Tied Read online

  “Yeah, and I’m here to see you, actually.”

  I blinked at his words and looked at his expression carefully. As a prospect, Ford wasn’t a patched Reckless Bastard, not yet, but he took his role as prospect seriously. “What’s up? Do we need Gunnar for this?”

  Ford shook his head and blew out a breath before he took a long ass sip of steaming coffee. “Nope, this is about you.”

  Now he had my attention. “What about me?”

  “A woman came to the club last night. She was looking for you.” The kid had more to say, so I nodded and waited him out.

  “She stood outside the club for a few minutes looking kind of confused, but not like the normal shit we’ve been dealing with around here. She kept looking down and then up like she had an address that didn’t quite match up.”

  There wasn’t any reason for a woman other than my mama to be tracking me down, and I talked to her a few days ago. I always wrapped my dick before a fuck so I wasn’t expecting any surprise baby visits either.

  “What else?”

  “She came inside with one of our regulars, Beat,” he said with a roll of his eyes. Beat was gorgeous and freaky as hell, and she didn’t discriminate. Not to mention, she had Ford and his baby face in her sights.

  “Anyway, she freaked out on Slayer downstairs and told him and Hazel she was looking for you. When they left her alone, she booked it the fuck outta there.”

  “She leave a name?”

  “Not that I got, but you can ask Hazel or Slayer.” He shrugged. “Except for official membership info, everyone gives fake names anyway.”

  I nodded again because that much was true. I’d run into more Brandis and Candees at The Barn Door than I had at all the strip clubs I visited on leave from the Army.

  “She give any clue what she might want with me?”

  “No, but if you want, you can take a look at the security footage, see if her face rings any bells for ya.”

  Ford finished off his coffee and stood, smiling at Stone who was now fast asleep in my arms.

  “If you need anything else, I’ll be sleeping until it’s time to go back to work.”

  I smiled, thinking of how much work the kid put into the Reckless Bastards and The Barn Door.

  “Don’t forget to take a little dick time for yourself. If you don’t use it, you’re gonna lose it. That’s what I hear, anyway.”

  “Maybe you’ve been using it a bit too much,” Martha grumbled from her spot in front of the stove. Ford laugh as he pushed his way out the back door.

  “Very funny, Martha.”

  “I thought so. Get that baby in his crib before your loud voice wakes him up.”

  Another quick look down at Stone’s sleeping face made me smile. Then it made my stomach clench. What if this mystery woman was trying to find me to tell me that a night, or even a weekend of pleasure, had resulted in me being a daddy?

  “Shit.” That idea didn’t sit right with me. I wasn’t ready to settle down and raise kids yet, especially not with all the shit that had been thrown at the MC lately.

  “Language.”

  I rolled my eyes at Martha, mostly because her back was to me. and I didn’t have to risk the wrath of her wooden spoon if she caught me. That, and I wanted to make sure she didn’t forget to call me when breakfast was ready.

  Stone began to fuss as soon as I laid him in the fancy bassinet thingy Peaches insisted we use. After all the Farnsworth shit, she couldn’t stand for the little guy to be out of anyone’s sight for any length of time.

  “Don’t worry Stoney boy, I gotcha.”

  When Peaches and Gunnar got back from their outing, I vowed to check out of baby duty for at least a month. The little guy was cute, but damn babies were hard work.

  And that thought only made me think of the woman who showed up last night. Looking for me. Stone wanted to be held, which meant I wouldn’t make it to the club to look at surveillance footage anytime soon, so I kicked off my boots and laid on the sofa with his little body flush against my chest, so warm and tiny. He immediately calmed and the soothing sucking and cooing noises he made were the perfect soundtrack for my racing thoughts.

  Eventually, I ran out of shit to think about, to stress about. With Farnsworth taken care of, for now anyway, life had gone back to normal, which is to say, it was pretty fucking good. The club was thriving and even the ranch had started turning a profit again. We all made more money at the ranch than we ever made working for the government.

  Life was good.

