Page 55 of Savage Lust

This go round, I was dressed the part. No more quiet, unassuming Riley. I wore a pair of high-waisted cutoffs, a red fitted tank, and shoved my feet into a pair of well-worn cowboy boots I’d had since high school. Hair braided in the back, I put on a pair of dark shades and shoved my phone into my pocket.

I drew a long, appreciative assessment from Cam when I stepped out the back door.

“You look good.” That appreciation was thick on his tongue.

I fought not to respond. I wanted to lick my lips and crawl up his leg. I wanted him to make me feel the things only he could. It was like we didn’t just have sex on the kitchen counter.

Damn.

He pushed the helmet on my head and gave it a gentle smack to make it fit snug. Then he tipped my chin as he tightened the strap. “If you’d rather not go, darlin, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Oh, I wanted to ride with him. There was nothing else in the world like it. The idea left my stomach tingling with excitement. But I was apprehensive. He didn’t seem to want me to go, but why? Still too many secrets. When I didn’t say anything, he leaned close enough the scruff around his lips tickled my cheek. “Have it your way,” he whispered in my ear.

I clung to his sides as he throttled down the driveway and out of the neighborhood. He didn’t drive like he was pissed, but there was force in each shift of the gears, and by the time we pulled into a rundown tire place, I could feel the tension radiating off of him.

There was an old gray van, with ladders and piping strapped to a rack on the roof. Rocky’s HVAC emblazoned all over it. And Merc, dressed like he worked there on the regular, leaned against the side, dark hair pulled from his face in a half ponytail.

Cam lit a cigarette once he pulled in and killed the motor.

“Looking like you belong there.” Merc grinned and jutted his chin toward me on the back of the bike.

I fought back the little thrill I got when he said it. like This feeling was new, and I battled that excitement each time someone looked at us as we rode through town. I drew attention. Not because I was pretty, or special, or worthy—but because I was on the back of Cam’s bike.

“She does,” he stated with a matter-of-fact lift of his left shoulder.

I shouldn’t like that. I hated myself for it. Especially when I hadn’t been given much of a choice.

Would it have mattered? Probably not.

“You go back to The Cat last night?” Cam asked, taking a drag of the cigarette he’d just lit.

I didn’t know Merc well, but their relationship was definitely the tightest of them all. A lot was said in the silence before Merc spoke.

“Nah, I’ll run out there in a few days, get all this shit out of the way, let the other blow over first.” That hung heavier than Cam’s question.

I was paying attention now. Whatever we were about to do held repercussions for both of them that had nothing to do with the act itself. Me riding with Cam was some sort of dog and pony show.

But for who?

I studied Merc. His dark wavy hair was too short for a full ponytail and would have hung shaggy around his bearded face. That same beard wasn’t long, but full and dark, hiding a boyish grin. I’d seen pictures of him without it, almost too pretty, complete with dimple pale blue eyes.

Yeah, he knew he was good looking. But unlike Cam, he didn’t like it—so he hid it. Or at least, that’s what I told myself. There were tattoos on his arm, in Latin, with military insignia. This wasn’t his first brotherhood, or maybe it was, and the other skirted the edges. Either way, I was pretty sure he earned his nickname.

There was a divide in the Desert Kings, the broken line of it hovered on the edges of my periphery. And whatever it was, had to do with my father.

Another bike roared in and slowed on the blistered and cracked parking lot pavement. Jester’s hair pulled all the way back, leaving the tattoos up his neck and throat fully visible. “Party’s here, let’s roll boys. Deputy Dog Hayden gave the all clear.”

I’d met a Hayden. I let the name roll across my tongue until I latched onto the memory. The local deputy who introduced himself at the funeral. Another cog in the Desert Kings machine

“Keep me out of handcuffs, brother.” Merc rapped his knuckles against Jester’s and crawled into the van. He stoppedand peered at Cam, mirrored shades paused halfway to his face. “You stay out of them too.”

Cam grinned, a beaming sarcastic show on his face. “She might like it.”

I ducked my head and blushed when the other two guys laughed. I didn’t look up until Jester fired up his bike and rolled out of the parking lot ahead of Merc in the van.

“He’s not an air-conditioning guy, is he?”

Cam crushed out his cigarette and laughed. “As far as you know? He sure the fuck is.”

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