BULL: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 6) (162 page)

GUN
NER

A Forsaken Riders Standalone MC Romance

Book 4

Samantha Leal

Copyright ©2016 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Table of Contents

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

1.

Marv hunched over the bar top and poured himself another whiskey. It had been a long night, and he still didn’t know how long the last trucker was going to be there. He was sat near the front of the stage, a cigarette clamped between his teeth and a lazy trail of smoke curling up into the air. He’d been there for nearly two hours after coming in late with a couple of other regulars. But Marv had never seen this guy before. He was new to Red X and he was certainly getting well acquainted with the girls. Especially Destiny, who was currently snaking her hips around the pole in front of him and unhooking her bra to reveal the large swell of her breasts.

Marv snorted and rolled his eyes. When he’d hired Destiny, what he had really wanted was a barmaid, but for some reason most of his strippers had bailed on him over the past few weeks and he was only left with her. A dumb brunette from Ironhill, the next town over and ten miles away across the desert.

The trucker spread his legs wider and reached up to his mouth and took the cigarette between his fingertips before he exhaled a long plume of smoke up into the air. It caught in the glare of the spotlights and made it look as if the whole room was up in flames, smoke billowing out around them and leaving a dense cloud hanging in the air.

Destiny reached for her panties and hooked her fingers into them. For a broad who hadn’t worked a pole or a stage before she had come to Marv, she was doing alright. She looked at home there and she certainly wasn’t shy of showing this guy everything she had. She lifted her leg up and balanced her heel onto one of the speakers before she pulled her panties down and Marv realized she was fully naked, flashing her perfectly shaved box for the whole club to see. He almost choked on his drink and found himself spluttering whiskey across the wooden countertop, totally shocked but also turned on.

It had been a long time since Marv had had a woman… what he wouldn’t give to bend Destiny over the bar and slip himself inside of her. He reached down and grabbed at his crouch, feeling himself getting hard just at the thought.

Destiny bent over so her pert ass was right in front of the trucker’s eye line, and she ran the tip of her finger all the way down her delicate crease. Marv found himself averting his eyes. Almost ashamed that he was looking at her that way…

Almost…

When Destiny had finished her dance she bowed to her lone member of the audience and blew a gentle kiss over her naked shoulder before she stepped down from the stage and slipped into her red silk robe. Even though it had been a slow night takings wise, she had done her best and Marv was starting to take notice of what a good little worker she was.

Maybe I’ll have to give her a bonus, he thought to himself with a dirty smirk.

“Can we shut off now Marv?” Destiny asked as she sat down, breathless in front of him, her robe gaping open just enough for him to glance a close up of her erect nipple.

“Do we look fucking closed?” he asked her with a slur.

He’d been drinking since 6pm and it was now close to 5am. Eleven hours on the booze and he had come out of the other side of drunk, but he could still barely string a sentence together. He had too much on his mind to stay sober. Sober lead to thinking, and thinking made him want to go out back to his office, open his safe, take out his shotgun and put it in his mouth and pull the trigger.

Marv was in such deep shit.

And now it didn’t seem how much he swam against the tide… he was never going to make it back to shore. He knew he was done for.

Destiny crinkled her face in disgust at him and turned on her heel and began to walk back towards the changing room doors. Marv watched her leave. The sway of her hips was almost hypnotic, like she was charming him into an easy sleep.

The only thing that stopped him from flopping down on the bar top was something Destiny did… as he watched her, he was sure that she turned her head slightly and winked at the trucker still sat on his own at the front of the stage.

Marv sat up straight and squinted. She was looking at him alright, and she was disappearing through the double swing doors out into the corridor and down towards the dressing room… It was as if they were old friends, like she’d known him her whole life and she was giving him an affectionate wave before she headed off for the day.

Something wasn’t right.

Marv squinted through the darkness and tried to focus through the glare of the flashing lights from the red, pink and blue strobes being projected out of the stage. The trucker had turned to follow her. He too was watching the way her hips danced and he had a little smile on his face. One that was warm and affectionate. One that suggested intimacy…

Seeing him from that angle it suddenly hit him… Marv was sure the guy was in fact familiar. When he had walked in with the regulars, he could have been sure that he had never seen him before, but now, looking at him smiling towards Destiny… he knew that wasn’t so…

This guy wasn’t a trucker at all… he was a biker… the cap and ripped up jeans and flannel shirt had thrown him. This guy, whoever he was, was there in disguise.

