Strays (Red Kings #1) (7 page)

As he was urging her to hurry, the image he saw in his mind changed. Instead of her bronze skin, he saw a delicate porcelain. Instead of her dry blonde hair, he was running his fingers through silky chestnut tresses. Instead of her face, caked in make-up, he was seeing the fresh, clean face of his most recent attraction.

His frustration built and he shoved the girl away, sighing angrily as he continued to lean against the door. Her small hands had traveled down his body, but they felt nothing like Jackie's had the previous night. It just wasn't the same. It wasn't what his dick was currently craving.

Dean was a man that liked to have his need satisfied. If he had a fantasy, it always became a real experience by the end of the night. Teachers, cowgirls, naughty nurses - the girls around the clubhouse would be whatever he wanted. They were all more than eager to please him and even had some of their own fantasies, which he gladly helped with. But this was an entirely different situation. This girl in front of him wasn't what he wanted.

Angry with himself, he pulled up his boxers and threw the door open, causing it to bang loudly against the wall. He stomped out of the bathroom, nearly colliding with Tyler.

“D, can I talk-”

“Not now,” he growled roughly and cut Tyler off, continuing on his way. The girl he was with tried to follow after him and even called his name, but he ignored her and headed down the hall.

Walking through his dorm, he went into the bathroom to take a shower. Stripping, he turned the tap for the hot water, steam rising and filling the small space.

Finishing quickly, he got dressed and hurried to find Luke. As close as they were, one thing that the Macon charter president didn't tolerate was tardiness. It was worse if the reason you were late was a piece of ass. When he entered the meeting room, he saw Luke sitting at the head of the wooden table, a grim expression on his face.

“That was quick.” Sarcasm dripped from his words, conveying his displeasure. “I sent for you, what... half an hour ago?”

“Had to take a shower.” Dean's response was mechanic, his face blank.

Luke raised an eyebrow, his skeptical look telling him he was on thin ice. Dean sat quickly in his seat near the head of the table and waited for the man to speak.

“Now, about last night...”

The atmosphere changed quickly once they started talking business, everything else forgotten. Dean sighed, grateful. That’s what he liked about his president, always to the point. He tried to focus on Luke’s words and hoped it would take the morning off of his mind.

Things in Macon were about to get interesting. 

***

Tyler parked his bike at the diner and looked inside. Jackie had just taken the order of an elderly couple that was seated near the window. Smiling, she went to the counter and started talking to Beth. The bubbly blonde looked to be in a similar mood, her face split into a wide grin. Tyler hadn't planned on going anywhere near the diner today, but after what had happened in the clubhouse, he just had to talk to Jackie.

After seeing her off, he had gone in search of Dean so he could talk to him. He strode across the parking lot and into the clubhouse, passing by the meeting room on his way in. The door to it was wide open and Luke was alone inside drinking a beer. Tyler thought they had probably finished with the meeting, so he continued walking to the bedrooms in the back. Since he hadn't seen the biker walking out of the clubhouse, the only place Dean could be was in his room. He heard a few swear words come from the bathroom when he was passing by it and suddenly the door flew open, banging against the wall. Dean came barreling out and Tyler barely managed to avoid being run over. He didn't notice the man's angry expression at first, so he hastily called after him so as not to miss his opportunity.

“D, can I talk-”

But he couldn't even finish his sentence, as not only did Dean cut him off with an annoyed, “Not now,” but a scantily-clad blonde woman stumbled out of the bathroom after the biker, also calling his name and trying to follow him.

It took a few seconds for everything to click in Tyler's mind. By the time it did, he found himself helping the hungover blonde out of the clubhouse and to her car, turning her advances down and forcibly keeping her hands away from him.

When he was finished with her, the anger was rolling off of him in waves and he was battling the desire to find Dean and give him a piece of his mind. He thought of the biker as his friend, but Jackie was his family. Even if she tried so hard to make him believe that it wasn't such a big deal, he knew better. The fact of the matter was that Jackie and Dean would have to be around each other and spend time together. Things were undoubtedly going to become awkward. And seeing as half the MC saw him escort the blonde out and heard her spouting off about Dean going completely crazy while she was trying to give him head, he needed to tell Jackie about the situation before she heard it from someone else.

So, with his mind made up, he had gotten on his bike and started the trip to the diner. Now that he was sitting in the diner parking lot, his idea seemed a bit impulsive. He wasn't sure that Jackie would believe him when he told her what he saw. And even if she did believe him, he could bet that she'd be her stubborn self and continue with her 'not a big deal' speech.

