by Amity Cross
“But I didn’t.” Images of blood burst through my mind.
“That’s not the point!” he exclaimed.
“Just admit it,” I said, fisting my hands into the front of his T-shirt.
“If I admit it…” He ground his teeth, his entire body tensing.
I knew what he was thinking. If he admitted I was right, it meant he’d dropped the ball. It meant he would’ve been responsible if I’d wound up dead back at that gas station. Chaser was obviously not used to losing.
“Get a grip.” I snarled.
We stared at each other for a long time, the tension boiling right up to the flood marker of what I could bear. My grip tightened around his T-shirt, and before I knew what was happening, Chaser fisted his fingers through my hair and kissed me. Hard.
My lips parted with a gasp, and his tongue claimed mine, twisting and diving until he’d stolen all my breath. We fell against the wall, my back colliding with plasterboard as our fevered embrace rose in temperature.
He ground his crotch against my hip, and I moaned as I felt his hardening cock through his jeans. Oh, hell yes.
I shimmied out of my denim jacket, and Chaser tugged at my tank top as I pulled at his T-shirt. Material was dragged over my head, sending my hair everywhere, but I didn’t care. A half-naked alpha asshole was in front of me, his hands going straight for my breasts.
He kneaded as I unhooked the clasp of my bra, then he was pinching my taut nipples, a look of absolute enrapture on his rugged face. He’d finally given in to whatever he’d been fighting, and the sight of Chaser letting loose had me almost creaming my panties on the spot.
“Shit,” he whispered, massaging my breasts. “Shit, shit, shit…”
“Don’t say anything,” I said. “Just scratch the itch, Chaser. Scratch it hard.”
Rubbing my palms over his abs, I dug my fingers into the hem of his jeans, desperately searching for a way in.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close, his lips finding mine. His movements quickened, and his cock felt rock hard, and I knew his desire matched mine. We shared the same hopeless, desperate desire to fuck our brains out. Not just with anyone, but with each other, or no one at all.
We fell onto the bed in a mess of hands and clothing, grinding against one another.
“Get it in me,” I exclaimed with a moan. “I need your cock…”
Chaser threw my leg over his shoulder and curled his fingers underneath the hem of my jeans. He pulled, dragging the annoying material over my hips and down my legs, throwing my pants onto the floor. Forcing my legs open, he was between them in a flash, his trousers around his knees and his cock out.
There was no fingering, licking, kissing, or massaging to work up a sweat before the main event. We’d had an entire week of foreplay, arguing and fucking each other with our sharp words. It was enough to bear the brunt of his alpha asshole vibe to juice me up. That was animal magnetism in a nutshell.
I barely glimpsed Chaser’s cock before I felt him pressing at my opening. I was so wet that when he thrust, he slid right in almost causing me to come on the spot.
My back arched off the mattress as his lips found my breasts, and his tongue laved my taut nipples. He pulled back, then was driving in once more, filling and stretching my body. His hands were masterful, his mouth weaving a pattern of unbearable desire as he sated the beast he’d kept caged within.
He pounded into me, ramming into my clit over and over, the wet slapping of our bodies music to my ears. It was so hot, dirty, and fucking insane. A man had never had me like this. So desperately, so completely.
Chaser fucked me like a man driven insane by lust.
I couldn’t withstand his touch for long, and I came hard, stars erupting across my vision. Chaser’s skin was flushed, his lips parted in ecstasy as he exploded deep in my pussy. Warmth spread as I took every drop, my body shuddering around his as I ground my clit against the base of his cock.
We came down way too soon for my liking, and Chaser collapsed half on and half off me.
“Fuck,” he said, his breath hot against my neck. “I came in you.”
“I’m protected.”
He moaned, his fingers sliding through my seam and dipping into me. He felt himself in me, and his eyes rolled back slightly as he stroked.
“Do you like that?” I whispered.
His gaze found mine and held for a long time as his thumb circled my clit. Sparks of pleasure ricocheted through me as we lay there, the room full of the lingering tang of sex.
“I’m so fucked,” he finally said.
Covering my body again, his lips found mine, and we kissed long and hard. Then his cock slipped into my pussy once more, and we ground the night away. I came three more times—one of those being on his tongue—before the itch of desire had finally been scratched.
We were in so much trouble I didn’t even know where to begin.
Nestling into his side as he drifted off to sleep, he never once pushed me away or spoke a harsh word. It was as if he’d finally resigned himself to the fact he gave a shit about me. Me, the upstart bitch with a mouth the size of Texas.
I didn’t want to fall in love with Chaser, but I understood there was no choice. I would fall or I wouldn’t.
Whoever he was, it didn’t matter. Whoever he might be was a moot point. When the heart got involved, all bets were off.
It was time to redraw the battle lines.
Chapter 16
Chaser
I felt uneasy in the dawn.
Lifting the curtain back from the window with the tip of my finger, I peered out into the parking lot of the motel. Nothing stirred in the immediate vicinity, but further out, I could see the red and white lights of traffic on the highway.
Overhead, the sky was turning. Another day was here, and we were still in the middle of nothing and nowhere. Sitting on the ass crack of America with devils on our tail.
