Ringer: Perdition MC Shifter Book 1 Read online

  As if on cue, Ringer banged on the bathroom door. “You gonna come out of there any time soon, Soph? I’d like to grab a shower before bed.” Sophie groaned at the thought of having to open the door but she also knew all too well how persistent Ringer could be when he wanted something.

  “Fine,” Sophie spat. She pulled the door open, holding onto the tiny bits of towel like they were her lifeline and she was on a sinking ship.

  “Wow,” Ringer breathed, looking her up and down. The way he stared at her body made Sophie believe he had x-ray vision and could see straight through her towel. Although, she was pretty sure that the few scraps of fabric that covered her ample curves did nothing to hide what she was working with.

  She cautiously pointed a finger at him, making sure that she had her towel in place with her other hand. “Don’t go getting any ideas, Ringer.”

  “Too late,” he mumbled. “Jesus Soph put on some fucking clothes.”

  “Well, I would but I left them out here by accident. If you’ll just move,” she tried to shoo him out of her way but Ringer didn’t budge. “Ringer,” she protested.

  “Soph,” he whispered. He wrapped his arms around her body and she suddenly forgot that she should protest the fact that he was touching her. Hell, she forgot her name and how to form words when he looked at her the way he was.

  “Ringer,” she murmured his name. She wasn’t sure if she was pleading with him to let her go or to keep doing what he was.

  “Tell me this is a bad idea, Baby,” he demanded. “Tell me to stop.”

  “Stop,” she whispered. She smiled up at him, letting Ringer know that she didn’t mean it. “Or don’t.”

  “Fuck Soph,” he spat. “This is such a bad fucking idea.”

  “O—okay,” she stuttered, suddenly very unsure of herself. Sophie tried to pull free from him and he wouldn’t allow it. He tightened his hold around her almost naked body and ground his erection against her belly.

  “I said it was a bad idea,” he said. “But, I think we should still do it.”

  “Fucking,” Sophie said.

  “Yeah—fucking,” Ringer agreed.

  Sophie giggled and shook her head. “No—you said it was a ‘bad fucking idea,’” she said.

  “I don’t care what we call any of this or what I said, Soph. I just know that I need you. Please, just give me tonight,” he begged. Sophie wanted to protest. She wanted to tell him that she was worth more than just one night of his time but she wanted Ringer any way she could get him. She’d take his one night and leave him begging for more.

  Sophie shyly nodded, “Yes, Ringer,” she agreed. He tugged her towel out of her death grip and let it fall to the floor. Ringer took a step back from her, letting his gaze roam her naked body. Sophie wanted to cover herself but he shook his head, sending her a clear warning that he knew what she was thinking and didn’t like it.

  “You are so fucking beautiful, Soph. I’ve waited so long for you to tell me yes, Sweetheart.” Ringer had no idea how many times she had fantasized about this same scenario. She had wanted him since she was just a kid. Sophie used to drive him and Reap crazy, following him around like a love-sick puppy. He was a little older than her and way too cool to hang out with his best friend’s little sister. She eventually learned to live with the heartbreaking knowledge that Ringer wasn’t ever going to want her the way she did him. But now, hearing him say that he wanted her, made her heart do a little flip-flop in her chest.

  He backed her into the bathroom, stripping off his clothes as they went. “I just came back from a jog, Honey,” he said. “Take a shower with me?” Sophie didn’t point out that she had just had one because she was pretty sure he intended to do anything but shower together. He turned on the water and it quickly heated up. Ringer pushed her under the hot spray and stepped into the glass-enclosed shower with her, groaning when the spray hit his body.

  Sophie couldn’t take it anymore. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled Ringer down to kiss him. Their first kiss was everything she had always dreamed it would be and so much more. Ringer was demanding and when she finally parted her lips, giving him the access his tongue demanded, it felt as if he’d nearly devour her.

  “You taste so fucking good, Baby,” he whispered against her swollen lips. Ringer shot her an evil grin and she worried what he was about to do next. “I wonder if you taste good all over,” he said. Ringer reached his hand down between their bodies and cupped her sex, letting his skilled fingers trail through her pussy. “Like here,” he growled.

