Rip's Baby: Hounds of Hades MC Read online

  As distracted as I was with those thoughts, Jessi was able to twist free of me for a moment, and I was stunned when she reached up and slapped me hard across the face. “No,” she said firmly.

  That made me lose it. Who did she think she was, pushing me away like that? I had already waited patiently until I could get her alone in my office, and I had built up her trust towards me because I knew that she was some small-town, suburban girl who needed stupid shit like that. Otherwise, I could have had her already, weeks ago.

  She was acting as though I was totally out of line here, but she had been showing her interest in me before I'd even really been interested in her. No one else showed up to my office hours every single day, with questions that they could very easily have solved on their own. And what, did she think I was just helping her out and getting her that internship in Cleveland for free? Of course I expected something in return!

  I growled and grabbed her wrists, forcing her around and bending her backwards over my desk, pinning her there. I moved so I was kneeling over her, forcing my thick cock down towards her face. “Look at me,” I snarled as she squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, tears hot on her cheeks.

  When she didn't respond, I bent down and grabbed her hair, giving her a little shake. “Look at me,” I repeated. I was done playing her cat and mouse game.

  She opened her eyes, looking right at my member.

  “You see this boner?” I told her, keeping my hold in her hair. “This boner is the reason that you have a place in this department. It's the reason that you have a future in design. It's what's going to launch you into this industry. As soon as this goes away, you're going to be nothing. So I expect you to respect me and give me exactly what I want from you. Right now, I'm pretty sure you can guess what that is.”

  Jessi whimpered and tried to turn her head away again as I brought my cock to her lips, but she couldn't go anywhere with the grip that I still had on her hair. I smeared my precum over her lips and pressed the tip against her entrance. “Suck,” I ordered her.

  She was trembling underneath me, looking up at me with wide, scared eyes.

  Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Sir?” came the night janitor's voice. “I'm just finishing up taking out the trash for the night and then we'll be locking up the building.”

  I swore internally, grimacing at the man's words. The university required that everyone be out of the building prior to it being locked up for the night, for security's sake. That meant I didn't have time to fuck Jessi the way I really wanted to. She was lucky.

  But I kind of liked the idea of being this close to getting off all over her and having to wait until next time.

  “All right,” I called to the janitor. “Just let me pack up my things and I'll get out of here.”

  I scowled down at Jessi as I climbed back off her. “Without me,” I told her in a low voice, “you're just some hick with a good head for math and a decent eye for design, but you'll never be anything in this industry; I'll make sure of it. In fact, I could have you thrown out of the program within the week if I wanted to. They don't take kindly to plagiarism here, and it would be such a shame if your design for this project was already copyrighted to someone else, wouldn't it?”

  Jessi sniffled as she straightened her clothing, but she didn't say anything in response.

  I laughed a little at her meekness and opened the door to let her out of my office. “I'll see you Monday during class,” I told her. “Have a good weekend.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jessi

  I jumped a little as Rip snapped his fingers in front of my face.

  “Where the hell have you been today, Jessi?”

  I had never heard him sound so frustrated. He had a smear of grease on his face, and I realized I didn't even know what he was working on. I blinked at him. “The phone,” he said, and once he said it, I noticed that the thing was ringing.

  I ran across the shop to answer it, breathlessly greeting whoever it was that was calling. It was Rip's friend, Sanders, and he had the part that we needed, but for slightly more than we wanted to spend on it. I frowned, biting my lower lip, trying to remember what Dad had said about this piece. Should I accept the deal anyway? I couldn't remember.

  “Hang on a moment,” I told Sanders. Then, “Rip?” I called across the shop.

  “What?” he snapped.

  “Can you talk to him?” I asked meekly, holding the phone out towards him.

  Rip gave a frustrated sigh and came over, practically tearing the phone out of my hand. Five minutes later, he was done on the phone and writing down the details of the payment.

  “Look, Jessi, if you're going to be absolutely useless today, you might as well go home,” Rip told me. “I know your dad isn't here, so maybe you don't feel like you need to work, but I thought your work ethic was better than that. I just don't understand what's going on with you.”

  I blushed a little and dropped my eyes to the floor. “Sorry,” I said meekly. “I don't mean to be a total space cadet.” The truth was, I was really tired. I hadn't been able to sleep well the night before, with memories of Gary's advances still fresh in my memory.

  It wasn't even so much that I didn't want to sleep with him. I just didn't want to do anything to screw up the future that I envisioned for myself. Sleep with Gary, and I was doing something totally against the university guidelines and could be expelled. Don't sleep with Gary, and he would ruin my potential career and possibly get me kicked out of the university as well.

