by Warren, Rie
Something somber shifted over his features.
And it hit me with a pang to my heart.
In that moment, I wanted to tell him.
I wanted to hope.
I wanted everything to be all right . . . forever . . . with him.
“I’ll be right back. Promise.”
He nodded solemnly. As I walked away through the throng of people, I knew he watched.
I knew he wanted to haul me back.
The pull he had on me would be harder to break the longer I stayed.
Yet I didn’t think I could ever leave of my own free will.
Exiting the bar, I slipped into the back hall. I headed for the side door just as Chase came out of the stockroom wheeling a keg.
“Hey there. All right, Mercy?”
“Just getting some air.”
“Does Angel know where you are?” He halted in his tracks.
“Are you gonna tell on me?”
Suddenly flustered, he fumbled for words, and I felt bad for teasing him.
“Angel knows. It’s okay.”
“Right. I’ll just”—he indicated the keg—“better get this on the tap.”
As he headed back into the bar, I opened the side door and propped it ajar with my beer bottle.
Aside from the chirps of crickets and the echo of the bar, it was blissfully silent on this side of the alley. The night muggy, the sky deepened from twilight purple to endless black. I leaned against the building, looking up to where stars lurked beneath a light cloud cover.
Prickles started crawling up the back of my neck, the only warning I had before Uncle Ned stepped into the illumination shed from a flickering street light.
“Wondered if that bastard was ever gonna let you outta his sight.”
“You’ve been following me?” The prickles became daggers of pain radiating around the brand on my chest.
He snorted. “You bet. Real sweet on you, ain’t he? I particularly liked the part when he gave you that money for the busker. You shoulda pocketed it.”
I quickly unsheathed my knife. “I’m not scared of you anymore.”
“Put that away, girl. Ain’t gonna hurt ya now.” Ned tapped down on a wad of chewing tobacco before sucking it into his bottom lip. “Got a deal to make.”
I definitely didn’t put the knife away.
Instead I waved it at his face. “And I’ve got a deal for you. Fuck off. And leave me in peace.”
My uncle stomped forward, cagey and mean, his face all hard craggy lines. “Fuck your deal, Mercy. You’ll listen to me if you know what’s good for you.”
“You’ll listen to me!” I slashed out, the blade slicing into his shoulder.
Blood welled from the cut, and Ned snarled viciously.
“That hurt.” He squeezed over the welt, ranging closer. “You think they’re God Almighty, huh? Maybe they’re strong in numbers, but it wouldn’t take much to get that Angel of yours all alone. We could do a real slick number on him, land him in an unmarked grave where no one will ever find him.”
Horror made me wobbly. “You can’t be serious.”
“Revenge is best delivered an eye for an eye. Blood for blood. Or did you forget he helped kill your brothers?” Hand covered in wet crimson, Ned swiped his fingers over his shirt. “Your golden boy ain’t gonna be so pretty with his face all carved up and his head mounted on the front of my truck, is he?”
Sick to the pit of my stomach, I held onto my resolve. “Angel can take care of himself.”
“Maybe so.” Ned spat a wad of brown baccy juice close to my feet. “But you ever think about the other girls? Ain’t no one to look after their wellbeing what with you gone. What about poor Grace? She been takin’ all the beatings earmarked for you. You want them to think you’re such a selfish little cunt?”
Grace.
She’d never left me.
I curled inward, the blade wavering. “You can’t kill her.”
“I could.” He sneered—a sickening sight.
“What do you want from me?”
“Come home.”
The White Lair wasn’t a home. It was a prison.
I’d hurt Angel.
I’d probably die myself.
Ned stalked close enough I could see the stark black swastika on his neck. His veins bulged. His breath stank.
“Now I ain’t gonna hurt ya. Not gonna beat you. What I need you to do is go back inside and play all nicey-nice with your boyfriend, so you can get away scot-free. Because if he comes after you again, I’ll rip him open gut to gullet and let you wallow in his intestines. And then I’m gonna rape Grace with a gun.”
I swallowed down my gorge. “How long do I have.”
“Tonight.”
Tonight.
My vile uncle shuffled away.
One night.
He gave me no choice at all. He’d try to take Angel down. He would kill Grace. If I stayed, I put everyone I cared about in peril.
A last night with Angel.
Breathing in, standing up, I sheathed my blade after wiping it off.
I was determined to make the best of it.
Just like that, Ned took away my freedom.
My hope.
My life.
Everything winked out like a star blinking for the last time in the sky so high above.
Eleven
Angel
I’D BEEN ABOUT TO go search for Mercy when she slipped back inside, seeming unscathed.
She was right, she wasn’t my property, but that didn’t mean I felt comfortable with not having my eyes on her at all times given her track record for trouble.
I had to admit, some of it was jealousy too. I might’ve taken the green demon thing too far with Saint earlier, but no way and no how was he getting his hands on my gamine—ink or not.
I specifically didn’t appreciate when one of the hipsters strolled up to her all messy man bun and big stupid grin. A growl left my throat like I was some kind of animal, and Slade—standing across from me at the bar—chuckled.
Wearing my damn heart on my sleeve.
