The Secret's Out (Hawks MC: Caroline Springs Charter, #1) (11 page)

He was surprised when I asked him if he thought what we were doing was going to work.  His nod was fast and then he said, “Yeah, Josie. I know what I feel for you and I know Billy feels the same way. It helps he’s an okay guy and I trust him with you. It’ll be good. Christ, fuck that, what we’ll have will be fantastic.”

My shy smile told him I believed him. If he and Eli could work together to be with me, then I had to stop worrying about the both of them turning against each other for some reason or another. I had to trust them with that, like I trusted them with me.

After eating, Caden took me, in Eli’s new truck he bought in the first week of being here, for a drive. At first, I thought he was taking me parking...because wasn’t that something couples did?

My men were rough, tough, bikers. No doubt they were feeling frustration in their pants with how slow things were going. And I felt bad for it. Especially when I was the one holding back from them and
then,
I’d witness, some mornings, their morning wood, which they would try to hide while they went to the bathroom. It wasn’t only their morning wood I’d been thinking about, but the times when I would sit on the couch with them, or the times I cleaned the apartment and I’d find them watching me while they—what they thought discreetly—adjusted themselves in their jeans.

Though, thinking of their...erections wasn’t a good plan on my first date with Caden. When he pulled into the only drive-in theatre, I was thrilled and now turned-on from thinking of them being hard for me.

“Baby, come here,” Caden ordered. With sweating palms, a fast beating heart and nerves dancing in my stomach, I slid along the seat to the middle one, right next to him.

Only I panicked for nothing, because all he did was draw me into his body by his arm around my shoulders. Then he leaned back and we watched the movie while he shovelled and I nibbled on the popcorn.

My lip was something I also nibbled because I wanted something to happen. I wanted Caden’s lips on mine. I wanted to know what they felt like, what they tasted like. I was weary of the forehead and neck kisses. If we were supposed to be a couple, then shouldn’t it have advanced already?

Then a thought crossed my mind.

Were they waiting for me to make the move?

Goodness, maybe they were. They said they’d take it slow, but it was becoming too slow.

A frustrated and annoyed groan fell from my lips and filled the truck’s cabin.

Why would they do that to me? I was useless in that department. They had to make the move, not me for goodness’ sake.

“What’s up, precious?” Caden asked, his arm tightening around my shoulders.

Without thinking, I moved forward and twisted around to glare at Caden. His arm fell from my shoulders as he stared back with an amused look upon his face.

“Don’t smirk at me, Caden. What were you both thinking? You both know I’m not confident. I need either of you to make the first move. If you leave it up to me, we’ll never get there and by God, I want to get there sooner rather than later, no matter how much it scares me, thinking that somehow I will stuff it all up and you and Eli will laugh at my fumbling schoolgirl ways and leave. I—”

I didn’t get to finish. Caden’s hand went to my neck and I was roughly pulled toward him. There with his lips lightly resting against my mouth, he growled, “Baby, all you had to do was give us a sign, and now you have.” He smiled before his mouth crashed down on mine.

David, my captor so many years ago, had never kissed me and I was grateful he hadn’t. Because what Caden was doing to me was something special and I was happy to have shared it with him and then, I was excited to share something just as special with Eli the following night.

The kiss wasn’t gentle, it was hard and blissful. Caden slanted his head. I followed suit and the kiss deepened when he slid his tongue into my mouth.
Goodness.
Then he groaned and my hands frantically gripped his tee, never wanting him to move from my mouth again.

Time disappeared as we kissed, but when we came up for breath, which I found hard at that moment, the windows were fogged up and people were backing out of the parking area.

“Fuck, precious, you kiss like that I can’t wait to see what else you can do.”

A blush heated my already warm cheeks. A strong tingle fluttered between my legs, causing me to rub my thighs together. Caden of course saw it and groaned loudly, as though he were in pain.

“Damn, baby, you do that and slow will be something of the past.”

Licking my bottom lip, I asked, “So, I, um. Was...did I do okay...kissing?”

His head rocked back on my shoulders, his eyes were wide. “Josie, was that your first kiss?”

Looking to my hands on my lap, I nodded.

