Sinister Knights MC #1-3

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

A nna

Seventeen days.

It’d been seventeen days since Ryker had disappeared without a trace.

I didn’t know how to properly categorize my feelings about him.

Regret. Revenge . Hate. Love. Guilt.

All of them swirled in my veins as I went through the motions every day.

I joined Dad for coffee in the morning, hanging on his every word in the event he might drop a word or two about Ryker.

He didn’t.

What he did say a lot of was, “What are you loafin’ around here for?” and, “Where’d you apply today?”

One morning, I finally got so angry I spat that I’d applied at In-N-Out.

He’d only nodded and grumbled something about late nights before stalking out the door.

I began to get the feeling that he was onto me.

That he knew what information I was after and was deliberately withholding it.

And then I realized I was going just plain crazy and cycled back around to the fact that Ryker hadn’t called me.

Not a single message.

Not a voice mail.

Again.

Had he really just abandoned me like a piece of garbage?

Made love to me, touched me, said things like forever, and then walked away.

Last time, he’d done it for my honor…but this time… What the hell was this?

His revenge?

Had Ryker really had revenge in his blood when he’d been released? Had he come back just to find me, love me, leave me? Make me live that pain all over again? Fear clogged my arteries as my heartbeats slowed when I thought about this possibility.

Piper had taken to calling me every night before I fell asleep, which wasn’t till around midnight. And even after that, I tossed and turned, circles darkening my eyes in the morning.

He’ll be back, she said.

He doesn't hate you, she promised.

He killed someone for you, she said. He wouldn’t just walk away like that.

I started having nightmares of right after my assault, right after Ryker beat the guy who’d done it to me to such a bloody pulp that he’d died in the hospital and Ryker had gone away. My chest ached. Every day felt like I was relieving the worst experience of my life.

Another day without him.

Another day wasted.

The nights got longer and the days stretched farther from his arms, and I started to get a sinking feeling that something bad had happened. That he would never be back because he never could come back.

That when Dad had said Ryker was gone, he’d meant it.

I tossed my hair into a high ponytail, shaking the thought that I might not see Ryker again from my head before heading down the stairs.

I’d purposely missed seeing Dad this morning. I didn’t have the heart to look him in the eye and make polite conversation, when all I really wanted to do was shake him and beg for anything about Ryker.

I had to move on, whatever that meant, at least for now. I was praying Ryker wouldn’t be gone the rest of the summer, but if he was, if he was going to be gone forever…I had to plan for that.

I headed the hundred yards down the road to the clubhouse, the sunbaked dirt under my shoes a hot reminder of home.

I’d always loved it here, but if Ryker was really gone, I didn’t think I could stay.

Maybe somewhere west, with more palm trees. Somewhere that didn’t remind me so much of the man who’d given up everything for me, only to walk away just when we were reunited.

I vaguely remembered a high school friend talking about moving to San Diego one time. Maybe I could check out the job scene there.

An engine revved in the distance, something I’d programmed myself to be hyperaware of the last few weeks. But this time, I didn’t look.

I didn’t want to see if it was him or not.

He was gone. I had to live with that.

I continued into the small parking lot of the clubhouse, waving over at the shop to King under the hood of an old two-seater. The sound of a truck grew closer, the loud diesel engine perforating the peace.

The engine slowed, then nearly stopped.

I turned and watched the semitruck work through the gates, moving closer down the road until it pulled up in front of the garage. I blinked once, the bright sunlight splitting through my vision as the driver heaved open the door and stepped down out of the cab.

Long, muscled thighs stretched under worn denim. Heavy, steel-toed boots kicked up the dust. The stretch of a white T-shirt across a broad set of shoulders, and a messy twist of too-long hair shooting every which way.

Ryker.

Oh my God.

He walked on long strides around the truck and threw open the latch on the back door, then hollered at King to come take care of whatever was in the back of the truck.

His eyes shot across the parking lot then, eating up the space double time until they landed on me.

I stood rooted in place.

The heels of my shoes dug into the baked clay as tremors began a slow shake up my body.

He was heading for me now, his dark green eyes holding mine like something was on his mind.

I bit down on my bottom lip, stomach swaying back and forth with nerves below my rib cage before he finally stopped just short of my toes.

“Missed the fuck out of you.” That low growl rumbled through my veins. His hands held my cheekbones, lips brushing against mine. “Wasn’t a minute you weren’t on my mind.”

I nodded softly, every irrational fear melting away. Tears tracked down my cheeks.

“Say something, sweet girl,” he gruffed against my earlobe.

“God, I…” Tears burned. “I…” A painful ball choked my throat. “I thought you were gone forever.”

His eyes turned dark, sadness shining in them. “Couldn’t take my phone. Woulda been on it every minute with you if I could have.”

His words helped eased the ache in my heart.

“It was dangerous, Anna. Worried for my life. Don’t get me started on yours. I couldn’t risk you bein’ involved. All I could think about was getting back to you, though.” His hands locked around my waist, pushing me back against a side door of the clubhouse. He worked the knob, freeing the latch before we tumbled through. He kicked the door closed with his boot before one of his hands was working down my pants. “I would never leave you if it weren’t life and death, Anna.” His lips brushed mine as he spoke in hushed tones. “I had to save those women, more than a dozen of them, just taken. I knew we could give them a better life here if I could just get them over the border.”

