Taking a Dare - A Hellion MC Novel (12 page)

Maybe a motherfuckin' ride, with the full throated
roar, the fuckin' beauty of his Harley between his legs, would
clear his head and the doings of his emotions.

Which were all because of her and their play of the
night before.

Of just
Ryley
.

But not before he filled his belly with all the good
eats the Honey's had provided after he'd scraped the fruit shit
off. And as soon as his fork was pulling up the ribbons of paper on
the paper plate, he was on his feet.

But his way through the tables went by Leif who stood
with feet planted and arms crossed.

"Need to get by, brother," Dare mumbled and took a
step to the side that the other man copied.

"Leave Ryley alone," came Leif's low growled
warning.

"Think that's her decision, not yours, dude," Dare
challenged with a chin lift. He was in no fuckin' mood to be told
what to do. Especially when those instructions came on the heels of
Gus demanding his fuckin' cut, for Christ's sake. "Outta my
way."

It took a few seconds of glaring before Leif turned
enough for Dare to move by.

And out the goddamn door.

*.*.*.*.*

With my fingers clenched on the thin rail behind my
ass, I automatically smiled at the different brothers who thanked
both me and the other Honeys for the food they were piling onto
paper plates. Their sweet words of acknowledgment of the efforts
we'd made calmed me right the hell down and settled me in some
way.

Until I saw Dare in line.

How had I forgotten how tall he was, how wonderfully
big? And so damn handsome that it took my breath away. Knowing in
the fullness of the room that somebody somewhere had their eyes on
me, I tried to keep my admiration and heated thoughts to myself.
But all bets were off when he shot me one of his lopsided, cheeky
grins after stuttering over my name.

I couldn't resist a bit of trouble as Dare stepped
along the line away from me. It was time for me to step up my game
if I wanted to gain the prize. So I allowed all the desire and
passion he'd created to shine in my eyes as I slowly licked my
lips.

I
knew
it was wrong to do when I did it. But
the shocked look on his face and the flare in the depths of his
eyes made it more than worth the trouble I'd borrowed in doing it.
And his reaction caused another hard throb to begin to pound within
me.

That was until I heard Wanton say, "who's the
cock-tease now, huh? And right under March and daddy's noses.
Tsk-tsk, princess."

My head whipped towards the black haired beauty on my
left who was wearing a smart-ass grin. A look I wanted to slap off
her beautiful face. But her eyes moved from me to the line of men
stepping slowly down the length of the bar as they filled their
plates.

Leif frowned at me as he moved by, only four men away
from Dare's position and then slid his eyes to March, and I
couldn't help follow my brother's gaze. But my soon-to-be-former
fiancé's eyes were not on me. They were drilling a hole in the back
of Dare's skull, letting me know he also had witnessed my bit of
play.

Who else had seen?

Even though my pops was more than ten men back from
Leif, the scowl he wore told me he'd seen my little bit of sexy
sass and wasn't happy. His look told me I'd be hearing about it
later and in a way to insure I wouldn't easily forget. My mind
touched on a couple of the hellacious arguments we'd gotten into
over the years even as I continued to smile and chat with the men
still filling their plates. Some of those fights had been bad, damn
bad.

But never as awful as the first one. The one where
I'd seen, had actually watched my place in my pop's heart
change.

The scowl never left my dad's face even as he took
his full plate to a table.

I shook my head, pushing that memory as far away from
me as I could. But it didn't want to go and I could feel the
pressure building inside me.

Fuck! Would I
ever
fucking get my
own
life? Get to live it my own damn way? Why couldn't my dad just let
it the fuck
go
for god's sake?

And as soon as the questions had fully formed in my
head, I'd had enough! I needed to get out and gone just as quickly
as possible. Grabbing my jacket while stepping in front of the
other Honeys, I raced towards the exit and pushed the heavy door
open so hard it hit the stucco of the outside with a bang.

Or would've been heard if it hadn't been for the low
growl of the motorcycle that idled three feet from where I stood in
the doorway. I saw an arm reach towards me, a hand beckoning from
the seat of the throbbing machine and as I raised my eyes, I saw
Dare.

