Ride Hard (Fortitude MC Book 1)

by Amity Cross

  “Do you think there’s fish in there?” I asked, my voice sounding loud in the silence.

  “Sure.” Chaser glanced at me, perplexed at where my thoughts had taken me.

  “Catfish,” I went on. “Definitely catfish.”

  “I think the sun is getting to you.”

  “There are lots of things getting to me,” I mused. “I need to write a list to remember them all.”

  Staring into the lake was like staring into a void, and I felt a surge of adrenaline hit me square in the chest.

  “Give me the car keys,” I demanded, holding out my hand.

  Chaser narrowed his eyes and didn’t move.

  “I’m not going to drive away or anything. I just want something out of my bag.” I wiggled my fingers.

  He sighed and leaned forward so he could take the keys from his pocket. Handing them to me, he gave me a pointed look.

  “Whatever.” I snatched them from him and sauntered back up the rocks.

  Something had definitely changed between us if he was giving me access to a bona fide escape route and trusting I would come back. I didn’t believe him when he said he cared—I just thought he was telling me what I wanted to hear to get me to shut up—but what if he were telling the truth? What if Chaser actually cared? As in, feelings kind of cared.

  Shivering as I opened the trunk, I kept a tight grip on my heart. That shit was dangerous. Falling in love with a Fortitude man? That was bad news. Bad, bad, bad. Bad was the headline on today’s edition of the Sloane Herald News. I was already suckered into falling for Chaser.

  In a perfect world, we would run away together.

  In a perfect world, I would be able to finish my college degree.

  Taking out my Political Science textbook, I stared at the cover, running my finger over the colored Post-it notes I’d stuck in the pages. They marked important things I was supposed to remember. Quotes, facts, ideologies. The scientific study of government and their politics and policies. Otherwise known as, the subtle art of crapping your way to a position of power.

  Why the fuck was I carrying this shit around the country for? The moment Chaser turned up at Teasers was the moment the life I was trying to make for myself dissolved into a steaming pile of shit.

  Slamming the trunk closed, I locked the car and clambered down the rocks, my boots scraping all the way to the water’s edge.

  When I came back into view, Chaser straightened up, watching me with interest.

  Staring out across the lake, I clutched the textbook against my chest. This felt like one of those pivotal moments in a Choose Your Own Adventure story. One path would lead me to certain death, one would be fraught with danger, and another would transport me right to the happy ending. I didn’t know which fork I was about to take, but I knew I couldn’t go back. Not anymore.

  Twisting to the side, I swung with all the strength I could muster and hurled the book into the air. It cannonballed into the lake, hitting the surface with a slap, the impact sending water everywhere.

  “What did you do that for?” Chaser asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought college was important to you?”

  “I’ve been fooling myself,” I said, watching the water rise and fall in miniature tsunamis around the impact zone. “Thinking I could have this amazing life if only I believed. It’s a lie. No one’s going to give me a medal for participation in the human race. It’s time to wake up and smell the shit.”

  Sitting beside him, I sighed, not in the least surprised when he had nothing to add to my heartfelt declaration of despair.

  “Can we pretend?” I asked, my cheeks heating with embarrassment. “Just for today?”

  Chaser frowned, his brow creasing. Reaching up, I caressed his stubbled jaw, my heart aching. In a way, it felt like goodbye. I was giving up my dreams and resigning to a fate I wasn’t able to escape. Betty was making a comeback, and Sloane was crawling into her coffin.

  “Just for a few hours…” I whispered, my lips brushing against his.

  “Just for a few hours,” Chaser echoed.

  We sat, coiled around one another for a few minutes, on the verge of fucking, before Chaser spoke.

  “I like it when you wear that T-shirt,” he said, his hands finding their way through the armholes.

