ONE MORE RIDE

by Sophia Gray

  “Oh yeah,” one of the other Russians cried loudly. “This is awesome!”

  “Shut up,” Sergey said in a lazy voice. “More,” he commanded Val. Sergey jerked his hips forward, shoving his cock all the way down Val’s throat. She masterfully moved her hand up and down the shaft, all while sucking like a pro. As Val moved her body up and down in time with Sergey’s thrusts, Sergey reached down and began to fondle Val’s breasts through her shirt. She moaned loudly.

  “Guys,” Sergey said. “You have to try this. She’s amazing.” He glanced down at Val with passion in his eyes. She bobbed her head up and down on his cock, eagerly sucking and wrapping her free arm around his waist to pull him close. One of the other men shoved his hand down his own pants and started to jack off as he watched. I felt the area between my legs grow moist and damp. Stop it, you fucking sicko, I thought to myself. You’re watching your best friend give some stranger head. This isn’t hot, it’s creepy! But I couldn’t turn the delicious sensations in my body off. The more Val pleasured Sergey, the more I thought about Isaac and the way I’d used to pleasure him.

  “Candace,” Isaac groaned loudly. His hands tangled in my hair and yanked my scalp until it was almost painful. “Candace, don’t stop!”

  I was on my knees, kneeling on the ground and sucking Isaac’s cock. His jeans were around his ankles and my hands were cupping his balls and stroking his shaft as masterfully as I could manage. In my mouth, his rock-hard erection was pulsing and twitching with pleasure. I closed my eyes, savoring the salty, musky taste of Isaac’s skin. I wanted to bury my face in his crotch and inhale, to keep that smell with me forever. It was the smell of lust, the smell of Isaac’s own desire for me.

  “Oh, Candace,” Isaac moaned, louder than ever before. Pleasure and greed shot through me and I continued sucking as hard as I could. “I’m gonna come! Don’t stop!”

  I grabbed onto Isaac and pulled him close, putting my lips over my teeth and sucking until I thought I’d bruise the surface of his tender cock. As he began to spasm and twitch, I swallowed his cock into my throat and moaned softly, hoping the vibrations would please Isaac even further. My knees ached from the ground but I didn’t care; I was pleasing my man, and I wouldn’t stop until he was finished.

  As Isaac grunted and thrust his hips against my face, I felt the hot cum begin to trickle and spew from the tip of his cock. It gushed against my throat in sticky ropes and I swallowed it all, savoring the taste of him. Isaac always tasted perfect: salty and a little sweet, not too bitter. I loved doing anything I could to please him, and sucking him off was no exception.

  When I opened my eyes, my hands were in my panties and I was moaning softly. My clit was hard and swollen and my hand was almost numb from rubbing myself so intently. Val was on her knees in front of one of the other guys. Sergey was standing there with a dazed look on his face, rubbing his crotch. His jeans were back up and he was glancing down at Val with less interest than before.

  Val finished; the other guy moaned loudly and stepped back. Val leaned over and spat a mouthful of cum on the ground.

  “I’m ready to go,” she said softly, in the same flirtatious voice as before. “And you know I’ll be here on Saturday, ready to waste those Jungle’s Thorns assholes.”

  Sergey laughed, throwing his head back. “You get ’em, Thorn. We’ll be here.”

  Val smiled and turned her back, walking towards me. Quickly, I wiped my hand off on my jeans.

  “That went well,” Val said as she climbed on her bike. “You see how easy those men are to manipulate?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t necessarily approve of what Val had done. When I got into the MC game, I didn’t like the idea that women were responsible for sex. No, I wanted things to be even and on the same playing field as they were with me. I wanted our currency to be just that: money. I didn’t want to get a reputation for what Val had just done.

  “That could have been handled in another way,” I said sharply, forgetting how much it had turned me on. Already, Isaac and his hard cock were shoved out of my mind. These days, it felt like my heart and my brain were at war. And sometimes I didn’t think they’d ever be reconciled again.