“Chaser?”
Sloane’s sleepy voice echoed behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder.
“Nice ass,” she said. “You giving the neighbors a free show?”
I grunted and leaned my head against the window frame. I just couldn’t help myself…
The sound of rustling blankets signaled she’d climbed out of bed, and then she was behind me, moving as silently as a panther in the darkness. Looking at her, she was still naked, the swell of her breasts drawing my gaze. Her hands were warm to the touch as she rubbed her palms over my bare chest.
I didn’t have the heart to push her away. It was too late for that now we’d fucked. Far too late.
“Why can’t you leave Fortitude?” she asked.
Of all the questions she could’ve asked at that moment, it was the last I wanted to hear. Usually, women wanted a label to stick on the morning after—were we dating, just fucking, in a committed relationship, a one-nighter, etcetera—but not Sloane. She always had some bigger fish to fry.
“I can’t,” I replied, glancing back out the window. The stars were disappearing.
“Explain it to me.”
“I’m indebted to Fortitude,” I said. “That’s why I can’t leave.”
“Why?”
“They did something for me. Something big.”
“And in return, they branded you into slavery,” she whispered, caressing the tattoo on my thumb.
“Sounds fucked up when you put it that way.” I snorted and narrowed my eyes.
What was it about this woman? She had my tongue all fucking loose and shit. With one taste of her pussy, I was teetering on the edge of screwing everything up. If she asked again…shit. If she knew how messed up my head was right now and took advantage, I wasn’t sure I would be able to say no. I wouldn’t put it past her, which made any kind of entanglement a danger to my health.
“What a mess.” She sighed, leaning against me. “How did we get here?”
“Fucked if I know.”
Thankful she hadn’t pressed the ‘where to’ question
, I slid my hand over her little waist and cupped her ass.
She wasn’t the kind of woman I would usually go for, but something about her just drew me in. I’d met the daughters and whores of the other Fortitude guys, and they had nothing on Sloane. She didn’t expect a gravy train from daddy’s drug money or the high of being with a dangerous guy who flirted around the edges of violence. She was cool, calculating, stubborn, intelligent… Hated to say it, but she reminded me of her father.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked, biting her bottom lip.
“I was just thinking about your dad.”
“Way to set the mood.” Her eyes rolled. “I don’t need his permission to fuck, you know.”
I grunted.
“I’m my own woman.”
“How could I forget? You keep fuckin’ reminding me.”
“You could’ve said, ‘I was thinking about how I came inside you last night,’ but no…”
Grasping her hair, I twisted her face toward mine. The smile faded from her lips, and her fingernails dug into my skin as I drew her closer.
“Chaser?” she whispered, her eyes full of lust.
“What?” Rolling my hips, I worked my cock against her thigh, hardening up.
“From behind this time.”
Dammit. She’d entrapped me and dangled the sweetest fruit she could find right in front of my nose. Giving a man permission to dominate during sex was pure heroin.
Capturing her mouth with mine, I forced my tongue against hers. Kissing her felt like drowning in a fucked up way. She was the worst kind of addiction.
Bending her over the table, I let her hair go and pulled her little ass back onto my cock. Sinking into her wetness, I bit my lower lip as I buried as deep as I could go. Her soft moan pulsed through me, and I tightened my grip on her hips.
I thrust, unable to take it slow. I slapped her ass, watching my cock pound into her as she bucked like a wild thing.
The motel room filled with the sound of our bodies slapping together, and her cries rose as I drilled harder and faster.
Reaching around her body, I stroked the inside of her thigh before my fingers found her clit. I pinched hard, and she erupted, coming violently on my cock. Her entire body quivered, clamping down on me, and I thrust erratically as I blew my load.
Dragging my teeth along her shoulder, I grunted, relishing the strength with which her tight little pussy milked every last drop of cum from my balls. My ears rang with the fury of my orgasm as I grasped her breast and rubbed her clit, forcing the moment out as long as possible.
When I felt my dick soften, I kissed her neck, the tang of salt hitting my tongue.
“Four times,” she exclaimed with a heavy breath.
Pushing her back onto the table, I pulled out, watching my cum drip from between her folds. Rubbing my thumb along her seam, I spread myself around her clit, relishing the moment she shivered and reared into my palm.
Fuck, it was so dirty with her. I wasn’t marking territory like an animal but drawing battle lines. Cum soaked trenches.
“Four times,” I whispered, repeating her words.
Sloane turned her head and glanced up at me, her big eyes glittering in the silver light of dawn.
Afterward, I let her shower before I washed off the evidence of our entanglement.
“What are we going to do?” she asked, watching as I dried off my hair.
It was a loaded question, and I knew her mind hadn’t changed about our destination. Now our dynamic had changed, and emotions were involved. It was a bad thing when a group of organized criminals with an America-wide network were on our tail. Caring got people killed. I knew all about that and then some.
I didn’t know what would happen to me and Sloane after the fact, but for right now, my mind hadn’t changed. Not really.
“We move toward California,” I replied, throwing the damp towel into the bathroom.
“For now.”
I clenched my fists, my conviction wavering.