  It had been an old, men’s tee I’d bought from a thrift store and cut off the arms so I could wear it as a modified woman’s muscle tank. The neck was all stretched out, the material was faded as, but the wolf printed on the front was too badass to leave behind. The armholes were too big, and as a result, my bra showed through at the sides along with a great deal of skin. I usually wore it with another top underneath, but the sun was out, and I was with Chaser. Two things high in temperature that needed less clothes to be around.

  “You like this shirt because you can almost see my tits,” I declared.

  “That too.”

  “I don’t get you sometimes,” I murmured, squirming when his fingers unhooked my bra. I felt the tension of the material loosen over my breasts, and my nipples peaked.

  “We’re pretending.” Chaser grunted, distracted by his rising hard-on.

  “The only thing we’re pretending is the nature of our road trip,” I retorted. “This… The way I feel when you touch me, when you…” I bit my lip as his palms found my breasts and massaged. “I’m not pretending then.”

  A hand slipped from my breast and delved between my legs. I gasped as he cupped my sex in his palm.

  “Ever been fingered in a lake before?” he whispered into my ear.

  “I’m not sure I want tadpoles up me,” I replied, moving against him.

  “There aren’t any tadpoles in this lake.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Mine will overpower them.” He grinned, and the rare appearance of a smile on his lips made me melt inside.

  Letting me go, he leaned over and pulled off my boots and then my socks before he made quick work of his own.

  “Oh, you’re serious?” I asked, watching as he stood and dropped his jeans.

  “Deadly.”

  My jeans were off in a flash, and I was into the lake before he could blink. The water swirled around my bare legs, cooling the heat radiating from my skin. Rocks dug into my feet as I waded out until the water lapped around my waist, soaking my T-shirt and panties.

  Chaser wasn’t so modest. He stripped completely naked and followed me into the water, his cock semi-erect.

  “Aren’t you worried you’ll shrivel up in the cold?” I asked with a smirk as he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me close.

  “Feel that?” He rubbed against my thigh, his eyes sparkling. “I don’t have a problem with shrinkage.”

  “You definitely don’t.” I bit my bottom lip and clenched my lady bits.

  I gasped as his fingers found my clit and swirled. A bolt of pleasure sparked through the sensitive bud, and I moved against his touch.

  “Do you like that?” he whispered in my ear.

  I nodded, clutching onto him.

  “How about this?” His fingers pushed my panties aside and slid through my folds before dipping into my opening. Once, twice, and a third time.

  “Chaser.”

  He delved deeper within me, stroking my walls and caressing my clit with his palm. My eyes rolled, and I grasped his shoulders, widening my stance.

  “You’re so wet, Sloane. Always so fucking wet…”

  “Even now?”

  “Especially now… Out in the open in a lake where anyone could see us.”

  “There’s no one for miles,” I said with a moan as his fingers thrust into me.

  “Maybe…” His lips found mine, and his tongue wrapped around mine in a blaze of passion.

  Pulling away, he dipped lower into the water and thrust his fingers deep into my pussy, faster and harder, pounding against my clit. The water quaked around us as he fucked me with his hand, and all too soon, I was overcome.

  My core clenched as my orgasm ripped through my
body. Tightening around his fingers, I jerked as he forced himself into me again and again, his palm rubbing my clit.

  It was almost too much to bear as my body became hyperaware of every little touch. When he lowered his head and clamped onto my nipple through my wet T-shirt, I threw my head back and moaned my pleasure to the sky.

  Chaser only stopped when my body slackened, and when I melted against him, he pulled me into his arms, holding me up and out of the water.

  “I just had a religious experience,” I muttered. “Fuck, you’re good with your hands.”

  “I know.”

  “Cocky bastard.”

  Chaser carried me out of the lake and set me down on a rock, my bare ass smarting against the heat. I was too satisfied to care, and I was a little aroused by the pain. Rough sex was kind of becoming my thing after Chaser’s bedroom ministrations.

  He sat beside me, completely naked, and basked in the sun. Staring down at his cock, my mouth watered as I saw how hard he was. Hard and ready…

  He didn’t have to ask. I didn’t offer. I just did.

