Stepbrother: Instant Spark (Stepbrother Billionaire Romance) (Stepbrother Romantic Suspense) (7 page)

“I want to knock Jack over on his smug ass.”

Charlie laughed again and sighed as he looked out over the view. “It’s gonna be chaos tomorrow. Those guys won’t be best pleased if there are arrests. Lucy’s gonna bring war to Darton.”

*****

The police had made three arrests that night and from what Georgie had heard, the bikers weren’t happy, although Lucy was on a cloud of self-satisfied glee.

“I told you they were scum!” she gloated. “I bet you feel foolish now, don’t you Georgina? Poor girl, defending those men...I suppose you weren’t to know any better. You are young after all. How are those crosswords coming along?”

Suddenly, Georgie felt herself boil over with rage and she just snapped. She felt like flipping over her table and stamping on the silly triangular toes of Lucy’s silly, dumpy court shoes, but instead she managed to refrain from any such acts of violence and simply picked up her bag and her laptop with a disdainful shake of her head.

“You know what, Lucy? I’ve had enough of this. I quit.”

“Don’t be silly, Georgina. Sit back down.”

“I’m serious, Lucy. You’re aggressive, narrow-minded, condescending and rude and I’m not putting up with it anymore. You’ve had me running through hoops for months with the promise of a promotion I can see I’m never going to get and this whole thing over
Mickey’s
was just an excuse to kick me back down. Enjoy your little paper. I’ve got better things to do.”

Georgie had barely stepped out the door of the office before she began to regret what she’d just done and wonder if she should go back in and grovel for another chance. No. It was too late for that now. The delicious feeling of seeing Lucy silenced was worth the months of hopeless job-hunting ahead. Georgie didn’t want to spend another day of her life feeling undervalued and pigeonholed by a woman that, frankly, she couldn’t stand. She allowed a grin to grow on her face as she strolled away down the corridor after her first and only dramatic quitting speech and returned home, where she opened up her computer and put Charlie’s advice into play.

But what to call her blog?
Georgina’s Life
. No, dull.
Goodbye, old Georgina!
What does that even
mean
? Hmm. She thought long and hard and then finally typed out
Georgie’s Journey
and smiled at the curly letters spread out at the header of the webpage. Then she sat in uncertain silence and let her fingers hover over the keyboard with writer’s block making her unable to get her words out. She’d waited all this time to write for herself and now felt like she had nothing to say!
Think, Georgie, think
! What really got her going? Georgie could only think of one thing and she began to write.

...
When I first met Charlie Turner in a newly-opened biker bar in a small Southern town, I had no idea that a week later I’d be quitting my job and dreaming of the open road...

Her grin spread across her face as all the events of the last week spilled out, from how she’d felt wearing her heels and tight pants, to when she’d first been invited to interview the charming biker, to a one-night stand she’d told herself she’d earned to the brawl in the bar. She finished with this sentence:

...
So now here I am; unemployed and more than a little lost. But you know what? I feel more in control than I ever have, because this is my life and I’m finally writing with my own voice.

BEEP! What was that? Georgie let out a little laugh of delight when she realized that the beeping coming from her computer was the sound of a new subscriber and then another and one more. Georgie didn’t want to get carried away by relishing too much in the joy of three new followers and decided instead to seek out Charlie, who’d told her that he was staying with Mickey over on River Street.

When she arrived there, she was relieved to find the biker sitting out on the wall, inhaling from a cigarette, which he quickly put out when he saw her approaching.

“Well, if it isn’t the little hell raiser,” he teased. “Come to cause more trouble?”

“Don’t!” Georgie moaned. “I feel bad enough as it is.”

She came and sat on the wall beside Charlie and looked nervously over her shoulder back at Mickey’s house.

“Don’t worry. He’s out.”

“Is he still mad?”

Charlie gave a short nod. “He knows how to hold a grudge, alright.”

