by Sophia Gray
“If you think I’m lying about driving a friend to a doctor appointment, how can you trust that I won’t roll over you in your sleep and stuff a pillow over your face?” The idea actually held some merit, as the man was starting to work my last nerve.
In one swift movement he had me pinned to the mattress, his hands cupping my face, and his nose pressed against mine. “You wouldn’t dare.” One hand ran down my body, unbuttoning my jean shorts with ease. “Because if you did, you wouldn’t get this.” His hand slid into my shorts and found my clit with a skill no man should possess so easily.
I wanted to roll my head to the side, to break away from his gaze, but his other hand had my face trapped. His tongue ran over my lips just before he pressed his mouth to mine and kissed me hard. His hand retracted from my shorts, but only to push them down over my hips. He moved to the side just enough to give himself room to fully remove my shorts.
“There. That’s how I like you.” His arrogant grin made me want to slap him and kiss him at the same time.
He jumped off my bed and made quick work of removing his own pants and boxers. I noticed the tattoos weren’t just on his arms, or his chest, but one ran down the side of his torso and wrapped around his hip. A tail. The tail to a dragon that sat perched on his shoulder.
Before I could comment on my new find, he was back on the bed, back to pressing his hard body over mine. I missed my chance to escape. If I had wanted to escape. At that moment I wasn’t sure I did anymore.
His mouth crushed mine in a possessive kiss. He owned me in that moment and he wanted me to know it. His hands roamed my body, pulling my shirt up over my breasts, and yanking my bra out of his way. Fingers encircled my nipple as he nipped along my neck, down my shoulder and along my collar bone. His tongue swirled around my hardened nipple and I arched my back to push my breast further into his mouth.
Grinning, he sucked on my breast while his free hand once again found my clit. Heat pooled between my legs as he intensified his strokes. Rafe let go of my breast with a pop and settled himself between my thighs. His forehead pressed against mine, his hot breath washing over my face with each short burst. “Tell me you belong to me.” He dipped two fingers inside of me, almost filling me in the way I needed, but not quite.
“Rafe. Please, no teasing. Not now.”
“Tell me who you belong to.” He removed his fingers, and quickly replaced it with the head of his cock circling my entrance.
I knew if I said the words it would make it real. In his eyes I already belonged to him, my admitting it would only seal our fates together. Slowly he thrust his cock into me, stretching me and filling me.
When he was completely in, fully up to his balls, I wiggled beneath him. The stretch was almost too much, the pain lingered just below the pleasure of having him inside of me. When he didn’t move, I started to wiggle even more.
“Tell me what I want to hear, and I’ll help you out.” Another arrogant smile was shot at me.
His fingers dug into my hip as he began to move within me. Slow, steady strokes at first, that built up to hard fast thrusts that shook the bed beneath us. I gripped his shoulder, feeling the muscles beneath my fingers, and dug into him, careful of the wound I bandaged earlier.
His eyes were dark as he started down at me, his brow furrowed in concentration. His fingers still played over my clit while he drove into me again and again. My legs wrapped around his waist, and he grunted with approval. “Who owns you, Beth? Who do you belong to?” His hand snaked into my hair and pulled my head up, making our gazes lock.
My orgasm teetered right before me, dangling from an invisible string that he held out of my reach. His fingers pressed harder against my clit, his cock rammed faster into me sending shivers throughout my entire body, and his hand gripped my hair tighter. My legs spread wider for him, taking him even deeper, encouraging him to fuck me harder.
The bubble forming in my lower belly was about to burst, and there would be no stopping it aside from him. “Tell me, Beth. Who do you belong to?”
“You!” I yelled at him. “I belong to you!” With my confession my entire body exploded. Nerve endings shot electricity across every circuit in my body. Every muscle tensed and air suddenly failed me.
“There you go. Fuck, such a good girl.” He slowed his thrusts, gently bringing me back down from the mountaintop from where he had just thrown me. My breath returned in short harsh bursts, my legs throbbed from the tension, and my scalp burned when he finally softened his grip. “Over.” He withdrew from me and flipped me onto my stomach with less effort than it took for me take a breath.
Needing more of him, I pulled my knees up and arched my back, offering him my body, and needing his. His hot, large hands pulled my hips toward him as he thrust back inside of me. The new angle, the new strength, had my body responding to him all over again.
I could feel his balls slapping against my pussy as he fucked me harder and harder. His grunts became moans, and I fisted my hands in my pillows. It felt so good it almost hurt, but I didn’t want him to stop. I began to match his thrusts.
Looking over my shoulder, I caught him staring at me. “You’re mine now, Beth. Completely mine.” I nodded, not looking away, and not wanting to. “Say it.”
“I’m yours, Rafe. All yours.” Two more thrusts and my body relented again to his command. I cried out with the second orgasm and pushed my face into the pillow, completely drained from the pleasure being ripped from my body.
