Page 7

Kiss

If this Battle Axe bitch casually touched Blue’s forearm again I was going to go Heller on her ass.

Heller Raiders had a reputation. Some people stared. Some would change direction and walk the other way. Guys were intimidated, and girls liked a bad boy. I knew. I was one of those girls.

Hellers didn’t back down from a fight. And if a guy stared too hard at one of their girls, the guy ran the risk of having his teeth shoved down his throat.

With Blue, I felt safe.

Just as Heller girls were territorial over our guys, I accepted I could be a jealous bitch. Not a great trait. One of my many personality flaws and insecurities. I was protective of Blue, more so now that I’d glimpsed moments of his apprehension toward touches.

Brit had a name tag over her left breast with the Battle Axe logo on the back. She was showing us—actually just Blue because she hadn’t said two words to me—how to hold the axe.

“There are just a couple of rules,” she continued. I didn’t like the flirty giggle coming out of those pink lips, either. “Don’t step over the black throw line for scoring to count. Stay behind the red safety line when axes are in play. ”

Because I needed her to take a step back from my boyfriend, I took a step closer, wedging myself between her and Blue.

“I think we got it. Use two hands, swing it over my head, and throw it at the target. By target I assume you mean the wooden bullseye.” And not burying the axe between her shoulder blades.

I could feel Blue’s gaze burning into my back. He bowed his head to cover his low chuckle.

“Right. Okay.” The girl smiled at Blue and stepped back. “I’m your monitor for the night, so if you have any questions, I’m at the monitor’s station between lanes ten and eleven.”

We were in lane nine. The lanes were set up like stalls in a barn. Two targets were painted onto the far wall of the stall, twelve feet from the throwing line. Wooden walls divided the lanes from each other. Some lanes were four targets wide for larger groups of throwers.

“Ready?” Blue asked. We each had an axe. “You go first.” He stood next to a whiskey barrel table. “Maybe unleash some of that aggression.”

I wrapped my hands around the hilt of the axe. “She was flirting with you.”

“Maybe she just likes her job.”

“Rubbing up against you like a cat in heat isn’t part of her job.” I raised the axe over my head and threw it hard. The axe hit with a thump, imbedding in the wood but outside the point rings. I popped a hip and pursed my lips. “That sucks.”

Blue came up behind me. “So do I.” He rested his hand on my belly, lowered his lips, and gently sucked my neck. “Do you want to make a side bet?” he whispered near my ear .

I turned and faced him. “I just proved I’m a terrible throw, and you want me to make a bet?”

His lips quirked with a devastatingly dangerous smile. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“What’s the bet?”

Blue closed the space between us, rested his hands on my shoulders, then slowly feathered his fingers down my arms. Shivers, that had nothing to do with being chilled, skittered along my flesh. Wildly drunk butterflies tumbled in my tummy.

When his fingers reached my wrists, he pushed my arms behind my back. I waited with bated breath. His lips hovered above mine. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the hypnotic blue of his eyes. I’d never noticed the faint scar he had on the edge of his brow. I’d always been too obsessed with his long, dark lashes.

“The bet—” he started.

But I was tuned out. My nipples barely brushed against his chest sending a flare of heat through me. A flush of warmth seeped low in my belly. “Do you want to kiss me if you win?”

His tongue touched the corner of my lip, his mouth brushed against mine, and his grip tightened on my wrists, holding me immobile. Not that I wanted to move. I wanted to spend forever in this moment.

Breath warmed my lips. “I want to make you come.”

Saliva moistened my mouth. A rush of fluids soaked my pussy, and my panties grew moist and sticky. There was only one reason for my fluctuating pulse. I wanted to lose the bet.

“Okay.” I squeaked the word.

“My turn.” A smile curled his lips, and I stepped back behind the red line to give him room to throw.

Please hit the bullseye .

His forearms flexed, veins swelling in relief against his sun-bronzed skin, as he gripped the axe. He raised it over his head, his shoulders rippled with muscle, his cut stretched across his back, and his jeans outlined the curve of his ass.

Blue was freaking hot.

The axe sailed through the air, hit the wood, and fell to the rubber flooring. For two seconds, we both stared, and then I couldn’t stop the laugh from bubbling out of me.

Blue turned around, backed me against the wooden wall dividing our lane from the next. “That’s just the first point.”

I lifted my chin. “Technically, we’re tied at zero. But it’s my turn.”

“What’s the bet?”

My throat tightened. “You have to spend the night, with me, in my bed.”

