Knot (Road Kill MC #2)

by Marata Eros

  The feel of rightness as our bodies came together. And we didn’t even have sex.

  Shame has its way with me as I remember Drake almost making me come. With five other men in the room.

  I force my eyes to stay on the road.

  Noose is an open wound. It really doesn't matter how great he was able to make me feel. In the end, any vagina will do.

  I couldn't have sex with him after the ordeal with Drake.

  So Crystal was available, and he got off with her, just minutes after making me cream my panties, the sound of my screams eaten by his mouth.

  I'm certifiable.

  I don't want a man like Noose. He is the worst kind of news.

  He let another woman go down on him with the taste of my orgasm still on his lips.

  God.

  I pull up to my townhome. My stomach tightens.

  “Rose!” Charlies squeaks beside me, bouncing up and down.

  “Shhh,” I say softly. “Let me give the outside a look.”

  My eyes roam every bit of the tidy front yard. Anna's life insurance paid for this tiny condo. Maintenance came as part of the fee.

  I also chose it for how cute it was. The tiny home backs up to a small park with a playground. Our own small yard is fenced.

  Rhododendrons, well past bloom time in late September, have grown to the size of small trees at the corners of the house.

  They’re a great hiding place. My eyes beat against every surface, seeing nothing out of place. The porch light glows a ghostly yellowish, illuminating the porch steps.

  Drake wouldn't hurt Charlie. Property, my mind whispers.

  I shiver.

  “Aunt Rose?” Charlie asks, his brow beginning to wrinkle in concern.

  “Come on,” I say, struggling for courage. Just struggling.

  I lift the door handle, and the door swings out. I step out into the night. The kiss of late summer lingers, but the bite of autumn eats at the edges of the season, threatening to consume it.

  Charlie gets out and slams the door. He comes around to my side and races up the front walk.

  “Hey, pal!” I say loudly. But I'm smiling. It's such a relief to have this part of my life back, I feel like sobbing from that alone.

  He turns, dark eyes hidden by shadow, blond hair a torch of light in the night.

  “Go on,” I say with a laugh. He runs to the porch, upends the terra-cotta pot filled with scarlet geraniums, and grabs the key. He stabs it into the lock and twists. Leaving the key in the lock, he shoves open the door.

  I trot after. Oops. I turn, locking the car with a beep.

  Noose stands beside my car, so quietly I never heard him behind me.

  Breath eases out me like I’m a leaky balloon, and I make an inarticulate sound like a strangled duck.

  “Rose.” It's all he says. My name.

  My pussy floods with moisture like a trained dog.

  Oh my God. I look back at the front door, partially open.

  “I need—” I swallow, hard. Come on, Rose, stop being a dumb bitch. “I need to get in there and see that Charlie's okay.”

  “Don't worry about the kid, Rose. Got Trainer watching the house.”

  Confusion pierces my lust-induced fugue. “Trainer?”

  “Prospect,” Noose explains.

  Oh. I don't like thugs watching me and Charlie. I open my mouth to say so, and Noose strides to me.

  I back up, my ass hitting the garage door I never use. “Stop.”

  “No.” He cages me with his arms.

  I shut my eyes, engulfed by his scent. The sweet, almost vanilla-like smell of WD-40 mingles with leather, smoke, and bike. I suck it in like a demented addict.

  An addict after her next fix.

  An image of Crystal, in sharp focus, going down on Noose's cock chokes out my raging withdrawals. “No,” I say, shoving at his chest.

  Noose doesn't even pause. He presses his gigantic erection against my front, grinding into me. “Yes,” he whispers.

  His lips brush my jaw, trailing featherlight kisses back and forth.

  My face turns so that my mouth is underneath that softly kissing trail.

  Noose groans. “I want you.”

  “Not enough.” I can't believe how convinced I sound.

  “I want you. Only you.” His arms wrap me, and I shake free of my lust.

  Lies. Crystal worked in a pinch. “No you don't.”

  Noose leans back, studying my face like he'll memorize it forever. “We gonna talk?”

  His eyes are heated silver, scorching every bit of me.

  “No. I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen.”

  Noose's lips twitch. But he says nothing.

  “I know it's not just me you want.”

  Noose's lips thin. “Crystal lied. She told me what she said.”

  My laugh sounds like spun glass in the warm air.

  Noose's eyebrows lift. “What's so funny?”

  “Before or after she blew you like a pro?” I ask, tossing his words back at him.

  He steps back. “What are you talking about?”

  I walk into his space, and he lets me, looking down from his great height.

  Noose is a huge man. I should be afraid.

  I should think about the potential for violence that seems to be like an aura around him.

  I don't. I'm too pissed off to care. “Any woman will do. You don't need only me. Whatever vagina walks by is the hole of the moment.”

  “What?” he roars.

