“Then we off her. That’s the easiest answer.”
“If she isn’t being made into an Old Lady, that’s the way we have to go,” Sloane answered.
“Old Lady or death, Jack. Those are your options. As an Old Lady, she will earn the right for police protection and the club standing behind her. As a Honey, she gets none of that. Pure and simple. She’s bound by club law, and we have a civil service. It’s binding enough that she can’t be used against you in court,” Rex said.
“There are plenty of other Honeys who would be better suited as his Old Lady. Lana would be a good choice. She’s a fucking lawyer,” Samuel argued.
“She’s not the one on the table,” Rex argued.
Death or put a fucking bullseye on her back. What sort of fucking solution was that?
I clenched my hands under the table and remained stoned-faced. The idea of Melody dead made my stomach roll with nausea. I didn’t want to see her light put out. Nothing they would ever tell me would be worth that. And yet, an Old Lady? My Old Lady? That gave her an amount of power and connection to me I simply didn’t want to give. In that position, every wrong she made reflected directly on me. Samuel, the little shit, would use that against her. I had no doubt he’d plan things to get harder, despite the level of respect an Old Lady should be given.
But death?
Fuck, I couldn’t let them touch her. I refused. I looked to Rex and he nodded imperceptivity. He had my back and I couldn’t ignore that. He went out on a limb and used his authority to force a vote. It gave me just enough wiggle room, but he couldn’t give more. I knew it. He knew it. They all did.
“She’ll become my Old Lady,” I forced out through clenched teeth. I knew Samuel was playing this in a way he could find chances to fuck with both Melody and me. I hated playing into his hands, but I hated the thought of losing her more.
“You’re shitting me?” Samuel asked.
“No.”
“Then we are decided. I second the motion to make Melody Hughes Jack’s Old Lady. Do we have a third?” Rex asked.
“I third the motion,” Sloane answered.
“So be it. Jack’s dues will be increased by fifty dollars yearly for her placement in the club, per the bylaws. I’ll let the Treasurer know,” Rex said.
“Fuck it. She better not make a mistake or it’s your head on the chopping block,” Samuel warned.
As I got up from the meeting table, I couldn’t help to wonder why Samuel was so antagonistic against Melody. He may want to hurt me, but his anger spewed to her, too.
Gary and Theo stood alert at my bedroom door as I strolled up. Once Theo saw my face, he nodded and moved away.
“I’ll let the Prospect know he isn’t needed anymore,” he said before he left.
I lifted a brow at Gary to inquire why he was still standing there.
“She was worried about you,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“She wanted to know what would happen to you and didn’t want me to tell anyone she’d asked. She said she didn’t do it for favor. You gonna put her down?”
“No, Gary, I won’t have to.”
He nodded. “Good. It took her an hour to stop crying and another before she stopped asking where the hell you were. She’s a good one.”
Gary didn’t say anything else as he walked away and I waited to go into my room. She’d cried for me, worried what would happen. Hell, she even turned Gary to her side. There was a reason Gary stayed by Rex’s side. He watched the Vice President’s back and kept him safe when I couldn’t be around. Gary and I were the two deadliest men in the club. That she softened him toward her, even a little, spoke highly in Melody’s favor.
“Gary,” I called out to him. He turned at the end of the hall and waited. “She’ll be my Old Lady.”
“You deserve it, Jack. You’ve been punished enough.”
He went around the corner before I could say anything else. I didn’t know if I’d ever believe him, but I appreciated hearing it just the same. I sighed as I unlocked my door and went in to my room. I was curious to know if there was some sort of history between Samuel and Melody. I found Melody pacing back and forth.
“Jack.”
One word, my name. She said it like a prayer as she closed her eyes and exhaled. Then she raced toward me and leapt into my arms.
“Thank God you’re alright.”
