Biker's Bride: A Bad Boy Romance (Demons MC) Read online

  “Maybe.” Clutch looked at me. “Ford’s been in every pussy this half of Austin, maybe the whole city. Who knows?”

  I nodded, blushing. Thinking about him having sex with another girl made my jealousy flare like crazy, but I didn’t have any real claim over him. “It’s okay,” I said. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Guess not now,” Clutch said. “He never married one of them. Actually, he never saw one more than a single night.” He roared with laughter again.

  Janine rolled her eyes. “Ignore him, sweetie,” she said. “How have things been, seriously?”

  “Okay,” I said. “Stressful obviously. Lots of stuff going on.”

  She nodded. “I don’t know all the details, but I hear it’s crazy.”

  “And you don’t need to know,” Clutch grumbled.

  Janine gave him a sarcastic look. “Club business, I know,” she said.

  I laughed, shaking my head. I’d never noticed before the genuine affection between Clutch and Janine, but it was definitely there. I wasn’t sure either of them noticed it yet. Maybe they would.

  I drank a gin and tonic and sat around, still floating on air from my sex with Ford earlier. The morning attack was fading into memory, though the fear still lingered at the edges of my mind.

  Still, there was something else there pushing away everything else. It was a feeling that I thought had gone away a long time ago, a long-buried feeling.

  Ford gave it to me. Ford made me float, made me feel right, safe, good. I realized in that moment that I had been waiting for Ford to come back for so long, for the man on the bike to finally return and pull me away from everything I was trying to get away from.

  My time with Rod was just a placeholder for Ford. I hated to admit that, but Rod just never made me feel the way that Ford did. Rod was a good guy, a good friend, but I didn’t love him.

  I didn’t love him like I was in love with Ford.

  The thought hit me like a lightning bolt.

  I was in love with Ford Cook. I was in love with my husband, my badass biker husband.

  “Caralee.”

  I looked up, startled. Ford was grinning at me.

  “Oh. Hey.”

  “You okay?”

  “Sure. I’m fine.” I could tell that I was blushing, so I covered it by taking a sip of my drink.

  I hoped he couldn’t read my mind, because I was sure that if he knew how I felt, he’d probably run screaming.

  Ford didn’t seem like the love type.

  Still, I felt it. And it wasn’t just the sex; it was everything. He was strong, decisive, attractive, ripped, generous, funny when he wanted to be, and above all, he was himself.

  Ford sat down next to me. TomTom was bartending again, and he brought Ford a beer.

  “How’d it go in there?” I asked him.

  “Yeah, what’s the old man say?” Clutch added.

  “Everything’s fine,” he grunted, but I could tell that wasn’t exactly true. “He’s meeting with the council soon to figure out next moves.”

  “Typical,” Clutch said, shaking his head. “The council talks and talks and we’re left out here, ready to do the damn dirty work.”

  “Someone has to lead,” Ford said simply, sipping his beer.

  I looked at him and could tell something had happened. But he wanted to keep it from Clutch, for whatever reason.

  I smiled and put my hand on Ford’s leg. “Come here,” I said, and I stood up.

  He look at me, a wicked grin crossing his face. “So soon?”

  “Come on.”

  Janine and Clutch laughed as I led Ford back toward the bathrooms. “Can’t say I’m surprised you want another taste already,” he said, grabbing my hips.

  I pushed him away. “Stop that. I want to know what happened.”

  “Nothing, like I said.”

  “Ford. Tell me.”

  He sighed. “Might as well tell you the truth.”

  I crossed my arms. “Well?”

  “So, here’s the deal. We think the Rebels were acting as a middle man for some South American cartel. Just a few minutes ago, I found diamonds hidden inside the heroin, probably meant for the Snakes.”

  I nodded slowly. “That’s why they wanted that shipment so badly.”

  “Right. They have millions in that briefcase, and they thought you’d stolen it.”

  “Shit,” I said. “What’s going to happen?”

