Wicked Nights (16 page)

“You look constipated. The apartment is empty if you want to escape this commotion and those girls. I cleaned the place which, I must say, was a freaking job.”

“I think I will.” Addison slid off the bar stool and grabbed her purse. “Can you hang out for a minute or is it against the rules?”

“I don’t really have any rules.”

She led her to the apartment and, she had to admit, the place looked completely different. Gone was the stale beer and dirty-sex stench, and the sheets were clean, the blankets nice and the pillows looked brand new.

“What do you think?”

“You’re a saint. I wouldn’t have done it.”

Laughter burst from Lila. “Be glad you didn’t.”

Addison sat on the bed and took in the scenery. The typical motorcycle room had pictures of Harleys and women all over the walls. She supposed she’d have to let that go. She highly doubted Mason would let her post a naked man on a motorcycle in the place of the very naked women.

“What are the chances of me hanging a poster of a naked man on a motorcycle?”

“Slim.” Lila chuckled.

Addison had to agree. The men liked their women. “Don’t they ever get tired of staring at it?”

Lila shook her head. “Not really, no.”

She fell back to the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. It’d been a shitty day in a long line of shitty days. The problem she had with Mason still concerned her. She had to figure out what the hell she was going to do about it.

“I think you’re good for him. I’ve never seen Mason act the way he acts with you. He’s really a nice guy. I’ve known him for at least seven years. He doesn’t let people in too often, but that’s because of his past. He’s let you in, though, and I’m proud of him.”

Considering her words, Addison asked, “What happened in his past?”

The other woman shrugged. “He didn’t have a family. I think his mom sold him for some dope and he ended up in foster care. He was homeless for a while. He lived on the streets at sixteen because his foster parent liked to beat the shit out of him when he didn’t do something right. He had trouble reading as a kid and his grades fell short because of it. He struggled in school and eventually dropped out.” Lila met Addison’s eyes. “He thinks he’s not good enough for you. You’re a smart, highly educated woman with a peachy past and a promising future. I know you have your problems like every other couple, but Mason doesn’t let just anyone in. He has a hard time trusting people, which is why he only lets a few people into his house. He’s really weird about that, actually.”

Addison listened to Lila speak and wondered how what she said played into their problems. She hadn’t known about his past, although she could understand his need to not talk about it. The tragedy in his life explained why he considered the Wicked Angels his family. It hurt her to think about his accusation of her trying to take that away, but she could also see how he’d assumed that. The one thing she didn’t understand, though, was why he thought she was so good. Granted, she didn’t do much other than work, but she was far from a saint.

“Can I ask you something?”

Her friend nodded. “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Do you think a lawyer and an outlaw biker can have a happy, stable relationship? You know more about this life than I do. I just need to know if everything I’m going through is worth it in the end.”

Lila gripped the doorknob. “Every relationship needs two people willing to work their asses off to be together. There will be conflict that arises, but if you truly care about each other it will only be a small problem in the overall picture. Mason is not an easy person to get to know. He’s not an easy person to love. He likes his way and he always leaves the toilet seat up even though I fucking yell at him for doing so. He’s annoying and frustrating, but he’s also got some of the best qualities that any girl would be lucky to find in a guy. I know you know what they are, and I know you know that is exactly what keeps you hanging around.”

Addison did know what they were. She knew that he had loyalty unlike any other. He also had a protective streak a mile long. When they were alone, he made her feel wanted and adored. He also seemed to hone in on her desires, doing his best to give them to her as well.

“Well, they’ll be looking for me since I’m not at the bar. If you need anything, just holler.”

“Sure thing.” Addison swallowed. “Thanks for cleaning up this nasty room.”

Once Lila left, Addison laid back on the bed, not realising how tired she was. Thoughts of Mason’s life entered her mind as well as the argument they’d had. She curled up to one of the pillows with her back to the door. He needed the club. She understood that to some degree. It was all he had and all he really knew. She tried to understand the motives in his head. The other stuff simply didn’t fit well into her life. She couldn’t participate in criminal defence properly if her boyfriend had the image he was above the law.

