~ ~ ~
The hot water hit my body. I needed a shower so badly. Truth was that half the reason I just wanted to get away from Tripp for a few minutes.
I shut my eyes and pretended for a few seconds that I was in a waterfall. Letting my mind slip away, I felt every droplet of water hit my skin. Through my hair, down my back. Down the front of my body. Then something happened.
My body started to react. The water that touched my breasts, trickled over my nipples, made me tingle. Down my stomach and between my legs, it was like something had been unleashed. Yet I was alone in the shower.
But Tripp was out there.
I stepped out of the water and shook my head.
I needed to cool off.
Right now.
I finished showering and grabbed a towel. I dried off and wrapped the towel around my body. I walked to the mirror and wiped away the steam. I stared at myself. My hair looked really dark when it was wet. And it got curly. Which was weird because when it dried the curls went away and a more blonde color showed.
I had no idea how long Tripp was going to be here or how bad things were going to get. If Stoney and the Red Aces could track down whoever shot Rocky, then it wouldn’t be all that long. But nobody seemed confident in that. Normally when shit hit the fan with the MC they had a plan in place. They went out and started wars to say they could. This time was different. It was darker, slower, everyone still processing that their VP was gunned down and taken out.
When I opened the bathroom door, I let out yet another shriek.
Tripp was sitting right there, against the wall, one leg bent, the other outstretched across the open doorway.
He looked up at me. “Feel better?”
“Shit. You scared me.”
I started to blush, remembering I was in nothing but a towel.
I clutched the towel tighter to my body, but even still, my arms and shoulders were exposed. The towel covered most of my chest but not all. The towel ended above my ankles and Tripp made no effort to get out of my way. So I had to step over his leg to get by. My body was on fire in a way that it shouldn’t have been. This was pure temptation.
I resisted the urge to look back at him as I walked toward my bedroom.
“Where are you going now?” he asked.
I stopped but still didn’t look back. “Going to get changed. Do you want to watch me?”
Tripp didn’t reply.
Although, I wished he would have said yes.
7.
(Tripp)
She was fucking killing me.
Did I need to sit outside the bathroom while she showered? Hell no. Did I need to make comments at her as she strutted by me, that nice ass pressing against her towel? Not a chance.
But I did it anyway.
When she came out of her bedroom, dressed, she looked even prettier. Her hair all messy and wet. A t-shirt that hugged in all the right places. Jeans that did her hips sexy justice. And then pink socks. Freaking pink socks.
I opened her fridge and saw that she lived as poor as I did.
“Yeah, help yourself,” she said.
“I’m checking for bad guys.” I looked back and grinned. “And beer.”
“I haven’t been here in a long time,” Winter said. “Sorry I didn’t go shopping.”
“No worries, darling. Where can we grab some food and beer?”
She called and ordered burgers, fries, and told me that the place had a cooler with six packs. That was the best thing I’d heard all day.
She was pissed that I made her come with me to get the food and beer. She was even more pissed when I escorted her into the dive bar to get our order. Funny though, she didn’t seem all that mad when I paid.
Back in the car, she had the food on her lap, the beer on the floor between her feet.
“You don’t like me up your ass, do you?” I asked.
“Doesn’t really matter. You’re here. I’m here.”
“At least we have something to eat and drink.”
Winter half smiled. She looked at my hands again. She touched my right knuckles and said, “You have to tell me about this.”
“I already did. I’m a fighter.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“None of the guys in the MC fight?”
“You mean… drunk and fight?”
“No. I mean for money.”
“I don’t know. I was never invited.”
“That’s a good thing,” I said.
We drove back to Winter’s place in silence.
I went inside first, gun drawn, and did a quick check of the rooms. I had no clue what to do to protect her other than follow my gut and try to mimic things I’d seen in movies.
We sat, ate, and drank.
Not quite a dream meal or a dream evening, but it was something. And the beer was cold and good. I watched Winter’s eyes following my knuckles each time I lifted and lowered my food and my beer bottle.
It took me four beers to finally start to open up a little.
“I fought a guy called Killer Kidd,” I said. “That’s where the wounds came from.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“It’s an underground thing. It’s all I’ve ever known to survive. Okay? I train, I fight, I earn money.”
“So you win all the fights?” Winter asked.
I gritted my teeth. I felt like a jackass not being able to admit why I was actually there with her. Not because I was a winner, but because I was a loser.
“I survive,” I said. “That’s all that matters.”
“I know the feeling,” Winter said.
“Yeah? Then tell me about all this. How’d you end up here?”
“How much time do we have to talk?” she said with a grin.
“For you, darling, I’ve got all night.”
Christ, Tripp, are you seriously flirting with her?
Winter started to smile bigger, those pretty blue eyes flirting right back at me.
