WRECKED: GODS OF CHAOS MC, BOOK FOUR (8 page)

“No?” she asked. “You wouldn’t like to travel?”

“Nah, what’s the point when I can’t even imagine a more beautiful place than this?”

“Yeah…” she replied, her soft voice trailing off. I looked over at her, drinking in her beauty. She certainly had loads of it. In fact, her face was so perfectly sculpted, she almost didn’t look real. Her perfect skin had not a freckle or blemish anywhere I could see. Long, thick black lashes fringed her sky blue eyes, which I couldn’t help but notice were exactly the same shade that Frankie’s were, only a little darker. Her lush, pink lips appeared to suck the dew right out of the air they were so full. Her hair was long and thick, with heavy blonde waves cascading down her back. And she was tiny, so tiny - her petite frame almost frail.

She may have appeared frail, but her demeanor was the exact opposite. She reminded me of Grace and Lacey, in a way. She was small, but she exuded strength. The three of them had endured things nobody should have to endure, but if there was a silver lining at all, it was the strength of spirit that they’d acquired. It was so evident, it was almost palpable.

“So you’ve been here a long time?” she asked.

“No, actually. Just a few months. My Uncle Ryder let me come hang out for a while, just to test the waters, I guess. To be honest, I was in a bad downward spiral and this was the last resort before I hit bottom.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize Ryder was your uncle.”

“Yep. He’s a good man. All of these dudes are. You’ve come to the right place,” I said, hoping to reassure her a little. I couldn’t imagine what she must be going through.

“Thanks for saying that, I hope everything works out,” she said, her blue eyes shining up at me. It was like a punch in the gut every time I looked at her, because those eyes reminded me so much of Frankie, but that only pissed me off.
Would I never get over her? Would I never be able to move on?
Usually, I wasn’t so torn about it, but it would be nice if there was a point where I stopped comparing everyone to her.

“I have a feeling it will,” I replied, turning away from her. It was too much to look at those eyes.

“I do, too. Which is weird. I haven’t felt hopeful in a long time,” she said, her voice wistful.

“No?” I asked. “Well, you’ve been through a lot. It makes sense.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she said, taking a deep breath. “What about you?”

“Me? What about me?”

“You said you almost hit rock bottom. What did you mean?”

“I just went through some shit a while back that I couldn’t shake. Started drinking a lot,” I said, my hands shaking as I thought about it. “Partying, you know. Got in some bad accidents.”

“Is that how you got the scar on your face?” she asked.

Shit, I thought. That fucking scar.

I didn’t think about it much, because I rarely looked in the mirror. It was the one scar I couldn’t see without one, but it was the biggest and ugliest, too.

“Yeah, bike accident.”

“Must have been a bad one,” she said.

“Yeah, it was,” I said, shrugging. “But I made it out alive, and that’s what counts, right?”

Her eyes darkened and her face fell at my words.

“Shit, sorry, did I say something wrong?” I asked.

“No, no,” she protested, but her eyes filled with tears, which made feel like shit.

Great, asshole, I thought, you made her cry.

“Sorry,” I muttered. She wiped her tears with Slade’s bandana and mustered a half-assed smile before turning away. She walked off the road and entered the forest, following a trail that would lead us to the nearby creek if we walked long enough.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Where does this go?”

“Well, it’s getting dark and we should probably have a flashlight, but we can go in for a bit. There’s a creek a ways ahead.”

The trees towered over our heads, blocking out most of the already-dim light, and muffling the sounds coming from the clubhouse behind us. Fallen pine needles crunched under my boots as the dark pine trees embraced us with their eerie silence
.

“It’s so quiet,” Vanessa said, as I followed behind her.

“Yeah, it’s peaceful,” I whispered. We walked a few yards down the trail, farther into the darkness. It hit me that I hadn’t been alone with a woman in a long time. Hell, I hadn’t been attracted to a woman in a long time and I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a glimmer of attraction to Vanessa bubbling up inside of me.

Hell, how could I not be? Perfect face, perfect body, and she seemed nice enough. But those things were usually low on my list of requirements, so I was confused about what I was feeling.

