by S. Nelson
“Such a fuckin’ tease.” I barely had time to say anything before I was flat on my back, the mattress rising to mold around me. He tore at the flimsy belt and pushed open my robe, my nakedness exposed for him to feast on, the heat in his eyes all but searing through my skin. “Did I ever tell you how much I love your body?” His question was rhetorical because he’d told me countless times. Squeezing my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, he tugged, the slight wave of pain so delicious I wanted him to tweak the other. Which he did, right after wrapping his lips around the first, pulling the erect bud with his teeth this time. While his mouth and fingers worked together to make me squirm, his other hand drifted over my side, then to my belly, lower still until he parted my folds. “I could slide right in, you’re so wet.”
“I don’t think you could ever just slide right in,” I responded, catching the breath in my throat when I arched my back. He pressed the pad of his thumb against my clit, drawing slow and lazy circles as he inserted two fingers inside me.
“My fingers slide right in.” He hovered over me as he gazed into my eyes, the flecks of brown around his green irises making the color look almost blue.
“Your dick is much bigger. Which is good news for me.” I started to laugh but his lips brushed against mine before he took my mouth. There was nothing sweet in his kiss, his force adamant, punishing.
“You love my dick, don’t you?” he asked, withdrawing his mouth from mine and his fingers from my body, moving back until he was no longer on top of me but standing at the foot of the queen-sized bed. The way he looked at me made me hungry for him, but I knew better than to try and convince him to hurry up and fuck me. It was because he saw how much I desired him that he held back, teasing me to the point of frustration. “Spread your legs. Wider.” He readjusted his excitement, groaning when I complied. “All I wanna do is taste you.”
“Then do it.” I parted my thighs wider, and he hissed. He discarded his clothes and stroked himself, the heat of his stare making me wetter.
“Only if you let me go bare.” His hand stilled. “I’ve always worn a condom, and I already told you I haven’t been with anyone else since you. Plus, you told me you’re on the pill.”
Ace and I had this discussion before, numerous times in fact. Part of me wanted to believe him, but the untrusting part of me roared to life, shredding any trust I held in the words he spoke.
“I don’t believe you.”
His hand dropped to his side, his excited expression falling. Gone was any trace of desire, replaced with disbelief. I felt bad for saying those four words, but they were the truth. Well, like I said… partly.
“Why?”
“Why what?” I closed my legs and attempted to move back toward the top of the bed, but his hands wrapped around my ankles, holding me in place. “What are you doin’?”
“Answer me.”
If my irritation hadn’t just been stoked, I could’ve fully appreciated the fine specimen in front of me. Cut and well defined everywhere, his body was a work of art. Swollen muscles and a deep-ridged V made my mouth water. His ass was something to write home about. His physique aside, Ace was extremely handsome. But going a step further, he was sexy. Not many men pulled off sexy, but he did in spades. He exuded a cocky confidence that would be construed as arrogant on most others.
“Why don’t you believe me? I’ve never lied to you.”
“So you say.” I struggled against the grip he had on my legs but failed. “Let go.”
“Not until you say you believe me.” He moved closer to the bed, anticipating my retreat.
“I’d be lying if I told you that.” The constriction of my thigh muscle had him clamping down harder on my ankle. While he didn’t hurt me, I wasn’t goin’ anywhere until he released me.
“I’ve never done anything to make you mistrust me. You’re the one who doesn’t want to commit to me, not the other way around.”
“I asked if you wanted something more, but you turned me down. Remember that? Don’t turn this around on me,” I shouted, lowering my voice when I realized how loud I’d been. I wanted to add I’d asked him that during a moment of weakness but thought better of it.
“We’d only been foolin’ around for a month. I didn’t know where this was goin’, so I didn’t want to commit then.”
“Oh, and you do now?” I crossed my arms over my chest, shielding at least that part of my body from him. I could feel the warmth of anger wafting through me and if he didn’t let go of me soon, I’d start screaming. I’d apologize to Riley afterward for waking her up.
