Unlawfully Yours (Lawless MC #1)

36

“What are we doing here again?” Maddie asks as we pull up across the street from the tattoo shop, the gentle rain pattering on the windshield.

“I have no idea. Myles just said to come over and that he had a surprise for me.”

“Oooh, a surprise, huh?” She wiggles her eyebrows. “So are you two like a thing now or…?”

“Kind of? I guess. We haven’t labelled it or anything but he told me he wants more than just sex.”

“And what did you say to that?”

“I told him I felt the same.”

“Can I be your maid of honour at your wedding?” she blurts out.

“Whoa! Are you kidding? We are a long way from that . Come on.” I switch off the engine and climb out, starting across the street.

Maddie jogs to catch up with me. “Hey, maybe I’ll even get lucky with Jett. It’s practically a rite of passage the maid of honour jumps the bones of the best man.”

“That sex club’s really gotten to you hasn’t it? I’m starting to think you enjoyed it more than you’re letting on.”

“Okay, I need to make a confession. I might have… well, I… I went back.”

I slam to a stop, my eyes bugging out as I whirl around to face her. “You what?”

She holds her palms up in surrender. “Don’t kill me. I know who owns it and I know they’re bad people but I was intrigued and I quite literally had the best night of my life. With two guys.”

My jaw drops open.

“At the same time,” she adds, averting her eyes.

“W-Wow… I—”I don’t know what to say. Ever since I’ve known Maddie, she’s always been so reserved.

The rain is coming down heavier now and I throw the hood of my jacket over my head, zipping it up. “Okay, we’re gonna talk about this later, and I want all the dirty details, young lady. Come on.”

The bell dings above the door and the faint sound of rock music fills the space as we head inside. Red neon lights line the ceiling, bathing the reception area in a sultry glow.

“Hi, there. You must be Allie, right?” The young woman behind the desk is covered in tattoos, the only space free from ink is her face, her body a collage of intricate designs and patterns.

“That’s me.”

“Myles is just through there. You can head in, babe.” She points to the door in the left corner.

“Thanks.”

Maddie and I head inside the room, finding Killian hunched over Myles who’s reclined back in the black leather chair, shirtless, with Jett observing from the side with his arms folded.

Kill’s eyes flick to me briefly while he works on Myles’ chest winks. “’Sup, doll.”

Myles turns his head to me and smiles. “Hey, baby.”

“Hey.” My stomach flutters.

“What’s up, Madz?” Jett beams, throwing his arm around her shoulders, pecking a kiss to her cheek which instantly flushes bright pink. “You look good enough to eat in these jeans, babe.”

“Jett, leave the girl alone. She doesn’t need your grubby little hands all over her,” Myles grumbles.

“Bro, there ain’t nothing little about me.”

Kill snorts a laugh, the buzz of the tattoo gun filling the space. “That’s usually my line.”

“Kill, I’ve seen your dick—not by choice I might add—but let me just say, you ain’t got nothing on me,” Jett boasts.

Kill lifts his head. “What the fuck are you even doing here? Who invited this clown? Does he really need to be here?”

The room fills with laughter.

“You kidding? You think I’m gonna miss the opportunity to watch my brother get permanently inked for a girl?”

My eyes shoot to Myles and instantly soften when I meet his gaze. “You’re getting a tattoo for me?”

The corner of his mouth curves up. “Surprise.”

“Can I see?”

“We’re almost done, doll,” Kill announces. “I’m fucked if I know what it means, though.”

“You got any tattoos, Allie?” Jett asks.

I shake my head. “I’ve never given it much thought.”

“Now you’re technically an old lady, you should have the patch tattooed on you somewhere. You’re Lawless now, babe.”

“And where do you suppose I have this tattoo? I’m sure Sheriff Walker would be thrilled to see I’ve been branded by the local MC.”

“Most of the women have theirs on their backs.”

“Like a tramp stamp?”

Jett shrugs. “Yeah, basically.”

“Absolutely fucking not,” Myles grumbles from the tattoo chair, his eyes boring into mine possessively.

Kill turns off the gun, wipes off the blood and any excess ink and sits back in his seat, smiling proudly. “All done.”

Myles shifts off the chair and heads to the floor to ceiling mirror to inspect it. I can’t see it from where I’m standing, but I can make out the satisfied smile on his lips as he takes it in. He strides towards me and my heart pounds in my chest.

