Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (28 page)

"Jesus -- Look." He waved over at Verna and pointed toward Avery. "Can you take her back into the bedroom and stay with her while I talk to Mia out here. And cancel that goddamn cab."

"Don't cancel the cab," hollered Mia.

"
CANCEL
the goddamn cab." River glared at her, then shifted his eyes down to Avery and sighed. "Just come and take her."

"Sure," said Verna. She wiggled her fingers at Avery and smiled. "Come on, honey."

Avery looked up at Mia for approval, who stared up at River and glared. "It's okay," she finally said, gently releasing her daughter's hand.

She raced over to Verna and once they left the room, River wrapped his hand around Mia's arm and guided her over to the couch. He had always been somewhat of a grabby motherfucker when it came to shuffling people around, but for some reason, he seemed to like grabbing this bitch more than anybody else before. They each sat down and landed so close to each other, but neither of them realized just how close it was until the back of their hands brushed against each other. River's cock started to twitch and he wanted to pull back. The thoughts that were racing throughout his mind as he stared at her hand of all goddamn things consisted of sliding his own hand up inside her shirt, wrapping it around her breast and shoving her back into the couch to make her his. He still wanted to own this bitch, every single fucking part of her with the goddamn help of every single part of himself.

And when he saw the way she stared up at him, with some kind of heavy, drunk look filling up those soft grey eyes while her tits swelled and her nipples pressed against her shirt as if she would've fucking let him have her in any way that he goddamn pleased, he wanted that shit that much more.

He pulled himself together, just barely, and balled his fists. He rested them on his knees and exhaled. "I can't let you leave this club, darlin'."

"I'll give you what you need from me, okay?" she said. His head turned and she sat back. "I’ll give you the cloth along with any information. I'll tell you everything else that I know about Ricky, but I can't keep staying here. Not after what happened tonight, River, I can't risk my child walking in on something like that again."

"I know," he told her in a hard voice, one so deep and gruffly intense that it damn near sent them both reeling and straight into each other. He dragged his hand down his face to keep from grabbing at any part of her again and tapped his fingers against his forehead. "Tiny's always been a sick motherfucker," he said. "Can't keep the shit in his pants for more than a goddamn day when it comes to certain bitches around here. Your kid shouldn't have had to walk in on that shit --
nobody
should have to walk in on that shit."

"
No kidding
." She dropped the strap of her purse from her shoulder and slumped back against the head of the couch.

River whipped his head around to stare at her and nodded. "Tell me about Ricky," he said.

She made a face. "What?"

"How'd the fuck did you two even meet?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He threw up his hands. "Fuckin' enlighten me."

Mia crossed one leg over the other and wagged her foot. "We met at church."

He arched his brows. "No shit?"

"
Nooo. Shit
. He started coming there a lot. He knew one of the deacons or something and every Sunday he would come at the exact same time, just two minutes before the service started. And I knew this, or at least found it out, because I started to calculate it." She grinned. "And each time, he would sit in the row directly behind my mother, who was always on the first row."

"Where'd you sit?"

"I was in the choir so I always sat behind the pulpit," she said.

"You sing?"

"Yes --
no
." She laughed. "I'm not very good at it. But I was involved, which is what my parents wanted, and that was a way to get me there. Anyway, I would see Ricky every Sunday and would think to myself, wow, this guy is really nice looking and he dresses well. I mean, he was in his early twenties and dressed better than my own dad when he wasn't at church. He'd come in a limo and he'd leave in a Jaguar." She shook her head, remembering back on that time and still remaining in disbelief. "It was just fascinating to me at the time, you know? We weren't completely destitute despite the financial issues from the money he put into the church, but the life Ricky presented was one I sort of admired."

River nodded. "How'd the fuck you get caught up with him?"

She smiled. "He asked me out one day when I was leaving choir practice. He literally followed me down the street in a limo and I was both flattered and embarrassed as hell. I couldn't say no to that, so I didn't. But aside from the blessing that was Avery, climbing inside that limo with Ricky Fontaine was probably one of the worst mistakes of my entire life."

"'Cause that shit led you here, and to me, twice."

"No." She turned her eyes down toward her lap and entwined her fingers. "I think that everything that happens, happens with a purpose or a reason. I feel like my getting involved with him was a mistake, but at the same time, maybe it's something that needed to happen. Maybe not just to bring me here, or to you, but maybe there's something bigger."

He smirked. "Just how big are we talkin'?"

She opened her mouth to speak, then stopped and smiled at him instead.

He turned on the couch and rested his hand between them on the leather. "Where the fuck do you think you'd go if you left here?" he asked her, his voice low, rough.

She tightened her leg over the other, sucked down on her bottom lip and deeply, deeply sighed. "I don't know--"

"I can't protect you outside of this club, darlin'. I need you with me at all fuckin' times to know that you and your kid are gonna be safe. And to know that I'm gonna get what I need from you."

"I'll give it up to you without a fight," she said. "Besides, you weren't here with me last night," she retorted.

He thought a minute and bobbed his head. "Yeah. But my boys were."

"They could come with me somewhere else--"

"No, doll," he replied, his response firm and tense. “No.”

"Well, what about the necklace?" she asked. "Wasn't the point of that to--"

"Know where you are at all fuckin' times. But I didn't give you that shit just so you could go runnin' off into the goddamn night with it and land God knows where."

Mia looked up at him with soft eyes and rolled her tongue across and between her lips. The more he stared at them,
shit
, the more he wanted to know just how the fuck that twitching cock of his would feel right between them.

