Nothin' But Trouble (12 page)

“But
five fucking years, Court? You pushed me out, turned your back on us all
because of some stupid ass notion that I would what, kick a bear shifter’s ass
for wanting to be with my sister?” When her brother put it that way it did
sound ridiculous, but now was not the time to think about any of that.

“Court
had his reasons for doing what he did, and I don’t think we should harp on why
he did what he did. Can’t we just think about now and move forward?”

Both
men looked at her, and they sighed in unison.

“She’s
right, Roan. I fucked up, but I did what I thought was right at the time, even
though it was far from it. I just want my best friend back in my life.” Court
turned and looked at her. “And I want to take care of Lilly.” Before anyone
could say anything Court’s cell started vibrating. He pulled it out of his cut,
looked at the screen, and stood. “I have to take this. I’m going to step
outside.”

Lilly
watched him leave out the front door, and looked at Roan. Her brother watched
her intently, and she knew she was about to get “the talk”.

“You
have feelings for him, Lilly, like ones that are serious enough that you want
to get involved with an outlaw bear shifting biker?” She didn’t need to think
about Roan’s words to know what she felt in her heart.

“I
cared for him all those years ago, Roan, but pushed the feelings down after
everything went downhill after that night.” He ground his teeth, and it sounded
overly loud. “I want to see where this goes.”

“What
if it isn’t going where you think it is?
What if you get hurt,
Lilly?”
Roan leaned forward and rested his arms on his thighs.

“Isn’t
life about getting hurt, dusting yourself off and trying again? And besides, I
know how he makes me feel, and I see the way he looks at me.”

“Yeah,
I see how he looks at you too, like he wants to tear an asshole’s head off if
they screw with you.”

That
had her smiling, but not because she found it funny, but because her brother
was currently wearing the same expression.

“It’s
been a long time, Lilly. He’s changed from the guy that hung around the house
all the time. He’s hardened, is involved in a lot of illegal shit and is
downright dangerous.”

“Yet
I know you wouldn’t even be giving me these warnings if you didn’t already
trust him. If you didn’t you would have kicked his ass out of the house long
ago, and threatened him—bear shifter or not—never to come around me again.”

Roan
started chuckling and nodded. “Yeah, that’s true.” He sobered. “I do trust him,
I saw the lengths he was willing to go with you that night; and I know that with
him no one will ever hurt you again.”

Before
she could say anything the sound of the front door opening and closing had her
turning and watching Court come back into the living room.

“I
have to go, club business.” He turned to face her. “Can I see you tomorrow?”
The smile he gave her was panty dropping, and it was like they were the only
two in the room.

Roan
cleared his throat and excused himself but before he left Court reached out and
embraced him. There were a few muffled words between them, but she couldn’t
make out what was being said. She didn’t want to anyway, because this was their
moment of reconciliation.

Roan
left, and then it was just the two of them, and all she could do was stare at
him. The emotions and feelings she had for this male were consuming but it was
the good kind that made her knees weak, her heart race, and everything else
feel out of place. Lilly stood and walked over to him. As soon as she was close
enough he wrapped an arm around her waist and gently brought her in. She was still
sore, but each day she was growing stronger and healing. Court buried his face
in the crook of her neck, and she heard him inhale deeply. She grew wet at the
sound of him doing that, and then felt him kissing the spot he had just
smelled.

“Even
after all of these years you still smell the same.” He inhaled again and she
felt him curl his fingers into her hips, but for such a big, hulking guy he was
mindful of how tender she still was. “I want to see you tomorrow, maybe take
you out to dinner?” He pulled back, but immediately leaned in and kissed her
gently on the lips. “I want to do this right with you.” He murmured those words
against her lips.

Lilly
held onto his biceps and said, “I think I like this side of you.” She felt him
smile against her. “But I also like the biker you’ve become, too.” He took a
step back, but still held onto her hips. No longer did he wear a grin, and she
feared she might have said something wrong.

“I
want this, want you so fucking badly, but I also want you to know what you’re
getting yourself into if you decide to be my old lady.”

Old lady
?
Lilly knew that
was a powerful title, but it was strange hearing Court say it, and calling her
that no less.

“I
know all about you, Court, and about the life you lead.” She held onto his arms
harder when she thought he might move away. “I know about the illegal stuff
your club is involved in, maybe not specifics, but that it is illegal.” In
fact, everyone in town knew. It wasn’t like it was a secret. Well, the details
were, of course. “I know how dangerous your life is, and how loyal you are to
your biker family. We’ve grown up in this town and I know The Grizzly MC and
what they represent.”

“It’s
what
I
represent, Lilly.”

“I
know.” She gave herself a moment to think about what she was going to say.
“What I’m saying is that I know about you and what you are, and I still want
you more than ever. Trying to live safely got me nowhere except with this.” She
pointed to her face, and a low growl left him. He had her in his arms once
again and cupped the back of her head with his big hand. “I just want to be
with you, and you are the one I feel safest with.” She felt safe with Roan, but
this was a different kind of safe.

They
kissed once more. “I’m glad to hear that, because I want all of that and more
with you. I’ll call you later, baby.” One last kiss and then he was striding
out of the doors. The sound of his Harley being started could be heard easily.

Well,
she knew she was in for one hell of a ride, and it looked like she would need
to hold on tight.

Chapter
Eight

Court
entered the clubhouse with determined strides. Jagger had called him to tell
him there was an issue with The Brothers of Menace, and that they had reached
out for some extra manpower. He saw everyone in the meeting room and strode
forward. Jagger stood at the head of the table, and the rest of the crew were
either leaning against the wall, or sitting down. Although everyone looked
calm, there was a thick tension in the room.