Marv felt his gut tighten.

Even through his drunken haze, he could sense that something wasn’t right.

He got to his feet, trying to silently get to the front door. If he could only sneak out and make his way around the back to the office, he’d be able to lock himself in there and get his gun. Or, grab his keys, jump in his truck, and get the hell out of there.

As he stumbled out from behind the bar he was both drunk and nervous, and he knocked off a stack of dirty glasses which came crashing down to the floor. The noise of the smash broke through the music and he knew he’d fucked up. He could feel the guys eyes on him from the front of the room, and Marv’s heart began to race with the tension.

He wiped the corner of his mouth and rubbed his eyes. And just when he was about to turn and face up to whoever this man was, he was aware of someone walking in through the front doors ahead of him.

Tanner.

He was clad in leather, a cigarette tucked behind his ear and the flames from his dragon tattoos licking the side of his neck.

“I’m here to collect, Marv,” Tanner said as he slung an empty bag down on the bar top. “Go and empty the safe.”

Marv’s mouth was so dry he couldn’t open it to speak. He wanted to tell Tanner that something was wrong, that there was someone else there who was going to be the death of them both, but he couldn’t make the words form.

Tanner shrugged and shoved Marv on the shoulder. The Forsaken Riders had never been ones to take tardiness, especially when it came to money, and the last thing Tanner had wanted at nearly 6am was having to come down to the filthy Red X and collect debts.

“T… Tanner,” Marv stuttered.

But it seemed as if he was too late. Tanner’s eyes had already settled on the man by the stage and his mouth was agape, his breath sharp in his throat.

“Well, well, well,” the voice came from behind Marv. “Ain’t this just perfect...”

The trucker took off his cap and revealed his skin head and Marv recognized him at once. He was from Ironhill and one of the Iron Riders MC. He felt his blood run cold.

“What the fuck…” Tanner whispered.

Marv could see in his eyes that Tanner could sense what was about to happen, but it still all seemed to happen in slow motion…

As the main door of the club burst open, so did the double swing doors that led down to the dressing rooms. Even though the back door had been locked… Destiny was down there and it hit Marv instantly that she must have betrayed him… she must have unlocked it and let them in…

Within seconds, the whole of the club was swarming with the Iron Riders, all of them brandishing guns and all of them ready to settle a score that had been turning bad for years.

“Don’t,” Tanner began but he stopped when each and every one of the mean looking men around him lifted their guns and aimed them at his head.

“Now,” the trucker in disguise said, “Which one of you is going to go first?” he had a wicked grin on his face, and both Marv and Tanner could tell that he wasn’t joking.

They knew they were going to die.

As the bikers opened fire and bullets rained down across the main room of Red X, Marv tried to dive behind the bar but hot pain punctured him all over his body.

His dying thought was of Destiny… how that little bitch had tricked him and the others into making her one of their own… She’d betrayed them all… she’d ruined the club and damaged the Forsaken Riders.

As his soul slipped away, Marv hoped he was heading to a better place, even though he knew he definitely didn’t deserve it.

His time as the owner of Red X, and his time on earth, had come to an abrupt end…

2.

Six Months Later

Courtney wiped her forehead and turned to look at the midday sun. It was too hot for words, and as she lifted the crate of glasses high up onto her hip, she sucked in her breath as she made her way towards the back door. Even though she had been doing this job for the past four months, it hadn’t got any easier. Her body felt broken in so many ways, and even though she was in charge, she knew she couldn’t keep it up forever.

“Court,” King called from behind her with a mischievous look on his face, “Are you slacking?”

She rolled her eyes at him and knew that if she had free hands she would have flipped him the bird. He sat back against his bike whilst he rolled a cigarette and watched her struggling. King loved to wind her up for fun, but today she wasn’t in the mood. The day was hot and she was the only girl working the shift, getting the club ready for the busy Friday night ahead.

