Page 9 of Stripping Keys (Devil’s Riot MC Tennessee #6)

CHAPTER SEVEN

MARLA

Where the hell am I?

Sitting up, I glance around the room. Definitely not the hotel room where I fell asleep. That was a lot brighter. It takes me a minute before it dawns on me where I am. Keys’s room at the clubhouse.

Oh shit.

How the hell had he managed to get me here without me waking up?

Had I been that exhausted, I ended up in such a deep sleep?

I’ve only done that a handful of times. Those times were when I slept for a solid twenty-four hours straight, sometimes longer.

One time, I slept three days straight. I woke up with an IV in my arm.

Those times were typically just like this one, where I’d been mentally and physically drained and unable to function again until I rested.

Now, why did he bring me here to his room?

That was a good question.

At least he wasn’t in here. I could get out and find a way out of here before he finds me gone.

Throwing the covers back, I don’t miss the fact the pillow next to me had a dent in it. I could even smell the scent of him filling the room.

I jump out of bed, shoving that thought to the side. No way did I need to think about how much I like the smell. I find my shoes on the floor by his dresser. Putting them on, I cross the room to his door and grab the handle. The door doesn’t budge.

“What the hell?”

I try to open it again. It was locked, and not the doorknob itself. But the deadbolt.

“He’s locked me in here.” The words slip past my lips so quietly that I barely hear them myself. “I’m going to kill him.”

Stepping away from the door, I start pacing the room, fuming.

How dare he lock me up? What right does he have?

Scanning the room, I check the window, knowing it’s most likely not going to open for me, not that I could fit through it.

I might be thin, but I wasn’t that thin.

I have an ass, and I’ve got tits. Not the biggest of either, but big enough I wouldn’t fit through that small window, not without getting stuck.

Damnit.

With nothing else to do and pacing the room being pointless, I fall back on Keys’s bed. I stare at the ceiling, thinking about all the different questions that race through my mind. The what’s, why’s, how’s, when’s, and so on. The questions are never-ending.

I’m not sure how long I’ve been lying here. It didn’t really matter. I couldn’t go anywhere until he got back. Hell, I didn’t even bother going to the bathroom to take care of my needs in there. I was waiting. The moment the door opens, I intend to be ready.

Finally, I hear the snick of the lock.

I bolt up off the bed just as the door opens. Keys steps in locking the door behind him, his gaze on me.

“You’re finally up,” he notes.

“Yeah, I am. Now, I’m leaving.” I start toward him, ready to go around him and out the door.

“You’re not leaving,” Keys grumbles, his body maneuvering me until he’s pressing me into the wall next to the door. “Your ass has been out for well over twenty-four hours. We’ve got shit to talk about and we’re doing that after I get some food in you now that you’re up.”

“I don’t want food.” Okay, so that was a lie. I was definitely starving. I need food. Honestly, I wanted loaded fries from the diner along with a greasy burger smothered in mushrooms and onions.

“Just like you don’t want something to drink, I’m sure.” He smirks, his body pressing into mine. “I’m sure you want the sweet tea that I put in the mini fridge in the corner of the room.”

Damn. I love sweet tea. Just as much, if not more than Dr Pepper.

“I think I can manage to get everything I need once I’m out of this room,” I tell him, hands pressing in his chest. His very well-muscled chest.

“You ain’t leavin’ this room, baby. I’ll put an order into the diner, send West to get it?—”

“West is here?” I blurt out, interrupting him.

“Yeah, helped me get your shit here,” he answers. “Plus, he’s staying because he’s important to you, and it must be vice versa since the man cares about you too.”

“West is my best friend.”

“I know.”

The way he said those simple two words so gently causes my stomach to flutter.

Not in the way of nausea or badly. No, it was a good flutter like butterflies.

It was stupid. I mean, all he said was ‘I know’.

It’s not like he proclaimed his undying love for me and swore to stand by my side for all of eternity.

Lifting a hand to stroke my cheek, he doesn’t stop holding my gaze as he steps back ever so slightly, his other hand taking mine. “Come on, baby, we’ll order some food, get you something to drink, and we’ll talk.”

He doesn’t wait for me to respond, just pulls me back deeper into his room.

To my surprise, he walks us over to the corner, bends down, and opens the little mini fridge he has there.

Opening it, he pulls out a single bottle of my favorite tea, Milos.

It’s not hard for him to know this about me.

I probably said it to him a million times in the years we’ve worked together, though I couldn’t remember if I tried. Sweet tea was always my go-to.

Keys straightens and hands it to me.

So many things pop in my head at once, but ironically the most random of them all ends up spilling out of my mouth way too easily.

“You never told me why your road name is Keys.” I found it hilarious that his road name was the same as my last name. West made a joke that it must be fate screaming at me to get with this man.

Keys smirks and shakes his head. “When I was prospecting for the club, one night, the guys were all partying at an establishment called Dolly’s Playhouse.

It’s owned by the DRMC Originals Charter.

Anyway, the rule was I had to stay sober.

I ended up holding all of their keys, and one of the strippers there thought it would be funny to give me a lap dance.

Wasn’t very pleasant when I’ve got two pockets full of keys. You can kinda figure out the rest.”

Listening to his story, I surely can. “Let me guess she didn’t enjoy the keys pressing into her.”

“More like she cried that I was trying to hurt her with a pocket full of keys.” He grunts. “Blow and Nines are the ones who came up with the name for me.”

“I would have thought it had something to do with how many words you can type or something.” I shrug.

