ALWAYS (A Wolfe Brothers Novel)

by Lita Stone

  Rane waited in his car with his black gloved fingers squeezed around the steering wheel.

  Elation shivered through him, balanced with an equal level of terror, worried he'd get caught. He’d done this many times before, but usually he took a woman from a bar, this was new territory. The only exceptions he made were for the mothers, sisters and wives of the members of the Hell Pack. The capture of Ajay’s mother and grandmother was a particularly lucky score. He snagged them on Highway 45 traveling north.

  An hour and twenty five minutes passed before Jewel finally emerged from the large square building, Rane slithered from his car and crouched behind hers. Her car lights blinked and the click of the locks releasing resounded.

  When she opened her door and climbed behind the wheel, he caught the door, snatched her wrist, and covered her mouth. He yanked her from her car. Her feet kicked at the pavement, her hands gripped at his fingers.

  To no avail.

  Rane dragged her to his back seat and slugged her in the head, knocking her unconscious. Using the rope he bought earlier, he tied her hands and feet then covered her with a gray blanket.

  Driving in the slow lane on Highway 45, he repeatedly slapped his palms against the steering wheel, releasing some of the adrenaline surging through his veins.

  When he arrived home, he parked and exited his yellow pickup truck. Reaching behind the driver’s seat and into the extended cab, he gripped Jewel under her arms, dragged her from the vehicle, through the tall grass and into his single-wide trailer.

  The front door swung open. Rane gave his balding, short friend a nod. “Hey. I got her. Give me a hand.” Kipp grabbed her feet and together they carried her through the kitchen into Rane’s bedroom.

  “Let’s do the swing thing,” Rane said. They tossed her onto the black comforter.

  Kipp took a seat at the small kitchen table.

  Following Kipp out of the bedroom, Rane gripped the top of the door frame. “You like her?”

  “Yes.”

  “I knew you would. What’s not to like?” He grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer. “You want to do the honors?”

  Kipp walked to the bedroom and cut the garments from her body.

  Rane flipped around and curled his fingers around the top of the door frame. A mixture of intrigue and lust pulsed through him. He grabbed a black sharpie off the top of the bureau, elbowed Kipp out of the way and climbed over her. On her stomach, he drew an arrow pointing down and wrote the words my sweet.

  “Let’s have a bite to eat,” Rane said. “She might be out a while. You goin’ to watch us?”

  Kipp dipped his head forward, one slow nod.

  A carton of chocolate cupcakes were set on the counter. Rane offered one to Kipp. A white plump cat jumped to the table, purred and rubbed against the side of Rane’s face.

  “Cupcake.” He trailed his hand from her head and down her tail. With his mouth against the cat’s cold wet nose, he gave her a kiss. “I missed you.” He scratched Cupcake behind her ear. “We have a guest. When she wakes, I’ll introduce you.”

  He ate a cupcake and peered around the corner but Jewel was still out. He drank a glass of water and refilled the glass.

  With a cupcake in one hand and a glass in the other, he walked to the bedroom and tossed the water at her face.

  She gasped and opened her eyes.

  Rane climbed over her. “My sweet.” He pushed the cupcake at her lips but she turned her head and screamed.

  He slapped her. “There’s nobody for miles. Nobody will hear you scream. Regardless, it irritates me so don’t do it again.”

  Tears poured down her face.

  He moved the cupcake toward her lips. When she only nibbled, he shoved the cupcake into her face. Blood gushed from her mouth. Gagging, she spit out a tooth.

  With a snarl, Rane grabbed a hunk of her hair, yanked her head back and licked blood off her chin. “My sweet.”

  Chapter Ten

  Maggie's tent started to shake. Her lids flipped open. “What?' she groaned.

  “Time to go,” Cam said.

  She stumbled from the tent to find the camp packed up, all except the tent she was just sleeping in.

  Minutes later, he had the tent packed. The hike resumed without a word from him. And she was too tired and hungry to fight with him.

