Untitled Book 2 (19 page)

I blush and accept his hand, putting my plate down on my chair. “Yes, you may.”

He brings me right up against his body with his hand on the
small of my back, my breasts against the top of his abs. I roll my body against his in a sensual way, grinding my hips. He moves against me, in time with the music. I had no idea he could dance, but he's actually pretty good. To me, a man who dances terribly is a bit of a turnoff, so I'm glad he can handle his own on the dance floor.

“I forgot you could move like that,” he says into my ear, making me shiver. “I'm pretty sure I told you that you shouldn't dance like that in public.”

“Yet here we are,” I reply, flashing him a seductive look.

“But this time you're mine,” he says, kissing behind my ear. “So you can dance like that all you want. If other men look though, just know that you'll be causing a fight.”

“I'll make sure to remember that,” I say.

He grins and spins me around so my ass is pressed against him. He's hard, he knows it and I know it, I just hope no one else does. With his mouth at my neck, we dance together, probably a little too raunchily given that there are children present. I gyrate my hips in a circle, then shake my ass. Irish and Tina dance next to us, and the two of us share a smile. She's a beautiful woman, with all that red hair, and I can understand why Irish can't take his eyes off her.

“Can we leave the party for a little while?” Vinnie asks in my ear. “I want you, right now.”

I'd never admit this out loud, but I kind of want to eat the rest of my dinner. We can have sex tonight after the party, so I literally want to have my cake and eat it too.

“Can you wait an hour or so?” I ask, spinning to face him and wrapping my arms around his neck. “We can't miss her cutting the cake.”

His eyes narrow and then fill with amusement. “You don't care about her cutting the cake, you just want cake, don't you?”

“You were there when we ordered it! It's going to be the best cake anyone has ever eaten; I can't miss it,” I say, pouting. “Can't we please wait until after cake?”

“Well my hard-on has gone,” he says, kissing my forehead. “With all this fuckin' food talk, so yes, you enjoy your cake, babe, but after that you're all mine.”

“I'm always all yours,” I say, pulling him back to where I was sitting, where my plate of food is just waiting for me. I turn to look at him, just in time to catch a glimpse of his expression at my comment. His eyes light up possessively, and I see him adjust himself. Is he still hard?

“Faye, can we cut the cake?” Vinnie calls out to her, making me laugh.

“What's the rush?” Faye asks, walking by hand in hand with Clover. She looks between Vinnie and me and scowls. “It's my birthday, can you two control yourselves for one night? The only person getting birthday se—” She looks down at her daughter. “I mean, birthday
fun
should be me.”

“Just cut the cake, woman,” Vinnie growls playfully. It makes me think of the growling noises he makes in bed, and suddenly I do wish Faye would cut the cake right now. Maybe we could eat the cake in bed, naked.

“Fine,” Faye says, giving in and smiling at me. “Only because you did all this for me.”

We sing “Happy Birthday,” and Faye cuts into the giant chocolate mud cake.

I have two pieces.

Shortly after that, it's me who drags Vinnie to the bedroom.
However, after eating so much we were both in food comas and weren't in the mood to do anything except sleep naked, holding each other.

In the middle of the night though, we make up for it.

And in the morning.

*  *  *

I have cake for breakfast.

I help clean up and then jump in the shower. Vinnie is meeting with Talon again today, and although I tried to get him to tell me what it was all about, I didn't really get any answers. Vinnie just said that Talon is going to give him an update. Trace and Jess are in the kitchen, and I don't know them too well, so I stay in my room with Colt, writing an essay for my online class. With everything going on, studying seems pointless, but it keeps my mind active, and I actually like learning. I really want to get my business degree, for myself, no one else. I studied accounting for my father, and while I'm good at it, I don't really enjoy it.

When lunchtime comes around, I'm surprised when Tracker and Rake come into my room.

“Hey,” I say, closing Vinnie's laptop. “Is everything okay?”

Tracker just smiles at me and says, “Want to go on an adventure?”

I arch my brow and clasp my hands together. “What did you have in mind?”

*  *  *

“I think my first question is going to be, why?” I say, looking out the car window. They've brought me to the woods. The fucking woods.
“Or what? Oh my god, are you going to kill me? I thought we were all getting along great. Is this because I ate the last piece of cake? Or because I showed Bailey my Chanel bag and now she wants one?”

They both ignore me and get out of the car. I sit there, wondering why the hell we are in the woods. This didn't sound like an adventure to me. I was a victim of a severe case of false advertising. Rake opens my door and says, “Come on.”

I get out.

Tracker pulls out a gun and hands it to me. I hold it like it's a bag of poop, away from my body, stretching my arm out as far as it can go. “A gun lesson?”

“Yep,” Tracker says, flashing me a lopsided smile. “Followed by ice cream.”

“Well, that softens the blow a little,” I admit, holding the gun properly, stepping away from the two of them, and pointing it toward the trees. “What do I aim at? I don't want to hurt any animals that might get in the way. Don't you have some cans or something?”

“Follow us,” Tracker says, leading the way. We walk through the woods for about five minutes until we come to a clearing. There's a wooden fence running along it, with about ten cans tied to the fence, so when they fall you can put them back up, I'm guessing.

“This is cool,” I have to admit.

“It is,” Rake says, then goes into teacher mode. “Now, safety first. We don't want you accidentally shooting us in the nuts or something.”

He shows me how to put the safety on and off, how to hold the gun properly, and how to aim.

He takes one shot at the first can, not missing.

