by Snow, Nicole
His eyes narrowed as I approached. “Where's Asphalt?”
“I...don't know,” I said, my heart leaping into my chest. “I was kinda coming out here to find out the same thing.”
“Shit.” One word, and he took off down the hallway, grabbing my hand. “Come with me. I've got a feeling I know where we'll find him.”
I followed him to the heavy metal door to the room I'd seen them bring Zee into. The club President pulled a keychain from his pocket and tapped his way through about a dozen separate keys before he found the right one, shoving it into the lock.
The door opened, and we stepped inside, only to hear the words that nearly killed me.
“...too late...asshole. I left her with things she'll never forget...never. Your little bitch will remember choking on my dick for the rest of her life. She'll remember her daddy watched, but I wish it had been you.”
The world dropped out underneath me. I had to catch myself by the knees as I doubled over, and sprang back up, watching as Blackjack's face soured with rage.
The door clicked shut. Asphalt spun around, saw us.
His expression ruined me. We locked eyes, just for a second. I wanted to run to him, hold him, apologize for everything and tell him that the only thing that mattered what was lay ahead, not behind us.
It shouldn't have mattered that the wretched animal tied to the chair used me. But, God help us, it did, and my heart splintered in two when I remembered his foul taste, the way daddy flopped against the pillar, covering his eyes with his severed wrist so he wouldn't have to watch.
I'm sorry, baby, I said with my eyes. Jesus Christ, I'm SO fucking sorry.
I couldn't apologize fast enough. I couldn't even move my lips.
Asphalt turned away from me, dropped his knife. The clatter it made on the floor sounded like an asteroid hitting the earth.
Zee looked past him, smiling the same dirty smirk I'd seen before he unbuckled his pants. “You prick. Stupid fuck. Thought you'd just kill me and get a neat, happy ending, didn't you?”
Those were his last words. Everything happened so fast, but it felt like a thousand years as I watched Blackjack step up, grab the knife off the floor, and pull Asphalt up with it.
“Do it, son,” he growled, pushing the switchblade's handle into my man's palm. “Drain every fucking drop of blood from this dog's veins.”
A new stone cold calm came over Asphalt like I'd never seen before. I huddled against the wall and watched as he moved behind the laughing mobster, grabbing his face by the chin and holding it up.
Zee's laughter stopped as soon as the blade sank below his ear. He screamed bloody murder, and after the first twenty seconds, I had to cover my ears.
Blackjack turned, nodded at me, and retreated to the other corner. It seemed like the murder went on forever, an act of savagery that froze my veins.
The bastard deserved it. Every rip, every wound, every spritz of blood pouring out the fissures Asphalt tore into his flesh.
Every last bit of blinding pain.
My heart swelled with pride when I finally dared glance at them. The evil mobster's face was half-peeled away from his skull, and he was still alive, twitching in an agony that wouldn't let him do anything else.
When I uncovered my ear, he wasn't screaming any more. Soft, terrified words in Mandarin hissed through his blood and curdled the air. I took my hands off my ears and listened.
No. No. No!
Don't do this. Don't, don't, don't –
For the love of fucking God!
I was the only one in the room who could truly understand what he was saying, but the other men got the message. They didn't need an education to understand stark raving terror.
Asphalt's face turned into a mask of grim satisfaction as he stripped the remaining meat from his bones and finished peeling his face off.
Zee rasped, then let out another vicious scream. I looked at him and we locked eyes.
“Die, you piece of shit,” I whispered. “We won't even think about you after this. There's no reason to. You have no power over me, none over us.”
Snarling, Asphalt stopped, turned, and looked at me. “Get up here, babe. This shit belongs to both of us.”
My heart beat wild as I slowly approached, shifting my eyes away from the demon to the love of my life. Before I knew what was happening, he pushed the blade's handle into my palm, and tightened his fingers over mine as we formed a double fist.
“We kill this motherfucker together. Put his ass down forever after all he's done to us, everything he did to your old man...”
Totally insane. But I nodded, without a shred of hesitation.