I didn’t think God existed. If he did, he hated me and that hurt worse than he just never existed in the first place. But as her warmth seeped into my skin—her vanilla scented shampoo I’d bought her wafting to my nose, and the weight of her slim frame pressing against me—I thought maybe I could believe again. I wrapped my arms around her and inhaled her scent. It enveloped me, soothed the anger inside of me, grounded me.
“They wouldn’t have hurt me, Melody.”
“How could I be sure?” Her question was muffled against my shoulder, but I heard it and it made me smile.
“Because I’d kill them first.”
She lifted her head from my shoulder and looked into my eyes. “You’re serious.”
“I don’t joke about that.”
“And me? What would have happened to me?”
“Nothing at all. They wouldn’t touch you.”
“What is the verdict?” she asked. She wiggled, silently asking to get down, but I didn’t let her.
“I know you didn’t have anyone follow you to the building to catch me.”
She sucked in a breath. “Is that what’s made you change lately?”
I nodded. “Things have been out of hand in the club for a while. And I’ve had someone texting me about you. At first, I thought it was your pimp, then I realized it had to be someone within the club.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“They knew too much. I want to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“Did you know Samuel or Jasmin before when you were on the streets?”
She shifted again in my arms and I carried her to the bed. I sat with her in my lap and held her. She made a face at me but shook her head.
“No. I don’t really remember much from my time on drugs outside of Tony, my dealer. I lost my family and friends because all I cared about was the next high. I didn’t worry about how I got the money, if I had to steal or sell things. I took stuff from friends, borrowed money from my parents, everything, until they couldn’t deal with me anymore. The two years I was on drugs I stayed with Tony.”
“How did you get on drugs?” She shrugged, but I knew she remembered. As she tensed in my lap and averted her gaze, I pushed her head to my shoulder. “Tell me.”
“I was out at that club in Felthill. I thought I could handle myself out there when some people from work invited me. The night went good until almost the end. Tony … the guy I told you was my dealer? He bought me a drink, and I made the mistake of letting him go to the bar and get it. When he came back, we sipped and talked about my work and everything. I thought we had a connection. When I started feeling a bit sick, he offered to take me outside to get some fresh air.”
“And you went alone.” I knew how this would end.
“Yeah. Eight hours later, I woke up in his flat, a needle stuck in my arm, and he was …”
“Shh. Tell me what he looked like.”
I let the story fade into nothing as I laid her down on the bed. Tears clung to her eyelashes as she watched me. The tears did it—those tears in her eyes she refused to let fall, even though she’d cried for me earlier. Heat poured through me as I thought of that fucker Tony. I thought I knew exactly who she told me about—the one who hurt her, hooked her on drugs, and changed her life.
And brought her to me.
The thought didn’t remove the anger welling inside of me, but it tempered it. Allowed my hands to be softer as I stripped her. She let me, never making a sound. Not even when I stripped myself. It wasn’t until I lay next to her that she said anything else.
“What happened at the mee
ting?”
“I had to make some changes when it comes to you.”
I trailed kisses down the side of her neck and licked her pulse. It jumped against my mouth.
“What sort of changes?”
“Ones that make you mine.”
“Didn’t you do that already?”
I smiled against her creamy skin. “You will be my Old Lady.” She gasped as I pinched one of her nipples. I only needed her to say one thing, and it didn’t involve a bunch of questions my dick was too hard to answer.
“I’m claiming bed rights, woman. Tell me yes, like a good girl.”
I twisted her nipple and licked her pulse again. She sucked in a shaky breath and then I heard it, that soft, sweet word that made everything go away.
“Yes.”
9
Melody
I had lost my mind.
Why else would I let him touch me the way he did? Claim me as his Old Lady and not even argue? His touch spread fire through me, burning away the fear and uncertainty from moments before. As my body went soft and pliant under him, I watched his cheeks hollow as he sucked my nipple into his mouth. The pressure stung, but it twisted me up in sweet knots. The edge of pain only enhanced his touch. His scarred, muscular body dwarfed mine in the center of the bed, and I cradled his head to my chest as he rested between my legs.
