Storm by Aria Ray

Chapter Six

Storm

When Zoe texted the night before, saying she was in, I knew tonight would be the perfect night to introduce her to the rest of the MC.

We had a security gig at a concert where most of the other Slayers would be present, too. This way, Zoe and I would be seen in public, and our relationship would be out in the open.

Breaker and I had already decided we weren’t letting anyone else in on the plan. Nobody needed to know Zoe’s true identity. It wasn’t that we didn’t trust our brothers, we just wanted to keep it simple. The only one I was worried about was Grit.

I told her she was going to introduce herself with a different name. We agreed that she’d use her mother’s maiden name—McGrath.

I rode to her apartment to pick her up. She stepped out of the building in a red dress that would attract attention for all the wrong reasons. It was too ‘pretty’. Too ‘tame’. The damn thing fell right down to her knees. If she’d worn more makeup, I’d guess she looked prepared to stand in front of a camera.

“You can’t wear that,” I said when she came up to the bike. I shamelessly checked her out from head to toe and then looked up into her eyes.

She held her nose up defensively. “Excuse me?”

With barely any makeup on and with those big blue-grey eyes, she would stand out at the concert. She looked nothing like the chicks who hung out with us. I had never been seen with a chick who looked and dressed anything like Zoe. If we were going to sell this story, we needed to make it believable.

“We need to get you an outfit the other women would wear, so you can blend in.”

“What other women?”

“The women who hang around our clubhouse.”

“They hang around there? Like groupies?”

Yeah. They were exactly like groupies, but I didn’t respond to Zoe’s question. I could already see her eyes rolling. I knew what she thought of us. She’d made it pretty clear in her articles. We might drink heavily, watch a few strippers, and I can’t deny a fight or two. But we worked our asses off in security. I had more scars on my chest than she had expensive name brands in her closet.

“We don’t want anybody getting suspicious,” I reiterated, shamelessly checking out all her curves again.

I helped her up on the bike behind me. She wrapped her arms around my torso like I instructed her. Now, with her warm body molded to mine, I could feel her tits pressed to my back.

When the engine roared to life, Zoe’s arms tightened to an iron grip. Had she never been on a bike before?

This was going to be fun.

We kicked off, and I heard her gasp behind me.

“Don’t worry. I won’t put you in any danger,” I shouted over the roar of the engine, as we swerved. I was enjoying the way she clung to me…terrified.

“I don’t know if I can believe that,” she shouted back.

We stopped at the kind of strip mall Zoe had never even driven past before. When we walked into a store where all the other chicks talked about shopping a lot, Zoe looked to be doing everything she could to not turn and run.

She was shaken up. She walked behind me slowly, staring and trying not to gape at every article of clothing I pulled out. Her comfort level, if I’d read her expression correctly, was at an all-time low.

This was something I never thought I would be involved in—building a woman’s closet from scratch—but watching her struggle was worth it.

“You want me to wear this?” she asked, holding up a tight red mini skirt in some shiny leather-looking material.

“Yeah, that would be perfect for tonight.”

Zoe’s eyes nearly popped out of her sockets, as she turned it this way and that.

“You should try it on.”

“I’m not going to…”

I held up the top I thought would go great with it. A pink crop top that would cling to her like a second skin.

“Why don’t you just throw in some fishnet stockings while you’re at it!”

“Good thinking. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” I just stared at her.

Her mouth dropped open. I walked to the changing rooms, and she didn’t have a choice but to follow me. She narrowed her eyes comically at me as she walked into one of the stalls.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she mumbled under her breath. Then she slammed the door, and I heard the rustle of her clothes coming off.

I stared at the door in silence, picturing her getting naked. I knew what her body felt like against mine. She had the softest pale skin, and her hair was like satin sheets. But now, I was picturing stiff rosy nipples and an itty-bitty waist and…

Just as my mind travelled to that delicious spot between her legs, her door opened.

“This is absolutely ridiculous,” she barked.

Zoe stood there with her hands on her hips, in fishnet stockings, that red miniskirt, and the pink top that didn’t leave a damn thing to my imagination.

“This works,” I replied, grinning with my eyebrow arched. She got the point.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her and she could see that, too. When our eyes met, her cheeks flushed, and her neck turned bright red. Did she like it when I looked at her like this? Like I was ready to devour her?

“You can’t seriously expect me to go to this concert dressed like this!”

I stepped closer to her, close enough that I could have pulled her into my arms if I wanted to. But I left a few inches between us. I didn’t want to scare her away.

Even though I was thinking it, I wasn’t pushing her into that stall and ripping her clothes off. I wanted Breaker to find Daniel. Maybe Zoe could help.

