by Nicole Snow
“Shut up!” Blaze roared. He turned to Saffron, a tenderness behind his fury. “What the hell's she talking about, baby? Is she telling the truth?”
“I don't owe you shit. What went down with him is our secret. Not yours and not this damned quack's!” Marianne pointed to Tank. Her eyes darted to Saffron, Blaze, me.
“You'd better start talking, lady.” Moose reached up and jerked on her hair. “Tell us what the fuck's happening here. Don't forget this is our fucking clubhouse, and you just clawed up a brother's old lady. You got no fucking right to anything.”
Blaze nodded. “He's right. Don't let all the fucking you do in that room go to your head, bitch. You're nothing, here for my boys' pleasure. That's it. Any girl who's been claimed will always mean more than your over-stretched pussy.”
My eyes went to Tank. His huge chest was rising and falling in big waves behind his cut. The bastard was nervous about something.
Fuck it. I had to get to the bottom of this.
Before anyone could jump and hold me back, I stomped forward, looking straight through Marianne as I reached up and slapped her across the face. Hard.
The whore's jaw dropped. Her whole face twitched, rage and sadness dashed with cold shock.
“Spit it out, you bitch. We don't have all day.”
Roller's hands were on my shoulders before I knew it. He pulled firmly until I took a step back.
I let out a heavy sigh, cheeks on fire.
Mark was going to have a field day with this. Whatever. I'd kept my word, and the only drama he was going to get would be useless to the Feds.
“Okay!” Marianne shrieked at last, slowing her next breaths as Moose gave her hair another warning tug. “Okay, okay, okay...you want the fucking honest-to-God truth?”
She looked up. All the brothers were watching as she stared me down, clearing her throat like it was full of mud. Tank's eyes were fixed on her, tight like they were about to explode.
“Tank and I never did shit. The only time he came to me was for a massage after his workouts. He never saw me naked once except when I was next to Stinger, napping in between lays. One day, this giant bastard comes –“
Blaze interrupted, raising a finger. “Watch your fucking tongue. You talk like that about a brother again, and your ass is gone.”
She sniffed. “He comes in with a stack of bills when everybody's moping around. He still had his cane. He told me we'd been fucking all day, ordered me to lie to anybody who asked. He paid me to bullshit.” Marianne shrugged. “Easy money, so I took it. Not half as fun as it really would've been riding his cock, though.”
I closed my eyes, a big vein twitching in my temple. When they popped open, I wanted to throw myself at her, claw the bitch to pieces for doing this and fucking with Saffron's cut. But deep down inside, I knew the whore didn't deserve it.
The only fucker who deserved hell for his stupid, stupid mistake was staring right at me. I jerked, broke Roller's hold, and ran. I heard his boots pounding the floor, coming to catch me, but Blaze yelled first.
“Let her go!” He growled. “Man, fuck this sideshow. I'd call Marianne a worthless bitch for what she's done, but I wonder if maybe you deserve it more, Tank.”
Tank. No. No, no, no...
My legs hurt, overwhelmed with the crazy emotions surging through me. I was almost to my car when I heard his voice.
“Emma! Fucking wait! Let me explain this shit...”
I threw myself in and left my seat belt off. I had to get going, had to get away from all this before I lost my mind. By some strange miracle, my hands jabbed the key into the ignition in one jerk, and I floored it. If the gate wasn't open for the truck with the weapons, I would've crashed right through it, tearing away as fast as I could.
So, that was it. The asshole lied to me. He had betrayed me – just not the way I thought. And now my stupid brain was trying to decide if this was better or worse than having his dick inside that nasty fucking bitch.
I never understood how I got my car home without running straight off the road or plowing into another car. My eyes were so teared up I couldn't see the mountains, the only things that never changed in this screwed up, brutal world.
When I got home, the first thing I did was fling open my purse and switch the damned bug off. I'd left it in the infirmary the whole time, so that one didn't pick up anything except my conversation with Saffron.
My phone had been ringing off the hook. Half a dozen missed messages from Saffron. One from Blaze's burner phone.
