THE OUTLAW’S BRIDE Read online

  “They don’t need to know that, Riley,” Katie said, glaring at him. She looked to Ace for help and got nothing.

  “They are right,” Riley pushed. “Alexei is a problem to us all. Weren’t you just saying that exact thing a few minutes ago, Katie?” he calmly reminded her.

  “That doesn’t mean we start spilling our guts to strangers about The Hell Brothers’ issues! Ace!” she cried, pulling him away just as the answer was on the tip of his tongue. “Some back-up here?”

  He bit his lip in anger—he almost had it! “Everyone knows Alexei is a problem, Katie,” he said impatiently. “It’s not a secret people are looking for a way to push him out. Even Alexei knows it.”

  “So you have a plan?” Fiona asked, hope beginning to fill her chest. “You’re going after him? When?” she demanded.

  Ace sighed tiredly and turned back to Fiona, and was instantly struck by her clear blue eyes. They had innocence in them—it was what he had felt earlier when he first saw her. It had been a long time since he had felt innocence, so long, in fact, he hadn’t even recognized it when it walked right in front of him with its tight leather vest that threatened to burst open any second.

  He realized uncomfortably that he was starting to get hard. He quickly picked up his beer and took a long sip to give himself a few seconds to collect himself. As a man who had done his share of sexual activity, her innocence was arousing, but something still bothered him.

  “We don’t, and…we’re not,” he said finally.

  Katie’s body went rigid with anger. Ace ignored her. He knew she was furious with him for revealing more information about The Hell Brothers business, but he also knew she respected the chain of command far too much to say anything. Until later, anyway.

  “What?” Fiona said in shock. She knew it might be difficult to convince Ace to go after Alexei in the next couple of days, but she had at least expected him to have a plan. Niko made Ace sound incredibly competent, but apparently he had overestimated him. Her shoulders drooped.

  “I’m sorry,” Ace began. “I understand all too well the difficulties The Night Hunters are going through, but The Hell Brothers can’t get involved. We don’t have any kind of a plan, and I’m not willing to risk my neck over it,” he finished with a shrug. “You’re welcome to stay and have a drink on our tab while you wait for Stake to come get you.”

  Fiona just wanted to leave, but Melanie quickly butted in to accept his offer, ordering another Hawg Ear. Figuring she might end up dead in a few days, Fiona ordered one, as well, slamming the remainder of the one in front of her.

  Ace eyed her. She was obviously upset, and he genuinely felt bad. He knew what it was like to worry about your people.

  “Maybe you should talk to Blake, the owner,” he said to her quietly, nodding towards the bar where Blake was now replacing an empty keg. “If anyone knows anything, it’s Blake.” Ace looked fondly at the frizzy, blonde-haired woman he’d come to consider a surrogate mother.

  Fiona glanced up and took another sip of her drink. “When he comes back, I will.” She gave Ace a small smile. “Thanks.”

  Ace tipped his glass to her and drank deep, frowning. Something was bothering him again—what was it, dammit! Wait a second…Him? Realization slammed into him like a brick, and he choked on his beer, spraying it everywhere. Everyone scooted back quickly to avoid getting misted.

  “Jesus fucking Christ, Ace!” Katie cried out, disgusted. “Drink much?”

  “Sorry!” he gasped. “Sorry…wrong tube.”

  Fiona looked at Ace concernedly. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Ace took an enormous breath in, and let it out slowly. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”

  Everyone settled back into their chairs and resumed their conversations. Fiona saw Diego was delighting Melanie with an endless stream of compliments, and Katie was arguing with Smalls over riding tactics.

  “You know, I, uh, just remembered Blake is probably in back doing inventory,” Ace said, leaning in close to Fiona. “If you want, I can bring you back there to talk to him.”

  “Really?” Fiona exclaimed, her eyes brightening. “That would be great! Let me just get Melanie,” she said, turning to grab her friend.

  Ace reached out to stop her hand. “It’s a really small back office, and Blake doesn’t like lots of new people in his space. It would be better if it were just you. You are the leader’s ol’ lady…right?” he asked slyly.

  “Right,” Fiona said confidently.

  “Then you’ll do just fine.” Ace grinned widely at her.

  Fiona didn’t know what to do. She felt uneasy about going anywhere without Melanie, but she had already come this far, and there was no turning back now. “Let’s go,” she said firmly, standing up and following Ace.

  They wound through scattered pool tables towards the back of the bar where a small door stood marked Office. Ace held the door open for Fiona, and she hesitantly entered. Fiona saw several rickety shelves filled with dusty liquor bottles and a rusty desk, but no Blake.

  She whirled around to see Ace closing the door behind him. Fiona rushed at him, hoping to catch him off balance, but he caught her easily and grabbed her arms to keep her from hitting him.

  “What are you doing?” Fiona panicked. “I’ll scream!” she threatened.

  Ace snorted. “Go ahead. No one is going to hear you over the noise out there,” he said, letting go of her.

  Fiona stepped as far away as possible from him, rubbing her wrists where he’d grabbed her. She opened her mouth to scream, watching him to see if he was going to try and stop her. But Ace did nothing except sit on the desk and look at her. Fiona closed her mouth slowly, confused.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her simply.

