Chapter Seven

Brooks

I really needed not to be taking Caliana into the glass room on the roof. In fact, I needed to stop being alone with her.

Because the longer I was, the harder it became to keep my goddamn eyes on her face.

Especially when she was walking around in my room in that skintight dress with the straps of a yellow bathing suit sneaking out on her shoulders, conjuring up all sorts of mental images I had no fucking business imagining about my best friend's little sister. Whether or not he was still around to be pissed about it.

That dress of hers was making it hard to breathe with the way it hugged every inch of her, especially her hips and round ass.

I shook off those thoughts as I led her down the stairs to the basement, explaining that the bunk beds and supplies were mostly for emergencies. Natural disasters.

"Or shootouts?" she asked, point-blank, making me turn to look at her, finding her chin lifted, daring me to contradict her.

"Yeah," I agreed, fighting back a smile at the surprise that crossed her face. "Though that doesn't happen nearly as often as TV shows like to make you think."

"I never thought you, of all people, would become an outlaw biker," she said, shaking her head a little as I led her over to the ladder. "Up?" she asked, eyeing me dubiously.

"Yeah, up. That's the way to the glass room," I explained, trying to tell my cock not to get any ideas about watching her as she went up the ladder.

Her dress was long.

I wouldn't be seeing anything.

But that wouldn't stop me from ogling her ass.

I needed to get a fucking grip.

"This is… okay. Um… Brooks?" she called, voice getting tight as she hit about the midway point of the ladder while I kept my feet respectfully on the damn ground. "I… I can't do this," she added, making my brows pinch.

Then it came back to me.

Having to go back down the lighthouse to find a sweaty, ashen, shaking Cali clinging to the railing of the spiral staircase, too scared to go up or even back down.

She was afraid of heights.

Even as a little kid, she'd never been able to climb to the taller slides or go on top of the jungle gyms like the other kids her age.

And this ladder was steep. More than a few people who tried to go up it could never get all the way to the roof.

"I'm coming," I said, reaching for the rungs, and rushing up.

I'd been to the roof thousands of times since I'd joined the club. I could probably go up one-handed at this rate.

"You're alright," I told her, coming up right behind her, reaching up to place my arms on the sides of the ladder beside her body.

"Kinda not," she said, sucking in quick breaths that were only going to make her anxiety worse.

"No, you're fine. Nothing is gonna happen. I'm right here. You literally can't fall. You're closer to the top than the bottom. Better to keep moving."

Her entire body was vibrating.

"Here," I said, carefully placing my feet around hers on the rung, and pulling myself up higher, my body behind hers. "Feel me? I'm right here. You aren't going to fall. Take a deep breath for me," I demanded, demonstrating it for her, and breathing in a whole lungful of her personal scent. Vanilla and roses.

She sucked in her breath. Sure, it exhaled in a strobe, but she already seemed a little less tense.

"There you go. One more for me," I said, feeling a little tremble move through her again, but it didn't seem as, I dunno, anxious as before. "Let's move up one rung," I said. "Okay?"

"Okay," she said, nodding jumpily, and forcing herself to move up, her ass gliding across me in the process.

I needed not to notice it.

Because getting a hard-on while pressed up against her was not an option.

"There you go. See? You can do this. Just eight more," I told her.

And, thank fuck, she decided the best method was to just rush all the way up rather than take her time.

"Just kinda… crawl in," I suggested, keeping my chin to my damn chest as her ass was all there right in my face.

Then, she disappeared into the room, and I took a second to draw in a breath that didn't make me want to press my nose to her skin and breathe her in while I ran my…

No.

In fact… fuck no.

I hauled myself up to find her sitting there on her knees, head tipped back, eyes closed, taking slow, deep breaths.

"Well, I think I live here now," she told me when she heard me moving in front of her. "Since there's no way I am getting back down that."

"We'll figure it out," I assured her.

"I am going to need you guys to install a bathroom up here," she went on. "And some curtains. That early morning sun is going to be a bitch. I guess I'll need to get a new job too, since I can't do mine remotely. And I'm pretty sure my inability to descend a ridiculously steep ladder wouldn't qualify me for disability."

My lips curved up as she babbled, reminding me a lot of the Cali I'd known years ago. Who was quiet to outsiders, but always had a lot to say when she was comfortable with someone.

"Come here," I said, reaching down to grab her hand, and pulling her up onto her feet. "Check out the view," I told her when her eyes shot open and she let me help her up.

"That might not be the best idea," she said.

But there was no way to avoid it. The entire room was glass. If her eyes were open, she was looking down at the world below.

We weren't technically even up that high, but I'd once seen her have a mini panic attack coming down off of a trampoline.

"So, ah, this glass…" she said, letting me move her in front of me, closer to said glass.

"Is thick as fuck. Thick enough to withstand just about any kind of bullet. Once had some idiots get into a fight up here, slamming up against the walls. They didn't even wiggle."

"That's good," she said, sucking in a deep breath. "It's good to know my new home is very safe," she joked, but her shoulders had relaxed, and her gaze was moving around at the view. "Do you spend a lot of time up here?"

