All In: ALL IN KNIGHTS OF MAYHEM (20 page)

Avery

The sun light
streaming through the window heating the covers of the bed wakes me, ‘Piper?” I am alone, she must have gotten up and went to Dalton sometime after I fell asleep. I hear muted voices coming from the hall, I know one is Piper the other must be Dalton.

I jump to my feet and go to the door leaning my ear into it so that I can hear better.

“I don’t care Dalton, I don’t want him around her.” Piper’s muffled high pitch protest makes me cringe. My head is throbbing and my body aches.

“
He feels bad about what he did Piper, he just wants to apologize to her.” Dalton’s gruff voice cuts through Piper’s insistence.

“I don’t give a shit, he should have thought about
it before he went to the strip joint and got loaded. Is he still on the phone?”

“No he is standing outside.”

I rush to the window and see a very brooding Leo leaning against his Harley. His arms are crossed over his chest and his legs are crossed at the ankles. He sees me in the window but I don’t move. I want him to know I see him.

I turn my head, ‘
Piper, I don’t want to see him.” I shout hoping they hear me.

The door opening tells me she did, ‘that shit is not gonna happen Avery so don’t worry.”

I glance back out of the window and he is gone. I hear a loud knock at the living room door, ‘open the fuck up Dalton, I know she’s in there.”

“Go the fuck away Leo!” Piper puts her two cents in.

“Damnit Piper will you let me handle this,’ Dalton begs her, ‘Leo man she doesn’t want to see you. Let her cool off for a couple of days and then I will bring her down to the clubhouse.”

I stand behind them both as they shout through the door, ‘Dalton man if you don’t open this fucking door and let me in.”

“Your gonna do what, break it down?” Dalton chuckles and then Leo did. I jump as the door is kicked successfully breaking the locks and the frame free from the wall.

“Son of a bitch
, man.” Daltons surprised expression would be funny had it been a different situation, but for now I am face to face with a very pissed off Leo. His breathing is heavy and his eyes are crazy, his fists are balled at his sides as he eyes me.

“Avery we need to talk.” He holds out his hand for me to take.

Shaking my head, ‘fuck off Leo there is nothing you can say I want to hear, not anymore.” I turn and start back to the bed room before I get very far he has taking me by the wrist and spinning me around to face him.

“Avery I am sorry.”
His left eye is still bruised but the dark circles under them both tell a different story.

“Dually noted
, now let me go.” I jerk at my arm to try and free it to no avail.

“Aver
y listen to me please?” I hear a tone to his voice I have never heard before giving me pause.

“Let her go Leo.” I hear Piper in the back ground.

Leo turns to Dalton, ‘can you remove her please?” He nods his head in Piper’s direction.

“Piper stay out of it.”
Dalton interjects.

“
Don’t you start thinking you can tell me what to do Dalton, she is my best friend and he is an asshole.” She is up in Dalton’s face screaming.

I watch as the situation is quickly getting out of control, ‘will everybody please shut the
hell up.” I hold up my hands in surrender, ‘let's take this outside Leo we don’t need to get these two into a fight.” I walk past Leo and head out the door.

Leo takes a wade of money out of his pocket and throws a couple of bills on the table, ‘sorry
about the door man but you should have just let me in.”

“
Ya I will know next time, thanks.” Dalton says flatly as he takes up the money.

I stand at the top of the
stairs waiting for Leo, he comes up behind and places his hand on the small of my back, ‘your language is terrible.” He leans in and whispers in my ear making chills run over my skin. I jerk free before I am putty in his hands.

We reach his bike, ‘speak Leo before I change my mind and go back inside.”

He takes me by the shoulders and turns me to face him, ‘so what kind of line of bullshit are you gonna feed me this morning?”

“No bullshit, and watch your mouth.” He is seriously not chastising me right now.

“Leo-“

“
Avery can you just shut up for a minute and let me talk.” He takes a step back and runs his fingers through his loose hair looking down at his feet as if he was collecting his thoughts and organizing what words he is going to say.

“
It is not getting any cooler out here Leo.” I cross my arms impatiently over my chest.

