by Lane Hart
“Prove it.”
“What?” I ask in confusion.
Removing the kitten’s claws from her shoulder, she readjusts her hold on it and says, “Prove that you’re actually a friend of Audrey’s brother, and maybe I’ll tell you where you can find her.”
“Okay, um...” Thinking fast, I point to the flash on the front of my wet leather cut, the ones that say, “Savage Kings MC” and “Emerald Isle” underneath. “War is a member of the Savage Kings and I’m prospecting for them.”
“What’s the Savage Kings?” she asks.
“It’s, ah, it’s a motorcycle club. Hasn't Aubrey told you about all that?”
“Audrey,” she corrects, when I get the name wrong again. “And no, she’s never mentioned anything about her brother being in a motorcycle club. What else you got?”
Fuck, this chick is being difficult.
I pull out my burner phone from the inner pocket of my cut to call War, but it’s powered down with a black screen. The damn thing is dead, and I left in such a hurry I forgot the fucking charger. “Shit. My phone is dead, or I would call and let you talk to her brother. Can you just please tell me where Audrey is? I’m supposed to pick her up and get her out of town before the storm gets any closer.”
“No.”
“No?” I repeat.
“You don’t look very trustworthy, so you need to turn around and leave.” Now her gaze is lowered to the tattoos on my forearms, like they’re some type of heathen label.
“What? This is just a little ink. I'm totally trustworthy,” I tell her. “All I want to know is if Audrey is here or not, and if not, where I can find her,” I say, trying to look around her into the apartment.
“You need to leave before I call campus security,” the girl threatens.
“Good luck with that,” I reply, thinking about the roads on the way in. “There’s nobody on campus.”
“Guess we’ll see,” she counters.
Fuck, I’m really starting to lose my patience, and I’m not letting her call the rent-a-cops on me. I need to see if Audrey is in the apartment and if not, make this girl cough up the information, so we can get the hell out of dodge.
When a sudden, loud crash of thunder distracts her, I throw my shoulder into the door, causing the girl to stumble back enough for me to squeeze inside.
“Hey! Get out of here!” she says before she lowers the kitten to the ground to come at me. The cat scurries away further into the apartment while she presses her small palms to my chest and bicep, to try and force me back out. Her attempt is futile since I may not be a huge guy, but I’m a helluva lot bigger than her by at least a foot and probably seventy or eight pounds. Thanks to Reece’s training last year, I’m also a helluva lot tougher than I was a few years back.
I grab her narrow wrists in each of my hands and then spin her around, so her back is against the door that slams shut while I hold her hands above her head.
“Audrey?” I yell out. “Audrey, are you here?”
There’s no response.
“Okay, enough of the runaround,” I narrow my eyes and tell the girl I have pinned to the door. Her long, flowing dark hair is thick and wavy, hanging down to her waist, the strands almost the same color as her big chocolate eyes that are currently glaring up at me. “Tell me where the fuck Audrey is right now!”
The tiny girl scoffs indignantly at my “tough guy” approach. Guess it needs a little more practice. “Or what? You’ll hurt me?”
“No,” I huff, as I try to figure out some way to make her talk. I would never hurt a woman, especially not War’s sister’s roommate.
“Tell me or I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” she asks, defiance filling her brown eyes.
“I’ll…” Shit, what am I gonna do to make her talk?
Finally, I decide to threaten her with the only thing that comes to mind, since I wouldn’t physically hurt her.
Thinking fast, I transfer both of her wrists into one of my much bigger hands, then I lower my other hand to grasp her side. I couldn’t see what she had on through the crack in the door, but now I get an up-close look at her soft purple pajama pants and short-sleeve top that’s decorated with seashells and…lace lining the edges of the plunging V-neck. It hits me that she looks like a girl who is planning on settling in for a long Netflix binge instead of evacuating, like everyone else on the entire East Coast.
Strange decision, but she’s not my responsibility.
