Unattainable (20 page)

She looked damn hot. But it was the
jacket he couldn’t stop staring at.

Dirty couldn’t explain it, neither did
he understand it, why seeing a woman wearing something of his, his
very first leather jacket, the very first thing he’d bought for
himself after Deuce had brought him back to Montana, made him feel
like…

Like…

He swallowed hard.

Like a man. He felt like a goddamn man.
It was the weirdest fucking feeling.

“
Are you ready?” Ellie
asked, sniffling as she wiped the back of her hand under her
nose.

“
Yeah,” he muttered,
turning away. Suddenly he didn’t want to take her to the club. He
didn’t want her around the boys; he wanted to keep her here. With
him. Well, not with him, but near him, a room or two away, so every
once in a while he could hear her laughing. Or
something.

• • •

Ellie put the helmet over her head and
followed Dirty outside to the sidewalk where his bike was parked.
The street was busier than usual; it being a holiday weekend, the
townspeople had all ventured into town so Ellie kept her head down
and didn’t look around as she waited silently for Dirty to straddle
his bike.

“
Fuckin’ hell,” she heard
Dirty mutter and her head jerked up. Following Dirty’s gaze to the
other side of the street, to the front of Hank’s, she found Daniel
along with two uniforms and Hank himself, all staring at the two of
them. Her heart dropped.

“
Flip up the lid on the
helmet,” Dirty said under his breath. “He knows it’s you. We’re
gonna have to play this shit out right fuckin’ here and
now.”

Swallowing hard, with shaking hands
Ellie removed the helmet, and Daniel’s hard, narrowed gaze shot
straight to her.

“
Don’t leave me alone with
him,” she whispered frantically as Daniel and his two officers
started for them. “Please, Dirty, please don’t let him take me
anywhere.”

Dirty turned to her and she balked at
the expression on his face. It was like nothing she’d ever seen
before. It was…it was…anger, determination, and most definitely a
touch of crazy.

“
I will kill him where he
stands if he even tries,” Dirty said tightly through clenched
teeth. Ellie gaped at Dirty. She didn’t doubt for a minute that he
would in fact kill an officer of the law in broad daylight and in
front of half the town, his expression was that
terrifying.

“
Ellie,” Daniel said,
stopping on the opposite side of Dirty’s motorcycle. “We’ve been
looking for you.”

Despite the raging anger and crippling
fear she felt racing through her bloodstream, Ellie willed her
shaking body to remain as still as possible. “Really?” she asked,
her voice croaking.

Clearing her throat, she tried again.
“Why?”

The corner of Daniel’s mouth lifted.
“An officer found your purse behind Hank’s,” he said
smoothly.

The more Ellie stared at Daniel, the
sicker she began to feel until she had no choice but to place one
of her sweaty, shaking hands over her stomach in a failed attempt
to stop the rising nausea.

“
She’s fine,” Dirty
growled as he maneuvered himself partially in front of her. Like a
shield, a protective wall, like…the man who’d saved her once and
was ready to do it again. Even when facing down the law.

“
She doesn’t look fine,”
Daniel retorted. “In fact, she looks pretty beaten up.”

Ellie gaped at him. She couldn’t
believe the nerve of this man, the audacity.

“
How about you give her
the purse back,” Dirty growled, “and we’ll be on our fuckin’
way.”

Daniel’s smirk turned grim as he
focused on Dirty. “Her purse is at the station,” he replied
tightly. “Evidence in what we thought was a missing person
case.”

Dirty jerked his thumb over his
shoulder. “She ain’t missin’, Einstein.”

“
Her parents think she
is,” Daniel spat back, his hand going to the gun on his belt
holster. The two officers standing on either side of him mirrored
the action.