  “It was something,” Val said with a smirk. “You just don’t wanna take my advice, Stephy. But sometimes you gotta get down and dirty with those men. That’s the only way they’d ever respect me.”

  I frowned. “I don’t think respect is the right word. We need to know that we can trust them. I don’t give a shit about respect unless it’s coming from my girls.”

  Val laughed again. “And they didn’t say a goddamn word about Kyle, either. I knew you were hoping to hear something. What are you gonna tell Alexa?”

  I revved my bike into gear and pulled the helmet over my head. “I’m gonna tell her that he’s gonna be fine,” I said smoothly. “Because that’s the truth, and you know it. They won’t hurt him, not when all that cash is riding on the line.”

  “And there’s one more thing,” Val countered. “Just how are we supposed to get our hands on those guns? If the Jungle’s Thorns assholes show up with the cash, how do I know the Russians won’t just fuck us over?”

  I stared at her. “This is exactly what I was talking about when you wanted to get the cops involved,” I said slowly. “I told you, there are gonna be some huge logistical issues that we need to work out. And you didn’t listen, Val. You were fucking convinced that you knew the answer to everything.”

  Val sneered at me. “You’re a bitch,” she said softly. “I don’t know why anyone listens to you. You can’t even figure out the rest of the goddamn plan!”

  She sped off before I could reply. I had half a mind to pull the gun out of my waistband and shoot her in the back but I managed to somehow breathe and talk myself out of it. Val was right, though; I’d had no real sense of what this plan would do to my girls. And now we were almost about to go at it with no sense of what was right and what was wrong. Maybe the cops would ruin everything. Maybe the Russians would smell a rat and not even show up, in which case I’d have two angry parties coming at me. Isaac would want me dead for the betrayal and Alexa would want me dead for letting her precious Kyle get in the way.

  I swallowed hard. This wasn’t good. I had to go see Isaac or shit was going to get even worse.

  Chapter Seventeen

  y the time I got to the bar where all the Jungle’s Thorns hung out, my heart was pounding in my chest like a jackhammer. My gaze darted around, checking each corner for some lurking biker with a gun or a hammer. I knew that I wasn’t welcome here, but I didn’t know what to do. If I didn’t talk to Isaac and find out what was going on, shit was going to go south. Fast.

  I snuck around to the back of the bar. There was a gravel lot with a few cars up on blocks and half an old oil drum being used as a barbecue. The air smelled like cigarettes and toxic fumes and I coughed, muffling the sound in the leather sleeve of my jacket It was hotter than hell but I didn’t dare take it off; my skin was so pale that I knew I’d glow bright white in the darkness. Easy, Stephanie, I told myself as I slipped close to the building. The back door was open and I could see the kitchen, just barely, through a crack. Some workers were laughing and chattering away in Spanish as they cooked and slung drinks. Stepping close, the scent was a heady mix of rice and grilled meat. My mouth watered as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When all of this is over, I’m going out for a nice steak. If I’m still alive at the end, that is.

  Finally, I spotted a locked door to the right of the kitchen. It was dark, with windows overhead. Bingo. This must be what I need: a storeroom! I walked closer and pulled a knife and a tool out of my pocket, angling for the lock. With my jaw set and my teeth grinding together, I worked hard at the metal clasp until it came apart in my hands. The metal pieces dropped to the gravel with a tiny clink and I pushed the door open.

  Inside, the room was dark and smelled like grease. I tried to feel the wall for a switch but there was nothing there. Instead, I saw a bulb
hanging on a naked wire from the ceiling. I frowned and pulled my cell phone out, putting the flashlight on and sweeping it around the room. The only things on the ground were a hammer and an old wooden crate. Even though it didn’t look particularly sinister to me, a chill passed down my spine. I realized that I was completely in over my head. I had no idea about how Jungle’s Thorns behaved when I wasn’t around, and I was starting to discover that I didn’t want to find out.

