Property of the Outlaw_A Motorcycle Club Romance_Big Cats MC Page 5

  “Here’s the deal,” he said. “I’ll cover this, but only if you leave here with me.”

  “What?” I asked. “And go where, exactly?”

  “Girl like you needs a birthday to remember. How old are you?”

  “Twenty. I mean, twenty-one as of now.”

  “That’s an important fucking birthday,” he said. “And here you are, running away from some rich dweeb and buying drinks for your friends. Sounds like a pretty shitty arrangement.”

  “So you want me to come with you to … what? Go to Chuck E. Cheese or something?”

  “Nah,” he said. “It’ll be a surprise. So, whaddya say?”

  I didn’t really have a choice. And as stressed out as I was, going out with Tiger sounded like a better option than what I’d been doing all night. Maybe it’d actually be fun.

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll go with you.”

  “Music to my ears,” he said.

  With that, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a money clip fat with rolled-up hundreds. He counted out enough to cover the tab and handed the book over to the bartender.

  “For your trouble,” he said, handing the bartender an extra hundred, which he eagerly took.

  “Now,” said Tiger, a wicked smile spreading across his face. “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter 5

  Tiger

  “Should I say goodbye to my friends?” Nikki asked as I led her through the club.

  “I dunno,” I said. “They’re your friends.”

  “I don’t even know if that’s true,” she said. “I mean, they did stick me with the tab, and I seriously doubt any of them would’ve come to help me if they knew what was going on. One time I left my wallet at home when Melanie and I went out for tacos and she wouldn’t let me hear the end of it until I paid her back the, like, ten dollars or whatever it was.”

  “Thrilling stuff,” I said, my eyes on the exit.

  A screwed-up expression formed on Nikki’s sexy features, and she realized she was babbling.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Just stressed out from all that.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Rest of the night’s gonna be a lot more fun.”

  A smirk formed on my face. I was down for showing Nikki a good time, but I was already thinking about what other kind of “fun” we might get up to a little later.

  “What about your guys?” she asked as we stepped through the exit and into the warm Vegas air.

  “They’re big boys,” I said. “They’ve got booze and women; they’ll be set for the night.”

  The sky above was cloudless and clear, but the light pollution the Strip blocked out everything but the full moon hanging in the sky like a big silver coin. I was down to getting Nikki alone, sure, but getting out of the city did sound pretty fucking nice.

  Eventually, we arrived at my bike, a massive beast of chrome with jet-black trim. She was my baby, and I’d spent the afternoon giving her a good cleaning, so she was looking just right.

  “That’s your bike?” asked Nikki.

  “Nope,” I said. “Just stopping to admire.”

  She was about to say something but quickly picked up on the fact that I was giving her shit.

  “I’ve, um, never ridden on one of these before.”

  “Good news is that you’ve got the easy part. All you gotta do is sit on the back and hang on.”

  “Hang onto what?”

  “What do you think?” I said with a smirk.

  Her fair skin turned a deep red.

  “Come on,” I said.

  I hopped onto the bike and gunned the engine, the growl of my ride booming through the chaos of the strip around us.

  “Where are we going?” called out Nikki into my ear over the sound of the engine.

  “I think we oughta start with a drink at a place that isn’t a joint like this,” I said.

  I watched her give a little nod over my shoulder.

  “That whole thing with my wallet sobered me up,” she said. “A drink sounds good.”

  “Hope you like cheap beer,” I said.

  Then, before she could say a word, I gunned the engine and tore off onto the main drag of the strip. Nikki wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight, pressing her tight little body against my back. I couldn’t help but smirk at the sensation.

  I’d been in Vegas for years, but the sight of the Strip all lit up at night was something I still loved to see. The neon lights swirled around us, and hordes of people, everyone from drunk gamblers to drunk tourists to drunk everyone else, made the place seem like a wild hive of activity. Being on the Strip felt like being right on the pulse of some deep vein of humanity, and I fucking loved it.

  As drove, I felt Nikki’s grip firm up as she clasped her hands together down at my stomach. A strange feeling came over me as we drove. I still wanted to give this girl the fucking of a lifetime, to bend her over and watch that ripe ass of hers bounce off my cock until I came hard. But there was another feeling taking hold of me, one that I didn’t expect. It was a feeling of wanting to protect her, to make sure that nothing bad happened to her.

  It was something I’d never felt before.

  I shook my head and focused on the drive. We soon pulled off the strip and, after a few more minutes, arrived in front of Welshman’s, one of the dives around town that me and the rest of the boys frequented. I killed the engine and helped Nikki off the bike.

