Los Perdidos: The Novel (Sons of Glory Motorcycle Club Romance) (3 page)

As I was cleaning myself up, a pounding on the other side of the door startled me. “Yeah, just a second!” Smoke yelled, unperturbed. I adjusted my clothing and quickly ran a hand through my dishevelled hair. Reaching into my purse, I found my lip gloss, and as I applied it, I looked up to see Smoke looking at me with a grin. “You’re something else, you know that?” he drawled at me.

“Thanks,” I smiled, blushing furiously. “You’re not so bad yourself.” How could I suddenly feel so shy in front of this man who had just given me two mind-blowing orgasms and fucked me within an inch of my life?

“Come on,” he said, reaching for his leather cut. “Let me introduce you to some of the family.”

He unlocked and opened the door, and we emerged from the office into the brighter but still subdued light of the bar. As we walked out into the main area, a couple of the bikers clapped and whistled when they saw us. I bowed my head, blushing, and tried to smile like I wasn’t dying of embarrassment. Smoke led me over to a middle-aged man built like a tank, with a large salt and pepper beard. “This here’s Ram, and his old lady Roxy.” The woman seated next to Ram was a pretty but hard-looking woman with dark eyes and hair. Looking at me with an unreadable expression, she nodded once, but did not smile. “You got yourself a back warmer for the evening, Smoke?” she said with a smirk, turning her eyes to him.

Smoke ignored the comment. Ram spoke up now. “Now that you’re done gettin’ your jollies, we got a problem, Smoke. The Iron Alliance just made a sale in our territory.”

“Shit,” Smoke said through gritted teeth. “That’s not too smart of them,” he smiled angrily.

“Smart or not, they done it,” Ram replied. “And they knew what they were doin’ when they did. You go down and talk to Gangrene about this, get the lowdown on what happened and who done it.”

“On it,” Smoke agreed. Turning away from the older man, he put his large, strong hand on my back and led me away. I looked up at him sadly, but said nothing. I guessed this was the end of my little adventure. Smoke would take me back to thes dorm now, and that would be that. The best, most exciting sex of my life would be nothing but a memory.

We walked out the front door of the bar and into the beautiful spring night. “Some crazy shit just went down, baby girl,” he growled. His voice was tense, and had lost the teasing playfulness he had used earlier. He strode along the line of bikes, stopping at a large, black Harley with no windshield. Slinging a muscled leg over the bike, he handed me a half helmet that was hooked to the side. “Put this on. Then swing your leg over the bike, and put your feet on these pegs,” he said, pointing down.

Wordlessly, I strapped on the helmet and got on the back of the bike. I found the foot pegs as he started up the Hog. Storm backed the bike out of the line as I struggled with the unfamiliar feeling of being off-balance. Over the sound of the engine, he yelled, “You comin’ with me, or should I take you home?”

My heart surged; the most memorable night of my life was not over yet. I hesitated only a second. “I’m coming with you,” I responded, putting my arms around his waist.

“Okay. Now put your arms around me. Lean with me when the bike leans. And don’t take your feet off the pegs when we stop.”

I did as he said and wrapped my arms around him, breathing deeply in satisfaction as I relished the smell of old leather and the feeling of his strong, muscled body. Smoke put the bike into gear, and we drove off into the night.

Heat. The smell of exhaust. The deep rumble of the engine beneath me. My arms wrap around his warm, leather-clad torso as we speed through the dark night.

The ground beneath us flies faster and faster, a gray blur illuminated only by the gleaming headlamp of the bike. The vibration of the engine between my legs sends electric jolts of pleasure through me, and I press into the seat as I bury my face in the leather of Smoke’s jacket.

Then somehow, we are in his bed, our bodies entwined. My senses are filled with him, my body opening to him like a desert flower to the rain. He pushes himself inside me, plunging deep into my core. I cry out, arching my back and wrapping my legs around his torso. He rides me, driving me higher and higher, as we both approach the speed of light…

A buzz from beside my bed jolted me awake and I sat up, startled and disoriented. My hair was wild, tangled in front of my face, and I was still in the clothes I had been wearing the night before. I glanced over at the nightstand and saw my phone illuminated. As I looked at it in confusion, it buzzed again. I picked it up and saw a list of texts from Dana, and everything came back to me in a rush.
Shit,
I thought, instantly contrite.
I forgot to text her last night when I got home.