I slammed it on the counter. I'd leave a message for Saffron later about caring for her hand, but that was it. Slumping against the wall, my hands went for my belt, trying to work off the stupidly tight clasp to get the recorder off.
I was so distracted I didn't hear the motorcycle roar in until it was right on top of me.
Damn! What now?
Muttering and shaking my head, I stomped to the door, wondering if Blaze and Saffron had followed after all. If they had, I was determined to tell them both to lay the hell off. Let me have my space. Right now, the club was aiming all its drama in my direction. Saffron's injury was minor enough to count me out.
Sure, I signed up to treat everything and stay on call. But I never agreed to having my heart torn out on a daily basis and hearing different stories from an asshole crush and a biker skank.
The locks clicked open and I yanked the door open. There was no mistaking Tank's huge shape for anyone in the early autumn darkness.
“Can I come in? We need to fucking talk, babe.” He had one hand on the door.
Something told me if I said no, he'd tear the flimsy screen right off and climb in anyway. Fury beat thick in my heart, reverberating to the furthest corners of my body. God, why was it always such a shock to see him?
I couldn't remember a time when I'd ever looked at Tank and felt anything less than agonizing pain or giddy hope. He was a living, breathing, tattooed drug. Like any other drug, he was bad for me, even when he felt amazing. And despite my best efforts, he just kept finding his way home, no matter how we tried to keep our space.
I shrugged. “Fine.”
His intense mask slipped. Surprise glowed in his eyes, but he wasn't wasting any time. The door jerked open and he stepped in.
I didn't retreat. There was no fighting this anymore, no brakes on this crazy fucking train slamming straight into my life, wrecking what little I had left. My fists were shaking at my sides as I forced myself to look at him.
Look, damn you. Really, really look.
“What happened back there was fucked up,” he said, coming closer. “You were never supposed to know. I should've known better than to trust a filthy whore.”
“Oh, you mean you know how it feels to have somebody feed you bullshit?”
Anger flashed on his huge, handsome face, and then boiled back, leaving sad acceptance. “Never meant to hurt you, Em. You gotta know that's the last goddamned thing in the world I'd ever want. You were supposed to keep away from me, forget my ass, live your life without getting shredded by my violence and hurt...”
Wow. How was it possible for a man to talk like he was so damned concerned and be so oblivious simultaneously?
I shook my head. “You don't get it, do you, Tank? I was ready for you. Ready for the stupid club too and your place there, despite the things about it that scared the hell out of me. I can face my fears. You're the one who can't.”
Oh, that pissed him off. He stepped forward, his huge body driving me several clumsy steps backward, and then against the wall. But Tank kept coming, only stopping when he hovered over me, the six foot plus giant he was.
“If any man called me a coward in the line of duty, I'd knock his fucking teeth out.” He paused, nostrils flaring, snorting a sharp breath. Then we locked eyes. “Just between you and me, you're goddamned right. Don't know why I can't just let go, walk away, make us both forget about all this shit for good. With you, babe, I'm a fucking chump and a coward. I can't stand thinking about
you getting hurt, but I can't stay the fuck away either. I don't even know what the fuck's going through my splitting, bleeding skull anymore, not since you put your fire there and made it burn through bone.”
He raised his arms and slapped his fists gently on the wall. It was like a gigantic, frustrated lion standing over me. Except this lion was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. I had to think hard just to keep breathing.
Big mistake. Whenever I sucked in a breath, my lungs were filled with him, that divine mix of spice, sweat, and engine oil that always swirled around him.
“Truth is, I'm confused as hell. Not just because I'm scared of some asshole throwing you on his bike and keeping you ransom – or doing something worse like what those fucking jackals did to Saffron. I'm scared shitless you'll take over every atom in my body. It'll all be yours, babe, and I won't be able to do a goddamned thing. If you're on my mind like this right now, then what the hell would it be like if you were mine?”
Hot energy seethed inside me. I was shaking, overheated, losing myself in the churning blood surging through every capillary. Every glance his way sent lava pumping through my veins and fire in my panties. My heart beat so ragged with want and hate and need I thought it was going to breakdown right there and leave me collapsing in his massive tattooed arms.