  “How was it?” I asked.

  “It was … something else,” she said. “Scary and awesome and thrilling all at the same time.”

  “You’ve got more of that ahead of you,” I said. “Don’t forget we made an agreement.”

  “I haven’t,” she said, steadying herself on the gravel of the parking lot.

  Then she looked away for a second before speaking.

  “Um, I just wanted to say thanks,” she said. “You didn’t have to do that. And I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t been there to save the day.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, turning my eyes to the neon lights of the bar. “And don’t forget, I’m getting something out of this, too.”

  “Oh,” she said, putting her hands on her curvy hips, a wry smile forming on her face. “And what’s that?”

  “Your wonderful company, of course,” I said.

  With that, I held the door open and let her into the bar.

  The place was good and laidback, just like I was hoping. Rock music played on the jukebox, but it was hardly deafening. A handful of bikers were here and there, playing pool and standing at the bar sipping beer out of frosty mugs. They were all familiar faces and made sure to give me the respect I was due as the leader of one of the hardest MCs in the city. And though I was sure they all wanted to eye-fuck the hell out of Nikki, they made sure to be on their best behavior.

  The two of us took a couple of stools at the bar and I ordered us a pair of domestic pints.

  “So,” I said. “The rich girl got herself into a situation that she couldn’t buy her way out of.”

  “Actually, I could’ve easily have bought my way out of it,” she said. “Just didn’t have the card to do it with.”

  The bartender placed two pints of cheap beer in front of us. I watched as Nikki took a slow sip of hers, leaving a foam mustache on her plump upper lip. I reached over and wiped it off, savoring the feeling of her skin against mine.

  “Thanks,” she said, a slight blush forming on her lips.

  I let the moment hang in the air.

  “What about that little boy who was following you around like a puppy dog the whole night?” I asked. “He didn’t want to step up to the plate?”

  “I don’t know where the hell Marcus went off to,” she said, shaking her head. “Maybe he got the hint.”

  “Maybe he did,” I said. “But guys like that don’t get hints. You gotta be blunt with them. Which is why I made it very clear that I would sock him right across his jaw if he didn’t back down.”


  “Would you really have fought them right there in the middle of the club?” asked Nikki.

  “Wouldn’t’ve have been the first time me and my boys had gotten into a scrape like that. Wouldn’t have been the last. Though a fancy joint like that, I probably would’ve asked them oh-so-politely to step into the back alley.”

  Nikki laughed.

  “So,” she said. “You and your boys. You’re some kind of gang?”

  I took another sip of my beer.

  “We’re a motorcycle club. Called the Big Cats.”

  Her eyes drifted along my stripe tattoos once again.

  “A man named ‘Tiger’ is the boss of the Big Cats,” she said. “Seems fitting.”

  “Now, don’t start thinking that we’ve all got cutesy cat names or some shit. I’m Tiger, and I’m the only cat in the gang,” I said with a smirk.

  “And … what do you guys do?”

  “We ride,” I said.

  “Come on,” she said. “I may be a sheltered rich kid, but I wasn’t born yesterday. And I saw that fat wad of cash you pulled out at the bar.”

  “I don’t like to talk shop when I’m not on the clock,” I said. “But my boys and I, we’ve carved out a good little thing here in Vegas. Keeps us all in beer and women.”

  “Didn’t see you with any women tonight,” she said, a little bit of a challenging tone to her voice.

  “You oughta have taken a look in a mirror, then,” I said.

  That zipped her up.

  “I was taking it easy tonight,” I said. “The crew and I had just pulled off a job and we were relaxing. They can have fun, but I can’t—I always gotta be thinking about the next score. Heavy is the crown and shit, you know?”

  She smiled. “I guess I don’t.”

  Another sip.

  “I fucking hate talking about myself,” I said. “Let’s hear your story, rich girl.”

  “Not much to say,” she said, dragging her fingertip over the rim of her glass.

  “Not much to say?” I asked.

  “I mean, my life is really boring. And it’s about to get even more boring.”

  “I hope that’s not a crack at my hospitality skills,” I said with a small grin.

  “No,” she said, playfully swatting me on the leg. “I mean, well, I’m about to finish college and now all the talk is what I’m going to do next.”

  “Girl with money, the world’s your oyster. Why the hell would it be boring?”

  “Because I don’t get any say in the matter. See, my dad’s one of those dads who likes to keep a close eye on his little girl.”

  “Not close enough,” I said, leaning in and giving her a leer.