“You’d think that.” He grins and shakes his head. “That’s what I’ve used to tell some, but can’t really hide the truth, not from you that is. If you didn’t hear it from me, my brothers would’ve enjoyed telling you just to fuck with me.”

“I highly doubt they’d tell me. It’s not like any of them are my biggest fans.” Even as I say that, my mind brings up the looks Blow and Nines had given me while they sat across from me as Calyx had me explain everything the other morning.

I shove the image out of my mind and take a sip of the tea.

“What do you want from the diner?” Keys asks, watching me closely.

Thankfully, he changed the subject and didn’t argue what I said about his brothers.

I tell him what to order, and I escaped to the bathroom. I needed a moment away from him, but also if I didn’t finally relieve myself, I’d probably embarrass myself in a way that neither of us would forget . . . it would be too humiliating.

Taking my time in the bathroom, I do my thing, find an extra toothbrush to clean my teeth, do that, then I decide to take a quick shower.

I probably should have waited to shower until after I got some of my things, but I didn’t even think about it. I wanted a shower. Using Keys’s bodywash, I cleaned my body. I wasn’t worried about washing my hair. It wasn’t a hair-washing day.

Once I finish my shower, I turn the water off and wrap myself with a towel. I suck in a breath and brace myself for confronting Keys in nothing more than a towel.

Doing everything in my power, I ignore the man sitting in his computer chair and find my bag.

I grab a pair of underwear and pull them on underneath the towel.

I do the same with my sweatpants. No reason to put anything else on, and I love wearing baggy sweats loose around my hips when I’ve got nothing to do.

Reaching into the bag once more, I pull out a tank top, not worrying about a bra, and pull it on, dropping the towel as I pull it over my breasts.

I look back in my backpack and find my toiletry bag and take it with the towel back to the bathroom.

I finish my typical routine with moisturizer and deodorant.

I hang the towel up and make my way back out of Keys’s bathroom. I glance in his direction, not sure what to expect, but finding him staring at me with fire in his eyes wasn’t it.

“Food’s ordered,” he remarks, getting to his feet.

“Okay,” I mutter and look away.

“We’re gonna start our talk while we wait.”

Of course, we were.

“Then talk away,” I say, letting my voice drip with sarcasm.

I throw myself onto his bed. Might as well get comfortable. Who knows what the hell he’s going to talk about.

Keys gets up and closes the distance between us, though he doesn’t get on the bed.

“You left without so much as a word to your family,” he starts. I open my mouth to say something, but he holds up a hand, stopping me from speaking further as he continues. “You stay quiet and listen.”

Did he seriously just say that?

“Like I said, you left without a word to them. They’ve been worried about you.

Marley was freaking out because none of them could find you, and neither could she.

There was no contact whatsoever,” he bites out those last few words and dips down to get in my face.

“Then you show up at the clubhouse. Not for a ‘hey, how are you’ type deal, instead it’s to hand over a shit ton of intel that could have gotten your ass killed for getting. ”

“I was helping.”

“You could have been killed,” he snaps. “To make matters worse,” he gets nose-to-nose with me, “you left like it wasn’t a hardship for you to give over what you did to people who you mean something to, then walk away.

Doesn’t help that everyone pretty much lost their minds after you left.

You’re Griz’s family, and because of that you’re family to this club. ”

“I’m not his family,” I mutter.

“Yeah, you are. He’s marrying your sister.

He’ll be your brother-in-law. So, you’re family to this club.

Meaning, when you left, he lost his shit when we started looking at what you gave.

How you acted was fucked up. I fucked up and lost it right along with him.

Hell, all of us lost our minds. Not just because of the intel you dropped on us either.

You just up and show up, then leave like it doesn’t affect anyone around you. ”

“It’s not like any of them really care I’m around or not.” It was the truth.

“I care. Your family cares,” he grinds out. “I told you before you left that we did this, you needed to strip the bitch away because I won’t gonna put up with it.”

“And as I remember, I didn’t agree,” I point out.

“Doesn’t mean you weren’t already mine. I’m not going to put up with you being a bitch, not to me, but I get it, baby, it’s your shield.”

I suck in a breath as he reaches up to trail a finger along my scarred cheek.

“You gotta do what you think is best to protect you. Fine, do what you need, but when it’s me and you, the bitch doesn’t exist.”

“There is no me and you,” I whisper, my chest heaving with each breath I take.

Keys grins and brushes his lips against mine.

“Trust me, Marla Keys, there’s a you and me.

A part of me knows there shouldn’t be, but I just can’t seem to keep you out of my head.

So, we’re gonna see where this thing goes between us.

We can keep it between the two of us for the time being if that’s what you need. ”

“If that’s the way you want to see it—to be your dirty little secret, we can play it that way for now. Is that how you want it?” Why did the thought thrill me and, at the same time, upset me in so many ways?

“You wanna put it that way, sure, you can be my dirty little secret, but I see it as me dipping into what we both know you want as well. You’re like the forbidden fruit that I can’t seem to keep myself from biting into.

” He chuckles and pulls back. “If it makes you feel better to be a bitch in front of everyone else, go for it, but remember when you’re in my bed, you check her at the fuckin’ door.

In this room, you’re mine, and I want the woman I know you hide, not the one you pretend to be. ”

Oh boy.

I’m not sure I could do that.

Being the woman he claims I hide is far too close to the truth.

But honestly, maybe this could work. I could get him out of my system once and for all.