Hunter (King’s Men MC #1)

7. Roman

7

ROMAN

“Is this it?” I asked Kai as I got out of my black truck and walked up to where he was standing against his.

A sweet little Low Rider S his old man bought him for his twenty-first birthday.

That thing was his baby.

Not that I blamed him.

It was fucking sweet.

Kai nodded and pointed up to the second floor of the luxurious apartment.

Not bad for the Judge’s daughter, I supposed, but did she think this would protect her?

She would have received the news of my release, but I bet the girl felt protected in her cloak of anonymity.

I wondered if she knew there had been a camera on the corner of the building, put up by Dominic, and that we had her identity the day we realized there was a witness.

“Apartment 203,” Kai said, scowling up at the door.

“Thanks, kid. You can go.”

He turned to me. “Are you sure? ”

“Yup. Don’t need your help to take care of a tiny little girl.”

“What are you going to do?” he asked warily.

Sometimes, I forgot how young he was. He might have been born as the Club’s Prince, but his dad still did his job in protecting Kai from all the nastiness of club business.

“Just go,” I said instead of answering.

“Roman… Just don’t do anything stupid to get yourself locked up again.”

The tone of his voice gave me pause.

Of all his dad’s men, I was probably the closest to him. Fuck, it was me who found him with his cousin’s body when they were fifteen.

Jude shouldn’t have been fucking shot at. Kai shouldn’t have been shot at, but it was Jude who had died from a bullet wound. Kai had walked away with nothing but a broken arm and a small wound near his neck from where the bullet had grazed him and hit Jude.

We still didn’t know if that had been club related or not, but it was the reason Kai was so fucking angry and why Dominic’s sister no longer talked to her only brother.

“Wasn’t planning on it, kid,” I said gruffly.

I wondered just how badly my going away had affected him.

He used to share everything with me. I was the listening ear about things he was too embarrassed to talk to his old man about, but he had grown up quickly these past two years.

I looked back at the apartment. I would have to talk to Kai sooner rather than later to get a feel for how he was holding up, but right now, I had to stalk the Judge’s daughter.

And I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do with her.

Whatever she had done, she was innocent .

Never mind the fact that her father was as corrupt as they came—even more so than the asshole cop she saw me kill—I didn’t think Ryleigh Hudson knew anything that was going on with her dad’s business with the Mayor.

“Go home,” I said, much more softly than I normally would have.

Kai rolled his eyes and hopped on his bike. If I weren’t so preoccupied with watching the door, I would have knocked some respect into the kid.

As it was, I barely heard his bike start up, and then he drove away.

I stayed where I stood for a beat, looking at the red door like I might develop x-ray vision and see what she was doing in there if I looked hard enough.

I shouldn’t be caught dead outside her apartment building.

I probably stuck out like a sore thumb.

I turned and climbed back into my truck. The windows were tinted, and I doubted anyone would see me sitting here.

I stayed there for a few hours, waiting for the sun to rise and for the girl to appear.

I just wanted to catch a glimpse of her.

Sure, I knew what she looked like.

But it was all based on pictures Micah had taken of her for me from afar.

I took a sip of the coffee I bought on the way here and kept watch.

Two hours later, I finally noticed movements from the front door.

I sat up straight in my seat and watched. The front door opened and a small figure passed through.

The first thing I noticed was the hair on this girl.

She got a lot of it.

Thick, gorgeous black hair that would feel amazing wrapped around my fist as I pulled on it while pounding inside her.

I shifted in my seat.

Fuck, it had been a little over two years since I had gotten my dick wet. I was feeling the effect of it now, lusting after this girl, of all the girls in the world.

I set my coffee cup down and watched as she walked down the stairs. She disappeared from my view for a moment, and I didn’t know why I felt so heavy from that or how much I fucking hated not having my eyes on her.

Thirty seconds later, she appeared on the ground level, a black backpack slung across both shoulders, as she strolled to a black Camry parked nearby.

This close, I could see the bags under her eyes.

I wondered if this girl had even slept last night.

She looked tired.

And her bag seemed to be weighing her down, even if it didn’t seem to weigh all that much.

And why the fuck did I care?

I didn’t know, only that I did.

She hopped inside her car. The windows weren’t tinted, giving me a clear view of her profile. I watched as she leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes.

Fuck, but didn’t this girl have any sense of self-preservation?

Could she not feel she was being hunted by a predator?

Did she not feel danger when it was so close by?

Obviously not, or she wouldn’t be resting like this.

Actually, she didn’t look like she was resting so much, but instead, she was trying to catch her breath.

