Where Souls Spoil (28 page)

“You were wild back then,” he says, a gleam of mischief in his eyes. It almost makes me sick.

“She’s wild now,” a deep, masculine voice sounds from behind me. I practically jump in place at the intrusion. Darren’s eyes jump from mine over my shoulder to the man behind me. Turning around, I see the person I least expect standing in Universal Grounds: Diesel. He’s tall and thick in every way imaginable; a little more portly than most of the club members, but he wears it well. His shaved head has a short black buzz growing in and he’s scowling at Darren like he’s a piece of shit that dared make its way to the bottom of his shoe. He may be a serious bad-ass, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Diesel.

Living in a small town like Fort Bragg, California, with a local motorcycle club like we have-- the Forsaken Motorcycle Club-- you’re either their friend or their enemy. There is absolutely no in-between, especially if you’re like me and you’re the daughter of one of their incarcerated members. It’s wise to make good with the club, and for lack of a better social scene, I’ve made
real
good with the club.

“Hey,” I say. Inside, I’m screaming at him to leave. Club members showing up at my work-- for the first time in as long as I can remember-- is not a good thing. I don’t care that it’s Diesel and we’re on good terms. I guess I can at least breathe a sigh of relief that it’s not Duke.

But today is
not
the day to show up at my work-- of all days. Eileen is as straight-laced as they come, and while she knows my dad’s Forsaken, it’s not something she’s keen on acknowledging. Knowing that mouthing off to Diesel won’t end well, I just bite my tongue and give him a pleasant smile while taking a few steps in his direction.

Diesel’s never done me wrong no matter how many times we’ve hooked up, but I’m not stupid enough to think he’d treat me any better than he did Julie if I start shit with him. “You want some coffee?” I ask, hitching a thumb toward the espresso machine.
God, please tell me this man just stopped in for coffee.

Heavy boots clunk against the hardwood floor behind Diesel and a large, familiar form comes into view despite being partially obstructed by Diesel’s massive body. Wearing blue jeans, a black wife beater, and his leather cut, Duke strides up beside Diesel and place his hands on his hips. It’s the first time I’ve seen him in about two months-- ever since he claimed me when we hooked up. He looks damn good despite my frustration, and no matter how much I hate myself for it, I can’t help but let my eyes travel down to his hips where his hands rest. Those hips can perform magic tricks that would make performers in Vegas jealous.

“Where in the hell have you been?” he asks, irritation evident in his voice. It only takes a moment for my temper to rise, making me see red. He’s fucking joking, right?

Chapter 2

July (21 months to Mancuso’s downfall)

“WHAT?” I SNAP. I ball my hands into fists at my side as my blood pressure shoots through the roof. He knows the way this stuff normally works—hell, his club fucking invented how this works—so it’s not like he can play stupid.
Two months
and not a damn word and now this? The embarrassment I felt only grew as time went on and I hadn’t heard from him. I went from feeling a little too dreamy about everything to feeling a little ridiculous to eventually feeling like a stupid piece of trash. We could have fucked and left it at that, but no.

“Where have you been?” he says very slowly. His blue eyes are narrowed, and his strong jaw is covered by facial hair he’s let grow out. Though he commands the attention of everybody in his presence, for once he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying it.

“I’ve been around,” I say, trying to bite back my anger. “Where have you been?” I may be intimidated by Diesel, but Duke doesn’t scare me. No matter how big and tough he is now, I remember the days when he was just the awkward kid whose face hadn’t grown into his personality yet. And damn it to hell—I had a crush on him even back then.

“Yeah, you been around, all right, but you ain’t been where you should have,” Duke says. My entire body tenses, and I shoot a questioning glare at Diesel. He lifts his hands and shrugs his shoulders like he doesn’t know what’s going on, either, then turns and stares curiously at Duke. At least I’m not the only one not caught up.

Darren lets out a sigh, and the very reminder of his presence has me taking a step closer to Duke. His eyes narrow in Darren’s direction and move between us. Though my movement was subtle, or so I thought, Duke’s caught on, and well, shit.

“Who’s this guy?” Duke asks, looking down at me. We’re barely two feet apart now, and, this close up, his question comes across more like an accusation than anything. Suddenly, it feels like I’m back in high school and Darren’s caught on that I hooked up with Ryan while we were broken up—and he isn’t pleased. And unfortunately, that actually happened. I wish I could say that Ryan was a horrible lay, but even back then, that bastard knew how to move.

