Page 9 of Striker

laughed, feeling my mood lightened just a little bit as the other Prospects rolled their eyes at him. “Not today, Billy. I’m here to talk to Le- I meanStriker. Is he here?” Billy stood and looked toward the gate, his face filled with shock. I followed his gaze and saw Levi standing there, leaning against the small security building they had. Those blue eyes stared right at me, freezing me in my place. He started to walk toward me and Billy backed away.

Levi leaned in to my window, “What’s up, Little Lark? You ain’t gonna change my mind, so if that’s why you’re here you can just turn that tight little ass around and head back home.”

My cheeks turned bright red, partly with anger and partly with lust. His eyes were smoldering with dark thoughts. “I’m here to talk to you,Striker.” His eyes lit up when I purred out his road name. “And not about what happened earlier. So can you let me in so we don’t have to do this in front of everybody?”

He stood and motioned to Billy and the other Prospects, “Open it up, boys. And while she’s here, bring the truck around to the shop and have Wrench check it over.” Levi came around and hopped in the passenger seat. I put the truck in drive and headed toward the clubhouse. Parking right in front, Levi grabbed the keys and threw them toward Billy. “Come on, Little Lark, we can talk in my apartment.” He grabbed my hand and headed to the side of the clubhouse.

We rounded the corner and came to a set of iron stairs leading toward the top of the clubhouse. Levi guided me in front of him, I looked back at him with uncertainty in my eyes. “Just talking, Levi. Nothing more, I’m just clearing the air.” I could feel my heartbeat getting faster, Levi could still get my heart racing after all these years.

“I know, babe. No need to get all worked up. Let’s get movin', I’m starving. I’ll cook up some dinner while we talk.”

I turned and made my way up the stairs. I could feel his eyes burning into my backside. Whipping around I caught him staring at my ass. “Levi Walker!”

He had a shit-eating grin on his face as he laughed. “Come on, baby girl. Can’t expect me not too look, especially in those jeans.” He winked and then slapped my ass.

“I cannot believe you right now!” I narrowed my eyes at him, shooting him the worst look I could muster up, because deep down inside, I loved it. I could feel my panties getting wet from just one touch and the worst part about it was that Levi knew exactly what he was doing.

“Alright alright! Hands off. Keep it movin', babe.” He laughed and motioned for me to keep walking up the stairs.

I got to the top of the stairs and reached for the handle, slowly opening his door. When I opened it, I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was like deja vu when I had first walked into the clubhouse. Levi’s apartment was absolutely beautiful! Sleek, modern furniture with small hints of Levi all over the place. It had exposed-brick walls everywhere you looked. I could see his bed behind a glass wall; grey and white bedding was wrapped in a ball on his bed. The kitchen had shiny black cabinets and a large black fridge. Lights hung from the tall ceiling over the kitchen island with three leather bar stools on one side. A small metal kitchen table sat off to the side with four leather and metal chairs. Levi had a large, black, L-shaped couch in the living room area. It was up against a wall of windows that went from the floor to the ceiling, arching over the rest of the room. The moon and stars were just starting to come up, illuminating the entire apartment. I walked in and peeked around the corner and couldn’t help myself. “Holy shit, look at your bathroom!” Again, all brick with a huge porcelain tub up against the wall with a window overlooking the mountains. The shower had two shower heads and was completely open to the rest of the bathroom. It was like looking at my dream bathrooms on Pinterest. The whole apartment was small, but felt so big thanks to the open floor plan.

I turned to find Levi in the kitchen who was already working on making something for dinner. He had a cast iron pan on the stove and was cutting up a beautiful looking steak. “Anything I can help you with?”

He looked up at me with a glow in his eyes. “I’m all set, babe. You just sit back and relax.”

I made my way over to the kitchen area and sat on the leather bar stool, taking all of Levi in. He had taken out some vegetables and was working on chopping them up. “Well just look at you mister hot shot. I forgot that you could cook!”

Levi laughed and threw the veggies in the pan. “Well, Mama Crawford did tell me I wouldn't grow up and not be able to take care of myself. Your Mama showed me the best cooking around. Thank God for her, or my Pop and I would have lived on beans and Spam.” I stared off into the wall of windows remembering how my Mama and Daddy took care of Levi and his father when his Mama passed. She was so young, yet terribly haunted by things that none of us could understand.

She was trying to leave when she got caught in a bad storm, crashing her car into a ditch. Disoriented from the crash, she stumbled into the dark road when an eighteen wheeler came barreling around the turn. I remember my Mama holding a little ten-year-old Levi as he cried that night. It shook up our little town and Levi couldn’t escape it. His Pop, Daniel ‘Bear’ Walker, had a hard time coping and turned to alcohol and the club. That’s when Mama stepped in and gave him a talking-to. Levi was spending every night at our house while Daniel was looking for an answer. My Mama and Daddy made Daniel promise to stop and move on; reminding him that he still had a sweet little boy to look after.