  Fiona thought her wrists might beg to differ. “Then why are you keeping me in here?” she demanded to know.

  “Why are you lying to me?” Ace countered. “I know you’re not from The Night Hunters, if there is such a gang in northern Chicago.”

  Fiona opened her mouth heatedly, then faltered. She didn’t know what to say. She was clearly busted. “How did you know?” she blurted out.

  “There were a lot of clues: the leader didn’t come himself and no property patches, though you claimed to be the leader’s ol’ lady. The giveaway was when you called Blake a guy, though. Blake’s a girl.” Ace laughed. “You bought your drinks from her.”

  Fiona moaned. They had been so stupid. “Are you going to kill me?” she asked, suddenly terrified.

  “What?” Ace said, shocked. “No! I already told you I wasn’t going to hurt you. Though it is an exceedingly bad idea to come into a biker bar and pretend to be bikers just to get your rocks off. Someone else might not be so lenient with you. Surely you girls can find safer ways to have fun.”

  Fiona stared at him in total disbelief. “You think I did this for fun?”

  “Well, now I don’t,” Ace muttered self-consciously. “So if not for kicks, then what?” he asked her. “Why did you come here asking about Alexei of all things?” His face hardened suddenly. “Are you with Alexei?” he asked dangerously.

  “No!” Fiona cried. “The opposite. Melanie and I, we really did come for your help with Alexei. Well, mostly me,” she admitted. “Melanie came for moral support.”

  Ace relaxed a little, but he was still confused. “What could a girl like you have done to cross paths with a man like Alexei? Who are you?”

  “My name really is Fiona,” she said desperately, “Fiona Brown. And you’re right. Normally, I would never be in a situation like this. My little brother, Niko, got tangled with up with Alexei, and now that man is hunting him down as we speak. I just…” Fiona trailed off halfheartedly. “Niko said you were the only one around who would be able to give us a chance against Alexei. I know it was dangerous and stupid, but I had to try. I never would’ve been able to forgive myself if I didn’t try.”

  She seemed to be speaking to herself more than him, Ace noticed curiously, tryi
ng to convince herself this hadn’t been a complete waste of time. He also noticed, now that they were in better light, Fiona had several cuts and bruises. Her left eye looked puffy, like she had used make-up to cover a shiner.

  “Please,” she begged him, her blue eyes bright with tears. “Please help us. Alexei’s going to kill my brother, and he’s all I have.”

  Ace walked over to the door and put a hand on the knob. “I’m really sorry about your brother, but there’s nothing I can do.” He opened the door and took a step out.

  “Liar.”

  Ace looked back to see Fiona staring at him defiantly. “Excuse me?” he said with a disbelieving chuckle.

  “I called you a liar,” Fiona repeated challengingly.

  “You’re the one who came into a bar pretending to be someone else!” Ace cried.

  “You can do whatever you want,” Fiona continued, ignoring him. “You’re choosing not to help me.”

  Ace shrugged. “You’re right. I could help you, but like I said before, it’s not worth risking my neck over.”

  “What is, then?” Fiona said, seizing his words. “What would make it worth it? Money? How much?”

  “Something tells me that if you had that kind of money, sweetie, Alexei wouldn’t be a problem for you,” Ace drawled.

  Fiona looked down, avoiding his gaze. “I could get money, a lot of money. I just need a few days to get it, and, well…”

  “Alexei’s not willing to wait,” Ace finished. “Where are you getting that kind of money that you can’t get it now?” he asked.

  “My dad,” she said simply.

  “Wait,” Ace said, confused again. “I thought you said your brother was all the family you had left.”

  Fiona sighed. “It’s…complicated. We don’t talk to our dad much.”

  Ace snorted. “If he’s still alive and willing to give you potentially thousands of dollars, how bad can he really be?”

  Fiona sank down on a rusted, metal folding chair. “He isn’t…or, he wasn’t. Something happened after Niko was born and Dad just started to lose it.” Fiona stared ahead, looking at a memory. “So slowly we didn’t even realize what was happening until one day he was yelling at Mom and he punched a hole in the wall right next to her head. He’d yelled and punched walls before, but he’d never come that close to hitting her.” Fiona shrugged, coming back to Earth. “Mom was gone the next morning. After that, Dad didn’t yell when he was drunk anymore, but he didn’t do anything else either. I left for college as soon as I could, but I had to stay close because of Niko. I couldn’t leave him.”

  “Sounds like you got lucky to me,” Ace said after a long moment, staring hard at the girl in front of him. “Your daddy never hit you, or worse. He still went to work, and you got to go to college.”

  “I’m sorry my family isn’t as fucked up as yours clearly was,” Fiona fired back, standing in her anger, “but that doesn’t make me lucky. Not by a long shot. If anything, you’re in a better position than I am right now. Does that make you lucky?”

  Ace stood up, towering over Fiona. His long, lean form cast a shadow across her, but she glared right back at him, refusing to look away. “My father didn’t punch the walls. He hit my mother and me. Sometimes so severely I couldn’t walk. Now do you feel lucky?” he asked her harshly.

