Bull, page 1
Bull
Desert Rebels MC, Volume 5
Tory Richards
Published by Tory Richards, 2021.
BULL
Book 5
Desert Rebels MC Series
By
Tory Richards
Copyright © 2021 Tory Richards
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Bull (Desert Rebels MC, #5)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
Author
Book Information
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Also By Tory Richards
About the Author
Editor: Alisha Corsi
Cover Designer: Madelene Martin
Chapter 1
VIOLA
Damn! As soon as I rounded the corner I saw Nick waiting for me at the information desk. I knew by the look on his angry face that he was going to cause a scene, and my heart fell. This was my place of employment, and while everyone knew about my situation with him, understanding and sympathy only went so far. Apparently, my messages to lose my number and leave me alone hadn't gone over too well.
If he hadn't already seen me, I would have turned around and run the other way. Now I had no choice but to face him and hope that he would listen to reason. I made eye-contact with Lissa, my best friend, hoping to convey to her that it was okay to call security if things got heated and out of control. I took a deep breath as I came up to Nick, offering him a friendly smile.
"Nick." I took him by the arm and pulled him away from the desk. "Why are you here?" I kept my voice low, hoping that he would do the same.
A mixture of disbelief and anger did not look good on him. "You God damned well know why I'm here."
Oh, God, this was not going to go well. His irritation with me came through loud and clear.
Unfortunately, I did know why he was there, but I didn’t feel like going over it with him again. I decided to address the more important issue. "You can't just show up at my work like this. I—"
"Then maybe you should stop ignoring me," he snapped, drawing the attention of the couple who had just walked through the door from the outside.
I’d been ignoring him because we had broken up, and it hadn't been the kind of break up where you remained friends, but he couldn't seem to accept that. Nick’s controlling and materialistic ways had not been a good match to my easy-going and eclectic idiosyncrasies. By the time the third month of our relationship had rolled around and he had continued to complain about my bohemian-style way of dressing, I had known it was a no-go. He’d almost had a fatal heart attack when I’d invited him to my apartment for the first time in our relationship. I liked color, I embraced different, and odd was my middle name.
He and BS did not get along. That should have been my first clue.
I cast a glance at my co-workers, noticing the worried glances being shot my way. Thank God, Nurse Hussy was in her office or I would really have been worried. She had strict orders that we were not to have any personal calls or visits unless it was an emergency. Of course, that same rule didn't apply to her cranky old ass.
"I'm going to take my break now." I directed my comment to Darlene, who was in charge when Nurse Hussy wasn't around.
"Go ahead," she said quickly. "But somewhere else."
She didn't want to see me get into trouble. We had all been at the wrong end of Nurse Hussy's wrath. The woman was a strictly by the book, sixty-year-old virgin who lived alone and was miserable ninety-percent of the time. She thrived on putting us in our places, and even the most minor offense got us written up. What made it worse was that she took pleasure in humiliating us in public. Complaints to HR had gone nowhere, and we all assumed that it was because she had been at the facility for forty years and knew the ins and outs. That made her boss's job easier.
I directed Nick toward the entrance doors, deciding that if we were going to get into a screaming match, outside was the best place to be. Right outside the doors there were cement benches, but I hesitated from stopping there. It wouldn't give us much privacy. Further away, there were some tables and chairs beneath the trees for employees who wanted to take their breaks outside, so I headed in that direction.
With every step I took I thought about the best way to handle Nick. I didn't like him, and there was no chemistry between us—not the kind that mattered anyway—which was one of the reasons that I'd found excuses not to have sex again after the third disappointing time. I had to be attracted to a guy to move forward in a relationship, and I’d realized that I was not going to click with Nick, I had broken it off. It wouldn't have been fair to string him along just to get a few free meals and a movie or two out of him. That would have been taking a page right out of Lissa's book.
We sat down opposite each other, and when Nick reached for my hand, I drew it back and put it in my lap. His mouth drew tight at the rejection, and the hard glare in his eyes warned me that things were about to turn ugly.
"You're a fucking tease," he started in right away in a nasty tone that I’d never heard from him before. "You barely gave me a goddamned chance."
My eyes widened with shock, because he had never used that kind of language with me before. Being honest was the only way I knew to be. "There's no, um, chemistry between us, Nick.” His kisses hadn’t produced so much as a tiny spark in me. “Would you have rather that I had led you on? Continue to go out with you when I knew that it wasn't going to lead anywhere?"