I quickly stood up and grabbed the empty containers. I put them in the brown paper bag they came in and walked to the kitchen. The entire place wasn’t really that big, which meant I couldn’t get far from Winter.
I walked to the window and looked out. There was an open field behind the converted garage. Then there were lights of the town, the city, the night settling.
“What are you doing?” Winter asked.
“Just looking.”
“So what’s your plan? I mean, this doesn’t make sense to me either.”
“What doesn’t?”
“Why you’re here. I don’t understand why the club can’t protect me. Or why they can’t just send me somewhere. Or… if someone really wants me dead that bad, why even bother protecting me?”
I slowly turned. “That’s how you value your life?”
“How do you value yours, Tripp?”
“This isn’t about me. I’m asking you a question.”
“I don’t know how I value anything.”
“You’re just upset,” I said. “Mourning. That’s normal. And for the record, the guy who sent me here is more powerful than anything you could possibly imagine. The MC might be rough and tough bullies who control what they want, but the guy I work for controls everything. It’s organized. And it all looks legit.”
“So?”
“Point is, darling, if this guy wants you alive, then your life has value.”
“You know, that’s the sweetest thing anyone has said to me in a long time.”
I swallowed hard. I turned back to the window. I was better off that way. Winter was driving me crazy. Her beauty, her voice, her appeared innocence, her need to be protected, it all turned me on. It was so bad that I was actually standing there at the kitchen sink getting hard.
It took me a few minutes to calm down before I could grab another beer.
I leaned against the back of the couch. “I don’t want to rip into fresh wounds here, but do you have any idea who would kill you
r husband?”
Winter coughed and grabbed for her drink. She drank, coughed, drank again. Her face was apple red and tears in her eyes. She turned in her chair and looked at me.
“What?”
“What did I say?” I asked.
“My husband?”
“Yeah. I was told you’re a widow.”
Winter stood up. She put her fingertips to the table to brace herself. Three beers in and she was already feeling it pretty good.
Why did it turn me on that she was a cheap drunk?
“I’ve never been married,” Winter said. “Get that straight.”
“Okay. I’m just going by what I was told.”
“Fuck what you were told,” Winter said. “I was never married to Rocky. I was his old lady. So, yeah, in the world of the MC, I’m a widow. But it’s not true. He never gave me a ring. He never asked me. I never got the gown and all that, okay? I was just his old lady.”
Jesus, Winter,” I said. “I’m sorry. You’re not a widow then. Your boyfriend was murdered. Fine. I can live with that then. I’m just…”
Winter stepped toward me. Her blue eyes drunk, anger all around her.
Anger made people do crazy things. Fight. Kill. The insatiable need to fuck or get fucked.
And I was against the couch. My only defense would be to roll back and over the couch.
But I didn’t.
Winter put a hand to my chest. “I was his old lady, Tripp. That meant anything he wanted, I did. No matter what. Like I was supposed to be some lucky woman, you know? Because I had him. I had protection from him and the MC. But that’s not how it fucking works. He got himself killed and now I’m out there. If someone from the MC wants me, they can stake their claim. Then I’ll just be an old lady again. I’ll get thrown around, smacked if I do something wrong, and then I’ll just be used. On my hands and knees, ass in the air, taking it… because he says so.”
I gritted my teeth.
Now I was angry.
Was this the life Winter had been living?
Winter blinked and tears filled her eyes.
I resisted the urge to touch her, comfort her.
I was here for business. To protect her. To keep her safe.
That was it.
Her hand moved up my chest to my neck. When his nails touched my skin, she set me on fire. My cock pressed against my jeans. There was no controlling it. She was making me hard and making it hard to keep my cool.
“So that’s how I feel,” Winter whispered. “I’m just here to be used up and thrown around. Is that what you want to do to me, Tripp? Go ahead. I’m drunk enough. Order me around. You want to fuck me?”
My hands shot out and I grabbed her by the waist. I pushed her back to the table. She crashed into it, knocking over all the empty beer bottles. They clanked on the table, a couple rolling off and hitting the floor.
I ignored everything but Winter’s wild eyes.
The tip of my nose touched hers.
Fuck, it was just so tempting. I could just go for it. I could just rip her clothes off, put her on the table, and fuck her brains out. We both wanted it. Shit, we both needed it. She wanted to feel protected and alive. I just wanted to fuck.
My hands squeezed tight at her waist.
She was almost panting.
Then a tear fell town her cheek.
I shut my eyes and sighed.
“Fuck,” I growled.
“Tripp…”
I pushed away from her and left Winter standing there, knees bent, hands gripping the edge of the table, her entire body screaming with a need for sex.
“You need to go to sleep,” I said. “Right now.”
