by Sam Crescent
The force sent her to the ground.
She cupped her cheek, glaring up at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Forge is a fighter. He can’t have women making him weak, and you make him so fucking weak, he’s nothing more than a laughing stock. He needs to fight or he’s done for. You … you’re a weakness. I need you gone.”
“Forge loves me.”
“I know and that’s the problem. You see, when you weren’t in his life, he was more than happy to fight over turf. The club’s expanding. He could lead the entire fucking club, have chapters in every state, on every fucking continent, but you… No, now he’s focused on breeding you like a little whore. You and your virgin pussy. Well, now I’ve got to wonder if it’s really all worth it.”
She watched him start to lower his zipper and she’d seen enough.
Rolling onto her knees, she started to crawl away.
Hound chuckled. “Go on, beautiful, show me that sweet ass. You know, maybe I won’t fuck your pussy. I wonder if he’s taken your ass. He likes to fuck them, you know. He likes to make them burn. I’ll break you in for him.”
You’ve got to get away.
Fight, for Forge.
She cried out as his body pressed against her ass. His hands cupped her hips, tugging at her jeans. She’d worn a belt and had tightened it up. Those suckers weren’t coming down unless he tore them off her or opened the belt, and she wasn’t going to give him that chance. She struggled out of his hold and tried to get free, kicking back.
He grabbed her hair, tugging her back so she had no choice but to lift up. The pain in her head exploded as he hit her.
She was so going to cut her hair off if she survived all of this. She was tired of having her hair pulled.
He worked the button on her jeans open and dropped her to the ground. He still needed to fight to get them off.
Reaching across the ground, she found what she was looking for, a stone. She was done being a woman who just took what men decided she should take. This man had betrayed Forge and even if she didn’t completely like her man right now, he was still hers.
She still loved him.
Holding the rock tightly, she looked behind her. Hound was too busy concentrating on her jeans, trying to pull them down. She hit him hard over the head with the rock. She’d taken him completely by surprise, so there was no way for him to defend himself against the attack.
Dropping the stone, she scrambled out of his hold and ran back toward the clubhouse’s main entrance, only this time, she went into the main room and came to a stop.
She didn’t know how it was possible, but Forge and several of his men were standing there. Dog had Sable up in his arms.
Panting for breath, her vision a little blurry from being hit, she rushed toward him. Even if she didn’t want to forgive him easily, he was still hers, and she needed him to keep her safe.
Hound, not seeing the danger, walked right into the clubhouse. Men were behind him, sealing the door, locking him into his fate. She didn’t look at him, holding on to Forge as he looked at his man, his enforcer.
Hound deserved whatever happened, and she hoped he’d suffer.
****
“How is she?” Forge asked, looking toward Dog who’d come down to join him in the basement. Hound was chained to the ceiling. The cuffs keeping him bound tight, no sense of a reprieve. He had yet to touch him. If he laid a finger on him right now, he wouldn’t live long enough to suffer and Forge wanted him to suffer.
“The doc doesn’t know. He’s removed the bullet and repaired the damage but there was a lot of blood loss. She was in and out of consciousness.” Dog shook his head. “What the fuck did she do to you?” He glared at Hound.
“She got in my way, you know that. You know no bitch is supposed to live if they stop your mission.”
Forge didn’t stop Dog as he repeatedly slammed his fists into the man’s guts. He trusted Dog to not hurt him too much. After five minutes, Dog stepped back as Hound spat blood onto the floor.
“Feeling better?” Hound asked. “I don’t know why you care so much. She’s spread her legs for most of the guys in the club. You’re nothing special.”
Forge tensed up as Dog grabbed a knife from the display of torture weapons and placed it against Hound’s stomach.
Silence filled the air.
Tension so tight.
He waited. If Dog disobeyed him, he’d have to be dealt with.
Dog laughed. “I like that you think you can get me to end your sorry existence. Not going to happen. I’m better than you. I thought you were a brother, but you fucked this club over.”
“Everything I did, I did for the club. You’re all fucked in the head, letting some girl get the better of you. Women make you weak. They’re good for two things, fucking and beating. That’s it.”
Forge couldn’t believe he’d never seen the true animal inside his enforcer. It made him sick to his stomach.
“You disgust me.” Dog spat at him and stepped back. “I would never take away the honor of destroying him.” He put the blade down. “Make him hurt, Prez. Make him scream.”
Dog didn’t stick around. He left the basement and Forge turned toward Hound. “So, you believe Beth makes me weak.”
“Look at the way you go chasing after her like a little puppy dog. It’s pathetic. You’re the president of this club. You shouldn’t run for anyone. It’s madness to even believe it.”
“I love her.”
“I know, which is why she had to go. She makes you weak and one day, you’ll see that all I was trying to do was make you strong.”
“You think this is strong?” he asked. “You’re chained up, Hound. You’re not getting out of here alive.”
“They know about her, Forge. They know she’s your weakness. She’ll never be safe.”