  I realized suddenly that I really wanted to confide in Rip. It was probably just because he was the one who had told me about Gary's reputation in the first place. But I also couldn't help comparing the two men.

  Rip was Gary's opposite in every way. He was wild. I knew my dad didn't want me hearing all of Rip's stories, but I knew that he partied a lot and slept around with a bunch of girls. I'd overheard him telling Dad before. In terms of appearance, Rip was a lot more rugged, where Gary was more collegiate. Rip had those sexy tattoos spiraling up his muscular arms, telling the world that he was a biker. He was cute, though, with his hair spilling over into his eyes, and he was extremely flirtatious when he wasn't frustrated with my lack of work.

  I'd been interested in him for a while. He was definitely off-limits for me, though. Dad would freak out if he even knew I was interested in the man, and there's no way Rip would still be allowed to help out around the shop.

  On the other hand, there was Gary, who was also off-limits to me. I honestly couldn't say that I was attracted to him. I admired his work, I appreciated all the help that he gave me with various projects, and things that I didn't understand from our courses. But when he kissed me, there was just nothing there. No spark and no desire. Nothing. I felt like I should be attracted to him, probably, but he just wasn't my type.

  I had a momentary flashback to the previous evening in the office, and I trembled a little. I was going to have to at least pretend I was interested, if I wanted to keep my place there in the university.

  “Are you okay?” Rip asked, and I realized he was peering at me with concern. Suddenly, I realized I was crying a little bit, and I turned my face away, feeling embarrassed.

  “I'm too stressed out about all of this,” I told him, even though that was only partially true.

  Rip looked sympathetic at that. “You've been pulling a lot of hours at the shop, and I know that you've been pretty busy during the week as well,” he told me. “There's a lot going on for you right now. But if you burn yourself out, you're only going to have a more difficult time. Why don't you take the rest of the day off, and maybe we can go for a drink tonight?”

  I blinked at him, surprised at how nice he was being. Suddenly, I couldn't stop myself from giving him a hug, relaxing a little when the hug was returned.

  “I know we're not really friends, but if you're in a bad situation, you know you can talk to me, right?” Rip asked me.

  I sighed and shook my head. “It's
nothing,” I told him. “Just, like I said, I’m a bit stressed.” I glanced around the shop. “I really can't take the rest of the day off,” I said. “There's too much that needs to get done. I know that, and you know that. If Dad comes back and sees that I haven't done anything all day, he'll be livid. I could at least be tracking down-”

  “No,” Rip interrupted, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Honestly, Jessi, you look like shit. Go take a nap or something, and I hope you feel better. When your dad gets here, if he says anything, I'll tell him that you weren't feeling well. Which is true. But with the amount of work we've all been doing around here, we're on top of our deadlines. Don't worry about it.”

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay,” I said.

  “And come for a drink with me tonight,” Rip said. “I'll be over at the Hounds of Hades clubhouse. I can introduce you to some other biker dudes and you can talk shop with them or whatever. It'll be good networking for you, and maybe you'll be able to relax a little.”

  “My curfew is at eight,” I reminded him, blushing a little. God, that curfew was such a stupid thing.

  “Maybe you can get your dad to bend it a little if you're out with me.”

  “He's already pissed because I missed curfew last night,” I told him.

  “What were you doing last night?” Rip asked, sounding interested.

  “I just had a lot of schoolwork that needed to get done, and I stayed late in the library,” I lied.

  Rip didn't look convinced, but he let the matter drop. “Well, no wonder you're exhausted today,” was all he said. “Why don't you go take a nap?”

  “Okay,” I finally said, nodding my head. “Thanks, Rip.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Mick

  When I got back to the office that evening after driving halfway across the state to personally inspect a couple bike parts that I had been considering buying, I found Jessi and Rip looking over designs together. Jessi looked guilty when she saw me come in, and I frowned at her. “If this is your proposed design for J.T.'s bike-” I started to say.

  “J.T. took a look at it and loved it,” Rip said. “And Jessi had nothing to do with that—she had asked me for a little help on this project that she was doing for her design class, and I took some pictures of the design without her knowing and showed them to J.T.”

  There was silence in the shop. I was livid with the both of them. “Jessi,” I began, “I specifically told you-”

  “Mick, I understand that you wanted to design the bike on your own, but you can't blame Jessi for having a great, edgy idea. I mean, just look at this thing and tell me that you can't picture J.T. on a bike like this.”

  I looked down at the design and frowned. The thing was, I had to admit that it was good. It had a bit of a street tracker look to it, but with long lines and swept back handlebars. There was a lot of shiny chrome to it, where it wasn't bright cherry red, giving it a classic retro look that, somehow seemed to fit J.T. It would be a great summertime ride, too.

