Running with the Devil: Plantain Series Book One Page 13

  “Feel better now?” he asks after sliding my shorts on and standing.

  I wrap my arms around his shoulders, pressing my face into his chest.

  “I do actually,” I smile and let out a sigh. “This better not be something I’m always going to need.”

  I tease lifting my head to meet his blue gaze, a look of confusion on his face.

  “Because that tight little pussy you like so much, won’t be that tight anymore.”

  Dornan growls and grabs my ass with both hands, tugging me closer.

  “I’ll take you with droopy titties, wrinkles, gray hair, and blown out,” he smiles.

  I tilt my head back and laugh, causing him to laugh, before he pulls my head back up and kisses me.

  *********

  The next few days are uneventful, thank God. I needed time to decompress and get my shit together. It’s a few days before I read my dad’s letter, it wasn’t about anything interesting, because he doesn’t have much going on these days. Still, it’s nice to have that connection to him and I decide that I’ll go visit him sometime next week. There’s no mention of what he meant when he said someone was going to come to me and that I shouldn’t tell them anything, hoping that on my next visit he could tell me more.

  Dornan and I are inseparable, when I’m home, he’s there. When I’m at the shop, he’s at the club. He’s practically moved in with me. One morning I noticed his things in the shower, then a few days later he cleared two drawers in my dresser for his stuff. I don’t mind since he does stay over every night, and the house is big enough for the both of us, besides I like having him in my space. Sometimes he runs with us in the morning, or leaves the club before I’m done at work and I’d come home to dinner made, and him telling me I ‘deserve to be treated like gold.’ He does laundry and helps me grocery shop, he’s literally joined my life seamlessly, and I love it. Needless to say, the sex is amazing and keeps getting better. The fact that I’ve trusted him for so long, and with my life, strengthens our connection.

  It’s only this morning when I wake up to go for a run, that I notice my ruby ring’s been moved from my right hand ring finger...to my left. He must’ve done this while I was asleep, and I’m not sure what this means. We haven’t talked about the future really, Dornan always said he’d never make me promises. But he did ask me to be his old lady, and that was the extent of it. Knowing him for so long, I think part of it was he thought I’d still reject him, or tell him this meant more to him than me.

  He got up before I left for my morning run, telling me he has to meet Drag and Sven at the clubhouse, and they’ll be gone on a run all day. I know the job he’s going on and it’s nothing major, meeting with a business we’ve worked with before many times. I wait for him to be ready before Bagheera and I leave, his Charger pulling out the long driveway ahead of us as I blow him a kiss and head in the opposite direction. We run five miles in the foothills of the mountains, before heading home. It’s late morning by the time Bagheera and I turn onto our street, and all seems quiet. Already today’s beautiful, a breeze blows through the huge oak trees that line either side of the street, and it seems as if our heat wave might be letting up today.

  “Maven!” I hear being called to my left, looking over to see my neighbor Mrs. Clayton walking towards me down her front walk. I slow and jog over towards her, I rarely ever talk to her, because like all the other neighbors she doesn’t seem to like me. But she was one of my grandma’s best friends, and is the eyes and ears of Plantain. The little old lady is dressed like it’s winter in Colorado, as I stand there sweating and practically naked.

  “Maven, I’m glad I saw you. I wanted to tell you, I saw a man on your property a few days ago.”

  “Oh, well I’ve had someone move in with me recently-”

  “Not Dornan Frederiksen, this was someone I’ve never seen before.”

  I look over towards my house. I hadn’t noticed anything out of place, like someone had tried to break in.

  “He was in a dark SUV with another man driving, but only the one got out. He walked around the house, and looked in some of the windows. He was only there a few minutes before Bagheera,” she nods down at him sitting beside me, “came out and chased him to the car.”

  I reach over to pet Bagheera’s head, as I try to remember what day I left him home. But then it occurs to me, if Bagheera was outside, then that means that Dornan or myself had to be home at the time in order to let him outside. I place a hand on my throat, someone had been at my house with us there and we didn’t even know it.

