Adversaries by T.L. Hodel

Not sure where Naomi was when I woke up. I knew she was still in the clubhouse somewhere, none of the guys would let her leave, but she wasn’t in bed beside me. She had to have left after I fell asleep.

I wasn’t letting her go when I was awake. I didn’t like the idea of her sleeping somewhere else, which in itself bothered me.

What I did to her last night shouldn’t have happened. I might’ve felt bad about it if I hadn’t walked downstairs after my shower and met her scowl. Her snarky tone rang through my ears like nails on a chalkboard.

“Have a good sleep?”

My brow arched. Fuck that. It was about time someone put her in her place.

“Because I sure didn’t.”

“Funny,” I sauntered over to the bar where Jaz had set out breakfast. “You seemed pretty relaxed after you came all over my hand.”

Tanner snickered in the corner and then quickly stuffed a forkful of eggs in his mouth. Though neither said anything, the smirk on Beast and Snake’s lips told me they were amused as well.

“You molested me,” Naomi shrieked with a foot stomp.

It was cute how her nose crinkled up in anger. So I shot her a smile, dropped down in one of the stools, and popped a piece of bacon in my mouth. “You liked it.”

“You listen to me, Chase Mathers,” she stormed over and wagged her finger in my face. “The next time you come home all drunk and gropey, I’ll knee you in the nuts.”

I swept her hand away and snickered, “Yeah, cause that worked real well for you last time.”

Beast opened his mouth to say something, but Jaz shook her head. I snorted. Pussy. Letting his woman call the shots. Who was the man in that relationship? Last I checked, Jaz didn’t have a pair of balls hanging between her legs. Not that I’d fucked her or anything.

When you grow up together, you see shit. One thing I should’ve learned from childhood was how girls teamed up, which I was kindly reminded of when Naomi’s hand swung through the air.

The bacon went flying from my mouth as my face twisted to the side. I stopped long enough to glare at Beast, who just shrugged in response.

Tanner, of course, was buckled over, clutching his stomach in laughter. Snake was the only one that didn’t seem to care either way. He sat at his table and continued to eat as if nothing was going on.

“How’s that work for you. . .”

I was up and out of the chair before Naomi could finish speaking.

“Don’t push me, Princess. I have one hell of a headache.” That headache being her.

She didn’t back down, puffed her chest out, and stepped right up to me, brushing those perfect tits against my chest. “Good. I hope it hurts. You are such a…”

Fuck, it was a turn-on to see her like this. Pretty face twisted in a snarl while the rest of her screamed femininity. Her golden hair cascaded down her back, sweeping off the soft curves of her hip with each snide little tip of her head.

This girl was the epitome of the metaphorical wild mare that needed to be broken, and my lasso was hard and ready to go. I’d bend her over and fuck her right here if there weren’t other people in the room.

My eyes fell down to her pouty pink lips, wildly flailing insults. All I could see was how they looked wrapped around my cock.

Naomi snapped her fingers in my face. “Are you listening to me?”

“Nope.”

I’m not sure if it was blatant honesty that set her off or the fact that Snake choked on his food and coughed out, “Damn.”

Either way, she was really pissed now, waving her hand back and forth while snarling out more insults.

Fuck it.

I grabbed the back of her head and slammed my lips down on hers. She fought at first, mumbling protests in my mouth. And like the wild mare she was, all it took to reign her in was one hard tug on the back of her head.

She was putty in my hands after that, melting into my form while swirling her tongue around mine. Let me just say, Jaz’s world-famous breakfast didn’t have shit on her.

“I told you, Princess,” I pulled away from her and stared down at her swollen mouth, “I own your pussy.” I tugged her closer and softly growled in her ear, “Now, calm the fuck down, or I’ll fuck you right here in front of everybody.”

“You wouldn’t?”

I arched a brow. “Try me.”

A chime rang out overhead, causing all of us to look around for the source. When I didn’t see anything, I started to think it was someone’s phone—Tanner was always fucking with people’s ringtones—until it went off again.

