Ride with the Wind [The Ghost Riders 1] (5 page)

Looking around, she noticed that there were only a couple of tables with customers, and they appeared to be older adults who had nothing better to do. They didn’t pay any attention to Dominic and Reece. She relaxed against the back of the chair. Maybe they had a good reputation in the town. That would be nice. Chaz’s gang was equal parts liked and disliked back in Stillwater.

“How’s the writing going?” Reece asked.

“Fine. It would really help if I had a desk or a card table somewhere to write, though. Needs to be in a fairly quiet area.”

Reece and Dominic exchanged looks. Reece shrugged and took another drink from his beer. Dominic nodded his head. She didn’t know what they were discussing without saying anything, but it clearly involved Reece making some sort of concession.

“I’ve got a desk in my room. You’re welcome to use it.”

“I don’t want to take your furniture from you.”

“You can’t move it out of my room, but you’re welcome to write in there anytime you want to.”

The waitress finally showed back up with her “slightly” cold beer. Raven took a drink and let it glide down her throat. She’d been thirsty. She looked at Reece, trying to decide how sincere the offer was. He looked fine with it.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll take you up on that.”

“I’ll show you my room when we get back.”

“If you’re lucky, one of the girls will have cleaned it out some by then.” Dominic grinned.

Reece narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

“I’m not a housekeeper.”

“You can say that again.”

Reece scowled at him but smiled over at her. “I’ll keep the mess away from the desk.”

She smiled. “I would appreciate that. I’ll stick to the desk while I’m in there.”

Reece just shrugged. The waitress returned with their orders and managed to brush her breasts across both men as she served them. Raven barely caught her hamburger before it fell on the floor. The men seemed oblivious to the waitress’s obvious come-on. She almost felt sorry for the girl. No doubt she wanted a wild adventure without all the junk that went with it.

“When’s the last time you’ve seen your ex?” Reece shoved a bite of his hamburger steak into his mouth.

“Other than on TV, it’s been nearly four years. I’d say he wasn’t worried about me anymore, but Chaz kept feelers out, and there’s still a price on my head.”

“We’ll do the same thing here.” Dominic nodded at her.

“Sometimes I wonder if I wouldn’t be better off going public and putting a stop to his sick situation. It turns my stomach to think that he might still be abusing some helpless boy. I want to do something, but I don’t know what will work. Then I think about the fact that he’s got friends in all areas of the law and the entire situation seems hopeless. No one will believe me.”

“Let us look into it some and find out where his supporters are. If we think we can keep you safe, you might decide to out the bastard. Then you can live wherever you want to.” Dominic took a drink of his beer.

That would be wonderful. Being able to live wherever she wanted to was something she hadn’t thought about in a long time. All in all, she was perfectly happy living with the bikers. At least she had been before everything had gone to hell. Now only time would tell how she fit in with the gang here.

They talked about the gang and what they did in the community. Besides running a garage and picking up the occasional bail jumper, some of the members worked the slaughterhouse on the other side of town. They participated in the annual charity fair in June that supported various children’s charities around town.

She was impressed. They weren’t just a biker gang hiding behind their business and the club status. Raven finished up her hamburger and swallowed the last of her beer. The men had been patiently waiting on her for the last five minutes. When she wiped her mouth and crumpled up her napkin on her plate, they stood up and tossed some bills on the table before carrying the ticket up to the front to pay. Reece settled the bill while Dominic escorted her outside.

“I’m going to run by the sheriff’s office and have a business talk. You can ride back with Reece.”

She started to say she didn’t mind waiting around, but Reece smiled at her and she forgot what she was going to say. The man irritated her one minute and charmed her pants off the next. She just nodded and followed Reece over to his bike. He insisted on fastening her helmet and cautioned her about the exhaust as if she didn’t know any better.

Once she was on back and holding on, he took off in the opposite direction of the house. She didn’t say anything, just let him ride. He seemed to be heading somewhere in particular by the number of turns they made.