“You know I do. It’s been seven months since then, and I’ve asked you at least five times to be with me, but you always give me some bullshit excuse as to why you don’t wanna.”
“They’re not bullshit. You know I have trust issues.”
“Yeah, because of your father. Not anything I’ve done. You should trust me.”
“That’s not how that works,” I retorted. “Now let go of me.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I think you heard me just fine. I’m done tryin’ to figure you out. You’re back and forth. Hot and cold. I never know which Chelsea I’m gonna be dealin’ with on a day-to-day basis. This shit is exhausting.” His grip on me loosened but not enough I could pull back.
“What are you sayin’?”
“I’m sayin’…” He licked his lips before pulling the bottom one into his mouth with his teeth, popping it free only to do it again. The column of his throat constricted as he swallowed, his eyes resting on mine the entire time he was silent. “Either you agree to be mine or we end this right now. No more calls. No more texts. No more sex. No more anything. We’d be done. Over for good.” What he didn’t say, but was implied, was that we’d be free to fuck whoever we wanted, and while he pissed me off right now, I couldn’t stand to picture him with someone else.
“All this because I want you to wear a condom?”
“I’ll wear a condom. It’s not about the fuckin’ condom.”
“Sounds like it is,” I huffed.
“Christ, woman! You’re exhausting. You know that?” He finally released me, moving toward his discarded clothes. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him get dressed so quickly before. Undressed, sure, but not putting his clothes back on. “I’m givin’ you twenty-four hours to make a decision.”
“You’re gonna show back up here at”—I looked over at the alarm clock—“three forty-eight tomorrow morning?” Avoidance had become my defense mechanism, and while it’d worked in the past, it wasn’t effective right now. All he did was give me a slight scowl before disappearing from my room.
Thirty seconds later, I heard the front door shut, then a moment after that the roar of his bike, a noise I hadn’t heard when he initially showed up here.
Then again, I’d been lost in sleep, a place I hoped stole me again and soon because I didn’t want to think about my answer to his ultimatum.
I had no idea what my decision was gonna be.
7
“You gonna stand there all day and pout or are you gonna tell me what’s wrong?” Kaden asked, leaning over the engine of a blue 1965 Ford Mustang. If I wasn’t in such a foul mood, I would’ve drooled over the classic vehicle.
“I’m not pouting,” I fired back, crossing my arms over my chest, and leaning against the edge of the wall in the garage. “I’m not allowed to be in a bad mood?”
“Sure. If it’s because of the tension in the club between me and Stone. Or if it’s because of having to deal with the Reapers again after all these years because Linc took Maddie. Or if it’s because of the debacle with Tag. But not if it’s because of Chelsea.”
Kaden looked back at me when he said her name, cocking his arrogant eyebrow at me, as if he just challenged me.
“Fuck you,” I spat, turning on my heel to leave.
“Maybe if she was fuckin’ you, you’d be in a better mood,” he shouted after me, but I didn’t say anything back. Strollin
g across the clubhouse lot, the sun beating down on the top of my head, I started to lose myself to thoughts of what happened not seven hours ago, but the sight of Addy stepping out of her car with her black bag in hand was all the distraction I needed. There was only one reason she was here right now and that was to check on Tag. I wondered if she knew what happened to him, or was she walking in there blind? Did Sully fill her in? Or had Stone? If I had to guess, I’d say if she knew anything at all, it was because of her friend, seeing as how she and her husband were still arguing over his pigheadedness concerning Kaden and Riley.
“Hi, Addy,” I greeted.
“Hey, Ace. How are you?”
I gave her a quick grin. “I’m fine. What brings you here?” I knew the answer but was curious as to what her response would be.
“I heard my services were needed. Again.” A slight breeze kicked up, blowing a strand of her blonde hair into her face. After pushing it back, she flashed me a tight grin. “Do you know which room he’s in?” I wasn’t gonna play dumb, acting like I didn’t know who she referred to.