“What the fuck is that?” I muttered.

Jaz was the one who answered, “It’s the doorbell.”

“We have a doorbell?” Tanner perked up and glanced at Jaz with a cocked brow. “How long have we had a doorbell?”

“The more important question is,” Snake’s face curled in a grimace, “Who the fuck puts a doorbell on a clubhouse?”

That was a good question.

“The doorbell has always been there,” Jaz shook her head and sighed. “Idiots.”

The chime went off again.

Naomi cocked her hip. “Is anyone going to get that?”

Beast, Tanner, Snake, and I all looked at each other, unsure. Did we want to know who it was?

“Oh, for fuck sakes,” Naomi hissed and sauntered out the door.

I did the only thing any red-blooded male would do. I pulled Naomi back into the room and waved the guys over, where we all took out our guns and slowly made our way down the stairs. Because who the fuck rings the doorbell at a clubhouse?

I put my hand on the doorknob, nodded at the other guys to make sure they were ready, and swung the door open. And who did we see standing outside with a pleasant smile on her face? Ava, that’s who.

It wasn’t some crazed man with a machete that gave us a heart attack. It was a five-foot fuck-all blonde with a big red bow in her hair.

“Is Naomi here?” She sang like she was asking her dad if Naomi could come out and play.

“I could’ve shot you,” I growled.

“Why?” She quickly glanced behind her, “Was I supposed to bring something?”

Was she supposed to bring something? I just… what the hell… I can’t…

I sighed and waved her past, “Naomi’s upstairs.”

She gave a little nod, said, “Thank you,” and skipped inside.

Something caught my eye, causing me to stop her before she climbed the first step.

“Is that blood?”

“Oh yeah,” Ava looked over her shoulder at the big red stain on the back of her shirt. “Those guys really shouldn’t have tried to grab me.”

Tanner straightened up from his spot behind the banister. “What guys?”

“I don’t know they had these patch things on their vest. Hey,” she pointed at one of the patches on Snake’s cut, “kind of like that. I like the color of yours better. Red is so overdone.”

We all stopped and looked at each other. Reapers.

“Where did they grab you?”

“The van’s out there,” Ava lifted her arm and pointed out at the road, “but don’t get too excited, they don’t have any cookies. Liars.”

With that, she skipped up the stairs.

When I stepped outside to investigate, the first thing I saw was a pillar of black smoke rising in the air. The closer we got to the chain-link fence, the more unnerving the scene became.

About a block down the road sat the van or what was left of the van. All we found was the charred burnt-out frame of what used to be a van. Pieces of the vehicle were everywhere, sticking in trees and laying across the roadway.

“What the fuck?” Snake muttered.

What the fuck indeed? I lifted my gaze to half a tire hooked on the top of the fence and then scanned the road. Even more disturbing was the lack of bodies.

We found one of the Reaper’s cuts soaked in blood, but that was it. No fingers, or feet, or any sign that people were there. One little girl did this? There was no fucking way.

I wanted to chalk this up to Wilder, but I told him to keep an eye on the house, and that’s exactly what he’d do. Fucker was probably perched on one of the rooftops staring at it through a scope right now. Which wasn’t exactly a comforting thought. But this?

Tanner picked up a piece of metal and tipped it in the sun. The faint remains of words were still visible. Free cookies. “I love this girl.”

Snake and I cocked a brow at each other. Tanner was into some risky shit, but Ava Whitley gave new meaning to the term risky. That girl was just as likely to cut his nuts off as she was to suck his dick.

Fuck, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ate the fucking thing. Soon enough, we wouldn’t be calling him Playboy anymore, we’d be calling him Dickless.

“Seriously,” he reiterated by pointing at both of us, “all you fuckers stay away from her.”

He had absolutely no worry about that from me.

Snake didn’t say anything. He just spun around and marched back to the clubhouse.

“Where are you going?” Tanner called after him.

“To get the girl some damn cookies.”