  “I was about to call Officer Milton, but I didn’t get a good look at the license plate, and I didn’t see anyone come back. I only worried because they didn’t come to the door, and I saw Dornan’s Charger in the drive.”

  I’m not sure how to feel about this, no club members know where I live, except for Dornan, and Joey. But Mrs. Clayton knows Joey and would recognize him easily, and he would tell me if he’d been there.

  “Thank you Mrs. Clayton,” I reply monotone and start to walk towards my house when she begins talking again.

  “I did see something though on the back windshield...you know.” She lifts her arm and bends her hand inwards. “The thing the grim reaper holds?”

  I feel my stomach drop, I mean, literally drop. A wave of nausea crashing over me, as I feel my knees weaken slightly.

  “Scythe,” I say to myself.

  “What dear?” she narrows her eyes in not hearing me.

  “Nothing,” I lift my hand in a wave and turn around. “Thank you,” I repeat.

  I barely make it into my house, my bloods rushing and I feel faint. Robotically I fill Bagheera’s water and grab my cellphone, seeing Dornan’s texted me to tell me he made it there safely. My fingers hover over his name to call, fuck what am I supposed to say? ‘Hey, just FYI Children of the Reaper were at our house.’ Fuck. Grabbing a bag from one of the spare bedroom closets, and throw in a days worth of clothes. Dornan still has stuff at his clubhouse apartment, so I don’t need to pack for him. I lock my doors, which I’ve never had to be mindful of, and for once wished I had some awesome security system or complicated locks. But this is my house, my sanctuary, things like this shouldn’t be what I think about here.

  We load into the car and head for the clubhouse, where no one seems to notice my arrival as I head to Dornan’s apartment. I shower there and get dressed for the day, my nerves still fucking with me, my mind racing. What the fuck did they want at my house? Were they looking for me? Was it Brayden that had been there?

  Dornan texts me again mid-afternoon, saying he doesn’t think he’ll be back until after midnight. A while later, I reply that I’m not feeling that great, and I’m probably going to crash in his apartment. I really don’t feel well, but not bad enough to be unable to drive, I just need an excuse to keep Dornan and myself from the house. He immediately calls me and asks a hundred and one questions about what’s wrong, and if I want Spiney to drive me home. I tell him I just need some sleep, and it isn’t some awful thing that I’ll be staying at his place.

  “I fucked chicks on that bed V, I don’t want to sleep with you there,” he replies bluntly.

  “Well, I’ll be sure to change the sheets,” I smile and cut him off as he starts to protest again. “Okay, see you when you get back, be safe,” I rush out before hanging up.

  Of course he calls me back, and I repeat that I don’t care. His sweetness about it makes me forget, for a moment, the reason we’re staying there to begin with. It’s not that I’m avoiding telling him, but I’m not sure what the visit means or what they wanted...and really could I be certain it’s even anyone from that MC? Granted, all Children of the Reaper have the reaper’s scythe symbol on their leathers, their bikes, their flags, their tattoos. Maybe it’s a coincidence, and some random person has it for a bumper sticker. Regardless, I don’t want to cause a big thing if it’s nothing, and I want more information before I tell anyone.

  I page Chilly, yes page. He’s so
secretive and wants off the grid as far as possible, I’m surprised we don’t use carrier pigeons to get in contact with him. The pager number’s listed as a plumbing company in Texas, and he returns the call on a very complicated, untraceable setup he uses on a laptop. It’s so complicated, I don’t even understand it.

  “Are you watching CR?” I ask.

  “I got eyes on them, yeah.”

  His voice is gruffer than Smokey’s, but he’s actually a smoker.

  “I’m not sure, but I have reason to believe, they might be attempting to collect personal information on members.”

  He makes a noise that I think is intended to be ‘hmmm,’ but it’s so low and gravely, it comes out like a groan.

  “Anyone in particular?” he asks.

  “Not sure yet, just wanted to give you a heads up.”

  “Got it kid... if I find anything like that, I’ll make sure D relays it.”

  Fuck.

  “Sure, thanks brother.”

