“I’m sorry if I forced you into something you didn’t want to do,” she said, looking down at her hands self-consciously. I reached for her face, hooking a finger under her chin. When I tipped her face up toward me, her eyes were watery.
“Nobody can force me into doing anything I don’t want to do. Believe it or not, not even you,” I told her. She shook her head.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me. All I do is worry about Hazel now. When I’m here with you, I get a few hours of peace. I’m distracted…that’s all it is,” she said and blinked her tears away. I nodded my head.
“Yeah. I know what you mean. I thought I only had Grimm to worry about, but now I have Hazel, too. A kid I’ve never met,” I explained.
We stared at each other in silence for a few moments, till I stood up.
“Come on, let’s go to bed. We both need to get some sleep,” I said and extended my hand to her. Carli took it and I helped her up.
Neither of us bothered with our clothes as we made our way to the bedroom.
18
Carli
I woke up to Rogue’s breathing and a soft gasp escaped my lips. What did I do?!
I had the perfect opportunity last night to end this. Rogue wanted me to leave, to end the agreement. Yet, I was the one who undressed for him. I pushed him to the ground and rode him. I instigated it, because it was exactly what I wanted.
I turned to look at him. Rogue, this big tough guy, looked so peaceful and angelic as he slept. His stubble had gotten darker overnight. He had a strong handsome face, which I couldn’t stop admiring. Ending it last night would have been the wise thing to do. This way, I could start moving on from him and focus all my energy on Hazel.
Instead, I was lying in bed beside him, a faint smile creeping up my face.
He was tender with me last night. Once again, he had proven himself to be actually human. Was Amanda wrong about him? Wrong about Grimm and the MC? Rogue had gotten out of the life. That he left it behind and started a legitimate business. Did it mean that there was hope we could have a normal relationship?
I shouldn’t have been thinking about that. I tried not to think about it. Chances were, that despite how kind he was being to me right now, he would soon be bored of me. That was the kind of man he was, according to my sister’s warnings. I had every reason to believe her. She’d been in love with a man like Rogue. She had a baby with Grimm. I should have been taking my sister’s advice and stopped fantasizing about a relationship with Rogue.
I lost track of time. I had no idea how long I’d been staring at him sleeping. I only realized I was doing it when Rogue moved and blinked his eyes open.
“You’re still here,” he said.
My cheeks flushed. “It’s Sunday. I don’t have to go to the office,” I replied and pulled the covers up to my chin. Rogue stretched his arms out and cracked his knuckles.
“Good,” he said and sat up lazily in bed.
“But I can go if you have plans. Like if you need to do something?” I said and Rogue shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m not up this early usually, so I don’t exactly have plans,” he replied.
“Sorry if I woke you. I’m an early riser,” I mumbled. He smiled. I realized then that I very rarely saw him smile. A genuinely happy smile.
“It’s fine. I should be up by now anyway,” he answered as I sat up as well.
I was still naked under the covers and so was he. His eyes were on me now, trying to decipher the shape of my body under the sheets. I could see his muscular torso, his tattoos and the dusting of hair on his chest. Everything about him was sexy. I tried not to excite myself again.
“So…” Rogue began, and I smiled at him. I couldn’t help myself.
“No small talk, remember?” I quipped and he smiled, too.
“I guess we’ve passed that stage by now. Tell me something about Hazel so I can picture her. Does she look like you?” he asked.
I breathed in deeply and shook my head.
“She looks nothing like me. She looks more like you actually,” I said, and Rogue arched his brows.
“Are you serious?”
I nodded my head.
“She has green eyes like you and wild chestnut brown hair. I don’t know what your brother looks like, but I’m guessing they look alike,” I replied. Rogue thought for a moment as he slowly nodded his head.
“Fuck. This is insane. Yesterday, I had no family apart from Grimm, and now I have a little niece,” he said.
I smiled weakly. Talking about Hazel frightened me. I missed her. I missed her voice and her little silly jokes. I missed how we snuggled together on the couch every evening after dinner.
Rogue must have seen that look in my eyes because he pulled me into his arms again.
“I will bring her back home. I promise, Carli,” he said. I rested my cheek on his chest. I could hear his heart beating. His hand was in my hair again and he stroked my head. When I looked up at him, he leaned his face down so he could kiss me again.
This time, the kiss felt real. More real than anything I had felt before. What were we doing? What was going to happen to us? What was I going to do if things ended between us suddenly?
Rogue pushed the covers off me and his hand drove down my body, till he was tightly cupping my ass. I moaned while he kissed me, adjusting myself so I was now sitting on his lap.
His cock grew again as heat emanated from his body. In the middle of the kiss, Rogue pulled his mouth away from mine, glaring into my eyes.
“If I fuck you now, will this be our last time? We’ll be hitting number four,” he groaned through the desperate desire in his eyes. I gulped and then shook my head.
“Technically, your exact words were four nights. So, the morning shouldn’t count,” I replied.
Rogue pushed me with his body, throwing me backwards on the bed and I squealed with delight.
