Page 1 of Deacon

1

Deacon bit back a curse as the front door of the Kings of Destruction clubhouse swung open and the woman he’d wanted for the last ten years, and had stayed the hell away from, walked in. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she hadn’t aged a day since the last time he’d seen her. But since that had been more than five years before, it couldn’t be true.

Damn.

What was the woman doing wearing a skirt that clung like a second skin and heels that made him want to wrap her legs around his waist in a place like this. The gravel out front would have made walking in those heels treacherous. How had she managed not to break an ankle on her way in? Her long curly hair was pulled up into some kind of up-do that left tendrils framing her face and kissing along her neck. Watching them brush her skin made him want to do the same.

“How long’s Lisa going to be in town?” he asked the man sitting across the table from him.

His best friend looked surprised. “I didn’t know you knew she’s back. She got on with the library here in town. She’s back in town to stay.”

“I didn’t know she’s back, but she’s walking across the room toward us right now.” Deacon’s gaze never left her as he spoke. Damn she looked good and if she was home to stay, he was going to have to find some new ways to be wherever she wasn’t.

This woman was his weakness. But Cowboy wasn't only his best friend, but also his president. Only an idiot would screw around with his president’s little sister.

“You’ve really moved up in the world,” Lisa said as she pulled out a chair and sat at the table where Deacon and Cowboy already sat.

“What do you mean? And what are you doing here?” Cowboy asked with a frown.

“I wanted to come by and see how things were with you and your friends.” She gave him a sweet smile, then turned it on Deacon. “Can you believe he didn’t tell me he is president now?” She tilted her head toward Cowboy.

“I don’t like you coming around here. How did you find out I’m the president now?”

“I just saw it on your vest, silly.” She pointed to the president patch on his chest. She shot Deacon a coy look, then winked at him.

This woman was going to be the death of him. She’d been chasing him since the day she turned seventeen and it looked like nothing had changed in all the time she’d been gone.

He’d kept his distance because of Cowboy. Not to mention because then she was jailbait. Even after she’d turned eighteen, he’d stayed away because she was so much younger than he was.

She’d first caught his eye when she was sixteen. There was no way he was going anywhere near her then. Not even after she’d become legal, because there was still way too much trouble to be found there.

Not only did he not want Cowboy killing him, justifiably in Deacon’s mind, but he’d known he was no good for her. She was meant for more than a mechanic who spent his spare time on the back of a bike.

“Besides, you said you were going to take me to lunch.” Lisa smiled sweetly at Cowboy.

“I said I’d pick you up. I even offered to meet you at the diner.”

“But I wanted to come see this place.” She made a big show of looking around the big room. “Mom says you spend nearly all your time here. She said you even bring Ava here.”

The muscles of Cowboy’s jaw flexed. Deacon knew from experience he was clenching his teeth to keep from saying something he would regret.

“Yes, I bring Ava here. These men are my family as much as you are. They need to know her, and her them so she knows who to go to if she needs something that I can’t be there for. And when did you last talk to Mom anyway?”

“And I don’t need to know where to go? And I talked to Mom a few days ago. Just because she’s spending the summer in Seattle with Terry doesn’t mean her phone doesn’t work.” She rolled her eyes. “But back to me, what if I need something?” She let out a huff of air. “I see where I stand.” She didn’t bother to get up or storm off, instead she turned to Deacon. “You see how he treats me. As if I don’t matter to him at all.”

She acted like she was upset, but Deacon had seen this way too often. And the glint in her eye told him this was just another way to get under her brother’s skin.

And it worked. It always had. But Deacon hated the way she used him as a tool to help her get what she wanted. Not that he acted on any of it. She treated him as an ally, even if he’d done nothing but be polite and as distant as he could manage.

Anything else would test the limits of his control. And fuck, didn’t Lisa test his control every time he was around her?

2

Lisa Lovatt had to bite back the laugh that bubbled up her throat. She wasn’t sure which was funnier. How she was getting under her brother’s skin or the strangled look on Deke’s face since the moment he’d spotted her walking in.

She knew Cowboy wouldn’t be thrilled with her coming here, but she didn’t give a shit. She’d wanted to make sure Deacon knew she was back. And a chance to dig at her brother didn’t hurt either.

Lisa glanced down at herself, still wondering how she’d gotten the nerve to wear this skirt. And the shoes were a bit high, even for her taste. But they’d both been worth it to see the look on Deke’s face. He’d nearly swallowed his tongue. She only hoped he didn’t see her as a little girl anymore.

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