It was probably just my body responding to a beautiful woman. Nature, nothing more. To my horror, my dick and my head were at odds. But I pushed it all away, because more than anything Vanessa was off-limits. The last thing she needed was some asshole like me trying to get into her pants. There was just something about her that drew me to her right away and that was what I was fighting. But fight I would do. Because I was determined not to be a prick, and to show Ryder that I was worth taking in. He’d be so pissed off if I fucked this up.

And so would I. I’d come to value this place like no other and I had no intention of leaving. Not like I had any place to go to anyway.

“Maybe we should turn back,” I said after we’d gone a little farther and my cock had hardened in my pants, because I couldn’t tear my eyes from her ass.
I should probably avoid being alone with her at all,
I thought to myself.

Vanessa was staring up at the trees like she’d never seen one before.

“Sure, okay. I just…I spent most of my time locked away in a fucking mansion in the city for the last ten years. It’s nice to be close to nature,” she said, her voice so soft I had to strain to hear her.

I nodded silently and we turned to walk back to the road. We’d taken two steps, when a soft swoosh sounded beside us and Vanessa jumped like she’d been shot and leaned into me.

I laughed softly, patting her back as I stared at the huge, yellow blinking eyes sitting in a low hanging branch above us.

“That’s Oliver, don’t worry,” I said. “He’s harmless.”

“Oliver?” Vanessa asked, her eyes almost as wide as the owl’s staring back at us.

“Yep, he’s sort of become the club mascot. He has a wife, too.”

“A wife?” she asked with a bewildered smile.

“Yeah, Olivia. They’re so fucking cute together, it’s adorable. They come around -
a lot!
Sometimes they sit on the porch with everyone. Ryder and Slade are the only two they let get close enough to touch them, but they sure do like sitting around and watching all of us.”

“That’s amazing,” Vanessa said, her smile widening. With another startling swoosh, Olivia landed at her mate’s side.

“Oh!” Vanessa exclaimed.

“Hey Olivia,” I greeted her. She turned our way, her big eyes blinking.

“Are they always together?” Vanessa asked.

“Pretty much, yeah. They rarely leave each other’s side.”

“I had no idea they were so friendly with humans,” she said.

“I think they usually aren’t. But Ryder has some crazy history with Oliver and he swears he’s been following him around for years.”

“I love it,” she whispered, her eyes glued to them.

“Yeah, me too,” I said. “Me, too. They’re pretty great.”

I stared over at her, once again taking in how beautiful she was. The low light barely illuminated her face, the trees throwing dark shadows over the contours and curves of her features. If I squinted my eyes just right, I could almost see a little Frankie in her.

Jesus fucking Christ, I thought. What the hell is wrong with me? I’ve got a beautiful woman by my side and all I can think of is how I can make her look like my old dead girlfriend from ten years ago. I’m pathetic.

“Dinner’s ready!” I heard Cherry’s loud voice booming through the trees.

“Guess it’s time to go back,” Vanessa said, smiling up at me, her smile sending electric jolts right to my gut.

You’re just hungry, asshole, I thought.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go. See you later, guys!” I waved at the owls and I could have sworn Oliver winked at me before I turned away.

I shook my head, trying once more to clear away the cobwebs of the past. If I couldn’t let go of it, I knew I’d never have a future.

Up till now, that hadn’t mattered much.

But now? For some unknown reason, I was slowly starting to care.

Grace

I was standing in the kitchen when I felt a warm pair of arms snake around my waist. I smiled, leaning into Ryder’s body behind me. He bent his head, leaning down to gently kiss my neck. A wave of pleasure washed over me, my body coming alive at his touch.

“Hey babe,” he whispered in my ear. “How’re you doing?”

“I’m okay,” I answered, turning around and wrapping my arms around his neck. He smelled so good - a unique scent I’d grown to love - like spices and motorcycle grease.

“You sure?” he asked, looking down at me with concerned eyes.

“Yeah,” I nodded. He was always checking in on me, especially when we had a new girl around. He knew it sometimes triggered old feelings in me, but mostly it made me feel good that we could help. “She reminds me a little of Lacey when she first showed up.”

“Yeah, me too,” he said. “A little scared, a little lost. Who can blame her?”

