by Jordan Marie
“I know,” I murmur and I do. I’m just worried about Dawn, but at least now I’m not scared she’s going to get herself killed. “Thank you for doing this, Liam. I know you didn’t have to.”
“Ice, I love you. Dawn may make me bat-shit crazy, but you love her, so I’m going to do what I can to make sure she’s taken care of, too. Family, you know?”
“Yeah, I do know. Your club is family and I was asking you to turn your back on them once.”
“Ellie,” he rumbles, ruffling his hair in frustration.
“I won’t lie, Liam, it hurt the most that first year because it felt like you turned your back on me instead.”
“You left me, Ice. You made your choices.”
“And you didn’t come after me. I sound like a bitch saying that, I know. I shouldn’t have expected it. I didn’t think I was playing a game by trying to make you run through hoops, but maybe I was. Maybe I wanted you to prove I mattered more than them,” I tell him, wringing my hands, as I bare my heart to him.
“We both made mistakes, Ellie. I regret not coming after you, I do. But, things went south. It’s not an excuse, but Vicki went into hiding, and I couldn’t find her. She ambushed Diesel one day and tried to kidnap Ryan. She left Diesel for dead. Then, when things settled down, it just felt like so much time had passed. You hadn’t called, and didn’t answer when I called. I figured you were just done.”
“We should probably talk about Vicki and the past and all the bullshit…”
“Fuck no. That’s done. Diesel has Rory and he’s happy. Ryan is loved and safe, things are good. The past needs to stay in the fucking past. You and I are going to concentrate on the future. I should have tried to find you when you didn’t take my calls. That’s on me. You shouldn’t have left and tried to work this shit out, instead of bailing. That’s on you. We both have fault, Ice. Now, we put this behind us and move forward, together.”
“Liam… you didn’t call me.”
“I did, babe. I even spoke to your mom a couple of times.”
“That’s impossible. Liam. She would have told me. She knew how upset I was, what I was going through. She would have told me if you called.”
“I can’t explain that, Ellie. But you know I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“I need to call her…”
“Not right now. Right now, you need to come over here and take off your clothes.”
“This is important, Liam,” I mumble, even as my body trembles at the thought of undressing for him.
“This is more important. I told you the past is done. Now, come here.”
My entire body trembles as his gray eyes seem to heat and turn molten as we look at each other. We’ve been doing this dance ever since Dawn interrupted us a week ago. Right now is decision time. There’s no going back.
“Liam, I need to talk to you—”
“You need to get over here and offer yourself to me. The time for talking is over, Ice,” he counters.
I swallow down my fear and walk over to him. He doesn’t reach out to touch me, he doesn’t do anything. He just waits. With trembling fingers, I slowly begin undoing my shirt.
“Lean down and give me your lips, Ice,” he orders, his voice graveled and rough.
I stop undressing to do as he asks, holding onto his shoulders as I kiss him. The instant our lips touch, I forget everything else. He’s right. Liam and I need to go forward. I can’t change the past…no matter how much I wish I could.
Ellie
“Strip,” he orders as we break apart from our kiss.
The words seem to vibrate through me, causing my entire body to tremble.
I’m trembling like a lone leaf on a tree limb. This is important. I know it is. This is the beginning. There’s so much we need to talk about—so much we need to work out. Making love with Liam might be the wrong move, but I can’t make myself stop.
I take my clothes off in hurried, if not stilted, movements. I curse myself as I realize what I’m doing. I should be trying to be sexy, alluring. I should be flaunting what he’s missed by not contacting me.
“Are you nervous, Ice?” he asks, watching me.
“Yes,” I whisper, but that’s not completely truthful. I am nervous, but I’m also violently turned on. I’m so wet that I can feel the moisture on the inside of my thighs. My nipples are painfully hard and just the cool air of the room makes me want to moan. It’s been so long and Liam is the only one who has ever made me feel like this—like I’m the most desirable woman in the world.
He throws the cover off of his body revealing that he’s completely naked. I bite my lip to stifle the moan that tries to escape. I watch as he moves his hand down and strokes his cock very slowly. I could watch him do that all day long. There’s something so primal about the way his strong, inked hand moves over his huge cock, the head slick and wet and getting wetter with each stroke. The longer I watch, the more it feels like electricity moves through my body.
“You enjoying the show, Ice?”
“Definitely,” I almost groan as one small pearl leaks from his dick and slides down against his hand. I long to lick that drop and claim it with my tongue.
“I’ve been thinking about this ever since I saw you again, Ellie.”
“Me too,” I admit.
“Please tell me you’re on birth control, baby.”
“I am, but…”
“I’m clean, Ice. Got a clean bill of health before heading out this way.”
“Liam,” I mumble, my brain mush. It shouldn’t matter. He says he hadn’t been with another woman. This is Liam. I let my worries go.
“Straddle me, Ice.” I move to the bed, positioning myself over him, my knees pressing into the mattress. “Touch me, baby. I need your hands on me,” he urges.