  Life was quiet. And drama-free.

  Just how I liked it.

  Chapter Three

  Hennessy

  I finally found Hardtail Ranch. At least according to the metal sign with two interlocking whips hanging from the wooden arch I just drove under.

  After leaving The Barn Door, I’d gone over to the best-rated bed and breakfast in town, which wasn’t saying much, and claimed my reservation.

  Two fifty-something sisters with a penchant for gossip and a real hard on for the boys on Hardtail Ranch also ran The Opey Saloon & Lodging.

  Thanks to Mary and Elizabeth Monroe, I found out a lot more information about Cruz and the rest of his friends. They lived on the ranch and apparently owned the sex club. It was a lot to take in before they gave me my key and showed me to my room, but I was grateful for the information.

  Cruz’s mom, Esme, hadn’t said anything about him living on a ranch, owning a sex club, or, and this was the biggest piece of info of all, being in a motorcycle club. I figured she didn’t know any of that, so when I called her this morning to confirm the ranch location, I kept it all to myself. I only told her that the journey had been long, and I hadn’t found him yet.

  Sitting in the rental car with the A/C blowing at full speed, I looked up at the giant white house, no the mansion, and wondered if this was the right thing to do. I didn’t know Cruz anymore. The truth was, I’d never known him, not in any real way. His dad had married my mother when I was eight and Cruz was a much cooler fourteen. He’d never had time for a little kid like me, and before I knew it, he’d moved out, joined the Army and never looked back.

  Yet here I was, ready to ask him for help. He was a stranger to me, and if he remembered me, who’s to say he wouldn’t kick me off the property and tell me to forget I ever knew him? But that was a risk I was willing to take. I had to take, not just because Esme had gone out on a limb to help me when I was a stranger to her as well, but because I had no other choice.

  None.

  Even standing at the metal sign, hanging at least a quarter mile from the front door, the house was massive. It was every princess’s dream of a mansion, big and white and gleaming. Also, intimidating as hell. But the favor wasn’t gonna ask itself, which meant I had to get my ass out of the car and go find Cruz. I took my time, practicing what I would say to him if he was around. If he was alone.

  The faint scent of fresh paint still lingered in the air despite the oversized flowerpots on either side of the the wooden porch steps. It was perfect and homey, exactly like a Hallmark movie. That thought made me snort at the naivete of it all. This was a working ranch that housed a sex club for bikers. It was not a fucking Hallmark movie.

  And that was good, because I needed a bit more badass biker boys than I needed a second chance with the boy next door. I knocked, twice, and waited. Impatiently.

  After about a minute or two the door opened to reveal a young blonde woman with light brown eyes and a huge fucking chip on her shoulder.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m looking for Cruz Anderson. Is he around?”

  She snorted and gave me a long look that said she found me lacking in some way. If I gave a damn about this chick, I might have been offended.

  “He might be. Who’s asking?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Is he around or not?” I didn’t know who this chick was or if she had any claim on him, but I also didn’t have time for petty bullshit.

  “You sure you want to see Cruz?
”

  “Do you know some reason I shouldn’t?”

  This chick screamed troublemaker, so I wouldn’t believe one word out of her mouth, but I would listen.

  “Plenty, but that determined look in your eyes say it won’t matter what I say.” She shrugged. “It’s your funeral. If you’re lucky,” she added so low that I barely heard it. But I did hear it. “Come on in, then.”

  “You live here too?”

  She turned to, her brown eyes wide and sad and more than a little bit haunted, making me wonder what it was about this place that collected people in pain.

  “Unfortunately. Don’t worry though, I’m just the hired help.”

  I snorted at her implication. “Better than the last place I was hired to help out,” I told her honestly.

  “You’re still alive, so I have to wonder. There he is,” she said with even more attitude and pointed to a figure stretched across a green and brown checkered sofa. A baby asleep on his chest.

  “Don’t worry. The kid isn’t his,” she added before disappearing down a random hall.

