She knew so much more than I wanted her to know. My name with the club. The fact that I was associated with them in the first fucking place. I continued to stare her down. Trying to see if I could get her to back off at least a little bit.
The less I told her, the better off she would be. The safer she would be and the more distance I could put between The Road Rebels and the authorities. This brought them way too close. Laiken being a cop was bringing this entire thing way too fucking close to home. She could use me as an asset. Track me down and try to get me underneath her thumb. I wasn’t gonna allow her to do that to me.
I wasn’t going to allow the woman I loved to control me like that.
I saw her weakening to me. I saw the way her stone walls slowly crumbled. She came in guarded, but now that she was here and relieved of her weapons, she was caving. Her eyes were softening, and her posture was relaxing. Whatever effect it was I was having on her, it was working.
But her stare was rattling my walls as well, and I knew I was walking in dangerous territory.
This was my chance. This was the opportunity I needed. I could exploit her and get the information I needed to take back to Mac. This could be where the fight turned around for us if I played my cards right. And not only that, but it was my chance to toss her across the fucking ocean and never see her again. I could hold her at arm’s length, use her for information, and then cast her out.
Then, she would be gone. Away from me and safe. If there was ever a time to push her aside for good, this was fucking it.
What the hell was I supposed to do? Just break down and tell her every little fucking detail? A lot had happened while we were dating, and more shit happened when she left. It would be too much to take in during one little sitting, and every time she went into work I risked her being turned against me by her captain. I couldn’t expect a fucking law enforcement officer to sympathize with the likes of me. They weren’t capable of that kind of emotional shit.
Laiken especially.
I could keep lying to her. I could lie her right out the fucking door and block her number. I could sell off my parents’ house and set up shop somewhere else. I had other ways I could push her away without ever opening this can of bullshit worms. What would she do if she knew the truth? About my name? About how I got wrapped up in the Rebels? About how I’d lied to her all those nights because I was packing drugs and selling shit on the streets to prove I was worthy to be part of their family?
How could I tell her any of this and her still look at me like she was now?
“Why do they call you ‘Snake’?” Laiken asked softly.
Her voice was like velvet. Velvet wrapped in silk and drenched in caramel. She was desperate. I could hear it. The only other time her voice had become so weakened and so downtrodden was just before the last fight we had. It was her equivalent of begging. Of trying to get me to see things her way. And the last time I heard that voice, I said so many disgusting things that lost me her in the end.
My anger cost me Laiken, and I knew I had no other choice but to talk with her.
I watched as Laiken’s hand reached out for my chest. She put her hand on my heart as her eyes danced in between mine. I felt my breathing increase as her warmth penetrated my tough outer exterior, reaching down into my icy heart and somehow finding the ability to warm it. Her hazel eyes sucked me in, her soul crying out to me from beneath their depths.
She really wasn’t here as a cop. She was here as a desperate woman who craved nothing but answers.
“I know I’m in my uniform,” she began, “but I’m not here as a cop. I’m here as someone who, despite my best efforts, still loves you, Jace.”
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt time stop all around us as I closed the gap between us. Her body was flush with mine, and her hand was still pressed against my chest. My hand wrapped around hers, bringing it to my lips so I could kiss the pads of her fingers. She smelled like stale coffee and tasted like sunshine. Tears were rising in her eyes, and I cursed myself for the pain I’d already brought into her life. Laiken was a strong woman, and in the span of two or three days, I’d managed to bring tears to her eyes twice.
It was time for me to be the man I already preached I was, even if it meant going on the run to protect the club I called family.
Holy fuck, I hoped I could trust Laiken.
“They call me ‘Snake’ because I’m able to wiggle myself out of tight spots,” I said.
“I don’t know what that means,” she said.
I sighed as I led her to the couch, urging her to sit down next to me.
“My first run-in with The Road Rebels was just after my father tried to attack my sister. It was a bad day, and I don’t really want to go into details, but for whatever the reason I ended up fending off the cops so they wouldn’t arrest him.”
“Why the hell wouldn’t you let cops arrest a man like that?” Laiken asked.
“Because he didn’t quite drink away all of his disability checks. And we depended on the little he did hold back to pay the water and electric bills. I told a guy I was growing close to in the club about it, and he called me a ‘little snake.’ It stuck as I went through initiation.”
“When did you go through that?” she asked.
I looked her square in her eyes as the pieces slowly began to drop.
“That’s why you were sneaking out at night,” she said. “And the weekends where you were gone?”
“Bike rallies and shit. Being a prospect with The Road Rebels takes about a year, and in that year you have to not just prove yourself, but show support. Which means riding with the club to all the rallies and wearing the club’s prospect patch.”
“How is all of this tied into The Devil Saints?” she asked.
“How do you know about them?”
“For fuck’s sake, the DEA’s all over them, Jace. Your pictures are tacked up in the police department alongside theirs. What did you guys do?”
“You do realize you’re giving me inside information into how the police are running their investigation, right?” I asked.
“You do realize you’re giving me inside information I begged you for months before we broke up, right?”
I reached for her hand, and she allowed me to take it.