“The one next to Maddie.”
With a heavy sigh, she nodded and continued across the parking lot, but she didn’t get far. Stone appeared from around the corner of the building, rushing up to his wife once he saw her.
“You just get here?” he asked, reaching out to touch her arm. She moved back before he made contact, and while I wanted to give them their privacy, I couldn’t help but stand frozen in place, watching their interaction, curious as to what would happen. Chelsea often called me moody, but I was fuckin’ jovial compared to Stone, especially lately. He was a stubborn pain in the ass and Addy didn’t take his shit, which was exactly why he’d been sleeping here at the club.
“I have to check on Tag.” Addy had met Tag once at her house when we all went swimming, unlike Sully whose first introduction to the guy was last night.
“Are you ever gonna talk to me about coming home?” Stone ignored her comment, wanting an answer instead. I was far enough away that it didn’t look like I was blatantly eavesdropping, but I was close enough I could hear every word of their conversation.
“I told you what you need to do.”
“I can’t just accept them being together.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that.” He rose to his full height, running his hand down the side of his bearded jaw before stepping closer, towering over her. If I had to guess, he tried to intimidate her to give in, but even I knew his tactic wouldn’t work. Not with his wife. While most of us kept our distance from the club’s VP when he was in a shitty mood, Addy went toe to toe with him.
“You don’t have to accept Riley and Kaden being together right now. What you have to do is stop acting like an ass every time you see them together. Stop threatening Kaden and stop shutting your daughter out. It’s either that, or you can move some of your things here because this is where you’ll be living for the foreseeable future. I’m not budging on this. We both know who will win if tested, Lincoln.” I’d only heard Addy call Stone by his real name a few times, and all of them had been while she was angry.
“You’re impossible, woman, and you’re being unreasonable. That’s my house, too. You can’t keep me out.”
“Then smarten up.” Addy moved to walk away, but he reached for her arm, his fingers circling her wrist before lowering to grasp her hand. He leaned in and whispered something in her ear, but if his words infuriated or shocked her, her expression didn’t change.
Watching them as intently as I was, my eyes widened when Stone turned to look at me.
“Come here.” His hold on his wife remained, and surprisingly she didn’t try and shrug him off.
My steps were slow, my hesitation evident in the measured stride toward him. Was he gonna yell at me for listening to their conversation? His brows were pinched together as he watched me approach, his nostrils flaring the longer I took.
“What’s up?” I asked, jerking my chin at him while I shoved my hands in my pockets, trying to give off the appearance of aloofness.
“You need to get over to Indulge and talk to Carla. Something happened to a few of the dancers. I don’t know all the details, but since this is your area, you need to take care of it.”
Relieved he’d chosen not to chastise me in front of his wife, my chest deflated with a heavy exhale, only for my muscles to tense up at the thought I’d be spending the majority of my day dealing with resolving an issue I didn’t know anything about, yet.
My response was a nod, but I didn’t think he even saw it because he’d turned back to Addy, and as they started to resume their conversation, Kaden walked out of the garage and headed straight for me, for us. I glanced from him to the back of Stone’s head, and if I had any doubt on whether our VP was aware of his best friend’s son, I didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Addy mumbled something to her husband, but I didn’t catch what it was before his head swiveled toward Kaden. Their eyes met and both guys puffed their chests. They reminded me of two gorillas in the wild, assessing the other right before they charged.
Instead of Stone rushing at Kaden, he clenched his jaw right before the first word left his mouth. I thought for sure he was gonna spit out either a nasty comment, or at the very least a sarcastic one, but all he talked about was business.
“Marek wants you to check on the renovations. Find out when they’re gonna be finished because Indulge needs to get back up and running fully. The fire already ate into some of our profits.” Kaden stood there motionless, his eyes bouncing from Stone to Addy to me, then back to our VP. “You gotta problem with that?” Stone leaned into the small space between them. This was the first time since he found out about Kaden and Riley’s relationship that he didn’t look like he wanted to rip Kaden’s head from his shoulders.