Sure enough, about ten miles outside of Reo, he pulled under a tree about a hundred yards from a pond. He parked and urged her off the bike so he could climb off. Then he took her hand and pulled her along behind him as they made their way to a clear spot on the banks of the pond.

“I like to come here and think sometimes. It’s quiet, and I’ve never seen anyone around in all the years I’ve been coming to this place.”

“It’s nice. I could write out here.” A fish jumped after a bug that flew over the water.

“Maybe I’ll bring you out sometime so you can.” For once, he wasn’t looking at her.

“That would be nice.”

They sat on the grass watching the insects fly by and the water ripples widen in silence for several minutes. She figured there was something on Reece’s mind or he wouldn’t have brought her out there. Whether he would say anything or not, she didn’t know. She just sat and enjoyed the quiet. It was almost never quiet in a clubhouse.

“Ready to head back?”

Raven got to her feet and nodded. After brushing off her butt, she followed Reece back to the bike. They rode in silence back to the clubhouse. He waited for her to climb off then he saluted her and drove off again. She had no idea what all of that had been about. She pulled off the helmet and left it on the rail by the other bikes.

When she walked into the house, Jugs met her with a calculating look in her eye.

“Where did Reece go?”

“I don’t have a clue. He didn’t tell me and I didn’t ask.”

“I know you don’t have to do anything around here because you contribute money, but we’re doing a clean sweep through the office and the den if you want to contribute some time to that.”

“Sure. Let me change out of my boots. I’ll be right back.” She skimmed through the living area, where the other women were moving furniture.

Raven pulled off her boots and slipped into a pair of tennis shoes. When she got back to the den, it was to find them washing down the walls on one side while several of the other women were scrubbing the bar. Grabbing a cloth off the bar, she dipped it in a bucket of water and began scrubbing the front of the bar.

Three hours later, they had the room looking and smelling a whole lot better. She located Jugs walking out of the office with a bucket and a mop.

“Anything else?” she asked.

“Naw, but you might want to talk to Reece and Dominic to find out if you’re going to be handling their rooms and clothes or not. I’ll warn you about Reece. He’s a slob. Good man but lousy housekeeper.”

“I heard that rumor already.” She smiled at the older woman. “I’ll check with them on what they want me to do.”

“Thanks for helping with the main part of the house. The more of us clean, the less time it takes.” Jugs walked away.

She returned to Dominic’s room, debating whether to check out Reece’s room or not. She decided to wait and let him show her the desk later. She didn’t want him to think she was snooping around. She had about an hour before dinner would be ready. She knew if she got into writing she’d miss it, too. Instead, she answered e-mail and updated her blog.

About an hour later, Dominic opened the door and stuck his head in the room.

“Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes.”

“Thanks, I’ll be there. I’m just screwing around on the Internet.”

He nodded and closed the door again. She finished what she was doing and closed down the computer. When she walked out of the room, the door to Reece’s room opened and he walked out.

“Hey, ready for dinner?”

“Yeah, Dominic gave me a heads-up.”

“I’ll show you the desk after dinner and you can move your computer in and set it up.”

“Thanks. It will be a lot easier than sitting cross legged on the bed.”

They walked into the kitchen, and any further conversation was impossible over the noise in the room. Half of the group sat around the table and the bar in the kitchen, and the other half of the group spilled out into the den around the bar out there. She squeezed in between Dominic and Reece at the kitchen table and listened to the various conversations.

Learning about the dynamics of the gang was important. She needed to know who was who. She’d figured out that Butch was the sergeant at arms, but she didn’t know what role the rest of them played in the group. By the end of the meal, she had figured out that Turk was their computer expert.

She gathered the plates up at the table and carried them to the sink. Reece snagged her before she could help wash them.

“Come on. I want to get you settled.”

Raven let him lead her back to Dominic’s room. He picked up her laptop and unplugged it for her. She followed him into his room and couldn’t hide the grin at the obvious attempt he had made to straighten it up. A pile of clothes sat at the end of the king-size bed, and the garbage can was overflowing with beer bottles and fast food wrappers.

