Chapter Eleven

Later that evening, Hugo insisted on showering with Alice, even though he took up most of the space in the shower stall. He couldn’t take his hands off her. Bits of the evening kept playing in his mind like a movie. Having Alice the way he’d planned. He’d thought about it all day. Jacked off over it, too. Her face in the throes of passion.

Joy. Delight. Happiness. The unusual sensations rocked his body. He never felt anything much. “Fucking you. It was amazing. I never thought you’d scream tonight.”

She filled her hand with liquid soap from the pump and washed the front of him, her efficient hands moving over his chest and down his torso toward his cock. “Oh God, was I loud?”

“I don’t care. I want you like that. I like it when you express yourself.”

“I was never relaxed enough to be like that.”

“You hang out with the wrong type of man.” He pumped soap into his hands this time, so he could run them all over her.

“Hugo?”

She said his name so softly, his hands stopped moving.

“We fit together well.”

“Yeah. We do. I wasn’t expecting that.” She was brave, too. She’d been giving that biker hell until he’d intervened. “What was the deal with that asshole I punched at the market?”

“Turn around and I’ll wash your back.” He did as she asked. She got some liquid soap and washed his back in tight round circles that felt so good, the tiny sensations fluttered down his spine. “I grew up in the club. Mad Dog wanted me when I finished school, and Daddy, bless his heart, expected me to fall into line.”

He grinned, knowing how fierce she could be when something didn’t suit her. “How did that go down?”

“Told Daddy where he could shove his plans. I guess Mad Dog’s still cut up that I wouldn’t have him.”

“Smart choice. In the future, when he’s drug addled, don’t take him on. I didn’t like what I saw tonight.”

“Look, Hugo, I’ve lived around these tough men all my life. I’m not scared of them, but like I said before, I did appreciate your help.”

He turned, and his brow creased as he looked at this fiery little woman. “You were up in his grill. That’s dangerous, Alice.”

“I despise what they do.”

“I don’t like drugs, either, but don’t take a man on when he’s like that.”

“I know you were worried about me, but remember, I’m a nurse. I’ve worked in emergency when I trained.”

“You have security at work. This man is from your father’s club. He shouldn’t treat you like that.” What would happen when he left? Fuck! This was a nightmare. If Troy intercepted the latest shipment, would the Banderos work out the link between him and Troy? What if they thought Alice was feeding him information?

She put her hands on his chest. “What’s bothering you, Hugo?”

“Tonight. That moment with the knife. I wanted to gut that asshole. If it weren’t for you demanding I stop, I don’t know what I would have done.” He pulled her in tight, so that she was snug against him, his cock nestled against her torso, and held her so that the water splashed over their shoulders. Her body was sturdy and strong, and it felt good holding her.

“Just for a moment there, I didn’t know how far you would go,” she said. “It scared me. We’re lucky no one called the police.”

“It sends me crazy when a man hurts a woman.” Someone I care about. He hadn’t been able to stop his father hitting his mother when he was seventeen, although he’d tried and been beaten savagely for his efforts. It haunted him everyday.

Payback would be coming soon. After he was done with Alice.

“You’re home now. You have to know when to pull back,” she said.

“I know the difference between fighting and killing. With these sort of men, you have to show them you mean what you say. It’s part bluster. It’s being able to follow through. Mad Dog was going to hurt you,” he said.

She stared up at him frowning, too, clearly thinking about it as water ran down her face like tears. “I wondered if he was going to. It’s the first time I’ve thought that. We’ve argued in the past, but it’s never got physical. I’ve nursed every man in the club: stitched men, set bones, even extracted bullets. I’ve never had any trouble. They respect me.”

Hugo pulled back and inspected her right wrist, which Mad Dog had gripped. It had deep purple fingerprints on it. He looked at her other wrist, checking he hadn’t left bruising when he’d pinioned her. Nothing. “This is not showing respect. You’re the president’s daughter. This doesn’t look like loyalty to the president to me.”