My eyes narrowed to slits as I watched Mercy give a small shake of her head in reply to whatever Mr. Dude Man had asked. Then she joined me.
“What’d he want?” I asked immediately.
Slade snickered again.
Asshole.
“He wanted my phone number, but since I don’t have a phone there’s no problem, is there?” Mercy’s cinnamon-colored irises held a different glint, and she spun toward the bar. “How about some shots?”
“Shots?”
“Tequila.” She moistened her lips, leaning forward on her elbows.
“Tequila for the lady, coming right up.” Slade winked. “Want lime and salt with that?”
“Nope.”
“Good. ’Cause I don’t think we’ve got any.”
Part of our no frills drinks policy AKA we generally just didn’t give a shit.
I watched when Mercy slammed back a shot then tapped the glass on the bar to indicate more.
After two more shots, she kissed me deeply before announcing, “I feel like dancing.”
The bar appeared to have gotten even more traction after the attack from the Aryans, which boggled my damn mind. Full house, packed to the rafters—there wasn’t much room for cutting a rug. But what the hell?
If my girl wanted to dance, I’d damn well dance with her.
Only I didn’t know what I was getting myself into until she started moving, and it sure as hell wasn’t the two-step she had in mind.
She grinded heathenishly against me, all undulating hips and swinging ass.
No big surprise I began boasting a massive boner in response.
After she wound her arms around my neck with her back pressed to my front and her rear end nestled tightly against my groin, she gyrated around to slide up and down against me.
Fuck. Me.
I was about one more sexy move away from throwing her over my shoulder and fucking her
in the back hallway.
But this wasn’t exactly normal Mercy behavior.
The shots of tequila.
The dirty dancing.
“What’s gotten into you?” I asked warily.
The gleam was back in her eyes, that time decidedly naughty. She beckoned me down to her, riding and writhing along my thigh.
Her lips landed on a shivery spot just below my ear, and my fingers tightened on her waist.
“Not you. Yet,” she whispered with such sexual intent, I probably could’ve come in my pants like a goddamn horny teen.
I chalked her erratic behavior up to all the shit she’d survived. It made sense she’d cut loose and act a little wild. The abuse, the branding, the beatings. The losses in her life. Hell, I hadn’t been the most stable motherfucker after Venom killed my dad.
Besides . . . Mercy was hot for me, so basically the gift horse/mouth rule applied.
Not that I planned on taking advantage of her, but if she kept this up I hoped she’d be panting for my cock soon.
With Mercy still rocking against me, I saw Demi approach.
Fucking Christ.
I didn’t need her sticking her nose in.
But she barely glanced at me before tapping Mercy on the shoulder. “How are you at darts?”
Mercy smiled like she was greeting an old friend. “Ah’m not one for bragging, but I might be able to wipe the floor with you.”
I heard a collective silence from all the Blood Legion dudes, and we waited for Demi to get her claws out.
But Demi just laughed and took Mercy’s arm. “In that case, we should team up.”
What?
“What’s going on there?” Saint mirrored my thoughts.
I shrugged.
“They’re like friends now?” Chase asked, passing me a beer.
“No clue. Revenge would know more about Demi than me.”
“Hey. That was just the one threesome the one time with her.” Revenge zoomed in on our conversation like he had frigging bat ears or something.
“I can’t even make sense of that sentence right now, pussy hound.” Saint slugged a fist at his friend’s shoulder.
“I’m thinking next time I want to fuck a set of identical twins. That would be hot.”
Revenge’s lips twitched, but I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
“I just hope knives aren’t involved in this darts competition.” I made my way onto a stool, prepared to intervene if things went south.
Except nothing happened between Mercy and Demi except lots of laughing littered with a healthy dose of lighthearted smack talk.
The entire MC watched, dumfounded.
It appeared there were zero chances for a catfight tonight.
After the game finished—Mercy and Demi won against the other pair—my girl came looking for me.
I sat up straighter and, when she snaked directly between my spread legs to set her hands high on my thighs, I almost dropped my bottle.
My throat felt tight. My jeans even tighter, and if she ventured any farther up my leg she’d hit the source of my discomfort.
With a swish, she sent all that long honey-blonde hair over her shoulders. “I think you should take me to bed now.”
Saint, Revenge, Slade, Chase and the rest pretended to pay no attention when I could tell they all had their listening ears on.
I wanted Mercy all the damn time, but when she acted so forward, she was dangerously seductive.
I had a little trouble making my voice work, and when I managed it my tone was gravelly. “Yeah?”
Looping her arms around my neck, she tugged me down.
“I want to suck your cock,” she whispered in my ear.
I slammed my beer on the bar, tugged her up to my lap, and wrapped her legs around my waist.
Standing, I steamrolled my way across the bar, Mercy in my arms.
“So don’t worry. We’ll lock up,” Slade shouted.
“I bought earplugs so don’t feel like you have to keep it down on my account,” Saint added his off-color comment.
And if any of the jackals said anything else, I didn’t hear them because I hit the back passage, and my lips slammed onto Mercy’s.
