The Biker’s Property (An Alpha Motorcycle Club Romance) (Ghosts of the Prairie Motorcycle Club Series Book 1) (8 page)

“Okay,” she said vaguely, at a loss.

He gave her a quick wink and disappeared through the door.

Penny wasn’t sure what to do other than wait. It was quiet. She couldn’t hear anything. After the ungodly noise and the loud voices, she would have at least heard something. It was too much.

First, Penny put her ear to the door. Couldn’t hear anything. Then she checked the peek hole. That was such a worthless feature she thought. She turned the knob of the door and was going to just crack the door. There wasn’t any sound coming from anywhere. No one in the hall. Penny could just tiptoe down the hall until she did hear. If anything was bad, she would just dash back.

But then she realized as she was out of the room, she had locked herself out. Now she would have to go to the front desk and get them to let her back in. Danny would be mad but he would understand.

She turned the corner to go down the next hall and into the lobby when she ran nose into the chest of a biker. Only it wasn’t the friendly Ghosts of the Prairie. It most definitely was a Rigger. One of the men who had been at dinner with Brill Wayland. Penny tried to scream but no sound came out. The biker picked her up like she was nothing. There was no fighting back. He had her.

“You’re a hot little piece of ass,” he growled. “I am going to enjoy this. Got me the woman of the captain of the Ghosts of the Prairie.”

Penny went limp. She made her body dead weight to create as much of a challenge to him as possible, not that it did much. Her efforts did make him laugh. As he carried her, she guessed trying to find a spot to do whatever with her, she flailed her legs and reached out for anything she could latch on to.

Then she found her voice. She had an operatic ability that she had developed at church and high school back in Virginia. It sounded ridiculous but she belted one out. At first she let go a very loud “Help” and then a distressed one.

He slapped her but she did it again. And then he hunched his face close to her. “Keep it up and I will shut you up you silly slut,” he ordered. That’s when she made her move. Her hands were free. She threw a punch over her shoulder straight into his nose. The pain made him drop her. She fell to the floor, scrambling quickly towards the lobby. Maybe more Riggers were there. Maybe not.

Running through the motel was like running through Jell-O. Reality was warped. Danny and Trenton strolled into the entrance. Their expressions morphed from casual to alarm. Danny glared, reaching for her. Trenton moved past her, reaching for his weapon as he did, and yelling freeze.

Penny writhed mindlessly, still trying to act on the urge to flee. Danny gripped her shoulders, issuing firm commands.

“Stop,” he said brusquely. “Let’s go over here.”

He walked her over to a loveseat in the entrance of the motel.

“The police are on their way,” announced the woman at the desk.

“That’s fine,” said Danny, focusing on Penny.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I opened the door and he was there,” she said. “There’s more to it but I can’t talk right now.”

She scanned the immediate area and found what she needed. A decorative waste bucket. She lunged for it, drawing it to her. She vomited violently. Danny wasn’t affected by it all. If Penny witnessed someone throwing up, she probably would join them. But not him. He stroked her back.

“What’d he do?” Danny asked coolly but firmly.

“Grabbed me. Scared the shit out of me,” said Penny, cussing uncharacteristically.

“Mmm,” he responded.

She knew somewhere in there was an implied scolding. She should have listened to him.

“And so how did you get away?” he asked.

Trenton answered for him. “She broke his nose.”

“That works,” said Danny.

The same sheriff who answered the call at The Bison arrived on scene at the motel.

“We meet again,” he said neutrally. “What happened?”

“Members of the Riggers Motorcycle Club blew up one of our bikes. Attacked some of my guys as we were having a benign easy-going party. And then attacked my girlfriend here,” answered Danny.

“Where is the assailant now?” inquired the sheriff.

“Right here,” whined the injured biker.

For the first time in his two appearances, the imposing sheriff showed emotion. He leaned over to laugh hard. When he regained himself he addressed the clerk behind the desk.

“I’d like to have surveillance footage of the areas involved. If there’s anything you or your staff would like to add, please see this deputy here,” he said, placing a hand on the shoulder of one of his deputies.

“You fellas seem to have issues wherever you go. You staying in town long? Should we just get a room next door to yours and shadow you while you’re here?” he asked.

Penny got the gist of it. Even though the sheriff seemed even handed in both situations, he was now suggesting they leave.

“We’re checking out in the morning, if that works for you,” said Danny respectfully.

“It does. But a call between now and then, I might start seeing things differently. Just part of the job,” he replied.

“Understood,” said Danny.

The enormous law man approached the injured biker. “Man, she got you good. What were you doing exactly?”

“I don’t remember,” he said through his hands, which were holding his nose.

“Okay, well, I think we need to take you over to General. Take a look at that. If I see something on that footage, if that camera remembers something you don’t, you’re going straight to lock up after that. Do I make myself clear?”

The biker shrugged.

“Until we meet again,” the sheriff said to Danny and Trenton. “Okay, let’s go look at the blown up bike,” he said to a motel staff member.

The woman at the desk was kind enough to bring Penny over an ice-cold lemon lime soda and a napkin. Danny walked the trash can into the lobby restroom and flushed it.

Danny made her look at him while he checked her eyes. “Do we need to take you over to the hospital as well? What did he do to you exactly?”

“He grabbed me,” she said. “He slapped me.”

“Wow,” said Danny. “We have a code against hitting women and kids. But nothing to the stomach or like here in the kidney area?”

“No, nothing like that,” she said.

“And then you kicked his ass?” he said.

Penny was basically waiting for the lecture so she had to do a double take when he said that. When she looked at him, his eyes were in fact scolding her, but a smile curled his lips.