  Looking at the technical specifications, I could see that she had also considered the purpose of the bike. The engine was a little smaller than it could have been, but if the bike was just meant for a little showoff ride, it didn't need to have the power of a cross-country bike. And none of the pieces that she had required were too pricey, meaning that the total cost for the bike would stay low, and hopefully our profit margin would be hefty.

  “You came up with this all by yourself?” I asked Jessi.

  She nodded, looking nervous. “Yeah,” she said. “For my class. Rip helped me with some of the technical things though.”

  I nodded and continued to scan the design. “I don't like the seat,” I told her. “Let's change from something scooped like that to something more flat and solid. Like this.” I grabbed a piece of paper and started sketching out my modifications.

  By the end of the night, we had a pretty solid idea of what we were going to be building, and Jessi had written down a full list of the parts that we were going to need to scout out. Fortunately, there were a few pieces that we could use from the bikes that I had gone down to inspect that day. Some other pieces were going to be a bit trickier to track down, but I was sure that with Jessi and Rip both on the project, it would only be a matter of time before we had everything that we needed. Then the fun could really begin.

  “Dad?” Jessi asked hesitantly as we were preparing to close for the night.

  I was instantly put on guard by her tone. “What?” I asked her.

  She glanced at Rip. “Rip wanted to take me over to the Hounds of Hades clubhouse and introduce me to some of the guys tonight. Would it be all right if I missed curfew since we're done for the night anyway?”

  I scowled at her. She wanted to go to the Hounds of Hades clubhouse and hang out with a bunch of biker dudes who were up to no good? I knew that having Rip around the shop was a bad idea, but I thought I had raised Jessi to be a bit smarter than that. I couldn't believe she was asking to go over there with him. This was exactly why I didn't want her going into automotive engineering. I knew the types of guys that typically worked in chop shops, and I didn't want Jessi networking with them, let alone networking with the kind of bikers that did their own work as a front for their illegal activities.

  “Absolutely not,” I told her, mouth thinning into a white line.

  “But, Dad, there's no reason for me to have a curfew if I'm not going to be working at the shop anyway,” she complained. “I've finished all my schoolwork for now, so-”

  “It's not about missing curfew,” I interrupted. “It's about the clubhouse. I don't want you within 100 feet of that clubhouse, do you hear me?”

  Rip was beginning to look uncomfortable. “Look, I'm going to take off,” he said to both of us. He grinned at Jessi, shrugging. “Maybe some other time.”

  “No,” I said firmly. “Absolutely not. She is never going to that clubhouse with you, or else I swear that I will kick you out of my house and make sure that you cannot go back to school this fall.” I wasn't sure how I would do that, but there was no way I would allow her to study automotive engineering if it suddenly meant that she was interested in biker dudes and gangs.

  “Dad, come on,” she said, rolling her eyes at me. “I'm twenty-two, not twelve. I just want to let loose a little. I've been working hard lately between school and work around here. I deserve to have a little bit of fun. What, you think that I can't control myself or something?”

  “You already missed curfew last night, and you took an expensive cab home because you were too drunk to drive,” I reminded her. “Sounds like you already let loose last night. Tonight, you can stay in.”

  At some point during our conversation, Rip seemed to have slipped out, because when Jessi looked around for him to back her up, he wasn't there anymore. I rolled my eyes. “Look, I know the types of things guys like Rip get up to in their clubhouses, and it's not all drinking,” I told Jessi. “The last thing you need is to be gang-banged by-”

  “Rip would never let that happen to me,” Jessi snapped. “He's a good guy.”

  “How would you know?” I asked her. “You hardly know him.”

  “He genuinely cares about me,” she continued. “That's the entire reason he asked me out for a drink, because he could tell that something was wrong with me, and he cared enough to ask about it. You never even notice stuff like that. You’re always too busy working on the next project, or too frustrated with the fact that I want to do exactly the same thing with my life as you did with yours. But-”

  “Jessi, I don't want to hear another word about it,” I told her. “You have my decision, and my decision is final. If I find out that you've gone anywhere near the Hounds of Hades clubhouse, you can rest assured that there will be serious repercussions.”

  Jessi scowled at me for a long moment, her arms folded over her chest. Then she turned and stalked off back towards the house. By the time I made it back there myself, she was upstairs in her room.
/>   Chapter Sixteen

  Jessi

  I paused for a long moment outside the bar, wondering if I really wanted to do this. Except that of course I did, or else I wouldn't be here.

  I squared my shoulders and marched across the street, meeting the bouncer's eyes with a friendly smile. “Hey.”

  “You're not a member of the Hounds of Hades,” the bouncer said, folding his arms across his chest.