“I love it when you bend the rules,” he mumbled while he covered my body in kisses. Once again, I was stretched out under him and he kissed me, exploring me with his mouth. This time, I felt free enough to laugh.
Rogue caught my hips and twisted me around. My ass faced him, and my hands were on the headboard. Gripping me tightly, he pushed his cock into my pussy from behind. I wasn’t expecting him to do it so quickly. But I was wet for him already. I found myself opening up to him like a flower. I gasped and panted as he thrust himself in.
He pushed me with his body so that my breasts were now pressed up against the headboard, the bed shaking as he pounded me. In and out, his cock thrust in and then he pulled out. This wasn’t slow or gentle. He was like a wild beast and I was his prey.
His mouth was in my ear and I could feel him breathing hard. Both his arms were wound around me while he plowed into me. I moaned and called out his name while he thrust into me. He was like a machine, pushing me to the edge.
Something had overtaken him.
“You know how fucking tight you are?” he groaned. His cock was big and filling me up to the brim. The more he plowed, the closer I got to the edge. I never thought I could come so quickly, but my body was soaring.
“Fuck, Carli. You shouldn’t have teased me. You shouldn’t have made me do this. You should have left when you were supposed to,” he growled.
This time, Rogue didn’t warn me or wait for me. His cock jerked and then shot his seed into me. I released too, coming with him.
His body was pressed up to me, pinning me to the headboard. The bed rocked and squeaked while he continued pounding. I could feel myself spilling out. His cum filled me, and then he fell back, exhausted.
His cock pulled out of me just as my orgasm ended. My pussy was throbbing too. I felt sore already.
My throat was dry. I’d never experienced sex so intense before, and it still felt good. But when I turned, Rogue was lying on his back with a hand covering his face.
19
Rogue
“Rogue…” she said my name softly, but I didn’t take my h
and away from my face. I couldn’t get enough of Carli, and that was a huge problem. I was about to talk to her about how we really shouldn’t do this anymore, when my phone buzzed next to me on the nightstand.
“Yeah?” I asked quickly answering it.
“Crow reached out to us,” Cash said. I sat up straighter in bed. Carli quickly noticed that something was up.
“What did he say?”
“He gave us two days to hand over and disband the club before he started to send us back Grimm in pieces,” Cash said gravely.
Fuck.
Two days wasn’t a lot of time to find out where they were keeping them. I jumped out of bed, threw on boxers, and started pacing back and forth in the room.
“Call church,” I said.
“There’s more,” Cash said.
“What else could there be?” I spat.
“Crow has had a tail on you.” Fear started to course through my body. My eyes shifted quickly to Carli, but then I looked away. I walked out of the bedroom so she couldn’t hear Cash through the phone.
“What do you mean?”
“He knows about the chick that you have been seeing. Hazel’s aunt.”
“Did he threaten her?” I asked as I balled up my fist in anger.
“He said that he would take her and Hazel’s mom if we didn’t comply.”
It took everything in me not to throw my phone straight across the room. I clenched my jaw.
“Call church. Now,” I said as I hung up.
I started to pace back and forth in the living room. The mother fucker had threatened Carli. I would kill him with my bare hands the next time that I had the chance. I heard Carli start to shuffle in the bedroom, and I stopped pacing. How did I let my guard down so much? How did I not realize that this whole time we were being watched?
I headed back into the bedroom as Carli was pulling on her dress.
“What did he say?” she asked tentatively. What the hell was I supposed to tell her? That her life was now in danger? That I had no idea how we would get our niece back? That they were threatening to chop up my brother? I swallowed hard as I looked at her innocent face. Because I was an idiot, I had gotten her into this whole mess. She needed to be far away from all of us. Getting more involved with me would only end up hurting her worse.
“I’ve got to go,” I said gruffly as I walked towards my closet to grab clothes.
“You aren’t going to tell me what is going on?”
“No,” was all I said as I threw on jeans and a t-shirt. The less she knew, the better. I walked back out of my closet to find her completely dressed. I could see the tears start to form in her eyes.
“She’s my niece too,” Carli said with a shaky voice. “I deserve to know what the hell is happening.”
“No, you don’t,” I said quickly. “You should leave. All of this,” I said as I used my hands to motion between the two of us, “was a mistake. Once I find Hazel, I will contact you.”
Carli huffed and walked out into the living room. I could feel her anger pouring off of her in waves. That was good. I needed her to be angry with me. She didn’t need to be in this life. She needed to be far away from me. I would save Hazel, kill Crow, and then I would never be alone with Carli again.
“I can’t believe you are acting like this,” Carli said as she turned back to face me.
“Acting like what?” I asked.
“Like a complete asshole,” she replied glaring at me. Silence permeated between us. She was right. I was being an asshole, but if that was the only way to push her away then so be it. I had to keep her safe. I only had two days to figure shit out, and the longer she was not by my side, the better.
When she realized that I wasn’t going to say anything more about it, she sighed and turned towards the door.
“I’ll call you once I have Hazel,” I called out as she pulled open the door. She stormed out, slamming the door behind her, walking out of my life.
