Ruined (The MC Motorcycle Club Romance Series - Book #1) (8 page)

“Six years? What did you do?” I hadn’t meant to put
it that way, it had just come out.

“I didn’t do
nothing
,” he
said with a grin. Every so often it was apparent to me how my father was able
to charm so many people into doing pretty much anything he wanted them to do.
Looking at him with this boyish grin was one of those times.

“What did they say you did?”

“They said I shot a cop, but I really didn’t do it.
I was at a party, things got out of hand and the cops raided the place. People
started shooting and a cop took one in the shoulder. I was hauling ass out of
there at the time, but the hog took a spill at the end of the road and all of a
sudden there was cops everywhere, guns and lights shining down in my face. I
was drunk and maybe a little high. I puked all over them, which pissed them off
and suddenly I was Public Enemy number one. They beat the crap outta me before
they took me in. They
were allowed
to do that back
then it seemed like. It’s not like that now as you know. There were no worries
then that someone with a smart phone was going to be recording the whole thing.
Anyways, they had to pin that on someone, it was a cop. Cops will hunt down
justice for one of their own like dogs. Good for me that he lived I guess or
I’da
been on death row at San Quentin and you would have
never been born.”

“What kind of evidence did they have?” I, of all
people, should know that you didn’t have to be guilty for them to convict you,
but if everyone
was
running, wouldn’t they have had to
have something at least a little bit concrete on him to hold him?

“They didn’t have shit. I was part of a motorcycle
club and they found the gun down the street from where they found me, wiped
clean. They weren’t even able to trace it back to me. They railroaded me and I
did my time. I came out a lot smarter, like you, I’m guessing.”

I made a note to myself to look it up later and see
what the real story was. What my dad told me was usually somewhere between a
lie and the whole truth. I was a hair away from asking him. Did you set me up,
Dad? Would my own father do that to me? All of a sudden Bo was hollering down
the hall at him.

He looked at me and said, “Come on, let’s go whip
some ass on the dartboard, you’re on my team.”

I stood up and he put his arm around me in a half-assed
hug.
 
That was the second one in a week.
For most people that wouldn’t have been a big deal. For us, it was huge. It
left me torn between feeling guilty for accusing him and feeling pissed that he
was such a manipulative son of a bitch.

CHAPTER
6

OLIVIA

The party was winding down and there were only a
handful of people left when Terrance caught me watching
Dax
shoot darts with his dad. He didn’t say anything, but I could see by the look
on his face that he wasn’t happy about it. I played it off
like
I was just surprised that
Dax
and Bull seemed to be
getting along so well; however I thought he could sense how I felt.
Dax
hadn’t said one word to us all night. He acted
like
we were invisible. I felt like a Jezebel.

“I have to get going pretty quick,” Terrance said.

“Why?”

“I have to run those parts up to Fresno for Bull
tonight, remember?”

“No, I thought you were going in the morning. Why do
you have to go tonight? The shop’s not even open at this time of night.”

“It’ll take me two hours to get there. Bull wants me
there as soon as they open which is at eight a.m. I don’t want to have to drag
myself outta bed at five in the morning to get on the road by six. It’ll be
easier if I just go tonight.”

“So you’re staying in a Motel tonight?”

“Nah, I’m staying with a friend of Bull’s who lives
close to the shop. I’ll be home before noon tomorrow, okay?”

“What friend? It doesn’t worry you to just go stay
at someone’s home that you don’t even know?”

“No, Bull set it up. He wouldn’t send me somewhere
that wasn’t safe.”

“You’re sure about that?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I’m sure. What’s your problem with Bull all
of a sudden?”

“It’s not all of a sudden. The guy has always
bothered me. Even when—”

“Even when what?
Even when you were with
Dax
?”

“Yeah,” I said, “even then.”

“I’m sure that had more to do with how
Dax
felt about him. He’s always thought he was better than
his
dad
.
Better than all of us,
really.”

“I’ve never heard you talk about him like that
before.”

Terrance shrugged. “I guess it just never came up
before. Anyways, I really have to go tonight. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

What was I going to say? It was his job…I guessed.
Dax
was right though. I might need to put a little more
thought into all of this than I had so far. I took what people told me at face
value. I’m not stupid, but I was too trusting sometimes. Seriously, who has to
take parts to a shop two hours away in the middle of the night and then stay at
some stranger’s house? By anyone’s standards, that was just strange.

“I’m going to say goodnight to
Dax
,”
he said.

I raised an eyebrow but I didn’t say anything. I
never told him about my talk with
Dax
. As far as he
knew, he and I hadn’t spoken since he had been home. Terrance was taking a
chance approaching him again after the first night.
Dax
made it clear that he no longer thought of him as a friend. I hoped
Dax
hadn’t had so much to drink that a fight might sound
like a good idea. Terrance was a big guy, but somehow I still thought
Dax
would have the advantage.

I watched as he went over and I heard him say, “Hey,
Dax
, I have to get going. It’s good to have you back,
man.”

Dax
stared at him for the longest time and I could almost see a fire smoldering
behind his sexy green eyes.

He proved once more that he had more self-control
than the rest of them by finally saying, “Yeah, it’s good to be back, thanks.”