My
Dare.

The only man I'd ever truly wanted.

Chapter Twelve

He'd idled the hog in front of the clubhouse door as
he argued within himself. To go in and grab her or just
motherfuckin' leave?

But as soon as he'd seen the door begin to open, he'd
known, he'd fuckin'
known
, who was going to come striding
out.

Ryley.

And the sight of her, even with the deep frown she'd
worn, had filled both his vision and his heart. To feel her jump on
behind him, to press that sweet pussy against his ass as her arms
had clutched his waist while she'd screamed at him to 'just fucking
ride' had been like something out of a dream.

Reaching to slide a hand across the length of her
thigh pressed against him, he gunned the machine and had taken off,
no real destination in mind other than 'away'. But after seeing the
sign for highway 93 north, he knew where he wanted to take her.

As they traveled the road that took them higher and
higher into the mountains, he found himself letting go of the
frustration and stress he'd been carrying ever since he'd watched
her lights disappear the night before. And he knew that she must've
been doing something similar from the way her arms went from a hard
clench to a gentle hug around his waist.

Even the press of her head on his back seemed to
soften, and he was aware she'd begun to look around as they rode
instead of planting her face between his shoulder blades. He
couldn't resist another thigh-stroke and felt a squeeze around his
middle in response.

And just like the night before, Dare found he didn't
want their time together to ever end.

*.*.*.*.*

He pulled the bike into a conveniently located gas
station situated at the southern-most tip of Flathead Lake, just
outside of Polson and I got off to stretch my legs.

"So what was up with your big speech last night?" I
ventured as he pumped gas into his machine's tank. Since his
reaction to my prompting about the week we'd shared was so
lighthearted as we'd gone down memory lane, I felt safe in my
question.

"Speech?" He was frowning at the traffic whizzing by
and I wondered how drunk he'd really been if he couldn't recollect
what he'd said to me.

"Yeah, you know." I dropped my voice to try and sound
like him. "I get you alone, sugar, it ain't gonna be for fuckin'
talk. Have wanted you for too goddamn many years, jacked off to
thoughts of you too fuckin' much to goddamn talk, Ryley."

The look he shot me was one of disbelieving
incredulity. "I did fuckin' not!"

Oh yeah he did! And I remembered every fucking word
of that damn speech too, playing it over and over as I'd tossed and
turned while half-listening to Lock and Blaze do their thing on the
other side of the thin wall after I'd left him.

"Did too! How'd you think you convinced me to join
you on the picnic table, stud? On just your good looks?" I was
laughing so hard I could barely speak. Which beat the hell out of
crying and was the thing my heart really wanted to do. He didn't
remember, didn't fucking remember the words that had embedded
themselves inside me. "Uh-uh. Takes a bit more than a pretty face
and an awesome bod to get this girl alone!"

"Oh yeah?" He was wearing a smirk as his head turned
towards me. "Then why the hell are you on the back of my fuckin'
bike
now
, sugar? Huh?"

I blinked a couple of times, realizing I'd talked
myself into a trap. Shit! "Yours was the first available ride,
asshole!"

"Aw, babe. Now that was just fuckin' weak." He took a
step closer to where I leaned against the pump and lowered his
voice. "Need a do-over?"

"Fuck you, Dare!"

"Still weak but an interesting idea," he said with
another bark of laughter and a sidelong look my way. He hung up the
nozzle and recapped the tank before shooting me a sharp glance.
"You up for it?"

As his words sank in, it felt as if my body had been
plugged into an electrical socket. My heartbeat zoomed as all my
systems went into 'go' mode, hardening and moistening in all the
right places. Did I really want to?

"You're kidding, right? That's your play?" I
questioned, keeping my voice as teasing as it had been before. "The
Honeys said you got your fair share of pussy around the compound
but, damn, Dare. With cheesy-ass lines like that, I don't see
how."

That shut him right the fuck up and wiped his stupid
smile off his face. Got him to step back from me as well.