“Don’t look at the mess. I know I’m a slob. What do you think about the desk?” He pointed at the freshly dusted desk sitting under a window. There wasn’t anything around it within a radius of three feet.

“Looks perfect, Reece. Thanks.”

He nodded and set her computer up on the desk, plugging it in for her.

“If you need pens and paper, we’ll get that for you.”

“Actually, I need several things. Is there a car I can borrow tomorrow to go to town and shop?”

“Um, sure. You can use one of the trucks. When we get up in the morning, we’ll find out what’s available. I’ll run you to town and help.”

“Really, I don’t want to tie up your time, Reece. I can handle it.”

“Handle what?” Dominic walked in.

Reece shrugged. “She needs to get some things in town tomorrow. I told her I’d help.”

“May have to let her go alone tomorrow, Reece. We’ve got some business coming in to deal with.”

Reece stood up straight. “Trouble?”

“Hope not.”

He turned back to Raven. “I’ll hook you up with a truck in the morning before we get busy.”

“Thanks.” She sat down and booted up the computer.

Reece and Dominic left the room, closing the door behind them. She settled down to write. For some reason, her two heroes began to look more like Reece and Dominic than who they were. She had to stop and start over several times before she finally gave up and closed the computer down. She had to face it. She was completely hooked on them. When they were around, she couldn’t think straight. When they weren’t around, she thought about them. She was too old to have a crush on someone, let alone two someones. She was in so much trouble.

Neither man had made it to bed when Raven entered Dominic’s bedroom the night before. She wasn’t sure if she had been relieved or disappointed. She had just about talked herself into initiating a little sexual activity in hopes of getting them out of her system so she could get back to writing. When they hadn’t shown up nearly an hour later, she had fallen asleep.

Now, they were wrapped around her like octopuses so that no part of her was left unclaimed by some body part of theirs. She wiggled, thinking they would move, but it did no good. She wanted up and some coffee. She wasn’t one to lie around in bed. She stretched to see the clock on the bedside table. It was only seven, but she had been awake for nearly an hour now and was getting antsy.

“Settle down, Raven. You’re vibrating about as much as Cindy’s Jack Rabbit dildo.” Reece’s sleep-laden voice startled her.

“Let me up. I’m ready to get up.”

“S’too early.”

“You don’t have to get up. Just let me up, and I’ll leave you to go back to sleep.”

“You’re not leaving me in bed with Dominic, babe.”

“Please, Reece. I can’t just lay here wide awake like this.”

“Hell, now I’m wide awake, and I’m blaming you for that.” He rolled over and pulled her free of Dominic’s leggy embrace.

“Thank God.” She started to push away from Reece and climb out of the bed.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Reece wasn’t letting her go. Instead, he pulled her on top of him. “I think we need to have a talk about some things.”

“Now?” she squeaked out.

“Now’s as good a time as any.”

“You’re going to wake Dominic up.”

“Oh, I think he’ll enjoy this conversation when he does wake up.”

Before she knew what he had in mind, Reece had rolled them over so that she was beneath him with her legs spread around his and her shirt up around her waist. He grinned down at her, amusement twinkling in his eyes. Raven didn’t fight him on it. It was what she had been after the night before in a roundabout way, but this felt less contrived.

“What are you doing, Reece?”

“Looking at the most beautiful woman in the world. You’re perfect, Raven.” He lowered his head and brushed a gentle kiss across her lips before pulling back and watching her.

“I’m not beautiful. I’m decent looking, but I’m too big and too short.”

“You’re not too big. I don’t want to hear you even mention that again.” He wrapped his hand around her throat but didn’t squeeze. “You’ve got the prettiest eyes and a perfect mouth. I can’t wait to see those lips wrapped around my dick.”

“I kind of expected that.” She stared up at him, trying to figure out where he was going with all of it.

He leaned in closer to her and let go of her throat. “I want to learn all about you, Raven, all your hot spots and what you sound like when you come. I’m going to get to know you so well that all I have to do is look at you and you shoot off.”