  Rocks dug into my bare knees, but I could hardly feel the stinging pain. Chaser leaned back, watching as I grasped his erection in my hand. Stroking his shaft, I circled my thumb around his tip, spreading the bead of pre-cum that had appeared at my touch.

  He hissed, his hips jerking upward. I knew what he wanted. I wanted to taste him on my tongue, to suck him dry, to know his moans were because of me.

  Men always thought blowjobs gave them all the power, but they were wrong. Fuck, they were so far off the mark it wasn’t even funny. Get a man’s cock in your mouth, suck it right, and he was putty in your hands. Chaser didn’t know what he was in for.

  Lowering my head, I closed my lips over his crown and sucked softly. He gasped, his thighs tensing. Swirling my tongue, I tasted the salty drop of pre-cum and took him deeper.

  I fucked the base of his shaft with my hand while I licked and sucked his tip, bobbing up and down. When his hands fisted into my hair and he tried to force his cock deep into the back of my throat, I bit down just hard enough to make him stop.

  “Sloane,” he said with a heavy breath.

  I ignored him and continued sucking and dragging my lips up and down his cock. My tongue rasped along his skin, swirling around his crown, relishing his taste. Fuck, he tasted like a man. A real fucking man. Salty, tangy, and completely addictive.

  I sucked harder, increasing my pace. Chaser’s thighs went taut, and I grasped his balls with my free hand and squeezed.

  “Swallow,” he commanded.

  Losing control of himself, he forced his hands into my hair and held me tight. He jerked his hips, plunging his cock deeper into my mouth and exploded. His cum coated the back of my throat, and I gave him what he wanted, taking everything he blew into me.

  I didn’t let go until I felt his tip soften and his moans subside.

  Licking the length of him, I cleaned his cock, my own satisfaction surging as his fingers tightened in my hair. Cupping his balls, I squeezed softly as I sucked his crown one last time before he slipped from between my lips.

  Falling onto my ass, my chest heaved as I leaned between Chaser’s legs, my back pressing against the rock.

  “I have no idea where we are anymore,” I said, staring up at the clouds. “I lost track somewhere around Kentucky, picked it up somewhere in Oklahoma, but it feels like days ago.”

  “Texas,” he said, his breathing still labored. “We’re in Texas.”

  “You’re taking the long way on purpose.”

  “Yes and no…”

  “You’re trying to shake the tail of our mysterious pursuers,” I drawled, my heart cracking directly down the middle.

  Chaser tensed but didn’t offer any more of his mysterious thoughts. He really was pretending then.

  “All glory is fleeting,” he whispered like some kind of mantra.

  So was love, by the looks of it. Flirtation, sexual satisfaction, companionship, trust… It was all as fleeting as a fart in the wind. One pungent whiff and it was torn away in a stiff breeze so abruptly you were never quite sure if you’d truly smelt it at all.

  “Is this unrequited?” I asked, knowing I was giving him an ultimatum. “Am I wasting my time?”

  “Are we still pretending?”

  I tensed, starting to become outraged over the fact I’d let him come in me multiple times. I’d never let any man blow his load in me without a condom. Chaser… Shit, I was such a moron.

  I’d fallen in love with a lost cause.

  Chapter 21

  Sloane

  Sloane made me put my clothes back on after our oral sex session by the lake.

  She sucked me dry with those perfect pouty lips, and now I sat in the sun while she waited for her T-shirt to dry. Those magic, wet warm lips. She knew how to suck cock, and I didn’t like knowing she’d practiced on other men before me.

  I wanted her to be mine alone, and that was a dangerous road. Everything we were doing was borderline suicidal, and it had nothing to do with the assholes on our tail.

  I glanced at her, fighting between telling her everything and saving her from a lifetime of shit.