  Alone with his sleeping child, I took a moment to take in all the changes since I last set eyes on him. Gone was the lanky young man’s body he’d had when he left, replaced by hard cords of muscles in his arms, shoulders, neck and legs.

  His skin was darker now, maybe from the tours in the desert Esme had told me about with pride in her eyes. His hair was still a messy dirty blond color, though it was a tad lighter now, probably from hours spent in the hot Texas sun.

  One thing that hadn’t changed though? The sight of Cruz never failed to get my heart rate good and elevated, but the picture he made with the adorable curly-headed baby on his chest, pink lips twisted into a sweet pucker was enough to make my ovaries explode.

  I didn’t know how long I stood there, just staring at all the changes, but it was long enough that if the tables were turned, this shit would be considered downright creepy. I took one final look, checking out the short glimpse of a tattoo I spotted on his bicep and went to him. He looked so peaceful and the baby looked like an angel.

  The little boy woke up first, gorgeous blue eyes staring up at me in wonder. I smiled down at him, noting the smattering of freckles across his nose that matched my own.

  “Hello, sweetheart,” I cooed. His mouth opened a little as he tried to lift his head, dropping it after just a few seconds as if the load was too much to bear. “You are beautiful,” I told him, instantly feeling silly for talking to the little guy.

  Footsteps sounded behind me, followed by a voice grumbling in my direction.

  “For fuck’s sake,” said the girl who opened the door grunted and kicked the sofa. “Cruz. You have a visitor.”

  The second kick woke him with a start, and he sat up fast. Too fast, in fact, and I leapt forward to grab the little boy before he took a tumble to the hard wood floor.

  “Whoa, I gotcha.” With the little boy in my arms, I took a step back to give Cruz time to wake up and focus.

  He gasped when he realized there was a baby-shaped void on his chest and looked up with a frown.

  “Why do you have Stone?” His tone was angry and his expression dark, which worried me.

  I held the kid, Stone, out to him while keeping a healthy distance between us.

  “You sat up too fast and he nearly fell.” It sounded stupid even to my own ears, and I realized how this must look to him.

  “I wasn’t trying to…take him or anything. It’s me…Hennessy. Do you remember me?”

  He took the baby boy from me and checked him over quickly, protectively. Another gesture that was unreasonably hot, particularly for someone who hadn’t gotten laid in more than a year. That thought brought me to the reason for my visit.

  “Hennessy?” he said, recognition dawning in his eyes. “Hell, yeah, I remember you. What are you doing here?”

  Good to see you too. “Esme told me how to find you.” It wasn’t the best start, but I had to begin somewhere, and this version of Cruz was more intimidating that my teenage memories remembered.

  “You talked to my mama?”

  I nodded. “I needed to find you.”

  “Why?” His expression had gone from angry to blank, making him impossible to read. “Well?”

  Cruz stood and became even more intimidating as he towered over me by at least seven inches. Up close like this he was still gorgeous as fuck with those blue eyes and that dark, honeyed skin, but it was a dangerous kind of beauty. A dark beauty borne of violence and tragedy.

  “Uhm.” I took a step back, hoping some distance from this intimidating man would help me regain the power of speech.

  “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” It was a stupid thing to say, really. Cruz was my best shot out of the trouble I’d found myself in through no fault of my own, but suddenly that didn’t seem all that likely either.

  “You came all this way. You might as well ask for whatever it is you need.”

  His tone was cold. Derisive. Like I’d done something to him. Like he knew me. Knew my life.

  My shoulders fell in disappointment. “I shouldn’t have come. Sorry to have bothered you, Cruz.”

  I turned away, unable to stare at him for even a second longer. Coming to Texas wasn’t just a mistake, it was a stupid mistake. Why in the hell did I think Cruz would be willing to jump in to help a perfect stranger who only knew him because our parents were married? I’d wasted time on this trip when I should have been planning to disappear.

  Permanently. The door swung open just as my hand reached for the knob and the dark-haired woman, Hazel, from the bar stepped in. Shock and recognition appeared at the same time.