  “Keep your voice down. I don't want Charlie to see you.”

  His face is bitter, and he folds his arms. “Not good enough for you—ashamed?”

  God. No. “No. I… thank you for saving me from Drake.” I swallow my pride. This isn't about me. Noose saved me from Drake. He showed me how expert fingers, lips, and mouth—how all that really worked, how it could be. But I don't need a man who's going to come into my life—and Charlie's—and just leave when the next club slut comes along.

  Charlie deserves more.

  I do too.

  “I am so fucking tired of your Dear John speeches.”

  I glare up at him. “Well, here's one that has nothing to do with a speech. Charlie is more important that whatever this”—I sweep a hand between us—“is.”

  His brows drop like bricks over his eyes, ablaze with steely anger.

  Noose opens his mouth, and I shake my head. “I can't have some man entering my life, only to leave it again because you've found a new knothole to stick your dick into.”

  “That doesn't sound like you, Rose.”

  I nod. “I know. Guilty by association.”

  Noose reaches out and touches my face.

  Tears brim, spilling over my lashes. “I can't do that to Charlie,” I whisper. My gaze meets his. “And I deserve more than being played by you.”

  Noose pulls me against him and whispers in my hair, “I'm not playing games, Rose. I'm sorry that you saw Crystal and me.” He pulls away, framing my face in his hands. “You blew me off. My balls were bluer than fuck, made that way by one woman.” His eyes never leave mine. “You'd just been through that bullshit with Chaos. I couldn't be that much of a dick. No meant no. I got it. You told me to fuck off.”

  I open my mouth, but he presses a finger against my lips and shakes his head. “You needed to. I'm not a gentle man, Rose. I want to fuck you so bad, I won't be able to use my head until I do it. Crystal got the edge off. I don't want her. She was just willing. Right place, right time.”

  “I am not an easy girl, Noose.”

  He barks out a laugh. “No shit.”

  I can't help a little smile, but it fades. “I don't need a man that will fuck anything that walks by.”

  “I can fuck anything that walks by,” he says.

  Arrogant prick. I duck under his arm and start walking up the winding path.

  He grabs my arm, spinning me around.

  I instinctively grab his arms for balance.

  “Ask
me if I want to?”

  My heartbeats pile up, one on top of the other. “Do you?”

  Slowly, Noose shakes his head. “You've fucking neutered me, Rose.”

  “What?” That sounds awful.

  Noose grins at my expression.

  I give a tentative smile in return.

  “There's only one pussy I want. I don't care about you having a kid, not knowing MC life, being a banker. I've tried to figure out why I have to have you. The short answer is: I don't know. What I do know is I don't want to go another day without you in it.”

  I can tell this is a speech for Noose.

  His hands are hard on me. His eyes are tender.

  I shut mine. I can't stand how he looks at me or what he offers. Because I want it all.

  But if I say yes—if I say yes—I'll be like Anna.

  I step out of his hold, and his fingertips trail down my arms like brands of fire.

  “No.” I shake my head, backing away from him.

  “No what, Rose? No, to us? No, to the MC?” His features are thunder. Anger boils beneath the surface, simmering.

  “All of it, Noose.” I jog to my front door, slip inside, and close it.

  I lean against the solid wood, eyes closed, heart thundering. I did the right thing. I did the right thing.

  The right thing feels so wrong, I can hardly breathe.

  Heat builds inside my chest. Tears that have been long held drip down my face while silent sobs stack up and flow out of my mouth.

  Charlie's voice shatters my meltdown. “Aunt Rose?”

  His tone has my eyes snapping open.

  Grinning, Drake is sitting at our tiny two-seater kitchenette with Charlie in his arms.

  The horrible wound at Drake’s neck is abraded and raw. It's already beginning to bruise. I know who put that there.

  Noose. The man I just sent away.

  The man I love.

  THE END

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  ***Note***

  Adult Reading Material.

  Content within intended for readers 18 years and older. Violent and disturbing themes throughout. Might contain triggers.

  THE DRUID SERIES

  A Druid Compilation, 1-3

  Reapers

  Bled

  Harvest

  New York Times Bestselling Author

  MARATA EROS

  All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright © 2011-14 Marata Eros

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Marata Eros Website

  Marata Eros FB Fan Page

  Font art by Bookish Brunette Designs

  Editing suggestions provided by Hazel Novak

  The vampires are a dying race, their females sterile. When it's discovered that human females of Druid ancestry can be viable breeders... the harvest begins.

  Rachel Collins is a young woman living in the frozen north of Alaska in a dead-end job with a circular life. She yearns for something more.

  When murders begin taking place in the city where she lives, she and her girlfriend try to be more cautious, only to be caught in the middle of a dangerous situation in which an unlikely savior emerges.

  Can Rachel escape her destiny while two different factions hunt her?