  When they climbed the slightest of slopes the muscles in Maggie’s legs quivered. She placed her open hand on her thigh. Nope, her skin hadn’t burst to flame. She willed her body to continue without complaint.

  Her efforts failed. “My legs feel like spaghetti.”

  His back to her, he said, “If I use the hairspray on you, will you stop pestering me?”

  “Why don’t you just let me land on you? What’s the worst that could happen?”

  “You could sting me.” He spoke without looking at her, still trudging forward.

  “Occasionally, but you’re thick-skinned. You’d survive.”

  Cam shook his head. “But you might not.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “My knee-jerk reaction would be to flatten you.”

  Maggie stepped forward and gave him a swat on his ass. “You could try, but this pest is quick and always comes back for more.”

  “You don’t get it.”

  “Explain it to me. After last night, it’s the least you could do.”

  He turned and stalked toward her. “Flatten you.” The words lingered from his lips as he closed the distance between them. Backing her into a tree, he wedged his knee between her legs and wrapped his calloused warm fingers around her neck. He turned her head and whispered close to her ear. “Flatten you.”

  Maggie drew in a shaky breath.

  Cam smiled. “Now you get it.”

  # # #

  The sun peeked over the horizon. For what felt like days, they walked in silence, until Cam finally veered off the trail.

  “We camp here.” He dropped his backpack and reached for hers, but she pulled it from his reach. “I can set up my own tent.”

  Cam nodded and headed for the woods.

  Sighing, she dropped to the ground and crossed her legs. Her dry eyes burned from physical and emotional exhaustion. The painful desire she felt just hours ago, turned to a generous portion of revulsion, thanks to him threatening her. But her body ached from strenuous activity and hunger.

  Maggie curled on her side and hugged her knees against her chest. Never again would she find herself vulnerable to anyone. Much less a man. Despite her body’s objections, her conscience couldn’t tolerate one more second with this excuse of a man.

  Snatching her backpack, she ran. How hard could it be to follow a marked trail? Once she was a safe distance, she’d pitch her tent, get up in the morning and finish this damn hike on her own.

  # # #

  Cam dropped the wood he'd collected and scanned his surroundings but she was no where in sight. She could be doing her business, but based on the little she'd drank and ate that day, he doubted it.

  He sprinted down the trail. His face flushed, not from exertion, but from rage. He wanted to wrap his hands around her scrawny little neck and shake her. How could she be so stupid? Didn’t she realize wandering alone through the middle of the woods was dangerous?

  Cam ran faster.

  Turning a corner, he caught a glimpse of her red tank top. “Maggie!”

  She peered over her shoulder, and their eyes met. Her head whipped back.

  Maggie ran faster.

  Aside from the crunch of the dry leaves beneath their feet and the wheeze of their labored breaths, quiet monopolized the forest.

  When he neared, Maggie dashed around a cluster of narrow trees. Cam circled to her, but she moved, maintaining an equal distance between them.

  Maggie struggled for a breath. “Lesson’s over.”

  Cam rounded the greenery. Maggie did the same. Since all she’d eaten today was two of his energy bars, he gambled she’d tire before him. “I’m getting dizzy.”
/>   “Then stop chasing me,” she said, her tone matter-of-fact.

  “Nope.”

  “Am I amusing you?”

  “Yup.”

  From the ground, she snatched a branch the size of a broom and held the make-shift weapon across her chest. “Come and get me.”

  Cam held up his hands, palms out. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She raised a brow. “Really?”

  “I’ve never hit a woman out of anger,” he lied.

  Although he never intended to put his mother in a coma, he did hit her out of anger. He had woken with a start and didn’t realize he was beating his own mother half to death. She should’ve known better then to try and wake him from a nightmare. He shook his head at the absurdity of his own line of thought.

  “Then why would you say that you did?” she asked.

  “I never actually said that.” Cam changed direction and rounded the cluster of trees in the opposite direction. “I just said that I could flatten you. Not that I would flatten you.”