  “Hen. You found Cruz?”

  “I did, and now I’m leaving. Thank you for your help last night.”

  I brushed past her and ran down the steps, headed back to my car as fast as my legs would carry me.

  If I hurried, I might make it out of Texas before sunset.

  Chapter Four

  Cruz

  Shit. I stood there for a second and watched her go. Her. Hennessy Oliver. My kid sister, kind of. I guessed. When I was fourteen, my old man married her mom, and we all moved in like one big happy fucking family. We weren’t, and it wasn’t anyone’s fault but my dad’s. He could have moved on with his life and his new wife and left me out of it. Sissy was a kind woman, probably the best stepmom a guy could have. And Hennessy? Well, she was only eight when I moved in, and I totally ignored her.

  Or, I tried to, but those big green eyes looked at me like I was a hero, and I developed a soft spot for the little girl, which freaked me out. So I kept my distance. The last time I saw Hennessy, she’d been a knobby-kneed twelve-year-old with frizzy, red curls and green eyes that were too big for her face. I remember her toothy grin wobbled as she waved me off to basic training.

  She wasn’t knobby-kneed anymore. No, she wasn’t a little girl either. This grown up version of Hennessy was way different than I expected, at least on the outside. She had the same pale skin and those same freckles over the bridge of her nose, and the same jade green eyes, but they weren’t full of hero worship, and they weren’t brimming with anything good.

  The curves were new. Big fat tits and a tiny waist that gave way to grabbable hips and thick thighs that would fit perfectly on my shoulders.

  Except she wasn’t here to wet my dick. She was here because she needed something.

  “Shit.” I jumped off the sofa, and Stone’s cry reminded me that Hennessy had handed him back to me.

  “Sorry little man.” I sat down and rubbed his back while I slid my feet back into my boots.

  “Still killin’ it with the ladies, I see.” Hazel looked at me from the edge of the living room, one foot crossed over the other and a far too amused smirk on her face.

  “A little help?” I held Stone out to her and with a soft smile, she took him from my arms and cuddled him, overwhelming him with her baby talk.

  “Take it easy on her, Romeo. Slayer reach
ed out to stop her from falling in the club last night. She freaked the fuck out. It wasn’t a normal reaction, even though she didn’t look comfortable inside at all. Something is up with her. My guess is someone hurt her. Maybe did something really bad.”

  “Shit.” And I basically accused her of wanting something from me when it was clear, now, that she needed something. “I’ll be back.”

  “We’ll be here,” she said, waving at me with one of Stone’s little hands. “And protect the jewels, just in case!” Her laugh echoed behind me, but I was moving fast, out on the porch to see if she’d kicked up dust in her hurry to get the hell out of here. She was in the distance, marching angrily towards the street that led to Hardtail Ranch.

  “Hennessy, wait up!” I flew down the stairs and picked up my speed when it was clear the stubborn woman wasn’t gonna stop. “Hennessy!” Too bad for her that my legs were longer, and I was in much better shape.

  “Dammit, just stop.”

  She still didn’t stop. Her red hair flew angrily behind her as she marched forward, shaking her head.

  “It’s all right, Cruz,” she said over her shoulder. “I really shouldn’t have come here. I knew it would be a long shot or a bad idea, but I had to try. Don’t worry about it.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the steel in her voice. Even as a kid she was a strong little thing, unafraid to take any criticism and just as willing to throw it right back. But this wasn’t just your average Irish fire. No, this was some hard won lessons.

  “Obviously, you need something, Hen.”

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “Maybe so, but just stop and tell me what the fuck you need. I might be able to help.”

  I sighed and waited to see if she would turn and talk to me. Was it only this morning that I was talking about how calm and relaxing life was?

  “Hennessy, please.”

  She stopped and turned to me, arms folded so that a heap of creamy white tits pushed up over the plain white tank she wore, a pink bra strap showing. “Why?”

  I sighed. “I don’t remember you being this exhausting before.”