By Vanessa Siena
Prologue
Kiplyn
Five years ago
“There’s no other option, Kip. This is the only place we can stay for free until I get enough money to get our own apartment. Get used to it,” Duke said, looking around the bedroom we were given at the Mayhem’s MC clubhouse. Duke had just been given the prospects’ patch, and this club was our only way to keep a roof over our heads.
He was only eighteen, but he saw the club as our only way to a somewhat normal life. I was sixteen, still in high school and dealing with my own problems. Now, I also had to deal with big biker guys who looked like they could eat me. Either that or they didn’t want me around.
There were two beds in the room, one for me and one for Duke. Our suitcases stood by the door, and I had already claimed the bigger dresser for my clothes in my head. Duke wouldn’t care anyway. As long as he had his bike, everything was okay.
“Stop frowning at everything, Kiplyn. Be thankful for this. They could’ve easily kept you out there and not let you in. They’re doing this for me. Try to be obedient and listen to what I say, all right?” Duke had always been this way. He wanted me to listen to him, to be careful and respectful. He taught me all those things because Mom and Dad never did. Mom couldn’t, since she spent most of my life in the hospital, battling cancer. And Dad? Well, he left when he realized that he couldn’t support his sick wife and two kids. What a man.
“The sheets seem dirty,” I told him, crossing my arms, and looking at him with a raised brow.
“Clean them.” He shrugged, grabbing his phone out of his pocket and checking the time. “I gotta be downstairs in five. Stop being mad at the world, Kip. Be thankful for this.”
I watched him leave the room. There was no way I would ever feel comfortable in here. The whole house smelled of whiskey and cigarettes. But then, I had no other expectations when Duke told me that we’d be living here for an unknown amount of time.
Sighing, I sat down on one of the beds. Summer break just started, and I had no idea how I was going to spend these months. I wanted to get a job, but Duke wouldn’t let me. Not sure why. But I wasn’t going to stay here in this room, waiting for each day to pass me by until I could go back to school. Most of my friends left the city, so I had no one to talk to personally. Only through my phone.
The room was starting to get hot, but opening a window wasn’t an option, and the AC, of course, was broken. How on earth will I survive here?
I decided to head downstairs to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water. We did have an en-suite, but I wasn’t drinking straight out of the sink.
I left the bedroom, looking left and right to check if there was something around. It was quiet, and the only thing I heard was the old floorboards cracking under my feet. I made it to the stairs, looking down before taking one step at a time. Finally, I made it to the bottom, where I stopped next to the entrance to the club. They had a bar, some pool tables, and restrooms. And to my right, there was a small hallway leading to what they called church. Not sure they ever prayed in there.
I knew some of the biker slang, thanks to Duke using it on the phone. But most of the time I had no idea what was happening. It wasn’t my business, anyway.
There was no one at the bar, and there was no one standing in my way to get to the kitchen. As I reached it, I searched the cabinets for a glass.
“Are you lost?” A deep voice startled me as I reached for a glass on the upper cabinet. I didn’t move at first then, slowly, got back down from my tiptoes and turned to look at the man standing behind me. I didn’t hear him come in, nor did I know how long he had been standing there, watching me struggle.
He was leaning against the doorframe, his head cocked to one side, and his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes narrowed, and I could tell he was amused by what he was seeing. He had dark jeans on, a black hoodie, and the Mayhem’s vest on top of it.
He must be hot with all those clothes on, I thought.
He had a buzzcut, which was a good idea to keep his head from sweating too much. I had a full head of hair that reached my lower back, and even with it pulled back into a ponytail, I was sweating like a pig.
There were some scars visible on his head, and one even reached his left eyebrow. As if someone ran the tip of a knife from his brow up to the side of his head. I wasn’t going to question it.
“I, um…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I need some water,” I explained, and he kept eyeing me intensely.
“Go ahead,” he said, nodding to the glasses behind me. He seemed amused.
I turned back around slowly, reaching back up to the glass I so desperately needed. Finally, with another stretch of my arm, I was able to grab the glass. He was still standing there, watching.
It seemed odd, but I wasn’t going to question his actions.
I walked over to the fridge and opened it, grabbing the bottle of water and pouring some of it into my glass. He was still not moving, and I was starting to get nervous.
I put the bottle back then lifted the glass to my lips and took a few sips, all with his eyes glued on mine.
“Taste good?” he asked, and I was starting to think that he was mocking me somehow.
I nodded slowly, unsure where this was heading.
I finished the glass and put it down on the kitchen counter. I was done here, and I was starting to miss the bedroom upstairs.
The guy had other intentions, though. He took the few steps between us, and I looked down to avoid his gray eyes. My eyes fell to his patch, which I should’ve looked at sooner. V. President, it said. Great.
His hand came up, and his finger ran along my jawline. “Next time you need help,” he said in a low, husky voice, “use that pretty mouth of yours to ask.”
Four years ago
Wilder
It didn’t take her long to have me wrapped around her little finger. I thought I would never commit to anything unless it had to do something with the club. But Kiplyn? I had to make her mine.
I didn’t like the thought of Duke moving into our club with his little sister, but the second I saw her standing there in the kitchen, trying to reach for that glass, I knew she was special. She was shy. Scared, even.
The way she looked at me as I got closer, it seemed as if she wanted to run and hide from me. That wasn’t really my intention, but I didn’t approach women in any other way.
Sweet butts were easy. They wanted to be treated like someone special but took every bit of shit we gave them with pride. They didn’t care if we’d sleep with them and five minutes later have another girl sucking us dry. They loved being around the club. They had a choice.
Kiplyn didn’t. She had no other place to go, even if Duke would let her. So, the first year she spent at the club I made sure that I was the only guy ever getting close to her. Her long, fiery red hair stood out in a crowd of millions, and those baby blues of hers fascinated me from the moment I got a glimpse of them. She didn’t need makeup, and if she did use it, I told her to take it off again. I wanted to be able to see every single freckle on her skin.
I was twenty-one when I first met her, and I knew she was off-limits. But this club didn’t play by the rules when it came to women. Of course, I wasn’t going to take Kip to bed, when all she ever experienced with a guy was a simple kiss. That’s what she told me when I asked her about it. I wanted to know what she was comfortable with, so our first kiss had yet to happen.