I immediately grip his hard cock. It’s wet and the heavy veins seem to throb under my touch. I stroke him once, pre-cum sliding onto my fingers. Liam grabs my neck and pulls me down, his tongue pushing into my mouth with a hunger that matches mine. His tongue demands entry, devouring me. When the kiss ends, his eyes are filled with a need that the intense look on his face makes me grow even wetter.
“I hope you’re ready,” he growls, grabbing my hips.
“I am,” I whisper.
“Then, take me inside,” he says, holding me tightly.
I slide down on him, stopping about midway to catch my breath. It’s been so long and he’s so large that it’s almost painful. His hand reaches up to tease my nipples, giving me just what I need to slide down on him a little more and taking him in deeper. When I finally work him all the way in, I don’t move. It takes a minute to get used to the full feeling and the way he stretches me. I can feel the walls of my pussy tremble around his cock, I squeeze tightly, moaning at how good that feels. Then, I slowly begin to ride him. It takes me a minute to find the rhythm to bring the most pleasure. I needn’t worry, because soon Liam is taking over, using his hands on my hips to show me exactly what he wants. I rotate my hips on the downward thrust, because I love the way that makes the head of his cock rake against the walls of my pussy.
“Fuck, I forgot how good it feels to be inside of you, Ellie. There’s nothing better,” he moans. I put my hands on his chest, my nails biting into his skin, as I pick up my speed, riding him harder and faster now.
“Nothing…better,” I gasp as I fuck myself on his cock. My breasts bounce as I ride him faster. I can feel my orgasm just beyond reach. I can feel the fierceness of it as it gathers. My pussy clamps tight on his cock as my climax crashes through me. I milk his cock, wanting everything he has to give me. He gives me his cum, and I moan because the force of his cum jetting inside of me feels like a physical touch it’s so good. I collapse against his chest when it’s over, his cum leaking down the side of my legs and I don’t even care. I lay there, my head on his chest, his cock still buried deep inside of me and it’s perfect.
Ellie
“He got the all clear.”
“So, I guess it’s a go.
I’ll have Glenna call him tonight,” Dawn replies, sounding anything but happy.
“There’s still time for you to tell her that you don’t want this and back out, Dawn,” I caution her.
“Yeah and then, she will just go through with it without me.”
“Let her, you’ll find someone else.”
“Like you did, Ellie?” she asks, her voice just a bit sarcastic, her remark bothering me. I breathe into the phone as I try to search for words.
“I love him.”
“I love Glenna,” she counters.
That pretty much says it all and I can’t really argue with her. After all, Liam is asleep upstairs in my bed.
“Dawn, why didn’t you and Mom tell me that Liam called me after I moved back home?” I ask softly. I expect her to deny it. It’s not that I think Liam is lying to me, but if Dawn knew, she would tell me. We don’t have secrets…or at least I didn’t think we did. The longer she is silent, however, the more I begin to doubt that. My eyes close as this sense of betrayal fills me.
“That bastard had put you through enough. You were struggling.”
“You don’t think hearing from Liam might have helped me?”
“Or made it worse. You’d been home for a month, Ellie. He hadn’t bothered to call you. That pretty much said everything we needed to know.”
“He’d been out of town—”
“They don’t have phones out of town?” Dawn snaps, and now her tone is defensive, but I don’t want to hear it.
“You still should have told me,” I murmur. “I’ve got to go. Be safe and check in.”
“Ellie—”
“I can’t right now, Dawn. Just promise to be safe and check in.”
“Whatever,” she says and I hang up.
I just stand there for a few minutes, staring at my cellphone, as I try and think about everything. All of this time, I thought I wasn’t important to Liam. The fact that he called changes things. I can’t go back, but it does matter just the same.
“Why don’t you look like a woman whose man made her see stars last night?” Liam asks, and I jerk my head up.
“Called Dawn,” I reply. The smile on his face fades. He just stands there, but he opens his arms up and I don’t even think. I run into them. I close my eyes the instant he closes his arms around me, cradling me.
“It’s going to be okay, Ellie.”
“She knew that you called and didn’t tell me. I thought she was someone who would always tell me everything.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he says, but I instantly shake my head no.
“It does. If I had known you called…”
“We can’t go back, Ice. We have to look forward. We’re different people now. At least, I know I am. I know what life is like without you now. You have to know I’ll fight like hell to keep you in my life from here on out. I don’t want to be without you again.”
I tilt my head back to look at Liam. I want to see his face, I need to.
“We let the past die,” I respond.
“We learn from it and we let it go,” he corrects me.
“What comes next?” I ask, my heart beating harder all at once.
“You know the answer to that one, Ice.”
“You want me to come back to Tennessee.”
“Definitely. You liked it there. It was home, remember?”
“What if the club doesn’t want me back?” I whisper, my biggest fear.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Ice? The boys love you.”
“So much has happened, changed…” I’m trying not to panic at the thought of going back to Tennessee, but I definitely am.
“You’ll like the changes. You’ll love Rory and you’ll definitely love Torrent. Not being wanted is the very last thing you need to be worried about,” he says, doing his best to dismiss all of my worries.
“But—”
“I mean it, Ice. It’s all going to be okay.”
I sigh, because he’s not going to let me argue with him and right now, I really don’t want to either.