We'd been wed once at the altar. Once more in bed, giving him my body, mixing flesh and passion in sweet vows we'd renew for the rest of our days. This was our third wedding, a marriage in blood, one that would wipe away all the curses we'd suffered for good.
I stared into the wild emotion tightening Asphalt's handsome face. “We'll do it on my mark, on three,” he whispered.
“One,” he began counting, and I moved my lips with him.
For a second, I understood the killer instinct in every outlaw biker's heart.
“Two,” we whispered together.
Zee babbled like a madman, gurgling for a mercy we'd never never give him.
“Three!”
He pulled the blade in our hands back like a spear, and then slammed it into Zee's throat. The devil's body kicked like a mule one more time, and he died.
We dropped the knife, and I stumbled backward, amazed at what I'd just done. Even more incredible that there wasn't a shred of guilt.
I'd felt glee when we slayed the monster. Asphalt hovered over him, watching the steady trail of blood spilling out his neck.
I only got a tiny pang of disgust when Asphalt reached up, grabbed him by his bloody hair, and snapped his head back until it tilted unnaturally, nearly detached from the neck.
“Babe.” He turned to face me, and our eyes met, the pain fading in his bright green eyes.
I ran to him again. We crashed together, kissing so hard I couldn't believe we were right next to a dead man still dripping blood onto the floor. Asphalt's hands were covered in blood, and they caressed me, but I didn't care.
Blackjack watched from the corner, an approving look on his face. He knew better than we did what kind of therapy we needed. Nothing except ripping the demon who'd hurt us to pieces would do.
This was an exorcism. Freedom in the making.
Asphalt took my mouth with the same hunger as before, maybe more. He kissed me like we'd been apart for years, jamming his tongue down on mine and sweeping his heat through my mouth. My nipples hardened, and all the trauma I'd feared would linger from the last twenty-four hours faded.
It wouldn't disappear overnight. Oh, no.
There'd be nightmares, bad memories, and bleak doubts aplenty. But with the dead man in the chair gone forever, and his men long since buried, we'd never have to be afraid again.
They couldn't haunt us, couldn't ruin the bright future we'd have from this day forward.
“It's done, Elle Jo. I don't give a fuck what happened before. He's dead – the only shithead responsible for your suffering. Soon as his bones are in the ground, we won't think about his evil ass ever again.”
We kissed again, twined lips and tongues until I sensed Blackjack coming up behind us.
“You're doing the right thing, kids. I'll make sure he's hauled away and put away deep. You two make sure the darkness goes with him.” The older man slapped us both on the shoulders and squeezed with a grip so strong it surprised me.
Then, without another word, he turned and left, closing the door behind him. Asphalt took my hand, and we turned to take one last look at the very last dragon I hoped he'd ever slay for me.
“He'll rot in hell longer than that pile of shit rots in the ground,” he growled.
I turned, pushing myself into him, running my hands down my man's hard chest. “Baby, don't worr
y about it. We've got bigger things to worry about now.”
His face tensed. “Yeah? Like what?”
“Finding somewhere to live in this town, for one.” I smiled, pushing my hands harder on his chest, admiring the sharp, strong cuts between each muscle clinging to his bones. “Then I'm going to remind you the man you killed will never, ever leave a billionth of the impression you've made on me. Shit, Asphalt, you own me. It's been a long road getting here, but I love it. I'm proud of it. And I'm going to wear your name all over me in the years to come.”
“Fuck!” He grinned and pulled me tight, dipping me in his arms for another lightning hot kiss.
I meant every word. I'd been his bride from the start of this insanity, when it was the last thing I'd wanted.
Now, I couldn't imagine anything else. He'd saved my life several times over, put down the ones who hurt me, and rescued my only flesh and blood, too.
This man deserved the moon. I'd give it to him time and time again.
“Damn,” I swore, breaking the kiss as I remembered something.
“What?”
