Point of Return Read online

“I can’t, Travis. I’m exhausted…”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re going to stay the night there?” I could feel his anger rolling off him and knew he was pacing his apartment with one hand running through his short hair, his brown eyes narrowed on a spot on the wall, his chest heaving while he fought for control.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, my finger and thumb pressed against the bridge of my nose. “It’s not like that-”

  “The fuck it’s not, Olivia. Whether he’s there or not, it’s his house. How in the hell can you even stand to be there?”

  I didn’t know. I couldn’t explain it. Not in a way that Travis would understand or forgive me for.

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered, walking to the kitchen in search of beer. I needed it. Except, shit… I couldn’t. Instead, I dug through Daemon’s fridge and grabbed a bottled water. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  I hung up and tossed the phone on the kitchen table, barely hearing it clatter and slide across the wood tabletop.

  “Take me to Daemon,” I said, falling into a worn, leather chair opposite of where Finn was sitting, watching a baseball game on the television.

  He didn’t look at me. “I’ve never understood the fascination with this sport.”

  “Did you hear me?” I asked, ignoring his statement. I didn’t get sports, period. I especially couldn’t stand watching baseball highlights at almost midnight. I was exhausted, but too wound up from everything that had happened in the last few hours to sit still.

  “Can’t do it,” Finn said, he waved a hand dismissively but didn’t look in my direction. “I’m under orders you stay here.”

  I took a drink of my water, staring jealously at the beer bottle in his large, inked hand. “Daemon’s orders?”

  Finn said nothing. He didn’t move. He sat there like a statue ignoring me.

  “Fine,” I said, finishing the water bottle and set it down on the table next to me. Standing up, I moved toward the kitchen. “I’ll just call my dad.” Like hell I would ever call my dad, but I wondered if it’d work.

  From behind me, I heard a heavy sigh follow. “You sure do know how to get your way.”

  I spun on my heels and faced him, grinning wickedly.

  Finn shook his head, exasperated. “Let’s go, Princess.”

  My smile fell, but his grin matched my earlier one. I scowled and when I walked by him, I stuck my tongue out at him.

  The Nordic Lords’ clubhouse sat on the northern edge of town, secured behind a gated perimeter. We pulled into the parking lot with my arms wrapped securely around Finn and I turned my head, ignoring the men guarding the gates. I didn’t particularly want to see anyone there, and I certainly didn’t want the men alerting my father of my presence.

  Underneath the calm façade I wore like a comfortable sweater, my hands were shaking and my heart was beating faster than normal. If Finn noticed my nerves being a jumbled wreck, he said nothing, not that I expected him to. This was the first time in five years I had stepped foot on club property.

  A part of me was afraid I would never be allowed to leave.

  A part of me felt guilty for leaving in the first place.

  I pushed that guilt down to places I didn’t want to think about as I stepped off Finn’s bike and headed for the clubhouse entrance. Finn stayed next to me and I almost laughed at his protective nature.

  It wasn’t necessary. This had been my home. Across the parking lot was the classic restoration garage. At one point, it had been their only legit business and even then, it was where shady deals took place under the guise of clean money. I had learned how to change the oil on bikes in that garage.

  I jumped when I heard a gunshot ring out in the distance, instantly reminding me of the Nordic’s private gun range. The range where I’d learned to shoot as soon as I could hold a gun. My feet stumbled as I put my hand on the door to the clubhouse. I could feel and hear the loud music coming through the door, the handle under my hand vibrated from the thumping bass.

  “You’re gonna get my ass kicked for this, you know.”

  Finn’s deep and accented voice made me pause before I opened the door. When I turned to face him, he stood close to my back, towering over me. He looked positively lethal, and gorgeous enough to be on the cover of a magazine at the same time. His lips twitched and I smiled.

  “Something tells me you can take care of yourself.”

  I flashed him a small grin and pushed open the door, looking braver than I felt.