  Fiona felt a pit of guilt forming in her stomach.

  “One day I came home from school and found that he had beaten her to death,” Ace said. “I was sixteen and there she was, lying in a pool of her own blood. I couldn’t even recognize her. But then I saw this, and I knew,” he held up a gold cross hanging from a thin matching chain necklace. Fiona tried to look anywhere but at his dark green eyes, but Ace reached out and grabbed her chin, holding her still. “Do you know what my father was doing when I found her, Fiona?” he asked. “He was watching the game on TV. So what I did was I went and got his shotgun, and I killed him right back. They gave me five years for a crime of passion, and because I was a minor. Do you feel lucky now? Because you should, Fiona. You’re very lucky,” Ace said, lowering his voice to a whisper.

  Fiona took a step back, running into the liquor shelves behind her.

  “You’re lucky I’m a nice guy who wouldn’t teach you and your friend a lesson for coming in here tonight.” He stepped forward to trap Fiona between the shelves and his hard stomach.

  Fiona panicked. She planted her hands squarely on his chest and gave a hard shove with all her might. Nothing happened.

  Ace stepped back a moment later, freeing Fiona. She eyed him suspiciously. “So?” she asked him hesitantly. “Will you loan us the money or perhaps help us with Alexei and I can pay you in a few days?”

  Ace shook his head. “We’re not banks, and we don’t work on promise of payment. I’m sorry about you and your brother, but you just don’t have anything of value to me.” It really was a shame, he thought, glancing her over.

  He opened the door once again; they had been in here far too long. Ace was sure to get an earful from Katie. For someone who wasn’t his old lady, she sure acted like it sometimes. “Time for you and your friend to go,” he said, glancing at the table where Melanie had several empty glasses in front of her, and was laughing uproariously at something Diego had just said.

  Tears of frustration began to well up in Fiona’s eyes. She grabbed Ace’s hand and fell to her knees. “I will do anything for my brother. Anything you want, and I swear it’s yours.” Fiona wasn’t naïve. She knew the full implication of her words, and she didn’t care. If it would save Niko, it was worth it.

  Ace raised an eyebrow. He looked back at the crowd of people barely forty feet away, and back down to the gorgeous Latina woman on her knees before him. “Do you know what you—” he started to ask, but she cut him off.

  “When I said anything, I meant it,” she said quietly.

  Ace took one last look at The Hell Brothers, drinking and laughing, and shut the door, leaving him alone in the office with Fiona.

  Chapter 4

  Fiona nervously stood as Ace slowly circled her. He looked her up and down appreciatively.

  He had already noticed her rear; he stopped now to stare at it in the light. It was round, full, and supple. Ace reached out and placed his palm against her ass, cupping it firmly. He squeezed, testing Fiona’s reaction as much as he was the firmness of her butt.

  Fiona, for her part, was expecting this, and didn’t resist. Ace rubbed his palm up and down for a minute, and then stepped away from her. He walked around to face her, taking stock of her front.

  The vest clearly wasn’t hers, or at least it wasn’t her size. Her breasts weren’t huge, but they strained against the leather, rising even higher with every breath she took. The bottom half of her top was open, revealing a tight tummy that seemed to come more from genetics than exercise.

  Ace dropped his gaze even farther, looking at the wide hips that came from her seemingly perfect ass, and her lean, tanned, powerful thighs. His eyes snapped up to meet hers, but they were no longer scrutinizing—they were filled with a dark, threatening lust.

  He pushed her up against the shelves, trapping her again. Fiona bit her lip to keep from crying out. Ace smiled. He knew he scared her, even though she was pretending he didn’t. She had never met a man like him, he was willing to bet, let alone offered herself to one.

  Ace ran his hands along her rigid body. She didn’t seem experienced, but to say she was unsexual would be a gross mistake. Her lips were an innocent, rosy pink, and Ace thought they begged to be tasted, to be bitten…to be wrapped around his cock. He began to stir down below as he flashed back to the image of her on her knees, with her big blue eyes staring up at him pleadingly.

  He instinctively flicked his tongue out, wetting his lips. He hadn’t been this hot in a long time. He and Katie had great sex, there was no doubt about that, and Ace had a lay or two on the side when someone caught his eye. Katie was usually a bit pissy about it for a day or two afterwards, but then she’d revenge fuck so
me other guy and come back to him, so it all worked out.

  The thing was, those women were a dime a dozen around The Crabtree. They walked in and out of the bar every day. A girl like Fiona, however, wouldn’t look at him twice if she saw him in the street. In fact, she might go out of her way to make sure she didn’t look at him once.

  He pressed himself up against her, making sure she felt how hard he was. This time she gasped, closing her eyes. Ace paused, grinning—he wasn’t sure if that sound had come from a place of fear or something else entirely. He had a hunch that if Fiona were to let loose, she would be every bit as provocative as the girls out in the bar.

  “How do I know you’re going to do what you say?” she asked suddenly.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, pulled out of the fog of his imagination.