  She jerked to the opposite direction, whirled the branch down and whacked him across the hand.

  “Son of a bitch!” He cradled his hand. “I think you broke my wrist.”

  “I’ll break more than that if you come any closer. Go away.”

  When Cam bent over and examined his wrist, Maggie cracked the branch across the back of his knees. He toppled forward, landing face first onto the dry grass. Cam rolled to his side.

  Maggie sprinted down the trail—exactly what he’d waited for.

  She didn’t get more than a few feet before he tackled her –football style—to the ground. He positioned himself over her hips and straddled her waist. Maggie slugged him across the face. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

  “Ahhh!” She tucked her hand into her chest.

  Cam massaged each finger then her palm. “I don’t think anything is broken.”

  With her good hand she swung, but he gripped both of her wrists with one hand and pinned them over her head.

  Leaning forward, he spoke against her quivering lips. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Maggie struggled and clicked her teeth, trying to bite him.

  Cam clapped a hand over her mouth. “I think you broke my wrist,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “I have a gash across the back of my knees, and my tongue is bleeding. If I was going to hurt you, I’d have done it by now.” He arched a brow.

  Maggie’s body stilled.

  Cam waited.

  He waited some more.

  Sighing, he rolled off her and cupped her chin. “Babe?”

  Pushing him onto his back, Maggie covered his body with hers, raining kisses over his closed eyes, down the bridge of his nose and on his mouth.

  Shoving her aside, he sat up. “Talk about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Cam wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “Me?” She sat back on her haunches. “You’re the one who’s telling me you’re a monster one minute, but when I kick the crap out of you, all evidence seems to the contrary.”

  Cam smirked. “I let you beat on me.”

  Maggie cupped her ear. “Ssss. I hear it again, except this time the testosterone is spraying from your pores, not just leaking.”

  Cam smiled.

  Maggie pushed him to the ground and positioned herself over his waist, just like he’d done to her. “Now we make love and live happily ever after.” She pinned his hands over his head. Her breasts brushed against his chin, her low-cut tank top allowing him a delicious view.

  Swallowing, Cam turned his head. “Nope.”

  “What are you afraid of?”

  He shook his head. “Not the making love part.”

  “Living happily ever after? You think you’ll get bored with me?”

  “Nope.”

  “Then what?”

  Cam’s cock pushed at the crotch of his sweatpants. “I don’t want to hurt you.” Stretching his neck, he focused on the trees behind her.

  “We’ve already established that’s not going to happen.”

  “Things change.” He turned his watery eyes toward the purple sky. “People change.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  Cam bit his tongue, resisting the urge to thrust his hips into her groin. “My father’s blood flows through my veins.”

  Maggie laughed. “That’s what this is all about?”

  “What the hell is so funny?”

  “Silly.” She gave him a quick kiss. “Silly.” She kissed him again. “Man.” Maggie flicked her long hair to one side and kissed the side of his neck.

  She kissed his cheek.

  She kissed the corner of his mouth.

  Cam’s breath caught in his throat.

  Maggie spoke against his lips. “You’re not him.”

  “You’re sure?”

  She frowned and sat up. “You’re shaking.”

  Looking to the left, he studied a red bird perched atop a young oak tree. “I’m fine.”

  “People don’t shake when they’re fine. What can I do?”

  Fuck me! “Get off me before I hurt you.”

  “I just beat the crap out of you, and you didn’t hurt me.”

  “But I’m really mad.”

  She turned his head, forcing him to look at her. “So? Getting mad is not a crime.” Maggie kissed him, slow and sweet. Cam’s body stiffened. A moan escaped his restraint, betraying his virtuous intentions. When she drew his tongue into her silky mouth, his cock nodded its approval. Cam sat up. He braced her head between his hands. His tongue drove deep inside her mouth.

  He broke from the kiss, his trembling hands framed around her face. “Fuck!” He hung his head and grunted. “You don’t understand. The rage rides my veins like some kind of fucking roller coaster.” He lifted his head. “It literally burns. I break out in a sweat, and I—.”