“Did you fight again?”

“I’ve stayed away as much as possible. He still thinks you’re behind that article.”

Georgie sighed heavily. “I’m really sorry it blew up like that.”

“It’s not your fault,” Charlie reiterated, but he let out a heavy sigh. “That woman better back off though. I’ve not seen Mickey that angry in a long, long time.”

“What do you think he’ll do?”

“Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.”

“What about the others who were arrested?”

“They were out this morning. Tomorrow the gang’s moving on again. We’ll all leave and hopefully when we’re not around, Mickey will realize he’s outnumbered and not do anything stupid.”

“Hopefully.”

“Shouldn’t you be at work now?” Charlie said suddenly, realizing it was the middle of the day.

Georgie shrugged and then caught Charlie’s eyes with a determined and slightly haughty expression. “I quit the damn thing.”

Charlie laughed in delight. “Are you kidding me? You go, doll! What’re you gonna do now?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

“You know, I’m leaving tomorrow with the rest of the guys.”

“That figures.”

“You’re getting me wrong, Georgie. That was an invitation.”

“An invitation? Just because I lost my job, it doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly free to get on the back of a bike and take off!”

“Why? What else have you got to stick around for?”

Georgina thought about it and a little flame of defiance began to dance inside of her. Charlie was right. What did she really have to stick around for? A small smile spread across her face.

“When do we go?”

*****

Packing up her life into one small backpack was something Georgie never thought that she would do, but as she folded another shirt on top of the pile, she couldn’t help but feel another shiver of excitement run up and down her spine. She closed the lid of her suitcase and opened up her laptop to write another blog post. Overnight she’d already gained several new followers, but she knew she’d have to work hard to get any real readership, but who knows? Maybe people had a soft spot for an underdog letting go.

A knock at the door. Georgie grinned and opened it to see Charlie standing there, ready to take her away. The sight of him took her breath away all over again and she was struck once more with the sense that this was madness.

“Hello,” she greeted, suddenly feeling shy.

“Hello.” Charlie wasn’t shy. He was grinning at her with that big, confident grin of his and looking around her apartment with interest to look for packed bags and check that she hadn’t got cold feet. “Are you ready?”

Georgie picked up her bag. “Let’s go.”

“Wait. I have something for you.”

Charlie handed her a bag and Georgie peered inside to see a set of folded leathers tucked up neatly inside. She laughed out loud.

“Are you serious? Me, in leathers?”

The biker’s lips curled into a sexual smile. “I can’t wait to see them. If you’re riding with me, I want you to be safe.”

Georgie thought his intentions were sweet, but still, she didn’t know that she’d look good stuffed into a pair of leather trousers. Yet, she knew that if she ever happened to come off the bike, she’d want the extra protection, so she let Charlie in and headed to her bedroom to get changed.

The leathers were so tight that she had to roll them up over her legs and ample thighs. She felt ridiculous pulling them on, yet, by the time she’d done up the button, she found herself admiring her own reflection in the bedroom mirror. It turned out she looked bloody good in leather. The black sheen of the soft material made her curves look powerful and alluring and she felt empowered. She twisted and turned in front of the mirror and then pulled on the leather jacket over her vest. Oh wow. That looked good. Dressed head to toe in leather with her hair up in that messy bun once more, she looked like a woman not to be messed with and she radiated sexual prowess.

She returned to the sitting room where Charlie was waiting for her and she saw his eyes light up when he caught sight of her in her new riding gear.

“That’s more like it!” he said, stepping back to look her over from head to toe. He stepped across the room and put his hands on her waist, discovering how her curves felt in leather. Georgie could tell that he was aroused by the way his tongue briefly emerged to lick his lips like a tomcat on the prowl. His hands reached down to unbutton those trousers once more but Georgie giggled and gave him a little push away playfully. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

They left the apartment. Georgie locked the door behind her and wondered when she’d next see her little home. She hadn’t wanted to give it away just yet. After all, she barely knew Charlie and this whole thing was crazy. She had just enough savings to cover a couple of month’s rent while she was away and then she’d have to take a long look at her life and decide where she was going next.