“I fucked up last night and I know
it, I don’t even remember half the shit I said,’ he looks up at the window of Dalton’s apartment to see a very pissed off Piper glaring down at him, ‘Beeker filled me in this morning. Like I said before, I have things going on in my life that are stressful, Avery I never wanted any of it to blow back on you. I am trying to fix it baby I promise.” He stops and draws in a breath looking up at me to gauge my reaction. I have nothing to offer him in the department, I have my emotions under control now and I have cried all that I am crying for him.

“Well
why you are wasting time standing here talking to me,’ I turn and head back to the steps, ‘go and fix it and get the hell away from me.” I leave him standing at his bike he makes no move to come after me.

****

Leo

“Did I hurt her?” My voice is merely above a whisper.

Dalton heaves a sigh before he answers, ‘no, at least not on the outside man. What the hell happened?”

“Cowboy and I were tailing
Zachass when he went into the strip club,’ I pause going back over the night’s events, ‘I had just gotten off the phone with Kent and needless to say it wasn’t pleasant.”

“He still on about the whole you not being around Avery trip?”

“It got pretty heated, anyway afterwards I drank way too much and did a bunch of shit I shouldn’t have.” I drag in a long deep breath and just wait for Dalton to talk but he doesn’t, he just stays quiet letting me fumble through the situation in my head. I fill him in on all the details Beeker had clued me into this morning.

Finally after several moments of excruciating silence Dalton responds, ‘well man all I can say is, shit I am not sure what to say
because boy when you step in it, you step thigh deep brother.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know man.” I rub my hand through my hair and tug it hard, ‘fuck me, what have I done? Do me a favor and keep an eye on her please?”

Avery

I spend what I consider
a week in hell living with Piper and Dalton, Saturday afternoon they are getting ready to go to the clubhouse for a cookout, ‘Avery I really wished you would come with us. Leo has asked about you every day.’

“
So what now, you are his best friend?” I roll on the bed and watch her get ready.

“
No I just know sometimes when you get drunk and you are in a certain frame of mind it magnifies your mood and you say and do things you wouldn’t normally do,’ she quits brushing her hair and turns to me, ‘and he has been under a lot of stress lately.”

“
It doesn’t matter Piper nothing excuses the way he talked to me or why he keeps doing this.” I roll on my back and glance up at the ceiling then close my eyes. I have missed him terribly and the thought he had been asking about me gave me a slight thrill.

“
No it doesn’t, but he did come over as soon as he found out what he had done and apologized.” She went back to getting ready, ‘so why don’t you just come with us tonight and see how it goes. According to Dalton, Leo-“

“Piper!” Dalton had joined us in the room. I have a hard time tearing my eyes away from him. His
shirtless body was ripped, his loose fitting worn jeans hung low on his waist, ‘we are leaving in ten.” He looked at the both of us and gave Piper a brow beating look telling her to shut up and not finish her last thought. Walking back out the door I lean to the side so I can watch him saunter down the hall slinging his tee over his head covering his body up. Sitting back up, Piper is smiling at me, knowing I just ogled her man.

“Come on Avery please?” She was batting her eyelashes at me.

I want to go but know I shouldn’t, I want to see Leo and then I know we are a toxic pair, ‘okay give me a minute and let me get some clothes on.” I can’t believe once again I am running back to him.

“Yeah!” She screams jumping up and down clapping her hands together.

“Let’s go girls.” Dalton yells from the living room. I tug a brush through my hair and throw on a light summer dress and my new cowboy boots I had purchased on Wednesday in hopes some retail therapy would help me. Of course the only thing I thought of was, if Leo would like me in them.

I emerge from my bedroom, ‘you look amazing Leo is going to bust something.” Piper chirps as she takes my arm and we all three walk out together with Dalton closing and locking the door behind us.

“So not the reaction I am looking for Piper.” I look at her stopping dead in my tracks.

“Oh you know what I mean.” She continues to tug at me, finally relenting
, arm in arm we follow Dalton down the steps.

“We can take the truck.” The hint of disappointment
indicates he had intentions of taking his bike.

“Baby
, Avery and I can drive my car and follow you on your bike.” His face lights as he leans in and kissers her full on the lips.

“You are fuckin awesome babe.” His arm snakes around her waist and he hauls her back into
him for another round of tongue wrestling.