“A few months after you left, there was a massive shootout,” I said. “It… changed us. All of us.”
“I’ve read articles on it,” she said. “You don’t have to recount it if you don’t want to.”
“Then you know why I had to push you away. Why I had to keep lying to you. Laiken, had I introduced you to them-- brought you into that world-- you probably would’ve been there in that shootout. You could’ve been-”
I refused to say it. I refused to utter that fucking word. Too many of us ended up six feet under that day, and I refused to entertain the idea that Laiken could’ve been one of them.
“I’m a strong man, Laiken. But I wasn’t put on this earth to bury women. Especially you. That’s not my job.”
“According to the police, your job is Secretary-slash-Treasurer.”
“What?” I asked.
“Yep. To the police, you’re the Rebels Secretary. Their pencil-skirt, high-heel wearing, pantyhose-donning, big-busted Secretary.”
“I am fucking not,” I said. “I’m the damn Treasurer. I work with numbers and shit when I’m not working in the mechanic’s shop fixing cars and bikes.”
“Not according to the police,” she said, grinning.
I swallowed my anger as a small grin played on her cheeks. She was trying to diffuse the tension between us. She was trying to make the best of the situation. That was how I knew Laiken was getting overwhelmed. She was that person who would giggle at a funeral because she wouldn’t be able to deal with the overwhelming feelings of sadness and desertion.
“The only way for you to be safe was to be away from me, Laiken. That’s why I lied. That’s why I never told you. It’s why I never planned on telling you,” I
said.
“You pushed me away to protect me,” she said.
“Yes. I did. And I was an ass. An unforgivable, abusive ass in the end. But you ran, and that was the point. You fucking ran to a different state, and when I couldn’t find you after regretting our fight, it killed me inside. But my solace was that I knew you were safe. I slept every night with you smiling in my mind, knowing that wherever you were, you were free from all this shit.”
“You… you dreamed about me?” she asked.
Those tears were back in her eyes, only this time one slipped out. I reached out and plucked it from her cheek, wiping the wetness away from her beautiful skin.
“Please don’t cry. I fucking hate it when you cry,” I said.
“Answer the question. Did you dream about me?” Laiken asked.
“Every night,” I said. “Every horrible, lonely night.”
Laiken scooted closer to me on the couch. Her hands gripped mine, clinging to them as her eyes held my stare. Another tear leaked down her face, and I wanted to wipe it away, but she held my hands firmly in her lap.
“I have so many more questions,” she said.
“I’ll try to answer them the best I can,” I said.
“I just don’t even know where to begin.”
“I’m sorry, Laiken. I’m sorry all of this came to such a head and that you had to find out from someone that wasn’t me.”
“It was a fucking shocker to see your picture up there, that’s for sure,” she said.
I studied her closely as her fingernails picked at my nail beds. It was a nervous tick she had when we were dating. If something were on her mind, she would pick at her nail beds. But if we were holding hands and something was worrying her, she would pick at mine. It took me a while to catch onto, but it earned me so much more sex with her. At the beginning that was the point. Having all of the debauched sex I could with her smoking hot body. But as we continued to spend time with one another, I grew to care about her mental state. Her emotional state. I came to care about who she was as a person and what she wanted to do with her life. There was really no point where we declared ourselves ‘together.’ It just was one day.
Natural. Like that shit should be.
“Laiken, what’s wrong?” I asked.
She snickered and shook her head, sniffling to try and hide her worry.
“Did something happen at work?” I asked.
“So much,” she said. “So much swirling around in my head. I just can’t seem to get any of it to take root.”
“Just start talking,” I said. “I’ll try to make sense of it.”
Her eyes slowly panned up to mine before she leaned in closer to me.
“Just give me a moment.”
Her lips landed on mine as her body straddled my lap. She took me to my back, the couch cushions bracing my fall as her tongue devoured my lips. I accepted her fully, wanting nothing more than to make her happy. My hands pulled her shirt from her pants, stripping her of her uniform and the layers that separated our bodies.
I wrung my hands within the tendrils of her beautiful blonde hair. She sank to her knees, pulling down my pants, as my cock bounced for her, precome leaking from its head. Her eyes fluttered up towards mine as she greedily gobbled me down, taking me all the way to the back of her throat. My hips shot off the couch, stuffing her full as her nails dug into my thighs.
I fucking missed her like this. I missed her wanton and desperate for me.
Her cheeks hollowed out, and I could feel her throat closing around my dick. My hips pumped into her mouth as my hand held her steady. Her spit was dripping onto my stomach as her hand worked the base of my cock. I could feel her tongue wrapping around the tip as I fell back down to the couch.
“Holy shit, Laiken. You’re so beautiful. So… so fucking beautiful.”
She released my cock with a pop and rushed up my body. She undid and pants and stepped out them, and her panties as her lips crashed into mine. I could taste myself on her. She straddled my lap, her pussy dripping onto me as her hands wound tightly into my hair. I could feel her warmth hovering over me as her tits swung in front of my lips.
“I just want to protect you,” I said wish a whisper.