He stilled behind me and I felt him withdraw from me. I looked again over my shoulder and saw his thick cock in his hand, stroking it until hot streams of his come shot out all over my ass and my back. He hadn’t worn a condom, and I hadn’t thought about it either. The man made all common sense leave my mind when he touched me.
I rested my head on the pillow and tried to steady my breath. “You make me lose all control.” He pinched my ass as he stepped off the bed. He opened the top drawer of my dresser and grabbed a t-shirt, using it to clean me off.
“You lose control? I’m not sure that’s possible.” I flipped onto my back and straightened out my shirt. My bra had torn when he yanked it, so I tossed it into the trash can near the dresser. “And you owe me a bra.”
“I’ll take you shopping for one next weekend. You can try them all on for me.” He pulled on his boxers, leaving his jeans on the floor, and hopped back into bed. Pulling me to him, he wrapped his arms around me.
I would be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that it felt good to be in his arms. He was dangerous; there was no doubt about that. After he left that morning I spent several hours googling his club and looking at old news articles about the trouble they seemed to find themselves in. Rafe was mentioned in several of the articles. Nothing stuck to him though, or any of the other club members, but charges of drug trafficking, gun sales, and smaller misdemeanors all popped up in my search.
Rafe wasn’t a man to be around my daughter. He shouldn’t be anywhere near us. He was trouble. Yet when he vowed that he owned me, that I belonged to him, I couldn’t help the warmth that spread through my chest. He meant it, I could see it in his eyes. I thought we were just fucking, just having fun, but I was starting to understand Rafe didn’t say what he didn’t mean. And if he said I belonged to him, then I belonged to him.
And that should have scared me way more than it did at that moment.
Chapter Twelve
RAFE
I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t stop her. Beth was going into work. Even if I told her to stay home again, I had a good feeling she’d head in anyway. After finding Tristan dead, and having that run in with the Hells Spawn, I was reluctant not to follow her all the way to the hospital and camp out in the parking lot, but she could be pretty damn stubborn.
“It will be fine, Rafe. I’ll text you at lunch if that will make you feel better.” She turned away from me with her little smirk on her face. If Madison wasn’t sitting at the table eating her cocoa puffs, I would have given her a slap
on her ass.
“You’ll do better than that, you’ll text me every couple of hours. And I’m coming over for lunch, so you text me what time that happens.” I stepped behind her as she finished smearing peanut butter on some bread for Madison’s lunch, and gripped her hips. Fuck, she smelled so good, like spring flowers.
She let out a loud sigh. “Fine. Do you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich too, or will you be bringing your own food?” She gestured to the loaf of bread and looked over her shoulder at me.
“Isn’t that Maddie’s lunch?”
“No, she can’t bring peanuts to the day care. She’s having carrot sticks and a ham sandwich.”
I picked up the jar of generic peanut butter and looked over at Madison. “You don’t like ham?”
She snatched the jar back from me and screwed on the lid. “Ham is expensive if you don’t buy the crap loaded with antibodies and preservatives.” Her answer didn’t sit well with me. She was a fucking nurse, but had to eat PB&J sandwiches because she gave the good stuff to her daughter.
“Her dad doesn’t send you any cash to help out?”
“No. I have to hurry up, I need to grab Brittany and I’m starting to run late.” She tossed the peanut butter back in the cabinet and shoved the jelly in the fridge before she jogged out of the room. I heard the bathroom door shut and leaded against the countertop. These two deserved so much better than stale bread and generic peanut butter. If I could get my hands on that fucker who walked out on them, I’d rip his throat out.
“Mommy makes good ham sandwiches.” Maddie smiled at me over her bowl of chocolate cereal. “She gives me mustard.”
“You like mustard, huh?”
“Uh-huh.” She took the last bite of her cereal and climbed down from her chair. Carrying the bowl still half full of milk to the sink, she dumped it out and put the plastic bowl on the counter. “Rafe. Are you sleeping over again tonight?”
“You bet, baby girl. Is that okay with you?” I gave her a serious look and tucked my hands into my front pockets. Her hair bounced when she nodded and her chocolate mouth spread wide as she smiled.
“You make mommy smile. She doesn’t do that a lot.” She ran over to me and wrapped her little hands around my waist, hugging me tight. Not knowing exactly what to do, I patted her head.
“She should do it more. She’s pretty when she smiles,” I said down to her.
Still holding onto me, she craned her neck back to look up at me. “Am I pretty too?” She gave me a wide smile and I had to laugh. I reached down and plucked her from the ground, tossing her in the air before catching her.
“You are the prettiest little girl in the world, baby girl. And don’t you let anyone tell you different. You got me?” I pushed her hair out of her eyes. Such wide green eyes just like her mother.
“Got you, Rafe.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed. “Your lip is fat.” She pressed on it, reminding me that I had split it open the night before. “And you’re purple.” She pressed on my jaw where a bruise had already begun to form.
“Just a few owies. I’m fine,” I assured her.
