Rafe (Devil's Flame MC Book 1)

by Romi Hart

  It sounded like someone had noticed Edgar wasn’t calling the shots anymore, and he chanced a glance around the edge of the pathetic wall, seeing that the Ravens were already on the run, with the Kings piling injured and possibly dead bodies into the truck as they prepared to take off. He didn’t dare move, other than to fire a couple of additional warning shots. It wasn’t like Jake had bothered to risk his own skin here today. There was nothing more Rafe needed until they cleared out. Then, he had to find out how many were injured and get some help to Zeke.

  Twenty minutes later, knowing that several of his brothers had injuries but most could be patched up without taking them to the hospital, he rode with Zeke in the ambulance, his friend fading in and out of consciousness and spending more time out than in. The EMTs were a little harried but assured him that Zeke didn’t seem to have lost too much blood to recover. It would just take some time and, for the breaks, some physical therapy to heal.

  That relief only left Rafe’s mind open to worry about other things, like Kira. What was the situation back at the clubhouse? If the Diamond Kings knew they were going to try to take the shipment and had all the meeting information, had they sent another crew to the clubhouse, knowing it would be under skeletal protection? If so, Kira could be gone, or worse, and he couldn’t handle that concern.

  He tried calling Rocky but got no answer, and his phone battery flickered and died after that. Cursing violently, he paced the waiting room, needing to hear from the doctor that Zeke was going to be alright so he could get a ride back to the clubhouse. Thankfully, it was only a little over two hours when one of the surgeons stepped out with an update. They still had some reparation to do on the knee and several of the bones in the foot, but they’d sewn up the knife wound and found no internal bleeding. They’d set his ribs, and there didn’t seem to be any trauma to the brain, despite some swelling.

  “He’ll be out for a day or two while he goes through the worst of the healing. We’ll keep him comfortable. We won’t go in for the second knee surgery for a few days. That and his foot are going to take some real work, but he’s a lucky man,” the doctor explained.

  Rafe thanked him and hurried downstairs. He didn’t have his bike, so he had to hail a taxi, having no way to call any of his crew to come pick him up. He had to get to Kira and make sure everything was alright. He’d nearly lost one friend, and several others were patching themselves up with the help of a couple of off the clock nurses. He couldn’t stand the idea of finding Kira not in one piece.

  Rafe hit the door hard enough that it banged against the wall and flew back at him, but he dodged it, moving so fast toward Kira it just slammed shut behind him. She stood by the window chewing her nails, and as he crossed the room, she made a strangled noise and launched herself at him. He welcomed her into his arms, tearing at her clothes and wondering who decided that people should wear them to start with. He was desperate to get to her skin, to feel her warmth against his, to plunge into the wet heat of her core.

  Her hands were everywhere – on his face, in his hair, stripping him of the dirt and blood covered clothes he wore, and running over his flesh as if searching to see if any of the blood was his. “I’m not hurt,” he whispered against her ear before he sank to his knees to draw her jeans down her shapely legs. The smell of her arousal hit him hard, and he groaned as he caught sight of how her clit glistened with her moisture.

  He flicked his tongue out, licking across it, and Kira whimpered, her hands trembling as she rested them tentatively on his shoulders. He wanted to taste her, to enjoy her, but the urgency in his cock demanded he not waste time sheathing himself inside her. Getting to his feet, he lifted her and unceremoniously dropped her on the bed, nearly crashing down on top of her as he took one nipple in his mouth and teased the erect peak with tongue and teeth. His erection brushed against her thigh as he shifted, and he hissed in a breath, barely able to control himself long enough to find his way between her legs.

  He should have stopped to talk to Corey, to find out what went wrong. He should have checked on his brothers as he passed through the front of the clubhouse, where the bar had been turned into a triage ward. He should have thanked Rocky for watching over Kira and keeping her safe. But all of those ‘should have’ items sat on the back burner, as far as his libido was concerned. All he’d wanted was this – Kira hot and ready beneath him, ready to take him fully and give him the release he needed. Kira, safe and sound and waiting for him with the same eagerness that drove him to such a frenzy. Kira, wrapping her legs around him and urging him on, the way she was at this moment.

