Revved Up Soul: A MC Romance (23 page)

“I knew she was lying,” the biker said between grit teeth. Genuine regret seemingly filled his voice, “I’m so, so . . . sorry, Jasmine.” Two gloved fingers worked along Jasmine’s cheek affectionately, “how bad is it?”

Feeling his fingers on her face was incredible. Damnit, get ahold of yourself. She wanted to step back from his touch, but instead she leaned into it. “It hurts,” she confessed, “and I was scared as hell . . . but it’s not nearly as bad as you’d think. Just a nasty surface cut, thank god.”

“Christ,” he shook his head again, cupping Jasmine’s cheek. “I’d say you couldn’t have been that scared, you really messed up Kayla’s face.”

Jasmine pulled away finally from the man’s touch; why did he have to be so wickedly handsome and warm? She needed to get away from him. Now. “I fight back,” she replied, “what can I say.”

“I know,” Luke stood his ground, “listen, I know I shouldn’t have omitted some . . . very important things. It wasn’t right for me to end things the way that I did,” he sucked in a breath; Jasmine wasn’t sure if she wanted to hit him or kiss him. Both sounded nice. “Living in my world? It’s something that most wouldn’t choose. But it’s what I know.”

“I
wanted
to choose,” Jasmine crossed her arms, fire running freely through her. The stars were bright out tonight; they twinkled as like little diamonds, spying on our earthly faults.

“And I want you to now,” Luke moved in closer, looking down at her. He was so close she could feel the heat coming off of him; the darkest, deepest parts of her wanted him.

She swallowed hard, “It’s too late,” Jasmine could feel the stinging in the back of her eyes. “I’m with someone else,” that wasn’t entirely true, but she wanted to gauge his reaction.

Luke’s face darkened, his lips clamping together, “Who?” He growled.

“That’s none of your concern.”

“Everything about you is my concern!” He lashed out, a wave of fear and excitement rolled through Jasmine; Luke raked a hand through his hair. “Kayla was
never
right for me,” he admitted, “she’s not my old lady and she never will be. Me and her? We’re done. For good.”

The world felt heavier and with each word, it felt like another punch to Jasmine’s gut. “Y-you can’t just say these things,” Jasmine found herself being pulled by that seductive gravity she once felt. This is wrong, why can’t I just ignore these feelings?

Time came to a standstill and Luke’s arms were around her waist, pinioning Jasmine against his person. It felt incredible to be so close to him again; felt right. He leaned his face in closer, motioning to kiss – the crackling energy sending shivers of anticipation up Jasmine’s spine. Luke whispered sweet and firm, “I don’t care about anything else. Let me earn you.”

Invisible fingers pressed against Jasmine’s heart and all of her thoughts and doubts slipped away, her body melting into his, their lips embracing one another in a long, deep kiss full of promise. She moaned against him, her body lighting up in bliss. Jasmine wanted to crystalize the moment, to stay in it forever.

No longer did her heart wonder when, together their souls danced again.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Gabriel

Somewhere out there, Able’s killer was running free. Word on the street, was that there was no word – something Gabriel found to be highly suspect; but did that really mean what some people were suggesting? His heart became weighted, heavy. The sun beat down relentlessly on him, the wind whipping back his hair – his eyes protected by his black riding goggles. It felt good to be out on the road again, even if it was for less than ideal reasons.

The black beast of polished chrome on which he rode slowed to a stop just outside Hart’s Customs and Repairs. Gabriel stepped off and sucked in a deep breath, the wind running its fingers through his dark wispy, shoulder length hair. With a saunter to his step, he worked his way into the garage, waving at the small contingent of mechanics; two of them had their shirt on, one did not. The odd man out being Dale.

Salt of the earth, or bedrock of the bottom feeders, would be one way to describe this place, Gabriel mused. The walls dark and old, the equipment second-rate, and the waiting office to the right was spartan – housing only a couple of chairs and a water cooler purchased long ago. Even the air around the place smelled musty; oil stains and grease scattered along the concrete floor.