As if waking up and getting on with her day was draining her of all her energy, and she didn’t know how to get up.

My heart felt heavy at the sight of her.

I rubbed my chest, frowning .

I should not feel this way for any woman, especially the one responsible for sending me to prison for the last two years.

I should hate her.

I should want to make her life miserable, and a part of me did want that.

I wanted to ruin her life, to exact even an ounce of the pain I had felt these last two years being trapped in a cage, yet…

At the same time, I just wanted to hold her.

I wanted to take away that defeated look on her face.

And I fucking hated how contradictory I was feeling right now.

She opened her eyes, and I caught a hint of silver flashing in her eyes.

She had the most mesmerizing eyes.

Then she pulled out of the parking spot and drove, by my guess, to school.

I gave her a two-minute head start before following her.

I caught sight of her two cars ahead of me, and I sped up.

It didn’t take us long to get to campus.

I found an empty spot just a row behind her and got out, pulling up the hood of my black hoodie and putting my sunglasses on.

She didn’t even realize someone was following her.

This girl was so unaware of her surroundings, I should have counted myself lucky.

I was mostly just annoyed.

How had she lived over twenty years without something happening to her?

She walked into a coffee shop, and I got in line behind her, taking off the sunglasses to avoid drawing attention to myself. Though my size probably did that for me .

My big brother was one big motherfucker, and I wasn’t that far behind.

We both had inherited our grandpa’s bulk, something our piece of shit father hated, especially when Micah hit his growth spurt at fifteen, and our father could no longer push us around.

I shook away the dark memory of a childhood I’d much rather forget and focused on the tiny girl in front of me.

Jesus, but she was small.

The top of her head didn’t even reach my shoulder, and she fucking smelled amazing.

Some fruity girly shit that I should find nauseating, but instead, I was getting addicted.

She turned slightly when the door to the coffee shop opened, and I took a step back.

This was the first time I had ever gotten so close to her.

And there was something about this girl…

Why did she feel familiar to me?

Why did I get this sense of overprotectiveness for the girl I should hate?

My fists clenched, and she frowned at whoever had just come in. I followed her gaze and found Kai, who was purposely not looking at me.

Did she not like Kai?

Or did she like him?

Kai was known as the pretty boy, and ideally, he would be better fitted for her, considering he was only a few months older than her, but fuck me if I hated the thought of anyone with her.

She was fucking mine.

Mine to torture.

Mine to abuse.

Mine to exact vengeance on.

Mine to …

Fuck.

I shifted when another boy came up to the line.

“Hey, Raleigh,” the boy said.

I turned my glare on him as she responded, her voice surprisingly soft sounding, almost lyrical.

“Hey, Dylan.”

The boy opened his mouth to say something else when he noticed my gaze. He blanched and took a step back.

I wondered if he’d recognized me.

There weren’t many pictures of me out there, and what the press had gotten were crappy shots at best.

Which was the way I preferred it.

Most news outlets in California were bought, bribed, or threatened by Dominic.

I doubted the boy recognized who I was, but he obviously recognized my angry, possessive, dark look.

I smiled at him, and he swallowed.

“I’ll… uh, see you later, Ryleigh.”

Oh good. He was leaving.

“Aren’t you going to buy coffee?” Raleigh asked with a frown.

He stuttered some response I didn’t care to hear as he stumbled his way out.

From the corner of the cafe, Kai let out a booming laugh.

I ignored him and watched Ryleigh move up the line, my gaze homing down to her ass.

Fuck.

I could feel my dick twitching in my pants, and I wondered how well she would take to me spanking her.

I had big hands, no doubt I could really hurt her, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do.

No, I just wanted to bring a little bit of pain and a hell of a lot of pleasure.

So much fucking pleasure .

I shifted on my feet.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

I shook my head and listened as she put in her order. “A caramel macchiato, please.”

Fuck, the way she did something as simple as ordering her coffee was getting to me.

She walked to the waiting area, and I placed my order.

“Caramel macchiato,” I said.

Might as well get to know my enemy.

I quietly moved to the waiting area with her, pausing slightly in my steps when I realized her eyes were on me.

I wondered how long it would take her to notice me close by, and if she was only now noticing me, then it was too fucking long.

I kept my expression neutral as I kept eye contact for three long seconds and looked away.

It didn’t look like she recognized me, otherwise, she would be running away and screaming her head off.

I smiled slightly at the thought.

It was good, I supposed. Two years was a long time to try to remember someone you screwed over.

Unlucky for her, I remembered her.

Had dreamt about her. Had been obsessing over her.

And yet now that she was within touching distance of me, I didn’t know what to fucking do.