When he’s standing in front of me, I let my eyes dip to his chest which is red and inflamed and as soon as I see the image inked on his chest, I can’t fight back my smile.

It’s an image of Tinkerbell, placed directly over his heart, only this version of Tinkerbell has black hair, wearing a little black dress and dangling from her outstretched finger is a pair of handcuffs.

I can’t stop the laugh that slips from my lips and the tears from filling my eyes as they lift to his. “Emo Tinkerbell?”

Myles’ gaze is soft as he peers down at me and if I’m not mistaken, it’s a look filled with something akin to love, and warmth fills my belly.

He smirks. “My naughty little pixie, placed directly over the heart she’s stolen.”

“But… Why?”

He takes my hands in his. “When I feel something I go all in, and I haven’t felt something in a long fucking time,” he says. “You like it, pix?”

I lift up onto my toes and press my lips to his, telling him exactly how I feel through my kiss. “I love it.” I love you.

In the matter of a few weeks, this man has gone from someone I couldn’t stand, to someone I can’t stand to live without. It scares me how quickly things are happening between us, but I wouldn’t have it any other way because nothing has ever felt so right.

“Shit, I have to go,” Maddie announces behind me.

I turn to find her tapping away on her phone before stuffing it into her jeans pocket.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“It’s my mom, she needs my help with something at her house. I’ve gotta get home and get my car.”

“You can borrow mine if you want? I’ll get a ride with Myles. You’ll get there faster than going all the way home.”

“You sure?”

“Of course,” I say, handing her the keys.

She pulls me in for a hug. “Thank you so much, babe. Love you. I’ll text you later.”

“You better. Oh! Here, take my jacket.” I shrug out of my jacket and hand it to her. “You’ll get soaked, it’s pouring out there.”

“I’ll walk you to the car,” Jett offers.

“Never took you for a gentleman, brother,” Myles comments, his arm winding its way around my back.

Jett flips him the finger before draping his arm around Maddie’s shoulders, steering her out of the room.

“Gotta wrap your ink, Prez. Don’t want it getting infected,” Kill says, placing a piece of clear adhesive plastic over the tattoo before handing him a tube of cream to apply to the area.

“You wanna grab something to eat?” Myles asks me, tugging on his shirt.

I nod. “I could eat.”

Myles glances over his shoulder. “Kill? You in?”

“Can’t. Got a patchwork sleeve to complete in thirty.”

Jett bursts through the front door, shaking the rainwater from his damn dishevelled hair. “Fuck, it’s pouring out there!”

There’s a loud screech of tyres and a loud crunch, the horn of a car blaring somewhere down the street as people walking by stop and stare.

“What the hell was that?” I ask.

Myles and the guys follow me out of the shop and onto the street. The car horn continues to blare at the intersection, a light cloud of steam rising up into the air, but I can’t see for the cars parked up along the sidewalk.

I step off the sidewalk to get a better look and my heart slams to a stop in my chest, my stomach bottoming out.

My car is upside down on its roof, the bodywork crumpled in on itself from the impact, the smash so hard it looks like it’s imploded. The other car has spun and ended up a few metres away, the entire front half crushed.

“Oh my god. Maddie!” My feet are carrying me forward before my brain registers I’m running. It’s still pouring down but I don’t register the freezing rain that soaks through my clothes. My focus is on my friend.

Please let her be okay.

“Maddie!” I yell, my shoes slapping against the tarmac of the road as I near the car, the standing rainwater splashing up my legs, soaking my jeans. “Maddie!”

I collapse onto my knees, finding my friend still strapped into her seat, suspended upside down; eyes closed, still and covered in blood.

“Maddie? Can you hear me? It’s Allie. I’m gonna get you out. Okay?”

I stand back up and pull on the door handle, but it won’t budge.

“Here, let me try.” Jett nudges me clear, reaching for the handle while Myles and Kill go around the other side.

“Fuck!” Jett shouts, pulling the handle with all his strength, the door not moving even an inch. “Let’s get her out through the windshield.”

“I’ll go in through the other side and unbuckle her.” I race around the side of my car and crawl through the passenger window, careful to avoid the sharp tiny pieces of shattered glass.

The windshield is shattered but by some miracle, still intact. I kick out with my foot and watch as it scatters into a million tiny pieces.

Jett gets into position, supporting her weight, ready for when I release her seat belt, Myles doing the same through the driver’s window.