“Christ,” Caden hissed. My gaze went straight up to him. He leaned forward and gently kissed my lips. “My girl, sweet and shy and never been kissed. So glad I got to kiss you first, baby. We won’t tell Billy that. But I can honest to God say that, fuck, beautiful, you’ll rock Eli’s world with that mouth of yours.”

My smile was wide and full of happiness. What made it so big was because Caden obviously cared for Eli. He didn’t want to tell Eli that he’d taken my first kiss and that was...sweet.

“Can we do it again?” I asked.

Caden ran a hand over his face. “Precious,” he groaned. “I’d love to keep neckin’ with you, but I only have so much control. How about we drive home and there, fuck, I’ll give you a goodnight kiss.”

“Okay,” I said happily, moving to my seat and pulling on my seat belt. It was then Caden’s laughter filled the cabin.

Caden was true to his word. He even walked me to my bedroom door and kissed me speechless and stupid before he gently pushed me into my room and shut the door...only with him on the other side.

Eli’s date was a lot of fun. He was wilder than Caden. Where Caden preferred the quiet, Eli preferred the noise, which explained how we ended up at Luna Park on St Kilda. It was early, so we walked around holding hands while checking things out. Eli had me giggling a lot at his antics. He didn’t care if he made a fool of himself if it caused me to laugh. He always seemed on a high and I loved that about him.

What I also had to watch out for was his short fuse. His temper was never at me. I knew that with my whole being, I was safe with Eli. But if someone jostled me or looked at me wrongly, Eli would snap into the man I saw in Marybeth’s diner. Even one time I had to hold him back when a teenager, a kid of about seventeen, walked by with some mates and said something crude, that he wouldn’t mind having me in his bed.

Eli spun around and grabbed the kid’s tee. “What the fuck you say?” he hissed in his face.

“Dude, calm down. He was only joking,” one of the kid’s mates said.

“I don’t give a fuck if he was joking. Learn some fuckin’ manners. She’s my woman and I don’t like other guys talkin’ crap about her.”

“Yeah, yeah, all right, brother.”

“I ain’t your fuckin’ brother.” Eli jostled the kid back and forth by his tee.

It was then I snapped out of my shock and went to Eli’s side. “Stop it,” I demanded. “Eli, he
was
only joking around. He meant nothing by it.”

“He was—”

“Eli, please just let him go so we can get back to the fun we were having. Please.” I reached out and grabbed his arm. He looked at me and let go of the kid straight away. I started for the opposite direction knowing Eli would follow and he did, leaving the group of teens alone.

“Jose—”

Stopping, I turned to face him. “Eli, you can’t keep doing that,” I said calmly. “Not everyone is out to harm me in some way. They were just teens, Eli, mucking around and having fun. I didn’t take offence to it and neither should you.”

He took the last step toward me and his hands went to each side of my neck. “Babe, I’m sorry, okay. I know I suck at controlling myself, but it’s because I watched my father verbally abuse my mum for years. He’d never get physical with her, but what he said was enough to get to her. Every fuckin’ time it cut her deep and I don’t want you to feel that cut. But for you, I will try to curb it...somewhat.”

Eli had never spoken of his parents and I was glad he was opening up about them to me. In a way, I could understand his behaviour, but he needed to learn that I was not fragile any longer, not when I had my two knights beside me.

Stepping in close, I wrapped my arms around his firm waist, my head resting against his chest, where I could hear his heart thumping.

Goodness, was my bad-boy biker nervous?

That thought was crazy. He couldn’t be.

“Okay, Eli. Thank you for telling me that. Does...is your mum still with your dad?”

“Yeah, sweetheart. I’d asked her to leave many times, but she never will. No matter how much she knew that shit was hard for her kid to hear and see, which was why I got outta the house so young.”

Resting my chin on his chest, I looked up at him. “Sorry you had to deal with that growing up.”

“Babe, it was nothing really. Not fuckin’ worth mentioning. Not when many go through tougher times.”

He meant me.

Still, it didn’t matter that mine was harder or different. What mattered was that Eli seeing his parents like that hurt him, and I hated that for him.

