by Kay Maree
“I mean it, Tova. No more shit. When you leave, we leave together. I drop you at work, I pick you up from work. You don’t go near that door,” I stab my finger at it, “unless I am right by your fucking side. Got it?”
She holds my eye contact, green eyes boring into mine. “I get it, Slade. What I don’t get is why someone has chosen to fuck with me of all people!”
I scoff. “You’re a smart woman, you know exactly why people purposely fuck with people like you, and it’s normally to spite the club. Being under the protection of the brotherhood doesn’t automatically mean that shit won’t touch you.”
“I fucking know that already,” she snaps. “But is this retaliation for something Griz has done? That you’ve done?”
I run my fingers through her long dark hair before fisting the very end of it. “Not that I know of, but vendettas last for years.”
“I know,” she murmurs.
And she does, she knows all too well; her own father was killed by a rival club member who had been biding his time for more than five years to bring Falcon and the Hades Horsemen to their knees. Falcon lost his life, and the retaliation was a force the fuckers hadn’t expected. Nearly took out their entire gang, leaving nothing but dregs at the bottom of the barrel. Griz stepped up to take his old man’s place without second thought. He commanded the brothers just like Falcon had trained him to do. He did it well, he did it with respect, and he did it by ruling with an iron thumb. Anyone who dared to challenge his new position of Pres was either thrown out or told to pull their fucking head in. So, there’s no doubt in my mind as I pull out my phone, that Griz would throw all available manpower to eliminate the bastard who just signed his own death warrant.
“Slade,” Griz answers.
“We’ve got a big motherfucking problem, Boss.”
I hear his office door shut before he commands, “Speak.”
“Got back to find a calling card. Same one as the others, an Ace of fucking Spades.”
“Tova?”
“Here, safe, her place was clear.”
“Cops?”
“After this.”
“Good, they’ll send Peters,” Griz tells me.
Peters is a cop on Griz’s payroll. He’s used when the authorities need to be involved in matters that the club are associated with, but not directly involved in.
“Don’t let him search the fucking rooms though.”
I hesitate a second before remembering where I now sleep—in the intel room.
“Done.”
“You’d better be on her arse like glue, Slade.”
“Fucking oath I am.”
“Good. Get Peters to stop by here after he’s done. In the meantime, I’ll get Echo to hack the security system to see what it shows.”
“I’ll call after this shit is sorted.”
I disconnect then hit the number specifically for us to call when we need the pigs involved. This is the first time I’ve ever had to use it, and Griz only once before. It’s a last resort, and because this is the calling card of a murderer who’s already part of a big motherfucking police investigation, it can’t be handled in-house as a club matter.
Some bird at dispatch answers, already knowing that this ain’t a call from any Joe Fuckknowswho of the public.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Slade
I’m lying on my mattress with my fingers laced behind my head when soft footsteps sound on the carpet, then the door is pushed open without a knock. Tova’s form is silhouetted in the doorway; she’s dressed for sleep in a different one of my shirts and fuck me if she doesn’t look thoroughly fuckable right now. I force my eyes from her legs and roll up onto an elbow.
“Somethin’ wrong?”
She clicks the light on without warning. “No, just needing to do some intel shit.”
I fall back into the sheets and sling my arm across my eyes. “The fuck, Tova! Could you not have done this an hour ago?”
“Nope.” She starts shuffling papers on the desk like she’s just in here to piss me off.
I roll to my feet and cross the room, stopping beside her. “Can I help with anything?”
“Nope.”
Fuck this. I’m tired. I snag her wrist and hold it tight. Her eyes meet mine and I’m surprised not to see anger like I was expecting. Instead, I see…
My eyes narrow. “What are you really doing in here, Sparrow?”
She tugs against my hold a little. There’s a battle going on within her mind, like she’s torn between telling the truth and making up another bullshit excuse.
Her answer is to run her thumb along the seam of my lips then push it inside my mouth. I take the bait, biting down to stop her pulling away. Only, she doesn’t try to. Instead, she takes a step closer so that me holding her wrist is the only thing stopping our chests contacting.
Her eyes drop to my bare chest before meeting my gaze. They’re dark and alluring, and judging by the way she’s eye fucking me again, her head is full of dirty thoughts.
“I’m here so you can claim me properly.”
“Already done that,” I tease around her thumb, dropping my voice low and watching her teeth sink into her lower lip.
“Then I’ll leave,” she challenges.
Uncertainty crosses her face when I let go of her hand and take a step back. Her hands drop to her sides, but before she can utter a question, I grab the hem of my shirt and pull it over her head, exposing her entire body to me. My mouth waters like I’ve never seen anything so sweet in my life.
I reach for the back of her neck and bring her to me, my free hand trailing down her chest before reaching lower.
“You wet for me, Sparrow?”
“You fucking know I am,” she hisses.
“How much though?”
Tove’s only answer is to open her legs a little, granting me uninhibited access. I bite back a groan when I slide two fingers through her wetness.
“Fucking hell, you make it hard for a grown-arse man to keep his fucking composure,” I growl as I ease my fingers inside her and draw them back out again.