I reached forward with my lips and wrapped them around her nipple. She dug her hands into my hair, pulling me closer to her breasts. My hands grabbed onto her body, her love handles molding to my grasp as I imprinted my hand on her skin. I flicked and sucked and circled her nipples, listening to her gasps and whimpers pour forth from her lips. My cock was trembling to be inside her as she hovered over it. It ached with salacious need. I bit down into the meat of her breast as I sank her pussy onto me, and as she sank all the way down, I heard those words pour forth.
“I love you, Jace.”
Our eyes connected as our foreheads rested against each other. My hands were planted on her thighs, ready to hold her to me as I fucked her stupid. I breathed her air and was encompassed by her warmth. Her body molded to me like it had all those years before and I could feel her juices trickling onto the couch. I rushed my hands up her back, taking in all of her before I leaned in and captured her lips.
“I love you, too, Laiken. I never fucking stopped.”
Her hips rose up and slammed down onto me. Her lips swallowed my groans as she did it over and over again. I grabbed onto her thighs, pressing bruises into her skin as I raised my hips to connect with hers. I felt her tits bouncing against my body as my muscles worked to fill her pleasure.
“Fuck, Jace. You fill me so well.”
“Your pussy’s always been tight for me. I can’t get enough.”
I slammed up into her as sweat poured down her face. Her skin was glistening as her creaminess slicked my cock. I could feel her walls fluttering around me, begging my cock to get bigger and spill into her body. My balls were pulling up into me as her motions began to stutter, and I knew she was close to her end.
“Just a little longer. Please,” Laiken said.
“You’ve forgotten who I am already,” I said with a grin. “I’m the man who loves you. Who memorized you. Who cherished you. I’m the man who made you shake at three in the morning. Who pulled you from a restful night’s sleep coming on my cock. I’ve memorized every peak and valley. I know every button and hideaway spot. There isn’t a part of you that hasn’t been covered in me.”
“Fuck Jace,” she said in a whisper. “Holy shit.”
I slid my fingers between her pussy lips and found her pulsing clit. I slammed myself into her one last time as I pressed my fingers deep, and that was all it took. My cock pumped thread of my come into her body as her walls clamped down, holding me in their vice grip as her body shook. She was speechless, and I was grunting. Her pussy was devouring me, and my cock was cradled within her. My muscles contracted, spasming with their ecstasy as Laiken clung as tightly as she could to my body.
Then she collapsed on me, her lips pressing lazy kisses into my shoulder.
“I love you,” she said, panting.
“I love you, too, Laiken. I love you, too.”
Chapter 24
Laiken
My eyes fluttered open, and I could feel Jace’s arms around me. My eyes took in the slowly setting sun as the sting between my legs slowly surfaced. I stretched and groaned, pushing my ass into something solid and hard.
“Sleep well?” Jace asked.
I turned around in his arms and found him grinning at me. I pressed my lips to his, smelling my sweat upon his skin. He held me close as we laid there on the couch, naked underneath the blanket he must’ve pulled over us.
“I get it, you know,” I said.
“Get what?” he asked.
“Why you had to push me away like that.”
I saw Jace nod as his grin slid from his face.
“What are you going to do now?” he asked as his eyes focused behind me.
I turned around to see what his eyes were focused on and saw my badge lying on the floor.
“
I’m not sure,” I said. “As a cop, I should’ve carted you off to jail with all the things you told me this morning.”
“I know,” he said as he let out a sigh.
“You’re an outlaw, and I’m a cop. This can’t work between us, right?” I asked.
“I don’t know. You tell me,” he said.
“Don’t play that game. Don’t do that.”
“I made my choice, Laiken. I’m laying here with you. I haven’t gotten up, and I’m not second-guessing my choices that got me here. Technically the club could kill me if they wanted for opening up to you like that. But I am still here. So… you tell me.”
I sat up on the couch and put my head in my hands. Jace sat up and wiggled his way behind me, his arms threading around my waist. He pulled me flush to his chest before he settled the blanket around my body, and I drew in a deep breath at his touch. I felt so beautiful and safe wrapped up in his arms. That was something that had never changed.
I wasn’t sure if it was something that ever would.
“If you want, we can figure this out,” Jace said.
“I just don’t know how.”
“It’s usually why couples work together,” he said.
“Oh, so we’re a couple now?” I asked.
“We just professed our undying love for one another. I’d say that makes us a couple, yes.”
“Undying, huh?”
“What would you call it?” he asked.
“A fit of passion because I was about to come?”
I heard him sigh as he leaned his head forward. His lips pressed a kiss into my shoulder. A kiss that drew goosebumps upon my skin. A shiver ricocheted down my spine that I couldn't control, and I felt Jace grin into my skin.
“I know you should cart me off to jail. It’s your duty as an officer of the law. But hear me out for a second, okay?”
“Why?” I asked.
“We’re not the bad club in town.”
“The Road Rebels?” I asked.
“Right. It’s The Devil Saints. Laiken, they don’t just run drugs. They prostitute their own women. Sell them off to men to do whatever those men need them to do, including running their drugs during their transactions. They work their children to the bone. They own half the illegal strip clubs in Henderson-”
Snake (The Road Rebels MC Book 3) Page 14