  REAPERS

  A Druid Series Novella

  Volume 1

  New York Times Bestselling Author

  MARATA EROS

  All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright © 2011 Marata Eros

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Marata Eros Website

  Marata Eros FB Fan Page

  Font art by Bookish Brunette Designs

  Editing suggestions provided by Hazel Novak

  CHAPTER 1

  I looked at the clock, yet again... and knew that if my boss caught me I'd be toast. Safe in my cubicle, I swung my gaze away from the the dreaded time and looked for Michelle. She'd be hanging by the cooler, which she was.

  Michelle caught me looking and lifted her chin up in greeting and grinned. She knew what I was about. It was all about getting out of here and doing something for ourselves. It had been a Long-Damn-Week and I was going to let my hair down and have some fun.

  Michelle wrapped up her conversation with one of the petty chicks that lounged all day while we picked up the slack.

  As Michelle walked toward me, I thought that maybe we wouldn't have to change: pencil skirts, thigh high stockings, stacked heels and blouses that yoked just where they should be to look sexy, nothing too much.

  Michelle stood in front of me, tapping a foot. “Watching the time won't help it go faster.”

  “Yes, I know, but I feel like the day should have ended already.”

  “I've got an idea, let's go to Spinners tonight,” she nearly squealed in delight. I wasn't feelin' the love on that place. It was always packed with a rough crowd and you had to beat the guys off with a bat.

  Michelle saw my expression and started to wheedle immediately, “Listen, give it a half hour and if it's super-lame, we'll just bail and go somewhere else. Like that brewery place... what's it's name?”

  “Talbot's,” I replied absently.

  She snapped her fingers. “That's it!”

  “Listen,” she leaned forward and our hair mingled together, “that new gal... with the red hair...”

  “Molly?” I said, automatically looking around for her.

  “Yeah,” she waved her hand, dismissing the name. “She was talking about that piece of creepy news that's been circulating today.”

  I looked at her blankly.

  “Oh for shit's sake, Rachel! Don't you pay attention to anything?”

  “Not really,” I said noncommittally. My life was beyond boring right now. I worked here, hung out with Michelle, worked out, read, fed my cat. I was dying for some Excitement. Dying. But the news wasn't going to deliver. Excitement... no way.

  “You're hopeless! Anyway,” she sounded the syllables out slowly, “there's been another killing. Another bleed-out.”

  That got my attention.

  It had been almost a month since the first murder and they still hadn't found the killer.

  Then there were the rapes.

  Somehow, it was all connected. Men were killed and drained dry of their blood and if there were women with them, they were raped.

  But none of the women could remember the attack or their attacker.

  Our gazes locked. “So... they found another body. Two, actually.” Michelle said ominously, waggling two fingers.

  Great. Just when I thought we could flounce around for the weekend. Talk about a wet blanket.

  “Maybe... we shouldn't go to Spinners then. I mean, if it's not safe.”

  “Eff-that, you're going! I just wanted to spread the gory gossip.”

  “That's kinda sick, you know.”

  Michelle nodded vi
gorously, she knew.

  I sighed. There was no getting out of it once Michelle had her mind set. And, in my soul... if I didn't get a break from this job and do something out-of-body, I'd scream.

  “I gotcha talked right into it, don't I?” Her eyes sparkled.

  “I guess but, we need to be careful, especially now,” I said in a conspirator’s whisper.

  “Hell, I'm more worried about the regular guys.”

  “Were the women... you know, was there blood... there?” I asked.

  She spun back around, her skirt twirling a little with the motion. “That's the major weird thing, they had all been bitten, but still had their blood. Only a pint gone.”

  Well, wasn't that just comforting.

  Michelle winked as she sauntered off, hips swaying. “Pick ya up at seven sharp.”

  She didn't wait for me to respond. Michelle knew she had me, hook, line and sinker.

  I gathered up all my stuff, slipped my heels back on my feet and headed for the door.

  Unfortunately, my dragon lady of a boss was blocking my way.

  “Miss Collins, I see you're ready to leave.” She looked at her behemoth of a wristwatch. “Two minutes after five.” She raised a humongous unibrow at me and I stifled a giggle. It was hard to be pissed at her when she looked so ridiculous.

  Almost.

  “Yes. That's traditionally when the work day ends for us here, Ms. Hogan,” I replied, thinking with mild irritation that Hogan had me by the short hairs. She knew I needed the job, she couldn't lambast me for leaving when the work day was through, technically. But... she liked to make me feel diminished for leaving so close to the chiming of the clock.

  Hogan looked me over from head to toe, taking in my long black hair, so deep a black it had blue highlights in the right light. My eyes were a pale blue, I was shapely but not skinny, and on the tall side. I didn't consider myself a hot number but I held my own. Hogan, on the other hand looked like she was always trolling for a new bridge.