You Belong to Me (3 page)

She began combing through her hair with her fingers as she walked to the door. Then she
back-tracked to look in the mirror over the fireplace. What if she couldn’t? It would make him angry that he came all the way over here for nothing. Did she really want a pissed off Hells Viper in her house? “Damn!” She should do it; who’d know, anyway? At least she hadn’t met him on Craigslist or Plenty of Fish. Just as she’d made a halfway decision on what she was going to do, he knocked on the door, and her mind went blank.

Taking a deep breath, she straightened her clothes. Her emotions began a war between what was proper and downright whorish behavior.

“Hey,” he said, smiling at her as she greeted him.

“Hello, come on in. How’s the shoulder doing?”

He stepped past her and turned around. “I don’t know, about the same I guess. I haven’t really taken the pills correctly. I’ve got a lot going on right now. I take them when I remember to. I’ve done the exercises a few times, though.”

She shook her head at him. “You’re a bad patient. I didn’t think you were really coming by. It’s been a while since you texted me.”

His eyes narrowed as he looked at his watch and then back to her. “We’re always late.”

“We as in…?”

“Bikers,” he laughed.

“Good to know,” she chuckled.

“Where would you like to go eat?” he asked.

His question took her by surprise. She assumed that he was really only here for sex. “Yeah, I mean, absolutely. Do you like Chinese food? There’s a place not far from here, a buffet. They have good food there.”

“That sounds good to me,” he said, smiling at her.

Jasmine felt relieved. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have sex with him; she just didn’t want to have sex with him without at least talking to him for longer than ten minutes. “I’ll drive. Let me get my keys.”

“You don’t want to ride with me? What, you don’t want to be seen with an HV?” He frowned.

“No, that’s not it! I don’t care what people think about your club. My reason is more selfish than that.” She winced as she imagined how huge her butt would look on the back of that narrow bike. She firmly shook her head.

“Come on, let’s go for a ride. You ever rode on the back of a custom Harley Davidson Softail?”

“No, I’ve never ridden on any motorcycle. I . . . I really can’t. I wouldn’t feel comfortable, and we’d probably flip over or something. Women my
size don’t look good on a motorcycle.” She faked a laugh. “My car is right in the garage; you wouldn’t even have to move your bike for me to back out.”

He scrutinized her for a good minute before responding. “What do you mean your size? You’re not fat. Even if you were, if I had a problem with the way you look, I wouldn’t be here. I think you’re hot. I like your curves.” He walked forward, invading her personal space.

Jasmine took a step back when he approached.

“You have a nice smile, beautiful eyes, and your hair is real, none of that weave shit,” he continued. Nuke reached out and pushed her hair away from her eyes. “You got a great pair of tits. What size are those?”
he asked, pointing at her breasts.

“Thirty-six double Ds,” Jasmine responded before thinking about it. Damn, he was bold, asking her that question straight out like that. Odd thing was, she liked that he was so
confident and said what was on his mind.

“Nice,” he said, nodding his approval. “You got a good ass, too, and a brain. A woman like that is hard to find. Anyway, I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything all day! You
told me that I need to eat with my medication.”

She stood there, silent for a moment. “Are you sure? I won’t mess up the bike?”

“You got to be kidding me. Who fucked up your self-esteem?”

“Society,” she said and half smiled.

“That’s why I’m one percent of society,” he shot back, flashing his girl-killer smile at her.

She grinned, even though the butterflies in her stomach had turned into pissed off vultures that wanted her to toss her cookies on the living room carpet. Timidly, she slipped on the pair of flats that she kept near her door.

“You need a jacket or something,” he told her.

She walked to the hall closet and grabbed her sweater. “Is this okay?”

He nodded his approval. “See how easy things get when you do as I say? Keep that in mind.”

Once again, she couldn’t tell whether he was being sarcastic or joking. “If I break your bike, I can’t pay for it.”

He snorted.

“I’m not kidding.”

“I know you’re not. I can see that by the terrified look in your eyes. Was it your ex who called you fat? Some men do that when they’re insecure. They attack a woman’s self-esteem, you know? Me, I tend to get animalistic.”

“How do you know about him? Oh…Cindy must have told you.”
Wait, did he just say he gets animalistic? What does that even mean?

“Was it him?” he repeated.

“No, I’m just realistic. I’m not a size zero. I watch ‘Sons of Anarchy’ on TV. All of those women are skinny and sexy. They’re built like Cindy, aka ex-strippers or porn stars.”

“First of all, ‘Sons of Anarchy’ is not an accurate representation of who we are and our life. Second of all, you are way more beautiful than Cindy or anyone else I’ve been with even on their best day. I’ll prove that to you later on when I fuck the hell out of you. Unless you want me to do that first, before we eat?”

“No, no, no I’m good.” She’d just decided that she couldn’t have sex with him. Not until she dropped at least twenty pounds, though she doubted he’d wait around that long.

He winked at her. “Relax, I’ll take it easy on you the first time. Though it’s going to be hard, and I’m not just talking about my dick.”

She felt her face flush, but she decided that it was best not to respond to what he’d just said. “Is the bike safe?” she asked, hesitating slightly as she followed him out the door.

“Nothing with me is safe,” he said over his shoulder.

***

This is what it must feel like, being seen with a celebrity, Jasmine thought as Nuke took her hand in his and they walked into the restaurant. All eyes were on them. This didn’t seem to faze him one bit, and personally, she liked being seen with him. She felt part of something that was bigger than her. Though what that something was, she wasn’t quite sure. He strolled in like he owned the place and everyone in it. The waitress led them toward a table, but Nuke redirected her to a booth in the corner.