So did Dirty. He reached into his cut
and—

“
No, they don’t,” Ellie
said, stepping out from behind Dirty. “I just spoke with them, told
them I’d decided to hang with a friend for a few days, and that I’d
be by soon. It was supposed to be a surprise.” She glared at
Daniel, grateful her anger had taken a front seat to this horror
show. “A surprise you fucking ruined.” Those last five words were
said through her teeth, punctuated with as much venomous innuendo
as she could muster.

“
Speakin’ of friends,”
Dirty said. “We gotta ride. Places to fuckin’ be.”

“
Ellie,” Daniel said
tightly, turning back to her.

It took every ounce of willpower not to
shrink away, every ounce of sanity not to remember that awful mouth
on her, biting her, groping her, tearing her clothing off of her,
punching her, slapping her.

“
You need to come down to
the station with me so we can close the case.”

“
Hell fuckin’ no,” Dirty
said, leaning over his bike and into Daniel’s personal space. “You
want someone to be comin’ to that station, it’s gonna be Deuce. And
he’ll be comin’ real fuckin’ soon.”

Daniel’s expression didn’t change, but
his eyes did. Was that fear Ellie glimpsed? Satisfaction roared
through her. Daniel was afraid of Deuce. And suddenly she’d never
been so happy before that she knew Deuce and the
Horsemen.

Daniel waited several tense moments
before answering. “Make sure he does,” he replied
evenly.

After Daniel and his officers were out
of sight, Dirty straddled his bike. Once he was seated, he jerked
his thumb over his shoulder. “Get on,” he said tightly.

He didn’t want her on the back of his
bike; that much was obvious. He definitely had issues with being
touched, needing space, and even seemed to have problems with
having full-length conversations.

But neither of them had much of a
choice at the moment. She just hoped her touching him wouldn’t send
him into another flashback or worse.

At first, she tried to get on behind
him without touching him, but the last time she’d been on a
motorcycle was the one and only time she’d slept with Cage. Years
and years ago. Eventually she gave up trying and grabbed Dirty’s
shoulder to steady herself as she swung her left leg over the seat
and eased herself up.

Once she was seated, she tentatively
slid her arms around Dirty’s waist and as she did, his back went
ramrod straight. She froze with her hands on his waist, then
whispered, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She held her breath and waited for him
to react, to get angry with her, to laugh at her even, but instead
his body loosened and his shoulders bowed forward. Breathing out in
relief, she continued her slow slide around his midsection until
she was holding tightly to his lean waist.

“
Lean with me,” Dirty said
loudly over the roar of his Harley pipes.

“
What?” she
asked.

He turned his head to the side. “When I
hit a corner, lean with me.”

She nodded, he faced forward, and they
shot out into the street.

After tossing back the last of my
drink, I set the glass down on the bar and turned to glare at Cage.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into coming here,” I
muttered.

Cage smirked before he took a swig of
his beer. “Who the fuck was talkin’?” he asked. “All I remember was
a lot of fuckin’.”

Glaring down at my empty glass, I
silently willed the gin to refill itself. Nothing was going as
planned. Nothing.

Stopping by my mother’s house had done
nothing except further propel me into Cage’s naked lap. Watching
him interact with her, the way he was so careful with her, gentle
and sweet, that by the time we’d left we’d barely made to his bike
before I was sexually assaulting him.

So what if a guy is nice to your very
fragile mother? That shouldn’t mean you’re suddenly craving his
dick in your mouth. Or agreeing to spend the rest of the day at his
ridiculous motorcycle club with him, still craving his dick in your
mouth.

“
Do you think she saw us?”
I whispered.

“
Your mom? See you tryin’
to strip me naked in the driveway?” Cage snorted. “Yeah, babe, I
think the whole neighborhood saw us.”

“
Why didn’t you stop me?”
I demanded.

Shooting me an amused glance, Cage
started laughing. “Stop you? Babe, your pussy’s like fuckin’ crack.
Been up inside that shit all damn day and I’m still jonesin’ for
more.”

Ahhhhh, dammit. That smile, that voice,
those crude words that somehow sounded as sexy as fuck.