  Inside, the club looked the same. Late night, music blaring, the ricocheting sounds of pool balls in the distance, and the laughter from the club whores that sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard.

  Home sweet home, I thought to myself, and then rolled my eyes.

  As I stepped into the main room of the club, men’s heads turned from the women who were straddling them and touching them. Their mouths dropped open and their hands stilled.

  Within seconds, although it felt like hours under their shocked looks, all eyes were on me. It almost amazed me how easily I slipped back into the role I had known my entire life. I didn’t look anyone in the eyes as I made my way through the house, scanning the large room for the one person I wanted to see.

  “He’s not here,” a familiar voice quietly said next to me. I smiled at Jaden. His short hair and lack of facial hair made him seem more like a college guy than a biker, but I knew there was pain hidden under his bright blue eyes that smiled at me. I had never told him I was sorry about his brother dying, and knew now wasn’t the time.

  As if he knew what my eyes were trying to say, he nodded. Then he uncurled his body from the barstool, slowly and unsteadily standing to his feet.

  “You see my place tonight, Jaden?”

  He nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Some smoke damage, a lot of water. Fire department got the fire out quickly, but I’d guess that most of your stuff is gone. You won’t be able to stay there for weeks.”

  Or never. Which meant no job, either. I’d have to call Gunner in the morning and figure out what he was going to do.

  No one else greeted me. No old lady welcomed me. Which was fine, I didn’t come to get caught up in their lives. It was pure silence in the club, as if someone had even stopped the music, just to watch my entrance back into the Nordic Lord life.

  The thought made me bristle and I stopped, frozen to my spot. I wasn’t coming back to the life. I was looking for Daemon. We had things left to say to one another.

  “Looking for the V.P?”

  I turned my head toward the high-pitched voice. She had walked up next to me, and I could tell by her smile that she not only knew something, but she was pleased with the information she had. I also knew I wouldn’t like what she had to say. I took her in. She had long blonde hair that had seen too much peroxide in the course of her short life. Her chest was three sizes larger than mine, and almost exploding from the cropped black shirt she wore. Her stomach completely toned and her side showed off a tattoo of hot pink flowers. It was beautiful artwork.

  So was the girl. She was just… so young… too young to be a club bunny already. I felt sorry for her, especially once I met her eyes and finally recognized her.

  “Melissa?” I asked. I didn’t bother hiding my shock. Was she even legal? I quickly did the math in my head.

  “I go by Missy now.” She grinned as if the name should mean something to me. It didn’t. I was still fighting my shock.

  “I used to baby-sit you.”

  She scowled, “When I was like, ten. That was years ago.”

  She was right. I felt Finn’s hand on the small of my back, trying to push me away from her. The forcefulness of his hand, the urgency to get me away from her, made me plant my feet harder into the sticky, beer stained linoleum floor. “What are you doing here?”

  She played with her blonde hair as she opened her mouth. As soon as she spoke, I wanted to throw up on her feet.

  “I should really thank you. Daemon’s always a bit ro
ugher on the nights when your name comes up in the club.”

  Oh, my God. I gagged. I couldn’t stop the reaction, and her grin widened when she saw how disgusted I was with her.

  “That’s… that’s…” I stuttered over myself and looked around the room. I saw all eyes on us, watching how I was reacting to her revelation. She was Daemon’s club bunny. She couldn’t be barely eighteen, if that. “I can’t even talk about how revolting that sounds, Melissa.”

  I looked away from her, unable to see another girl in this God-forsaken place that thought the way to a good life was to spread her legs for a club member.

  And Daemon, of all people. Visions of me baby-sitting Melissa as a little girl jumped into my head. Nights when Daemon helped me and we’d all sit around playing Barbie dolls. We would have been twelve or thirteen. Her? Six or seven. She didn’t act ashamed of herself at all, and maybe she wasn’t.

  “It’s Missy,” she called out after me, but I had already started walking away, getting the hell out of the smoke-filled silent room, and didn’t look back. “And Daemon doesn’t seem to find me revolting at all.”