The door opened and Mason stepped inside. “Hey.”

She shifted on the bed to face him. “Hey. What are you doing?”

He leant down to kiss her. “I’m heading out. You stay here, okay?”

She knew that she’d have to stay behind, but it didn’t change the fact she didn’t like it. “They could blow me up in here as much as out there.”

He bent over the bed, an arm on each side of her. “They’re not going to blow you up anywhere.”

Addison stared up at him. He had the badass biker look, but his eyes spoke a different tune. The deep blue colour mesmerised her. She swallowed hard and ran her hands along the corded muscles in his arms. Maybe they were more similar that she’d originally thought. While she didn’t choose to carry weapons and shoot people, she did her fighting with the legal system. Maybe, just maybe, they were two sides of the same coin.

“Ah, shit.” He pressed his face against her chest. “You look like you’re going to cry one minute then you touch me and I’m instantly hard.”

She ran her fingers through his hair. “My sadness turns you on?”

He lifted his head. “No. Your hands, your mouth, your body—that shit turns me on. Not your sadness. You’re making me want to forget everything and stay here, in bed, with you.”

“Glad my shit turns you on.”

He laughed. “Quit being a pain in the ass.” He kissed her then moved away from the bed. “You know, you don’t have to stay in the apartment. You can go out and mingle with the rest of the crew. Some of them like you well enough to hold a decent conversation.”

“Some of them?” Addison tried not to feel offended.

“Yeah.” He met her eyes. “Some. You fighting with the girls didn’t win you any brownie points. Not to mention that bullshit you pulled with Becca and the whole showing-me-her-tits thing.”

Addison sat up. “Bullshit I pulled?”

He leaned in, cupping her cheeks. “You can’t go around calling every girl who hangs out at the club a skank. I don’t care if they are.” His lips settled on hers. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth to him, allowing him to kiss her. He really was a good kisser. She’d tried to deny it many times, but he had a talented tongue that had the ability to make her forget her own name.

When he finally pulled back, Addison reached up to wrap her fingers around his wrists. “I’ll mingle for a little while and try to make friends. But you need to redecorate this place. If I’m going to be holed up here, I need something other than pussy to stare at.”

He glanced around. “There’s nothing wrong with the way it’s decorated.”

“I’m a girl. I’m not into girls.”

He laughed. “I could make a comment, but it would only start an argument I don’t have time for.”

His attitude only made her want to hang a poster of a naked man on a motorcycle even more. She made a mental note to find one and see how long it took before he noticed it.

She pushed at his arms. “Go away.”

He moved towards the door. “I’ll be back sometime in the morning. Behave yourself while I’m gone.”

“Don’t count on it.”

He shook his head. “Behave or I’ll paddle your ass when I get back. No fighting in my club.”

Addison narrowed her eyes and stood, moving towards the dresser that sat next to the door. She wanted to analyse every little detail of their relationship to the point that she nitpicked him for everything. In some ways it would be nice to be like the other girls. She’d never be caught dead in hooker heels, but she did like the idea of what they proposed. They kept the men happy.

“Addy?”

“Yeah?” She glanced over at him.

Mason sucked in a deep breath. It wasn’t like him to struggle with what to say to her. She wondered if he tiptoed around the issue because of what she’d said to him. She walked to him and wrapped her arms around him. She understood and she had a general idea of what Mason considered tonight’s club business. She didn’t like it, but she knew better than anyone something had to be done.

“This isn’t your battle to fight.” He kissed her briefly. “It never was.”

Addison nodded and stepped back. “Go.” She was too smart to believe him, even though she wanted to play dumb. He eventually turned and shut the door behind him.

The hardest thing for her was watching him walk away. Even though the shock of what he did as club business had worn off, she didn’t like the idea of him repeating those events day after day. It was still something she struggled with and every way she looked at it, she didn’t know how to get around it.

