree. Ever think about telling her that instead of trying to make a point that was only going to push her away in the process?”

Reece turned up the bottle and drank from it before looking over at Raven. She could see the emotions running across his face as he fought to regain control. He hung his head and dropped the empty bottle in the trash by the desk.

“Fuck!”

“Yeah, you have some apologizing to do.” Dominic stared at him.

Raven ran a hand over her face as she watched Reece stand up and walk over to her. He knelt on the floor by the bed and looked up at her.

“I’m sorry, babe. I just wanted you to admit that you cared about us. It happened so fast. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Guys, I don’t know what I feel about you. I just met you a few days ago. It’s too soon to think that there’s more to it.”

Reece climbed up on the bed and pulled her into his arms. Despite the fierce look on his face, she wasn’t afraid of him or what he might do. She somehow instinctively knew she could trust him, both of them.

“Tell me you don’t feel it when we touch, Raven, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I can’t do that, Reece. I do feel something. I just don’t know what it is.”

Reece hugged her tightly against his chest then kissed her forehead and let her go. Raven couldn’t stand it. She pulled him back into her arms and kissed him. He reacted like a man desperate for water and she was the last drop in his canteen. He devoured her mouth with his. His tongue dueled with hers before exploring the rest. When he pulled back, they both fought to breathe.

Before she knew what was happening, Dominic was on the bed, pulling her into his arms for more. Just as he buried his face between her breasts, there was a loud knock at the door.

“Fuck off!” Reece yelled over his shoulder.

“Sorry, but we’ve got company at the front gate.”

Dominic pulled back and got off the bed. Reece stood up as well and reached for his shirt. When Dominic opened the door, Butch poked his head in.

“Satan’s Sons. Eight of them.”

“What are they doing?” Reece asked.

“Banging on the gate right now, but I suspect that if we don’t check into it they’re going to be blowing it open soon.”

“Let’s go see what they want.” Dominic glanced over his shoulder at her. “We’ll be back.”

She just held the sheet up to cover herself and nodded. She wasn’t shy, but she wasn’t into flaunting herself either. She waited until they had left before getting dressed again. Then she hurried out to the den to find out what was going on.

She met two other women walking into the room at the same time. Jugs stood at the bar drinking a beer. Raven looked over at her, but the other woman only shrugged. Two of the guys she didn’t know by name stood guard at the door.

“Does anyone know what’s going on?” she finally asked out loud.

“Nope. Just that there are eight bikers at the gate demanding entrance.” Cindy shrugged and sank onto one of the couches.

Raven walked over to one of the windows to look out, but one of the guards stopped her.

“Don’t give anyone a target. You getting shot would piss Reece and Dominic off. I don’t want to be one of their punching bags if that happens.”

She nodded and backed away from the windows to join Cindy on the couch to wait. No one said much of anything while they waited. They couldn’t hear a sound outside, but she knew the two guards were wired and listening in. She just wished she knew what they knew.

They waited for what seemed like hours before one of the guards spoke up to let them know the group was on its way back in. The sound of motorcycles driving up alerted everyone that they were back. Several minutes later, the guards opened the door to let the guys file in. She stood up and watched for Dominic and Reece.

Reece walked in and headed straight for her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and waited while Dominic addressed everyone.

“We’ve just been given the heads-up that there’s another gang sniffing around the area. Satan’s Sons are nervous because this gang has a much wider reach than any of us do. They see their livelihood going down the drain.”

“Who’s pushing in?” Jugs asked.

“The Skulls.”

The women all moved around nervously. Raven wasn’t as versed in the who’s who of gangs. She looked up at Reece. He whispered in her ear. “They’ve got members in over forty states and a shitload of them down south. They’re bad news, babe.”

She nodded and listened as Dominic continued.

“They plan to fight them coming in. They’re asking for our help. I didn’t even call a vote. I said no but that if it bled over into our area, we’d take care of our own.”

Reece spoke up. “That means that we’ll possibly have some trouble before it’s over with. Everyone sticks close to home. We aren’t going on any rides until all of this is settled.”

“We want Jessie out of the Sons’ hands. She’ll get caught in the crossfire with her being Tussler’s sister.” Vernon crossed his arms, Rhodes standing next to him nodding.

“You heard me offer to keep their women safe with us. I meant it. If they agree, we’ll take them all.” Dominic stared at Vernon and Rhodes. “Are you asking us to forcefully take her from them?” Dominic shifted his stance.

Rhodes and Vernon drew in deep breaths and looked down before Rhodes spoke up. “Let us go and talk to them. We’ll keep it civil. I don’t think Tussler’s thinking too clearly right now. He’s nervous and more worried about his business.”

“We’ll talk about it in the morning. Let them think on it overnight, too.”

The two men nodded but walked off down the hall. Raven could tell they were straining at the bit to go after the woman they obviously cared about. Did Dominic and Reece feel that way about her? They said they did, but could she really believe them? She looked over at Reece then Dominic. Both men had resigned expressions on their faces. They expected things to get ugly.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go to bed. It looks like you’ve got a busy day tomorrow.” She pulled on Reece.