Sliding my hands up his chest, I watched with fascination as he stopped breathing. His eyes sprung wider and the pulse in his neck jumped.

As soon as my hands were curled into his hair, I pulled him down a little so our lips could touch for the first time and when they did, I withdrew my head a fraction to see his reaction. He let out a huff of air, his arms tightened around my waist and his stare turned heated and hungry right before he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine again.

His tongue slipped out, testing, trying to see if I was ready. When I opened my mouth to run my own tongue with his, he moaned and the kiss melted into passion.

Eli pulled away first. His hand went to the back of my head where he brought it against his chest. We took our time to catch our breath. “Jesus, sweetheart. Christ. We have to stop before I take you here and now in front of everyone.”

Nothing against the idea came to mind at that present time.

“Bloody hell, you saying nothing says it all. Let’s cool our jets and enjoy the night.”

“Does that mean you won’t kiss me anymore?”

“Fuck no.” He laughed.

And he was right. The rest of the night was completed with food, rides, prizes and fun. The best part was when Eli would steal kisses when he could. His lips always seemed to find their way back to me and I was happy to oblige.

I was surprised to find that Caden and Eli kissed so differently. Both could be hard, gentle and delicious. But both in their own amazing way.

Addiction.

They were mine and I was looking forward to the next stage after kissing...hopefully soon.

The rest of the month was spent on uni and work. The guys went separately, because neither one was willing to leave me unguarded, to see Memphis and got themselves situated in Memphis’ charter. Apparently, Dodge and Dallas were in town as well now. I was yet to see them myself, but Eli said they’d settled in well at the Caroline Springs compound, though it made me wonder what was actually going down since Talon had sent so many members down our way. One day I would make it over there to see Memphis, Dodge and Dallas, but studying was taking up the rest of the time I had when I wasn’t with Eli and Caden.

With everything being so busy, things between the guys and myself hadn’t advanced from the hot kisses that drove, not only my mind insane, but my body. Each night they would walk me to my room and both of them would kiss me soundly goodnight...then that was it.

Again, were they waiting for me?

I wasn’t sure if they were waiting for me to make the first move, or if they were really so tired from everything they’d been doing. Between guarding me and the compound, they seemed strung out.

I didn’t find out the other reason they were strung out until two nights later.

Two nights later, my eyes opened wide.

Two nights later, I was taught there was more to what my mind provided.

Two nights later, I walked in on something that made my panties wet in seconds.

B
illy

Josie had gone
to the apartment downstairs to help Mrs Evans, the new tenant, with her two-year-old son while Mrs Evans ran to the grocery store. Simone was out with some dude she was seeing at the time. Pick and I were sitting on the couch watching
CSI
. The women of the house hated the show, so we were happy to get the place to ourselves, knowing that Josie was only downstairs safe.

“Saw Cameron the other day,” Pick said after taking a pull of his beer.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, the idiot and two of his friends cornered me in the dunny. Apparently, they thought I was the lesser freak of the two of us.”

I busted out laughing, knowing that wasn’t true. We were both the same really. When we protected, we did it in the way no fool would want to try shit. The most ruthless way possible.

“What a fuckin’ tool,” I said. “What’d you do?”

“After I knocked out his friends, I threatened to gut him like the pig he is. To get my point across, he now has a small scrape across his stomach.”

Snorting, I asked, “You think he knows we don’t fuck around now?”

“Not likely.”

“What’s up with that fucker? How dumb can one person be?”

“He likes to hide behind his lawyer daddy. He thinks he’s invincible.”

“Idiot. No one’s invincible to Hawks.”

“Exactly.”

My hands played with my now empty beer bottle. I’d been wanting to ask Pick something for a long time, but fuck, I was a dude and dudes didn’t talk about anything but cars, bikes and work.

“What you wanna ask?” Pick questioned. I looked over at him, one brow raised. I swear the dick could read minds sometimes. He lay on the couch, his knees bent and feet up right next to me. Then he spread his legs and smirked up at me.

“You’re a fuckin’ freak when you do that.”

He shrugged. “I know. It’s just easy to read you and our girl, that’s all. So, you gonna talk or what?”