Jagger
looked up at him when he entered. “Good, you’re here. I was just about to go
over all the details since Lucien called and laid it out.”

“Okay,
what’s up?” Court took a seat and glanced around the table. Everyone was in
attendance.

“Lucien
called be a little bit ago asking me to round everyone up because they needed
some extra muscle. He just called me five minutes ago with more details.
Apparently one of the high-profile johns beat up one of his girls bad enough
that they were forced to take her to the hospital,” Jagger said with a grim
voice.

“What’s
with all these fuckers beating up on females?” Brick said with a hard bite in
his voice. The room was starting to grow warmer as everyone’s bear was rising
up.

“I
don’t know, but Lucien and his
crew are
out for blood,
and we are going to help him find the fucker,” Jagger said and looked around
the room. “This guy wasn’t properly high-profile, at least not yet. He is the
son of a senator, and the kid was only nineteen. The father paid for his son to
get his cherry popped, but the kid got away after he nearly killed the girl.”

“How
the fuck did he
escape
? Don’t they have guys watching
over the girls?” Diesel growled out.

“Lucien
said they found angel dust in the room he was in. The guy must have gotten high,
thought he was Superman, and went after the girl. She couldn’t affirm that
because when they went in there to get her after the hour was up and neither of
them had left the room, she was out cold and half dead. The fucker escaped out
the window and out into the woods. Lucien’s guess is he was getting rough, and
when she went to call out for help from the guys watching over the girls he
snapped and starting beating the shit out of her.”

There
was a collective round of curses, and the tension in the room grew tenfold as
bears fought with their human counterparts to escape.

“What’s
the plan?” Court asked and curled his fingers into his palms. All he could keep
thinking of was his Lilly beaten and scared, and how that woman—prostitute or
not—had probably felt the same fear and pain as his old lady had.
 

“The
guy is higher than a kite out there, and no way can he navigate in the woods in
the darkness or in that condition. Lucien and his men can go after him, and
are, but they want our bears to help since we can smell the motherfucker out.”
Made sense when Lucien and his guys were human and wouldn’t be able to find the
bastard if he was hiding or had passed out somewhere.

“Well
let’s get the fuck moving,” Diesel said.

Court
stood and cracked his knuckles. He didn’t know the girl that got hurt, but he
didn’t care. She was a female, had gotten hurt because some asshole thought to
exert his strength on her, and thought he could get away with it. He didn’t
care if the guy had been high and might not have known what he was doing. None
of that mattered because the end result was the same: find him and kill him.

“We
are to
find
him, but Lucien will be
dishing out the pain, got it?” Jagger specifically looked at Court, but it
wasn’t a warning, just a piece of information because he knew how pissed Court
still was over Lilly getting hurt.

“Yeah,
prez
, I got it.”

Jagger
nodded. “Good, now let’s get this shit going, find the fucker, and bring some
justice to that female.”

They
headed out of the clubhouse and grabbed a couple of prospects on the way out.
The woods that surrounded The Brothers’ whorehouse stretched on for miles. It
was undeveloped land, and if the kid didn’t know shit about the area he was
going to have one hell of a time trying to find his way out, especially if he
was high.

The
mounted their bikes, helmeted up, and started their engines. Court’s blood
pumped hard through his veins, and his bear was anxious for some violence. He
just needed to make sure if he got to the kid first his bear didn’t take
control. If his animal came through and took control there wouldn’t be any
stopping the destruction it caused.

****

They
had been searching the woods for the last half an hour, but just because The Grizzly
MC was in their animal forms didn’t mean they could find the fucker in a matter
of minutes, especially when it had started raining and washed away recent
scents. Now the smells that invaded his nose were of dirt, moss, and rain. He
stopped and rose up on his back legs, inhaling deeply. He tried to pick out
each individual scent. He scented other Grizzly MC members and heard their steps
in the distance. For several minutes he didn’t do anything but stand there
scenting the air. The human aroma of Lucien and his men surrounded him, as did
their rage. He knew those emotions all too well, but his own were not only
because another female had gotten hurt, but because
his
female had been hurt, too. He wanted to protect her from the
ugliness of the world and from the ugliness of what he was involved in. If he
wasn’t so selfish he would have let her go, because the violence associated
with the MC life were not what he wanted for any female, even if he would
protect her with his life.

There
was a snap of a twig to his left, and he swung his big head in that direction
and inhaled deeply. He caught the scent of toxic waste and made a low sound in
his throat. Court moved through the woods until the smell intensified and the
light sound of mumbling came through the other sounds of the forest. And then
in the distance he saw slight movement. He made his way closer and tried to
stay quiet so as not to alert the little prick. When Court finally saw him he
realized the drugged out asshole wasn’t even aware of his presence. He was busy
trying to grab invisible things in the air. His bear was ready to attack and
end this miserable human’s life, but instead he forced his human side to take
control and shifted back to his human form. It had been easier to control
himself
than he thought, but in all honesty if he was going
to deliver a hurting he wanted to feel his fist slam into flesh.

“You
fucked up, boy.”

The
kid turned and looked at Court. “You come here to steal my soul?” the kid asked
with wide, seemingly clear eyes. Court had heard about PCP, about the
hallucinogenic qualities of the drug, and also of the superhuman strength. The
kid stood, but was stark naked. He leaned down and picked up a stick, and
brought it down across his chest. His flesh opened up, and blood dripped down
his pale body. “You can take my soul, but I’ll still have control over the
demon dominion.”