I clear my throat to let them know they are not alone, do you see what I mean by a week in lovers hell.

“And don’t you ever forget it either.” She chimes as she swats his fine ass.

I just shake my head and go to the passenger side of her car and climb in waiting for them to finish
their PDA.

“I am so glad you are going Avery, I want have to sit by myself tonight. Those other bitches hate me cause I got the grade a
prime meat, other than Roman, Cowboy and Leo of course.”

I laugh, ‘of course.” Dalton pulls out ahead of us and leads the way.

“Damn that man is fine. Isn’t he Avery?” Her mouth is literally water as we follow a leather clad blue jean wearing bad ass biker boy on his Harley.

“Yes Piper he is,”
I reach over and playfully wipe at her mouth, ‘you got something right there.”

“Don’t get mad or nothing,
‘ she glances over at me, ‘but yours is the uber bad ass hottie babe too.” She grins again, ‘don’t say anything to Dalton bout that little comment though please”?

“I want
and yes I agree with you, Leo is a pain in my ass.” I close my eyes and bring up the pictures of him, his smile, the booming sound of his laugh, the way his voice is gravely when he first wakes up in the morning. The way his face looks while we are having sex and then the sated look afterwards, all good and way to fucking sexy.

“I know you miss him Avery and I don’t blame you I would miss Dalton like crazy, but that’s okay cause we are going to fix this shit tonight and get you out of my hair.”
She snickers as she reaches over and squeezes my leg, ‘I love you baby but I need the ability to scream during orgasm.”

“I am more than happy to move home to our completely empty apartment.”
I state flatly.

“No you can’t Leo would kill Dalton with his bare hands and I think he is kind of addicted to breathing plus I am kind of addicted to certain appendages that belong to him.”

“Piper have you ever heard of TMI?” I laugh as she licks her lips in a suggestive manner.

“So are you going to forgive him?” For once in her life she cuts two sheepish eyes over at me.

Groaning, ‘God Piper I don’t know, I just don’t know.”

She smiles, ‘you will, I can tell.”

“You can, can you?” I shoot a smart ass look her way. Thankfully seeing she is not going to get anywhere with me she drops the subject and redirects the conversation her way.

We spend the rest of drive talking about her and Dalton and how she thinks
she is in love with him. I encourage her to tell him because after spending the past week with them I can tell he is either very close to it or he is already there too.

“It will freak him out Avery.”

“I am telling you Piper he is there too.”

“Ya think?”

“No girl I know, and so
what if he doesn’t say it back, he isn’t going to kick you out of the bed or anything. Believe me I have lived with you two for the past week and kicking you out of the bed is the last thing on the man’s mind.” I had been an ear witness to their sexcapades. Turns out the walls are really thin in the apartment Dalton lives in too.

“I don’t know.
” Her voice is no more than a whisper now, this is a side of Piper I have never seen, insecure and uncertain.

“L
ook here Piper, you can’t plan these things, it has to feel right in the right situation, you can’t just run up to him when we get there and blurt it out. You will know when and where is right I promise. And he will be more than happy to show you he feels the same way.”

“You are so good at this stuff
, it is a terrible thing you can’t take your own advice.” Her snarky little comment assures me she is back to her usual self.

“Slut.” Is my only comeback because she and I both know she is right, I am great at giving
good sound advice, awful at practicing it for my own benefit.

“
We are getting close, are the familiar butterflies starting to take flight?” She does her best impression of a creepy voice.

“
Shit Piper not until you said something about them they hadn’t, now my stomach is rolling.” I encircle my stomach with my arms.

“He is miserable Avery.”

“Good.”

“Avery!
”

“Piper.”

We both go silent as we pull through the fence, my breath catches in my throat as the first thing I see is Leo standing on the steps leading up to the shop office, smoking watching us pull in. We come to a stop, he butts out his smoke and in only a way Leo can he makes the most mundane task like walking down steps ooze sex.

He comes to my side of the car immediately opening the door for me, ‘glad you came.” He says as he offers me his hand. I reluctantly take it and let him help me out of the car. I can feel his eyes devouring me from toe to head, ‘shit Avery you look amazing, I have never seen you wear a dress before.”