They ordered their drinks, got their food and headed back to the booth. She put her plate down and slid into the seat across from him. Jasmine glanced over with a smile at the couple adjacent to them, who were gawking at Nuke. They both quickly looked away when they saw her looking. She noticed that a lot of people seem to be fascinated by the Hells Viper.

“You have a weird effect on people.”

“Yep,” he said and took a huge bite of his noodles.

“Does it bother you at all that people stare because you’re a Hells Viper?”

“Nope it doesn’t. People are always intrigued by what they don’t understand. Sometimes the attention is positive; sometimes it’s not.”

“I think you might have converted me. I liked being on a motorcycle. Do you think it would be hard for me to learn how to ride? ”

“No, I can teach you. I got this junk bike in my shed, you can learn on that.”

“You’d really teach me how to ride?” she asked, slightly shocked.

He nodded.

It was hard for her to take her eyes off of him. God, he looked so good. He was tall. She was five-feet-eight, and she loved it when a man towered over her. He was muscular with a lean athletic body. She imagined herself running her hands through his short blonde hair as his face looked down at her, dripping with sweat as he rode her hard.

She wasn’t the only one who was thinking about what he would be like in bed. From the moment they’d entered the restaurant, she’d noticed that quite a few women were also checking him out. Cindy had informed her how these guys go from woman to woman. He’d probably leave here with a phone full of new numbers.

She shifted her eyes down to her plate. As excited as she was about going out with him, it was nagging at her why such a gorgeous guy, who obviously had no trouble getting a woman, was out with her. She’d never had any trouble getting a man, but Nuke wasn’t like any man she’d gone out with. Looking at the two of them together, they were complete opposites and not just because he was white and she was black. He wasn’t the first white guy she’d gone out with.

This was just dinner and possibly a sexual escapade, not a lifetime commitment. She quickly decided to start a fresh topic of discussion. She was making something complicated out of nothing at all. Plus, if she was going to do the nasty with this guy later on tonight, she wanted to know a little bit more about him. “So what’s this complication with the club Cindy was too afraid to talk about?” she asked.

“Club business; don’t ask me things that the Feds can indict you for.”

She sat back and looked at him. “Wow, really?”

“Yep.”

“Tell me something about you that doesn’t involve the club.”

“Like what?”

“Like family. Do you have any brothers or sisters?” she asked.

“I have a half brother and sister; I’m the oldest and the bad seed. The both live and work down in Indy. That’s where my mom and stepdad live.”

“Is that where you’re from?”

He shook his head as he took another bite of food. “I’m originally from Clearwater. We moved up here when my dad died. My mom and real dad both have family here. I was two. My mom remarried later, when I was six. They moved to Indy when I was fourteen, and I stayed here with an uncle, my real father’s brother.”

“You didn’t want to move?”

He shook his head again. “I was always the outsider. It was better this way. I wasn’t wanted.”

“Do you keep in contact with them?”

“A little bit.”

“Can you tell me your real name or did your mother name you Nuke?”

He reached over and took an egg roll from her plate. “Jason Stuart,” he said as he chewed.

“Cool, we have the same initials. I’m Jasmine Simmons.”

“The only person who still calls me Jason is my mom.”

Judging from how he looked now, it was hard to imagine him being a little boy once. She expected that by the time he was in high school, he was that bad boy who swaggered into class late and dared the teacher to send him to the office. “Doesn’t your girlfriend or wife call you Jason?”

“If I had a girlfriend or wife, I wouldn’t be here with you” he said as he stuffed more food into his mouth.

“Some guys don’t care. They do what they want with whomever they want.”

“I’m not one of those guys,” Nuke responded with a slightly irritated tone.

“How did you get the name ‘Nuke’?”

“I don’t think it would be in my best interests if I told you that right now,” he said as he took a sip of water.

“Why not? Or are you trying to make small talk difficult?” she scolded him.

“No, I’m not. Why don’t you tell me something about you, like why you called off your wedding?” he fired back.

It was her turn to avoid answering a question on a subject she didn’t really want to talk about. “I don’t know,” she said, her voice soft now.

“You don’t know?” He cocked one of his perfect eyebrows. “How long were with you with him or maybe you can’t tell me in case I get indicted by the Feds?”

Okay, that time she recognized it: sarcasm. “Two years,” she said, deciding to stick a small amount of fried rice into her mouth.

“That’s quite a while. What messed it up?”

“I don’t know why I couldn’t do it. No reason, really. I just…I don’t know.”

“There has to be a reason. Just tell me!”

“Tell me why they call you Nuke,” she challenged.

“Your answer won’t affect whether or not we have sex later on tonight. My answer might.”

“If it’s that bad, then you have to tell me, please,” she pleaded, her curiosity definitely peaked.

He smiled like a Cheshire cat as he shook his head.

This man is going to get me in all kinds of trouble, she thought. Him and his Slavic, perfect cheekbones, devious blue eyes and sensual mouth. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up following him straight to hell. “How about this: I promise you we’ll at least have oral sex if you tell me why you’re called Nuke.” Oral doesn’t require complete nudity, she mentally reassured herself.

“Are you giving or receiving?” he asked. The way he was leering at her sent the butterflies in her stomach into frantic mode and a quiver of expectation shot straight to her vagina.

The woman at the table next to them choked on her drink as she laughed. She and Nuke both glared at the woman. She quickly looked back down at her plate with a huge smile on her face. Her husband whispered something harsh, and her smile quickly faded.

“Your choice,” she said, winking at him. Maybe she hadn’t forgotten how to flirt.