“For now,” she whispered.
Chapter 17
Sloane
Chaser said we needed to cross state lines.
Leaving another two bodies behind hadn’t helped our chances of reaching California without being pulled over by the cops, but getting out of this place was the first step at wiping the slate clean.
Honestly, I didn’t even know where we were anymore. Every stretch of highway, every motel room, and every sunrise was the same as the last. At this rate, I was sure our road trip would never end.
As soon as we were ready, we were back in the car, hurtling across the country. The murky dawn morphed into daylight, and we didn’t speak. The car seemed to be a dead zone for feelings, and after last night, neither of us was making an effort to define what had happened.
A cedar forest bordered the highway on our left, and on the right was a great deal of open space that held old farmhouses and empty fields with brown grass. Every so often, the forest would thicken on either side of us. There wasn’t much else to look at.
Leaning my head against the window, I stared into the side mirror, half looking at myself with my blue aviator sunglasses and half looking at the road in our wake. A truck sat a few hundred feet behind us, but I couldn’t make out anything else. The mirror was too small.
I was a great deal calmer about our situation now Chaser and I had fucked like animals. Several dead bodies had been left in our wake, I’d been attacked, shot at, threatened, and I was surprisingly mellow about the whole thing. Maybe it had something to do with growing up around a bunch of bikers with loose morals.
I was ten when the first dead body dropped into my life. Sometimes, you’ve just gotta turn off all the bits inside you that care to get through the shit storm of life. I didn’t know if that made me a survivor or a fruitcake, but it was what I did.
A billboard flashed past, and I had to do a double take. ‘Largest selection of jigsaw puzzles RIGHT HERE!’ A red arrow was pointing down a side road in the middle of nowhere, and I wrinkled my nose. It had serial killer written all over it.
Man, there was some weird shit out here.
“I didn’t mean what I said yesterday.”
I glanced at Chaser, hyperaware of the fact I ached everywhere. Mostly between my legs, but my thighs and lower back throbbed at a good clip, too.
“Which part?” I asked, my voice hoarse. Must’ve been all that moaning.
“About the night you were attacked.” His jaw tightened, but he didn’t glance away from the road.
“The going slack part?”
“Sloane.”
“I deserved that one,” I muttered, looking out the window.
The road noise was the only sound between us. Chaser wasn’t used to whispering sweet nothings or apologizing by the looks of it.
“I panicked and gave up,” I said. “But I was too cowardly to end it myself.”
“Don’t say that, Sloane.”
“I say a lot of stupid shit. Most of it I can’t back up. Does hearing it satisfy you?”
“No.”
“That would be a first.”
“You didn’t deserve it,” he said. “Never say that shit to me again.”
Turning my head, I stared at him, confused to the millionth degree.
“What?” he snapped, glaring at me out the corner of his eye.
“Keep going on like that, and I’ll start to believe you actually care for me.”
“I already said I did.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t believe you.”
“What about now?”
I laughed and shook my head. “You sound like a clingy woman.”
He grunted. “What was it like? Growing up at Fortitude?”
“You really want to know about my fucked up childhood?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“You wanted me to give up everything for you a couple of days ago.”
What in the world was going on here? I studied Chaser’s profile and worried my bottom lip wit
h my teeth. So all that hostility was his shield, not his identity. Interesting.
“Was it that good?” I asked.
“Huh?” He glanced at me before turning back to the road.
I shook my head and played with my hair. He knew exactly what I was talking about, the crafty bastard.
“I didn’t know any different,” I said, deciding to answer his question. “I thought I was like every other little girl I went to school with. I just had a big family with lots of aunts and uncles. I never went without clothes, schoolbooks, toys, and always had food in my belly. Mom was great about keeping me away from the truth. A real master at hiding the crime and violence.” I snorted and picked at the hem of my T-shirt. “Dad was hardly around. He was always ‘working.’” I air quoted the last part. “It wasn’t until I was older I realized everything wasn’t as it seemed.”
Looking back, I knew I was too young to understand all the signs. The secret meetings, Dad’s absence, Mom’s broken arm, her cuts, and bruises. The comings and goings at all hours of the night, the hushed whispers, and unintelligible screaming from somewhere deep inside the compound where little legs were forbidden to go. The ‘funny plants’ in the greenhouse. The way Dad’s touch hurt my skin. The toys he gave me after Mom turned up with another injury.
“She put on a brave face,” I murmured. “And it was all for me. I was half him, but I was half her, too.”
“She protected you,” Chaser said.
“From everything. After Mom was gone, I came to realize just how much shit she took. My childish misdemeanors caused her bruises.”
“You can’t blame yourself for her decisions…or your father’s.”
“We all make our choices, Chaser. Mom made hers. She stuck around despite the beatings and the Fortitude lifestyle. It wasn’t for me. I saw through it before I’d even hit puberty and got out of there the first chance I had. Dad knows how I feel about him, right down to the last wart. My opinion will never change. He’s a piece of shit.”
“He wants to save your life now…”
“Don’t you dare defend that man,” I snapped. “Do you want to know the catalyst, Chaser? Do you want to know what happened to make me run when I did?”