  My heart was racing as I crept towards the other side of the room. There was a door—bolted and locked—with a thin strip of bright yellow light underneath. I figured that on the other side was the bar, and the noises overhead were coming from the bedroom where I'd interrogated Isaac. Even though it hadn't been more than a few days ago, it already felt like half a lifetime had passed. Already since then, I'd seen my club take steps towards getting pulled apart and rising up against me. But I couldn't think about that anymore, not now. I had a fucking job to do, and I was going to get it done.

  There was music playing in the bar and I waited until the volume was at an ear-splitting level before gently shoving the door open. Yellow light spilled into the grimy room and I jumped back in a rush, my breath catching in my throat as I tried to keep from being discovered. With my stomach churning, I slowly slipped out of the room.

  Once I was at the bar, I relaxed a great deal. It was packed, there was a bad band on stage and lots of drunk people swaying around and singing loudly. The room was filled with smoke and I saw a lot of women and guys who weren’t wearing Jungle’s Thorns jackets. For the first time in quite a while, I actually felt really lucky. This was much better than if I’d just stumbled on Isaac alone. At least now I wouldn’t have to deal with him.

  The bartender, Minnie, remembered me. She pushed a drink at me and winked. “Did Isaac ever find you?” She grinned at me. “He sure was looking!”

  “Oh, he found me,” I said, too quietly for Minnie to hear. Slipping a twenty-dollar bill across the counter, I flashed her the biggest grin I could muster. “Don’t tell him I’m here tonight!” I said loudly, toasting my drink in the air.

  Minnie nodded. She pretended to zip her lips and then mimed throwing the key over her shoulder. “You got it,” she said with a grin. I had to grin back; I had no idea whether or not she was full of shit but for once, I wanted to trust someone. I wanted to believe that not everyone in the world was out to do me harm.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about Sergey and his band of thuggish Russians. Sure, Val could manipulate them with sex for now. She wouldn’t be able to once they were used to her. Aside from a few exceptions, that was how men were. They didn’t care about you if you were old news. I swallowed hard and took a long gulp of my drink. The alcohol burned my throat but it was a welcome sensation: it reminded me that I was alive and on a mission. Val may have gotten one deal out of these guys, but her actions made me concerned for the future. What would happen if Sergey decided he was sick of getting sucked off by Val and wanted another woman? What if they tried to hurt one of us? What if, god forbid, something happened to Jessica again?

  I had to look out for my girls, even if it was the last thing I did. And I didn't want to hurt our new found deal with the arms' dealers, but that was something I was going to have to deal with. We'd find a new supplier if we had to; there was always looking for someone to sell guns to. But it would be the difficulty of moving past such a betrayal. That was what would really be hard. Not an attack, but the moving on part.

  Someone grabbed my shoulder and spun me roughly around. I was confused for a matter of seconds until I saw Isaac’s face looming in the darkness. He was giving me such a sharp look that my mouth went dry and I swallowed hard. In my chest, my heart started up again, thumping wildly.

  “Hi,” I said. Isaac came closer; I could smell his musk and between my legs began to grow wet and slippery again. I remembered my earlier action of masturbating while Val worked on the Russians and I shivered, hard.

  Isaac shook his head. He was frowning intensely and despite my fear, another hard shiver of desire coursed through my body. “Where the fuck did you go?”

  I shrugged. “I had business to take care of,” I said. I had to whisper loudly. The bar was so loud that I could barely hear Isaac. His lips moved a full second before I could hear his words.

  “Yeah, right,” Isaac scoffed. “That’s not the kind of business you take care of, that’s what you make your girls do.”

  I stared at him, my heart caught in my throat. Was it possible that somehow Isaac had already found out about our rendezvous with Sergey and the Russians? Had Alexa called him about Kyle? Had Val said something?

  My head was swimming. Without taking my eyes off Isaac, I downed the rest of my drink and slammed the glass on the counter.

