Page 37 of Lucifer's Revenge
“Okay,” Luc said as he braced himself because her tone and expression conveyed it might be bad.
“I like you, Lucius, I mean really, really like you. If I didn’t, I never would have agreed to a second date. You not only get me, but we have common interests. Just being with you lights up my entire world. You being a biker, or a bar owner, is just icing on the cake, especially when I get to ride on the back of your bike with you. Never, ever, ever in my wildest dreams would I think about dating a biker, but you are so much better than the stereotypical hype everyone says that people like you are bad. I don’t see it. I only see the good in you.” She didn’t finish, because he leaned down and took her face in his hands, kissing her gently. By the time he came up for air, they were both lying in the center of the bed.
“Thank you,” he whispered against her lips. “You don’t know how much it pleases me to know that you like me for me, and not my status in the club, nor as the owner and operator of the bar.”
“That’s just your job and hobby,” she said, then stared at him in shock. “I’m not saying being the president of the club is a hobby. Please, don’t think that.”
“I don’t, it’s like saying you reading books is a hobby, but it’s also your job, your way of life. I get it, no need to apologize. Not to get waaaay off topic, but that one girlfriend I had, and everyone else I’ve dated since starting the club and bar, and now Brenda, all look at me and see what their status in the club would be if they were with me, and how much booze they could drinkfor free. Not to mention how many of their friends they expected to be able to drink for free.”
“Damn, that’s a lot of crap to wrestle through. I’m proud to say that the only thing free I ever had at the bar was the first meal I had there. The one where I met you.”
“That’s because I ate half of it,” he said with a grin as he wrapped his arms around her and rolled so he was on top. He kissed her on the tip of her nose, and moved her now dry hair out of her face.
“Now that you’ve been brutally honest with me, I’m going to return the favor. I really, really like you, too, Lilith. The first time I saw you sitting there with Starr, you piqued my interest. That’s why I invited you out for coffee. I wanted to get to know you better. I liked you enough to invite you riding with me. I don’t know if you were surprised or not, but you are the only woman I’ve ever let sit on the back of my bike.” He studied her expression and nodded when she stared at him in shock.
“That’s right, even the other women I dated were never allowed on the back of my bike.” He chuckled as he shook his head. “Hell, I won’t Starr on the back of it either.”
“Is there a reason for that?”
He gave her his signature scowl, and cocked his head to the side. “I guess it would have been a trust issue. There was something about them that didn’t sit right with me. Yes, we were dating, but not exclusively, not that I dated someone else while I was with them, but there was something that didn’t feel right. Once I learned they were only after me for the potential status with the club, and how much they could take from the bar, that’s when I dropped them like a hot potato.” He shook his head sadly. “Damn, that conversation went dark fast.”
To get them back in the mood, Lilith took each side of his head and brought him down for a kiss. Neither of them lifted their heads until they needed air. From there it didn’t takethem long to take the next few hours to love on one another. Before falling asleep, Luc made sure his arms were wrapped around her, and he sighed in contentment when she snuggled up against him. They ended up turning to each other several times during the night and when the alarm went off, they were both exhausted. Instead of getting some much needed sleep, they showered, and made their way down to the complimentary breakfast to refuel, then get ready for their tour.
The entire week of their vacation, they spent their days touring haunted places, soaked up the local area like sponges, and kept their nights full of loving one another. By the time it was time to leave, they were both exhausted. On the drive home, Lilith looked over at him, took his hand in hers and sighed.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just that I’m going to need a vacation from this vacation.”
He looked at her with a grin. “Yeah, I know. Luckily, we’re leaving a day earlier, so we can rest up tomorrow before we both have to be back to work on Monday.”
“Don’t you have to go into the bar, or a run to go on?”
“No, I told everyone I wouldn’t be home until late Sunday afternoon. I’ll just stay around my house and do up my laundry from this trip. I may call Starr to see what happened with Brenda.” At her look, he reminded her what the woman was trying to do, and they discussed things that could be done to prevent her from bothering Lucius in the future.