I thumbed through the texts, and could clearly see Dana’s rising worry in their increasingly frantic tone:

“r u home yet?”

“where r u?”

“Jen, come on, im worried”

“call me now”

“where the hell r u????!!!”

Poor Dana.
Knowing she must be worried sick, I quickly pressed the number to call her. Dana answered on the second ring, panic evident in her voice. “Jen, Jesus Christ, are you okay?!”

“I’m fine,” I said immediately. “Don’t worry. I’m so sorry I didn’t text you last night when I got home. It was so late and I was so tired that I just forgot.”

“Jesus, Jen, I was fucking worried sick about you,” Dana said angrily. “I didn’t know what to do. I almost called campus police, but what were those fuckers gonna do about it?” She blew out a quick breath of air in relief. “Don’t fucking do that again, okay?” she finished, in a tone that told me she would take no argument.

I grimaced as she spoke:
She must really be worked up
. Dana swears from time to time, but she only says ‘fuck’ when she’s super, super mad. “Dana, I’m so sorry. Sincerely.” I made my voice as calm and as apologetic as I could to try to placate her. “I promise you, it will never happen again.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and I waited patiently, knowing I had said everything I could. Then, in a grudging tone, I heard Dana mutter, “Okay. I forgive you. But please, please, next time, let me know you’re okay. You really freaked me out.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say “There won’t be a next time”, but as soon as my mouth opened, I stopped myself. What would I mean exactly if I said it? If I meant that there wouldn’t be a next time with me seeing Smoke, I knew I couldn’t guarantee that. I knew that I hoped more than anything that I
would
see him again. Still tingling and aroused from my sexy dream, I felt my lower lips puff with need at the thought of the sexy biker with the flashing blue eyes and what he had done to me last night.
Ugh. Focus, Jen.
I shook my head violently to clear the delicious but distracting thought of him, and focused on my friend. Clearing my throat, I repeated in my most sincere, forthright voice: “I promise, Dana, I will let you know I’m okay next time. If there is a next time.”

Attempting to change the subject from my shitty friend behavior, I opted to ask her about her evening instead. “So, what did you guys end up doing after you left the bar last night?” Dana started to answer, and as I listened, I suddenly realized that I was alone in my dorm room. “Wait, Dana,” I interrupted her as I looked around with a start. “Where’s Kara? Do you know what happened to her? She’s not here, and it doesn’t look like she came home last night!” God, I must have been so out of it when I tiptoed into the darkened room after my adventure with Storm, I didn’t even notice she wasn’t in her bed.

Dana laughed delightedly. “That’s what I was trying to tell you! Kara and Josh finally hooked up last night!” she gushed.

“You’re kidding me!” I gasped.

“No, it’s true!” Dana insisted. “I guess seeing Kara kissing that biker guy at the bar really yanked Josh’s chain. We went to another bar to have drinks after we left the Black Dog, and he was being a pouty grouch. Kara started teasing him, and he ended up grabbing her arm and taking her outside to talk to her. When they came back about twenty minutes later, Josh was smiling and Kara was blushing like crazy. I didn’t even know Asians could blush!” she finished with a giggle.

“Wow, finally!” I exclaimed, immediately caught up in Dana’s excitement. “I never thought it would happen!” Everyone in our group, except for Kara, knew that Josh had had a massive crush on her for months now. Kara was so beautiful that I think Josh was too intimidated to ask her out at first. I hadn’t known how Kara felt about him before now, but I was really happy for them both. Kara was super sweet and didn’t seem to know how drop dead gorgeous she was. Josh was goofy, funny, and loyal, and was hot in a kind of geeky way. Their personalities seemed like a good fit for one another. They would make a good couple, I was sure of it.

We chatted excitedly about Kara and Josh for a few minutes, and then Dana stopped. “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe I was so excited to tell you the news about Kara and Josh, I completely forgot to ask you about what happened after we left the bar! You have got to tell me everything! What happened with biker boy?”