I could hardly breathe as he stared at me.

“Sleep next to me, Blue. Hold me and let me touch you.”

His hands balled into fists. He took a step back, cracked his neck, and barely nodded.

Per the rules, we retrieved our axes together. Blue positioned behind the red line. With a grunt, I hurled the axe toward the target. I didn’t aim. Anywhere in the scoring circle would feel like a victory.

The axe snagged the corner of the five-point circle but immediately fell from the wood. “That should count.”

Blue pointed to the rules board. “That’s a zero for you.”

He took his shot, hitting the three-point circle. I cheered. If he won, I’d have some part of his body inside mine. By the end of the first match, we both had points on the board.

Blue ordered us Cokes and a plate of fries. We switched sides for the second match. On my second throw, my blade hit the bullseye. I squealed and clapped my hands. Blue rushed into my space and caught me as I jumped into his arms.

“Dead center earns a kiss.” And then his lips were on mine, my mouth opened, and I tasted his silken tongue. His sinful kiss was hot, wet, and wild.

I kept my hands around his neck but held them still, letting him control the heat and tempo. Standing on my tiptoes, we kissed until he left me breathless and achy…and so fucking happy.

His long fingers grazed the exposed skin between my jeans and my T-shirt. “That puts you in the lead.”

I didn’t want the lead. After that kiss, he’d better land a bullseye of his own because I definitely needed to lose the bet.

Blue positioned and threw his axe while I calmed my rampant heartbeat with a drink of my soda. The blade stuck to the wood, just inside the bullseye. I nearly vibrated with anticipation.

“That’s inside the circle.” I pointed to the board, a tingle zinging through me because Blue had the lead again. My whistle pierced the air.

“Maybe I should grow a beard and become a lumberjack.” He crossed to the table and stuffed a few fries into his mouth.

“You’re too beautiful for a beard,” I said. “I like your face.”

“I like your face, too.” He kissed me with a smack of lips, then stuffed more fries into his mouth .

Midway through our third match, Blue set his axe on the table. “What happens if we end in a tie?” He checked the score card as he finished his soda and drank some of mine.

“We are either both winners or both losers,” I said.

“If we end the game now, we could both be winners.”

My tummy flipped. Our session wasn’t up, but I didn’t care. I was ready to go home. We turned in our axes to the bubbly monitor and headed out to the parking lot. The sun had just about set, but the night air was still warm.

Blue tucked a stray tangle of hair behind my ear, then helped me with my helmet. He backed the bike up, then held it steady while I climbed on behind him. This time, I didn’t hesitate in holding tight as he revved the engine and zipped out of the parking lot.

He weaved through traffic. Wind whipped around us, and the road was a blur beneath my feet. I expected to ride back to Sully’s, but Blue headed downtown.

My stomach clenched when he turned onto Washington Street. We passed the alley between Third and Fourth street. I’d met a plug there. Jonesy and Hunter, two of the Crawlers I’d been using with, beat the fuck out of him, stole his product and money and warned him about dealing on their territory.

This was their territory. The neighborhood pharmacists for anything to fuck a girl up.

The park was a trigger. I remembered the rush of coming to the park, of knowing I’d be high in a few minutes. A bead of sweat slipped down my spine. These were my drug memories. I’d smoked weed with Bling at Inked Out after he’d given one of my drug friends a tattoo. I’d shot up in the public bathrooms. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want my time with Blue tainted by my past, and I had too many memories here, memories I wanted to forget.

Blue slowed the bike, but the rumble of the pipes still drew attention. Small mom and pop shops lined the right side of the street, and on the left, people walked in the park. Skaters loitered. No doubt, within five minutes of being in the park, I could score black.

The anticipation, the glide of the needle, the rush of euphoria, and then the fucking crash when I lost everything and everyone.

Saliva pooled in the back of my throat. Blood flowed hot through my veins, and a fear sizzled through every part of me. Sweat coated my flesh. I wasn’t strong enough to be here.

Blue backed the motorcycle into a parking spot near the skate park. After securing the helmets to the bike, he weaved his fingers with mine, and we followed the path into the park. Within a few steps, he stilled and stared into my eyes. “Are you okay?”

My hands trembled. “I used to do black here.”

“Fuck. Okay. We’ll go.” His fingers tightened on mine as he started back toward the bike.

Our first date. We’d kissed. We’d flirted with innuendo. We’d touched like lovers. Our first date . And I was going to ruin it with my fears and insecurities. I wasn’t there yet. I couldn’t call myself clean when I only had a week without drugs, but I was determined.