One of the mechanics turned to face Gabriel, “G-man,” he said simply. This was Frank; he had thin silver hair that was slicked back, the lines of his face were wrinkled from a long life. His most defining feature, however, was his thick, bushy eyebrows of white.

I hate it when they call me that. “Frank,” the words came out softer than he intended; of course, they always seemed to come across that way. Gabriel did not visit the place much, yet even still they pushed their nickname on him.

The other two turned to face Gabriel as Frank spoke, “There a problem?” He questioned, “lookin’ eh, kinda pissed there bud.” Half empty beers on that work bench, keeping things professional I see.

Gabriel’s expression did not change; he stepped up close to the three men, looking up at them – as they were a head taller. “Falling on bad days,” Gabriel offered quietly, “I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me,” the blade was in his tongue, every word more pointed than the last. “I’m looking for the man,” he started, producing a picture of his brother-in-arms Able Reynolds, “or a woman, that killed this man,” Gabriel tapped the picture with his finger.

The three looked clueless, the lines of their faces turning into grief, or at least as much grief as one could muster for a man they did not know. For Gabriel, it was not so easy to quell his emotions. Dale was next to speak up, “I’m real sorry tah hear about that man.”

“. . . Thanks . . .”

“We knew that guy pretty well, s’Able aint it?” There was something in this one’s eyes – he’d seen Dale the least whenever he was pulled along to this place. What it was exactly, Gabriel could not place. Frank nodded.

“I looked into his financial records,” Gabriel stated, “says that he was here a couple of days before he—“Gabriel caught himself, a lump threatening to form in his pipes. “Did he uh, say anything unusual?”

They all came together in a chorus of mumbles and gestures, looking between one another and Gabriel. Frank replied, “I mean he’d shoot the shit with us, but he wasn’t talkin’ ‘bout anything out the ordinary.”

Great, another dead end – unless this one’s hiding something; probably too stupid to even put his underwear on right. This just feels so hopeless. “I see,” Gabriel commented, “just, for curiosities sake, what all did you guys do exactly? His credit statements say that he got charged an awful lot.” If there was something done to Able’s bike, wouldn’t he have noticed it? The classic red Fallis 38’ was practically obliterated on the SOD.

Dale was next to speak, “Well he got our basic package, but on top of that there was ah fee for tha custom work that I did.” Interesting.

“By that you mean . . .” Gabriel gestured with his wrist in a circular motion.

The man proceeded to explain in great detail what he provided for the 38’ Fallis.

Able really went all out on that bad boy. “Alright,” Gabriel said, “thanks for your time, anyway.” He turned on his heel and walked away. On his way back to his bike, he peeked his head over his shoulder, noting the large black chains imprinted on Dale’s sweat laced back. Something turned in his gut about that man; he decided that if nothing else cropped up, he would have to pay a more personal visit to the man. He’d have the means, Gabriel thought, but I still can’t think that a guy like
him
could pull the wool over Able’s eyes; the guy’s just awkward, he convinced himself. Gabriel slid onto his motorcycle and kicked the engine to life. It let out a beast-like growl, screaming as the wheels spun and spat out loads of gravel beneath its tire. At this point, there wasn’t anyone else left to grill – it would have to come down to what Gabriel feared the most: an inside job.

The question was who, and the real trial would be convincing the Club.

As he sped down the road, pinpricks of nervousness danced across Gabriel’s body, today was going to be a bad day, something just wasn’t sitting right. Running guns was always a dangerous game, and it was one that most of the Knights wanted to be out of – but there wasn’t enough legit business to break away; or at least, that was what the club President kept insisting. Does he really still have the best of interests in mind?

Gabriel thought back to a couple of months ago when he and Alex did a run. They had taken a shipment of MAC10’s to Port Angeles, and sold it to a host of Mexican bangers; not too friendly, but business was business and money had to be made. The deal was, and always had been, that the guns stay out of Sequim, Washington.