That seemed to make Terrance happy, even though
Dax
turned his back on him before he had even walked away.
He had been looking for just a bit of acknowledgement and he had gotten it. I
felt bad for Terrance; he had literally lost his best friend. I was glad that
Dax
at least spoke to him a bit because sometimes I’m not
convinced that I
’m prized
enough to compensate for
that.

“Are you ready?” Terrance asked me.

I saw
Dax’s
mom near the
bar with a broom. I had met Terrance there, so I had my car.

“I think I’m going to stay and help Gail clean up if
you don’t mind. It’ll beat sitting home alone.”

He leaned down to kiss me on the forehead and God
help me I caught
Dax
looking at us out of the corner
of my eye. I just gave him a quick peck and I could tell by the look on his
face that he was confused once again. I watched him go out the doors and I quickly
felt like shit. I ran after him and caught him just as he was about to fire up
his bike.

“Hey, wait!”

“What’s up?”

“I’m sorry. This whole situation…it just makes me a
little tense.” Terrance didn’t have to ask what situation I was referring
to
.

“I know; me too,” he said, wrapping me in a hug. His
embrace always made me feel safe. It had never set me on fire the way that
Dax’s
used to. It was better than
nothing
.

“Be safe, okay?” I told him. “Please don’t be doing
anything illegal and please don’t go to jail.” I pointed my finger at him.

“Always,” he said with a grin. I stood and watched
him go, wishing that I could feel for him the way that I did for
Dax
. It would make things so much easier.

When I got back inside I found Gail and asked her
what she needed me to help with. She and Cookie were loading her SUV with pots
and containers full of food. Bull and the other guys weren’t helping a bit, of
course.

“Can you finish sweeping up for me, honey? That
would be a big help, that way I can go ahead and get
all of
this
food home before it goes bad.”

“Sure,” I told her.

“Thanks, you’re a doll.”

I could always
tell by the way
Gail looked at me that she was sad
Dax
and I weren’t still
together
. She had high hopes for her son and she did everything right by
him…except getting him far away from his father. That was probably her one
mistake. Gail was pure class and Bull was a toad.

I went and found the broom I had seen her using earlier
and started sweeping the dance floor. The guys had all gone out back, I guessed.
I was the only one in the room and I pushed the broom to the beat of the music
playing. It was something country or other, but it had a good beat to it.

I was lost in my thoughts when all of a sudden the
music stopped mid-song. I looked over and
Dax
was
standing by the CD player with his back to me. I leaned against the broom and
watched him, wondering what he was doing. Suddenly, Bruno Mars filled the room
and “Just
The
Way You Are” was shooting an arrow
straight through my already fragile heart.
Dax
turned
around and looked at me and grinned. What was left of my heart fell down into
my stomach.

I smiled back, nervously, wondering what the hell he
was doing.

I went back to sweeping, hoping that if I ignored
him, he would go away. Did I want him to go away? No, not really, but I needed
him to. I was trying to block out the song, the one that
Dax
used to sing to me when we danced together. I could feel him next to me before
I looked up and saw him.

“Remember this?” he asked, like there was any
possibility I could have forgotten. I fell in love with him to this song.

“Yeah,” I said, still sweeping, trying to seem
casual about it.

“Not just the song,” he said.
“The
tape.
I found it earlier when I was looking for a CD. I didn’t even know
I still had it.” I kept on sweeping. “Do you still have your copy?”

I stopped sweeping and looked at him.
Mistake.
He was too close and he smelled so good and he
looked so hot. I. Couldn’t. Breathe.

“Yeah,” I said finally. “I still have it.”
 

He was talking about a mix tape that we made
together. I picked out most of the songs on it, songs that mostly said all of
the things I was feeling about him but I was too young to be able to put into
eloquent words. He had picked this one out—Bruno Mars. He used to sing it to me
and it would set my heart on fire. To this day I couldn’t hear it on the radio
without tearing up
like
I was starting to do. I put my
head down and started to sweep away when I felt him grab me. It startled me and
I shrieked.

“What are you doing?”

“Dance with me,” he said. I laughed and he pulled me
closer. The broom dropped out of my hand and clattered to the floor.

“No,
Dax
, this isn’t a
good—” He pulled me up against his hard body and the “idea” part of that
objection came out a little weak. “
Dax
,” I said,
breathless at this point.

“Dance with me, Olivia,” he said again just before
he pulled me in a little closer, so close that room air couldn’t pass between
us.

We moved to the beat and there was a part of me that
wanted to pull away and another part that felt like I was back where I
belonged. Sometimes things like this happen and as much as you want your brain
and your heart to choose the right choice, you can't always control it.

His hand ran down my back, stopping just above my
ass. He firmly pushed me against him so that nothing would be able to come
between us. I breathed in his wonderful cologne that reminded me of our time
together before he became a felon.

“I missed this,” he whispered into my ear. “I missed
you. I was sitting in that prison cell for two years thinking about you.”

I didn't know what to say to him. I only thought
about him at first, but once Terrance and I had got together it blocked
Dax
out of my mind. I lay my head on his shoulder and he
rested the side of his face on my head as we continued to dance.

“Look at me, Liv,” he said softly.

I was scared to look at him. Every time I did my
body just wanted to give in to him. His hand reached up and tipped my chin up
and over so that I was staring into his eyes. They
were
filled
with desire.

His head tipped down and his lips met mine. I could
taste the beer on his lips and I wondered if he knew what he was doing or if he
was too drunk to know. I had to wonder if this was revenge toward Terrance too.