  My shoulders shuddered at her words. And for the first time that night, I was comforted by Finn’s presence next to me as he followed me out of the club.

  I gasped for breath as soon as I hit the clean night air.

  “Oh, my God,” I said. I fell forward, breathing heavily, and my hands propped me up on my knees. I stayed hunched over while Finn stood like a guard next to me. After several deep breaths, ridding my mind of everything I had just seen and heard, I exhaled loudly and stood up. “Where is he?”

  I knew the answer without Finn having to say anything when another gunshot blasted through the quiet night.

  I raised the gun and concentrated on the target I knew was there, even though I could no longer see it. Years of spending time in the outdoor gun range had taught me instinctively where to aim. I could close my eyes and still hit the bulls-eye. Tonight I pretended that invisible target was Travis fucking Larson. My finger itched to put a bullet in his gut.

  I wrapped my finger around the trigger, taking slow and deep breaths to calm the adrenaline in my system and felt the familiar catch in my Glock.

  “You’re screwing a girl you used to help me baby-sit?”

  Without lowering my aim, I held my nine millimeter firmly in my hand, and kept one arm extended. “Jealous, Princess?”

  “I think it makes you sick. Is she even legal?”

  It was jealousy. Liv always had a sharp tongue, pointedly sounding out each word, but when she got jealous, the end of her words always ended higher. I smiled as I heard her flip-flops stomping toward me.

  Slowly I turned around, slipping the gun to the back of my jeans and took the few steps to her. “Does it really matter who I fuck?”

  I stared at her, waiting for a reaction; anything to show me that she actually gave a shit, but I saw nothing. I pressed my hands into fists to keep myself from yanking her to me. What would she say if I told her I was so fucking turned on by her earlier that I came to the club just to find Missy? But when she first touched me, I was so disgusted with myself, I spent the last hour at the gun range, savagely firing bullets into invisible targets. Which hadn’t helped me for shit, either.

  I doubt it would have made a difference. Even if I didn’t have sex with Missy tonight, Liv obviously knew I’d done it before. Missy was easy. Easy to be around, easy to screw, and she didn’t expect anything else. As far as club pussy went, I couldn’t have better.

  “Thought I told you to go to bed.”

  “I’m not your old lady,” Liv hissed, her hands flying to her hips. It pushed her chest out and I watched her chest heave in anger. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

  “Doubt you would, even if you were.” I snapped and walked passed her, headed back to the club. I smiled when she fell into step next to me. “What are you doing here?”

  She blew out a puff of air. “I want to know what you know about Travis.”

  “Nothing I can prove, yet.”

  “I thought you said he was in bed with the Black Death.”

  I closed my eyes and stopped moving forward. When I faced her, her eyes held mine. I could only see flashes of them in the moon light, but God, I used to love Liv’s honeyed eyes. Like gold. “Like I said, it’s nothing I can prove, but there’s been too much shit that’s happened in the last few months to make me think he hasn’t gone dirty.”

  “Like what?” I smiled at the impatient tone in her voice. The way she crossed her arms and tapped her foot. It reminded me of her dad, and the way Prez had no patience for people’s bullshit. Liv was always the same way.

  “Careful, Princess,” I leaned forward and caught a whiff of whatever smelly shit she used in her hair. Fucking beautiful is what it smelled like. “Sounds to me like you want to know club business.” I arched an eyebrow, daring her to argue with me. When she did, my dick swelled.

  “I want to know,” she snapped, her words tightly clipped, “if the father of my baby is dicking around behind my back. I have a kid coming I need to think about, and decisions to be made.”

  I grabbed her forearm and pulled her closer to me before I could stop myself. “What decisions? I thought you couldn’t go through with it?”

  Her eyes betrayed her as soon as she looked away. We were at the edge of the trees now where we were only partially hidden from the bright lights of the club’s parking lot.