This time was different.
Jack’s cock nestled against my thigh, insistent and rock solid, but he took his time. I trembled as his fingertips danced over my ribcage, below my breasts, before traveling down. I sucked in my stomach as he traced the slope down to my navel. His callused, hot hands were darker against my fair skin, and even that contrast pushed me higher. My pussy leaked moisture as he smoothed his hands over my groin and down my thighs. He went as far as his arm span would reach before he rubbed his way back up. When he let my nipple go with a pop, he slicked his fingers around my labia and pressed hard.
“Mmm.”
“Tell me you belong to me, Melody.”
“I belong to you.”
It tore me up inside, chewed me up and spit me out, but it was true. I couldn’t walk away from him if I’d wanted to. I knew it didn’t mean he loved me, and we weren’t a couple that could be seen as normal. This world I now lived in didn’t accept normal. But had I ever truly wanted that? Could I even go back after all the hell I’d endured?
Never.
This. This moment, right here—with him playing with me until my muscles clenched and I couldn’t think straight—speared light through me, illuminating that dark place inside of me, and showed me the truth. I needed darkness to appreciate the light. Just as maybe Jack needed the light to save him from the dark.
I palmed his face and lifted his head. Our gaze met and our lips came together, drawn as much as our emotions tried to repel us. His lips tasted like my greatest high. What a sick fucking match we made. As his tongue slipped between my lips, he gripped my wrists and lifted them above my head. He left them there but I didn’t move them, sensing his want. I arched my back for him, deepening the kiss. Our tongues slid against each other before he broke away.
“Let me taste you.”
I nodded, but he’d already moved. He kissed his way down between my breasts and over my stomach. His teeth grazed over the sensitive flesh of my hipbone as I twisted my fingers into the cover under us. Cool, air-conditioned air sent goose bumps over my skin, but he warmed me, sweeping the chill away. Jack licked down the crease between my groin and thigh and kept going down. The wet trail his tongue left behind became my sole point of interest. He lifted my leg as he sat back on his hunches, nipping the soft skin on the back of my knee.
“You’re beautiful,” I whispered to him. He froze for an instant before he bit me harder. “You are. Look.”
He closed his eyes as I lowered my arms, exposing the dotted flesh inside of my elbows. His gaze finally reached my arms.
“I have scars, too. From those dark moments that defined us. I hurt myself to feel better, and you shed blood to feel accepted.”
“Who told—”
I shook my head. “They didn’t have to, Jack. I know because I have done the same. I’m here, right here.”
He cut my words off, but I had no doubt he’d heard me when he gripped my hips and lifted my ass into the air. My legs rested over his shoulders, my feet dangling near his ass. I couldn’t look away as he lifted my pussy to meet his mouth. The first stroke of his tongue was desolation. The second, my very fucking salvation. And by the time he sucked my clit into his mouth, I wanted to always belong to him. Only my shoulders and head rested against the bed, my only anchor, as he swallowed my juices and stuffed me with two fingers. He licked and pumped simultaneously.
Then his free hand reached for my arm. He rubbed his thumb along my track marks, shattering me. My insides clenched and my climax exploded on me too quickly to assimilate. I arched my feet, toes spread wide, and arched my back until it cramped. Still he rode me, sucking on my clit until I screamed. For freedom. For release. For him never to stop.
By the time he lowered my hips to the bed, I mumbled nonsense. Then he slid his cock into me and the world cleared. Jack moved slow and deep. I felt every inch of him with each thrust. He curled over me and our lips touched. When he exhaled, I inhaled. We stayed like that, riding the wave until I couldn’t see straight. He held me through it. If I thought he’d finished, I was wrong. He rolled me to my side and straddled one leg. My other leg rested on his shoulder so he knelt in between. As he planted a palm on each side of my body, he rolled his hips, sinking into me further.