  “The council is deciding whether we’re returning the case or not.”

  I stared at him. “So basically, if they don’t return the case, it’s going to be war, right?”

  “All-out war,” he said, frowning. “Who knows if we’ll survive.”

  I pressed myself against him. “We’ll get through it.”

  “Caralee,” he started.

  “Wait,” I said. “Hold on. I want to say something.”

  I looked up at him and he nodded. “What?”

  “I know I’m not really your wife, but I’m glad you married me.”

  “Me too.”

  “You probably don’t want to hear this, but I’m starting to feel things.” I blushed and had to look away. I felt so stupid all of a sudden. Why couldn’t I just say how I felt? “You know, stuff I never intended.”

  “I love you too, Caralee,” he said.

  My heart practically skipped a beat. “What?”

  “We can stop with the fucking games. We might all be dead soon anyway.” He held me harder.

  “I love you,” I whispered.

  We stood like that in the back alcove of the Demons clubhouse, holding each other, afraid of what was going to happen.

  The end was coming. The end of everything.

  And yet my heart was full. It was swollen with joy, love, and pride. I was Ford’s wife. I was his old lady. I’d never wanted to be, but I was.

  Nothing was going to take that away from me.

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Ford

  I hadn’t seen the full might of the Demons MC arrayed in a long, long time.

  We had about half our members, everyone in full battle gear, lined up in ranks. Larkin and the full council was there, plus every enforcer we had. The only men left behind were the pledges, those that were out of town, and a small group to protect the clubhouse and our other important holdings.

  The desert stretched out around us. I thought briefly of Caralee, though I knew she was safe. I’d left her at the clubhouse, and the men there had strict orders to keep the place safe no matter what. We weren’t ruling out some sort of trick or ambush.

  Across the shallow valley, the Snakes came down on us.

  They had about the same numbers that we did, though their gear wasn’t nearly as good. They likely didn’t leave as many men behind, either, since I knew our ranks were deeper than theirs were.

  But still, if it came to a fight, it was going to be a bloodbath. There wasn’t much cover out in the desert, with only the occasional scrub brush and cactus outcropping to break up the otherwise monotonous stretch of rock and parched earth.

  The Snakes stopped about a football field away and got off their bikes. A small group of them continued moving forward, and Larkin looked around. “Ford,” he called out.

  I stepped up. “Yeah, prez.”

  “With me.”

  There were some murmurs in the crowd. Normally in a meeting like this, it was only upper leadership. I had to admit that I was surprised.

  “This was his fight,” Larkin called out. “Ford earned this. Let’s go.”

  I fell in with him and two other council members, Stonewall and Trace. Larkin held the briefcase; everyone else held high-powered automatic rifles.

  We walked toward the group of Snakes that was coming toward us. Soon, we were face-to-face with the enemy.

  I didn’t know much about the leadership of the Snakes. The leader’s name was Trenton, and he was a fat bastard. He had a thick beard and piercing blue eyes. The other men were younger and more muscular, but Trenton was by far the la
rgest of the group.

  “Larkin,” Trenton said. “Been a while.”

  “Trenton. You lost weight.”

  Trenton laughed. “Damn right. Old lady got me on a diet.”

  Larkin smiled his creepy smile. “Good to hear.”

  “So,” Trenton said. “Those our goods?”

  “They are.”

  “Toss it over and let’s be done with this.”

  “Not so fast,” Larkin said.

  Trenton narrowed his eyes.

  My heart was pounding in my chest. I knew what the deal was supposed to be, and yet I was still nervous. It was hard not to be when the only thing between you and a bunch of violent motherfuckers with guns was clear air.

  “Thought you were returning my goods,” Trenton said.

  “We have conditions.”

  He laughed long and loud and then looked at me. “Is this Ford?” he asked.

  I nodded. “That’s me.”

  “Figured. How’s the girl, Ford?”

  “She didn’t steal from you.”