“We need to find daddy. He'll need someone to drive him back to Tacoma...I guess he's staying with the club, except as an emeritus now. It's hard enough for him. He won't want to spend a second longer than he really needs to in Tacoma.”
“Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to your old man myself. Let's go.”
Smiling, with his hand in mind, we walked out the door. Blackjack waited at the end of the hall with a couple prospects and the brother named Stryker.
As soon as he saw us leaving, slamming the door behind us without one more glance at the dead mafia man, the Prez nodded to his men.
“Take this sonofabitch out to the deepest part of the swamp. He doesn't deserve an eternity with dry ground and fresh dirt after the shit he pulled.”
I closed my eyes for a second as we headed for the bar, savoring the grim finality.
The animal who'd tortured me and done so much damage to my father was gone forever. It was up to us to fill the void he'd left behind with so much kickass happiness, we'd be able to hear the Black Dragons screaming their envy in hell.
* * * *
“You need a refill. Here.” I sat down at the bar next to daddy as Asphalt walked behind it, pulled out a fresh bottle of Jack, and sloshed fresh whiskey into my father's empty glass.
He turned his head like a turtle to face my man, the slowest look in the world.
“What's the fucking point?” he growled, pushing the glass further away.
Okay, that really hurt. I tried not to think about all the emotional and physical agony ripping through him right now. But the pain rolled off him in vast, psychic waves, so black and brutal I could barely handle sitting on the stool next to my father without bursting into tears.
“Daddy, please...he's trying to help. We both are.”
He gave me a sharp look as I wrapped my arms around him. At first, he moved like he wanted to brush me off, but then he relaxed when he saw his missing hand.
He still hadn't internalized it. They'd only ripped it off him a week ago, but it might as well have been an entire lifetime, suffering with his new disability.
Undaunted, Asphalt grabbed the glass, walked out to join us on a bar stool, and set it down in front of my father on the counter.
“You're alive and breathing, Gil. You've got a future. That's more than this club can say for a lot of guys.” He paused, narrowing his eyes, taking a pull off his own beer. “I can't imagine the shit you're going through. Everything those fuckers stole, the things they did...they fucked all hard. But Elle and I are moving on. We're forgetting the past, only focusing on what's ahead. You can do the same. No matter what the fuck happened, you've got a daughter who wants you in her life, even after the shit you pulled. Tell me that counts for something.”
I held my breath. Daddy would either accept his little pep talk, or he'd smash his good hand across my lover's handsome face.
“You're an absolute bastard,” he snarled at Asphalt, finally lifting his drink to his lips and pouring it all back in one gulp. The glass clinked on the counter when he'd finished. “Too bad my little girl loves you. I don't give a shit what the Dragons did to me. I had it coming for my fuckin' sins, my mistakes. It's what they did to Elle, right in front of me, that's gonna hound me 'til the end of my fucked up life.”
“It doesn't need to,” Asphalt said. “Zee's dead. I killed the motherfucker with my own bare hands, less than an hour ago. They're dragging his carcass away right now. I'm gonna let what he did die with him. It's the only shit that makes sense, the only thing that'll keep us sane, and happy.”
He left out the part about my participation in the murder. Daddy couldn't know I'd been corrupted in blood, too.
“Ass-fuck, I don't need your advice.”
Ouch. I cringed when I heard the cruel name he'd used before, the one I'd been hearing for years on the rare occasions when he even mentioned his name in our house.
“I need you to keep her company. Keep protecting her, loving her like I can't.” Daddy looked up, and the two men locked eyes. “You saved my girl several times. I know you love her, too. That's good enough for me.”
His words took me by total surprise. Suddenly, I couldn't hold in my smile. The tears I'd been holding inside spilled down my cheeks as I threw my arms around him, thanking him with kisses on both cheeks.
His face was so rough beneath my lips. He'd have lingering reminders of the sad hell we'd experienced all over his body for years to come. But the jagged cuts were healing, little by little. They'd get a little better each day, just like the hole in my heart.