“What you do will be a reflection on me,” he said. I blinked up at him, unable to grasp his meaning. He slammed into me hard, and then repeated himself.
“Jack, not now. Just fuck me.”
“Look at me.”
His hips slowed to a crawl as he stared into my eyes. I forced my half-mast lids to open all the way.
“Fuck them all, Melody. You belong to me and we are going to make them regret ever hurting us. For turning their backs over mistakes and shitting us out into a world that doesn’t care about us. I can’t love you, I don’t understand that emotion, but I can give you a foundation so solid no one will ever rock you again.”
I was falling for this man, and he’d plainly told me he couldn’t love me. That the emotion ripping through my heart was impossible for him. And yet, his promise buoyed me. How long had it been since I’d been safe? That anyone cared about giving me ground to land on?
But what about him?
“And what can I give you?” I asked him.
“Just … don’t treat me like I’m worthless.”
He didn’t give me a chance to respond, but his words broke my heart. As he crashed his lips into mine and jerked his hips, pleasure and pain spiraled. I wept inside for the man who had been shattered. I wanted to know what had happened and who had hurt him so much, but now was not the time. The sun grew closer with each stroke of his hips. Emotional pain served as a different edge to our lovemaking. I held on to him as he moved. Pleasure swirled in my groin, more with each push. When he lowered my legs and turned me on my side, he gripped my hip and thrust harder.
Then he kissed me, and I tasted the salt of his tears.
I exploded. The world dimmed and blinked out. I felt him come, his cock jerking inside of me, but it was only a blip on my radar. Every sense I had dampened, except for the tingling in my clit. We hovered like that until he pushed inside of me one last time, and I fell back to the earth.
“What are we going to do about the cops?” I asked.
After a short nap, Jack woke me up to eat. We sat cross-legged on his bed with sandwiches and beer on a platter between us. I didn’t think I could eat that much food, but sex with Jack seemed to help me develop quite an appetite.
“We won’t have to do anything. As my Old Lady, we will talk to the ones we have on the force to find out how much you are involved with the investigation and steer it in another direc
tion.”
“Couldn’t they have done that without me being your Old Lady?”
“Want to chicken out already?” His tone was light, but darkness stained his gaze.
“No. I just don’t understand why the safety of the club wouldn’t have outweighed my position in it.”
He sighed and the darkness cleared. “That’s why I wanted to know if there was any relationship between you, Samuel, or Jasmin that I wasn’t aware of. Samuel moved too quickly to dispose of you.” I swallowed and Jack shrugged. “I wouldn’t have let that happen, but you need to understand what’s at stake.”
“Why is he gunning for you so hard? You’re one of his officers, it doesn’t make sense.”
“History,” he said.
My gaze dropped to his scars. “History that deals with those?”
“Yes.”
His clipped tone drew me up short. After what we’d just shared, I would’ve thought we were past this. “But you told me—”
“I meant from here on out. My past with Samuel is more club history than my dealings with him. If it becomes a problem, I’ll tell you.”
His history was the crux of the issue. What we were trying to build could blow away if we weren’t careful. At these tentative stages, trust still factored. My heart ached with the knowledge he didn’t trust me enough to share his past with me, especially after I’d told him mine, but I understood.
Did I ever understand the demons that messed with the soul?
“We should be clear then, and you won’t come up on charges?”
“Having a record is part of the business, baby. But it doesn’t put me into the line of fire. Right now, they are looking for you to give them leads. They won’t get you, end of story.”
“And you can trust Samuel to keep his word?”
“Samuel is many things, but he is not a club rule breaker. If he did, those are grounds for immediate expulsion without a vote, and Rex will be acting President until one is voted in. He knows this. Violating the protection of an Old Lady would kick him.”
I took a bite of my sandwich and thought about what he said. A nagging worry made me wonder if Samuel or Jasmin wouldn’t still try something. There could be something, within the bylaws, they could use against Jack.
Going Under Page 7