  Sophie watched as he blazed a trail down her body of kisses, licks, and little bites. It was almost too much to watch as he got on his knees, pushing her back up against the cold tile of the shower wall. “I’ve got you, Honey,” he insisted. Sophie whimpered when he lifted her into his arms, her legs straddling his face, his arms firmly wrapped around her body so he could hold her ass in his big hands. Ringer rubbed his nose into her wet folds and growled.

  “You smell fucking good too, Baby,” he said.

  “Ringer, please,” she whimpered. “I need you.”

  “I know, Baby,” he said. “We’ll get there.” Ringer licked his way through her core and she shamelessly ground her pussy on his mouth, needing more contact. She could feel his chuckle vibrate through her body, causing new waves of pleasure. “So greedy, Soph,” he teased.

  “I need to get off, Ringer,” she protested.

  “Just lean back and let me take care of you, Sophie,” he said. “I’ll get you there.” Sophie did as he asked, even closing her eyes when her head hit the hard shower wall. Ringer chuckled against her folds again and she moaned. He was relentless, licking and sucking her to the point where she thought for sure she would combust and then easing her back down. If Sophie was a betting woman, she would lay money on the fact that Ringer was enjoying this little game. He was making her hot to the point of letting her fall over the edge and then reeling her back in. Sophie growled her frustration and Ringer laughed; his mouth poised over her sensitive clit. He flicked it with his tongue—once and then two more times and that was all she seemed to need. Sophie felt as if she was floating and flying all at the same time and by the time she finally came down from her high, Ringer had her pinned against the wall and was pumping his cock into her throbbing core.

  “Fuck,” he shouted. “You feel so fucking right, Soph.” He was right—they felt perfect together but she wasn’t about to tell him that. If she stood a chance in hell of Ringer giving her a second night or even a third, she was going to have to convince him that they were supposed to be together.

  Ringer used her body, pumping in and out of her like a man on a mission. Just before he was about to come, he pulled free from her body and flipped her around. The spray of the water ran down the front of her sensitive nipples. She wanted to protest that she needed more when Ringer wrapped her long blond wet hair around his hand and shoved her down, giving himself better access to her pussy.

  “Soph,” he growled. Ringer shoved his cock back into her pussy from behind and she could feel her orgasm rip through her body. He was relentless, pumping harder into her and she knew that he was going to fall over the edge with her. There would be no stopping his orgasm and she didn’t want to. She wanted Ringer—all of him, filling her, claiming her and making her his. She already was and there would be no coming back from tonight. He owned her body, mind, and soul. Her heart belonged to him and that scared the shit out of her.

  Ringer growled out her name, whispering praises as he covered her body with his own. Sophie felt a sense of sadness like she’d never experienced before at the thought of what she had to do next. She’d keep her promise and give Ringer his night but come sunrise, she was going to have to leave him. It was time for Sophie to go home and figure out her life. Ringer had made her no promises and she wouldn’t ask for any. He gave her what she had agreed to and it was her fault that she had foolishly gone and lost her heart to him. Yeah, that was on her and now, she was going to r
un like a coward, all the way back to NOLA. Next time she had to face Ringer; she’d do it on her terms because she was worth so much more than one fucking night.

  Ringer

  Five Months Later

  Present Day

  Ringer rode his bike into the corner of the lot, not wanting to attract too much unwanted attention. He was laying low and showing up at Reckoning wasn’t his smartest idea. But, if he wanted to talk to Reaper, he knew where to find him. The little dive bar was Reap’s hang out and home to his club. Ringer always used to feel a pang of jealousy when he thought of Reaper being a part of something that he’d give his left nut to join.

  He had been a lone wolf until he found the Perdition MC. Finding any group to belong to seemed like a pretty far-fetched idea to him. Ringer never seemed to fit in, but that wasn’t his fault. He had to keep a part of himself separate from everyone he ever knew or trusted because once the truth came out, they would never look at him the same way again. That’s why he had to end things with sexy little Sophie Payton, Reaper’s younger sister.