I held his strong, unshaven jaw in my palms. “And Daddy didn’t trust anyone else for the job.”

He groaned, sinking into me. His giant, heavy body clutching me to him as one of his palms curled around my waist, hoisting me against his hips as we kissed in the darkened corner.

Ryker’s lips attached to mine again as he pushed us through the door and into the small room. Only a large wooden table sat in the center, surrounded by a half-dozen chairs. One for every member of the club.

Ryker pushed my pants down my waist, his hands sliding against my hot skin and leaving ripples of pleasure in their wake.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” I whispered, that thought only thing still racing through my mind.

“Why, Anna…is that pleasure I hear?” His gravelly purr weakened my knees. Jesus, everything about him made my stomach swim.

“Yes…” I hissed when his thumb made contact with my wet pussy. His rough digit worked against the nub of my clit, bolts of pleasure climbing higher and higher.

“I need to taste my sweet cunt before I fill it.” He flipped me around, and we crashed onto the table. His hands jerked apart my thighs, his tongue sliding up the seam of my drenched pussy until I was arching off the table.

“Oh my, oh my, oh, Ryker, God!” I screeched when his teeth nipped at my clit. His thumb breached my entrance after that, and my eyes rolled back in my head as a wave of ecstasy swept over me. Every inch felt swallowed up by his hands, his body, his lips.

Oh dear God, his lips.

His thumb pressed against the walls of my pussy, breaching me, relaxing me, fucking me into submission in deft swoops, all the while his eyes were on mine. Burning into my soul. Searing into my flesh like a brand. Making me his.

His swollen cock started pushing into me then, his hands sliding up my body like he couldn’t stand not to touch me.

Just the motion of his warm dick sliding against my pussy made ragged groans slip past my lips. I loved everything about him. I loved this man so fucking much.

“Talk to me, sweetheart. I need to hear your voice when I take you again. Need to know you’re really here.” His voice sounded pained, emotion choking his throat.

My hands went to his broad shoulders, caressing the hard muscles to soothe away the ache in his heart. “I missed you so much.”

Ryker’s forehead dropped to mine, soft sweeps of breath pulsing between us. Our skin was already sticky, the few stubborn hairs falling over his eyebrows damp with sweat.

“Swear to fuck, if it takes everything in me, I won’t be without you again.” His lips attached to mine, kissing me urgently. “My beat-up old heart can’t handle it.”

A soft smile turned up my lips, my fingers clutching at the hard flesh before I murmured, “I love you, Ryker Beckett.”

“Christ. Nowhere near as much as I love you, Anna Kloss.” He caught my lips with his, pushing his cock deep inside my aching body, filling me to the womb and sliding slow and still. His body melded to mine, hands holding my face as he fucked me soft and gentle, but still urgent, still primal.

I lost my head, and he must have too, because we were crazy not to expect the next chain of events.

“Meeting! Roundtable! Now!” My father’s voice boomed before the heavy door swept open, thundering on its hinges.

“Oh God,” I whispered, tucking myself into Ryker's body.

Ryker went rigid against me, pulling his heavy jacket around my body to shield me from my father’s eyes.

Oh. God. No.

I looked up moments later when I realized my father still hadn’t said anything.

I cringed when I felt Ryker’s cock still buried inside me. He flinched, his cock twitching somewhere deep, before he slowly dragged it out of my body.

“I want to see you in my office.” Shame coiled in my belly at my father’s words.

I chanced a glance in the direction of my father to find his eyes not on mine, but Ryker’s.

My heart died a fast death.

My father exited the room, slamming the door behind him.

Ryker slipped out of me a second later and helped me off the table, careful to dress me, without a single word.

“Ryker, you don’t have to go. I’m a grown woman.”

“The hell I don’t.” He pulled up his dusty jeans, yanking on his leather jacket before shoving a hand through his wayward hair. “Got a few things to say to the old man.”

“Oh, Ryker, please don’t set him off. Let’s just run away, you and me.” I caught his hand in mine, trying to coax him away from the door, back into my arms.

“Hell if I’ll run away with you. A real man stands up for what he wants.” He advanced on me, hand sliding against my cheekbone. “And you, Miss Kloss, are what I want.”

A flock of butterflies took flight in my stomach.

“Don’t move this sweet ass an inch. I’ll be back for it.” His heavy hand palmed both of my cheeks, sliding me against his still thick cock, the ridge barely contained against the seam of his jeans.

“Oh, I'm not staying here. We can talk to him together.” I pushed Ryker’s heavy body away from me, prepared to take on the world if it meant having Ryker with me.

He chuckled, eyes burning with amusement. “That’s cute, what you just did there, but I’ve got this, kitten.” He pressed a kiss to my lips, silencing my protest. “Now, sit.” He lifted me up onto the round table. “And wait for me.” His tongue swept against mine. “Like a good girl.”

I tried to push him away, but the bastard only kissed me harder, locking my wrists behind my back and thrusting my tits against his wall of a chest.