  He grinned. “Don’t give a fuck.” Trenton looked back at Larkin. “What do you want?”

  “First, the girl goes free.”

  “Fine. We never fucking cared about the bitch anyway.”

  I clenched my jaw but said nothing.

  “Second,” Larkin continued, “we want an end to this war.”

  Trenton spread his hands. “That, my friend, is not going to happen.”

  “You know it was the Rebels that fucked you over, not us.”

  “We know,” Trenton said.

  “We were only involved because the girl came to us and Ford here claimed her.”

  “We know.”

  “Then we can end this here and now.”

  “Problem is,” Trenton said, “my boys are real mad about all the blood that’s been spilled.”

  “We lost boys too.”

  “We lost more,” Trenton snapped.

  “You came at us,” Larkin said, keeping his cool.

  “We did. An unfortunate misunderstanding. But you went ahead and killed more of us and stole some of our equipment. Plan on giving that back?”

  Larkin shook his head. “No.”

  “In exchange for the diamonds,” Trenton said, “we’ll forget about the girl.”

  “Not enough,” Larkin said.

  “We’ll crush the fucking Rebels too. How about that?”

  Larkin frowned. “Why should that matter to me?”

  “Because that rat fuck Jetter is going to try to rot your crew from the inside. We call a temporary truce while we destroy the Rebels, and then we’ll see where we’re at.”

  Larkin glanced at Stonewall, who nodded once. “Fine. You have a deal.”

  Trenton nodded at the man to his right. He stepped forward. Larkin tossed him the briefcase. The man opened it and looked at it. “Looks right, boss,” the man said.

  “Good doing business with you,” Trenton said.

  “Good luck with the Rebels.”

  “We won’t need luck. We’re in the killing mood.” Trenton grinned wickedly, and then the three men turned and began walking away.

  Larkin looked at me. “Happy?”

  I shrugged. “Not really, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “Fucking fools,” Stonewall grunted. “They’ll get softened up by the Rebels and then we’ll make a real peace.”

  “That’s probably what Trenton wants,” Larkin said as we walked back toward our lines. “He can’t look weak in front of his men, so he destroys the Rebels, gets them nice and tired out, and then makes nice with us.”

  “Good plan,” I grunted.

  “We’ll see how it goes.”

  The desert wind swept through the valley as the Demons MC climbed onto our bikes.

  There was a roar from the devil himself as we kicked our bikes alive.

  We rode out in formation.

  We were the Demons MC. Nobody fucked with us, because we were the biggest and baddest fuckers alive. We took what we wanted.

  But we also weren’t fucking stupid. We made deals when deals made sense. And right now, everyone knew a deal with the Snakes made sense before we ended up killing each other completely.

  War wasn’t over, though. The Rebels would get crushed, but somehow I knew our part in all this wasn’t over yet.

  As we rode back, my mind was firmly on my old lady, on Caralee. She’d be safe now. She’d be safe and we could figure out what the fuck we wanted.

  Although I knew what I wanted. It was the same thing I’d wanted from the start of everything, from the very moment I saw her come into the damn clubhouse that first crazy night.

  I wanted to claim her. I wanted to make her mine.

  I rode with my club. I would die for my club.

  But I loved Caralee, and I would keep on loving her as long as I had breath left.

  Chapter Thirty-Three: Caralee

  One Year Later

  I sat on the porch, my feet kicked up and a mug of hot herbal tea in my hands.

  The forest was quiet and I liked it like that. Ever since moving into the cabin, I had slowly lost my taste for the city and loved being out in the secluded space more and more. True, we spent a lot of time at the clubhouse, but that was just what it meant to be the old lady of a Demons MC member.

  I looked at the ring on my finger and smiled. I could barely remember back when I would have loved for that ring to disappear. We kept saying we were going to get divorced and marry each other properly, but we both knew that wasn’t going to happen.