  “I’m not talking to you about this,” I announced. Minnie walked over and passed me two full shot glasses. Even though I figured one of them was for Isaac, I took both anyway, until my head was swimming in whiskey. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against my hand. This wasn’t going the way I’d wanted it to. Not at all.

  Isaac grabbed my wrist, sending my head flying. We were face-to-face, eye-to-eye, our foreheads almost touching. The tension in the room was so thick that I could have cut it with a knife but all I could do was stare into Isaac’s mesmerizing green eyes. The last time we’d done this, we’d been nineteen years old and full of love and naïveté. Nothing would ever be like that again, so why did it feel like this?

  “Come upstairs,” Isaac hissed loudly. “We need to talk.”

  I swung off the stool, my head spinning from the booze. I need to work on my tolerance, I thought with an amused snort as I followed Isaac through the crowded bar. He wove such a fast path through the crowd that once or twice I thought I was going to lose him.

  In the room, I sat down on the bed and spread my knees, letting my elbows rest on them. “What do you want?”

  Isaac came closer and I inhaled sharply. I thought he was going to touch me but he stopped just shy of where I sat. Glaring at me, he shook his head. “You need to tell me what’s going on,” Isaac said in a low voice. “You shouldn’t even be here right now, do you know that?”

  I shrugged. “I had to come see you,” I said in a rush. “There’s so much shit going on. One of my girls is flipping—” When I realized what I was doing, I clamped my lips tightly together. “I mean, one of my girls is upset,” I said, this time in a calmer voice. “She thinks you’re setting Kyle up.”

  Isaac laughed drily. “Kyle is a fucking moron,” he said in a low voice. “He doesn’t know what’s good for himself or good for the club. When he gets back, I’m kicking him out.”

  There was an odd metallic taste in my mouth, and I wondered if it came from discussing club business with someone who was technically a rival. Isaac didn’t know anything about the Succubi and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I was telling him. It was like he’d slipped some kind of truth serum into my drink and now he was playing me exactly as he wanted.

  “Look,” Isaac said sharply. “We have to agree right now that shit is messy. But this doesn’t have anything to do with us,” he added. “You girls can’t just go around looking for vengeance and attacking random strangers because they’re men,” he said. “Just because my guys broke into your party doesn’t mean they’re rapists.”

  My mouth felt odd again. I racked my brain, trying to remember our previous conversation. Sure, I’d told him about Jessica’s attack. But I hadn’t said anything yet about Val, and what she’d supposedly seen.

  I shook my head. “They’re not doing anything random,” I said. “You and your guys don’t have to worry,” I added, praying that Isaac wouldn’t be able to tell that I was lying. “They’re just suspicious right now. After all, Alexa’s with Kyle. She doesn’t want to hate you guys. None of us do.”

  Isaac stared at me. Finally, he sat down in a wooden chair that was pushed against the door. He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head
. “I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Isaac said slowly. “Everything’s going to hell right before my eyes.”

  I couldn’t help but gasp a little. It was as if, and not for the first time, Isaac had read my mind completely.

  Isaac smirked. “What is it? Cat got your tongue?” He winked at me and all of a sudden I was transported back to when Isaac and I were just normal people in love. I stared at him headily for a few moments, not wanting to believe that it was really him. It was easier to think that Isaac was nothing to me, that I didn’t care about what happened to him or his goddamn club.

  But deep down, I knew that wasn’t true.

  “Nothing,” I scoffed. “My girls are giving me grief right now, though.” I paused, wanting so badly to tell him about Val’s accusations. “And it’s not really something that I think is gonna get any better with time.” I stretched and Isaac followed the lines of my body, up all the way to the ceiling. “They’re all dying for a revolution, whatever the fuck that means. It’s like they all forgot that they’re part of the Succubi.” I snorted, rolling my head from one side to the other. “You know, when I formed an MC, it wasn’t because I thought my girls deserved anything like autonomy. There’s a clear hierarchy, you know? You don’t form a group like that just to rip it apart from the inside out—it would be like electing an anarchist as president.”