“You two go on ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.” Reece walked over to Walker and pulled him and Butch into the sanctuary, where he closed the doors behind them.

Dominic wrapped an arm around her waist and walked with her down the hall. He didn’t stop at Reece’s room but opened the door across the hall to his room. When he closed the door, he released her and walked over to the bed and sat down. He rubbed his face with both hands before resting his elbows on his knees.

“Want some help with your boots?” She walked over to the bed and stopped just in front of him.

“Reece and I’ve worked hard to keep violence out of our group. Sure we get in a few bar fights from time to time. We skirt the law sometimes when we bring in a jumper or help out a fellow biker, but we don’t actively break the law. Things are going to change if The Skulls move in.”

Raven moved closer to him and pulled his head to her chest. She held him there for a few seconds before letting go and looking down at his upturned face.

“Don’t give up your ideals, Dominic. Nothing has to change. Wait and see what happens before you jump to conclusions. Everything might still work out.”

He smiled up at her. “You keep praying that happens, babe. You already know how well things work out in life.”

She grimaced. She knew all too well.

The door opened and Reece walked in. He shut the door and locked it before starting to strip.

“You warn Butch and Walker?” Dominic asked.

“Yeah. They’ll keep an eye on them.”

Dominic stood up and pulled his shirt over his head. By the time he had stripped, Reece was already naked and working on Raven’s clothes. She tried to help him, but he just slapped her hands away and grinned at her. She let him have his fun.

Early the next morning, Raven woke up to Reece climbing out of bed. She rolled over as far as she could with Dominic’s arm around her waist.

“It’s early, Reece. What are you doing?”

“I’m going to get my shower so I can talk to Rhodes and Vernon before they try and sneak out.”

“That’s who you had Walker and Butch watching, isn’t it.”

“Yeah. When you hear the shower cut off, wake Dominic up for me.”

“Okay.” She watched Reece gather his clothes in his arms and walk out of the room.

Dominic shifted, drawing her closer to him. She smiled. She had to admit that she enjoyed feeling wanted for a change. She’d messed around some when she’d been in Chaz’s gang, but never with Chaz and never with more than one man at a time. None of them had ever been serious or acted protective of her. This was all new to her.

She listened as the shower cut on and then, fifteen minutes later, cut off. Reece would be standing nude in the bathroom now, toweling off. She could imagine drying parts of his yummy anatomy with her tongue instead of a towel. His stiff cock would taste good straight out of the shower.

With a sigh, she rolled a little toward Dominic’s chest, rubbing her hand across his at her waist.

“Dom? Wake up. Reece is out of the shower now.”

“Hmm, rather stay here with you.”

She grinned. “Me, too, but you’ve got to get up. You know Rhodes and Vernon are going to try and sneak off.”

“Fuck. You do know how to ruin a good morning hard-on.”

“Sorry.” She shifted when he let go of her to roll out of bed.

She watched him stretch, his engorged dick pointing toward her. Her pussy wept at the loss of his body next to hers. Dominic pulled out a change of clothes and picked up his dirty jeans to carry with him. The door to the bathroom opened and closed next door. Dominic walked over and kissed her before leaving to take his shower.

Raven sighed. She was wide awake now. There was no use trying to go back to sleep. If she didn’t know that Dominic had business to take care of, she would have joined him in the shower. Instead, she got out of bed and quickly made it. Then she sat down at the computer to work for a few hours. She hoped to get a lot done before the rest of the house woke up for the day. With things like they were, she needed to write when she could. There was no telling when something could happen to interfere with her routine.

A knock at the door startled her some time later. She glanced down at the time on the computer screen and winced. It was close to nine thirty. She’d missed breakfast.

“Come in.”

Cindy walked in with a smile on her face. “Dominic and Reece just rode back up. Thought you might want to know.”

“Thanks.” She quickly saved her work and shut down the computer.

Cindy nodded and backed out of the room. She realized that she wasn’t jealous of the other girl despite knowing she’d been with at least Reece if not both of them. She hadn’t lasted, and they didn’t seem in the least interested in the other woman. It helped that Cindy didn’t seem interested in getting them back, too.

Raven quickly dressed, vowing to get a shower later. She made it to the den about the same time the men walked in the room. Dominic and Reece seemed tense. Vernon and Rhodes were downright angry, judging by their tight expressions and stiff movements. Things hadn’t gone so well. She frowned. When had they ever?

“What happened?” She couldn’t stop the question from popping out of her mouth.

“Jessie said the man who hurt her wasn’t in the lineup.” Reece sighed.

She thought they would be relieved about that, but evidently there was more going on than she was aware of.

Dominic walked directly into the sanctuary followed by Rhodes, Vernon, Butch, and Reece. They shut the door, and the sound of the lock clicking told everyone that it was a do-not-interrupt type of meeting. Walker sat outside the room in a chair by the door.

She shrugged at Cindy and decided to get a quick shower in while they were meeting. It didn’t take her long. She was sitting at the kitchen table eating some cereal by the time they finished.