“You don’t want to hear anything else?” she asked.
“Right now? No. I’m not here to baby you. I’m not your fucking therapist.”
Christ, Tripp.
I held myself like stone, just like I had done with Aldo when I thought he was going to kill me.
Winter’s mouth fell open. She blinked faster, more tears coming to her eyes.
“Fuck you,” she said. “Fucking asshole.”
“Go,” I ordered and pointed. “And don’t lock the door either. If you do, I’ll shoot it open.”
Winter ran into the bedroom and slammed the door.
I pictured her diving to her bed and crying.
My hands were shaking like loose leaves in an autumn breeze.
I spun around and threw a right fist at the wall. I smashed through the drywall but then quickly found out - and remembered - it was a fucking converted garage. My punch ended where the concrete wall began under the drywall.
I growled and pulled my fist back. I walked to the fridge and grabbed a fresh beer.
Then I sat at the table, lifting the beer bottle with my right hand, fresh blood running down my hand and dripping to the floor.
I didn’t give a shit.
Then I remembered the gun I had brought.
Maybe I could just finish the job myself…
8.
(Winter)
I opened the bedroom door slowly. I saw a hole in the wall and saw blood on the table. I walked to the table and saw Tripp’s gun sitting there. When I turned, I saw him on the couch. His hands behind his head, his right foot on the floor, his left leg stretched out. The couch was too small for his muscular body, but there was only one bed in the place.
And like hell I was going to share my bed with Tripp. He was here to protect me and nothing more.
Even though I tried to throw myself at him last night.
Could anyone honestly blame me though? I’d been trapped in a world of darkness and mental torture for almost my entire life. The day I found out Rocky had been killed, I thought for a second I had a sliver of hope at surviving. But then the MC was right there. They all claimed they were going to take care of me, but I knew eventually one of them would choose me as their own.
I thought about waking up Tripp and apologizing for last night, but I decided against it. The front door was locked, the windows all shut. I was as good as protected for the moment.
After making coffee, I tossed up some scrambled eggs. I had exactly five eggs left to eat. I guess if Sarah wasn’t going to show up with a bag of groceries again, I’d have to take care of myself. I doubted that Sarah would be in a good mood with me after Tripp jacked up Harlan. But Harlan had that coming though. He shouldn’t have snuck into my place.
It really bothered me more I thought about it.
Him sitting there in the dark with a gun.
What if I was alone?
What was his real intention of being in my place?
I glanced back at the couch and smirked. Tripp might have saved me big time last night. Off to a good start, I guess.
I cleaned up the dining room table and put the eggs and coffee on it. In the back of my mind, I wondered what the hell was really going on. The MC had power and strength. Yet Stoney called in a favor to have me protected? The pieces to the puzzle were not adding up.
Tripp sat up and looked right at me. His eyes were a little weary but still so damn sexy. He looked around my place and then stood up. He grabbed his gun and tucked it away.
Then he stretched.
His shirt pulled up a little, revealing enough stomach muscle to make any decent woman’s panties writhe with moisture. That included my own. I looked down at the coffee and eggs on the table.
“Breakfast,” I said.
“I smell it,” Tripp said. “Thank you.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
He walked to the table and sat down.
The silence was very weird. We exchanged a few glances and the soundtrack to our breakfast was a fork hitting the plate, a fork scraping off teeth, and the slurp of hot coffee.
Finally, I put everything down. “I’m sorry about last night.”
“What about?”
“Tripp, we were drunk but not that drunk. I shouldn’t have pushed at you like I did, okay? I’m sor
ry. I’m scared. I don’t understand what’s happening or why.”
“I call bullshit on that, darling.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, you heard me. You’re tangled up with a MC and you have the guts to tell me you don’t understand what’s happening? I’m sure if you thought about it real hard, you could find some skeletons hanging around your closet. If you want me to protect you the right way, then start talking. If not, then I’ll just be here until I’m not.”
“And what does that mean?”
Tripp finished his coffee. He stood from the table. “It’s simple. You have to have some idea why Rocky was killed. And if the MC thinks you’re next, there’s a connection. You’re important enough to protect but not important enough to save. That means you have something they want.”
“Who is they?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Isn’t that a great feeling,” I muttered.
Tripp walked his plate and mug to the counter. He then turned and looked at me. “For the record, I’d like to believe you’re important enough to protect and save. So prove it to me.”
Tripp then went into the bathroom and shut the door.
He didn’t lock it.
I heard the water turn on.
I frowned and thought about everything that could have been coming back to bite me in the ass. There was a lot. My life didn’t have a skeleton or two in a closet. It had a house.
I waited at the bathroom door.
Tripp opened it and jumped back a step.
“Start at the beginning,” I whispered. “Let’s go visit the MC.”