The Queen of Carnage

by Wright, Candice

  His pace picks up, each thrust bumping my head into the wall behind me, but I love every second of it. When I hum around him minutes later, he shouts his release as I swallow it down greedily.

  “Good girl, Luna,” he praises as he helps me to my feet.

  “Let’s get you out of these wet clothes.” He doesn't wait for a reply, he just strips me bare right there in the kitchen before picking me up and lowering me down onto the kitchen table.

  I gasp and arch up against the cold tabletop but one of his large hands holds me in place. Spreading my legs wide, he bends and feasts on my pussy like a starving man, making my head thrash about as I babble incoherently. His tongue flicks and slides, dips and retreats, and leaves me in a stupor before he plunges two fingers inside me.

  “Ah, fuck,” I yell as I come all over his hand, my pussy squeezing down against his fingers so tightly I’m surprised they don’t break.

  He trails his tongue up to my belly button, dipping inside briefly before making its way up between the valley of my breasts to my throat and finally my lips.

  “I’m an asshole,” he admits, remorse coating his words.

  “I know, but I love you anyway. I’m not going anywhere, Gage, I promise. I know I left before but things are different now. I didn't want to get too attached just to have you snatch it all away from me. I’m sorry.” He picks me up and carries me to the bathroom and places me on my feet as he flips on the shower, letting it warm up.

  He kisses me softly before turning me to face the mirror. The steam is starting to obscure my view but I can still make out the blurry edges of us. The way he is looking at me causes a wave of arousal to rush through me. So much so that when he bends me over the counter, slides a condom on, and eases his way inside me, I moan and push back into him. He takes his time, worshiping my body until I’m spent and my legs refuse to hold me up any longer. Afterward, he lifts me into the shower before climbing in behind me, watching me clean myself before he does the same. We do it all in silence but, unlike before, there is comfort in the quiet. I can feel what he feels for me. It's in the stolen glances and barely-there touches as we dress.

  When Orion and Halo arrive an hour later and find us once again wrapped up in each other’s arms, they don't question it. They just strip and join us, loving me and letting me love them.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “So today it becomes official, huh?” I ask Halo as I smooth my hands down the front of his cut, tracing my fingers over the patch that proclaims him as enforcer.

  “I guess so. In a way, it feels kind of weird. But if you think about it, Orion’s been doing the job since that night, so nothing will change but his patch.” He leans down and wraps his arms around my back dipping his head and sliding his lips over mine. Of course, with Halo, that’s never enough. It takes seconds for one of his hands to grip my hair and the other to grab my ass.

  I pull away reluctantly, knowing people are waiting for us and if we get started now, we might never leave this room.

  “Have you seen Orion this morning?” he asks, watching me as I straighten my hair yet again. I’m at the point where I don’t even know why I bother around these guys anymore.

  “Yeah. Him and Diesel went over to see King.” He freezes, looking up at my words.

  “Not sure that was wise,” he points out.

  “I know, but they wanted to. I think they need some kind of closure. Like it or not, the man is dying. Anything they might want to say to him can’t really wait.”

  “Diesel might kill him,” he warns. Orion took the hit hard but Diesel, who is about to officially become vice president, well, he hasn’t been the same since.

  “I asked Gage to go too. He’ll keep them in line,” I explain.

  “Thank you, sugar.”

  I reach up and peck his cheek before pulling back so he can’t take it further. “I know you guys have a lot on your plate at the moment, but I really need to sit down and have a chat with you all,” I tell him. The last week has been crazy and there has been no time to tell them about the baby.

  “I’ll try, sweetheart, but I can't make any promises at the moment.”

  “I know, I get it, Halo, but I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t really important.” He looks in my eyes, seeing I’m serious, before nodding.

  “I’ll figure something out.”

  A banging at the door breaks the moment. Halo walks over and yanks it open, revealing Inigo who winks at me.

  “Priest and Bates are here,” he tells Halo, who nods.

