Chapter 9: Rooms

At the touch of his hand on her shoulder, Taz stood and followed Riffraff out of the office. “Do you need to get anything from the house?” he asked once they were in the hall, Molly closed the door behind them. 

“No, it’s all in my pickup." She admitted following him to the parking lot. Again, she thought it a little sad that her entire adult life would fit into two duffle bags and box. “The house was furnished. Only things I had there were clothes and a few little items.”

“Same here.” He held the front door open for her. “Moved out of my Nan’s house and into Army barracks and then into the clubhouse. I have never owned a single piece of furniture.”

Taz gave a small laugh. “Similar. From Brutes house to the mother house to that house and now this clubhouse.”

“Why not just come to the clubhouse?” he asked as she stopped next to a black four door pickup. 

Opening the door, she gave a little shrug. “My whole life has been centered around the Saints. I needed something that was not completely entangled with it. Later I discovered you guys owned the gym and now you own the bar.”

“Moving into the clubhouse anyway.” He said taking the duffle bags from her.

Irritated that he was taking her stuff, that she could easily carry, she looked at him in earnest. He was three or four inches taller than her with lean muscles everywhere. His shoulder length dirty blonde hair was shaved on the sides and back. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown, his smile reflected in them, but shadows also haunted the dark orbs.

Like so many of his brothers, he was tanned from so much time in the sun. Currently he wore no shirt under his cut and she could appreciate the ink work on his chest and abdomen along with his nipple rings. His right arm was completely sleeved and his left partially sleeved. He had an intricate knot design that encircled his neck. There were even tattoos on the backs of his hands. 

He was so much like the men that she grew up around. The kind of man that she swore she would avoid. The same type that her father had been, and the reason why he had been killed. The same as her uncle and cousins. The type of man that she knew to avoid. 

The man who was currently making her reconsider her chastity. 

She shook her head and grabbed the box. Taz blushed slightly as she wondered if he could somehow sense that she was turned on by him. Shoving the thought away, she closed the door and forced her blush back. 

“How long have you been fighting?”

She laughed following him back to the building. “I grew up with Knuckles and Scrapper. I can’t think of a time that I wasn’t fighting. But if you mean competitively, I was twelve. I started boxing lessons with the boys when I was eleven, I had some issues to work through. I had my first match less than a year later. I’ve been in the fight for the last eleven years.”

Twenty-three, he thought. That was too young for his thirty-nine years. But he sure as hell planned to enjoy the view. She currently hid her body under baggy clothes, but he was willing to bet that she was all muscles underneath. He had dated the soft curvy women before, he liked the ones that he was certain that he would not break. 

“How old were you when you moved in with Brute?” he asked holding the door open for her again. 

“Seven. Right after my parents were killed.” She said softly and he froze just before the stairs. Sixteen years ago. Right around the time he reenlisted with the Army. When the club went straight. When the Ridgeview president, Sinner, his wife and sons had been shot to death. And his daughter barely survived. 

The only survivor from that day. 

“I'm sorry.” He murmured and she shrugged. 

“How long have you been in?” she followed him up the stairs. 

“Raised in it. Patched when I was seventeen. Went and did ten years in the army and then came back. Been here ever since.” They started up to the third floor. “My granddad is Rafe.”

“I’m trying to remember you.” 

He motioned which way to turn on the landing. “I went in the army right after high school.”

Riffraff stopped in front of a door and opened it. He flicked the light on and then sat the two bags on the bare mattress. Afterwards, he turned on the lights in the attached bathroom and closet. 

“Going to assume that you don’t have sheets or anything like that?” Riffraff asked as she set the box on the bed shaking her head no.  “Right.” He grabbed the key off the hook by the door and handed it to her. “I trust my brothers. I trust most of the bunnies. If I were a new female in the clubhouse, I wouldn’t trust either.”

“Not my first time living in a clubhouse.” She reminded him as she locked the door.

He unlocked the door across the hall and she followed him inside. It looked much like the one that they had just left. Dresser, full sized bed, two bedside tables, and a small table with two chairs. He had added a flat screen smart TV on the wall above the dresser, some pictures and a shadow box on the walls and bedding with rectangles in various shades of grey. A small dorm sized refrigerator sat in the far corner. 

Riffraff laid his cut on the back of one of the chairs. Taz couldn’t help but smile as she watched him walk away. She admired the ink on his back, and the lovely shape of his ass in his jeans. He came back out of the closet pulling on a t-shirt. Typical biker shirt, scantily clad, big busted woman on a motorcycle. 

“It’s a stupid thought, but it’s the same one that I have every time I see a picture like that.” Taz touched the girl on the t-shirt, ignoring his body heat and the electricity that zapped up her arm. “Just how badly did she burn her legs?”

Riff looked down at the shirt and realized that she only wore a thong bikini and heels. He had never thought about it before, but now that the idea was there, he couldn’t help but laugh. There wasn’t a woman that he knew who would get on a bike in nothing but a bikini and heels. 

“I’m never going to be able to wear this shirt again without thinking about that.” Riffraff said grinning. 

“I’m here to help.” She teased quietly as she started to pull her hand away. He placed his hand over hers and held it to his chest. Knowing she shouldn’t, she stepped in closer and looked up at him as he lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers.

“Taz, don’t trust me either.” He whispered against her lips. “I’m picturing you on that bed, wearing less than she is, legs spread and begging me to let you come.”

The tremor that ran through her body was enough to encourage him to go back for another kiss. Her free hand slipped into his hair as his pulled her closer. Moving them slightly, he kicked the door closed. The pop of the door brought Taz back to reality and she pulled away. 

“I'm sorry. I can’t.” She whispered shakily. “It’s tempting, but I can’t.”

“You have a man?” he asked a little angry.

“It’s not that.” She let out a shaky breath before meeting his eyes. “There was an… incident a couple of years ago, around the time I finally got on the circuit.”

“You don’t need complications or distractions.” Came his understanding and she nodded. He gave her a light kiss and then rested his forehead on hers. “You know where I am if you decide that you want either. Or if you need anything else.”

Taz smiled at him. “You’re already a distraction. Kind of nice to think of something other than work, the gym or the next fight.”

He pulled the back of her shirt out of her jeans and slipped his hand against her skin. “We need to go to the store and get you some stuff for your room. Unless you want to stay with me."

Riffraff could see the internal debate. Turning them, he guided her onto the bed and pinned her down. Moving quickly, he pulled her shirt and sports bra off. Her back arched off the bed as his tongue teased one breast and then the other. She started to pull at his own shirt and he grabbed her hands and held them above her head.