“I’ll handle it like I’ve handled everything else over the years.” He walked toward the display of weapons. He loved to torture, to hurt, to draw out every single little fucking detail of information he needed in the most excruciating way possible. He’d done it so many times, sometimes prolonging a person’s life just for fun. He enjoyed it.
Now, he wasn’t happy. He was pissed off. Hound was one of his men. Someone he was supposed to trust, but instead, he’d betrayed him.
Even though Beth was alive and she’d come to him, he knew she was still hurt by what he’d done. He didn’t blame her. He’d hurt her, threatened her, scared her, all in the hope of getting the truth out of her, and it had worked. Only now he felt like a monster because all along it had been one of his men.
Hound. One of his most trusted men, and that pissed him off.
Picking up the knife, he turned to Hound and without waiting, he thrust the blade in deep.
Hound’s screams filled the air.
He wasn’t done. After pulling the knife out, he thrust it into the second leg, twisting it. He made sure he was nowhere near any major artery. The last thing he wanted to do was to end this quickly. Beth had told him what Hound had tried to do. She was only for him. He didn’t share.
For the next few hours, he didn’t really know what the time was or how it had passed. Hound hung lifeless from the ceiling. Some of his flesh cut was away, burned. The blood soaked through his clothing and onto the floor.
Leaving the basement, he arranged for the cleaners to come and take care of the body. He wasn’t even sure when he’d died. Forge had gone into another state, that fucked-up state where all logic vanished away. Moving to the bar, he didn’t touch a single thing. His hands were covered in blood as were his chest and face. None of the brothers said anything as he threw back a shot of whiskey.
“Tomorrow we’ll go pay our enemies a visit. I want to burn their place to the ground and let everyone know that if they come trying to fuck with my woman, they’re going to end up dead and burned.”
The cleaners arrived soon after and helped him remove all trace of Hound’s blood and matter from him, and then he mad
e his way upstairs to his bedroom. There was no sign of Beth, but then he wasn’t expecting it. Sable was being treated within the clubhouse. Once he took a shower to completely wipe off all traces of what he’d just done, he found her in one of the spare bedrooms. The doc always tried to keep their care and medical procedures within the clubhouse so they didn’t have to go to a hospital.
The last thing they wanted was for cops to start investigating their business.
Beth sat in a chair beside Sable. The club whore was out cold. One of the machines beeped, letting them know she was alive.
He closed the door behind him. Beth whirled around and looked at him. He saw the bruises on her face from Hound. His hands clenched into fists. He wanted to kill him all over again.
Beth didn’t say anything as she turned back to Sable, giving the woman her full attention.
“I didn’t know you and Sable were such good friends.”
“We’re not. Tonight is the first time she’s ever spoken to me. It’s probably stupid, but I’d like to keep the woman who was nice to me alive. She’s the only one who has been around here.”
Her words stung. “I know I fucked up, Beth, but that’s a little unfair.”
“I meant of the women. Most of them can’t stand me. I know we’ve had our differences and we’ve had a few issues.” She shrugged. “You dealt with Hound?”
“Yes. He won’t be bothering you again, or ever.”
“Good.”
“That doesn’t bother you?” he asked, pulling a chair up beside her.
“I don’t know. He hurt me and he was going to kill Sable. The gun was trained on her head and I couldn’t let him kill her. She hadn’t done anything wrong.” She sniffled. He reached out to take her hand but she pulled away.
He was going to get tired of her coldness real fucking fast. Beth was his woman. She belonged to him. He’d fucked up, but there was only so much shit he was going to put up with.
“Will other people keep trying to hurt us? Ruin us?”
“Yes. I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you, baby. Men will try to take you from me. I can’t stop them.”
“They’re assholes.” She sniffed. “Then if that’s the case, I want you to teach me how to fight.”
“What?” he asked.
“I want to be able to protect myself and the only way to do that is to fight. I don’t want to be someone who’s too weak to handle what’s thrown at her. I hated hurting Hound today, but I hated being helpless even more. I watched as he shot Sable and all I wanted to do was protect her. I want you to help me do that.”
“There will always be someone from the club here—”
“No! Hound was someone from the club. I was supposed to trust him and the club, remember? I’m not going to put my life on the line like that or anyone else’s. No one deserves to suffer.” The fire burning in her eyes turned him on.
“You want to fight and you want to learn. I’ll teach you but you have to do something for me.”
“What is it? What do you want?”
He loved this woman so damn much. She didn’t see her own value and to him, that made her even more precious. She was someone he needed to protect, to love. “You’ve got to forgive me. Not just with words but actually fucking mean it. I know I messed up. I know you probably hate me a little bit.”
“You’re seriously using blackmail to get me to stop being angry?”
“You want to learn, forgive me. In time, I’ll earn it back, but I don’t want you pulling away from me anymore. You belong to me.”
“I know, I’m just another of your many possessions.”
“No. You’re more than that and I’m an asshole for saying the shit I did.” He moved off the chair and knelt at her feet. “I love you, Beth Peterson. You are my entire fucking world. I love you more than anything and I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I’m so sorry for what I did. Please, forgive me.”