Apparently honestly pissed him off. " I wined and dined you, and all I got were a few kisses, and even less fucks! You keep your legs closed as if your pussy is gold!”
"Wow. Your true colors are really shining through." I was suddenly thankful that we were in a public place. I sat back, almost afraid that he was going to jump across the table. It looked as if he were about to explode. "What happened to Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected?" I smiled, hoping that it would diffuse his unreasonable anger.
He had always seemed to enjoy my sense of humor before, or had it just been an act to get me to let down my guard?
Why hadn't I noticed before now how immature Nick was? Maybe because he'd always dressed so nicely and had acted like a gentleman. He was the good boy my mom had always pushed me towards, telling me and my sister that a good boy was the kind of man we should settle down with, because they were reliable and would take care of us. What had my mother known? Our own father, the good pastor at our church, had run off with his secretary when Jordan was nine and I was thirteen.
And quite frankly, after years of dating, the good boy was not working out for me.
I released a deep sigh. "Nick, I'm sorry it didn't work out for us." I had to give him something, right? "But if you show up here at my work again, I'll be forced to file a protective order against you." I didn't add that that would probably jeopardize his job at the bank.
The look of alarm that spread across his face revealed that I didn’t have to—he was already thinking the same thing.
"I don't want to," I was quick to add. Because I really didn't. I didn't like to get people into trouble.
He jumped to his feet, stuttering and clearly getting worked up. I expected to see him puff up and turn purple like the little girl in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at any second. "You bitch!" He reached across the table and managed to snatch my arm. Before I knew it, he'd hauled me halfway across the table and was right in my face. "Go ahead and do that, and see what happens," he snarled threateningly.
"Nick—" I looked around nervously to see if anyone was around to see what was going on. "Are you insane?" I tried to jerk my arm free. This was too much!
"You're the insane one if you think you can threaten me!" he whisper-yelled in my face. "And to think I was willing to make you The One!" he continued.
The one? What the hell?! It was all I could do to hold back a laugh at his ridiculous remark. The man was delusional and was clearly overreacting to the whole situation.
"We had a few dates," I reminded him calmly, unwilling to fe
He uncurled his hand and I quickly pulled back, wondering how I was going to get rid of him with the least amount of drama. It was clear that Nick had read a lot more into our short time together than I had. Thinking back, our dinners and walks around the park had been nice, but nothing more. The conversation between us hadn't been all that interesting or stimulating, the sex less so.
Maybe if I had paid more attention, I would have seen the signs. Maybe it had been wrong of me to break it off with him by text, but I honestly hadn't seen anything wrong with it. It wasn't as if we'd had a long, intimate relationship. Later that night, when I wrote in my journal, I'd add a note to myself to never break up over the phone again.
Now, staring across at Nick and watching the different expressions flash across his handsome face, I realized that our dozen or so dates, few kisses and intimacies had meant more to him than they had to me. They had given him hope that we would become more. While I had a hard time believing that he was taking my rejection so hard, I knew that I had to handle him with kid gloves.
I smiled. He really was a handsome man, in an average kind of way. Average height. Average built. Clean cut and clean shaven. Safe and boringly predictable. He was above average in smarts. It was just that nothing about him did it for me. Still, I kept the smile on my face, hoping he would dial down the verbal show of disappointment.
I didn't have time to deal with him now. Should I placate him to get rid of him, I asked myself.
"Look, Nick, I, um, have to get back to work. Can we maybe meet up later and discuss this?"
There was a slight pause as he considered it, and I knew by the conniving gleam in his eye what he was going to say before the words were out of his mouth. "Over dinner?"
Oh, God. He was really turning into a pain in my ass. "Sure." What could it hurt? A proper breakup in public. I would just make sure that it was someplace busy, or better yet, ask Lissa to go as my wingman. "I gotta go." I didn't give him a chance to pin me down on a date.
Ignoring the creepy smile that he flashed me, I rushed back inside to finish my shift.
Chapter 2
BULL
I was just about to get off my bike when I received a short text from Cappy.
church
Short and to the point, as usual. when?
10
Fuck, my VP annoyed me. 10 min 10 o'clock 10 hours?
10 o'clock
I shook my head and slid my phone back into my pocket, wondering what was up. Shit had been quiet at the clubhouse lately, and I liked it that way. More time to party and get things done that didn't involve the club, like remodeling the house I had bought, and visiting my Uncle Tom. Which reminded me that if church was in half an hour it didn't leave me much time to spend with him.