Then he hands the gun back to me and says, “Your turn.”

I raise the gun, aiming it at the second can, fire, and miss. I feel nervous about using the gun, but also strangely empowered. I feel like a badass—or at least I will when I learn how to use it better.

“We're not leaving until you hit at least five out of the ten,” Tracker announces, nodding toward the can. “We've got all day.”

Two hours later, I get my ice cream.

I
STAND
over the dead body, impressed. “That was a good shot.”

“I know,” Talon replies, not sounding smug, just stating a fact. “Shayla know what we're out doing today?”

“Told her I was meeting you for an update,” I say, looking around the mansion we are in. The man now lying dead on the floor, Tony Addario, was a threat to Shay. Talon recorded a conversation between him and another man, Tony's cousin Abe, who is a member of the Kings MC. The two of them were talking about raping and killing her in revenge for all the shit her father caused them since the feds have some information and were breathing down their necks. And now they had to watch their backs even among their own family members, since everyone was out for themselves. I felt no pleasure in his death, but I felt no remorse either. This man would have hurt Shay without a second thought, and the world is better off without him.

“Let's go,” Talon says, heading toward the back door. “He has so many enemies no one will know who killed him. No one will suspect us.”

“What about the cousin?” I ask. After hearing the voice message, and the word
rape
coming out of their mouths, I wanted them both in the ground.

“We'll take care of him next,” Talon says as we walk through the woods behind his house. “I have no issues with the Kings, and I will handle them. If this starts a fuckin' war, then so be it. No one has any idea that Shayla is under your protection. They think she's just fallen off the grid. That's why no one has even tried to fuck with the club yet. What do you think is the best plan of action?”

I'd actually been thinking about this for a while now. With her father having so many fuckin' enemies, I didn't see how Shay was going to get out of this. We'd have to spend the rest of our lives watching our backs. While I'm used to living that way, I don't want her to have to.

“For now, I think we should let everyone think she's deep in hiding.” I pause, looking Talon in the eye. “And then I have another idea, but I don't think anyone is going to like it.”

*  *  *

I thrust my hips forward, loving the feel of her. I'm on top, her legs over my shoulders, as I pump away, finding the perfect rhythm and angle. I lean forward to taste her lips, and she moans into my mouth. Finding her sweet spot with my thumb, it's not long before she comes, and I join her. I pull out of her, kissing her once more, then collapse onto the bed. It's the third time tonight that we've fucked, and I'm exhausted.

Shay had offered to babysit Clover, Cara, and Rhett for the day, so she had to be up in about five hours.

“You're going to be tired tomorrow,” I say against her temple.

“I know,” she whispers in reply. “But sometimes you just have to take one for your vagina.”

I laugh at that, my chest shaking. “The shit you come up with, Shay. Get some sleep, temptress.”

“Okay,” she says, yawning, already half-asleep. “Love you, Vinnie,” she whispers, just before falling into a deep slumber. I, on the other hand, was suddenly more awake than ever, like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on my face. She loved me? But it was too soon. Will she remember saying it in the morning? For a second, I find myself wishing that she won't, because I won't know what to say back. I'm not ready to say those words to her; to be honest, I don't really know what love is. Yes, I've seen it in the others, but I've never felt it, so how would I know? I'd never say it unless I knew that I meant it, and right now I'm not sure how I feel. More than I have for any other woman—sure, but love? That was a whole new playing field. I try to relax, holding her in my arms, her head on my chest, her soft breath tickling my skin. Before I fall asleep, one last thought crosses my mind.

If she really does love me—I'm the luckiest man in the world.

*  *  *

“So how is he?”

“How is who?” I ask distractedly as I look over the guest list at Rift several days later. There is an event tonight, and the club is going to be full. Luckily I get to leave before the doors open and people barge in, but Rake, Bailey, Shay, and I are stuck doing the day shift, making sure everything is ready for tonight. I didn't want to bring Shay, but she practically begged me, obviously sick of being stuck inside, so I relented.

“Did someone do stocktaking?” I ask Sian, our bar supervisor.

“Yes, I did it,” she replies, looking toward the back. “I made a new order sheet for next week, but we're good for now.”

“Talon,” Shay continues, looking at me and waiting for my attention. “You saw him the other day but never told me how he was doing.”

I put down the list and look into her beautiful brown eyes. “He's fine. Don't worry about him, we need to worry about you instead.”

She rolls her eyes and sticks her straw in her mouth.

Bailey sits down next to Shay and looks between us. “I hope I'm not interrupting anything.”

“No,” Shay says instantly, I guess wanting Bailey to feel welcome. “I was just about to ask Vinnie what I can do to help. If he tells me to sit here and look pretty again though, I might scream.”

I laugh at that. “I'm almost done, you just relax.”

“All I do is relax,” she grumbles.

“Shark will be here soon to take over from me, so we can go do something if you like.”

I was taking a gamble, of course, but I fuckin' hated it when she was sad.

“Who is Shark?” she asks me, scrunching her nose up.

Bailey laughs, touching Shay's arm and answering the question for me. “That's Ronan's road name.”

“How come you don't have a road name?” she asks me, looking curious.

“I do,” I reply, smirking. “No one really uses it though, probably because Vinnie itself is a nickname. My first name is Tyler.”

“I didn't even know that. So why do they call you Vinnie then?” she asks, tilting her head to the side. “And what's your road name?”

“Vincent is my middle name,” I explain to her. “And it's Wolf.”