Not the worst way to go. Or was it?
He was conflict incarnate. So frustrating and so damned irresistible at once, everything I wanted and everything I should've had the good sense to avoid.
What kind of woman does this? How could I possibly want anything to do with him after he'd lied to me? But how could I ever let him go when hot, wet, and desperate didn't begin to describe what blew up inside me every fucking time I was in his presence?
I felt like I was losing my mind. Tank was frustrated too, his huge chest rising and falling just inches away from me. Neither of us had the words for the harsh lightning building between us.
Energy came, hot and swift, magnetic and mad. It did the talking, all pheromones and blood, especially when it zipped up my thighs and stopped, pulsing in my center.
“Look at me, babe. You understand what I'm trying to tell you?”
His arm slid down, hand open. He gently laid it on my head and reached his fingers out, tracing my jawline, stopping on my chin.
Don't look. Don't look. Don't look!
The mantra was worthless. When Tank lifted my head, I dove into his eyes, surrendering to their honey hued tides.
“I'm trying to tell you how fucking sorry I am for everything I've done. I was too damned stupid to realize I was the only threat you had all along, the only bastard hurting you. I'm the one who wasted all this time, constantly trying to push you away, blasting my fucked up brain with Jack 'til I hoped I wouldn't wake up the next day with your ghost in my skull...”
I shivered, fighting back tears. He wasn't lying. Everything he did hurt like hell, but then he suffered too. God, how he'd suffered, a good man turned into a cold, lifeless drunk all because we were apart.
“Let me tell you something else,” he continued, his voice a firm whisper. “Everything I fucked up, I'm gonna set right. I promise, babe, and I'm swearing now like I've never sworn on anything in my whole damned life. I can't have your beautiful body dancing in my head twenty-four seven anymore, knowing I can never reach out, touch you, fuck you.”
My eyes went wide. I knew how bad he wanted it – both of us – but now he'd said it. For the first time, he'd admitted how much he wanted his hard slab of a body pressed up against mine, a hot boulder crashing over me, driving deep.
The fever in my veins went from smoldering to inferno. I pushed my tongue against the roof of my mouth and tried not to pant, too stupid with desire for words.
Jesus, did I ever have a single prayer? The way lust instantly decimated my anger screamed no, and now I was falling into him, lost in his words, his power, his delicious musk.
“I never fucked a whore and I ever will again. How could I drop down to that after tasting your lips? It's like going back to crude fucking moonshine after sipping smooth Kentucky booze. You hear me, babe? You understand what I'm saying?” He sucked in a deep breath, curling his hand behind my neck. “Don't tell me no. You do that, you better get Blaze on the line. Somebody's gonna have to haul my ass away in a straight jacket, wrapped up like a fucking mummy, if you tell me all these little love bites are never gonna lead to the whole damned feast.”
His hand went down, tracing my spine, rubbing the soft fabric of my shirt. Heat darted beneath my skin, spreading everywhere he touched.
Mindless. Consuming. Wild.
Insatiable.
I pulled forward, leaning into him. The energy between us was wrapped around my neck like a leash, and I couldn't resist his sexy gravity a second longer.
Tank was ready. So was I.
His lips crashed into mine. As soon as they did, the fire shot to my head, only to hit the ceiling and go racing back down again. I didn't know it was possible to feel so damned wet and hot at once until his tongue plunged into my mouth.
He kissed me deep, twining his tongue with mine, and then veering back to brush past my lips again and again and again. He was already fucking me, mouth to mouth, dirty and delightful.
I turned into aching mush in his hands. Tank caught me as I started to slip, moaning into his mouth. The little noises only seemed to feed him. Soon, he was pouring his hot breath into me, fanning the flames in my depths.
His body crashed forward, pinning me to the wall. Both his hands caught my ass and squeezed. When he had his feel, he grunted, satisfied but still so needy.
My hips rolled against his. His nasty, nasty tongue wasn't enough. The new shock hit him and he broke the two minute kiss, sucking in sorely needed air.