  I exhale deeply as I hang up the receiver, trying to focus back to the pile of work on my desk. But I can’t concentrate due to my mind running over a million scenarios. Just as I’m about to give up and call it a day, my phone pings with a text, and I smile for the first time in hours to see it’s from Dornan.

  “Every time I hear this song I think of you babe...heading back, see ya soon.”

  Below is a link to Billy Joel’s- “Always a Woman to Me.” I bite my lip and let out a little giggle. Of course I’ve heard this song more than enough times to know it by heart. But knowing the lyrics connects me to him, causes me to stop and really listen. This is Dornan’s way of telling me what he thinks of me. I guess some chicks would maybe not like the words, but every line makes me think of an instance in our lives together. When the song ends, I begin searching through my songs. One in particular I know will tell him everything I want to, the unspoken feelings I have for him, the one’s I can’t put into words for myself.

  “Thank you for my song dedication, I plan to listen to it on repeat...here’s a song for you, have a safe trip. XX”

  Then the link for Led Zeppelin’s- “All of My Love.”

  I press send and try to picture his reaction to hearing the song, hoping he’ll listen to the words and understand how I feel about him.

  10

  *DORNAN*

  I open the text from Maven and click the link for the song she sent, cranking the volume as I start up my bike. We stopped to fill up before the four hour trip back home, and knowing V’s in my bed waiting for me, surely means that this will be the longest four fucking hours of my life. She drives me crazy, in all the good ways of course. Even in the not good ways, I love that she challenges me and calls me on my bullshit. She’s the only girl I’ve ever wanted. Sure I was obviously attracted to other women, I slept around and tried to curb the appetite I had for V since I was fifteen. But still, no one compares to what she does to me. The way she looks at me, and shoots me devilish grins at meetings. The way she rides her motorcycle even, not to mention watching her do the shit with computers and things we do on runs. She’s smart and feisty and doesn’t take shit. But she’s still sweet and thoughtful, always classy, and always too damn sexy for her own good. She never knew how much the other guys ribbed me about how crazy I am for her. But I always took the jokes and comments, because I knew one day she’d be mine.

  I watched and waited for her to figure out Brayden was an asshole, of course I didn’t want her to be hurt by him. But knew it was only a matter of time, and that was the only way she’d get over him. I still don’t really get their relationship, she became this pliant dumbed down version of who she really is, like she just accepted him being married and him treating her like a sweet bottom. I hated watching her waste a smile on him, a touch, a kiss, all the while he was jerking her around. It sucked even more when I knew I would never treat her that way. She deserves to be treated like a fucking gem, because that’s what she is. A one of a kind woman who should never settle, or put up with the shit that Brayden pulled on her. I never understood how she didn’t know I’m into her. Maybe because I’ve always treated her the same since we were little, with respect and love. Maybe she just came to think that friends were what we’d always be, since Joey also shows her nothing but respect.

  Once Brayden was out of the picture, I had to restrain myself from following her home after their confrontation at my parents, to tell her then and there that she was mine. Instead I gave her some time, to let her realize she’s better than what he made her, hoping she’d see that in me. But for someone so smart, she really was dumb about us. Then finally when I did tell her, tell her what I wanted, that I was done waiting, I could see the blinders fall off and she started to see me in a totally different way. She finally saw the way I looked at her, the way I cherished her, the way she made me hard with one look.

  I listen to the song she sent me the entire trip home, the words hitting me in the heart, and fuck I love her so goddamn much. I want to tell her, but what’s love to us? We’d been through hell and back, been through shit, seen shit- times where we both put ourselves in danger for the other. What the fuck did love mean in all that? We’re beyond that, those words seem meaningless in the story of our life.

  When we pull into the club’s lot it’s after three am, a few hours later than we planned. But Chain had some bike issues we had to stop a few times to take care of. I nod my goodnights as they both get into Joey’s truck, and drive off towards home. The clubhouse is quiet, but there are brothers and a few sweet bottoms in the main area, playing pool and drinking at the bar. The Eagles- “Life in the Fastlane,” is playing over the speakers, as the smell of cigarette and pot smoke hangs thick in the air. I slide my beanie off as Rocket waves two fingers in my direction from the bar, and I stretch my arms in the air while making my way over.

