Sinister Knights MC #1-3

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

A nna

“Then enlighten me.” I tilted my jaw.

“More complicated than that.” His eyes cut up and down the angles of my face, making my stomach turn somersaults with every pass. Ryker was the only man who had ever had this effect on me. I had a visceral reaction to his presence, as if he sucked all of the oxygen out of my body, and I needed him to survive.

He used to be the center of my world.

And after he’d been gone so long, he should have felt like a stranger. But instead, he felt like the other half of my heart finally knitting back together.

“Killed me every day.” He skimmed his nose across the hollow of my neck. The quick dart of his tongue along my collarbone sent waves of lust coursing through my core. “Would have written it I could.”

Lightning bolts crackled in my veins as he said the words. “Don’t tell me this. Please.”

I pushed my forehead against his lips as he wrapped his arms around me, engulfing me in his broad, hard body. He always made me feel small; I loved that about him. There were so many things I loved about him.

The way his emerald eyes turned to dark evergreen when they landed on mine.

I was his; I had been since the day I was twelve.

“I know I’ve got no claim to you, Anna?—”

I shook my head, clamping down on my lips in an attempt to stifle the next words. “I waited for you.”

They barely eked out of my throat, and I finally turned my eyes up to meet his.

“Jesus.” His hands stroked my neck at his words, lips hovering against mine. “I told myself you had to move on. But goddamn it, Anna, if another man had laid hands on you… I’d find myself locked up all over again in a second.”

His words roller-coasted around my brain, my heart hammering with every single breath.

“But, Anna, there’s shit you don’t understand.”

My heart fell.

There was always shit I didn’t understand.

I understood it—club rules, Daddy had taught me very well—but that didn’t mean I liked it.

“I’m sick of the fucking rules, Ryker.” I ducked under his arm, turning the knob and slipping out the door before he could stop me.

I walked as fast as I could down the hall and cut around the corner. Just as I caught eyes with Piper, Ryker’s fingers wrapped around my elbow, and he pulled me against his body.

“Can’t stand the sight of you running away from me.” His words dripped like honey through my veins.

He pulled me a little tighter against him, the thick outline of his hard cock sliding against my ass cheeks. Part of me wanted to run right back to that bathroom and beg him to bend me over right now.

“Heaven help me,” I murmured under my breath.

Ryker locked my other elbow behind me, arching my back and digging his cock into the crack of my ass. “What was that, sweet girl?”

Oh Jesus, he’d said it.

He used the nickname he’d been calling me since the first day we’d met.

Sweet girl.

The way his gravelly voice curled around the two words made my panties instantly wet.

“You drive me crazy,” I huffed, trying to yank away.

His deep chuckle rolled like a wave through my core. God, I’d missed that laugh.

Just then, my father’s voice carried across the hall. “Ryker!”

Ryker's laugh died instantly, his fingers tightening for an instant as he whispered, “We aren’t done talking about this.”

And then he was gone.

My skin ached at the loss of him.

I wrapped my arms around my chest, watching his heavy, retreating form, hearing his footsteps thudding across the wooden floor.

Ryker was back. There could be no doubt about that.

“What did he say to you?” Piper hissed. “You look like you just had your first orgasm in three years.”

“I almost did,” I breathed, watching as Ryker turned and sat in the chair next to my father, president of the Sinister Knights MC. Ryker was his VP, his right-hand man.

This was going to be complicated.

“So, you gonna fuck him tonight? Tell me you did some landscaping!”

“Piper, God,” I muttered, catching Saint’s eyes for an instant across the room, where he stood with his arm around a blonde. He winked then, smile crooked a little deeper to the side.

“God, what is it with these men?” I suddenly felt like I wanted to leave.

“You haven't had enough to drink, that’s what’s wrong,” Piper said, yanking me behind the bar, where she snagged two plastic cups and poured us each a shot of whiskey.

“I don’t think so.” I shook my head. “I kind of just want to get this shit off my face and go to bed.”

“Oh no, sister, not a chance. You’ve got a few songs in you, right?” She gestured to the bare dance floor.