Sighing, Tyler got off the bike and pocketed his keys. The bell on the door jingled when he entered, causing Jackie and Beth to look over at him. He put on a strained smile and started walking to the counter, his heavy footsteps droned out by the chatter of the patrons. He noticed the blonde's face light up and she started patting her hair and adjusting her top, no doubt wanting to impress him. Swallowing hard, he reminded himself that he was doing this for Jackie and that he was going to be out of the small diner as soon as he spoke to her.

Jackie, on the other hand, was trying hard not to laugh at the pained expression on his face. She had been confused when Tyler had walked in, as he'd said that he would be working hard at the garage for most of the day. All kinds of bad thoughts had started swirling in her mind since he looked rather grim. Maybe there had been an accident? Maybe he had gotten in a fight with one of the guys? Her gut twisted when she thought about the possibility of him starting something with Dean. Getting Tyler on Dean's bad side wasn't what she wanted, and she cursed herself for not making sure her best friend understood what had happened between the two of them was nothing to be concerned about.

All the dread that had pooled in her gut disappeared though when she saw where Tyler was looking at. His eyes were trained on Beth, who was primping herself, making sure she looked presentable. Jackie realized that was the reason he had such a tortured expression and smiled, trying to stifle her laughter. She debated on whether to let him sweat for a while, but thought better of it. Tyler was usually avoiding the diner like the plague when Beth was working, so he must have something important to tell her if he was risking it.

Hopping off of the stool she was sitting on, she met him half way, a questioning expression on her face.

“Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here? I thought you were going to be busy at the garage today.”

“We have to talk.” He shot a quick look at Beth, then turned to look at her again. “In private.” His voice was stern and Jackie bit her lip, starting to worry again.

She turned to the blonde sitting at the counter and flashed her a quick smile. “Can you keep an eye on my tables?”

No sooner had she received a nod from the blonde, she was tugging on Tyler's hand, leading him out back. There were two crates next to the wall and she went to sit on one of them. Tyler positioned himself on the other one, and she looked at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. He was silent for a few seconds, and when he started speaking, his voice was hard, anger laced into his words. “This morning, after you drove off, I went to talk to Dean.”

“Tyler!” Jackie's voice was strained as she thought her fears had been true. “I told you not to make a big deal out of this!”

He shushed her quickly and continued speaking, not paying any attention to her interruption. “I found him in the bathroom...” He steeled his gaze and looked into her eyes. “... with some other girl.”

Jackie rolled her eyes and muttered, “He could have at least waited a few hours.” She let out an angry breath, then turned to Tyler. “It doesn't matter. He's a big boy. He can make his own decisions and be with whoever he wants.” When she saw the doubt in Tyler's eyes, she hastened to reassure him. “I'm serious. I thought I already made it clear that what happened between Dean and I was a one time thing.”

“Look, Jack-”

“Tyler, if you say one more word, I'm going to find something to stab you with.”

He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “I'm just looking out for you. I didn't want you to hear it from someone else.”

“I know.” Her head fell on his shoulder and she closed her eyes for a bit. “You've gotta leave the Dean thing alone. I'm an adult, Tyler. I know what a one night stand is, and I'm telling you, that's what I had with Dean. Get over it and move on. You're bugging me with this overprotective big brother thing you have going on. It's not needed.”

He frowned at her, but nodded his head. He'd stop talking about it if that's what she wanted. Just as he was about to get off the crate he was sitting on, she started speaking again, a teasing quality to her voice.

“Besides, it's not like it was Dean's fault. No one could resist getting up on all of this.” She motioned to her body with her hands, and Tyler made a face before getting to his feet.

“And we're done here.” He shuddered at the mental images and started walking around the corner so he could get to his bike and avoid running into Beth. Her laughter floated after him down the alleyway and then he heard the back door of the diner shut. If Jackie was fine, then he was fine. Hopefully things were going to get back to normal now.

9

July 3
rd

Stepping off of the public bus, Jackie let out a sigh and walked into the lot of Eastside Mechanics.  Tyler had borrowed her truck again this morning and she was hoping she would be able to pick it up. The fact that she didn't see it parked anywhere in sight didn't bode well for that idea. She groaned in frustration, silently cursing Tyler as she headed into the clubhouse. The only people inside were Taco, TJ, and Ian. They were playing pool and filling the room with rowdy laughter. The biker she had hooked up with recently was nowhere to be seen, for which Jackie was grateful.

Things between her and Dean had been playfully awkward, the lack of alcohol in her system bringing back her common sense and rational thought. There was nothing wrong with what they had done, it just made normal conversations between them a little weird at times. Thankfully, he didn't talk much anyways. If it weren't for Tyler's constant reminders of their drunken night, she probably would have forgotten about it already.

At least, that's what she told herself.