“Composure was checked at the door, Slade, and we both know it.”
I push back in. “What’s my real name, Tove? I need to hear you say it.”
I want to add that if she doesn’t know it then this ain’t happening tonight, but I don’t have the balls to issue that ultimatum.
“Kalem,” she breathes when I circle my fingers over her clit.
“Only to you, and only in this apartment,” I growl against her lips before sealing my mouth over hers.
My tongue hasn’t even met hers before she’s tugging on my hair and wrapping a leg around my hip. I hold it there then grab the other to walk her to the wall.
She’s clawing at my hips, trying to push my boxers out of the way. I let go of her arse with one hand so I can shove them down and kick them off, then drop her a little until she’s sitting on the length of my dick. My fingers dig into her arse cheeks to spread them further so I can glide through her arousal again. We both groan this time and Tove’s head falls back against the wall with a soft thump.
I grit my teeth. “Your pussy is mine; no other fucker gets a taste or access from here on out. Got me?”
“It’s always been yours, Kalem,” she murmurs.
She grinds against me until I pull back a little to line myself up. I’ve never wanted to go bare more than I do right now, and never in a million years have the following words passed my lips.
“Let me go bare, babe, are you protected?”
“Yeah, I am, and you know the rules,” she breathes.
She’s referring to the one rule that is drummed into every member; cover that shit or risk getting the clap or knocking some bitch up. It’s a rule I’ve never budged on—until now.
I groan as I push into her in one slow motion. She’s tight, even tighter when I circle her clit again and her walls contract around me. I hold the backs
of her thighs so I can push in harder, quicker with each thrust. Her entire body tenses under my fingers, and I feel the moment she starts shaking as I push her further towards release.
She reaches between us as her other hand claws at my shoulder. Before Tove can touch herself, I grab her wrist and slam it against the wall above her head.
“With me you don’t get yourself off, that’s for me to do. Move that hand and you won’t be getting what you want.”
Her hand stays against the wall when I let go. I fuck hard for a little then reach between us, working her wetness around until she’s all but screaming my name. The moment I feel her coming I push hard again, growling almost in agony as her walls spasm hard. It’s only then that the hand above her head wraps around my neck and pulls my mouth back to hers. I slide my fingers to where women either loathe or beg to be touched, and press against the tight opening. Tova’s gasp turns to a deep moan that has my balls tightening, and fuck me if her pussy doesn’t squeeze again. She’s slaying me. I’m rough with the last few thrusts, barely remaining sane as I fill her and ride out my release with short, sharp movements.
When I finally look at Tova, I almost drop her. She’s so damn beautiful after being fucked; hair wild in a million different directions, lips and chin rashed from my stubble and cheeks flushed deep pink.
She doesn’t know it, but she’s just given my own steeled heart a slice of light.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Tova
I’m tucked into Slade’s side with my head resting on his shoulder, and barely resisting the urge to pinch myself. For years I’d fantasised about what it would be like with Slade between my legs, and I’ve got to admit, he exceeded those fantasies ten times over. He knows the perfect mix of erotic and rough, reading my reactions to his touch like he already knew his way around my body.
“Tova?”
My fingers pause where they lazily graze over the stab wound scar near his kidney.
“Yeah?”
“Has this moved too quickly for you?”
I think about Slade’s question for a beat before my fingers resume their movements. “Yes. No. A bit of both. Mostly because it was so unexpected. I mean, you’ve never looked my way before, then all of a sudden you’re claiming me as your own. To be honest, I don’t get it.”
His quiet chuckle rumbles beneath my ear. “Trust me, I fucking noticed. I just didn’t want to be led by my cock to someone who I knew could easily fuck me over.”
I raise my head to look at him in the low light cast from the desk lamp, and his grey eyes flick from me to the ceiling.
“Fuck you over?”
“Yeah, like, I can’t explain it any other way than sometimes the person you know will grind your gears the most will make you fall the hardest.”
“Like, break your heart?” I clarify, trying to snag his eye contact.
“Guess so, little bird.”
“Na uh, don’t do that shit!”
His eyes cut to mine. “What shit?”
“Shut down again.”
A scoff catches in his throat. “I remember telling you the same thing a few days ago.”
“Well, it’s bullshit. Besides, I like getting to know you. I’ve seen you around enough when I’ve been at the clubhouse or with Griz, but I’ve never known the real you.”
“What do you want to know?” he asks casually, his gaze filling with caution yet honesty.
“I want to know what makes Kalem Edwards tick. What made him the man he is today. Why he turned to the Hades Horsemen in the first place.”
I remember when I first laid eyes on the new prospect; he was seventeen, and I just thirteen. I was instantly heart-throbbing over the guy who, ten years later, would become the VP after my father died.
“That’s a fuck load of questions, Tove.”
“Short version,” I implore, grabbing his dick for a little incentive.
Slade growls and angles his hips to grind harder into my hand, and warmth instantly pools between my legs. I’m down for some more Slade action, but first I want a few answers. That doesn’t mean I stop him when he pulls me on top of him so he can lick a path across my chest.