I smile, ‘you haven’t seen me wear a lot of anything.” I am flirting with him, I am actually talking about me being naked. Damn him and his wilely ways, so I guess my mind is made up, I will forgive him but he is going to have to work for it a little.

His eyes go all devilish, ‘this is true.” A smile cracks his face
and the sun glints off his lip ring as he leans in and places a soft kiss to my temple. When he leans back I get my first real chance to survey his face, it is healing well but the ever present dark circles under his eyes are worse now than they were days ago and my heart clenches knowing him worrying over me is part of the reason they are so bad.

My hand reaches to strokes his face, my heart is full of pity for how tired he looks.
As my palm grazes the stubble on his cheek, his lips turn into it and give it a warm gentle kiss, ‘like I said I am glad you came.” His voice low, almost a whisper but I heard him loud and clear.

Dalton and Piper are standing
and waiting for us to join them. He does as usual, placing his hand at the small of my back leading the way. This simple gesture does, as it always has, send a chill over my body landing right between my legs.

When we enter the place
it is already booming with loud music and tons of people, ‘what is the occasion?” I lean in and ask Leo.

“Nothing
, just a Saturday night.” He holds the door for me and Piper to walk through as Dalton brings up the rear. He and Leo do the whole bromance thing, grab hands and lean in to slap each other on the back. Roman spies us and saunters across the room garnering stares from all the females as he passes.

“Hey sis.” He takes Piper up in a bear hug.

He turns to me, ‘hey stranger.” He leans in to hug me but Leo clearing his throat thwarts the idea so I just get a knuckle to the shoulder.

“Let’s go and get a beer.” Leo whispers in my ear.

“Okay.” I have decided to try, I put a lot of thought into what Piper had said about moods and drinking and it was completely logical.

We cross the room as people step to either side making room for Leo and I to walk through.
We land at the bar and a man immediately gets up for me to sit down, ‘two beers Kayla.”

“Hi Kayla.” I remember the talk
Beeker and I had, I give her a smile.

“Hey Avery
, it is good to see you back.” Her smile is genuine as I watch her glance over at Beeker.

“What?’ Leo
asks as he takes the first drag of his beer.

“We need to talk later.” I am going back on the promise I made to Beeker but it is for his own good, ‘don’t get that look Leo it isn’t anything bad.”

He leans in, ‘I love it when you say my name, I want to hear you scream it later.” I blush and get wet.

The party progresses and the entertainment goes along with it. Piper and Dalton had joined us at the bar and we were all four drinking and talking enjoying our selves, Leo never left me
. He stood behind me the whole time touching me in one way or another.

Piper decided she needed to go the bathroom and could only get there with my help
, ‘I need to pee, Avery?”

I look up at Leo and back to Piper, ‘uh yeah I guess.”

Leo releases me, ‘go to my room.” He leans in and kisses my hair, he is letting me go on my own. I jump from the stool quickly and take Piper’s hand before he changes his mind.

“
Let’s go.” Piper and I go hand in hand through the crowd to the opening of the hall leading to Leo’s room.

“Leo is being sweet.” Piper stumbles into me.

“Leo is never sweet, he is just being quiet.” I reply. I thread my arm through hers to keep her a little steadier on her feet, to say she is drunk would be an understatement.

The
sounds from the party are now muffled as she stops and turns to me, ‘Avery give the poor man a chance he is trying. He knows he fucked up and he said he was sorry.” She bites out.

“What is with the attitude Piper?”

She steps back and puts her hands on her hips, ‘there is nobody perfect, you need to quit trying to make him into the bad guy.”

I laugh, ‘
what are you laughing at Avery?” Piper shrieks.

“He said the same thing
to me the other day that’s all. Come on let me get you squared away.” I push open the door to his room to be greeted by a stomach turning sight.

A skinny blond was lying naked on the bed
, she starts to rise to her knees, ‘Leo I have been wait-“ she stops short of finishing her sentence when she sees me and Piper step through the door.

“
Who the fuck are you?” Piper almost face plants with the sudden movement I have to jerk her back into me to steady her.

“I should be asking you the same thing bitch.” The naked girl rolls off the bed and is standing in full glory, and I might add she isn’t the least
bit self conscience.