  “Right boys, I’ll run over to King’s and let the guys know they’re needed and then I’ll catch up with you later for the cookout,” I tell them, grabbing my gun, which Halo now insists I carry everywhere.

  “Thanks, Cherub.” He plants a quick one on me, which in Halo speak means he fucks my mouth with his tongue while squeezing my ass, completely unfazed that Inigo is standing there watching us with a smirk on his face.

  “Christ, woman, you’re killing me,” Halo groans when he finally pulls away.

  I breathe out, “You started it,” and walk away with a smile on my face.

  I make my way through the compound and out the back, heading up to the house on the hill at the back of the lot. It's mostly obscured by the trees, so much so I hadn’t even noticed it until someone pointed it out to me. I wave at Gecko and Half-pint as they go about setting up the party for later and continue across the damp grass up to the house. I hear yelling and barking before I even get to the door and sigh, knowing I’m likely going to be walking into a shit show. I pull open the screen door and let myself in, knowing they won't hear me if I knock. Doggy King comes barreling toward me for a quick fuss before retreating.

  I round the corner and see King sitting in an armchair that has been dragged to the window facing the woods. The man himself is staring out the window with unseeing eyes. I’m not sure if he can even hear the shit Diesel is spewing at him.

  “That’s enough, Diesel,” I say sternly, making the three men standing turn toward me.

  He bites out, “This has fuck-all to do with you, Luna, so back off.”

  “Diesel!” Orion snaps at him. “Watch how you fucking speak to my woman or, brother or no brother, I will put you down.”

  I watch as Diesel visibly deflates and shakes his head before looking at me with regret in his eyes.

  “Sorry, Cherub. I’m a dick.” I shrug it off and walk up to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and holding him tight. He hesitates for a second, probably checking to make sure Orion isn’t going to rip his head off, before he wraps his arms around me and hugs me back.

  “I get it, Diesel, I really do. But I don’t think there is anything you can say or do that is going to make him feel any worse than he does right now. He fucked up, he fucked up huge, I’m not disputing that. But he didn’t do it knowingly. He trusted his best friend, his partner—the one person who he thought had his back—and he’s paying for it now dearly.”

  “It will never be enough, Luna. For what happened to my mother, it will never be enough.” He squeezes me once more before letting go of me and walking out. Gage walks over and sighs. Kissing my brow softly he follows Diesel out, leaving me with Orion and his father.

  “How you doing, Adonis?” I ask him quietly, stepping up to him so our toes are touching.

  “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.” He leans down and rests his head on top of mine and is quiet for a moment.

  “Halo’s waiting for you. Priest and Bates are here. Go on over. I’ll be there in a little while.” He leans back and watches me, turning to look at his father, who hasn’t moved an inch, before turning back.

  “You got your gun?” I nod.

  “Okay, we will be in church for a while. Be good.”

  I salute him. “Yes, sir.” Which earns me a slap to the ass. He turns to his father, opens his mouth to speak but shakes his head and leaves.

  I look over at King and sigh. What a mess. I drag the footstool from the corner of t
he room and sit in front of him. I look out the window and try to imagine myself in his shoes.

  “It's not your fault, King.” He doesn’t answer but I watch his hands tighten into fists.

  “This is all on Joker and John. Sure, you made some piss-poor choices but if you had known what was going on, you would have stopped it. That’s the difference between you and them.”

  “I don’t think my boys feel the same way, Luna.” His voice comes out scratchy and deep, but I can hear the sorrow in it.

  “Cut them some slack. They just got dumped with a shitload of information at once. Give them time to process it.”

  “I don’t have any time left, Luna. I’m so fucking done with this life I can’t even convey to you right now how much I hope I close my eyes and never wake up again.”

  I swallow hard seeing a single tear roll from his eye. The mighty King has fallen.

  “Well, that’s just fucking unlucky for you then because you aren’t going anywhere just yet. I thought you were supposed to be the formidable King, ruler of Carnage, but you are nothing but a quitter.”