  Her dark eyes were black with desire, and Rafe couldn’t wait any longer. Slicking himself with her wet folds, he shoved his cock deep inside her with a violent thrust that had them both shivering with the impact. He stilled for an instant, not wanting to cum too soon, but his absolute need fueled him, and he drove in again deeper, pushing Kira over the edge so her pussy pulsed and convulsed around him. She thrashed and grabbed at him, raking her nails over his shoulders and pulling him down into a deep, passionate kiss and holding him there with fingers fisting in his hair.

  Sweat dripped from Rafe, between adrenaline and desire, and the frenzied combination had him settling into a fast, hard rhythm, nailing into her with all his might. She seemed to welcome it, moving her heels higher on his back to lift her hips and give him the opportunity to drive deeper. It was almost too much as she came again, pouring over his cock with her release, and his hips started to piston faster, the satisfaction still just out of reach.

  And then he was floating for just a moment, soaring on the clouds with no feeling at all for just a second, before the finish line came into view. He crashed through it, his body shuddering uncontrollably as he buried himself as far as he could go inside Kira, his hips bucking erratically as he spilled into her and felt her join him in the release. His skin burned and tingled with the pleasure, and his already tense muscles screamed with the effort. Or maybe it was his own voice that assaulted his ears with the cries of delight, or Kira’s. He couldn’t tell one from another as he finally came down from the high and rolled over to his back, arms and legs splayed and too heavy to move.

  A thousand thoughts ran through his head, but Rafe couldn’t capture even one of them and make sense of them. They flitted by as his body settled, and he didn’t care if any of them were important. He existed in a state of bliss, with the scent of sex and whatever it was about Kira that intoxicated him, still surrounding him. And as she rolled over to place her head on his chest, her arm slung over his stomach, Rafe had to admit, he wanted this. He wanted someone to come home to, someone who fulfilled him physically but also stimulated him mentally and emotionally.

  It was fucking hard to have Kira on his mind all the time, even when he needed to focus elsewhere, but it drove him to work harder, to want to be a better person and a safer person, just so he could come home to her. He didn’t want to be alone anymore, and he couldn’t imagine a better partner. No woman had ever cast this sort of spell over him, and her ability to take over his thoughts and emotions in such a short time terrified and thrilled him. It was as if she’d gone hunting and speared him through the heart, and he didn’t want to take back his life.

  “What happened out there?” she asked, her voice a whisper that blew gently over his skin.

  “You were right,” he rasped, placing a hand on her head and stroking her hair. “I vetted every bit of information, and we still got fucked. Someone went through a lot of trouble to set up that ambush, and Zeke’s in bad shape. A lot of others got hurt. I should have listened to you about the Ravens.”

  He felt her tense at those words, and he knew he probably should have held back and not said them. But he couldn’t help it. She deserved to know that her intuition had been correct, and for whatever reason, he didn’t want to lie to her. “Rafe, how many got hurt?”

  “I don’t know. A dozen or so of our guys. None of ours died.” He hesitated. He wasn’t sure how much he wante
d to say. She could still have some loyalty to members of the Kings. Or worse, if he told her what had gone down, she might think he was a monster like her brother. But he needed to get the weight off his chest. He’d never had anyone to confide in and had carried this kind of burden too many times and for too long. “I killed Edgar. And maybe another four or five. I’m not sure how many died.”

  “Edgar’s gone?” She sat up, stared down at him with shock but no judgment. He nodded, searching her face for disappointment or anger, but he found none. “And Jake?” she asked.

  “He wasn’t there.”

  “Of course not.” Now, her dark eyes held so much rage Rafe could feel the heat of her anger rolling off her in waves. “That son of a bitch is never going to die.”

  It was too much, and Rafe couldn’t help but ask. “Kira, tell me why you want your brother dead. What did he do to you?”

  She shook her head, pressing her lips together. But as he continued to stare at her expectantly, her shoulders fell. “If I tell you what he did, why I hate him, will you trust me enough to let me help you take him down?”

