Page 77 of Redeem Me

“I’m the bachelorette, bitch!” Natasha yells and nearly falls off the motorcycle.

Nearby, Sync and Indigo struggle to keep Siobhan on her feet. I swear all the women hit a new level of drunk as soon as the cuffs came off. I glance in the direction of the Kovak brothers who stare dead-eyed at the cops explaining something to them.

“Dude, she’s too wasted to hold on,” Pork Chop says as he rubs Carys’s belly.

“No, I’ve got this,” Siobhan insists and pushes past Sync and Indigo to get right up in Natasha’s face. “Don’t fall off, okay?”

“Okay,” Natasha says and cups Siobhan’s jaw. “I wish I was a lesbian, so I could ride your face. You’re the best ever. But I like boys, so I’m going to ride Bear’s face instead.”

Siobhan nods hard enough to throw herself off-balance and nearly ends up on her ass. “You deserve his wily tongue.”

“Wait, how do you know that about his tongue?” Indigo demands while Sync shoots me a dirty look.

“She read my diary!” Natasha cries and then slaps her hands over her mouth at how loud she’s being.

Siobhan soon sits on the curb, laughing and making those guttural “I’m about to puke” noises.

Turning to Natasha, I cradle her cheek against the palm of my hand. “Don’t you want to wait until our wedding night?”

“I already know what your dick feels like, Bear,” she says and exhales like she’s exhausted. “And it’s been so long without you inside me.”

I glance at where the Kovak brothers intimidate the cops. I hear the name “Alec Brennan” mentioned by the pigs. These dumbass cops are clearly calling in the big guns to avoid ending up at the Eternal Tranquility Funeral Home.

“We can go to my place,” I tell Natasha. “I’ll drive as slow as possible, but you can’t let go.” When she barely listens and her fingers tug at my belt, I kiss her forehead to gain her attention. “If you fall off and get hurt, the kids will cry.”

Natasha sobers up enough to focus. “I want them to have everything.”

“All they want is their mommy to love them.”

Her expression makes me think I said the right thing to get her to focus. She offers me a sweet smile like when we’d goof around in bed after our sweaty fucks. This is the woman I fell hard for all those years ago.

“Hold on,” I warn as I start the motorcycle.

Natasha tightens her arms and grips my shirt. Her brothers suddenly appear at the curb. Maks says her name with the aggression of a man on his last nerve.

“It’s okay! He’s family-approved cock!” Natasha cries, and I speed away before they can stop us.

Glancing back over my shoulder, I spot Maks gesturing for their people to follow. I’m able to reach my house without security catching up. Fortunately, Natasha doesn’t fall off during the ride. She gets a little too cocky while climbing off my hog and nearly ends up on her sweet ass. I pick her up and carry her wrapped around my hips.

Once inside, I rest Natasha on her feet. Her gaze meets mine, and I see how her earlier lust is gone. When she steps back, I know without a fucking doubt, her mind’s gone to Ollie.

My thoughts return to that day. I thought I had a handle on the situation. I remember thinking I was doing Ollie a favor by killing his shithead brother. Just before I pulled the trigger, I believed even a pacifist like Natasha would thank me for freeing Ollie from the main obstacle in his life.

As soon as I hit my target, I knew something had gone wrong. It’s the only reason I didn’t ride away. I don’t normally stick around to watch a man die unless I need to hide his body. But the club wanted a public death for Roy. He’d tried snitching on the Backcountry Kings when he got nabbed on a shoplifting charge. Killing him would send a signal.

Yet, Roy wasn’t on the ground, bleeding out from the shot to his throat. That moment was the first time in my life when I felt like the bad guy. No one I ever hurt before deserved mercy. If I was a monster, so were the people I fucked up.

Not Ollie, though.

Losing Natasha was my punishment, and I’m not wholly certain I should be forgiven.

Except I want this woman with every fiber of my being. Her tears feel like I’m losing her again. No, worse, I feel like as soon as I fired that bullet, I lost her forever.

NATASHA

Riding on the back of Bear’s motorcycle is a longtime dream of mine. As soon as this man crawled under my skin, I would try to catch glimpses of him around town. On those rare occasions when I saw him on his motorcycle, I’d go weak in the knees like a sex-starved maniac. During one particularly steamy summer, I spotted him in a white tank top covered by his vest. So much sweaty, tatted flesh broke me. I’ve been masturbating to the memory for years.

Now, I have my arms wrapped around his sexy body. The power of the motorcycle rumbles between my legs. I inhale the scent of his leather vest and rich cologne. Between the booze and this fantasy come true, I’m awash in arousal as we pass through his home’s security gates.

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