Every nerve in my body burned with want of just a little hit, but I’d never be stronger than I was with him. I couldn’t be afraid to have a life. I wasn’t a slave to black. “Blue, wait.”

“Nah, baby. We can go somewhere else. ”

I’d been an addict for too long. There was no place untouched by my past. “Why did you bring me here?”

With a jerk of his head, he flipped his bangs from his face and nodded to the store at the corner of the park. “To get an ice cream and then make out on one of those benches.”

With his fingers still laced with mine, I tugged his hand behind my back, bringing us closer together. I stared into his eyes, seeing the way I felt about him reflecting back at me. We were in this together. “The only memories I want from tonight are memories of us.”

“Ice cream?”

“I want to be with you. I don’t care where we go.”

He held my hand as we crossed the park. Street performers played guitar and sang. The lobby of the ice cream shop was crowded. We peered through the glass and read the names of the flavors.

“What’s your favorite?” he asked me.

“When I was a kid, I always picked bubblegum.” I moved along the glass. “Mmm. That looks good.”

Blue grabbed the attention of the girl running the counter.

“What can I get you?” she asked.

“A single scoop of the cherry cheesecake,” I said.

Her attention turned to Blue.

“I’ll have a medium Coke.”

I pinched my brow. “You’re not getting ice cream?”

He chuckled. “I don’t like ice cream.”

The girl scooped my cone and handed it over the counter. We made our way to the register. Blue paid and grabbed his drink.

Outside, we held hands again and walked along the paths through the park .

“I can’t believe you don’t like ice cream.” I licked the cone.

He smiled. “I’m not discriminating. I’m not a fan of sweets. I don’t know how Jazzy sucks on lollipops all the time.”

“I love sugar.” I dragged my tongue along the edge of the cone, licking the melting drips of sweet cream.

Blue cradled my cheek in his palm and covered my mouth with his. The warmth of his tongue chased the icy chill from mine. We were definitely getting better at this.

He groaned and took the kiss deeper, eating my mouth as if I was the best thing he’d ever tasted.

“Fuck, that’s good.” He licked his upper lip. “You’ve converted me. I’m definitely a fan of cherry cheesecake kisses.”

Between walking and kissing, we talked about Willow’s house, the MC, Romeo, and Levi. “I wish I could go back and change how I treated her.”

“She doesn’t see the past the same way you do. She doesn’t blame sober Kiss for the shit high Kiss did. She wants you healthy.” He dropped his empty cup into the garbage. “You can’t rush your recovery.”

“I know.”

“I need to take a leak.” He stopped near the restrooms. “Then we can take off.”

“I’ll wait here.” I sat on the bench not far from the brick building.

The last streaks of the sunset colored the sky. It would be dark in a few minutes. I loved night rides on the motorcycle, but I was ready to go home and spend the night in bed with Blue. Damn, but those jeans fit his ass. Long legs, the Heller Raiders patch on his cut. He was thin but muscular. God, he was hot. He entered the men’s side, and I sat back against the metal slats of the bench and people-watched.

However, people didn’t really notice me as they walked past. I wasn’t the doped up girl in the park running with a dirty group of junkies. I wasn’t the girl that parents warned their sons about. Maybe I still was, but Blue didn’t have a mom to hate me or a dad who’d stare at me like he wanted to fuck me.

That wasn’t fair to Sully, Tank, or Bear. I was always just one of their girls like Jazzy and Levi. It also wasn’t fair to think every man just wanted a piece of ass. Not when I was willing to sell my soul for another hit.

“Hey, Kiss.”

I snapped my gaze to the left, and I felt the impact like a kick to my ribs. My chest tightened, and my pulse ratcheted into overdrive. “Hunter.”

“We’ve missed you.” He draped his arm across the back of the bench and tugged on my braid. “You’re looking good.”

“We figured you’d split somewhere with Sam.” The we Hunter spoke of was Jonesy, and he leaned against the tree in front of me, one foot casually crossed in front of the other, a look of casual intimidation he’d perfected. Jonesy liked to play with his food, and he saw girls as nothing but a snack.

“I’ve been around,” I said.

The smile twisting Jonesy’s lips terrified me. Although, I was equally petrified of Hunter. I was scared of myself.

“I haven’t seen Sam.” My voice broke on the lie.

“We haven’t seen Sam around, either. That’s a problem for us. We can’t collect what he owes us if we can’t find him.”