  I hadn’t expected her when I’d walked into that seedy strip club or the feelings she’d stirred up since, and it felt like a betrayal to the woman who came before. The reason I was indebted to Fortitude in the first place.

  Don’t disappoint me, Chaser. You know what happens when you do.

  Sloane’s father’s words came back to me with startling clarity. I was so fucked. She had better keep her mouth shut about all the fucking once I delivered her.

  “Sloane.”

  Her chin tilted up, and when her gaze met mine, I could see all the things she was trying to hide.

  She didn’t want to be like her mother, ending up tied to a man just as bad as her father had been. I rolled with Fortitude, and no matter my reasons, it was all the same to her. She’d done everything in her power to escape that life, and here I was, delivering her back to it.

  She was pushing me away without knowing the truth. I didn’t have it in me to explain, either. I wasn’t sure she would understand.

  Once our road trip was over, the fantasy would dissolve and be nothing but a memory. I would never see her again, she would never forgive me, and I would go back to the same bullshit life I’d been living for the last seven years. The life I’d signed up for the moment I chose death.

  “What?” she asked, glaring when I didn’t answer right away.

  “You can’t tell your father about this.”

  Her eyebrows rose.

  “He’ll kill me on the spot, and I’m not ready to die just yet.”

  “You said that without even twitching,” she drawled. “Just when I think I’ve got you pegged, you ruin everything.”

  “So.”

  “So, you just keep breaking my fucking heart.”

  I frowned and turned my attention back to the lake.

  “You’re doing it again.”

  Pushing to my feet, I tossed her boots in her general direction.

  “Put your boots on,” I commanded, my mood souring. “We’re going.”

  She opened her mouth, and I turned my back on her before she could speak. I didn’t want to hear it.

  I didn’t want to hear anything.

  Chapter 22

  Sloane

  I spent the rest of the afternoon sulking—for lack of a better word.

  We were back in the car, my Poli Sci textbook was floating somewhere in a lake behind us, and I was still drowning in an emotional limbo the size of the state of Texas.

  We were driving through a long, flat expanse of nothingness. We were alone. No other cars or trucks had passed us for some time, and if I had it in me to pretend, then maybe Chaser and I would be the only two people left on the planet. I wished the world had ended and everyone else was gone. I could do it. Survive in a world like that. The brutality of it was more romantic than the life wait
ing for me back at Fortitude.

  Alone in a long, flat expanse of nothingness. It was an epic metaphor for my current state of mind. Our pit stop back at the lake had been magical…until I’d given Chaser an ultimatum like a fucking idiot.

  Push too hard and you could lose everything. Words of wisdom right there.

  “I wish you’d tell me what is going on,” I said, studying the horizon. “It would make me feel a lot better.”

  “You keep asking, and I keep saying nothing,” Chaser drawled.

  “Don’t remind me. I feel like I’m on a fucking merry-go-round I’m not allowed to get off.”

  “Full disclosure?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Full disclosure.”

  “We’re being followed.”

  “Huh?” I twisted around in the seat and looked out the back window. Sure enough, a black car was trailing us. It was a fair way behind, so I couldn’t see who was behind the wheel or how many people were inside. “How do you know?”

  “I’ve been watching them for the past hour.”

  “An hour? Why didn’t you say anything?”

  Chaser grunted. “Because you don’t need to know the details. You just need to sit there.”

  “If that’s what you think I’m going to do, you haven’t learned a single thing about me,” I muttered to myself.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I shuddered. They were here for me. It didn’t make me feel any better that Chaser was here with his macho alpha bravado. He’d already killed four men to save my life, but this time was different. We were on an open road in the middle of a dust bowl.

  So much for taking the back roads to shake them and the cops off our tail. We were gonna die out here.

  “So what do we do?” I asked, scowling. “Outrun them? Turn and fight?”

  “We’re on a secluded highway, and the closest town is miles away. We can’t outrun them in this car,” he replied. “And this isn’t the Wild West.”