  About six months ago, she agreed to Ringer’s crazy plan, to let him take her out of NOLA and stow her away someplace safe. He told her it was the only way he could keep her safe from his scum bag father but that was a total lie. Ringer was hoping to get her out of town, away from her older, very over-protective big brother, to get his chance with her. Reaper didn’t like or trust him and he couldn’t blame the guy. If he had a kid sister that fell in love with an asshole like him, he’d be pissed off too.

  Sophie made it very clear that she wasn’t interested in him—in that way, but the mixed-signals she sent him left Ringer in a perpetual state of hard and confused. Just before the local authorities in NOLA caught his father and charged him with human trafficking, he thought he had finally broken through her defenses. Sophie had agreed to one night with him and he was sure his dreams of owning the sexy little vixen was finally going to happen, but he was dead wrong.

  They spent the night tangled up in his bed sheets and when the first light of morning broke through the curtains at the cheap Texas motel they were hauled up in, he found the bed empty. Sophie had ditched him, without a word and he couldn’t decide if he was more pissed or hurt by that. Ringer got dressed and rode his bike around that small, broken-downtown, looking for his woman but there was no sign of her. She was gone and he was left in the middle of nowhere, wondering what the hell he did to cause her to just take off.

  After two days of searching, he finally gave up looking for her and headed back to his little motel room to figure out his next move. He went back and forth between telling Reaper he lost his sister, to just disappearing from the face of the earth to avoid the beating Ringer was sure to get from Reap. He wasn’t a coward and he wouldn’t take the easy way out of this or any situation, for that matter. When Ringer finally got up the nerve to dial Reaper’s cell number, he was surprised to learn that Sophie had shown up back in NOLA the day after they hooked up. And, maybe that was all he was to her—just a hookup. He wanted to be more for her but Ringer wasn’t about to crawl back into town and beg her for another chance when he didn’t do anything wrong in the first place.

  Ringer decided to stay in Texas for a bit. He had nothing waiting for him back home—is old man was in prison for trafficking and the woman he wanted didn’t want him. His father’s business interests were left to him and he and Reaper were now co-owners of the textile company their fathers had started together. He told Reaper he wanted nothing to do with the company, signing his half of the business over to Reap and wishing him all the best. Ringer needed a fresh start, but that wasn’t exactly what he found. So, he headed back to New Orleans to confront Sophie, but he was a giant fucking chicken. He had been back in town for a little over a month now and still couldn’t find the courage to face the woman that he had fallen in love with. He had a run-in with Reaper after he got back to town. Hell, if that’s what you could call it. It was more like Reap still trying to blame him for everything—his father, the business, and even Sophie. How could he explain to Reaper or Sophie that he was back in town because he didn’t know how to stay away from her anymore? How did he tell Sophie that he felt like he was being drawn to her the way a wolf is drawn to his mate? She couldn’t be that to him because if he let her into his life, it would be the end of hers. He couldn’t be with Sophie and the sooner he realized that, the better.

  Once he got back to NOLA, he became a regular at a little dive bar in town called Tito’s and was prospecting to join the club that met at the bar—Perdition MC. Ringer even found a house to rent that wasn’t like the shit-hole motel he stayed in with Sophie. Staying in a motel only reminded him of the hot night they spent together and the fact that she so easily tossed him aside and went back to her life in New Orleans. It hurt and he wasn’t sure he’d ever get past her walking out on him, even with the countless women he fucked to occupy his nights. They were nameless, faceless bodies to lose himself in but he was never sated. Ringer was beginning to realize the only way to feel that way would be to find Sophie and demand to be a part of her life again and knowing Sophie, that wouldn’t work well in his favor. She was tough as nails and determined to shut him out of her life. There would be no getting through to her, even if he was up for trying.