You either analyse it to death or you take it one event at a time.
In all the ways that counted, Addison made the decision, in her very best effort, to take it one event at a time. The fight was not a casual one. The Skulls wanted her dead. She had to pick her life or theirs. When it came down to it, she chose hers.

She found some more comfortable clothes and changed before sitting on the bed again. One event at a time also meant that she needed to fix whatever problems she had with the women in the club. Lila was more or less her only friend here. She hung around a few of the guys, but to some degree it wasn’t appropriate. She needed to find some friends in the women and she needed to fix the problem she had created with Kinsey and Becca.

Addison left the apartment and went to the main room, finding the women mingling with the prospects. Tony had Becca on his lap and Joe had taken a liking to Kinsey. Rick sat with another girl Addison didn’t know, both listening to whatever conversation the two couples had going on.

Lila eyed her from the bar. Addison waved her friend off, heading towards the group. Becca was the first to spot her and scowled in her direction.

“What do you want?”

She blew out a breath. “A peace offering.” She stared at Kinsey. “I think we’ve all got off on the wrong foot.”

“I don’t have to pretend to like you. Mason isn’t here.” Kinsey glared at her.

“Fair enough.” Addison nodded. “But I figured since all of us were going to be hanging around this place for quite a while, we might as well learn to live with each other.”

Becca snickered. “You called me a skank. Forgive me if I want nothing to do with you.”

“Well, I tried.” Addison sighed. “For the record, your new boobs look ginormous.”

Complimenting the one thing she was proud of seemed appropriate, and hopefully it would get them past their rough start. Mason had told Addison that she’d just had them done and was obviously proud of the product. She wasn’t sure if it would work, but Becca seemed to be the type of person that needed compliments.

Becca watched her for a moment. “You want to shoot some pool, law girl?”

To Addison’s surprise, she did. “Sure.”

Kinsey’s jaw dropped. Staring at the two women as they went to the pool table, she said, “You’re just going to forget about everything she did?”

“Yeah, Kinsey.” Becca sipped her beer. “I’m not holding a grudge. I’m not the one who slept with her boyfriend.”

Kinsey scoffed and Joe tried to focus her attention on him. Addison lifted a pool stick while Becca racked the balls. Maybe she could actually have more friends than just Lila.

She played a few games with Becca and a few games with Tony before saying goodnight to Lila and heading back to the apartment. To her surprise, she’d actually ended up liking Becca. The girl was less of a skank than she’d thought and had actually attended the University of Tampa, pursuing a major in elementary education.

Addison climbed into the bed, relaxing against the soft pillows. Instead of allowing sleep to take her, she played a million images of Mason with other women in that very bed. She’d caught him occasionally, the muscles of his ass flexing while he shoved into some girl whose face remained out of sight. He didn’t mind people watching. Didn’t care to turn around, condom on his dick to talk business with her like he’d just been to the gym, not fucking someone.

She tossed on the bed, feeling more and more uncomfortable. However bad it may be, Mason’s love life was the least of her worries. The Skulls MC coming after her seemed to rank as a number one worry for her at the moment.

Her cell phone rang, drawing her from her thoughts. Addison picked it up, not recognising the number. She had calls all the time from potential clients and she normally answered every one of them.

“Addison Pierce? This is Judge Donahue. It has come to my attention that you are interested in being appointed to my position when I retire.”

Addison froze. “Yes, sir. I am.”

“Well, I’ve been considering candidates and your name keeps sticking out above the rest to me. I’ve looked at your record and I have to say I’m impressed. I also think you know the system well enough to be a great candidate.”

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. “Wow. Thank you, sir. That means a lot.”

“Can you come by my office tomorrow for a formal interview? Since my term is not up, I want to make sure I’m appointing the proper candidate to take my place.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be there first thing in the morning.”

Addison hung up and smiled. She had wanted this all her life. She tossed her phone aside. A job as a justice for civil trials would be her dream come true. She glanced at the clock and realised she really needed to get some sleep before she had to get up.