Alice turned off the taps, grabbed her towel, and stepped out of the shower stall. “The club’s in deep shit. Some of the men want to make peace with the Slayers, start legal businesses. Some want to continue the war, blow the crap out of them.”

He needed to get into the clubhouse, check out the lay of the land. Plant the bug if he got the opportunity. “I gather your father’s in the ‘blow the crap out of the Slayers’ camp?”

“You got it. He enjoys fighting, the dirtier the better. That’s the trouble, and don’t expect me to speak to him. I’ve tried. Nothing I say will change his mind.”

He dried himself, wrapped his towel around his hips, and followed her into her bedroom. Before he’d met Alice, he couldn’t give a fuck about biker politics. He’d enjoyed the thought of Troy blowing the fuckers up, but now? Hell! He’d seen the aggression in Mad Dog’s eyes. It didn’t take much for a big man to break a woman’s bones. What if he took Alice with him? Whoa. She wasn’t the kind of girl who could be dragged from pillar to post. “Have you ever thought about leaving?”

She stared at him as if she thought he was mad. “I have Momma in a coma, I’ve just started a new job. I’m enrolled in my master’s course. It starts next week. I can’t go anywhere. Why are you asking?” She pulled a cotton nightgown over her head.

He checked his duffel bag and dressed in a pair of cargo pants and a T-shirt. He was too antsy to sleep. “What if a biker war erupts? Someone hurt your mother, your father thinks you’re next.”

“The war started when Troy DeLance blew up Daddy’s precious club. It’s been crazy since then.”

“Innocents get hurt in war. I don’t want it to be you.”

“I can’t leave, Hugo. I’m not itinerant like you.”

He flinched, but she continued nonetheless.

“I have to visit Momma everyday. She needs me. Besides, I’m not letting some asshole bikers run my life. I’m sick of the lot of them. They can pull out their own bullets and sew themselves up for all I care.” She walked back into the bathroom and cleaned her teeth before dabbing on moisturizer.

He joined her, cleaned his teeth, and wiped his face with the hand towel. Still buzzing from the sex, he took a deep breath in. She smelled of flowers and mint. He ached to hold her to him. She was making him soft.

Her phone pinged, and she went to look at it. “Hell.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Daddy’s downstairs. He wants me to buzz him in.” She raced to the spare bedroom and ruffled the bed. “This is where you sleep, okay?” She flew into her bedroom, heaved up his duffel bag, and started dragging it to the other bedroom.

Hugo strode over, took it from her, and deposited it next to the tiny single bed. “You worried your father is going to think we’re having sex? Thought you weren’t letting some biker rule your life.”

“Just be quiet. The less Daddy knows about my life the better. You have no idea how I’ve fought for my privacy. Trust me. Even from prison, he managed to wrangle his biker buddies to pick me up from school when Momma was doing nursing shifts. Do you know how embarrassing that was?” She ran to the front door and pressed the security button.

He folded his arms. About time the president made an appearance and he moved into the next part of the plan. He’d wondered how long it would take Alice’s old man to check up on her.

She put her hands on either side of his cheeks. “Promise me, you won’t get involved with my daddy.”

“I’m working for him.”

“Don’t do anything illegal. I mean it, Hugo. People respect veterans. You’re a good man. You get associated with Daddy, get caught doing anything bad, you’ll go to jail. The Banderos have the police up their ass. They closed down several meth labs and jailed half the club. Daddy’s cornered, and it’s making him dangerous. Promise me.”

He took her hands in his, marveling how lovely and soft they were in comparison with his and how much she cared about his welfare. His heart beat with a hollow thud. “Alice, I’m a decorated veteran. I’m not interested in illegal. One day I might decide to start my own business. Working for the Banderos and landing in jail won’t be on my resume.”

Alice gave him a penetrating stare. “Thought you weren’t a settler.”

He shrugged. “You never know. People change.”

There was a knock at the door, and she opened it. Glass stood there, his dark eyes glinting, the scar on his face white and jagged against his brown skin. He stared at Hugo. “I have a job for you.”