Courtney had never known the club as Red X, but she had been told many stories about it. She’d heard all about the greasy jerk of an ex-owner, Marv, who had met an untimely end along with one of the bikers, a much loved member of the brotherhood. She looked up at the sign that was glinting just down the highway, with a big blue arrow pointing towards the building.

Tanners.

That’s what it was called now, and it was all Courtney had ever known it to be. Named after the Forsaken Riders fallen brother and as a symbol of their strength. She had heard whispers and rumors of how a rival gang was to blame, but she never really dared ask for fear of getting herself in too deep. Courtney was still a single girl, she hadn’t been claimed by any of the club and she didn’t want to suddenly find herself in a position where she couldn’t just pack up and leave. She liked knowing that she had options, and ignorance to what really went down within the Forsaken Riders charter was what afforded her that. She played dumb so that she could leave if things got too heavy… and since she had arrived in town, that’s exactly how it had felt.

Since she had come to Slate Springs, the bikers had been her only friends, and they all felt like brothers to her now, even if they still mainly remained a mystery.  But she quite liked it that way, she didn’t want to know too much about what went down behind the closed doors and in their whispered meetings. She knew something big was happening, and this was mainly one of the reasons she was at the club in the first place. Something bad had happened and the club were trying to put things right. They’d hired all new staff, all new girls and completely changed the place from what it had once been.

As she pushed open the back door with her knee and made her way into the darkened hallway, she could only just make out the door ahead of her. In the past six months the club had been refurbed and the lights were still all out down the back of the building. There were rumors flying around town that something really nasty had happened there, but all of the bikers were cagey and never seemed to want to talk about it in too much depth.

Courtney wasn’t bothered about details. She knew that if she was ever meant to know, then they would tell her in their own time and not a minute sooner. All she knew was that Tanner, one of the well-loved members of the Forsaken Riders had been killed… but by whom and how, had never been discussed in front of her, and as it stood, she had no desire to find out.

She reached the end of the corridor and shoved open the heavy swing doors with her shoulder before she made her way into the main room of the club. The front doors were open, letting in sunlight and a nice cooling breeze. It made a change to see the place not completely dark and lit with disco lights, and it kind of made it seem all the more surreal.

Courtney had never had a job like this before, and she had never been involved with a bike gang before she had found herself in Slate Springs, but she seemed to take to it like a duck to water and she had quickly settled in and become part of the furniture.

She looked around at the room. The actual furniture had not long been replaced from moth eaten old couches to sleek leather modular pieces that added a touch of class. The walls had been painted and the stage had been replaced along with the sound system and a lot of the lights. The vibe was still somewhat dingy and seedy, but from what Courtney had seen on pictures, it was a hell of a lot better.

Truckers were still their main clientele, but now, there would occasionally be an odd business man who would stop by for the night on his way through town to a meeting down south, or even some bachelorette parties wanting to see what it was like to be in a real live biker bar. Those groups of girls stood out a million miles away, and even though they drove Courtney mad, she was always pleasant, took their cash and made sure they all had a good time. She wasn’t the one shaking it up there on stage or working the room half naked. She was the bar manager and she could pretty much do whatever she wanted.

She heaved the crate of glasses up onto the countertop and sighed. The sweat was running down her chest and she fanned herself with her hand.

“Jeez,” she sighed. “It’s going to be a long day.”

She sat down on one of the high stools and mopped her brow. Even though the bikers were good bosses, she could have used an extra set of hands around when it came to setting up the entire place for the weekend. She reached over the bar and pulled a cold beer out of the fridge. As she twisted off the top and held it to her lips and sipped, she let out a long moan. She had been looking forward to it since seven am, even though she would never admit it.

“How’s it going?” the voice came from behind her and King came strutting in with his leather jacket thrown over his shoulder.

Even though Courtney knew he was a taken man, she couldn’t help but find King incredibly sexy. She had liked him since the moment she had laid eyes on him four months ago when she had first walked into Tanner’s and asked for a job. He had looked her up and down, nodded in approval and handed her an apron.