I thought about leaving and coming back later when I wasn't rushed for time. I sat back on my bike for a minute in the parking lot of Morning Glory. It was that time of the morning that Uncle Tom would most likely be taking his morning nap. I had planned on just sitting and waiting for him to wake up, knowing that he never slept for very long.
As I went to start my bike, loud voices drew my gaze to the left, where a cluster of small tables and benches had been set up beneath the trees. I hesitated as my eyes landed on the man and woman sitting at one of the tables. Something in the way the man moved, his gestures animated and angry, held my interest. It was clear that the woman was trying to calm him down, looking around nervously as if she were afraid of being seen.
She was pretty, and something about her seemed familiar to me. I couldn't see her eye color from here, but I could see the soft features of her face. Small button nose, full lips, big rounded eyes and cheekbones dotted with heated color. Her hair was piled on top of her head in one of those messy buns. Strands of the silky honey that weren't blowing in the gentle breeze fell against her neck. Her complexion was pale, as if she didn't spend a lot of time outdoors. I wondered if she had freckles.
Her attire revealed that she worked at Morning Glory and caused a grin to spread across my lips. Bright purple pants and a white top covered in little purple flowers. Despite the fact that the shirt was a couple of sizes too large for her, I could make out that she had nice tits. Not huge, but big enough to hold my interest. The woman definitely had curves, and my hands suddenly itched to get a hold of them.
She was my type. I liked my women a little meatier than the club bitches that worked at the clubhouse, and this little flower had the kind of hips I could hold on to. As I was admiring her shape, I caught enough of the heated conversation to know that they had been a couple, and the asshole was having a hard time letting her go. Ex's were always a royal pain in the ass. I'd had one once, and it had taken me a good year to get rid of her.
Never going to happen again. I liked women, but I'd decided they were only good for partying with and fucking, not relationships. I liked my freedom. I liked variety in my bed, and my “fuck them once, and send them on their way” policy had worked out for me so far. I never called them back. The only ones I went back to for seconds were with the clubhouse girls because they were convenient and knew the score.
The arguing couple were standing now, and the man had grabbed the woman by the arm, pulling her halfway over the table. I started to get off my bike when she said something and pulled her arm away. There was nothing at all threatening about her, she was a tiny little thing, yet I got the impression that she could be a firecracker when pushed to it. The asshole backed off and I sank back down onto my seat.
I waited in case it turned physical and I had to intervene. I had seen enough women hurt and abused to last me a fucking lifetime. Most of them had been in the club life. Not all MCs treated their women with respect and care, but Desert Rebels had always looked out for the weaker sex. Hell, we'd even rescued a few women and girls from the flesh trade once we'd caught wind that the Knights were involved in it.
It had been just one of the many reasons we had gone after the club. Most of the club had now been disbanded, but we were still on the lookout for one key member—Radar. He was the last of the blood brothers who had run the outlaw MC. They had wanted to take over Nevada and had managed to do a lot of damage to some of the MCs they’d wanted to run off. Our MC had doubled up with the Vegas Watchdogs and had gone at them hard and without mercy.
The woman turned and walked toward the entrance of the building. I followed her with my eyes, taking in the bounce of her tits and ass with every brisk step. There was just something about her that tried to jog a memory. I'd seen her from somewhere, that had to be it. As she disappeared into the facility, I looked back at the asshole who'd been harassing her. He was watching her, too, and I didn't like the look in his eyes. A wolf in sheep's clothing is what he was. I hoped she stayed away from him.
When he finally turned and walked to a small sportscar I started my bike and tore out of the parking lot. The clubhouse was only fifteen minutes away. Relocating here to Vegas had been a good move for me. Uncle Tom liked Morning Glory better than the last facility he’d lived at. It was more expensive, but worth it, and because it was close to the clubhouse and my house, I couldn't beat the location. I tried to visit him at least three times a week because I knew that since his heart attack, he was going downhill fast.
He was seventy-seven, and I was going to make certain that he was taken care of ‘til the end. He had been there for me after my dad had died. He'd become the father figure a twelve-year-old boy had needed and had helped my mom raise me. Right before cancer had taken her life, she had made me promise to take care of him. I would have anyway; I loved the old man. I knew that once he was gone, I wouldn't have any family left except for the club.
They would see me through.
I could see Morgan manning the gate to the clubhouse as I turned my bike off the road and headed toward it. I continued on through, debating whether or not to park out front since I was going to head out again later. I recognized LD’s Harley out there but decided to pull around the back where we parked the bikes. We usually parked out of sight so that if a rival MC rode by, they wouldn't know how many members were at the clubhouse.