Charlie handed her a helmet when they were down by the bike and she mounted the vehicle. Then they drove to the outskirts of town and dismounted to wait for the others to join them. One by one the other bikers arrived and came to dismount and stand at the side of the road to wait for the whole pack to assemble. That was when Georgie really started having doubts about what she was doing. It was one thing to ride off into the sunset with Charlie, but she didn’t know how she felt about joining a whole pack of bikers on the road.

Most of them were older than Charlie and she’d met many of them at Mickey’s over the last few days. She felt herself wither under their glares as they all cast her harsh, judging stares as they met up.

“What’s she doing here, Charlie?” Jimmy spat. “You know what she’s done. Having her here is not going to go down well with the group. Some of us are loyal to Mickey. He picked you up when you had nowhere else to go and this is how you repay him?”

“She’s with me.”

That was all Charlie said in response and his words made Georgie’s heart flutter. He seemed to have some kind of presence within the group, as although the other bikers continued to glare at her, nobody said another word about the fact that she was coming along. Now she was really worried. She’d quit her job on an impulse protecting the reputation of these men and decided to leave everything behind to follow Charlie into the unknown, but she could sense she was unwelcome here, even with the other women.

One of them was Charlene, a woman in her mid-thirties who managed to be both gangly and busty. She was standing next to Jimmy’s bike and looking over at Georgie with open contempt and smoking a cigarette. She purposefully flicked the butt in Georgie’s direction and then mounted Jimmy’s bike once more, preparing to ride.

Georgie put her hand on Charlie’s arm to get his attention and looked up into his face with concern.

“Maybe this is isn’t such a good idea, Charlie,” she said softly. “I don’t think these guys want me here.”

Charlie responded by defiantly throwing his arm around her shoulders and then throwing a smoldering glare around the pack. “You’re with me. They know better than to be disrespectful.”

He said it loudly enough that the others could hear and it made a few mouths curl into scowls. Georgie shook her head again and tried to open the compartment at the side of Charlie’s bike to remove her things.

“It’s not a good idea, Charlie.”

Charlie silenced her with a kiss. It was the kind of kiss that was designed to silence a woman when she doubted herself and her right to do whatever the hell she wanted. It was the kind of kiss that let a girl know that she was under the wing of someone who’d always protect her. It was the kind of kiss that said a man had known her body and wanted to know it again. The biker firmly pressed the lid of the compartment shut again. “You’re with me.”

Georgie had never before had a man speak that way about her before, but she didn’t feel objectified, but rather, chosen. She felt like Charlie had selected her from all the pretty young things in Darton to be his and that being his meant something more than just being someone to lie with at night. After all, here he was putting noses out of joint with his biker family to keep her by his side. Georgie was still nervous, but she found herself nodding and throwing her leg over the body of the bike.

The biker smiled approvingly, climbed onto the bike, pulled Georgie’s arms around him and then, when she was holding on tightly, he kicked down and twisted his wrists and the bike began to roar. Georgie pulled her helmet on and then leaned forward to hold onto Charlie closely. Her nerves dissipated a little when her chest was pressed against his back. She felt safe nestled there, even though the pack viewed her as the enemy.

Soon she forgot about all the glares and hostility as the pack began to ride. There was something so thrilling about riding along in a group like a group of hunters. The growl of engines all around her made Georgie feel like she was riding in the center of an angry storm. They drew stares from the pedestrians of every town they passed through as the sound of their engines and the sight of their distinctive, black leathers caused people to look twice. Georgie loved the way it felt to have people looking at her that way, wondering who she was beneath the helmet. Her anonymity gave her a strange feeling of power over all those people who were stuck in one place. Not her. She was free now.

*****