“It’s yours if you can start right now,” he’d said with a wink and she had felt her heart dance in her chest.

If only he didn’t have a girlfriend… if only he had ever really taken proper notice of her and knew that she existed. King may have been one of the only reasons she hung around Slate Springs, but no one would ever know that. She wasn’t silly enough to tell anyone her biggest secret… that she had a crush on her boss and one of the more senior members of The Forsaken Riders who happened to be engaged to biking royalty… the daughter of Reid, one of the most well-known bikers in the country.

Courtney sighed again. How could she ever compete with that?

“All good,” she smiled as she looked at him over her shoulder. “Hot though, and after that I’m broken,” she slapped her hand down on top of the crate full of glasses. “I had to take a rest.”

King smiled and sat down next to her. He held a cigarette up to his lips and lit the end.

“I’ll bring in the other crates,” he said with the smoke clamped between his teeth. “I felt bad watching you struggle with it.”

Courtney felt her smile spread from ear to ear but she quickly shook it away and rolled out her shoulders.

“Thanks,” she nodded. “That would be a real help.”

“No problem,” King said as he got to his feet. “But don’t get too used to it.”

He slapped her playfully on the shoulder and she giggled.

Stop it Courtney
… she thought.
You’ll only end up disappointed
.

She turned and watched King saunter out of the front doors and into the baking hot sun. His huge arms were tanned and muscular and as he held them high above his head and stretched they seemed to bulge. Courtney’s breath caught in the back of her throat and she watched him there for a moment, barely able to breathe.

When she snapped herself back to reality she got straight to her feet and walked around to the back of the bar. She still had so much to do before the club opened at 3pm and she was really going to be up against it. As she pulled out her cleaning rag and her rubber gloves she laughed to herself. When she had accepted the job as the bar manager at a strip club, she had imagined something slightly more glamourous that donning a pair of marigolds and scrubbing at the tiles… but that’s just the way things were.

King came back inside with one of the heavy crates over his shoulder and she watched him place it down on the bar top.

“How many more do you need in?” he asked.

“Just another one,” Courtney smiled. “I’m going to clean up here and then change all of the glasses and restock the refrigerators.”

“Great, thanks Court,” he winked as he turned on his heel and made his way towards the double doors that led down to the changing rooms.

“Maybe I should start stripping instead of this shit,” she whispered to herself. “Maybe then he’d notice I was alive.”

She smirked and shook her head. The thought was ridiculous to her, so God knows what anyone else would think of her peeling away her clothes and shaking her butt up on stage for all of Slate Springs to see.

She sprayed the cleaning fluid all over the bar top and underneath and started to clean. Once it was over and done with, she could forget about it and get Tanner’s really ready for opening. She worked quickly and flawlessly and when she was finished she allowed herself another deep swig of beer.

“Drinking on the job,” King joked as he hauled in another large crate.

“You’re just determined to keep catching me out!” Courtney laughed.

“I’m just kidding with you,” King winked as he slapped his hands together and shrugged. “Right, you all good?”

“Yep,” Courtney smiled as she pushed her hands deep into her short pockets and swayed on her heels.

“I’ll be back later,” King said as he grabbed his leather jacket and slung it over his shoulder. “I need to go back to the club house to sort a few things. Can you set up the back room here for us tonight? We’re having a meeting…”

Courtney’s heart sank. She still had so much to do and now she was going to have to rush it so that she could prep the back meeting room which was currently full of trash and boxes.

“Sure,” she smiled happily, even though inside she was screaming with rage.

“Thanks, you’re a star,” he grinned. “We’ll all be over for it around eight, so make sure it’s all done by then.”

Courtney looked down at her watch, it was almost 2pm and the place opened in an hour. She was going to have to work like mad to get it all done, but she knew she could do it.

“No problem at all,” she did a mock salute and smiled.

“Catch you later,” King said as he lit another cigarette and walked toward the door.

Courtney couldn’t help it, but she let her eyes fall down to his rock hard butt and let them linger there as he left.

“That can be my compensation,” she said aloud to herself. “For being over worked and underpaid…”

She would rather have King for real, but the odd glance and a wicked fantasy would have to do for now…