I opened my mouth to share details of my amazing night, but I stopped before the first word was out of my mouth. Next to the sweet, romantic story of Kara and Josh, my tale of hot sex against a pool table would be jarring to Dana, at the very least. What was I going to say to her: the truth? That I had been fucked hard in the back office of a bar by a biker who had slapped my ass until it was burning and red? And that what’s more, I had not only liked it, but
loved
it? And that I had spent the night dreaming about doing it again? I couldn’t think of any way to tell Dana about this that wouldn’t sound crazy to her. She would probably react as though I’d been assaulted, even raped. I realized there was no way she could understand how last night had awakened me to a part of myself I hadn’t even known existed. I had to protect my friend from worrying about me; she couldn’t know the truth.

“It was fun,” I said lightly. “Smoke is actually a really… nice guy.”

“His name is seriously Smoke?” she laughed in disbelief.

“Yeah,” I said, feeling weirdly defensive. “That’s what everyone calls him, anyway.” I guess it might seem kind of silly to her, but I liked the name Smoke. It seemed to fit him: he was smooth, mysterious, dark. He smelled good, but could be dangerous if he got inside you. “Anyway,” I continued, “we made out for a while, and then he took me for a ride on his bike.” All of this was technically true, I reasoned, even if it left out about ninety-five percent of the story.

“Really?” she asked, a hint of relief in her voice. “So, you didn’t feel unsafe with him at all?”

“No, not at all,” I answered firmly, and realized as I said it that it was true. A lot had happened last night – some of it scary – but I never felt unsafe with Smoke there. On the contrary: in some ways, I had felt safer and more protected with him than I had ever felt in my life.

Dana continued to query me for details, and I answered as elusively as I could. Finally, she seemed satisfied, no doubt presuming that my evening with Smoke was nothing more than a slightly risky one night stand. When she had tired of grilling me, Dana switched the subject back to Kara and Josh. I listened as intently as I could, but I found my mind wandering back to the night before. I thought I had been doing a good job of pretending to listen, until Dana stopped mid-sentence and said, “Hey, Earth to Jen. Are you there?”

“Yeah, yeah – sorry, I just zoned out for a moment.” I was trying to recall what she had been saying when I heard the key turn in the lock. Kara opened the door and walked in, wearing an oversized T-shirt that she had belted with some sort of fabric. She was barefoot and holding her platforms from the night before, and her long black hair was disheveled.

I laughed. “Hey, Kara’s here. She’s dressed like a reject from Goodwill, but she’s here.”

Kara stuck her tongue out at me, giving me the once over. “At least I didn’t sleep in my clothes last night,” she retorted as she looked at me pointedly. “Is that Dana?” she asked, pointing to the phone. I nodded. “Hi, Dana!” she yelled. She waved to the phone as if our friend could see her.

“Does she have that ‘just fucked’ look?” Dana asked me with a wicked smile in her voice.

“Yes, she does,” I answered, as I watched Kara set down her shoes and collapse on her bed.

“Hey,” Kara said, glancing up at the retro Salvador Dali clock that was hanging on our wall. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work right now?”

“Oh, shit!” My eyes flew to the clock: it was 11:55. I was supposed to be starting my shift at the university library in five minutes! “Dammit, I totally forgot. Dana, I gotta go. Talk later?”

“Okay, say kissy kiss to Josh’s girlfriend,” she said sweetly, and hung up.

“Dana says kissy kiss to Josh’s girlfriend,” I repeated to Kara as I sprang off the bed and started peeling off my clothes. I dug in my dresser for a bra and a fresh shirt, then pulled on a pair of jeans that were sitting on a chair at the foot of my bed. Grabbing my hairbrush, I looked in the mirror sitting on top of my dresser. “Oh, my God!” I wailed to Kara. “Why didn’t you tell me I looked like shit!” My mascara from last night had smudged while I slept, giving me raccoon eyes, and my makeup was smeared all over my face. I never wore this much of it, and I had been so tired last night I completely forgot to wash it off. I was shocked at how bad I looked. Cursing again, I grabbed my shower tote and ran to the bathroom with my head down, praying no one would see me.

In the bathroom, I scrubbed off my makeup, threw on some moisturizer, and did a hurried brush of my teeth. Back in my room, I raked the brush through my hair and tied it back in a pony. Kara was lying on her bed in a Josh-induced bliss. She watched me get ready impassively, her head nestled against her pillow.

I made sure to grab my key and rushed out the door. “See you later,” I shot toward Kara as I left.

“Okay, bye,” she responded sleepily, waving at me as I closed the door. In spite of myself, I smiled: I knew she’d be snoring and dreaming of Josh before I was even out of the dorm.