  Maggie pressed a finger against his lips. “You won’t hurt me.”

  “You’re fucking killing me!” Gripping her around the waist, Cam set her on the ground and climbed to his feet. “You seem to have some subconscious death wish, and I want no part of it.”

  She scrambled to her feet. “That's not—”

  Cam held up his hand and folded his fingertips to his thumb, giving her the universal sign for ‘shut the hell up’.

  “Just—.”

  He opened his hand and folded his fingers, reiterating his message.

  Maggie’s hands went to her hips. “Who the hell do you—?”

  Cam folded his hand for a third time. “Friends. That’s the best I can do. No benefits. Take it or leave it.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Take it.”

  Cam cupped his ear. “What?”

  “Take it!”

  “Good.” He slid her backpack over his shoulder, grasped her hand and led her back up the trail.

  When they got back to camp, he pitched both tents, lit a fire and grabbed two fat red bottles from his back pack. He handed her one. “It’s a protein drink. Tastes like a smoothie.”

  “Thanks.” She took the drink. As he poked at the fire, she said, “I thought you said not to make a fire because it would disturb nature.”

  “Yup.”

  “So why did you make a fire?”

  Because he had to keep busy and not think about tearing her clothes from her body and fucking her until morning. Cam sat beside her and twisted the cap off his own red bottle. “Shut your trap.”

  She laughed and sipped her drink.

  “I have a surprise for you.” Cam slid a stainless steel canister from under his leg. He poured out the melted ice and pulled out two Hershey bars.

  “No thanks.”

  “You don’t like chocolate?”

  “Too fattening.”

  Cam shook his head. “Do you want to sleep with me?”

  Her hand splayed over her heart, she leaned back. “You think?”

  “As thin as you are, I’m afraid I’ll break you.”

  She gave him
a slow wink, licking her bottom lip. “Let’s test that theory.”

  Cam wrapped her fingers around the brown wrapper. “You’re not eating enough calories. It’s why you can’t keep up with me. You’re burning more calories than you’re consuming.”

  “So I might’ve lost weight over the past two days?”

  He groaned. “That’s not a good thing.”

  Maggie chucked the chocolate. Cam snatched the candy from the ground, broke off a square and pressed it against her closed mouth. She thrashed and bucked until it fell to the ground.

  Cam positioned himself over her hips. Holding the chocolate high, he broke off another square. She squirmed, kicked and clawed.

  He smiled. “Let me know when you’re done.”

  She looked away. “We’re not hiking so I don’t need the damn calories, and I doubt I’m getting any other action tonight so take your calories and shove ‘em.”

  Damn. If only her stubbornness wasn’t so damn sexy, he might be able to resist fucking her right here, right now. He leaned down, tilted his head, and grazed his lips across hers. “Open for me, baby.”

  She shook her head.

  He spotted a gecko and snatched it up. Dangling the tiny lizard by the tail, he held it over her face. Her eyes widened, but she kept her composure and her mouth closed.

  Cam admired her determination. She could definitely give him a headache or two. He’d have to remember to send her potential future husband a sympathy card.

  An image of Maggie on her back with some nameless, faceless fuck wedged between her naked thighs flashed in his mind. Heat rose from his neck and into his face. A drop of sweat slid from his forehead. Cam pushed back the rage, smiled and dropped the lizard on her nose.

  “Ahhh!”

  In the chocolate went. He clamped his hand over her mouth.

  When she closed her eyes and let out a soft whimper, he removed his hand. “Well?”

  Maggie swallowed and licked her lips. “More.”

  Cam rolled off her and handed her the rest. “No woman can refuse chocolate.”

  Moaning, she licked her fingers. The erotic sound, and the image of a single finger withdrawing from her full lips shot to his groin. He grew hard. “Fuck.”

  Her brows lowered. She shrugged and asked, “You have any more?”