“I expect you to always be dressed like this when you’re around me and my MC.” It was a command. I needed her to know that this was some serious shit. If she fucked it up, we could be in major trouble.

The last thing we needed was for the kidnappers to know we were working together.

Zoe’s eyes flickered with too many emotions to name, and then she gulped.

“Okay,” she replied.

None of the other members of the Dark Slayers understood it, but they accepted it.

We were at the venue, surrounded by the rock concert crowd. Breaker, Grit, Hacker, Buzz, and the others were all there too. Zoe and I stood between them while I made the introductions.

The story was that we’d met a few days ago at a bar, and I claimed her after a one-night stand. Breaker was the first to congratulate us and set the mood. The others all gave me awkward glances before shaking her hand. If Grit recognized her, he didn’t say anything.

Something like this had never happened before. I hadn’t claimed many women in the past, especially not so quickly. But maybe they saw something in Zoe. She was different. She wasn’t the average club groupie, and they had to recognize that.

Teeny was there, too. He looked almost relieved. Amber and some of the other chicks joined us. They were responsible for keeping an eye on the crowd and reporting back to us if they sensed any trouble. This plan always worked for us. Nobody ever suspected these chicks to be spying for security.

When I saw Amber, I knew why Teeny looked relieved. He still had hopes she would continue what they started the other night. Now that he saw me with a woman of my own, maybe he thought he had a fuckin’ chance. I sure hoped he did to get her off my back.

Amber, on the other hand, glared at us. She was the only one who refused to shake Zoe’s hand. Zoe must have noticed the prickliness in the air, too, and she threw me a look.

I didn’t need to explain myself to her, so I said nothing.

“Teeny, get the drinks,” I commanded him. He needed a distraction.

The others scattered, getting back to work. Zoe remained close to me, unsure of what she was supposed to do. Maybe she’d never attended a rock concert before either, I figured.

She kept tugging the bottom of her skirt, which was riding up her shapely thighs. She was uncomfortable in her surroundings. She didn’t want to be here. I didn’t know if I could make life any easier for her. I didn’t know if I could help her out of this.

“You’re Storm’s old lady?” Amber asked.

I noticed now that she had come right up close to Zoe.

Zoe’s brows were furrowed but she didn’t lean away.

“Yeah, why?” she snapped.

“You better not get comfortable here because you’re not lasting,” Amber said, leaning in even closer.

Zoe narrowed her eyes at Amber, just stared at her for a long moment. Amber glared back at her as if trying to figure out what Zoe was thinking. Zoe lifted her hands and shoved Amber away from her in one smooth motion. She packed more force than I expected from her.

Fuck.

Amber actually stumbled backward but saved herself from sprawling on her ass. She was stunned, obviously not expecting that reaction from Zoe, a petite and dainty little thing.

“Don’t try anything,” I snapped before Amber came anywhere close to my woman.

My pretend woman, that is.

When I turned to Zoe again, she looked back at me with a mixture of rebellion and fear. She was a fish out of water, and she didn’t know if she was safe here. But if there was one thing I had learned in the short time that I knew Zoe, she knew how to take care of herself.

Not a lot of chicks would be able to stand up to Amber, but Zoe did. She not only showed physical strength, but also that she wasn’t taking shit from anybody. After her little display of strength tonight, nobody else in the MC was going to mess with her. This went a long way to explaining why I’d supposedly picked her as my old lady.

I reached for her hips and pulled her to me.

“I…I didn’t know what to do,” she whispered as I leaned my head towards her. It was like she was lost in thought. Dazed and confused. Unsure of her surroundings. Unaware, even, of being in my arms. I leaned down so my cheek raked against hers.

“You do what you need to do to survive,” I whisper-shouted near her ear. That caught her attention, and she pulled her head back to look into my eyes. I could easily read that her awareness at how close we were had kicked in. She looked dazed in a very good way.

I lowered my lips to hers, keeping eye contact with her the whole time. I told myself I was kissing her because I wanted everyone to see this wasn’t a joke. That this chick was really my girl.

The kiss was quick but had a promising zip that my cock wouldn’t forget anytime soon. I got a taste of her before pulling away. Her body slipped away from mine and, for a second, I considered pulling her back again. I wanted to taste some more.

Zoe had surprise written all over her face.

What? She didn’t expect me to kiss her tonight? What else were we supposed to do to make this believable?

“You should mingle. I need to go check on the boys. Make sure everything is in order,” I told her before leaving.

She said nothing but looked a little less nervous now. More sure of herself.

For the first time, I saw a chance that she may fit in with my MC after all.