“If I see him, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him. ”

Breathe . My gaze darted to the bathroom. Blue would be back any minute. This was bad with two possible outcomes. Okay. One outcome. Blue would lose his shit and fight. Jonesy and Hunter might not be wearing Crawler colors anymore, but they were packing, and they fought dirty.

These two were bulls, and Blue wearing his cut was like waving a red flag.

“I need to go.” I stood but Hunter grabbed my wrist.

“What’s the hurry? Come with us.”

“I can’t.” I tugged on my wrist, but Jonesy stepped away from the tree and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pinning me to his side. As he walked forward, I had no choice but to walk with him. He held me too tightly. Panic flared.

Jonesy and Hunter weren’t the type of guys you challenged. I could scream but no one would interfere.

“Stop.” I tried not to let my fear show in the tone of my voice. “I’m here with someone.”

“Does she want to party?”

“No. Listen, I’m getting clean.” I tried to dig my heels into the grass, but Jonesy’s hold had my feet barely touching the ground. “I said let me go.” I thrashed my arms.

“The way I see it, Sam owes for what he put in your veins. That makes the debt yours.”

Heat flooded through my body. “I told you. I’m not using.”

Jonesy pushed me into the women’s bathroom. “Watch the door,” he said to Hunter. “Don’t let anyone in.”

I was so fucked.

Blu e

Kiss wasn’t on the park bench. I stepped a few feet from the building and spun in a circle. What the fuck?

She wouldn’t have left. Maybe she decided to use the restroom. I returned to the bench, pulled out my phone, and checked my messages. Although, why would she send a message if she just had to pee?

I bent forward, rested my forearms on my thighs, and waited. A guy in faded jeans and a hoodie stood next to the woman’s restroom door. His stare met mine for a fraction of a second, then he lowered his head and stared at his feet. But two seconds later, he lifted his head and stared at me again.

This time, my gaze locked with his, and a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. Maybe I knew him from a bike meetup or something. Tattoos covered his hands and neck. I stood as a young girl approached the bathroom.

The guy held out his arm, stopping her from entering. “The bathroom is closed.”

Something wasn’t right. I approached the bathroom.

The guy reached into the front pocket of his hoodie. “You don’t want to come any closer.”

Before he could react to me, I closed the distance between us in two strides and rammed my knee into his groin. Maybe this was nothing, but I trusted my instincts.

The guy moaned, dropped to his knees, and fell forward, slamming his head into the concrete. I thrust him out of the way. He rolled against the garbage can, and I threw open the door.

“Fuck, Hunter, I told you to keep watch.”

In a single beat of my heart, time stopped .

Kiss’s eyes found me, and tears streamed down her cheeks. A fucking dead man had one hand clamped hard over her mouth, his fingers digging into her face as he slammed her against the bathroom wall. Blood smeared beneath her nose.

I roared and charged across the room. “Get the fuck off her.”

As he turned toward me, he released Kiss. She slumped to the ground and gasped a breath. My fist connected with the fucker’s face. Knuckles popped, and my skin split from the scabs I still had from punching Jazzy’s wall.

Feeding off the flare of pain, I threw another punch. The guy took it, shifted his stance, and aimed for my throat.

Ducking the punch, his fist full of rings slammed into my shoulder. The force reverberated down my arm.

“Another dead fucking Heller.” The guy stepped back and pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans.

Kiss screamed and scrambled to her feet. The distraction gave me the opportunity to charge him, ramming my shoulder into his gut.

He grunted with an oomph. His feet kicked out from underneath him, and he dropped to a knee, still trying to twist me underneath him. Grabbing my cut, he tried to throw me to the ground.

Fuck, but he was strong. I’d spent my life scrapping in fights. At least when I couldn’t avoid them. I wasn’t built for fighting. I was never going to be the strongest, or the meanest. But I made up for my disadvantages with speed and agility. I’d never pussy out in a confrontation. And because I was smart, I fought dirty.

This fucker had his hands on something precious .

Someone who had already been fucked over enough.

And she was mine.

Grabbing his head, I caught him off guard. Instead of fighting his upward momentum to get back on his feet, I slammed his head to the side and cracked his skull against the porcelain sink, reared back, and slammed him again.

In an instant, his arms dropped to his side and his body became dead weight.

I gulped a breath. Adrenaline soaked me in tension and rage. The fucker wasn’t dead…yet. I kicked his ribs and stomped his head.

“Blue. Please, Blue.”

I turned, finally hearing her voice through the rush of blood and noise droning in my head.