  “There’s still time. I can change my mind.” Her lips twisted petulantly. She wrenched her arm out of my grasp, and dropped her arms to her sides. I followed the movement and let my eyes wander. She could smack me again all she wanted, it’d be worth it. Her legs were long and toned and I fought the urge to remember what they felt like wrapped around my waist. Would she still be as greedy with me as she was when we were just kids? I drew my eyes to her face, trying to stop the memory of the night I had taken her in the back of my truck; the night she gave me everything.

  The thought of her having another man’s baby was the only thing that made my dick stay under control. I hated Travis. Her being with him would lead to someone being killed and it wouldn’t be me.

  Worse than that though, was I knew how much it would kill her, absolutely destroy her, if she made the wrong choice.

  “You can’t even kill a spider,” I told her softly. I quit worrying about being hit or bit again. I reached out and pushed her wild brown hair behind her ear, and then cupped her neck with my hand. I pulled her toward me gently, and looked down at her. Her breath caught before she softened to my touch.

  Fucking perfection. She’d be mine again. Her body reacted even if she was pissed off at me, and I ate it up like a handful of fucking Skittles.

  She blinked and then laughed softly, but what she didn’t do, was stop looking directly into my eyes.

  “Come on.” I flashed a friendly smile that warred with my desire to throw her down in the grass and claim her as mine. Instead, I yanked her forward teasingly, my hand still on her neck. “Let’s get you back to my place and get you some sleep. It’s been a long night.”

  When we hit the parking lot, she climbed on the back of my bike. Her warm thighs squeezed the outside of my denim. I closed my eyes and inhaled, taking in the feel of her skin and the way she smelled, and the way I knew she was fucking grinning even if I couldn’t see it, even if she wouldn’t let me see it. I took a few minutes and waited for my instantly hardened dick to chill the fuck out.

  While I waited, I watched a shadow fill the doorway to the clubhouse. He almost filled the space. Bull Masters nodded once in my direction and I returned the silent salute—the silent promise that I would always take care of our girl—right as Liv wrapped her arms around me and held on, just like she did when we were kids.

  “I still need answers,” she said, right before I started the bike and lost the rest of her words to the rumbling of the bike engine.

  She did. I just didn’t have any that would make her hap
py.

  I was pulling a black t-shirt over my head as I walked into the kitchen the next morning. The smell of bacon and coffee had woken me up earlier than I usually got up, but it was the thought of Liv making breakfast in my home, rather than the smell of greasy food, that had me out of bed.

  I stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame and watched her work. Her back was to me and she was still wearing the tiny shorts she had thrown on last night. Instead of the sweatshirt that I had thrown at her as we rushed out of her apartment, she was wearing my old high school Jasper Bay High t-shirt. A strange sense of male pride swelled inside me, knowing she had gone through my old dresser, dug through the clothes, and found the one shirt she had always worn.

  “Good morning,” I mumbled, and stepped around her to fill my coffee cup. With one hip resting on the counter, I caught the flush of her cheeks as she flipped the bacon. The sound of the sizzling grease was the only sound in the room. “Where’d you get the bacon from?”

  “I found your phone, called Finn, and asked him to bring me some. It’s the only thing I can eat in the morning that doesn’t make me want to throw up.”

  I said nothing, just nodded, as if it made sense to me. I had never been around pregnant women even though I’d heard of morning sickness. Part of me was pissed she hadn’t woken me up and hauled my ass out of bed to get her some.

  The other part was thrilled she at least went to some member of the club for help. I had half expected her to be gone by the time I woke up. Running back to Travis in search of a happy ever after she’d never find with him.

  Once the bacon was done, I watched her fill two plates with bacon then take them both to the kitchen table. I sat down across from her, immediately digging in.

  She popped a large pink pill in her mouth and swallowed it with a glass of orange juice. I arched a brow in question.

  “Prenatal vitamins,” she explained and then took her first bite of bacon.

  Baby. Vitamins. Travis. I pressed my lips together and changed the subject to something even less appealing.