“Tell me, or I’ll tickle it out of you.”
“Tickle me?” she repeats. “That’ll never work. I’m not ticklish.”
I barely even flex my fingers, and she starts squirming against the door and laughing. Since the front of my body was almost pressed to hers to begin with, all the wiggling has her stomach rubbing against the crotch of my jeans. That's the moment my cock goes from strictly professional to well, what do we have here.
In his defense, it doesn’t take much for him to get excited. He’s been waiting twenty-one long years to sink inside of a woman and he’s starting to get rather impatient about my status as a virgin.
It’s not like I haven't had plenty of opportunities at the clubhouse, or a blowjob before, but the night Cynthia was cozying up to me about a year ago is the first time I’ve ever seen my own death reflecting back in someone else’s eyes. Reece’s, to be specific. I know he’s a dangerous son of a bitch who could easily rip me in half. From then on, it seemed like a good idea to steer clear of the club girls to avoid accidentally pissing off one of the members.
Now is not the time or place to be thinking with my dick either. I need to find War’s sister and get us the hell out of town before the storm closes in. It’s already raining cats and dogs out there.
“Tell me where she is,” I demand as my fingers continue to tickle the girl’s side, while trying to tell my cock to behave.
“Okay, okay!” she says over her laughter, so I finally relent, even though I don’t take my hands off of her just yet.
Chapter Two
Audrey O’Neil
There’s no way in hell I’m leaving the comfort and safety of my apartment while the worst storm in history rages around us outside.
I’m angry at my brother for not coming to get me sooner before the weather got bad, and then sending some…some random guy to haul me out when he knows how shaky and freaked out I get during thunder and lightning.
I was never a fan of storms before the one that killed my parents. Now…well, now I can’t help but think that one of these days, god is planning to take me out the same way. I’m only twenty-two. I’m not ready to die!
And if I don’t come up with something to keep this guy busy, he’s gonna try to drag me outside when I’m obviously safer here.
Despite how handsome and sexy he is in his bad boy leather with his full kissable lips, I’m not leaving with him.
“So, where is Audrey?” he asks, when I take too long to answer.
“She’s already gone,” I reply.
“Gone? Gone where?” he snaps, his hand tightening on my side in a not entirely uncomfortable way.
“She left, so what does it matter?” I lie.
“When? When did she leave?” he asks with his brow furrowed.
“This morning, on a, ah, university bus headed to Asheville.”
“Bullshit!” he says, his face still only inches away from mine. “Her brother wouldn’t have told me to come get her unless he knew she was still here!”
“Sorry, but she’s long gone,” I tell him with a shrug.
“Give me her number. Or call her and find out exactly where she is right now, so that I can follow her.”
“No,” I refuse. Using a phone during a lightning storm is like begging god to strike you down. I don’t want to be in the same apartment when that shit goes down.
“I need to use your phone! Mine’s dead. At least let me call War,” he begs.
“No.”
This time, his jaw falls open almost comicall
y before he recovers and says, “You’re awfully little to be such a big pain in my ass!”
“You’re not supposed to use the phone during a storm,” I point out.
“Why not? Especially when it’s an emergency. And this, well, this is a fucking emergency!” He still hasn’t let my hands go, and now we’re so close, you couldn’t slip a piece of paper between us. “Only corded phones are dangerous in storms, not cell phones. And there’s a hurricane coming! If I don’t find this girl soon, everything I’ve worked for will be for nothing!”
“What have you worked for?” I ask.
“My patch.”
“A patch?”
“Getting the patches on the back of my cut that make me a member of the Savage Kings,” he explains.
“So, you’re not a member right now?”
“No.”
“But Warren…Audrey’s brother is?” I inquire.
“Yes! He’s the one who can make or break my membership!”
“So, you’re saying that he has a lot of power in this motorcycle club?” I ask, since this is all news to me. I would think the guy is lying except, what reason would he have to do that? Warren must have been keeping this shit from me.