Chapter 16
Starr knocked on the door jamb of Professor Tiggs’s office, and didn’t know if it was a good thing or not when she saw Brad Tiggs present also. When they both looked up, she drew in a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “Professor, may I speak with you?”
“Come on in,” he said, and the brothers exchanged looks when she entered, but closed the door behind her. She turned and walked over to stand before his desk.
“I’m not going to pussyfoot around here, Professor. I want Brenda Smith off my team, and not to be able to associate with anything I’m doing for our Halloween project.” When it looked like the other men might interrupt, she shook her head, held up her hand, and withdrew her laptop. She set it in the middle of his desk and told him to press play. Fifteen minutes later, both Gary and Brad Tiggs looked at Starr in shock. She wouldn’t let them say anything at first.
“I don’t want to hear it if this will harm her in the class. If you recall, she only volunteered to come work on my team because she had nothing to show for herself in the weeks leading up to me coming to you for help. That’s on her. I have nothing to do with her laziness. If you also recall, the day I introduced her, Kelsey, Matt, and Brad to Luc and his club members, when he said he had to leave, she questioned him why. He left that meeting to go out on a date. As of right now, he and his date are out of state on a vacation together. I believe they are exclusive with one another.” She saw the implications of her words hit the other two men, and continued, “So, I believe that we don’t need Brenda on the team if she’s causing trouble now, behind Luc’s back.”
“What do you mean by behind his back?” Gary asked.
“Everything I showed you?” She pointed to the laptop. “That was information sent to me from members of the club, both male and female, plus the bartender Misty. Everything Brenda is doing is when she knows Luc’s not there. I don’t know if she’s being coy, or what, but in my eyes, on a scale of one to ten, she’s about an eight on the stalker scale. Luc was the one that called me into one of his church meetings so the guys could tell me what she’s doing. I told him I would deal with it.” She paused to look at them as she shook her head. “I’m not being a bitch here, Professor. You both were there when I told Brenda to back off of Luc, that if she continued to harass him, or be inappropriate toward him, then there would be consequences.” She paused for effect again. “What people don’t know is that my brother has been known to get revenge on people that have done him wrong.” She quickly held up her hand to hold off any questions or concerns.
“Nothing illegal. He bids his time, gathers his information, and then he serves his revenge cold. Ice cold in some instances.” At their confused looks, she sighed heavily and took one of the seats before the desk.
“Years ago, about six months after Lucius inherited everything from our grandparents, he was busy. I know you don’t need to know this, but in order to explain myself better, maybe you should.” She looked at them and when they nodded and settled into their own seats, she explained.
“As I said, Lucius inherited the family farm from our grandparents. There was the bar, where it sits now, but back then, it was a working cow barn. That is deemed commercial property, along with the surrounding acres. Out in the woods, where the commercial aspect of the property ends, and the private begins, is a fence line. It is heavily laden with signs about no trespassing. Also on the property, Lucius moved into the main house, there were two other homes on the propertythat the foreman and most valued employee lived over the years. Since the farm hadn’t been worked in over thirty years before he inherited, Lucius asked Mom and Dad if they wanted to live in one home, and me in the other. The only thing was that we had do take charge of our own renovations. Once that was done, we only had to pay our utilities, and an extremely small amount in rent. Just enough to cover the taxes for the year.”
“Wow, that sounds like a sweet deal.” Brad looked at her with raised brows.
“It is, and our houses aren’t on top of each other. The entire property, including the area with the bar, is one hundred acres. Anyway, as Mom and Dad, and I were renovating our homes, Lucius was doing his, turning the barn into a bar, and he had started Hell’s Coffin motorcycle club six months prior to that. He had a lot of irons in the fire at that time.” She saw they still showed interest in her tale, so she drew in a deep breath and let it out in a rush.