When I press the button, her limp body falls into his waiting arms as he carefully manoeuvres her out onto the road with the help of Myles. Kill helps me get back out of the car as I rush to my friend’s side.

I lean in close with my ear at her mouth to check if she’s breathing. She’s not. With a shaky hand, I feel for a pulse at the side of her neck, but there isn’t one.

No. No. No. No. No…

I begin CPR, pressing down hard onto her chest to restart her heart before pinching her nose and bringing my mouth to hers, blowing air into her lungs.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five…

“Come on, Maddie. Stay with me.”

I don’t know for how long I keep up the compressions, the rain beating down on me, soaking through my hair and clothes, but a large crowd is forming around us, the sound of sirens wailing in the distance, growing gradually closer.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five…

“Come on, Madz,” Jett says from the opposite side of her, taking her limp hand in his. “ Please .”

Minutes pass, in fact it could be hours. I have no idea but that’s what it feels like. Time has seemed to slow down and yet at the same time everything feels like it’s happening at twice the speed. And still she doesn’t move. She doesn’t give us a single flicker of life.

“Come on!” I shout, growing more and more frustrated by the second. “Goddamnit!”

Two strong arms band around me from behind, doing their best to tug me away. “She’s gone, pix. I’m so fucking sorry. She’s gone.”

“No! No! I can still do this! I can still save her!” I shove Myles away and resume my compressions on her chest, the adrenaline coursing through me fuelling me to continue.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five…

One. Two. Three. Four. Five…

My eyes flick to the man across from me, Jett’s shoulders deflated. He drags his eyes away from Maddie and up to me, giving me a small shake of his head as his face crumples.

I look back down at my friend, my compression begin to slow.

No.

Reluctantly, I pull back, my hands shaking as I reach to stroke her hair from her face. Her eyes are closed, and if it weren’t for her lying on the cold wet road and the blood coating her skin and matting her hair, I could convince myself she was asleep.

She looks so peaceful.

Meanwhile a war is raging within me. I’m torn between the unyielding rage coursing through me and the uncontrollable urge to cry and never stop.

This can’t be happening.

“Maddie—” My voice cracks as realisation seeps in.

She doesn’t respond and that’s the moment my heart shatters.

My friend is gone.

I push to my feet and turn away as two ambulances and a couple of police cars pull up, the sirens deafening, piercing my eardrums.

Myles reaches out for me but I brush him off. I don’t mean to push him away, but I can’t think straight right now.

My mind races, running at a hundred miles an hour.

How did this happen? Why did it happen?

It was my car. It should have been me lying on the road, not her.

My friend is dead, and it should be me.

“ Fuck! ” I kick out at the crumpled carcass of my car, over and over again until my knees give out and I collapse hard onto my ass on the sidewalk. My head falls into my hands as I scream. I scream until my lungs dry out and my throat turns raw but it does little to quell the anger inside me. The pain .

How can this be happening?

How can she be dead?

Someone sinks down beside me, and I don’t have to lift my head to know who it is.

Myles nudges my knee with his. “I’m right here, whether you want me to be or not. I’ve got you pix, always .” His words only make me cry more.

I reach across and link my fingers with his, my head falling onto his shoulder. “How many more people do I have to lose, Myles? It should’ve been me. She should never have been in my car.”

“You can’t think like that, pix. It’ll only destroy you.”

“How can I not? She wouldn’t have been driving if I hadn’t insisted she take my car. It’s all my fault.”

Jett and Killian make their way towards us, both wearing somber expressions. Jett looks how I feel. His eyes red-rimmed, his gaze vacant and empty as he tries to process the last few minutes.

“They’re uh, they’re about to take her away in the ambulance,” Kill says, scrubbing a hand over his face.

I rise to my feet, swiping at my eyes. “You okay?” I ask Jett.

“She didn’t deserve this.”

“I know.”

“I really cared about her, you know? Was gonna ask her out but I figured she was way out of my league so I chickened out like a fucking coward.”

“She cared about you too, Jett. Had a crush on you since school.” I immediately regret my words as they seem to cause him even more pain. I take him by surprise when I wrap my arms around him. “I’m so sorry, Jett. You lost her too.”

It takes him a good few seconds for his brain to register what I’m doing, but when it does, his strong arms band around me, holding on like I’m his lifeline.

Jett eventually releases me and I pull back.

“I guess I should go make my statement,” I announce, even though it’s the last thing I want to do right now.