“Yes, War’s the Sergeant-at-Arms to the president.”
“What does the Sergeant of Arms do?”
“Jeez, you ask a lot of questions,” he grumbles. When I stare blankly at him in expectation, he finally sighs and says, “Fine, this is nothing you can’t search on the internet. The Sergeant-at-Arms is the one who is always packing heat. It’s his job to protect the president.”
“When you say ‘packing heat,’ you mean…carry a gun?”
“Yes,” he replies on an exasperated sigh.
None of this is sounding anything like my straight-laced, Army vet brother. He’s never hurt a soul! Even when he was in the military, he was just a mechanic, not the guy with a gun. Warren is kind and he takes care of people, especially me and Ren.
But if what this guy is saying is true, then maybe I don’t know the real Warren at all.
There must be a good reason why the state took my nephew Ren from him just a few weeks ago and refuses to give him back. And it can’t all be just because Marcie screwed up.
How long has Warren been lying to me? And what else do I not know about the man who raised me?
“Does he…does he like, kill people?” I ask in shock. “He doesn’t do that, does he?”
“What? I can’t tell you that,” he huffs. “And I’m not going to answer any more of your fucking questions. Either you can tell me where your phone is, or I’ll tear this place apart looking for it.”
“You’ll never find it unless I tell you where it is,” I assure him, since it’s turned off and stuffed under my mattress. I take lightning very seriously.
Blowing out another frustrated minty breath that flutters over my face, he looks me right in the eye and flexes his fingers that are still clutching my side. “Am I gonna have to tickle you again?”
Lightning shoots across the sky, making the room flicker with a bluish tint right before a booming crack of thunder strikes so loudly in the silence that I let out a shriek. I swear I hear the windows in the apartment rattle from the intensity.
The guy holding me hostage looks over his shoulder at the apartment behind him, then turns back to me with his brow furrowed. “Why is all your furniture shoved against the windows?” he asks.
“Ah, well, it’s just nice to have an extra layer of protection between the windows and the storm.”
“Uh-huh,” he mutters, like he thinks I’m crazy. To most normal people, I probably am a little insane.
But they’ve never had their worst fear take the lives of both of their parents.
“Why haven’t you left town yet?” the guy asks. “Why didn’t you leave with Audrey?”
“Because I didn’t want to,” I answer.
“When the governor says you need to evacuate, you should probably listen,” he argues.
“No.”
“So, you’re just gonna stay here, alone, during the worst hurricane ever to hit the coast?” he asks. I have to swallow past the panic climbing up my throat before I can answer.
“Yes.”
“What about your parents? They must be worried sick,” he says.
“My parents are dead.”
“Shit, that sucks,” he says in a rush. And instead of apologizing for something that wasn’t even in his control to begin with like most people, he says, “My dad’s dead too. I never even got to meet him.”
“Seriously?” I ask in surprise.
“Yeah,” he replies, then huffs out a laugh. “I didn’t even find out who he was until a few years ago. By then, my mom told me he was already dead.”
“That sucks,” I tell him, repeating his own words.
“Yeah, it does. But I was able to find out who he was. He built the entire Savage Kings MC and was their president before he died of cancer.”
“So that’s why it means so much for you to get your patch?” I guess.
“Yeah,” he says on an exhale before he realizes I’ve tried to change the subject. “Now that we’ve bonded over our mutual parental loss, how about you do me a solid and give me your phone?”
Dammit. Now he had to go and put a guilt trip on me.
I don’t want him to get in trouble with my brother. At the same time, though, I’m pissed at Warren, and I’m not going to leave the comfort of my safe and dry apartment either.
But this guy is persistent. Eventually, he may even find my phone. When he talks to my brother, he’ll know who I am and then I wouldn’t put it past him to throw me over his shoulder and haul me out of here if Warren says to do it. He seems very dedicated to the leather jacket gods and his long-lost father.
