Angel's Halo (Angel's Halo MC 1)

I haven’t worked for the last three nights, and my brothers are starting to feel the strain of not having me around to help out. Raider’s and Colt’s visit today had been all about guilt-tripping me into coming home so I can do my share at the bar. I compromise. I’ll continue to stay at Spider’s apartment, but I’ll come back to work.

They grudgingly concede and leave soon after. No doubt it’ll all get back to Jet—because, yeah everything gets back to him—and he’ll rip into me during his weekly phone call Thursday morning. That’s fine by me. I’m going to rip him a new one too.

“Not Bad Ink!” I exclaim when Spider stopped channel surfing once he finds his favorite reality show. “We watched this until three this morning. Please?” I pout at him, but he ignores me. “Spider!”

“Raven, I love you, but I won’t change the channel, even for you.” He winks. “Besides, I know you have a crush on this guy.”

I shoot him two middle fingers because he’s right, dammit! So I settle back against my pillows and get comfortable. It’s going to be at least three hours before I can talk him into watching something else.

The next evening I don’t have to worry about watching more Bad Ink with Spider. I arrive at the bar earlier than usual so I can help get everything straightened up before the place gets busy. Fridays are for club meetings with the Originals. Saturdays are for the Whores-R-Us feast for all. Thursdays? That’s anyone’s guess. It could be so slow that you beg for someone to get into a fight just to ease the boredom. Or it could be so busy with not only bikers coming and going but any number of different people chancing coming in that you end up walking fifty miles before the night’s over.

Colt’s already stocking beer into the coolers behind the bar when I walk in. Raider’s washing glasses by hand. Hawk is carrying ice. Like always, none of them pay any attention to me as I get busy. I put an apron on and start filling bowls with nuts and pretzels. I wipe down all the tables because I know that no one has done that over the last few days.

By the time I’m done, at least twenty bikers make their way in. I greet them all by name but don’t try to start conversations with any of them. There’s no use. They’re scared to say more than a “hi” to me anyway.

Felicity texts me randomly throughout the evening. She’s studying with Gracie tonight. Hawk doesn’t want Gracie to come to the bar, so Felicity keeps her company on the nights he works. Not for the first time, I wonder what’s going on with Hawk and Gracie …

Spider slaps me on the ass as he walks by toward his usual table in the back. I yelp, not expecting the sudden stinging contact, then grinned. Someone’s living on the wild side tonight, slapping my ass in front of my brothers? “Want a beer?” I ask.

“Bottle of tequila, babe.”

My eyes widen but I fetch his bottle with a salt shaker and some lime slices. By the time I return, he’s glaring down at his phone and I narrow my eyes. Spider doesn’t like his phone half the time. He only uses it when necessary and only then with great reluctance. “Do you even know what you’re looking at?”

Spider raises cold eyes to me. They lose some of the frost when his eyes meet mine, but he doesn’t say anything. I know that look. It’s the one he gets right before he leaves a man broken and bloody on the floor. I pour his first shot for him and leave him to destroy the piece of expensive technology in his hands. “Let me know if you need anything.”

He only nods, swallowing the shot without the use of the lime or salt. I squeeze his shoulder and go to pick up the empties littering empty tables.

I keep an eye on him as the night wears on, watch as he empties the bottle. I don’t even blink when the phone is thrown against the wall and explodes in three different directions. Around midnight I push him into my Challenger and drive him home, not caring that I leave my brothers to close the bar on their own.

It’s not easy to get a man the size of Spider up two flights of stairs when he’s that drunk. He nearly falls on me twice, and I stumble a few times. By the time I unlock his apartment door, I’m out of breath and exhausted.

I push him onto his bed, take his boots off, and attempt to get his jeans off. Of course he’s not wearing anything underneath, so I cover his naked ass up before heading to the bathroom for a shower.

The booming knock on the door stops me. I glance at Spider, knowing that he’s out for the night. Whoever is at the door sounds pissed from the knock alone, so I’m debating on whether to answer it or not.

“Open the fucking door, Raven!” Bash commands in a voice full of rage. “Open it or I break it down!”

Sighing, I unlock the door and open the door a few inches. Bash stands leaning against the door frame. The light of the street lamps in the parking lot glow behind him, making him look almost menacing. “What?” I ask, raising a brow as if bored. Hoping that he can’t see how affected I am by his presence.

Stupid weak body! Turned on and nearly panting at just the sight of Bash Reid. I’m disgusted with myself.

“You’ve had your few days of space, Raven. You don’t get any more.” He pushes the door open and grabs my wrist. “Let’s go.”

> I try to pull my wrist from his grip. “I’m not going anywhere with you!” He doesn’t seem to notice that I’m struggling to get free. “Bash, let go. You’re hurting me.”

He’s not but it’s the only thing I can think of to make him let me go. It works. He drops my wrist as soon as the words are out of my mouth. But any chance I think I may have of running from him is quickly lost. He turns, tosses me over his shoulder and heads for the stairs, leaving Spider’s door wide open.

“Wait! Stop, Bash. Spider’s out cold. Please, just close his door!” I pound on Bash’s wide back. “Don’t leave him vulnerable like that.”

Muttering a curse, he switches direction, locks and slams Spider’s apartment door, then heads toward the stairs once more. It takes less than two minutes to get down to the parking lot where his bike is parked beside of my car. He puts me on my feet then gets on his hog before making me get on behind him.

I don’t even protest as he heads toward home. Arguing with him will get me nowhere. But do I really want to? Haven’t I hidden from him and my feelings for long enough? It’s time to pull up my big girl thong and face this thing head on.

There’s nothing like riding on the back of a hog with Bash. Even as torn up inside as I am, the exhilaration of having two of the things I loved so much all at once is enough to have me relaxing and enjoying the ride. My hands tighten around Bash’s waist and he covers my hands with one of his own.

The innocent contact of his hand on mine shouldn’t have affected me. Shouldn’t have awakened an ache that only Bash has been able to produce in me. My nipples instantly harden, my panties growing wetter with each mile that the powerful bike eats up. It doesn’t seem to matter to my body that this man has broken my heart repeatedly. I’m on fire for him and can’t even think clearly because my want is so great.

I need Bash to fuck me. Now!