“We need to go.”

I clasped her face in my hands, dragging my thumb through the blood smeared on her cheek. “He fucking hurt you.”

“I’m okay. Please. We need to go before someone comes in.”

I wrapped my arm around her, protecting her from anyone seeing the damage to her face and the red marks on her neck and chest, and led her toward the door.

“Wait.” She spun out of my arms, rushed back to the groaning guy, bent, and tried to roll him to his back. With a heave, she flipped him over.

What the fuck was she looking for? She dug through his pockets, pulling a baggie of balloons. She was frantic, clutching the drugs in her hand.

“Got it,” she said, almost as if she were winning the fucking lottery. Fuck me. I guess she’d found her best friend. Black .

Bile coated my tongue, and my stomach churned. She was frantic for the drugs. Her hands shook as she felt his hips and groin and reached into the front pocket of his jeans. Fucking hell. She could have her hands on his dick. Jerking her hand from his pocket, she produced a small bag of crystal, and a glass pipe.

Was this going to send her back to black? I couldn’t lose her again. “Kiss? Don’t do this.”

She lifted those blue eyes to me. “I have to.” She grabbed the gun and handed it to me. “We can’t take the chance a kid finds this.” Her words tumbled out in a rush.

I checked the safety on the gun and shoved it into the back of my jeans as she continued to talk.

“We don’t know how long it will take someone to find him. It’s getting late, and junkies use these bathrooms because there aren’t any cameras.” She pushed the drugs into my hands. “I can’t hold them. I’m not going to use, but I can’t touch it. It’s making me sick to my stomach.”

I stared at the baggies and balloons in my hand.

“I know he’ll think I stole from him, but I don’t care,” she said. “We need to get rid of it.”

She wasn’t looking at the drugs as a score. She was serious. She was done with heroin.

I dropped the pipe on the ground and crushed it beneath my boot. “We’re not getting caught with this shit, either.”

Going into one of the stalls, I opened the baggie of crystal, dumped it into the toilet, and flushed. I did the same with the heroin.

Standing over the piece of shit on the bathroom floor, she dried the last of her tears, gathered a mouthful of saliva, and spit. “Fuck you, Jonesy. I hope you can hear me. Come near me again, and I’ll use your gun to kill you. Another dead Crawler .”

I peered out the door. There were still a few people in the park. How had no one come into the bathroom?

With Kiss close to my side, we stepped outside.

The guy next to the garbage grumbled, “Is Jonesy dead?”

Blood dripped from his chin. He leaned his head against the wall.

“Not yet, but he’s going to need a doctor,” I said. “Come near my girl again, and it’s on sight.” No warning, no remorse, no excuses. And no mercy.

The guy spit another glob of blood onto the ground. “She ain’t just your girl. Sam will be looking for her.”

I squatted in front of him and lowered my voice. “Sam already found her.”

His gaze shifted from me to Kiss.

“Look at her again, and she’ll be the last thing you ever see. Forget you know her. She’s mine now.”

Kiss moved in close behind me. I grasped her hand and walked away. Muscles burned. The surge of energy hadn’t abated. I was fucking pissed, and so fucking proud of Kiss.

We got to the bike. I touched her face. “I should fucking kill him for hurting you.”

She dabbed the blood under her nose. “This is kind of my fault. I was so scared when he forced me into the bathroom, I didn’t fight. But then something just snapped inside me. I think I was fighting him as much as I was fighting myself.”

When she dipped her head and lowered her gaze, I pinched her chin and lifted her face. We were alone in the darkened parking lot, but her eyes still shined with unshed tears. I traced the darkening finger marks on her face from where he’d clamped his hand over her mouth.

“I still have cravings,” she confessed, and those tears spilled onto her cheeks. “I wanted the heroin. But I’m not going to use.”

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight to my chest.

“I saw it in your eyes. You thought I wanted those drugs.”

I pressed my lips to her forehead. “I’m sorry.”

She held me tighter. “But I did. I wanted those drugs. Sometimes, getting high seems so much easier than fighting this.” She tilted her head back. “But then I’d be in that bathroom, shooting up, and worried about the next fix.” Another wash of tears slipped from her eyes. “And I wouldn’t have us. I’m scared I need you more than I ever needed black.”

Kiss should’ve been able to trust that I had her back. She’d promised, and I hadn’t really believed her. I believed Bullet, Romeo, Rogue…everyone but Kiss. Because they all said she’d go back to black.

And I never thought she’d choose me.