  “You just heard what happened today,” Rafe told her. “It’s too dangerous, and I won’t risk you getting involved and getting hurt.” He could deal with Jake on his own. He would find a way, especially considering he’d hurt his own sister badly enough that she had turned on him. A woman Rafe desperately wanted to protect, to keep safe in his shadow.

  Kira’s expression changed, and he saw the hint of moisture glistening in the corner of one eye. She didn’t seem like the type to cry, and that told him just how desperate she was. “Please, Rafe. At least consider the possibility.”

  If she was that passionate, he couldn’t just say no. The thought of her pain, knowing his own, made him want to skin Jake alive and feed his flesh to an alligator while the asshole watched. But there were so many things standing in the way. Kira’s safety was Rafe’s top priority, but she was a grown woman, and if he pushed too hard against her helping, she might turn into a loose cannon and go off on her own, getting killed in the process. And he did trust her. It might not be a wise thing, but all of his defenses failed with her. And there was whatever this driving force was, this hatred she felt, and he wanted badly to know the source of it.

  But the club would never agree that easily to let her take part in any plan or scheme. He’d have to figure that part out, if and when he decided it might be worth the risk to involve her. Scrubbing a hand over his face, Rafe stared at the ceiling, weighing the options. If he denied her now, she would probably get dressed and walk away, and he couldn’t lose her. Whatever else happened, he intended now to make Kira his, permanently. And if he promised her she could work with him, Corey and the rest of the boys would probably castrate him.

  Taking a deep breath, he rolled his head and met her gaze, his heart softening even further as he saw how raw her emotions were. It didn’t help that she was still completely naked, and her body still glowed with the pink heat from sex and the thin sheen of sweat only starting to dry on her gloriously flawless skin.

  “I can’t make any promises,” he began. “The club has to decide because it’s not just me involved. But assuming we have something to take to Corey and the crew, I’ll at least consider any ideas you have and the possibility of you helping us take down Jake Hawthorne and the Diamond Kings.”

  Relief washed over her, and Rafe felt like he’d finally said something right that wouldn’t get him in a world of trouble. “So, are you going to tell me what the rat bastard did to you? I need all the fuel against him I can get.”

  Slowly, Kira nodded, wincing at whatever memories flashed in her eyes. In a ragged, pained voice full of disgust, she told him, “Jake murdered my fiancé.”

  10

  Kira hadn’t said those words in nearly ten years, and it hurt to hear them but felt amazing to let go. She focused on Rafe’s reaction rather than her own, wanting to get through the entire story without emotions running too high, but his expression was hard to read. Disbelief and shock were obvious, but she couldn’t tell if he was outraged for her or if, maybe, jealousy had struck at the idea of her being engaged.

  Swallowing her concerns, she pressed forward. “We were too young to get married,” she admitted. “But you know how you have stars in your eyes when you’re eighteen and nineteen. We thought we were ready. Shaw and I had grown up together, from the time we were in grade school, and everything just made sense. We’d get married, have four kids, and get away from club life. I’d been around the Diamond Kings all my life. My uncles and my cousins were all involved, and my dad had been, until he died. Jake shouldn’t have been the next president, but my dad had rigged it up for him, so he got in.”

  She sighed. “I didn’t really want to leave it. The club was family, everything I knew, but Jake had managed to talk Shaw into a probationary spot so he could get patched. Shaw did it for me, never wanted to be part of it, and I felt guilty. So, when he wanted to leave and go to Vegas to get hitched, I said sure. We had some money stashed, and we were going to find a way to make it on our own, somewhere else.

  “I told Tara. I was scared and excited, and she was my best friend. I had to share the news with someone, right? I knew she wasn’t the best with secrets, but I trusted her and asked her not to say anything to Jake at least until I called her from Vegas and told her we were married. She agreed.”

  “But she didn’t follow through,” Rafe guessed.