“Darren Jennings,” Darren says as he steps forward and introduces himself to Duke and Diesel. Diesel’s playing on his phone and couldn’t care less about what’s going on. I keep shooting him sideways glances to beg him for help, but the few times he’s looked over at me, there’s nothing but amusement on his face. Asshole.

Darren reaches his hand out, brushing against me, but Duke sneers down at it like Darren’s trying to shake his dick or something. Duke leans in just slightly toward Darren and hooks his arm around my waist, pulling me back, and says, “Too close, dude.”

Darren raises an eyebrow at that comment. Even though he was born and raised in this town, and the club’s been here longer than he’s been alive, Darren has never understood the fine art of dealing with the outlaw biker club. The more distance Duke puts between me and Darren, the more I’m able to relax, and the more comfortable I feel.

“Pardon?” Darren says with a raised eyebrow. He drops his hand and takes half a step back. “I’m speaking with an old friend, and who might you be?”

My eyes widen as Duke chuckles heartily from behind me. Oh, maybe if I’m lucky Duke will beat the crap out of him.

Diesel strains his neck, curses, and then shoves his phone back in his pocket. He looks at Darren with a flat expression and says, “Dude. I’m in the middle of level ninety-nine of Candy Castle. Now I gotta stop what I’m doing and deal with your mouth. Not cool.”

“I feel like I’m missing something,” Darren says with a confused look on his face. I bite my tongue to stop myself from telling him to give up the act. He knows damn well who the Forsaken are, and he knows damn well what they can do. But even in Duke’s grasp, where I feel braver than I have in a long time, I don’t have the courage to mouth off to Darren.

“You see our patches, your hear our bikes, you know who we are,” Diesel says. He lifts his chin at Duke and nods his head toward the back door.

From behind me, Duke bends at the waist and places his mouth right beside my ear, whispering, “Clubhouse. Ten minutes. You don’t show, and I’m going to hunt your ass down, you got that? It’s been a damn long time, and I’m tired of waiting for your sweet pussy.”

As much as I want to light into his ass like there’s no tomorrow, I can’t. I have to work here, and that’s assuming Eileen doesn’t fire my ass for all of this shit anyway.

“Whatever,” I say. I can’t bring myself to agree, and I can’t argue here. Without another word, Duke turns and leaves the shop out the back door. Diesel raises an eyebrow and shrugs his broad shoulders, then follows Duke.

I’m tempted to say something to Darren, whose eyes are fixated on the back door. Something snippy like
‘Well, it was nice seeing you, jackass’
, but I’ve had enough drama for the morning and I’m not up to invite any more. I move quickly around him and slip out of the door. A large hand wraps itself around my upper arm, holding me in place. My chest constricts painfully. For just a moment everything stops. Even my breath.

“Wait,” he says. “Do you want to have a drink later or something?”

Darren turns me around, giving me a curious look. My eyes travel down to his hand wrapped around my arm and narrow instantly. Even after all this time, I still don’t like the feeling of him touching me. I pull my arm back and shove my hands in my pockets.

“Listen, Nic, I didn’t know you two were together,” he says. It takes me a moment to catch on, but when I do, I’m annoyed for a whole other reason. Of course Darren would assume I’m with someone and that’s why I’m less than thrilled about his presence. Never would he consider that I’d like for him to die in a fire. Slowly.

“I...,” I say and trail off. I don’t know what to tell him. I certainly don’t want to tell him the truth, but denying that anything is going on would be my best bet. Letting Darren think I’m hooked up with Duke would be a convenient excuse to get out of having a drink with him. Because it’s never just one drink with Darren and it’s never easy to tell him no.

“I don’t want to step on any toes, or get mine broken, but I want to run something by you,” he says. There’s nothing he can run by me that I want to hear. I fold my arms over my chest, which, incidentally, shoves the tops of my exposed tits farther out of my tank top. Darren’s eyes dip to my chest before he lifts his eyes and gives me a flat stare.

I clamp my mouth shut before I say something I’ll regret.

“I’m kind of busy,” I lie, “but can I take a rain check?” I take a few steps back, unfold my arms from my chest, and dig around in my purse for my keys.

“It’s important,” he says. He reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath. When he lowers his arm, he smiles apologetically. “What I came here to tell you is that I’ve had a lot of time to think about the way things ended between us. We can’t go back, but I want to make it right.” If I could find the person who told him where I work, I could choke the life out of them. Finding my keys I grab a hold of them and give Darren my full attention. I shake my head and clutch the keys with all my might. How dare he think there is
any
way he can make that shit right? Because he can’t. “I talked to my dad, and he agreed to review your dad’s case and see if he can help get some of the charges dropped, or at least the sentence reduced.”