  He couldn’t give her what he wanted either. That would mean letting her into his life and his secret. He wasn’t sure how she’d get past him being who he was and that realization was his biggest factor for keeping his distance. How could he explain that he was a shifter and with every full moon, he had to lock himself up in a storage container to keep from hurting anyone? He was a wolf—a lone wolf, destined to be by himself for the rest of his life, like it or not.

  Sophie

  Sophie pulled into Reckoning’s parking lot, not sure how she was going to explain her bulging belly or the fact that she could no longer fit into any of her jeans to her older brother, Reaper. Her OBGYN told her she was lucky that she hadn’t started showing months earlier. She was almost five months pregnant and one hundred percent positive that the baby was Ringer’s. When she agreed to one night with him, she never imagined it would lead to a lifetime commitment to a kid, yet here she was—pregnant and alone. She didn’t tell anyone about the baby; none of her friends and especially not her big brother. Reaper would want to find Ringer and tear him apart, but what good would that do? He’d feel better but she’d still be alone and facing the realization she was going to have to not only bring the kid into the world by herself but raise him or her alone.

  Tonight was the night she faced the music. Tonight, she got dressed in the only thing that fit her—yoga pants, and an oversized t-shirt, and drove her pick-up to Reckoning. It was home to her brother’s MC and honestly, her home too. His club had adopted her as their kid sister. She knew that sooner or later the overly protective bikers would all find out that she had gone and gotten herself knocked up. Telling Reaper was her first step and then she’d face the rest of them. Hiding in plain sight wasn’t an option for her any longer. This baby had other plans for her and forcing her hand to make an announcement she wasn’t ready to make was a crap move. She’d blame Ringer for everything but honestly, none of this was his fault. She was the one to run away and that was the problem. Getting close to Ringer wasn’t a part of the plan and letting him in, for even a night, felt reckless and daring but she knew how it would end. Men left—all of them and she wasn’t about to sit around and wait for Ringer to change his mind about her. Better to get out before losing her heart completely to the guy.

  Besides, he didn’t come running back to town after her, when she took off. He even sold his half of the company to Reaper and that felt like the final slap in the face to her. If Ringer wanted to send her a message, she got it loud and clear. He didn’t want her and he proved that every day that he stayed in Texas.

  Sophie checked her reflection in the rearview mirror and sighed. “Whatever,” she mumbled and pulled free from her seatbelt. She had her missio
n—find Reap and break the bad news that she was carrying Ringer’s baby and beg her new sister-in-law, Beth to help her pick out some maternity pants that fit. Beth was pregnant too, as was her sister, Lyra. Between the two of them, she’d be able to get the scoop on where to pick up maternity clothes cheap. She also needed to start planning on what she was going to do once the baby got there. She worked alongside her brother, at their father’s textile company and she loved her job and working with Reaper. She hoped that after he got over the initial shock and anger of her pregnancy, he’d let her keep working there and maybe even bring the baby in with her, to avoid the costs of daycare. But, she was getting ahead of herself. Telling her brother was her first step and she just needed to rip the band-aid off and get this part over with.

  Sophie walked into the bar and nervously looked around for her brother, bumping into every big, tattooed biker along the way. She found Reaper sitting with Beth at the bar and she exhaled. She almost wanted to giggle at her own theatrics but finding her sister-in-law there was a good omen. Beth would be able to keep Reaper from flying off the handle and going off to do something stupid—like having a giant tantrum and threatening to kill Ringer. If she was lucky, Reaper wouldn’t even ask who the father was, but she knew her brother well enough to know he’d ask. He made it his mission to know every bit of her business, claiming that’s what big brothers did. She liked to tell him that only nosey, older brothers butted their noses in where they weren’t wanted or needed and he’d usually roll his eyes and ignore her.

  “Hey guys,” she almost whispered. They didn’t hear her over the music, so Sophie tapped them both on their shoulders, getting their attention. “Hey.” She waved and Reaper stood to hug her. She had taken the last week off, claiming to be sick, but she was just hiding. Once she started showing, she panicked and hid away in her little rental house that belonged to Beth.