“
Tegen,” he said softly.
“Stop lookin’ at me like that, babe, or I’m gonna pick you the fuck
up and take you straight to my room. I know you don’t want to go
there, but you keep starin’ at me all hungry and shit, I’m not
gonna care what the fuck you want. I’m just gonna take
it.”

Realizing I’d been staring at Cage, I
swallowed hard and glanced away. Seconds later I felt his hand land
on my thigh and slide slowly in between my legs, cupping me. “Think
I might just take it anyway,” he said, his voice a low
growl.

Breathing hard, trying to focus on the
conversation instead of his touch, I turned to face him. “Thank you
for being so nice to her.”

Cage blinked. “Huh?” he said, taking
his hand back. “Your mom? Why wouldn’t I?”

I shrugged. “Everyone else has been
pressuring her to come to the club, but you didn’t even mention it.
That was really nice of you.”

“
You’re forgettin’
somethin’, babe,” he said gently. “I love D. We all love D. Anybody
who’s pressurin’ her isn’t tryin’ to hurt her, they’re just missin’
her. I hadn’t seen her in some time and I wasn’t about to be
forcin’ the club on her or anything.”

I stared at him, my eyes roaming every
inch of his perfect face, feeling so incredibly inadequate to be
seated next to him.

Why was he being so sweet?

“
Since when are you so
nice?” I whispered.

Cage’s nostrils flared slightly. “Only
once, since the day I met you, Teacup, that I haven’t treated you
right. Am I right?”

My cheeks flushing, I glanced
immediately away from him and just as quickly Cage grabbed hold of
my thigh and dug his fingertips into my flesh until I whimpered in
pain.

“
Look at me,” he
growled.

I already was. And I was
glaring.

“
Am. I. Right?” he
demanded quietly, staring directly into my eyes. The longer I
stared at him, my anger began to abate. He was…right.

Suddenly I felt so stupid, so small, as
if all my anger toward him had been a giant waste of time. That if
I’d only listened every time he’d tried to talk me down, if I would
have actually looked his way, I would have seen the apology in his
eyes years ago. A wave of nausea coursed through me. What was
happening here?

Would this, whatever this was, between
Cage and me have happened years ago if I hadn’t been so unwilling
to even speak to him?

Biting my bottom lip, feeling
conflicted, I nodded quickly and he immediately let go. Looking
satisfied, he leaned back on his barstool and folded his arms
across his chest.

“
Do you ever wonder if
she’s been rememberin’ shit and not tellin’ anyone?”

The abrupt change in subject gave me
pause. “What?” I asked, shaking my head.

He shrugged. “Just somethin’ she said
durin’ lunch. That Christopher’s been askin’ to ride on Hawk’s
bike, but then she said no way is she lettin’ him on, that she
didn’t let you get on a bike until you were twelve.”

I stared at him, my thoughts shooting
out in a million different directions. Was she remembering? Or had
I told her about that during one of many attempts at trying to help
her remember? I wracked my brain trying to remember phone
conversations and my visits home and…

Shit! I didn’t know! I couldn’t
remember.

“
Why would she do that?” I
asked. “Why wouldn’t she tell me?”

“
She’d been waitin’ on
Jase for years, Teacup,” Cage said, “only to end up gettin’ shot in
the fuckin’ head by his old lady. Maybe she figures not lettin’ on
she remembers him is her way out.”

“
Holy fuck,” I said. “Holy
motherfuck!”

Cage gave me a quizzical look.
“What?”

“
She was crying this
morning.”

She’d been standing in the window
watching me fight with Jase, watching me haul his drunk stupid ass
in the car, and she’d been crying. The immediate danger of Jase
breaking in had been taken away. She wasn’t crying about the threat
of him…she was crying
about
him.

That wasn’t something a woman who
didn’t remember a man did. Why would you cry over someone you
didn’t remember? That was something a woman did who’d had her heart
repeatedly broken by a man.