“Hello? Earth to Lilah?” Levi’s voice snapped me back into reality.

“Sorry! Daydreaming there. Long day I guess. Long friggin' month to be honest.” Levi just smiled as he finished cooking the steak; the veggies and a slice of bread were already on the plates.

“No big deal, babe. You’ve been through a lot, but you’re a strong woman just like your Mama. You’ll get through anything, Little Lark.” He started to cut the steak and placed it on our plates. “Anyways, I was asking what you wanted to drink. I’ve got some beer, a fresh jug of your Mama’s lavender lemonade and some coconut water shit drink Hawk keeps telling me to try.”

I laughed and grabbed a glass from the drying rack. “I’ll just have some of Mama's lemonade. Whatcha having?”

Levi placed the plates on the table, along with napkins and silverware, just like my Mama taught all of us. “Beer for me, babe.”

I opened the fridge and grabbed Levi a bottle of beer and filled my cup with some lemonade. Sitting down, I started cutting my steak, then looked up. Levi was watching me, not touching his own dinner until I took a bite of mine. “Oh my God, Levi, this is so good!”

He sat back and smiled. “Good to hear, babe.” We both ate our meals in a comfortable silence and I started to finally feel at peace. I started to think about how life could be like this all the time and then quickly stopped myself. He wasn’t Levi anymore and I needed to remember that. My sweet love was gone and replaced with Striker; rough and tough biker club President and definitely not what I needed in my life right now. I needed to finish dinner, talk and go right home. I couldn’t open my heart up again just for it to be crushed.What was I doing here? Was this just one big mistake?I sat back and quickly continued to eat, hoping Levi didn’t catch on to my mood change.

Once we finished, Levi cleared the table and roamed over to the couch. Sitting down, he patted the spot next to him. “Come on over and relax, Little Lark.” He had this glow in his eyes, and I knew exactly what was going through his mind. It was the same glow he had years before when we were together; the lust and need to be touching me.

I knew this was all a bad idea, my head was telling me to talk first, take it slow, think things through. But my heart; my heart was saying jump right into this, don’t hold back, Levi will be there to catch you. The battle between my head and my heart was taking its toll on me. One minute, I wanted Levi to throw me down and have his way with me. The next moment, I was bombarded by the day I left town and all the heartbreak I went through. Could I truly love a motorcycle club member? I know I had in the past, but now it was so different. Levi was President and couldn’t walk away whenever he felt like it; the whole club relied on him. While it was admirable, he was still part of an outlaw motorcycle club; something I didn’t know if I could ever get used to.

I slowly made my way over to the couch, toying with the delicate necklace around my neck. “Still wear that necklace, darlin'?” Levi was leaned back on the couch, arms spread on the back, legs wide open, the epitome of relaxed.

“Yeah, haven’t taken it off since Daddy gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday.” I smiled, touching the small necklace. It was a rose gold compass. Daddy always said it was to help guide me on my journey and never forget my way home. He was always big on making sure me and my brothers didn’t forget our roots. My Mama and Daddy worked hard to get where they were and always told us to be humble.

“He was a good man, Lilah. So proud of everything you’ve done. He would talk about you every day, going on about how his baby girl was some hotshot nurse in the city and how smart you were. He loved you with all his heart.”

A tear came to my eye as I sat down on the couch. “I know. Daddy was the best. We talked every day on the phone. Even if it was just for five minutes, I knew Daddy loved it. He used to text me ‘good morning’ at four o’clock every day. He was my whole world, Levi.” I sighed and leaned back on the couch, putting my hands in my lap. “But let’s not talk about him right now. I’ve done enough crying today.” Levi scooted closer to me, reaching out, he put his finger underneath my chin, lifting my face so we were eye to eye.

“I never want to see this pretty face cry, Lilah. So here’s what’s going to happen.” His arm came around my waist and he pulled me in closer, so close that our lips were almost touching. He leaned over, whispering in my ear, “My hands-off policy is about to be broken. I can’t help it, Little Lark. There’s just something about you that makes the fire in me roar wild.” He nipped my earlobe, making me moan. “You’re the only one I’ve wanted my sweet, Little Lark.” His hands roamed down to squeeze my thigh. I could feel how wet my panties were becoming and I was afraid he was going to know. This had ‘bad news’ written all over, yet I couldn’t find the words to say stop; I wanted him to know exactly how turned on he made me. I needed Levi right now.

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