Blindly rushing up the stairs, I consumed her mouth like I’d consume her pussy soon. Inside my room, I slipped her to her feet. Her breasts heaved, and my cock was well on the way to busting out of my jeans.
I only came to my senses after I’d ripped off my shirt and held it balled in my hands. “I think you’ve had too much to drink.”
“Angel.” Mercy’s fingers walked slowly down my bare chest. “You really think a couple beers and a few shots are going to mess me up that much knowing my history?”
She indicated the mostly hidden track marks on her arms.
“No, but—”
“No buts. At all.” She flung her top off in a flash, and her breasts bobbed free.
The tightening pink of her nipples on top of perfect curvy mounds beckoned me. I lost all ability to deny her. To deny myself.
I could only watch, cock aching for her, as she got naked quickly.
Glowing hair, darkening eyes, her Cupid’s bow mouth pouting. Her slim waist and taut belly and the tiny strip of curls above her puffy pussy lips.
Heat climbed up my spine.
“Undress.” She pointed at me then cupped her tits to twirl the nipples I hungered for.
Her head dropped back so her hair brushed her ass, but her eyes stayed on me.
Merde.
My fantôme had me by the balls.
I shucked out of the rest of my clothes and reached for her.
Mercy snuck back, tisking me. “You can’t touch me yet.”
Dropping sensually to her knees, she crawled toward me. Her ass waved back and forth, and her back arched sinuously. At my feet, she rose up until her mouth traced wandering paths up my thighs to my balls.
My throat convulsed.
She lovingly coddled my sac, sweeping her wet tongue around and around each testicle. She sucked one into her mouth, and my knees buckled. She gave a long tongue bath to both my nads as I craned closer to her.
“Does that feel good?” Her voice had gotten smokier, her eyes too.
“You know it does.”
My dick leaked endless drips of precum down the shaft, and veins throbbed visibly.
“This will feel better,” she vowed.
I swallowed hard, widening my stance.
Mercy levered my cock toward her parted lips, moaning when another drop of jism pearled from the slit. She pressed the tip of her tongue against that one specific spot, almost drilling into me.
The foreign sensation had me locking all the muscles on my body.
She murmured hotly before opening her mouth and taking me in.
“Fuck!”
Her next moan transferred to my cock, vibrating down the thick length she gurgled over.
My brow creasing, I kept my eyes on her.
She never stopped the insatiable sucking motion, gathering more and more saliva. My meat dripped with the slickness, her noises hot and slobbery.
She stroked the bottom half of my shaft, pressing me harder and harder against the beginning of her throat.
My balls shook against her curled fist on every downward swoop of her hand. My cockhead caught hotly on the backs of her teeth every time she slurped me out of her mouth.
Christ. I almost took her head in my hands to force her lower.
Then she took my hands in hers and placed them on the nape of her neck.
I pulled her off me.
My cock sprang up beside her face, the long rod gleaming with wetness, wetness that was also smeared so sexily all over her mouth.
“Mercy, I don’t want to make you—”
“Ah want to feel you in my mouth, in my throat, all over me.”
Her desperate dirty plea eroded my control.
“Help me take you deeper.”
Nostrils flaring, I wrapped the length of he
r hair around my wrist. I held the base of my cock and angled back down to her parted lips. She widened her mouth, darted her tongue out, and shut her eyes when I guided her face forward.
I pulled her neck back and back until the shot inside her throat was almost straight down.
I didn’t think she could take my girth.
I wasn’t about to fucking choke her.
But holy goddamn.
By six inches in, I’d lodged inside her throat.
She swallowed.
My ass and abs clenching, I hauled her off me.
“More,” she whispered hoarsely.
That time she glugged and sputtered. Saliva foamed at the stretched sides of her mouth. Her throat convulsed around my shaft, her tongue swiping, her fingers curling around my thighs to pull me deeper.
I gave her another breath, rubbing a knuckle over her lips I hoped I didn’t bruise.
Nothing but trust and lust shined in the depths of her irises when she looked up at me. “Again.”
I thrust into her mouth, through the ring of her throat. The way slickened by saliva and spit and precum, I shifted my groin forward. I blasted quickly in and out, as close to getting her to deepthroating me as I dared.
The glugging noises alone had me on edge. Not to mention the desire in her eyes. The widened oval of her lips. The way she nodded minutely.
Withdrawing—a gritty groan thundering from my chest—I pulled her up to her feet. I claimed her mouth, harsh desire driving my tongue deeper where my cock had been.
“Are you gonna tell me no now?” Mercy asked when I released her lips to make a rough bite mark on the side of her neck.
I wisely kept my mouth shut, only shaking my head.
“Good.” Climbing onto the bed, she positioned herself on her hands and knees.
Looking back at me, she presented her gorgeous ass and her tender, pink swollen pussy.
“I want you to fuck me like this.”
I didn’t know what had made her such a fiery wildcat all of a sudden, and the saucy swing of her hips had me salivating.
“Fuck, Mercy,” I spoke between gritted teeth. “I won’t be able to go slow when you’re like this.”
“Then don’t.” She wagged her bottom again, and I almost jumped on her when a glimmer of wetness drizzled down the line of her slit. “I want you. I want to feel all of you.”