So why was it that so many crimes were being committed with mac10’s? Obit’s kept coming in; thugs blasted like Swiss cheese, broadcasts showcasing an ungodly amount of collateral on civilian’s cars and owner’s shops. Shit’s not right. If the guns that we’re delivering are coming back, shit’s only going to get worse for everyone involved.

Worse still, weapons flowing back into the city unregulated was like spilling blood into the waters; the sharks will come, and there’ll be hell to pay – money only cares about money.

Maybe Luke had the right idea in staging a coup.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Jasmine

His lips were hot and wet against her own, and the delightful, if not agonizing, pressure between her legs only grew with each hungry kiss. It had been much, much too long since she’d tasted the resplendence that was Luke Reynolds. Jasmine’s skin felt alive and elated with a crackling energy.

Growling as he picked her up, she in turn wrapped her legs around his midsection and he carried her to the front door of the apartment. He pinioned her hard against it, his hands touching her face and his peculiar eyes glassy with need.

She could feel the licks of fire growing against her chest, her nipples growing stiff behind her top. He’s so hard already, did all it take was a kiss? Jasmine thought. The woman could feel that wondrously hard sword poking against her as she wrapped her legs tighter around the man’s chiseled core. Jasmine moaned out his name before happily letting his tongue enter her mouth, caressing his moist tongue and mouth with her own – it should be illegal, she thought, for any man to taste as good as him. She found herself painfully aware of her clit.

“Open. Now,” Luke husked authoritatively. You’re so sexy when you get like that.

Jasmine hastily unlocked the front door and then yelped in surprise when Luke effortlessly scooped her up in his big and strong arms, arms that made her feel safe and loved and wanted. “Luke!” She squeaked, trying to ignore the voice in her head that what she was doing was wrong – that even though Augustus and she were never officially together, she was supposed to be there right now.

All guilt and shame melted away in the seconds it took for the two to reach Jasmine’s delightfully soft (and too damn expensive) queen sized bed. In one fluid motion Luke tossed her lithe little body onto the mattress with a grunt. A girlish noise escaped her before hitting the bed and crawling up towards the set of pillows. She turned to face Luke, watching him with sultry eyes as he undressed oh-so-slowly. Sweet Jesus, Jasmine bit down on her lip hard – a pulse of heat coursing through her sex; it felt like she was just punched in the gut.

Luke slipped out of his bomber jacket, the design of the Knights MC embroidered upon it in red and gold. Revealing his deep blue v-neck shirt, it was easy to see just how well built the brick-house of a man truly was. There was a silver necklace around his neck, a thick bronze ring hanging from its end. Every inch of the man’s shirt contoured to the tone and muscle of his rippling body. I could get used to watching this, Jasmine threw off her top and shoes as she stared. The corner of the man’s mouth lifted in a smirk, giving that special wolfish smile she had come to so badly want. He then peeled off his shirt, revealing the majesty that was his six-pack abs, jacked arms and the hint of his Adonis belt along his waist.

It never ceased to amaze her just how drop dead gorgeous that man truly was. She wanted to say something, anything really, but her tongue was already swollen by devil’s love. I just want to lick that man clean.

Tossing his shirt away, Luke got up onto the bed and stalked over to Jasmine – fierceness in his eyes. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you, baby,” he murmured in the woman’s ear. She could see the bear tattoo peeking out on his back.

Shivers rolled through Jasmine freely at her lover’s word, she cupped his cheek in her delicate hand and stroked, “Good, don’t ever stop.”

He smiled brightly before attacking her with his lips again, running them down her neck, sucking every now and then.

Jasmine moaned, the dark waves of pleasure crashing against her – making her head feel light and her body throb with a dull ache, a need that could only be sated by truly feeling
the man. She had to have him inside of her. Now. “Uggh, Luke, I-I need you,” she breathed, “I need
all
of you.”