“Pin… ess, come get me!” Cooper yelled as he took off running. He loved playing chase, and I found I did, too. I loved catching him, twirling him in the air, and hearing that wonderful laugh of his.

Cooper took off around the playground. “Shit!” My foot stumbled on one of the trucks I didn’t see laying out, and I fell hard to the ground knocking my leg with a thump. Shooting pains raced up my leg quickly as the blood began flowing. The shorts I was wearing left no protection, but I could handle the pain. It was the blood I was gonna need to get cleaned up and make sure the cut was okay.

“Pin… ess!” Cooper screamed and started crying hysterically at the sight of my leg.

Wrapping my arms quickly around him, I began rocking him back and forth, his head buried in my chest. “I’m okay, Buddy. It’s just a little blood. No biggie…”

“Hurt… owie,” his muffled cries said in my shirt as my hands rubbed his back.

“Just a little owie, it’s okay.” I rubbed his back gently and kissed him on the top of his head. I surprised myself after I did it but quickly smiled.

Boot steps running our way had my eyes peering up into Rocky’s. I still felt on edge with him, but since talking with Cruz it has lessened quite a bit. “Stay,” was all he said as he looked at my leg and ran off. When he came back, he was holding a first aid kit and began doctoring me up without saying a word.

“Do I need stitches?” I asked with Cooper still clinging to me.

“Nah…” He reached into the kit to grab the liquid stitch; that stuff’s like superglue and burns like shit going on. As he continued working on my leg, Cooper calmed down enough to begin watching what he was doing. He even smiled when Rocky put a Superman Band-Aid over the cut.

“Now I look like you,” I teased Cooper, who giggled. “Thanks Rocky.” I smile at him. He’s more than proving my initial reaction wrong each time I’m around him.

Instead of responding, he grunted and took off. He was a man of few words. Kinda weird, but I actually liked that in a twisted sort of way. I mean, hell, a guy who doesn’t give you any shit. What’s not to like, right?


Two weeks later


“Harder!” I yelled, feeling the wonderful pain-pleasure mix of Cruz slamming deep inside of me. Ma had Cooper for the day, and we were enjoying every minute of our time together. The guys had a run tomorrow and would be gone for a few days. It’d be our first time away from each other since we met.

Cruz and my need for each other was growing uncontrollably; I never thought I’d get enough of him. More than that, we’ve actually talked more. We went from not knowing a damn thing about each other, except for our lust-filled minds to learning so much in the course of two weeks.

He never mentioned club business, and I respected that. I didn’t need to know anyway as everything was calm on the home front, neither Rabbit nor Babs had made any moves, causing me to relax a bit. The brothers wouldn’t take me off lockdown, though. It was starting to wear on me. There’s only so many times a girl can go to the shooting range or work out before she goes nuts.

Cruz began pounding me with everything he had. He picked me up, flipped me onto my stomach, and pushed my knees up and slammed deep inside of me causing a powerful orgasm. A scream escaped my lips. Cruz stilled behind me as he spilled inside of me. We were still using condoms. I had gotten the shot, but had to wait another week before it was completely effective. We both got tested and, thank God, came up clean.

We collapsed down to the bed, gasping for breath.

“Shit.”

“Yeah… shit, Cruz.”

“When I’m gone, you go nowhere without Buzz, Breaker, Rocky, or Tug. Got me?”

“Yeah, I got ya.” My heart swelled with this man, and I knew I was in deep shit. Falling in love with a brother was never part of my plan, but damn it if it wasn’t happening and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

“You know that you sleeping around on me isn’t gonna work.” My mind spun back to Flash and Dagger’s relationship; they could handle that shit; there’s no way I could. Then it flashed to Cruz’s mom and dad… I couldn’t deal. I could deal with guns, drugs, killing… but my heart wasn’t as strong. I knew that. I’ve also learned over the years that many of the brothers had their road whores, the women who took care of their needs on the road. As most of the runs were consistent, having a road whore in another city happened. I couldn’t deal with that. If I wasn’t woman enough for my man, he didn’t need to be mine.

Cruz turned on his side, resting his head on his hand. “It’s not, huh?”

“Look Cruz, I know how this works. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the women around when the ol’ ladies are gone. I’m not stupid. The only one I haven’t seen it with is Pops and Ma. I can’t do it. I’m not the woman that can handle my man being with someone else. If that’s the case, then we need to end this. I couldn’t take it.”