“I haven’t had nearly enough to drink for that.” I shook my head firmly.

“Exactly.” She pushed the cup into my hands, eyes sparkling as she waited to toast me. “Bottoms up, baby. You’re about to show Ryker what he’s missed.”

“Didn’t I already do that? Isn’t that what the eyelashes are for?”

She giggled, touching her glass to mine. “Only the beginning. Cheers, sister.”

Piper pushed the cup to my face, forcing the liquid to my lips.

“Shit, this burns,” I breathed.

“That’s how you know it’s working.” Piper winked then twined our fingers and pulled me out onto the dance floor. She ducked behind the entertainment stand and fiddled with the buttons on the system before the opening riffs of a Prince song chugged through the speakers.

“You did not!” I shook my head when she joined me again, pushing me to take another drink from my cup before she turned me on the dance floor.

“Prince is your baby daddy. I know you can’t resist him.”

A soft giggle escaped my throat as the whiskey did its job.

“He hasn’t stopped watching you since we stepped out here,” Piper murmured at my ear a moment later.

I turned, eyes catching his for barely an instant. My stomach dropped as I registered the dark look on his face.

“He’s not happy,” I whispered, suddenly feeling butterflies flit through my rib cage at the thought of having any effect on him at all.

“So have another drink. You should hear what’s next.”

I took another swallow of razor blades then set the rest of the amber liquid on the floor next to the entertainment stand. That was headed in the garbage the first chance I had.

I’d hardly had more than a shot total, but that little alone was swirling through my veins, making the music sound a little louder, a little more irresistible with every beat.

As Prince ended, Latin beats filled the room.

Saint whooped and jumped off his chair, blonde in tow, dragging her to the dance floor as Shakira began to sing about how her hips didn’t lie.

Piper was so goddamn transparent.

“I love this song!” the whiskey screamed at Piper.

She gave me two thumbs up before shuffling her hips right over to King, forcing him out of his seat to dance with her.

I nearly burst into giggles when his eyebrows shot up, hands in the air like he’d never touched a woman in his life. And come to think of it, I’d never seen him with one.

Piper caught his wrists and pulled his arms around her waist, wiggling her hips against King’s before he slowly began to follow along with her.

“I should tan your hide for that little show.” Ryker’s sandpaper voice rasped over my skin. “News flash, Anna, you didn’t need to put on that little act to get my attention. You’ve always had it.”

I licked my lips, sucking in a soft breath of him. His woodsy, leather scent intoxicated my senses.

“Tell me why you didn’t write.”

His hand cupped at my throat, callused fingers against my windpipe. My heart cartwheeled, my lungs on the verge of collapse. It hurt being so close to him and not doing all the things I wanted us to do together.

“Just trust me when I say I couldn’t, goddammit.” His nose traced the nape of my neck, lips caressing the skin. Shudders pushed through me, this dress suddenly feeling impossibly short, my nipples unbearably hard, my panties so wet.

“No,” I finally replied.

His eyebrows shot up before he hooked my hand in his and pulled me around the corner, this time heading for the stairs that I knew would lead to his room on the second floor. “Why can't you just trust me?”

I stopped when we reached the landing. He threw open the door to his corner room, while I stood rooted just outside of it.

A low growl bubbled from his throat when his eyes landed on mine, turning another shade darker on the color wheel. “Fuck, dealing with the guys in the yard was easier than you. Were you put here to drag me through hell, woman?”

I huffed out a breath, crossing my arms as I waited for him to continue.

I didn’t give a shit if it was my turn to talk; he was the bastard who had the talking to do.

Ryker shook his head before taking a long stride toward me, catching my arm and pulling me against his chest. He dropped his forehead to mine, lips brushing against my own before whispering, “You’ve gotta trust me, Anna. You know I’d kill if it meant keeping you safe.”

His words hung heavy in the air between us.

He’d proven his loyalty long before now.

Tears welled behind my eyelids as I thought about all the lost time between us. “I know, Ryker.”