  “V made you dinner, in the first fridge on the right,” he says over the music with a nod.

  I tilt my chin in thanks and head for the kitchen, unzipping my leather jacket as I flip a light on. I half expect to see a bowl of cereal there, but opening the fridge I see a plate covered with tinfoil along with a note:

  “Microwave for 2 minutes x.”

  Removing the tinfoil and tossing it onto the counter, I place the plate of chicken, rice, and broccoli in the microwave and go back to the fridge for a bottle of water. All I want to do is go to my girl, but I’m fucking starving and she’s asleep. That’s not going to stop me from waking her ass up, and showing her how that song she sent makes me feel though.

  I shovel my food down and chug my water, before heading out the other entrance to the kitchen, which leads to the back hallways and the apartments. My eyes glance over to where Brayden had Maven up against the wall by her neck, and feel my anger spark. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get the vision of that, and him touching her, out of my head. The feelings I have about that will stay with me for a long time, the fear for her and the murderous rage I feel for him. I know if Joey hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve killed Brayden that night. Even on runs or when fucked up shit happens with Maven there, I know she can handle herself. But to see her the way she was in that moment, unable to fight him, makes me sick. I stayed up all that night with her sleeping upstairs, replaying the scene and what could’ve happened if I didn’t notice she’d been gone too long for the bathroom. I’ve never had something linger with me like this, I couldn’t shake the sight all night or next morning. When she came downstairs, and I saw her neck marred with angry red marks, I knew Brayden would pay for this. But then seeing in her eyes that she was okay, I almost cried from the stress. She turns me inside out, but frustrates the hell out of me. Even more that she seemed accepting of what happened, well, what almost happened. The thought of her maybe being assaulted in the past by some other MC asshole made me want to murder. What I did to Drag at the Tavern after he’d tried to pick her up, would be mild to what I want to do to someone at the thought of her being hurt. When she confirmed nothing like that had
ever happened before, the weight of the world lifted off my chest. But no matter her words or resolve, the events from that night will always be with me.

  I open the door to the apartment slowly, the light from the hallway filters in and Bagheera raises his head as I enter. The moonlight streams in through the old sheer curtains, glowing off the bare back of my girl. V’s lying on her stomach, the thin white sheet barely covering her fine plump ass. Her long dark hair’sall over the pillows,my pillows, and for whatever reason I feel it in my dick. I slip into the bathroom to shower, knowing I stink from being in the sun and on my bike for hours today. When I re-emerge, she’s still sound asleep in the same position. Lifting the sheet, I get in bed and lean down to kiss between her shoulder blades, inhaling her scent of woman and something sweet and flowery that’s just V. She hums in reaction, but doesn’t move. I lay down beside her and run my hand over her hair, before kissing the tip of her nose, causing another hum and making my dick hard as fuck. I kiss the little crease between her eyebrows as she stirs slightly, my lips planting kisses on her face. Finally, she sighs and rolls onto her side, showing me her beautiful full tits. My hand moves to her cheek as I kiss her lips, and she begins mumbling something.

  “Shhh,” I whisper against her lips.

  “I need you,” she replies softly.

  Since V’s become mine, I can’t get enough of her. Not just sex, but kissing and touching her, watching her, and talking with her. She stimulates every one of my senses. With sex though, she never objects and always lets me take her anytime and any way. Just like she does with me, seeking me out at work to take me into her office and fuck me. With a shiver, she rolls onto her back, her dark mauve nipples tighten while my hand moves to cup one of her tits. To see her like this, naked and open to me, I never imagined how it would make me feel to actually have this, to have her in real life. She takes care of herself, and it does all the right things, toning her sleek long body. She’s always had an amazing rack, even when she first developed boobs. It was like one day she was a kid, and then boom the next day she was a woman. I wanted to tell her that her tits had been the first images I’d ever jerked off to, but I’m not sure how she’d take that.