A crash snapped Jackie out of her reverie and brought her attention to the men in the room. TJ was lying in a heap on the floor as he laughed hysterically, an overturned bar stool on the ground next to him. The other guys were making just as much noise, leaning against the pool table for support. Empty liquor bottles littered the bar, explaining their childish behavior. At four in the afternoon no less.

“Cupcake!” TJ yelled at her as he made no move to get up from his casual position. “Care to join me down here? It's quite comfy.”

“No thank you,” she said with a shake of her head, receiving a shrug in response. “Is my boy around here anywhere?”

“Who, Dean? He's out getting food,” Ian replied with an innocent smile, earning an eye roll from the woman.

“I meant Tyler,” Jackie said with an exasperated sigh, confirming her suspicions that the whole charter had heard about her escapades.

“Oh him, yeah he's doing something with the boss man and Nash I think. Not sure when they'll be back.”

“Damn, guess I'm not getting my truck back then.” She crossed her arms against her chest in irritation, trying to decide her plan for the rest of the day without transportation.

“Well, I could give you a ride somewhere if you need it,” Taco offered, scratching the back of his head nervously. The rest of the crew took the opportunity to start whistling and cracking jokes at the prospect's expense, causing the young man to blush. Jackie adored him; he was always nice and a bit timid, but eager to please. She knew from Tyler that he had been around the club for a long time before he had been given the chance to prospect for them and hopefully earn his rightful place amongst the bikers. 

Jackie smiled sweetly at him, ignoring the childish behavior. “I'd appreciate that, thank you.”

“Oh, I don't think so,” TJ said as he approached her, having recently vacated the floor. “You're here now, you're hanging with us.” The stocky man wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the pool table. “You can be on Taco's team, he sucks.”

“Do not,” the kid muttered in his defense as Jackie took the pool stick Ian offered to her.

“It's okay,” she said as she smiled reassuringly at the shaggy-haired man. “I'm sure you're better than I am. Maybe you can give me some pointers?”

Taco grinned sheepishly as the rest of the guys snorted and rolled their eyes. “Ye-yeah I can do that, sure.”

The group played pool for awhile, pausing only to refill shot glasses and exchange empty beer bottles for new ones. Taco offered tips on the game where he could, earning laughs and snarky comments from the other bikers as they teased his new so-called crush. It didn't help that he would blush anytime he got close to the woman.

Jackie was starting to learn a lot more about the guys, shedding some of the dangerous badass persona she had built up for them in her mind. They were regular people, for the most part, that liked to hang out and have a good time, but still had responsibilities and morals that made them very much normal human beings.

As game number six continued, Jackie was beginning to feel a bit more confident about her skills. She had managed to hit a few of the balls into the pockets, still leaving Taco with much of the workload and them with no wins in their column. The other pair had way too much practice at the game to be beaten by just anybody. When Jackie's turn rolled around again, she stared at the table with a puzzled expression. Every possible shot was going to be difficult, even for a good player.

She looked at Taco with a questioning smile. “Help,” she squeaked. “What do I do?”

The young man studied the table, walking around it to try to find the most logical shot for her to take. He finally stopped to the left of the white ball, lining it up with the solid red towards a corner pocket. “Well darlin', this is your best bet.”

“You're joking, right? How the hell am I supposed to hit that?”

“I mean...” he scratched the back of his head nervously. “You probably won't.” Jackie glared at him as the other boys laughed. Sighing, Taco motioned for her to come over to his side of the table. “C'mere, just angle the stick like this...” He stood behind her, moving his arms around her as he helped situate the pool stick towards the pocket. The boys howled and made crude gestures at the intimate position, but Taco did his best to ignore it. “So you wanna hit the white ball just slightly on the left side, that way it'll bounce to the right a bit and, well in theory, hit the red ball in the direction we want.”

Ian snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, don't do that, it won't work.”

“Shut up, Ian,” Taco mumbled, moving slightly to the left to block the laughing biker from Jackie's view. “You got this, no problem. Can't be that hard to do-”

His pep talk was cut off by the clubhouse door swinging shut with a thud. Three of the four people playing pool looked up to see the new bikers that had entered the room, but Taco was trying to stay focused on the shot. It was now a matter of pride that he, and also Jackie of course, made this shot.

It was only when Ian cleared his throat with a smirk that Taco noticed Dean for the first time.

He was leaning against the closed clubhouse door, his arms crossed and his gaze stony. Murphy, the charter's Sergeant at Arms, was standing next to him with an amused expression on his face, but Taco didn’t pay him any attention. He was focused on Dean, whose eyes promised Taco he’d suffer through many unpleasant things if his left hand continued its journey down Jackie's side.