  Another little swat and a laugh. Goddamn, did I love to see that smile, to hear that laugh. What the hell was coming over me?

  “Well, most of the time he’s pretty good about it. And I’m an only child, so he’s even more nuts about making sure I don’t deviate from the path too far.”

  I leaned back and drained about half of my beer.

  “And what kind of path might that be?”

  “Rich husband from a good family and lots of kids. That’s all there is to it.”

  “So you’d be hopping right from home to college right into some guy’s house. Not much time to find yourself and shit.”

  “You got it,” she said, seeming relieved that I was on her side.

  “And what do you want?”

  “I want to open my own business,” she said. “I want to be a wedding planner.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “No shit? Why’s that?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, like every other girl I’ve dreamt about my wedding since I was little, and it’s always been such a source of, you know, good feelings—joy. And that’s what I want to bring to other people. I want to be the one to make the most important day of their lives something special, something they’ll never forget.”

  Her eyes seemed dreamy as she spoke, and I could tell her words were coming right from the heart. I felt something inside me stir a little as she told me about her dream, and it wasn’t my dick getting hard. It was something else, something less familiar.

  “And mom’s not taking your side on this?”

  “Mom’s not around.”

  “Divorced?”

  “Dead. Cancer. Five years ago.”

  “Sorry to hear that.”

  She nodded and took a drink.

  “What do you think she would’ve said about all this?” I asked.

  “She was a ballsy gal, the kind to never take any shit. She sure as hell wouldn’t have been down with me getting hitched to a dweeb like Marcus.”

  I couldn’t help but let out a bark of a laugh at that very blunt assessment.

  “Sounds like my kind of woman,” I said.

  Nikki screwed up her face a little bit at that.

  “Ew,” she said. “But anyway, she would’ve encouraged me to do what made me happy, to not worry about what was expected of me, you know?”

  “And you can’t do that without her support or something? What’s stopping you?”

  “It’s not that easy,” she said. “A girl like me, from a family like mine—things are expected of me.”

  I still didn’t get it.

  “Not like you’re gonna go to jail or something if you do what you want,” I said.

  Her eyes narrowed.

  “You don’t get it,” she said. “I’m sure it sounds all so easy for you, for some guy who can just hop on his motorcycle and go wherever he wants, free to do as he pleases. But it’s fucking different for me.”

  “You think it’s all footloose and fancy free and shit for me?” I said. “You don’t know a damn thing about me. I choose this life, sure, but I had to bust my ass for it. And part of carving out the sort of life you want is not giving a shit about what anyone else thinks. You could stand to learn a thing or two about that.”

  I let a little anger edge my voice. Not because I was actually upset, but because I didn’t want little Nikki here to think that she could get away with running her mouth like that. She got the hint and looked away, her eyes downcast.

  “Sorry,” she said. “This whole situation just has me so goddamn pissed off.”

  “I got it,” I said. “But I have some good news.”

  She lifted her gaze to me.

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “If your mom’s anything like what you just said she was, then you’ve definitely got her in you. Maybe you oughta let her out a little more.”

  A little smile spread across Nikki’s face, one that I couldn’t help but find pretty goddamn adorable.

  “I don’t know about you,” I said, raising the rest of my beer to my lips. “But I’m about ready to get this night going.”

  Nikki raised her glass. “I’ll drink to that.”

  Chapter 6

  Nikki

  The feeling of riding on the back of that bike, my arms wrapped around Tiger … it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. Holding him close, I watched as the neon lights of the city streaked past, the sounds of the city lost under the rumble of the engine. Tiger’s leather jacket was cool against my skin. And the vibrations of the bike made me feel very, very nice.

  The drunkenness from earlier had faded, and now only a pleasant buzz from the beer at the dive bar remained. The evening was going wonderfully—I was happy to be away from the chaos of the club, and as much as I loved my friends, it was nice to be with someone who didn’t mind buying me a drink rather than sponging off my dad’s money.

  Eventually, we left the Strip and headed west. I didn’t know where Tiger was planning on taking me, but I was eager to find out. It was past midnight, but I was ready for the night to go on forever.

  Soon, we arrived at the western outskirts of the city, the dark stretch of the desert ahead. Jagged rocks cut into the inky, starry sky, and Tiger continued on. After about ten more minutes of driving, we came to a stop. The engine cut off, a strange s
ilence replacing the roar of the engine.

  “What’s this?” I asked as Tiger propped the bike on its kickstand and swung his leg over it.

  “Red Rock Canyon,” he said. “Place I like to go to get away from the city. Come on.”