If I’ve learned anything during my three years of college, it’s that there’s one thing that always works on men to get what I want. Besides, this guy is incredibly hot, and my inhibitions are low, thanks to the Xanax I’ve been popping like Tic Tacs ever since the weatherman first said the word “hurricane” a few days ago.
All I need is to postpone him a little longer, and then it’ll be too bad outside to leave, even if I wanted to. That’s not something I’m looking forward to either, but we’re on the second floor of my building where the water can’t reach us. As long as the windows hold, we’ll be just fine for a few days.
So, I look him right in his gray eyes and say, “Fuck me, and the phone is all yours.”
The handsome stranger stares down at me, unblinking, like he’s trying to figure out if I’m joking or not.
“You can’t be serious,” he eventually says, still holding my wrists above my head while his big, hard body presses me into the door just a tiny bit harder.
“What’s your name?” I ask him, blowing a strand of my dark hair out of my eyes.
“Maddox.”
“Well, Maddox, the storm is getting worse, so unless you’re going to go out into it to find another phone, you better hurry.”
“Hurry, and…fuck you?” he reiterates.
“That’s right,” I tell him. “Haven’t you noticed? This is an all-girl university. You’re the first guy my age that I’ve seen in a very long time.”
“Are you screwing with me?” he asks.
“Nope.”
“Are you...are you a virgin?” he asks. I’m not sure if his voice sounded hopeful or wary.
“No.” Despite my innocent little girl appearance, I’ve been with three men.
“No?” he repeats.
“I traded my virginity to my Physics professor last year.”
“You’re kidding," Maddox says.
“Well, it was more than once. I was failing, so it took a few times before I finally got a C, then the C turned into a B, then the B to an A. Eventually, it was just extra credit and I made it to the top of my class.”
“You were sleeping with your professor to improve your grades.”
Nodding, I cont
inue to tell him something that no one else knows about me. “Professor Burrows would lock the auditorium doors after class was over, and then fuck me right there on his desk.”
“That’s pretty hardcore and…kind of hot,” Maddox says, his eyes lowering to my lips.
“So, what’s it gonna be?” I ask. “Clock’s ticking.”
“Why do you want me? We just met, and I-I don't even know your name.”
“Does any of that really matter to you?” I question, knowing by the tenting in his jeans that the answer is no.
Chapter Three
Maddox
“Does any of that really matter to you?”
Her response is echoing around in my head, yet for some reason, I can no longer remember the question I asked.
It’s absolutely horrible timing, I know, but all the blood in my head is accumulating in my dick that’s now so swollen that it’s throbbing in time with my racing heartbeat.
And what other choice do I have here? I need to use her phone. Sure, there are other phones in the world, but I’m here and she’s so warm and close to me. I mean, her phone is close. It seems like my virginity is a small price to pay to be with the tiny seductress in exchange for a few calls on her cell, which could mean getting my patch or losing it all.
Honestly, I don’t even know why I’ve waited this long to have sex. There were no women in military school. Then, even though I was horny as shit, I didn’t actually want my first time to be with a club slut who could blink and forget it ever happened.
I may not know this girl’s name, but she’s beautiful and she’s making me an offer I couldn’t refuse even if I tried.
“We’ll have to make this fast,” I warn her. I’m sure I won’t be able to last long, even if I wasn’t in a hurry and needed to find War’s sister. At least she’s out of town and safe in the mountains by now. I just need to let War know she was gone before I got here. I’m sure he’ll understand…
“If it’s going to be fast, then you better get me ready,” she replies.
“Get you ready?” I repeat in confusion.
“I want it to be good for me too,” she says, and understanding finally dawns. She wants me to finger her or to go down on her—maybe both—first. The thought of doing either has my eyes glassing over, making the apartment blurry with a hazy lust. If I get any more turned on, I may very well go blind.