“Yes,” she said very quietly.

“I am glad you’re okay. I am sorry this has happened,” he said.

“Oh, why don’t you just go ahead and say it?” she said dramatically. “I should have listened to you.”

“Yeah and I guess if the guy found you anyway, which is what it looks like he was doing, I would have felt like crap if anything happened to you while you were doing what I suggested. It worked out. And you kicked his ass,” he said.

He gave her a quick kiss. She pushed him lightly.

“You can’t kiss me right now,” she said. “Not until I brush my teeth.”

“Okay,” he said and kissed her forehead. “How about there, is that better?”

“Yes,” she said softly. “For now.”

Chapter Ten

Danny and Penny were awakened by a knock on the door from Trenton. He didn’t want in. He stuck his head in just far enough for his voice to carry, so Penny heard. Brill Wayland wasn’t going to be released soon after all. Mrs. Wayland was going to cut Penny a check. She had the power to run the business in his absence. She was going to have a check drawn for Penny to cover all her losses and then some. It would just take a day to move funds around.

“Oh really?” asked Danny.

“Yeah, I am going to help her,” said Trenton.

Penny saw both men smile. Danny closed the door and crawled back into bed.

“Did you hear that baby doll?” he asked, his hands fisting around her.

Penny nodded.

“What say you and I do a little exploring on our own and then circle back around here tomorrow. Would that be okay with you?” he asked.

“Anything you want would be okay with me,” she murmured.

The weather was perfectly temperate, and perfect for a day trip. Penny and Danny rode over to breakfast at the Better B Cafe.

“The weather is going to hold. Not too cold and not too hot,” said Danny, his lips on the verge of a smile.

He let the others know that only he and Penny were going on a road trip. Two or three days, whatever it took them. Devil’s Lake. Badlands. The Theodore Roosevelt Park and maybe visit the reservation. They would hit all or one of those spots; however they felt.

“I have a question,” she asked, stirring the coffee that the waitress just poured her. “What if it rains?” she asked.

“It’s not going to rain baby doll,” he said with a wink.

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“Well, for one, I checked the weather. But it really doesn’t matter, because it just doesn’t really rain here. Not now. We’ll be fine. But if it does rain, we will just pull off and find someplace to stay. Someplace really cozy,” he said.

They were sitting side by side in the booth. All he had to do was tilt her head to kiss her. A surge tingled through her and she moaned lazily. His lips were warm from their coffee. Penny was looking forward to the road trip.

But just as they loaded up and started off, Danny made a turn back into the little quiet town. He pulled up in front of a shop called Arnie’s. He dismounted and helped her off.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“We’re taking you shopping. You’re cute and all in your little jeans, but if you’re going to be a biker’s girl, you gotta dress the part. Come,” he said.

Suddenly she was a little self-conscious of the way she looked. “What’s wrong with my clothes?” she asked.

“Oh nothing,” he said, his face tight and bending with flirtation. He walked his eyes up and down her and then he huddled in behind her, stepping closely as he held the door open for her. Secretly, his hand found the curve of her buttocks where it rounded between her legs. Penny stopped, stunned by the effective surge of electricity his touch caused her. It went right to her center. She felt achy and hollow and horny.

Danny had to stand nearly a foot taller than she. Her head brushed him smack dab in the center of his hard chest. He reached a powerful arm over her to do his biker handshake with the man behind the counter. His bulging, chiseled bicep covered her eyes momentarily. He was wrapped around her and it curled a longing warmth right in the pit of her stomach.

“We need to set up my lady with some outfits,” he said to the clerk.

The clerk lowered his wire-rimmed sunglasses, the lenses of which were little dark circles resting on the bridge of his nose, to reveal examining eyes. He assessed her.

“School marm,” said the clerk.

“Hey,” Danny playfully warned.

“I gotcha,” conceded the clerk. “Everything we have is here. Underwear and whatnots over here,” he motioned, “shirts, skirts, etc. Help yourself and lemme know if I can answer any questions.”

Danny went straight for the underwear. He chose thongs that were nothing more than strings with curling lace attached to them.

“Unhunh,” he said.

Shielding Penny from the clerk, his immense back to him, Danny cupped her breasts.

“What are you, 34, 36B?” he asked.

She blushed. He was right on. Penny was, on occasion, disappointed that her breasts were not somewhat larger. She liked the shape of them. They had lovely roundness. The nipples were not too large or too small. She was slightly long-waisted and she had pronounced ribs so they protruded just so from the surface of her tight, firm torso.

But especially in the realm of a biker’s world, where she knew enough that they liked women with big breasts that flowed over the rim of low necklines, she wondered if he wouldn’t have liked it if she were more endowed.

“Yes,” she rasped.

“Mmmm,” he said. “You are so cute. Did I just embarrass you?”

She was blushing, hard. She turned away but it was no use. He nuzzled his face around to hers so that they were cheek to cheek.

“Baby doll?” he asked with a touch of worry in his voice.

Penny was honest. She answered with a whisper.

“I don’t want everyone to know my size,” she said.

He whispered back, “Everyone? You mean this guy? He’s never going to see us again. Well, unless we come shopping here again.”

Danny picked up on her slight, brief self-consciousness.

“Besides, there’s no hiding perfection. If I can tell, he can tell,” he said. “Absolute perfection.”

Penny melted against him. They lulled, enjoying the feel of each other. He reached around her and chose the wickedest underwear for her.

They moved to the t-shirts. He picked out a few things, selecting one for her to change into. It was sheer black beaded in a simple pattern with tiny smoky gray studs. It was extremely flattering but as she checked herself in the mirror she realized it was designed to reveal her bra.