  Because in a lot of ways, the way we’d ended up together was perfect. It was just how it was supposed to be, and I wouldn’t change much about it if I could.

  Maybe some of the worst parts. I still thought fondly about Rod. He brought me and Ford back together, after all.

  I sipped my tea and sighed. I missed coffee, but it was a small price to pay. I missed a lot of things, actually, but I had to abstain.

  The past year had been crazy and great all at once. I had finished my degree, mostly because Ford had insisted on it. The war between the Snakes and the Rebels had raged on and was still continuing, since their leader Jetter hadn’t been captured yet. Though the Rebels were done, for all intents and purposes.

  Which meant there were whispers of renewed problems with the Snakes. I didn’t know too much about it, but I’d heard it had to do with distribution lines from South America, something about smuggling drugs and stuff like that. Ford tried to keep me from most of it, but I heard things just being around the clubhouse.

  I knew Ford’s life was dangerous, but that was what I loved about him. Living on his own terms, he faced whatever challenges were in front of him with confidence.

  I really envied that about him, though he was always saying that I had my own gifts, stuff he could never do himself. I wasn’t sure about that.

  But best of all, ever since I’d moved into the cabin, I’d had my body worked over again and again, every night that Ford was home. The man was an animal, completely insatiable. He couldn’t get enough of me and I couldn’t get enough of him. It worked that way for us, night after night of body-bending sex.

  As I sat there, the sound of a motorcycle in the distance made my heart race. I always felt that way whenever Ford was coming home. We’d been together for a while now, but that feeing hadn’t faded at all.

  I was fully, deeply, crazily in love with him.

  I watched as he rounded the bend and parked his bike right out front.

  “You’re home early,” I called out.

  “Couldn’t stay away,” he said, grinning. He climbed off the bike. “How’s my wife doing?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll ask her.”

  He laughed. I stood up, putting my mug on the ground, and he swept me up in a huge hug.

  He kissed my neck, my lips. I smiled at him. “How are you feeling today?” he asked.

  “Fine. You don’t have to keep asking.”

  He l
aughed. “Listen, woman, you got my baby growing inside you now. I’m going to fuckin’ ask when I want.”

  I laughed, smiling hugely. I was just beginning to show, a little tiny baby bump in my stomach. He put his hand over it, though he couldn’t feel anything yet.

  I kissed his lips. “You’re incredible,” I said.

  “Damn right I am.” He knelt down in front of me and kissed my stomach. “And my baby is going to be fuckin’ incredible too.”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “Come on, get up.”

  He stood and followed me inside, slapping my ass. I laughed as I grabbed him a beer. He cracked it open, grinning. “I got you something.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  He pulled out a small box from his jacket.

  “Ford,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

  “Wait.” He dropped down to one knee. “Listen, Caralee. I’m in love with your sexy pregnant ass. I’m going to love you hard, rough, and however you want it for as long as you want it. Be my wife?”

  I laughed. “Yes. Of course.” I took the box and opened it, gasping. “Ford!”

  He stood. “You like it?”

  “Of course I like it!”

  The ring was perfect. It was a cluster ring, made of perfect little diamonds. I had no clue how much it had cost, but it had to have been expensive. I slipped it on my finger, and it fit perfectly.

  “What’s this for?” I asked him.

  “Figured you’d like an engagement ring. We never did do that.”

  I shook my head and kissed him hard.

  Ford, my man, my badass biker. My husband, my baby’s father. The man was hard as rock when he was with the club, but he was beginning to soften the farther along my pregnancy went.

  Soon, he’d be just another dad, cooing and laughing at everything his kid did.

  I kissed him hard as he wrapped his arms around me.

  We stood like that in the cabin, our cabin in the woods, our little piece of land. Ford would have to build an extension pretty soon, but for now, it was just right.

  Everything was just right. The baby, the man, the life. It was more than I could have imagined all those months ago, way more than I could have guessed.

  It was love. It was family.

  I was the biker’s bride and I always would be.