“You hurt me,” she whispered.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I’m not talking about you holding me around the throat but for even having to do it. For even thinking it.”
“I didn’t think it.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not. I was doing what I needed to for the club. They have a need to make sure I’m always on the top of my game.”
“Then you tell the club that from now on they’re not to look at me sideways because I have their Prez’s back and they should look to themselves. I will never betray you, Forge, ever.”
“Does this mean I’m forgiven?”
“Yes, but you have to start teaching me properly and straightaway. I don’t want to wait around for another attack.”
He cupped her face and kissed her hard. Even if she said the words, he knew it was going to take him some time to completely win her over.
Chapter Twelve
Beth twirled the ring on her finger in slow circles. The ring Forge made from scratch with his own hands. It was more valuable than the biggest diamond, in her opinion. She could imagine him in the forge, working away at the tiny piece of metal with her in his thoughts. No one had cared about her like Forge.
Life around the clubhouse the past few weeks had been tense. Everyone seemed to keep their distance or avoid eye contact with her. She knew Forge must have threatened them all, warning them to play nice or else. But she wanted to fit in, to belong to the club without everyone being forced to accept her.
She sighed. There was nothing she could do about it now. Forge was waiting for her out back. He’d been giving her lessons, teaching her how to clean and disassemble every type of firearm, over and over again. By now, she could do it all in her sleep. What she needed were actual lessons, which he promised her today.
After Hound’s death, the club went to visit their rivals. From all the whispers, Forge had made it crystal clear they were to keep away from her. She didn’t ask for details because she knew what he was capable of. All the threats in the world didn’t mean they were safe forever, which was why she had to be ready for anything.
Her hair was still slightly damp from her shower as she walked around back to the forge. She pushed open the wooden door with the whiny old hinges leading to Forge’s private domain. He was leaning against a support pillar, his arms crossed.
“You’re late.”
“I took a quick shower. Sorry.” She smiled teasingly as she approached him, running her hands over those big biceps. He looked good enough to eat. Ever since the ordeal with Hound, he’d kept his hands to himself. He was trying to prove she meant more to him than sex. She appreciated the gesture and truly believed he was sorry about everything. But after three weeks, all she wanted was Forge between her legs.
The irritation on his face faded away and he stepped away to grab one of the handguns laid out on the wooden table. “We’ll start with something basic.” He handed her the gun. “Remember what I said?”
He’d drilled her in safety until her ears were ringing. “Keep my finger off the trigger until I’m ready to kill.” He’d told her than one line about a million times by now.
“Right. Come on.”
She followed him farther down the back where he had a makeshift range and targets set up. He set her in place then moved behind her, his hands on her hips. She took a deep, cleansing breath to try to ignore how much his touch affected her.
“You never told me your real name,” she said.
“Pay attention.”
“No, really. Tell me,” she said. “Please.”
There was a long moment of silence before he answered her. “Pierce.”
She snickered but stopped herself just as quickly. He whirled her around to face him. “What?”
“Nothing. Sorry.”
“You don’t like my name?”
“I love your name. It’s just not what I expected from such a big, bad biker.” Her entire body thrummed as his heated stare warmed her from the inside out. He didn’t scare her a bit. In fact, he’d been going above and b
eyond the past few weeks.
“And what did you expect?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I like Forge. It suits you.”
He twirled her back around, all business. The gun still in her hand. “Arms out and focus.” He abruptly changed the topic back to shooting.
When she pulled the trigger for the first time, she squealed.
“Again,” he said.
She caught her breath and aimed again. Her aim was way off and her nerves were on edge. Guns were definitely not her thing, but she needed to be experienced just in case.
After going through countless clips, she stepped away, her shoulders feeling heavy. “I’m done.”
“You said you wanted to learn. You only learn through practice and repetition,” said Forge. He sat on a stool and began filling the empty magazines with new rounds he had in a bucket on the table.
“I wish I could leave all this killing stuff in your hands.”
He scowled. “You can. I told you I wouldn’t leave you unprotected. That bullshit with Hound, it won’t happen again.”
“How can you know? You had faith in Hound.”
“I was getting bad vibes from him at the end. He pissed me off. I should have trusted my gut.”
She bit her lower lip and sauntered over to him. Beth placed a hand on his knee. “What does your intuition tell you about me?”
“I don’t know what you’re getting at, baby. Am I supposed to read your mind?”
“Maybe.”
There were so many things she needed to say but wanted to wait until he made the first move. Things were changing around the club. He was ruling with an iron fist, and he’d become closer with his VP. They were yet to vote in a new Sergeant-at-Arms, but Forge had made it clear to the club that she was his old lady. It was supposed to be a great honor. All she knew was it felt perfect belonging to Forge.
“If you want to say something, say it. Don’t play games.”
“There’re a few things on my mind,” she said. “First of all, I’m not sure how I should feel about being your old lady.”
He set the magazine down and sat straighter on the stool. “You still don’t forgive me? Fuck, it’s been over three weeks.”