I dropped her back at her apartment and spent the rest of the night fantasizing about that damned kiss. Even without being anywhere near me, this chick managed to keep me up all fuckin’ night.

I woke up in the morning feeling pissed.

How the hell had I allowed myself to be this taken with her? She didn’t even want to be around me.

Why did I want to be around her?

I texted her to say I would pick her up later that evening, and it annoyed me that I couldn’t wait to see her.

As it turned out, Zoe did know how to follow instructions. She was waiting for me outside her apartment building in one of the miniskirts I’d picked out for her the previous day. But she’d paired it with a top I didn’t recognize. It was probably from her own wardrobe. It was more conservative than I would have liked, but I was willing to give her a pass this time.

“Where are we going?” she asked when I helped her up on my bike. I noticed she looked a little shy today. Was there a possibility she was thinking about the same thing I was? The kiss last night?

“Brigg’s Steakhouse.”

“You think it’s okay for us to be seen together?”

“Now it is. Word would have already got out that I have a new woman. It’s easier if everyone sees us together.”

I noticed how she held herself at arm’s length from me as we rode off. Maybe she was a little more confident about being on my bike today, or maybe she was just trying to keep her distance because she’d felt that electricity between us, too.

One thing was obvious; she didn’t want anything happening between us because this was just an act.

We sat by the window at the steakhouse. I picked the spot on purpose so that anyone who passed us by would see us together. We needed to establish the relationship. Fewer questions would be asked that way.

“There were some guys at the concert last night. Breaker and I got to talking to them.”

“Some guys?” Zoe asked, staring at the menu in front of her. She didn’t look too impressed while I already knew what I was going to get. It looked like this wasn’t the kind of place she frequented.

Nothing about my life and world resembled hers in any way. I didn’t give a fuck. She would just have to make it work.

“Roadies who were stopping by. They may have had something we can work with.”

“They know something about the kidnappings?”

“There’s this guy who used to be a member of another local MC.”

“Used to?”

“He was outlawed by the MC when he refused to follow the code.”

“You guys have a code?” She looked perplexed.

“If we didn’t live by a code, there would be utter mayhem and chaos. Everyone who had ever crossed us in this city would be shaking in their shoes by now.”

I held her gaze as I said it, but I didn’t include my last thought—including you.

She shifted in her seat, looking a little uncomfortable, but she didn’t look like she believed me. Maybe she couldn’t grasp the idea that guys like us, who appeared evil and rough to her, could create a code and stick to it. Either way, I didn’t need to convince her of anything.

“What about this guy?” she continued.

“He may be connected to the kidnappings, that is all they could tell us. No details, just shady business.”

“What does he do now that he’s not in an MC?”

“He’s been dealing drugs. Getting himself in more trouble than he can handle. But he has a bone to pick with the rest of us because he was kicked out of the community. More importantly, he needs to make money.”

“So, you think he’s been kidnapping these kids?”

Her lips trembled as she spoke. I sensed that she was thinking about her sister. I experienced an emotion I hadn’t experienced very often before. I felt protective of her. I wanted to be able to protect her from feeling helpless.

“We don’t know yet, but it’s a lead to follow.”

The waiter arrived and we gave him our orders. Zoe was staring out through the window at the streets.

“I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure how I can help anybody, and at the same time, I know I’m running out of time. If I don’t find Alison soon…those people who are demanding money from us are going to get twitchy. They might do something to her.”

Maybe someone else in my position would have offered her some words of comfort at this point. Someone else would have known what to say, but I didn’t.

She looked at me, and all I could come up with was, “Just hold tight.”

There was nothing more I could give her.

She offered to take a cab from the restaurant, saying she had to go visit her mother and didn’t want to be seen with me.

We stepped out of the restaurant together and I put a hand on the small of her back before she could slip away towards one of the waiting cabs.

Zoe turned to me in surprise, and I caught her face in both my hands.

“What are you doing?” she whispered hoarsely when our lips grazed.

“Selling the story,” I replied before taking her mouth.

I wasn’t planning on making this kiss any longer than the previous one. But she parted her lips of her own accord this time, welcoming my tongue into her mouth where I could taste her again.

My fingers weaved into her silky auburn hair as she leaned in closer. Close enough that I could feel the warmth and softness of her body against mine. My other hand traveled down to her ass, and she sighed as she kissed me back.

I pulled away, leaving her gasping for air. Her eyes were lit up bright like floodlights.

“I…I should go,” she said, and rushed away to the cab.

I watched her get in, and even as the cab pulled away she didn’t turn to look at me.

She didn’t have to because technically, this was all a business transaction. Including the kiss.

I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about that kiss. Now that I had a taste of Zoe Leigh, I had to have more.