  “It wasn’t entirely her fault,” Kira hedged. “She got wasted with her boyfriend, and Jake overheard them talking about it. Her boyfriend made a joke about a shotgun wedding and a bun in the oven, and Jake took it seriously. He figured I wouldn’t be eloping if I wasn’t pregnant. We had a big family, who would want a big, traditional wedding, and I wasn’t even nineteen yet. Why else wouldn’t I have just come and told him about it?”

  Kira looked down at her hands, wringing them as her body tensed. She hadn’t told anyone about this in years, and it was hard to relive it, even after so much time had passed. But she was determined to get through it. Rafe deserved to know what had happened and why she would turn against Jake. And he would never trust her if she didn’t give him the whole truth.

  “I wasn’t pregnant. Jake confronted me, but he didn’t believe me when I told him. I explained that we didn’t want to be part of the club, didn’t want to live that life, but he said I was lying about that, too. And maybe I was. I thought if we got away from the Diamond Kings for long enough, Shaw might come around and bring me home to the life I knew. But to prove to Jake I wasn’t pregnant, I made a doctor’s appointment. In the meantime, he told me that, if the results were negative and Shaw took one last ride with the club for a delivery, he’d let us go. I had a really bad feeling about it. Like I said, I never trusted Gomez and the Ravens. I’d seen them screw my father and several other clubs from the time I was just a kid. But Shaw insisted it would be alright.”

  She took comfort in the way Rafe reached out to toy with a lock of her hair as she went on. “Gomez accused my brother and his crew of selling them out to the cops, who’d been sniffing around for a few weeks. Rather than deny it and stand up to them, Jake took the chicken shit way out and told Gomez he’d brought the rat with him. He turned on Shaw, put a gun to his head, and pulled the trigger. Everyone else held to the story, since it seemed to placate Gomez and his men.

  “He lied to me, told me Gomez pulled the trigger because Shaw mouthed off to him. Believe it or not, Edgar was the one who told me the truth. Not because he had any redeeming qualities, but because he expected me to help him take over the club. He thought if I hated my brother enough, I’d get with him and help get the ruthless son of a bitch out of the head position.” Kira shook her head, anger rising fresh and hot in her chest. “Edgar is just a slimier version of Jake, and he would have done the same thing to save his own ass.”

  “Jesus, Kira. I’m sorry.” Rafe’s words were sincere, heartfelt, and it was the first time in a long time a
nyone had truly soothed her pain. He picked up her hand, caressing her knuckles with the pad of his thumb.

  The gesture gave her the strength to smile. “That was ten years ago. It was puppy love, really. We were so young. But the betrayal wasn’t lost on me. Jake never told me the truth, so he doesn’t know I know what happened. And he watches over me like a hawk, which is why I’ve done everything in my power to piss him off. He hates seeing me with bikers, so I give him a show.” She shook her head. “Now, though, it’s not enough. Not knowing that he’s done something so terrible to you, too.”

  Rafe scoffed. “I’m not sure what difference my experience makes. It sounds like you have reason enough to want him dead.”

  “Reason enough, yes,” she agreed. “But there’s no way I could do that, not with my family. They would see it as more of a betrayal than what he did to me because, in their eyes, he was protecting me. And on top of that, they’d be upset that I went to jail.” She scowled. “But somehow, I feel like your story would push it over the edge so family wouldn’t matter anymore.”

  She watched his face, saw the pain in his expression and the hesitation. But she also saw the desire to tell her what had happened, and she knew the moment his decision was made, his eyes filling with sadness. “Jake Hawthorne killed my baby sister.”

  Kira gasped. Jake had done a lot of shitty, horrible things in his time, but she had never known him to kill a woman. He didn’t deal with women, except for the ones he took to bed. And those he just cast aside when he was done. She forgot her own pain, her heart aching for Rafe. “How did that happen?”

  Rafe sat up sharply and pushed to his feet, gathering his clothes in silence. It upset Kira. After everything she’d told him, spilling her history and letting herself be vulnerable to him, Rafe would walk away without an explanation. “It was an accident,” he said quietly as he pulled on his pants, not facing her. And suddenly, Kira understood. He was too vulnerable in the buff, talking about his dead sister. He needed to feel somewhat in control if he was going to share his past.