"Okay. So if you need me around that much, and you're not willing to let me go anywhere else, then... what's your solution to this very real problem that we now have?"

River fell back against the couch and leaned against her. His eyes trailed from her face, down to her tits, around her hips and down her legs. He dragged his hand down his face again, took a deep breath in and stared across the room. "I want you to move in with me," he mumbled. When he felt her pulling back, he arched a brow and snapped his head back in her direction.

Her mouth fell open and she released a light chuckle. "Are you serious?" she asked. "I mean...
are you
serious?"

He frowned and silently started to question himself. "Yeah, babe, I think I am," he said. "I ain't never lived with anybody else aside from my daughter and my mother, but I can't..." He swallowed hard and stared down between them. "The closer you are to me, the easier it is for me to help you, and for me to help my club."

"So you want me
and Avery
to move in with you?"

"I've got a four bedroom house," he said. "Shit's not much, but, it's livable. I've got one room, my mother's got another, and Madison's got one for herself, though she'll be leavin' it behind soon. There's another room back there and you'd never have to worry about your girl seein' the shit she had to see here with Tiny tonight--"

"What about your friend?" she interjected.

He appeared confused. "What?"

"Your friend, the one that Tiny was talking about that you were with. The one I saw here when I came to you for help."

He breathed in deep. "Oh. Yeah, uh... that's not some shit you've gotta worry about, alright? Whatever the fuck happens with her, I'll keep that shit in the club and outta the house."

Mia nodded and wrapped her hands around her knees. "So... where exactly does she fall on that scale of club
women
for you? Just out of curiosity."

He stared at her for a long while and then chuckled. "I don't fuckin' know about that just yet."

"Hm." She dropped her head and brushed her fingers back and forth across the back of her thumb. "Well, if you're willing to put up with me and my child, then sure, I'll move in with you. Not that you're giving me much of a choice in the matter but--"

"Nope."

She leaned into him and pressed her arm against his. And he just went fucking stiff. "Thank you," she said. "I know that me coming back here and asking for your help has been a lot for you and your club to deal with, but--"

"Not that fuckin' bad compared to the shit we've been through before."

"Maybe, but it's nothing like I've ever been though before. And as much as you may not even realize it or think that you're doing it, you've made the transition somewhat easier." He turned to her and without even realizing it, found himself leaning in. Her eyes closed and she swallowed hard. "So again, thank you for that," she told him, her voice soft, weak, ripe with the same goddamn desire that he could feel coursing throughout his own goddamn fucking veins.

"
Yeah, doll
." Jesus, he wanted this bitch, and it wasn't just his goddamn cock that was aching for her this time either.

Mia pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, then stared directly at his lips. "I'm going to go and tell Avery that we're moving again."

"Yeah." He exhaled, then closed his mouth quick and locked his jaw. "I'll call up my mother and let her know what's up for tonight, have her get the room ready for you and your girl."

"Thanks."

As she reached for her purse and got up from the couch, she passed in front of him. And it took every goddamn thing he had inside to keep from wrapping himself around every goddamn inch of her body.

He bent forward, rested his elbows on his knees and cracked his knuckles.

Jesus Christ,
he thought.
What in the
fuck
have I done?

He had just done a whole hell of a lot. A whole goddamn hell of a lot that was never meant to be a part of his initial fucking plan.

Chapter Nineteen

"Motherfucker, motherfucker." Blue stepped up behind River on the deck just outside of his patio and smacked him hard on the back. River peeked over his shoulder at him and grimaced. "Motherfucker," he said again.

It was the day of the auction that was meant to take place at River's house, and as Mia, Madison, Verna and Jolene worked together to figure out how best to price her furniture for the people around the area, he manned the grill.

"You are one slick, slick son of a bitch, you know that?" Blue grabbed a beer from a cooler situated behind him, popped the cap and chugged it back.

"What the fuck are you talkin' about, asshole?" River muttered.

"I'm talkin' about Mia." He turned to the opposite end of the yard and watched as she bent over to pick something up off the ground. "Mm. Mm. Mm," he said. "A perfect round ass with a sweet fuckin' pussy like that to match should
not
be goin' to waste on a sour, oversized cock like yours, yeah?" He lifted a brow and glared at his best friend, who kept his head down if only to keep himself from rolling around and drop kicking him into the middle of the goddamn earth. "But I guess that's why she's here."

"What?"

"Easy access to her pussy, right? That's why you finally moved her in. I knew that shit would happen eventually despite you protestin' it before, and I feel you, brother. That shit was smart."

River whirled away from the grill and pointed the metal spatula in his best friend's face. Blue pulled his head back and soured. "I moved her in here so that her kid wouldn't have to walk in on any more of that shit with Tiny at the goddamn club--"

"Oh right, yeah, that shit with Tiny at the goddamn club." He grinned and disbelievingly rolled his eyes. "Heard from Wolf that motherfucker was with LuAnn again. How'd the fuck she even manage to sneak in there without anybody knowin' even as we all left?"

River shrugged and turned back to the grill to flip his steaks and burgers as they sizzled. "I don't fuckin' know."

"Hm." Blue turned back to Mia, then cut his eyes over to Avery, who was sitting at a popup table near the fence and working inside what looked like a coloring book with another kid that Blue assumed had been from around the neighborhood, given that he had never seen her before. And if a random kid was around someplace that he had never seen before, chances were that the kid's mother was nearby too; which meant fresh, un-pounded pussy. "So how the hell's your girl fittin' in, bein' here with you and your kid and your mother? You all one big happy family havin' Sunday dinners and shit now or what?"