I sit up before the rest of my resolve slips completely. He snarls and reaches for my breasts again, massaging them in his palms.
“Now you’re just getting distracted.”
“Can’t fucking help it,” he murmurers, eyes locked on where his fingers work.
“What do you remember of your mum?”
With my question, he immediately drops his hands to my thighs with a deep sigh. His stubble scrapes against his fingertips when he scratches his chin and eyes me carefully.
“What do you know already?”
“Well,” I start, lying on top of him again. “You were in foster care and joined the club at seventeen. And that was after your mum left…”
I knew this subject was a touchy one. Hell, I didn’t even get to meet my mum—she died giving birth to me. Even though it wasn’t my fault, I still feel overwhelming guilt about the fact that she gave her life for me to have mine. I’d rather she lived to be a mother for Griz and a wife for my father. Despite growing up in the club community, I longed for her. I could tell Dad had been lonely, and as much as he’d taken solace in other women from time to time, I could see in his eyes that it didn’t help take away his underlying sorrow.
“Hey…” Slade cups my cheek and runs his thumb across my lips that I didn’t realise were downturned. “I know it still hurts. Fuck, Griz told me what happened to your mum.”
“At least he has a few memories. I’ve got nothing apart from my own reflection.”
According to people who knew my mother, I look a lot like her. That was surely the reason I used to catch my old man staring at me from time to time with blatant sadness in his eyes.
“Give me that over my own memories any day,” Slade mumbles.
I prod his chest and keep going until he snags my hand.
“Babe, I’m not all sunshine and marigolds on the inside. There’s some fucked-up shit going on in there. I mean, you know what a guy like me carries within him.”
Frustration boils in his eyes and his lips press into a hard line to hide how pissed he really is.
“Kalem, yes I know what goes on behind club doors, and I know that most members carry a darkness that consumes them in different ways. I’m under no illusion of what your life holds, because it’s my life too.”
I pick up his hand and kiss the tattoos on the back of his fingers.
“These hands have blood on them, Tove. A lot of blood.”
“Good thing I’m not squeamish then.”
Slade smirks and playfully nips my fingers when I run them across his mouth. We’re both looking each other over when he speaks. He’s not hesitant, yet his words come out soft, like he doesn’t want to hear them pass his lips.
“Mum was never the same after Mariposa died as a toddler; she drank her pain away, whereas Dad used his fists. Mum eventually had enough—don’t blame her for that at all—and left one night while Dad and I slept. No goodbye, no note, nothin’. Dad tried for a little while to man up and look after me, but when I turned up to school with a bruised cheek, the authorities got involved. He didn’t fight for me, even had my bags packed that afternoon and didn’t bother waving from the door as I was driven away. Fuck…” Slade pauses and runs a hand over his chin again. “Basically, after bouncing around a few foster homes, the Millers welcomed me into their mishmash family where other kids like me lived. It was good for a while until I got into shit they weren’t happy about when I was sixteen. By seventeen, we’d all had enough, so I bunked out one night and lived rough for a while. That’s around the time I met Griz, and he’s had my back ever since. Well, I thought he did until he sent me around here to babysit your arse.”
“I didn’t fucking hear you complaining about my arse an hour ago.”
“I ain’t complaining about it now, e
ither,” he chuckles and jiggles said arse cheeks up and down.
“Did you ever try to look for them? Your parents, I mean? I can try to do some digging…”
There was always a part of me that felt missing without my parents in this world, and I wondered if Slade felt a similar void in his life.
He scoffs. “Don’t even think about it. Besides, for what? They mean nothing to me now. Plus, I cut ties from the Millers for their own safety. All I have is right here with the club. They are my only family now. And you,” he adds a little shyly.
Fuck, I think he just gave me a tiny piece of his heart, and goddammit, I accepted it eagerly.
“There aren’t many families that willingly kill for one another,” I agree.
“I’d kill for you, Tove, without a fucking doubt.”
I snigger. “Not gonna lie, that turns me on.”
Slade chuckles. “You’re one in a million.”
“Try one in a hundred million,” I grin.
“Don’t I bloody know it!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Slade
“Ready to head out?”
“Do I look ready to you?”
I give Tova a once over, then another because goddammit my dick already wants another go. All her tight black clothing and high-heeled boots are turning me into a walking hard-on. We’ve already fucked three times, and every taste I get further fuels my cravings. She’s dangerous like that; any woman who could easily bring a man to his knees should be steered clear of, especially in the life we live. Tova is no exception. I’ve known it all along and yet still, here I am, being led by the cock when I spent years avoiding her as much as possible purely for that reason. Unfortunately, it’s not just me and my dick in this now; a sliver of my heart joined the party last night.
We’re all officially fucked.
“Yeah, you do. Get your shit, I’ve got business today.”
Her eyes cut to mine. “You leave. I’m taking my car.”
I take a deep breath, quickly coming to the end of my patience. “No, you aren’t. Your arse is on the back on my Hog or on my dick, no exceptions,” I growl. “I’ll pick you up after work too, so don’t think you’re skipping out early.”