“I hate you some days, Ryker Beckett.”

His laugh echoed around the room.

“Love you too, Kloss.” He pressed one last kiss to my lips before spinning and sauntering straight out the door we’d just tumbled through minutes ago.

No way could I keep my ass on that table and wait for him like a good girl. I had to know what was happening. My only thought was what if my dad killed Ryker for stealing his little girl right out from under his nose.

Fear wracked my stomach as I slid off the table and opened the door slowly, finding the hallway empty, not a sign of Ryker, or a fight, anywhere.

I crept down the hallway, glad to find King and Saint and a few others hanging in the main room drinking beers like nothing was going on.

So maybe Ryker and my dad were having a civil conversation, after all.

Even though that really wasn’t typical for either one of them…

I glanced across the room to the door that closed my father’s office off from the rest of the main room. A loud crash sounded, rattling the door hinges and making King and Saint both drop their beers and speed to the tiny office door.

I was right on their heels just in time to hear my father’s voice bellowing behind the old wood.

“This isn't gonna end well,” Saint observed.

“Should we stop ’em?” King frowned.

Saint shook his head, ear to the door trying to make out words. My father was yelling so loud just about every other word out of his mouth was indistinguishable.

“Nah, let them go at it for a few more minutes.”

“They could kill each other by then!” I shrieked, hand launching for the doorknob before Saint stopped me.

“Got to let them work it out,” Saint warned. “Can’t expect anything to end well if a man can’t work out his problems with his father-in-law.”

“Father-in-law?” My eyes shot open, completely confused by Saint’s words.

I didn’t have a second longer to process before a loud thump rattled the door.

“I’d fucking do anything for you, Prez!” Ryker’s heavy voice penetrated the wood. “I’d do anything for her.” His voice softened, but each of us heard the words.

Long, silent moments passed before there was another sick-sounding thump hit the door, causing Ryker to crash through, splintering wood and sending a spray of blood in a halo around him.

Saint slipped into the room to find my father seated at his desk, rubbing at his fist with a painful expression on his face. “You okay, Prez?”

“Fine,” my father grunted. Saint only nodded in response.

King attempted to lift Ryker off the floor, but he was nearly twice King’s size. Ryker wrestled out of his grip and shot to his feet, carrying himself on long strides across the main room and into the adjacent kitchen.

Blood trailed behind him as his hand held his nose and mouth. My fury raged.

“What the fuck was that!” I whirled around to plant accusing eyes on my father. “Are you insane? Did you forget how old I am?” My anger was on a fast-moving locomotive, sights set on the man who’d raised me.

“Yes.” My father took the wind out of my sails by answering honestly. “I forget all the damn time!”

I stood, squaring off with my dad, sympathy for the betrayal that radiated in his dark green irises, and anger for the way he just kept treating me like his little girl.

“Couldn’t let him get away with doing that—” he scrunched his eyes “—to you.” One heavy gulp from him and I nearly dissolved into tears.

“Daddy…” I took a step toward him.

“I’m fine now.” He brushed me off with a hand. “I’ll get over it. Had to welcome him to the family somehow, didn’t I?” The frown on his face told me he was still not dealing well with it. “Go see how Ryker’s doin’.” My father waved me away again.

I bent, leaving a kiss on his wrinkled forehead. “You’re a hard-ass, but I love you anyway.”

He only grumbled, snagging a cigarette out of his pack on the desk and shoving it between his hips. “Always gonna be my little girl, Anna. Can’t help that.”

I only nodded, tears burning in my eyes all over again.

If that was as close as I’d ever get to an “I love you” out of my dad, I’d take it.

I turned, leaving the old guy to sulk and heading back across the main room to find Ryker.

It took me less than a minute with the sound of the cussing coming from the kitchen. “Saint! Get the fuck out of my face, man. It’s not broken!”

My grin widened as I sped up my steps, turning the corner of the kitchen and locking eyes with my man.

His green gaze held mine, a thousand unspoken words spinning between us. My heart felt pulled to him, our souls attached by a cord that could never be cut.

“Anna.” He said my name softly, almost under his breath, that same way he said it when he was buried deep inside, right before he came.

My sex throbbed, thighs getting weak with just my name on his gorgeous mouth. I didn’t need to hear anything else. I went to him.

It was the only thing I could do.

He curled me under his heavy arm when I was finally close enough. I sucked in a slow breath of his warm scent.

His nose nuzzled into the crown of my head, a soft growl emanating from his chest. His own sort of possessive purr, my manly lion.

“God, Ryker, what did you say to him to make him lose it on you?” I finally murmured.

His big, broad shoulders shrugged, one hand holding a napkin to his nose, the other pulling me tighter to him. “Told him what I told you. I refuse to sleep another night without you in my bed. Made you mine, and I aim to take care of what’s mine.” He caressed his thumb along my jaw. “Have from the start.”

Boy had he ever.

Ryker had owned my heart from the beginning, and that soul bond had only been locked when he’d put his life on the line for me all those years ago to defend my honor.

An outlaw.

A rebel.

My hero.

Ryker Beckett was my everything.