"It's a good place to be alone and think. Especially when the parties have been nonstop with this new group of prospects."

"You don't like to party?"

"I think just about everything can get old when you don't get a break from it," I reasoned.

"I guess that's fair," she agreed, turning slightly, and making her ass rub right against my crotch, making me grit my teeth and try to solve some math equations in my head.

What I didn't do, though, was fucking step away from her like I needed to do.

She twisted her head to look over at me, and there was a moment of, I don't know, something in the air between us.

But it was also right then that voices came from right below us. Just a moment before they started coming up the ladder.

Then there was Cali's little firecracker friend. Followed closely by Sully.

"Welcome to my home," Cali announced, waving around the small space.

"Wondered where you got to," Sully announced, all smiles, oblivious to Cali's discomfort.

"How did you get up here?" Sage asked.

"I'm no expert here," Sully said, dropping an arm on Sage's shoulders. "But I think they might have used the ladder."

"I'm afraid of heights," Cali admitted. "I barely made it up. So, I guess I live here now, because there's no way I'm getting back down."

"Oh, I don't know about that. Come on. Hop on," Sully said, squatting down in front of her.

"What?"

"Climb on. I'll piggyback you down. I keep telling Fallon that we should pop another hole in the floor and put in a slide. But will he listen to me? Nooo."

"I don't know—" Cali started to object.

"Ten seconds and you'll be on the ground level again," he said.

And those were the magic words.

I suddenly wished I'd have thought of them first.

Because then Cali was wrapping her arms and legs around Sully, clinging to him with everything within her.

It was for the best, I assured myself as Sully carefully lowered them onto the ladder, then disappeared through the hole in the floor.

I'd go from a semi to a fully hard cock in a second if she was wrapped around me like that.

"So, like, you totally want to bang my best friend, don't you?" Sage asked, head tipped to the side as she watched me.

"What? No. I just… want to keep those idiots away from her."

"Because Clay wanted you to look out for her, huh?" she asked, and I could tell from her tone that she was mocking me.

"They just want something casual."

"And what if I told you that she wanted casual?"

"Then she can go find it somewhere else, not in my club."

"Right. Because it would be too hard to see your club brothers getting to have something you so clearly want."

"I don't—"

"Oh, big guy, you sure do. I can practically smell the pheromones coming off of you around her. If it makes you feel any better, she gets them around you too."

"No," I said, shaking my head, not wanting to believe her. But also… wanting way too badly to at the same time.

"Oh, come on. I mean why else would she have old notebooks from her childhood with your two names in hearts? Oh, crap. Fuck. Shitballs. You didn't know," she said, wincing hard. "Any chance you can just Etch-a-Sketch that right out of your head? ‘Cause she's gonna blow a gasket if she finds out I let that slip."

"Relax," I said, shaking my head, trying to play it cool. Even if the world suddenly felt tilted on its axis. "I won't say anything."

"Oh, good. Good. Well, I'm going to go and hang out with my girl. In a normal way. Not an ‘I accidentally just told someone one of your secrets' way."

With that, she was gone.

Leaving me alone in the glass room with too many thoughts I needed not to be thinking about.

She'd had a crush on me when we were younger?

And if so, how much younger?

I mean, Clay and I had fallen out of touch maybe seven or so years ago. Which meant Caliana would have been a full-fledged adult at the time, not just a little girl harboring silly, girlish feelings toward her brother's best friend.

No matter what, though, she was off-fucking-limits.

Even if she'd been into me at twenty, twenty-one, and I'd known and had returned those feelings, she was still Clay's sister.

Even if I'd had his blessing, I don't think I could have gone there.

"Christ," I sighed to myself, realizing how fucking stupid that train of thought was.

So I went back down the ladder, then followed the voices outside, trying to tell myself that the only reason I was doing so was to make sure my brothers kept their hands to themselves like I'd told them to.

And not because I really fucking wanted to see Cali in that bathing suit.

Some part of me had been hoping it was a nice, demure one-piece. But, of course, I wasn't that damn lucky. It was a barely-there bikini that cut up high on her ass, putting most of her ass cheeks on display.

"I'm gonna go get a beer," Sully declared after he tipped over his flamingo float, and emerged from the water near the steps.

"Grab me one," I heard myself saying, getting his brows to raise.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

His gaze slid from me to Cali and back.

"She's real pretty," he said.

"Touch her and I'll cut off your fucking hands, Sull."

To that, he shot me a smirk as he climbed out of the pool, water cascading down his body.

"Gotta wonder…"

"Wonder what?" I asked, knowing nothing good would come from this conversation.

"If that was a protective threat… or a jealous one," he said before walking off.

He wasn't wrong.

That was probably the worst part.

I wanted to believe I was just abiding by Clay's final wishes.

But I knew, deep down, that the only reason I didn't want their hands on her was because I wanted my own there.

As much as Sully had my number, though, he didn't push it. He was his usual flirtatious self with her just as he was with the others, but he didn't put his hands on her, didn't hang all over her like he did with Sage and Meadow and, later, the other girls who eventually showed up.