“True,” I replied. “But look how far Lacey’s come now.”

“Yep,” he replied. “Nothing a lot of counseling and the love of a good man can’t help.”

“Well, it also helps that she’s not being held prisoner anymore,” I said, wrapping my arms around him tighter.

“Well, yeah, that too,” he said, winking down at me.

“Right,” I said, smiling up at him. I don’t know what I’d do without this man. He’d changed everything.
Everything.
If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be alive, let alone doing this amazing work. Running Solid Ground was nothing at all like being a cop and so much more rewarding. I wasn’t inhibited by pesky administrative rules and laws. I could work just outside of the law and do so much more. I didn’t have to rely on shaky evidence and search warrants and corrupt prosecutors.

I could rely on my intuition and this amazing team that I was a part of.

It worked and when you were dealing with criminals like Royce Randolph, you needed to be able to get results, no matter how you got there.

“Listen, I have an idea of how to get close to Royce,” I said to Ryder.

“Of course you do,” he said, teasingly.

“He’s an investment advisor, right? So, here’s what I was thinking. You and I will go to him, tell him we just made a ton of money and we need help figuring out how to handle it. We’ll be vague, but it will open the door. Once we’re in, we’ll drop a few hints and see if he takes the bait to let us in a little farther.”

“Whatever you say, my love,” he said, dipping his head and kissing me. His lips were warm, soft and inviting. I could have kissed him for hours, which is what I usually did, but now was not the time for an extended kissing session. It’d only serve to rile us both up and it was dinner time.

“Dinner, babe,” I murmured, pulling away from him.

“We can eat later,” he growled, pulling me closer into his hard body, the hardest part of all growing against me.

“We can make love later, too,” I said, pulling away slightly. He was incredibly hard to resist, and any other time I would have taken him up on his offer. But I didn’t want to leave Vanessa alone with everyone else on her first night here, so I shook my head, and kissed him again quickly. “Later!”

He growled his disapproval, but he let me go, his eyes flashing with a familiar hunger that I’d grown to love so deeply.

“Look, there’s Vanessa,” I said, as she walked in the door, followed by Wreck. They both looked a little shell-shocked, which was to be expected from Vanessa, but it only made me wonder what was going on with Wreck. He’d been a wonderful addition to the family and I was glad he was here. Ryder didn’t have much family and it was great to see the two of them slowly warming up to each other.

“Did you enjoy your walk?” I asked Vanessa as she walked over to me in the kitchen. Ryder walked away, grabbing a beer from the fridge and walking out onto the front porch.

“I did. I saw these two beautiful owls in the woods,” she said.

“Oh, fantastic! You met Oliver and Olivia!”

“Yeah, Wreck told me their names. They’re adorable.”

“They are the sweetest little things, aren’t they? I think they’re both madly in love with Ryder.”

“Wreck mentioned they were close,” she said.

“So, how are you doing?” I asked. “Are you settling in okay?”

“I guess so. I really appreciate how hospitable you’ve been, Grace. Thank you,” she said, her voice soft and shy.

“It’s my pleasure, Vanessa. How are you on clothes? Is there anything at all you need?” I’d already shown her the room she’d be staying in, which was Ryder’s old room - the same room I’d woken up in with no memory at all of who I was or how I’d gotten there. I’d fallen in love with Ryder in that room, been given an entirely new lease on life. As far as I was concerned, that room was magic. I loved that it was used as a safe place for the women we rescued now. It only seemed right.

“I’m okay for now,” she said. “I couldn’t bring much, so as not to alert Royce, but I have what I need for now. Thank you for the room.”

“You’re welcome. You can stop thanking me, really. That’s what we’re here for.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling at me. “I’m sorry, I’m just so grateful.”

“I understand. I really do. Listen, if you ever want to talk or need a shoulder to cry on, I want you to know I’m here for you. We’re all here for you. Any one of us will stop what we’re doing to listen, whenever you need us.”

“I appreciate that, but the last thing I want to do is talk about my feelings. Right now, all I can think of is annihilating Royce and his friends.”

“That’s understandable,” Grace said. “But remember to take care of yourself, too.”

“Trust me, taking down Royce will be the best self-care possible,” she said.