“Nope” was Kaden’s only response before he averted his attention onto me. “Wanna head over?” Had he heard Stone tell me I needed to make a trip to Indulge or was he just asking because he wanted to get the hell out of here?
“Ready when you are.” My response was short, simple and to the point. Before I walked away from the small group, I heard Stone say, “See? I didn’t kill him,” and her response was “It’s a start.” If I had to bet, I was sure he’d be back home by the end of the week, as long as he didn’t do anything stupid. But it was Stone we were talkin’ about. His temper was known to get the better of him more times than not.
The gravel crunched beneath our boots as we crossed the clubhouse lot and toward our bikes. The temperature was warm, the heaviness of my cut trapping in the heat of the sun as a small drop of perspiration beaded at my temple. Neither of us exchanged a word as we snapped our helmets into place, shielded our eyes with shades and kicked over our engines. Kaden preceded me out of the gate, and as soon as we hit the highway, the breeze felt like heaven against my face.
The rumble of my bike wrapped around my nerves, working to soothe the short spurt of anxiety rushing through me. Not only did I not know what issue awaited me at our destination, but the possibility Chelsea would back away from me completely because of the ultimatum I’d given her heightened my apprehension up another level.
One of my biggest issues was I overanalyzed situations. This trait worked well when trying to figure out problems with the club but did fuck all when it came to my personal life.
8
My feet weren’t even planted on the ground before Jaz came rushing out of Indulge, Raven and Skye following several steps behind. All three of them had worked here for the past year, Raven taking a few weeks off when her mom died five months ago. While being reliable employees, they were also three of the top earners, favorites of the regular customers. The names they went by weren’t their real ones, but there were so many dancers between Indulge and Flings I couldn’t remember anyone’s given name to save my life.
Correction, there was one dancer I’d slept with over a year ago who went by Tawny but whose real name was Brenda. She had naturally jet-black hair
but always wore some sort of blonde wig. Her body was insane, big, natural tits, small waist, and a plump ass, but even thinking about her now did nothing for me. The only woman I wanted to be with could possibly be the same one who’d break my heart if she chose to end things between us. Maybe you shouldn’t have given her an ultimatum.
“Thank God you’re here,” Jaz rushed to say, grimacing when she flicked her curly red hair over her shoulder. She was attractive, thin, and had huge fake tits, and although she often flirted with me, I wasn’t goin’ there because she’d already slept with Kaden six or seven months back. And no amount of time lapse would change my mind. Once one of my brothers hit it, I never followed, and vice versa. There was plenty of pussy to go around for us not to fuck the same chick.
“What’s goin’ on?” Kaden asked before I could, leaning his bike on his kickstand, then dismounting, removing his helmet and placing it on his seat.
“Some Reapers paid us a visit,” Raven blurted, her lower lip trembling. “There were three of ’em, and even though we told them we didn’t know anything, they still….”
“They still what?” I approached with caution because she was visibly upset over whatever had happened. “When was this?” I had no idea what took place, but figured if I narrowed down the timeframe, I could deduce why they’d approached some of our dancers.
“Last night,” Skye answered, looking more angry than scared. “We were downtown at that new club that just opened.”
“Chaos,” Jaz added, folding her arms over her barely clad chest, her zip-up hoodie wide open and hiding nothing.
“Yeah, Chaos,” Skye repeated. “Anyway, these three fuckers show up, and we knew who they were because I’d seen one of ’em before. Plus they were wearin’ their cuts. They caught us comin’ out of the ladies’ room and dragged us outside and around the building, demanding to know where their prospect was. We had no idea who he was talkin’ about, even after he showed us a picture.” Skye stopped speaking and took a deep breath, her anger twisting to include a flash of fear. She was tall for a chick, just a few inches shorter than my six-foot-one frame, but right then she looked tiny, fragile even.