  “Luna…”

  “The measure of a man is not by how many times he gets knocked down but by how many times he stands back up.” His eyes blaze into mine as my words start to kindle a fire inside him.

  “So you’re gonna die. Deal with it. Are you going to go out like a pussy or are you going to man up and go out with a bang? Give those boys a reason to believe in you again.”

  “Nobody is gonna care—” I cut him off.

  “I care.” I place my hands on my still flat stomach. “We care. We want Gramps to leave behind a legacy filled with reverence, not shame.”

  His eyes stare at my hands over my stomach and widen.

  “You’re pregnant?” he asks in shock.

  “It appears that way, yes. Now, are we going to the clubhouse or what?” Ball’s in your court now, King, I muse to myself.

  “They won’t be happy,” he says as he stands.

  “Oh, well, they’ll get over it. They might be assholes to you, hell, the whole club might, but you deserve a few jabs, old man. Aside from the Melinda shit, you let Joker run this club into the ground. They have a right to be pissed. You’re just going to have to suck it up, buttercup. All you have to do is apologize. It’s the right thing to do and sometimes that makes it the hardest thing to do too.”

  He looks down at me and nods, offering me his hand and helping me up.

  “I’m thinking maybe you should be the president,” he jokes.

  “They couldn’t afford me. Besides, I thought you had old-school rules about this kind of thing.”

  “Yeah, well, turns out I was wrong about that too. Seems like I was wrong about a lot of things lately.”

  “So you’re human. Who knew? Get your ass up and take a shower. You stink. I’ll make us something to eat. By then they should have finished with church and be back out in the common room for the celebrations to begin.” I lose him for a second, his eyes glazing over at the mention of church. It must suck that he isn’t there for it but they don’t trust him enough anymore. That’s going to take time to fix.

  He heads up to the bedroom while I rummage around looking for something to make. I really need to drag his ass to the grocery store. I finally settle on grilled cheese sandwiches and soup as there isn’t much else to pick from.

  I’m just placing the food on the table when he comes back down. He smells better for sure but it's impossible not to see how much weight he’s lost. The large handsome man I met a few months ago is gaunt and frail-looking now.

  “Eat.” He doesn’t argue for once, eating in silence while I clean up the kitchen around him. When he’s finished, I dump his stuff into the dishwasher and switch it on.

  “Okay, we’ve procrastinated enough.” I look up at the clock and see it’s been just over an hour since Orion left, which should have been plenty of time to figure shit out.

  “Take your meds and let’s do this.” He does as I ask without argument, which is good, I guess, but to me, it’s just another sign he’s declining. Part of King’s charm is how ornery he can be. This guy isn’t the King I know. This is a man who has lost everything and is going through the motions. Well, I guess faking it is better than succumbing to it.

  “Come on, let's go before you change your mind.” I link my arm through his, making him give me a grateful smile as I half drag him back over to the compound.

  It’s quiet as we make our way to the main building. The guys have finished building up the fire pit. There are a bunch of folding chairs scattered about as well as a grill and a huge bucket, which I’m guessing will be filled with ice and beer in a little while. Heading inside, I see it’s deserted still, which can only mean everyone is still in church. I figured they would be finished by now but then I guess there’s a lot of ground to cover.

  I can hear a couple of voices coming from the kitchen, probably just a couple of sweet butts, so I make my way over to the bar and park my butt on one of the high stools. King looks torn. He stares at the door that leads down to the room that holds church before turning back to me and sighing. He plops down on the seat beside me, resigned to the fact his reign has ended. Doesn’t mean he has to be happy about it, though.

  “I know it sucks now, King, but this is the way it has to be. Be proud of the men you raised and try to make today more about them and less about you.”

  “You’re good for Orion, you know? It’s why I wanted you to come back. He might hate me now but he’s going to need you when I’m gone.”