My heart swells for just a minute before I remember who I’m talking to. Darren doesn’t do things for people without an end game. He’s as selfish as they come, and a total bastard to boot.

“The club’s taking care of it,” I say. Because they are, but there’s only so much their expensive-as-fuck attorney can do for Dad after everything he’s done on the club’s behalf since he’s been inside. I can’t believe there’s much Darren’s dad can do to help at this point.

“Are they? Wasn’t your dad’s attorney that guy who represented Ryan when he made the paper a few years ago?” Darren asks. Of course, if he’s asking this, then he already knows the answer. And he
would
bring Ryan up. It doesn’t matter that Darren was off fucking around with half of the cheerleading team when I hooked up with Ryan. Ryan took something Darren considered his, and I guess he isn’t letting that grudge go.

“Roger Sloan,” I say with a slight nod of my head.

“When is the last time you talked to Roger Sloan?” he asks. I really hate that he’s baited me into a conversation, but now I need to know where this is going.

“Never,” I admit. “The club’s always handled it.”

“Nicole, I’m sorry, but my dad talked to Roger Sloan yesterday. He said the club hasn’t retained his services in over a year.”

I shouldn’t believe him. The club is all about brotherhood and family. They do what needs to be done to help one another out. They wouldn’t just leave Dad in there without any help—would they? I shake my head in disbelief. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Whatever I may think about the club and certain members in the club, this isn’t how they work.

“Hey, I could be wrong,” he says. “I mean, maybe they got a lawyer from another area? My dad hasn’t checked as far south as San Francisco yet.” Something in the way he says that, like he’s trying to be reassuring, but he’s not all at the same time, makes me even more on edge. Not that I like talking to him or spending time with him, but what if he’s telling the truth? What if the club’s figured they’ve done all they can do and now they’ve stopped pouring money down the drain?

“I’ll go easy on you. How about The 101 Club? That’s your kind of place, isn’t it?” he asks. I have half a mind to be insulted. The 101 Club definitely isn’t Darren’s kind of place. I’m dive bars and stale cigarettes. He’s flashy sports bars and hookah lounges. I know we’re different, but the comment just makes me feel like trash, and that’s one feeling I’m not in short supply of. His eyes narrow, and I can practically see the wheels turning in his brain as he tries to comprehend the fact that I’m turning him down.

“Come on. Show me that we’ve both matured,” he says. Us maturing was never the problem. I may have been immature, but the problem was always that Darren couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

“It’s just a drink. We can review a bit about your dad’s case and see what I can give to my dad that may help,” he says, flashing me that smile of his that used to melt me from the inside out. My heart drops a little at the realization that he’s found yet another way to get me to say yes to something he wants. After all of his charm wore off and his ability to control me waned, he searched high and low for ways to keep me in line. He’s baiting me, and I know it, but I can’t say no—for my dad’s sake. I hop from foot to foot before I finally nod my head.

“Eight o’clock at The 101 Club, okay?” he says. I nod my head again and rush to my car while trying to convince myself that Darren really is trying to help. As much as the thought of spending time, particularly time alone, with him frightens me, I decide to give it a shot just to see what this is all about. Taking a deep breath, I remind myself that I’m not the same girl I used to be, and I don’t need to fear him the same way I used to.

Once inside the car, I gently coax her to life then tear off down the street to step into the club’s world for just a few minutes. I put Darren out of my mind. I have other things I have to worry about right now. Like Duke and his bullshit. It’s a good thing the clubhouse is just a few blocks away or I’d never make it in under ten minutes. As much as I want to give Mr. Asshole the middle finger and ignore him for the next two months, I already know that’s not how this is going to play out.

This shit—me getting called to the clubhouse like a damn child—is exactly why I never wanted to hook up with Duke. He’s stuck in this sick cycle where he gets really fucking intense with any chick he’s into, and the more they protest, the more into the chase he gets. Nothing wrong with it, except he gets bored and then leaves a trail of chicks behind who all thought they had a chance to make him honest or something. And now, because I was too fucking drunk to stop myself, and way too fond of him, I’m one of those girls. I’ll just have to try to ride it out until he tires of me, I guess, and hope my heart doesn’t hurt too much when he leaves.