Page 4 of The Queen of Nightmares

“That’s the spirit!”

She giggled as she hooked her arm with mine and led me into the bedroom. I picked up the cardigan against her protests and shrugged it on. It was really freaking cold. No matter what she said, I wasn’t going outside in just a tank top.

When we reached the door, I bit my lip before remembering the lip stain. Kara had promised it would last the whole night and that I would be able to eat and drink without having to stress about smudges or fading, but I couldn’t help but be worried. I stared at the alarm panel a sucked in a huge breath. I hadn’t been outside since the hospital except for brief trips to the doctor to have my stitches removed weeks ago and to check on my healing progress shortly after that. I was due for an appointment with my obstetrician in a couple of days, but this would be the first time I left without Jack by my side.

I let the breath out slowly, then punched in the code. There was a possibility that Jack would just think I was letting Kara out or she was retrieving something from the car like earlier. However, if he decided to look at the app on his phone, he would see that I set the alarm to AWAY instead of the STAY setting, indicating I was leaving. I shrugged one shoulder defiantly. Oh well. I wasn’t his prisoner. I could leave any time I wanted to. Right.Shit.

My fingers trembled as I stepped out the door, followed by Kara, and fit the key into the lock. I wasn’t so sure about this plan anymore. I didn’t really mind staying inside the house where it was safe. I slipped the key into the back pocket of my shorts and lifted my chin defiantly. I couldn’t live like a princess locked away in a tower. Maybe Jack would be mad; he would just have to get over it.

I followed Kara to her beat-up little car. It looked like it had been through a few battles and lost. I eyed it dubiously as she climbed inside the driver’s seat. She leaned over and unlocked the passenger door for me. It gave a loud metallic groan as I pulled it open, and I gingerly sat down on the stained cloth seat. It was clean inside but obviously worn down with age.

The car started up with a little grumbling, like a kid who didn’t want to wake up for school, but once she put it into drive, it rode smoothly. Kara ran her hand over the cracked dash and grinned at me. “My brother is a mechanic. Someone brought this little guy in but couldn’t pay the bill. Since the garage keeps the cars from people who don’t pay their bills, he fixed it up and gave it to me as a birthday gift a couple of years ago. It runs great, and he keeps up on the maintenance for free.”

“Oh, that was nice of him. Who’s your brother?”

She waved her hand as we approached the clubhouse. The heavy metal door was propped open, and light spilled into the parking lot that was filled with almost as many cars as there were bikes. “You don’t know him. He doesn’t live in Pumpkin Patch.”

I was going to ask more questions, but the words died on my tongue as I got my first view of the new gate. It was a massive black wrought iron with wide brick posts on either side. There was a guy standing at the gate looking bored and wearing a leather vest. As he turned away, I could see his cut didn’t have a patch on the back. I realized he was a prospect likely on gate duty for the night.

I turned and saw the wrought iron fencing stretched on as far as I could see, going toward Jack’s place. Turning my head, I could see it stretching in the opposite direction as well. Jack had fenced in the Devil’s Nightmares compound. My heart did a funny flip in my chest. I hadn’t known he’d installed the fence. It hadn’t been there the last time I came through, but that had been at least a few weeks ago. I never noticed a fence outside the house, but then I rarely looked outside. It also was possible the fence wasn’t very close to the house, either. But one thing was certain: Jack wanted the compound safe from intruders like Dr. Stein.

I blew out a breath and looked over to Kara, who had walked to my side. “There’s a fence.”

She giggled and hooked her arm with mine, leading me toward the front door that was propped open, loud music blaring from inside. “Yeah. It has been all the town has been talking about for weeks.” She bumped her hip into mine. “Ready to turn some heads?”

“Not even a little bit,” I muttered under my breath as I took the first step inside the spacious room.

I had seen it before when I used to come with Jack to his office, but it had never looked the way it did now. The lights were on, but they were turned down low enough to give off the atmosphere of a club. An actual dance club, not a motorcycle club.

The small stage in the corner that had a pole on it was occupied by two girls writhing against each other, wearing next to nothing. A handful of bikers holding beer bottles shouted encouragement to the girls as they caressed each other while sliding around the pole. They weren’t dancing or using the pole as intended. It was more like a prop as they got the men worked up into a frenzy.

The two pool tables in the middle of the room had several bikers surrounding them. A couple of the men were holding pool sticks, attempting to play an actual game, while the other guys were making out with or groping more scantily clad women. I watched as a biker picked up one girl by her butt and sat her heavily down on the table. He ripped her leather bikini top down over her breasts, laughing as they popped out, baring her pierced nipples.

I looked away quickly, only for my eyes to land on one of the leather couches. A girl was on her knees in front of Barrel, who had his legs spread wide, his thighs on either side of her chest as her head bobbed up and down furiously. His half-lidded eyes met mine, and I watched as his gaze slid lazily over my body. His lips turned up in a smile right before he froze, his eyes widening in shock.

I saw the second he recognized me and held back my cringe. I wanted to turn around and run back out the door before he could sound the alarm, but I squared back my shoulders. I wasn’t going to run. I belonged here, didn’t I? I was the President’s woman. I may not have a tattoo on my wrist telling the world that I was Devil’s Nightmare property, but I was owned just the same.

Barrel sat up straighter as his eyes narrowed on me while the head continued to bob quickly in his lap. I could feel his censure and knew he disapproved of me showing up here tonight. Well, fuck that. I started to turn away when I felt a heavy arm wrap around my waist and pull me into a hard, muscled body. It took me only a second to realize that the man holding me wasn’t Jack.

“Hey, sweetheart. Haven’t seen you around here before. Lucky me, I get to claim your hot little body before all my brothers get ahold of you. I do hate sloppy seconds.” The voice was rough, slightly accented with a southern drawl, and definitely not what I wanted to hear. His hot breath fanned over my neck before I felt his wet tongue lick me there and slide up to my ear. “Oh yeah, I’m gonna have fun riding you tonight.”

“Don’t touch me. I belong to Jack.” I tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip with a laugh.

“I don’t know who Jack is, but baby, if you walk in here looking like that all alone, you’re going to find out real quick that anyJackwill do.”

“I don’t even know what that means!” I twisted to face the guy I had never seen before.

“It means you’re fair game, baby.” He grinned at me with straight white teeth. He was handsome, with dark hair and brown eyes. He had a thick beard that was nicely trimmed, but he was so, so wrong.

“The Nightmares don’t take women against their will.” I gritted out as I pushed against him again. “And Jack is…”

He cut me off before I could finish my sentence. “No, the Nightmares don’t force girls. But then, you wouldn’t come to a party here if you weren’t looking for a biker to get between your thighs. So stop playing hard to get, sweetheart. If you want privacy, we can find a room to fuck in.”

“Jack is Bones, you dimwitted fuckface. Now, let mego.” I yanked hard just as the man dropped me like I was on fire. The momentum had me falling backward with a yelp. He took a step forward as if to keep me from falling, but before he could reach me, I landed against a hard chest. Strong arms wrapped around me, much like the man’s had just moments before. This time was different, though. This time, the arms belonged to the only man I craved.

I immediately settled into Jack’s arms, my heart sighing at the feeling I had missed for the last couple of months. Now that they were wrapped around me again, I never wanted to leave them.

All too soon, Jack’s hands left my body, and I opened my mouth to protest. His big hands gripped my waist and roughly moved me to the side. As I stumbled a few feet over, I watched as he stalked forward and wrapped one of those hands around the throat of the man who had thought he had a right to fuck me.

---