"You good?" I asked when Caliana pulled her legs out of the water, let out a deep sigh, and came over to sit on the chaise next to me.

"No one even wants to look at me thanks to you," she said, reaching over to steal the beer off the table next to me.

"If you're waiting for an apology, you're wasting your time," I said, shrugging.

"Are you drunk?" she asked, tipping back the beer.

"No. Had one beer. An hour or so ago. Why?"

"Because I need a ride home. I think Sage and Meadow are going to be… staying the night. And since I can't…"

"Whenever you're ready," I agreed.

"I have a request. Which is actually more of a demand. That you can't turn down. Since you ruined my evening and everything."

"Alright," I agreed, lips curving up. "What is it?"

"We take your bike. I mean, you do have a bike, right?"

"I'm a… biker," I said, letting out a little chuckle.

"Right. But I've only ever seen you in a car."

"I have a bike."

"Good. Then you're driving me home on your bike."

"Why?"

"It's on my bucket list," she told me, shrugging. "Ideally, I will work my way up to actually being the one driving, but this will let me get a taste for it," she said, chugging the rest of the beer. "Okay. Ready."

With that, she got up, stretching her body in a way that didn't have any right to be as fucking sexy as it was, then going over to grab her dress, shimmying it over her body.

She said a quick goodbye to Meadow and Sage, the latter of whom caught my eye and zippered her mouth, prompting me to twist a lock on mine, then follow Cali through the clubhouse, past where a couple of the club princesses were hanging out in the common area.

No fewer than three of them shot me confused and curious looks.

Admittedly, I wasn't often seen with women.

But it wasn't like I was a fucking priest either.

"Okay. How's this work?" she asked after accepting the helmet I passed to her, and putting it on.

"I get on first," I told her, throwing my leg over. "You climb on after."

"That's it?"

"Then you hold on."

Something flashed across her eyes then.

Anticipation? Concern? Maybe even a hint of heat?

Christ.

No.

That was just wishful thinking.

Nothing about the way Caliana had interacted with me since we'd… reconnected suggested she was still harboring any sort of feelings toward me anymore. Except maybe derision and annoyance.

Cali took a breath, then looked at me, brow raised.

"What?" I asked when she paused.

"I'm in a dress," she told me, tone pointed.

"Right," I said, looking forward. Even if I'd already seen her in her bathing suit.

It was as I felt her sliding in behind me that I realized something I hadn't considered before. That with her dress on, I would be feeling her bare legs wrapped around me, that there would be nothing but a thin swatch of bikini bottom fabric against my back.

At least she was behind me this time. If my cock started getting ideas, it would be my secret.

"Okay. Ready," she said.

"No, sweetheart. You gotta move closer," I said.

"Like this?" she asked, sliding against me, the feel of her like a punch to the gut.

"Yeah," I agreed, voice deeper, thicker. "And you gotta hold on."

"Like this?" she asked, fingers loosely grabbing my upper arms.

"No. Like this," I said, reaching back to slide her hands around my chest.

"Oh, okay," she said, the position forcing her to be plastered to my back.

With that, I turned over the bike, and we were starting to move. Slow at first, not wanting her to freak out and do something stupid like let go.

"I could walk faster than this," she yelled over the rumble of the bike.

I was usually someone who prided themselves on their restraint. But I totally fucking took the bait with her.

Then we were peeling out of the lot and onto the road.

A squeal escaped Cali, followed by a bubbly, happy laugh that had my own lips curving up and me pushing it faster, flirting with the speed limit as her arms and legs tightened around me.

I knew the direct route to her place.

But I found myself heading off to the highway instead.

There was no objection from her, so I kept going.

Up through a bunch of closed businesses.

Over the bridge.

Right to the beach, the air immediately getting a little cooler, crisp with the comforting salty scent.

It was then that Cali's thighs clamped hard around me, so she could throw her arms up in the air, and let out a delighted howling sound.

I never wanted so badly to pull my bike down some side street, pull a woman into my lap, and fuck her right there on my bike as I did right then.

And with those thoughts on my mind and only getting stronger with each passing moment, I turned the bike back in the direction of Cali's place, knowing I needed to put some space between us before I went and did something I knew Clay never would have wanted.

"Okay. I totally need a bike of my own," Cali declared as she climbed off behind me, wiggling down her skirt, before reaching up to take off her helmet, still beaming, her eyes bright with excitement.

"Yeah?" I asked, feigning cool even if my cock was aching in my damn jeans.

"Yeah. Moving that up on my list. And not just to knock rollercoasters further down. Totally not a chickenshit move on my part. Well, thanks for the ride," she said before I could ask her why she was trying to do so much so quickly. "I have almost forgiven you for puffing your chest around your club brothers," she told me as she fished out her key, then was quick to get to her door.

I sat there and waited until the door closed, then her lights went on upstairs, before I finally forced myself to drive off.

I was somehow sure that this was the last time we would cross paths for the time being.

And there was no accounting for the ache in my chest at that realization.