“Fuck! No more teases, babe. This cat and mouse shit's gone on way too fucking long. I'm gonna show you something you'll never forget. I'm gonna fuck you senseless, Em. Every inch. Every damned nerve. Every rosy, pink little tip of your skin's gonna sing for me.”
He fell to his knees, hitting the wooden floor with a loud bang. I gasped as he hugged my legs and pulled me tight, throwing my hands on his shoulders for support.
“I'm claiming you now, babe. Long overdue, so fucking long. Need to mark my place right between your thighs. And when I stake what's mine, there's no going back. I don't give a shit if we still have issues. We'll work them out, hot and wet and sticky. Flesh speaks louder and truer than any words ever will.”
I spun back against the wall as he reached around. His strong hands began tugging on my pants, faster and swifter than any man I'd been with before. Tank obviously knew his way around, or else his confidence put to shame all the boys I'd bedded before.
Right here, right now, this was a man.
For one terrifying second, I feared he'd brush the stupid wire still clipped to my belt. If he found it, I was a whole different kind of fucked.
But no, he skimmed past, missing it. His thumb popped my clasp and my zipper went down. He grabbed both sides of my hips and pulled, unwrapping me, baring me to him.
Sweet, cool autumn air kissed my legs as my pants fell. I moved to step out of them, trying to get out of the hot mess and into the cool, before he bathed me in fire all over again.
“Fuck, babe. Don't move a muscle. You're so fucking wet...” One hand went between my thighs and spread, cupping my mound through the thin soaked fabric. “Stay still. We don't need to go anywhere 'til I deal with this sweet fucking pussy...”
“Tank, no, I need to –“
He wasn't taking anymore denials. No ifs, no ands, no buts.
Growling, he jerked my panties down in one swift pull by the sopping wet gusset, leaving me exposed, naked and shamefully dripping.
Finally, I was beginning to understand what it meant to be claimed.
Tank's face pushed deep, straight between my legs. His stubble ranked my thighs on his way up, kissing and licking and ravishing my skin. My legs started to shake. Little whi
mpers escaped my mouth.
Men were supposed to be the ones who had to worry about coming too quickly, dammit. But here I was, terrified I was going to go to pieces the instant his mouth landed on my clit.
Good thing it wasn't a long wait.
My thighs convulsed, locking around his head as he pushed his tongue in, diving for the slick, wet center. His tongue snaked across my folds, teasing at first. Each lick against my velvet heat got faster, stronger, harder.
Oh, God. My fingers tensed on his huge shoulders. He seemed to like the sharp sting of my nails through his leather cut, moving his head from side to side, deeper into my pulsing core.
The fire was rising up in great waves now. A few more strokes, and there would be no containing it.
Damn him for being so right.
All the pain, all the heartache, all the longing died in this orgasm, this reset. My whole body tensed up and my lungs pumped, desperate to funnel precious air into my trembling body. I was melting down on his face.
My greedy hips shifted, pumping my pussy against his lips, preparing for the way he'd finally fuck me. I couldn't imagine his cock if his tongue was this good, all talent and strength in one handsome bundle, the same as the rest of him.
I didn't dare look down until the fiery end. Just before my eyes rolled back, I pushed one hand through his short spiky hair, feeling him growl against my clit. One touch on my nub and his tongue spread out.
Thick. Demanding. Just like the heat pouring out his eyes.
Come, babe. Let me wring your fucking body out and fill it up with pleasure. Let go.
I didn't hear the words. I felt them, rippling through my flesh, all his commands. I jerked and doubled over as the fire turned hot, wrapping around me and squeezing tight.
When I came, I saw stars, and then white hot nothing. Peaceful, and so fucking perfect.
My brain shut down and wouldn't feel anything else except the ecstasy flooding me. Tank's hot tongue never let up, not for a single second, thrashing more licks around my clit as I gushed and convulsed.
I was a whimpering, lost mess. All the pent up juju came flooding out, electrifying every muscle, banishing all the bad things that went down before.