Taco hastily released the woman and stumbled back, stuttering out excuses and apologies. “Oh shit, dude. I totally didn't mean anything by it. I was just trying to help her game.”

Dean rolled his eyes and took a step forward, causing Taco to scramble behind the bar to put an acceptable distance between himself and the large man. Dean followed, stopping in front of the young biker but keeping the wooden bar between them. “Like you could steal a woman from me,” Dean growled with a smirk as he grabbed a half-full bottle of tequila and took a large drink, his fiery eyes staring down the shaggy-haired man who stood nervously in front of him.

Jackie took the opportunity to excuse herself from the situation and wasted no time escaping to the bathroom to collect her thoughts.

Her retreat didn't go unnoticed, as Dean watched her walk away, groaning inwardly as her body swayed. He was brought back to the present by an annoyingly smug voice coming from his left.

“Man, just look at that ass.” Murphy stared at where Jackie had turned the corner, then smirked at Dean, who was glaring at him. “So? What's the story there?”

“Shut up.”

The growl meant danger and most sensible people took that as a sign to run and cower. Luckily for Murphy, they had been best friends for many years, meaning he could get away with just about anything. Therefore, the blonde man simply flashed his dimples and a cocky grin.

Dean turned his back to him with an annoyed grunt and started walking away, a sour expression on his face, causing Murphy to laugh raucously. Whistling after the tattooed man a few times for good measure, he made his way to the bar and sat on a stool. “Gimme a beer, prospect. And make it fast!”

Dean made his way down the hall towards his room just so he could get away from Murphy. The biker was like a brother to him, but he could be very annoying when he wanted to be. It was just Dean's luck that Jackie would be in the clubhouse when the sergeant at arms got back.

Murphy had been down in Florida for the last month helping their Lakeside charter with an issue, meaning he had missed the latest developments involving Jackie. Dean had caught up with him on his  way back into town and returned to the clubhouse with him, only to find the prospect with his paws all over the woman.

Finding them close together like that had driven him mad, wishing it was him standing behind her. He hadn't been able to shake her from his mind since their unplanned night together, the images rolling around behind his eyes every time he closed them.

Meanwhile, Jackie stared at herself in the mirror, splashing her face with cold water. She wasn't sure what was going on in her head, thought she had this under control. This wasn't the first one night stand she'd ever had, so why did he have this effect on her? It wasn't healthy and definitely was not what she needed right now. She took a few moments to collect herself and after taking a deep breath, she started out of the bathroom so she could tell the guys to relay a message to Tyler and get the hell out of dodge.

She was so focused on getting out of there that she didn't hear the biker coming down the hall. Jackie nearly collided with Dean, his large hand gripping her arm to steady her. She stared at a spot on his chest for a minute, avoiding looking into his eyes. When she couldn't do it anymore, she lifted her head, meeting his heavy gaze.

“You okay?”

She sucked in a sharp breath when he spoke, chills running down her spine at the resonating baritone of his voice, but nodded her head nonetheless. “Yeah, fine,” she whispered, hoping she sounded  nonchalant. Trying to step away from him, Jackie felt his hold on her tighten. When he didn't say anything, she opened her mouth to continue, only to have him press her up against the wall roughly, his face very close to hers. “Wh-what are you doing?” Her breathing became ragged, her mind fuzzy.

“What's it look like I'm doing?” His lips were a breath away from hers. Without waiting any longer, he kissed her, his mouth hot and demanding.

Jackie didn't waste any time in responding. She was a weak woman when he was around, couldn't resist him and the pull he had over her. Their tongues battled and his hands explored, running over her sides and slipping under her shirt. He hiked her up into his tattooed arms, breaking the kiss only to give the same treatment to her neck.

With a comfortable hold on her, he started walking to his room to avoid any interruptions. There was no way he was stopping this and if they continued out in the corridor, someone was bound to pass by and see them. He entered his room and shoved the door closed with his foot, quickly dropping Jackie onto the bed. He hung his leather cut off the side of a chair, then tossed his shirt and boots to the floor. He joined her on the bed and kissed her again, hands roaming.

She was burning up inside and his touch was driving her insane with need. Foreplay was not needed; merely looking at him got her all hot and bothered. They had been playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse since their previous bedroom encounter. Dean was too proud to admit he wanted Jackie again, and she was too afraid of him to do the same. But now that those admissions were out of the way and he was touching her again, she couldn't wait for round two. Their labored breathing was the only thing that could be heard in the room. When her shirt and jeans joined Dean's clothes on the ground, he looked at her, his eyes dark with lust. His gaze promised that he'd do delightful things to her, making her flush even more with anticipation.