* * *
I pulled up on my old motorcycle to the Pit. I could tell by the line of bikes outside that the rest of the guys were already there. I walked in and headed towards the back room of the bar, where Grimm used to have his office. Cash, Patch and Bones were already waiting for me.
“What’s the plan, Rogue?” Cash asked.
“Grimm would not want us to give everything away,” I mumbled. Cash and the others nodded their heads.
“He would rather die than give in to their crazy demands,” Cash added.
“But now they have his daughter, threatened his life, and threatened Carli’s, the whole game has changed.”
“We already got eyes on Carli and Amanda’s place,” Cash said. “Before you got here, I filled the guys in, and I sent some of the prospects over to keep watch.”
“Thank you,” I nodded. “Anyone have any updates on where they could be keeping Hazel and Grimm?”
“I did some digging,” Bones spoke up. “And there are several warehouses out by the docs that Crow, and his club have been spotted at. So, my guess is that they would be keeping them there.”
“Can we go over to stake it out?” I asked.
“We can,” Cash nodded.
“Good. Once we have confirmation on where they are keeping them, then maybe we can get them out before we have turn things over.” Cash, Patch and Bones all stared at me. I could tell by the shocked look on their faces that they weren’t expecting me to say that we should turn things over.
“So, what if we don’t find them?” Patch asked angrily, cutting through the cold silence in the room. “What do we do then? Give everything away to those fuckers? And hope that they release Grimm and the little girl?”
I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.
“It seems like the only option for us now,” I replied. Dissatisfied grunts filled the room.
“Your uncle and your brother worked their asses off their whole lives to bring this club to the position it is now. You may have been able to just walk away, but the rest of us didn’t. You can’t just give it away,” Patch growled. Cash glared at him to shut him up.
I stood up from the chair.
“And what am I supposed to do? Let my brother die and his daughter be sold off to the highest bidder? She has been gone for over a week now. Who the hell knows what they have done to her at this point.”
“Grimm wouldn’t want you to just hand over the club,” Patch grumbled. “He would have wanted you to come up with another plan.”
“And he wouldn’t want his daughter hurt either,” I said as I threw my hands up in the air. I ran my hands through my hair and sat back down. Think Rogue. There had to be another way to get out of this.
“Look, I didn’t ask to be pulled back into the club. I didn’t ask to be thrown back into the life,” I sighed.
“Then why are you the one making decisions for the club?” Patch asked angrily.
“Because Grimm asked me to get his help,” Cash said as he stood up, looming over Patch. “Grimm figured out what was happening and trusted Rogue to get him out.”
“Why didn’t he fucking trust his club?” Patch countered, standing up and facing off with Cash. Bones stood up behind Patch and tried to grab his arm to coax him back down, but Patch shrugged him off.
“Calm the fuck down,” I said as I moved in between them. They glared at each other for a moment, but they finally sat back down. “Grimm asked me to handle this because I am his brother. And honestly, I’m glad that he fucking did. Did I get out of the life? Yes, because of all of this bullshit. But after being a part of it again, I can see why he loves the club as much as he does. I am not trying to take over the club. Once we find Grimm, I am happy to hand him back the reins. He just wanted me to be the one to find him.”
I sat back down at the table with a huff. I didn’t ask to be pulled back into this shit storm, but I was. I wasn’t prepared to make decisions that effected the entire club, but I also wasn’t about to put my brother or my niece’s life in more danger. I looked directly
at Patch who was still fuming with anger.
“You tell me what the fuck to do, Patch. What would you do if it was your brother and your niece?”
He clenched his jaw as he thought. After a few seconds of silence, he looked back at me. “I’d do whatever I’d have to in order to save them.”
I leaned back in my chair and ran my hands through my hair. There had to be a way that we could save both Grimm and Hazel and the club. Crow was a ruthless son of a bitch. But from what I remembered about him; he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Could we trick him somehow?
“What if we made Crow think he was getting what he wanted,” I said. The others looked at me, confused.
“What do you mean, Rogue?” Cash asked.
“We can pretend to hand over all our possessions to the Sons of Satan,” I continued, and the others looked at each other.
“How the hell do we pretend to do that?” Cash asked.
“We could plan to launch a counter-attack at the same time. One group meets with the Sons of Satan to pretend to hand over all the club’s money and contacts. Another group attacks the holding cell and frees Grimm and Hazel. If we can get the two of them out of there in time, we don’t have to give anything away to Crow and his fucking men,” I explained. “Once we know that they are safe, we kill Crow.”
A smile formed on Patch’s face. He liked this idea.
“That might actually fucking work,” he said. “We have to know for sure where they are holding them and make sure we get them out without Crow realizing what is happening.”
“If I remember Crow like I think I do, I think we can easily distract him with handing over money.”
“Yeah,” Cash let out a slight laugh. “The second that he would see it, that would be all he would focus on.”
There was a sudden buzz in the room while the others started discussing the plan.
“You think this is going to work, Rogue?” Cash asked, doubt in his eyes. I shrugged.
Rogue: The Black Cobras MC #1 Page 10