“What should be my biggest worry about going back home, Liam?” I mumble derisively. I’m grudgingly letting it all go for now.
“If you’re going to able to walk by the time I get tired of fucking you.”
“You’re going to get tired of fucking me?” I ask immediately, making him laugh. I end up squealing as he picks me up and deposits me on the kitchen table, yanking his shirt I’m wearing over my head.
“Maybe, after a couple of lifetimes,” he mutters, taking my mouth in a kiss. I lose myself in his touch and the pleasure only he has ever been able to give me. I have to believe that everything will work out.
I don’t have a choice.
Fury
“What are you doing, Brother?” Devil asks. I grip my phone with one hand and shake my dick, then zip up with the other.
“What the hell do you think I’m doing?” I grumble.
“Standing outside with your dick in your hand, taking a piss?”
“Very funny, motherfucker. I tell you what I’m not doing, I’m not in bed making Ellie suck me off as a thank you for the way I wore her out last night.”
“Yeah, I know, that’s because you’re standing there taking a piss.”
I jerk around when I realize that Devil is coming around the side of the building.
“Jesus,” I growl, hanging up the phone.
“Diesel would have your ass if he knew how easy we snuck up on you, dude,” Rebel laughs.
“Fuck you both.” I laugh, walking toward them. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
“We came to check up on you,” Devil says.
“I’d shake your hand but….”
“Leave me out of it. I don’t want near anywhere your dick has been,” Rebel laughs. “I know you and Scorpion don’t mind getting close when it comes to that shit, but that’s not for me.”
I flip Rebel off, ignoring the guilt I feel with his words. I didn’t truly lie to Ellie, but I might have left out a few details. I need to talk to this motherfucker before he says something that will screw up my future. I make a note to do that, but for now, I need to make sure Devil is okay.
“Bullshitting aside, how are you and how in the hell did you convince Torrent to let you come out here? Last I heard you were going to Chicago.”
“Gunner located Torrent’s sister. He’s got that under control from the sound of it. You spotted Wolf here…” He shrugs. “Figured this is where I needed to be.”
“You need to be home taking care of your woman and LD.”
“The name is Cannon.”
“I’ll start calling him that the day you convince Torrent to call him that, too,” I compromise.
“Asshole,” Devil laughs.
“Still no word from Wolf?” he asks, joking aside. There’s a hardness that comes over him now. He’s all business, and I see the old demons he carries enter into his face. I hate that he has the memories he has, I fucking hate that he had to live through that shit and I couldn’t get to him sooner. I want to kill that motherfucking Wolf for that reason alone.
“Not a one. Not since he questioned one of the nuns.”
“It’s not really his M.O. Fuck man, I don’t know. Maybe he spotted me and got spooked?”
“If he saw you, he’s plotting for a way to get to you. He won’t run until he thinks he’s close to getting trapped. This motherfucker is as arrogant as they come. He likes dancing along the edge,” Devil replies, sounding completely confident. “Wolf will wait around to find a weakness and then the bastard will find the best way to exploit it.
“That means I need to keep a closer eye on Ellie then, because that’s the only weakness I have.”
“It might not be a bad idea,” Devil says, rubbing the back of his neck. “I still can’t believe you and Ellie are back together,” he says and this time he’s studying me. I can’t help the satisfied smile that spreads over my lips.
“He looks fucking s
atisfied about it, too,” Rebel says with a laugh.
“You have no idea,” I respond, not even bothering to deny it.
“I’m happy for you, man. I know how losing Ellie cut you up.”
“It nearly destroyed me. I’m not letting her go again.” We stare at each other for a minute, not talking, but we understand each other. I know he can see in my face more than I feel comfortable telling him in words. Devil knows how much losing Ellie shook me. “How long have you been here?”
“Just got in. Came to the church first, because I knew that’s where you’d be.”
“Then let’s go get you—” I stop when my phone rings. When I see Ellie’s name on the ID, I answer it, holding up my finger toward my brothers. “Give me just a second. What’s up, Ice?”
“Just checking on you, Stud. Was afraid you’d fall asleep after the way I left you worn out yesterday.”
“Think you got that backwards, baby,” I murmur, my head dropping down with a smile as I replay making love to her this morning in my mind.
“I just wanted to tell you that I love you, Liam.”
“Love you, too, Ice.”
“I love you, too, Eleanor!” Devil calls out.
“Oh my God! Is that Devil?” Ellie squeals in my ear.
“Yeah, baby. That’s Devil. He and Rebel just showed up. I was about to take them and get them settled in a hotel and then maybe finding lunch—”
“No way! If you do that, Charles Liam Maverick, I’ll never talk to you again. I’ve got three spare bedrooms. Take them to the house.”
“Ice—”
“Don’t you Ice me.”
“Okay, Ellie, but if you start bitching, saying I can’t fuck you because they might hear, you and I are going to have problems,” I growl. The guys instantly start laughing, but I ignore them.
“You’ll just have to get inventive on ways to keep me from crying out,” she sasses.
“Oh, I can do that.”
“Don’t be so sure,” she cautions.
“You can’t scream when you’re choking on my cock,” I tell her.