When I put her back on the ground I noticed Beth standing in the living room watching us. A concerned look on her face. As soon as Madison saw her and ran over to her, she smiled brightly and picked up the little girl. “Let’s finish getting your shoes on, we have to get going.” She disappeared with her into her room, leaving me to stand there staring after them.
Never in my mind had I thought about having a family of my own. I figured maybe one day I’d hook up with a woman and make her my old lady, but even that didn’t really appeal to me. But then Beth and that little girl of hers walked into my life and turned everything upside down. I couldn’t stand the idea of Beth sweating over a pile of bills she couldn’t pay, or Madison having to grow up as the poor kid in class.
“Hey.” Beth walked back into the kitchen, alone. “She’s getting attached to you.” She walked around me, gathering up the sparse pieces of her lunch and pilling them into a paper lunch bag.
I took her arm and turned her to face me, cupping her face with both of my hands. “I meant what I said, Beth. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I can’t be your old lady.” The way she said the term made me want to laugh. It sounded so foreign coming from her lips.
“I don’t want you to be. I want you to be my girl. For now, let’s just say that. You’re mine, and I’m yours.”
“Maddie doesn’t remember Jeremy walking out on us, but she will remember you disappearing. What happens if you get killed? Your club isn’t exactly a charitable organization, you know.”
“Nothing will happen to you. I won’t let it. You and Madison, you’re under my protection now. You’ll have the club’s protection as well.” I pulled her into my arms and lifted her chin with my finger.
“Last night. You came home all banged up. You got into a fight, right? Trying to find out who killed your friend? How can you protect us when you’re out looking for a killer?” She yanked her face out of my hands and took a step back. “I’m late. Lock the door when you leave, okay?”
She called for Madison, who came running out of her room with a small pink princess backpack bouncing behind her. “Bye, Rafe!” She waved at me and reached out for Beth’s hand.
With her purse slung over her shoulder and brown lunch in hand, she walked out of the house. I watched them through the front windows while she buckled Madison into the backseat and then slid into the front of the car. She paused a moment by my bike, looking it over as though it were going to bite her or something.
I heard the choke start of the car and shook my head. After I found out what I could about Tristan’s death, I was going get a car from the compound and bring it over for her. That death trap she called a car was going to the dump.
***
Gray sat at the head of the table when I walked into the meeting room. Solemn faces greeted me when I pulled into the courtyard. JC had texted me about Tristan on my way over. News was out. Another of our club murdered.
When Gray noticed me, he jumped up to greet me. A sincere handshake and a slap to my back. “I know you heard already, brother. I know you and Tristan were close.”
“Jason patched him in, wanted him to sit at the table one day.” I nodded. Tristan had been closer to Jason. He reminded Jason of my little brother, without all the smarts he told me. Tristan had started getting caught up in drugs and trying to find a place among a few crews in town when Jason plucked his drunk ass out of the gutter and threw a prospect kutte on his back. He said the boy needed focus and the club would give him that, just like it did for us.
“We’ll find the fucker who did this,” he promised me, and if I hadn’t known him for the arrogant prick that he was, I might have believed him.
“Yeah. We will.”
“I heard you made a stop at Dunkin’s Divebar last night. Had a chat with Damien.” He released my hand and motioned for me to take a seat at the table beside him. The chatter in the room died down, but no one interrupted us.
“Yeah. Was looking for my girl, he was there.”
“That chick from the bar? Things getting serious?” His tone remained casual, like he was just making small talk, but his looked at me with more intent than before. He was digging.
“Serious enough.” I nodded. “Thought I saw her car, but I was wrong.”
“It would be easy if the Hell’s Spawn had a hand in Jason’s murder, and don’t think I’m not looking at that angle. I am, but we can’t start a fucking war until we know for sure.”
“What about Tristan? You don’t think those two have a connection, Tristan and him? Jason was priming him; you don’t think that maybe that had something to do with is death?” I clenched my teeth, trying to keep my anger in. I wanted to explode. Grab the fucker by the jacket and toss his ass against the wall. He knew something and he didn’t want me knowing it.
“Stay away from Hell’s Spawn until we have proof.” The warning
rang clear in his voice. My jaw tightened.
“What’s being done for Tristan? He didn’t have any family.”
“The girls are handling the arrangements. Club is gonna foot the bill. The viewing will be tomorrow night, funeral the day after. Club’s gonna have a picnic this weekend. You should bring your new girl with.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“Club’s got some healing to do, but we’ll get through it.” He nodded and slapped my shoulder. “I know you wanted this seat, and I have to say you’re taking it better than I thought you would. I know I can count on you to help rebuild our strength.”
I looked around the room, at the eyes watching us and the hopeful expressions on the younger members. They just wanted their club put back together. It angered me to know that I was alone in my search for Jason’s killer, but I understood those men. Without the club, most of them would be lost, straggling around for work, getting arrested. With the club they had a focus, they had a family. I wouldn’t take that from them. But damned if I would let Gray keep his fucking seat once I found out what happened to Jason.