“Okay, okay.” Daddy pushed me away softly, a familiar kindness shining in his eyes. “We're never gonna be one big, happy family. But, you know, I can live with the two of you being hitched for real. If you ever come up to Tacoma once you start popping out babies, you'll always have a place to stay.”
Asphalt smiled. We both knew my father had just given him the closet thing he'd ever get to a stamp of approval.
“Deal, Gil. And you're welcome here in Redding anytime.” He held out his hand.
Daddy took Asphalt's hand and they shook for all of two seconds, a peace for the history books. Or at least the biggest truce I'd ever seen in my screwed up world.
“You gotta be fuckin' kidding. Once I'm in the truck home, riding with Line and the boys, there's no goddamned way I'm ever coming back to this god forsaken clubhouse. I'm no Prez anymore – I don't deserve it. Shit, I'm no good for ridin', shootin', and fuck knows what else with a damned stump.”
“You're still good for admitting your mistakes, knowing right from wrong,” I whispered, putting another arm over his shoulder. I twisted, pushing his stool until it spun him around, ready for a proper hug. “You'll always be my dad. I don't care what happens with the club.”
This time, daddy didn't resist. He held me tight as he could with both arms, and I held him. Before he let go, I leaned close, and whispered.
“That arm's still good for giving the warmest hugs I've known since I was just a kid. Mom always said the same thing, and she was right. God damn it, daddy, you're going to be okay. You're going to be happy. Everybody sitting next to each other at this bar is going to live the rest of their lives with smiles on their faces. That's how we beat the Dragons for real.”
When he finally turned to the bar for another drink, he had tears in his eyes, with a smile behind them in the darkness.
Asphalt stood up, took me by the wrist, and jerked me to my feet. “Let's get outta here, babe. We've got some shopping to do.”
* * * *
One Week Later
“Ass up. Hands behind your back, babe.” Asphalt grunted, pulling my wrists together behind me when I complied. “Fucking shit. I'm never gonna get tired of seeing my brand all over you.”
I smiled, enjoying the next few seconds of naked anticipation, before he mounted me from behind with a growl.
One apartment,
one move, one new tattoo later, and we were about to reap some serious rewards.
I'd gotten his name imprinted on my left ass cheek in a second brand.
PROPERTY OF ASPHALT, two lightning streaks beside it, a target for his eyes as well as his hands when he decided I deserved to be spanked.
This evening, though, his cock just slammed me raw. I pushed my fingers through his and held on, bound by his hands, his personal fuck toy for tonight, and every night after.
If servicing his body as his old lady, his wife, and his woman was my duty, then I must've been the most eager, obedient girl on the planet. We hadn't stopped fucking since the move several days ago, sharing a real bed for the first time together.
Holy shit, what a workout we gave it.
Asphalt growled a little more with every stroke, his hips crashing into mine. Sweet, familiar tension roiled me near my center. I pushed back at him a little harder each time, bucking against his cock, always desperate to draw him deeper.
We fucked like the animals we were. My vision went white after a few more bone shaking strokes, and the fist holding my wrists closed tighter. He pulled me up against him, using my arms for extra leverage, fucking me even harder.
“Sweet Jesus!” I rasped. “Fuck!”
Yeah, fuck.
I'd come to know that word like hello and goodbye. It was the only sound I could make before he tossed me over the edge, into the churning, white hot pleasure tearing through me.
I said it, panted it, screamed it. And I always lost everything except that word when I came, feeling my pussy clenching on his cock, hungry to wring every drop of come he had inside me.
“Fucking hell, you're hot tonight. So fucking tight. All fucking mine.” His tempo rose, and his cock plunged deeper, pushing me into total, blissful submission.
God, I loved this badass. I'd really fallen for his cock, too, a total junkie for the only man I'd ever have inside me, the only one who'd fuck me, please me, and knock me up when the time came.
Maybe today.
We'd both discussed it. All the drama and danger of the past few weeks meant I'd gotten dangerously sloppy with my birth control. I'd decided to go off it with his blessing, and now there was nothing between my womb and his seed, the deepest branding an outlaw biker could give his old lady.