She shifted slightly, trying to put some distance between us, a slight blush covering her cheeks.

I had never been more fascinated with blushing cheeks than I was now, and I wondered if other places on her body got that red.

That fascinated me almost as much as what the reason might be behind it.

Was it anger or annoyance that made her look like that?

Or shyness and …

Attraction?

Was she attracted to me?

How fucking… interesting.

What the hell was I supposed to do with that information?

I didn’t know.

I met Kai’s eyes from across the cafe. He frowned at me as if asking me what I was up to.

Fuck if I knew.

I turned away from him and watched as she walked to the counter after her drink was called.

She took a small sip of it, made eye contact with me once more, and walked out the door, probably heading to class.

Everything in me said to follow her.

To ensure no other fucker touched what I had now decided belonged to me.

Instead, I made myself ignore her and grabbed my drink that was placed on the counter. Then I walked back to my car.

I had seen enough of Ryleigh Hudson for the day.

But I knew I wasn’t done with her.

I would be back to see her again, and again, and again, until whatever was brewing inside of me at the sight of her would settle, and I could finally move on with my life.

Something told me there wasn’t an ending in sight.

And it was as if God was having his fun at my expense, making me obsess over a girl I should hate.

I could hear Dominic’s booming voice immediately as he instructed the men.

Everyone was scattering about, trying to get everything done before dawn hit .

The MC made its money through drug shipment.

We didn’t sell them, but we were the middleman between powerful men from all over the country wanting to sell between vendors and passing it through.

We took on the high-risk jobs of crossing state lines to get the drugs where they needed to go.

With over a hundred chapters all over the U.S., it was no wonder we were so high in demand.

And Dominic ruled it all.

He stood in the center of the room on a raised platform, his arms crossed over his broad chest as he looked down at his empire. Micah and I joined him.

Despite there being thousands of club members, it was the two of us who were closest to Dominic.

Besides Micah, he was the closest thing I had to family.

Stronger than blood, we would die for each other without hesitation.

When I first joined, the club had been nowhere as big as it was now.

And we hadn’t been in the business that brought in millions of dollars yearly.

Illegal money, sure, but money was money. I wasn’t fucking picky.

“Is everything set?” Dominic asked me.

I nodded. “The trucks are ready, and two dozen brothers are coming along to make the escort. It will take less than a day to get to Seattle.”

Dominic nodded, making a small approving noise in the back of his throat.

He turned to Micah. “How are things going with the Mansen Brotherhood?”

If I hadn’t been watching him, I might have missed the tic that ran along the side of Micah’s jawline.

The Mansen Brotherhood had been a thorn in our fucking side since the day the fucking Mansen Brothers came in with the ambition to take over our city and business.

They were nowhere near as big as the MC, but they were growing enough that everyone was taking notice.

They could get strong enough to take us out if we didn’t control them soon.

“Hiding like a bunch of fucking cowards,” Micah answered.

His job as the club’s enforcer was to deal with the little shitheads, except they were hard to deal with when we couldn’t find them.

I was also positive they were working with the dear old Mayor Gallagher and Judge Hudson.

Those fuckers wanted to run the city, and what was more, they got cocky enough to put the Mansen Brotherhood on their payroll to take over the drug transport business that Dominic built with his bare, bloodied hands.

They weren’t quiet about wanting to shut down the King’s Men, but when it came to questions about the fucking Mansen Brothers, suddenly, those two fuckers ain’t got nothing to say about it.

And I got a fucking bone to pick with ‘em.

I got jumped my first week serving in the yards by the pieces of fucking shits hired by the twins. Had I not been better than those fuckers, Micah would have had to bury his little brother, and Dominic would have been looking for a new VP.

And now the Mansen brothers had gone into hiding when I got out.

My fists clenched by my side.

The move didn’t go unnoticed by Micah. He clasped my shoulder. “We’ll fucking find them. I promise you.”

I could only nod.

Dominic grunted in agreement and brought my attention back to him when he said, “Let’s get a move on. The drugs move by midnight.”

I nodded.

I wouldn’t be the one transporting the drugs myself, but I would be here to coordinate.

And once this deal was done, I wouldn’t have any club business to attend to. Instead, I would have all the time to indulge in my obsession.

A perfect time, too, considering there wasn’t a fucking minute that had gone by that I didn’t think about her.

She even haunted me in my dreams.

And none of the brothers knew of my newest obsession. If they did, Dominic would have ordered to lock me up and sic Micah on her.

The thought of anyone harming her made me want to burn down the entire world.

I wondered just how far gone I really was.