"They were talking about me?"

"Yeah, while we were cooking. Got a real earful this
morning on all your methods between the sheets. Really interesting
stuff," I said. I wanted to sound victorious, like I'd won our duel
of words fair and square but that wasn't how it came out. It
sounded more like lament to my ears.

"Shit!" Oh yeah, he wasn't happy and I may have
caused a problem with my admittance. "Fuckin' bitches don't know
when to keep their goddamn mouths shut!"

"And the brothers do? That's a laugh," I said with a
snort, feeling myself starting to get pissed off at his attack of
the girls,
my
girls. "You fucking guys gossip more than any
woman I've ever known."

He didn't respond except to give me a glower, letting
me know I had, indeed, crossed a line before he stomped off towards
the cashier to pay.

I could've kicked myself. I'd wanted to keep up the
fun, the banter but had gone too far. Or had he started it when
he'd asked me if I was up for 'it'? Was that when our conversation
had turned?

But he wasn't stomping when he returned to the pump
where I'd stood and I felt it was up to me to repair the damage.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…"

He held up the fingers of one of his hands before
slinging his long leg over the seat which I figured was his signal
to me to just shut up for a while.

So I did.

And just let him ride in peace.

He pulled into the lot of a hotel before parking his
big motorcycle close to the restaurant on the side. "Need food,"
was all he growled before he offered me a hand as I lifted a leg to
get off the large bike.

I didn't think I was dressed quite right for the
place he'd brought me to but since he'd removed and stowed his cut,
I thought I might be able to swing it. I did try to smooth my hair
and bring my top down to the top of my leathers, but saw I was
right about the dress code when I looked around at the other
patrons. Seemed they were still in the fancy threads they'd worn to
talk to God in earlier.

But, the little piece of fluff that escorted us to a
table didn't seem to care that Dare was only wearing a t-shirt and
a pair of jeans. In fact, her smile and widened eyes let him and
everyone else know she wouldn't have minded him naked. Which seemed
to be the theme of that particular place, if the waitress's fawning
over him throughout our meal was any indication. I idly wondered
how they advertised for new employees, as in did they start the ad
with 'Attn: Sluts!' or did it end with 'only Sluts need apply'.

"What the fuck are you rolling your eyes about now?"
he rumbled, his elbows on the tabletop and his fists covering his
mouth after putting his credit card in the leather holder that held
our bill.

"I didn't roll my eyes," I protested, letting my eyes
drift over the other diners.

"You've been fuckin' making faces and sighing your
pretty little ass off the whole time we've been here," he
corrected. "What's on your mind, sugar?"

I thought quickly to come up with something that
would be in the honest venue. "Just worried about how much trouble
I'm going to get into about taking off like I did." Which was
partly true. I already knew I was gonna get a lecture from pops. I
just wasn't certain how much of my ass would be chewed in the
process.

"From your dad? Or are you worried about goddamn
March?" he drawled, draping his beefy arms over the top of the big
booth we were in.

Wait…what?

How'd he know about March? I'd made a point of
leaving the ring back in Spokane and I didn't think anyone from our
group had said anything.

'Yet!'
my head screamed.
'They haven't said
anything YET!'

Ignoring it, I tried to laugh. "Since when would a
brother ever take me to task over any sort of shit?"

Dare canted an eyebrow at me, not even taking notice
of the cleavage our waitress put on offer as she picked up the
holder from the table. Seriously? She needed to lean that far down
just to grab something she could've snagged with her fingertips
from the straight up, standing position?

"Saw the fuckin' little grabby-hand play he made last
night. Looked to me like the man was staking a claim."

"So you must've also caught my rebuttal to said
grabby-hand play too," I shot back. I turned my head away but could
feel the heat in my face. Fucking swine! "Hey, wait! You remember
that but you don't remember your speech…"

"Thank you, pretty girl. Good eats and excellent
service," he interrupted, giving the waitress the thrill of a
lifetime with his wide smile and admiring stare that swept her from
top to bottom.