Cruz brushed the hair from my face, “I couldn’t either.” He bent down kissing me softly.

* * *

The guys have been gone for two days and were expected back tomorrow night. Coop and I have been enjoying each other, and Casey has been around quite a bit. I have to say it’s pretty shocking, considering I haven’t seen her much since I got out. She kept making excuses about what she was doing. It’s nice having her around, but something with her seems a bit off.

Living at the club hasn’t been hard. Coop and I fell into a great routine with Ma watching him while I went to X for a while each day. I listened to Cruz, and took a Prospect with me each time I left the clubhouse, with the strict instructions from him that they’ll help you with whatever you need.

“Princess, you got a package.” One of the B.Boys called from behind the door.

Taking the large envelope, I thanked him before closing and locking the door to Cruz’s room. I’d been staying here now since that first night. Cooper was playing on the floor with some toys Tug went out and got for him, totally content with the world.

As I opened the envelope, I began to stare and read all of the papers inside. I’d been waiting for these to arrive since I got out, but it must not have been clear to send them to me until now. Inside was information on Babs, where she lived, worked, her family history, social security numbers, birth certificates, her crew, and recent photos of her and Rabbit parading around town. There was also a detailed description of how she spent the last week from the time she fell asleep to every step she took during the day.

While inside, I made some friends of my own, ones who have eyes and ears everywhere. While I gave Diamond my word not to get involved with club business, I would get my personal business with Babs taken care of.

My cell going off made me jump. Seeing it was Liv, I answered right away. “What’s up?”

“Get over here, now. Some guys are in here tearing the place up. The girls are locked in the backroom, and I’m in the office.” Liv’s hushed voice came through the line. I began stuffing all the contents of the envelope back in and threw it in a drawer, shutting it quickly.

Hearing gun shots in the background, I scooped up Coop and ran to Ma’s room. “I’m on my way. They say what they want?”

Banging on Ma’s door, I yell, “Ma take care of Coop, gotta run to X.” Ma nodded.

I began running down the hall. “They didn’t say anything. Just asked if you were here, and when I said no they started tearing up the place.”

“Shit. Stay locked up. Be there in a few.” Crashing into Cruz’s room, I grabbed my gun and placed it in the holster on my back, along with my two smaller ones to go in my boots. Rushing out into the clubhouse, I yelled at the B.Boys and Tug to hurry. I had to go. Rocky had left to spend time with his woman, whom I didn’t know he had.

They didn’t argue, just followed me to the bikes. “What the hell’s going on?” Tug asked.

“X. There’s gun fire, and my girls are in danger.”

“Shit,” Tug sent off a quick text; I’m assuming to the brothers, as we raced to X.

Weaving in and out of traffic on our bikes, we got there in about ten minutes. No cops were in sight, but that was just a matter of time. Parking the bikes, we moved to the back entrance of X. “Get behind us, Princess,” one of the B.Boys said.

I didn’t have time for this shit. “Don’t treat me with fucking kid gloves. Let’s go!” I barked, opening the door from the side. When no shots rang out immediately, I dipped my head slowly in and nodded for them to pass. I pointed B.Boy one to the left and B.Boy two to the right, then for Tug to follow behind me.

Gun shots began raining everywhere, and from the sound of it, we were walking right into the line of fire. “Stay down and only shoot when you have a clear shot,” I whispered to Tug. He nodded. With our guns in front of us, we began creeping around the corner staying out of their line of sight. Three men wearing green and black rags were shooting the glass mirrors, destroying the room. Every liquor bottle was shattered with alcohol splashing everywhere.

Lining up my gun, I had a clear shot of Asshole One. Looking over at Tug, he was lined up, too. We nodded at each other and shot at the same time, each of us hitting our mark. Asshole Three came barreling towards the door blocking us, shooting as he came. Reaching my gun around, I began rapid firing low, not wanting to kill him just yet.

His grunts and groans as the bullets hit him sent a sense of euphoria through me. No drug could give anyone a high like this, not as good as riding, but up there. Peeking around the corner, Asshole Three was groaning, his gun about two feet away from his hand. Walking slowly towards him, Tug went to the gun, moving it out of his reach.