  “He doesn’t hate you, King. He’s just pissed off and hurt. It happens.”

  Arguing filters in from the kitchen area, making me stand up with a huff. We have enough shit going on around here without more fucking in-house fighting too. I’m about to stomp off and shut the girls up before church finishes but King grabs my arm.

  “Just leave them to it. Bitches will be bitches, Luna. You can’t fix everything.” I bite my tongue at his liberal use of the word bitch but let it go. I don’t know what has me so on edge at the moment but it’s almost as if my subconscious knows something I don’t. Maybe things aren’t going as planned in the meeting.

  “I know. I’m just on edge, waiting to see what the Chaos Demons’ next move will be. They won’t care about the whys surrounding Weasel’s death, only the fact I shot him in a property they ultimately considered theirs. To them, I’m the one who was trespassing.”

  “Trust your men to sort it out for you. They have Priest and Bates in there with them now too, wading through all this shit. They'll figure it out. It's been a long time coming and after everything that went down with Melly,” he swallows hard as his guilt threatens to rip him apart, “they deserve to be eradicated like the infestation they are.”

  The arguing seems to have dipped in volume. The angry clipped voices are now harsh anger-filled whispers but as they seem to be approaching the bar area they’re easy enough to hear.

  “Fuck you.” I recognize that voice. The lovely Stacey. Why am I not surprised?

  “Not in this lifetime, bitch. I would rather lie with a dog; they have less fleas.” Ouch. Talk about burn. Gecko turns the corner with Stacey, who looks like she is about to burst into flames as her anger spirals out of control.

  “If I go down, Gecko, I’ll take down everyone with me. You’d do well to remember that.” She barely has her words out before she finds herself pinned to the wall with Gecko’s hand wrapped around her throat.

  “Gecko!” King barks out as I stare at a man I had come to like, who at this moment I hardly recognize.

  He turns slowly to look at us, shame coating his features before he drops Stacey to the floor.

  “Get out of here, girl. I think this club has had enough of your used up pussy,” King tells her as she struggles to climb to her feet in her ridiculously high heels.

  “You aren’t the president here anymore, King, and both your boys love it when I suck their cocks. They won’t be get
ting rid of me anytime soon.” I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

  “Classy, Stacey, real classy. Orion hasn’t been near you in months and we both know it, so stop trying to stir shit up.”

  “Oh, yeah? And how can you be so sure?” she taunts.

  “Well, the fact that his cock’s not gangrene and hanging off suggests it hasn’t been within an inch of your penis flytrap. I think you should do as King says and fuck off. We have enough shit going on around here without you being, well, you.” I turn to sit back down, dismissing Stacey as Gecko walks toward us but stop when I hear her angry screech.

  “Stacey, no! What the fuck?” I turn and see Gecko with his hands up as Stacey points what looks like his own gun back at him.

  “I say when I’m done. Not a pathetic dying man and his son’s whore.”

  King and I stand still, not moving an inch, not wanting to antagonize her further. That sixth sense I felt before is screaming at me now. Not sure why I do what I do next but working on instinct, I pull my gun from the back of my jeans, making use of the fact half my body is obscured by King’s. I slip the weapon into the back of his waistband next to his gun. I’ll never get a clean shot from here without King or Gecko getting hit in the crossfire and that’s a risk I won’t take.

  Stacey tears her eyes away from Gecko but keeps the gun trained on him while barking at us.

  “King, toss your gun now or I’ll put a bullet in Gecko’s head. That’s one piercing he won’t recover from.” Looks like Stacey isn’t as stupid as she looks. She steps in line with Gecko, blocking any shot King might have been willing to make. I watch as he pulls his gun and tosses it to the floor a couple of feet in front of him.

  “There. What the fuck are you are hoping to achieve with this, Stacey? You have to know you’re signing your own life away with this.”

  “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, King, but then you seem to have no idea what’s going on in your club anymore. You.” She indicates me.