by Sophia Gray
“You’re kidding me.” I could hear the wind as it was knocked out of him. “But he’s been a member of Storm’s Angels longer than most of us have been alive, Mason. He has survived countless gunfights, war, everything.”
“I know,” I interrupted him. “But none of us can survive women, Alec. Remember that,” I said before walking away to get my old ’79 Harley Roadster.
I pulled my old bike away from the wall and walked it to the bay.
“That thing’s older than you are,” Patrick said as I walked it past him. “Still run?”
“Purrs like a kitten, brother. Hell yeah, she still runs,” I told him.
“Whose was it before you got it?” he asked. “Surely, that bike’s got a story. I don’t see anyone else with one that old.” He walked over to it and ran a hand along the curve of the body.
Patrick had a long, golden brown lion’s mane and a thick beard to match. He wore glasses and could stand to lose a few pounds. He had thick, muscular arms, and the muscles in his chest were obvious, but, somehow, he managed to keep a beer gut. He was loyal, but he never seemed to be all that motivated.
“I got it from an old member,” I told him. Truthfully, I got it from the guy who’d recruited me, but I didn’t want to get into that whole story with him. Time was still of the essence. I had to get back to the apartment to make sure Clara was okay and bring her in for questioning, beating, whatever I decided to do to her, but she was going to pay for the trouble she’d caused.
“That’s a sweet ride, man,” he said. “I guess I’ll go see if Mick or Alec need me to do anything,” he said, walking off in the direction of the bar, where Mick was pouring shots for the other two guys who made it out of the ambush with us.
“Hold on,” I called him back over. “I’m going to need someone to close this door behind me.”
“Got it.” He ran over and lifted the bay door to let me out. Once I was outside, I heard it close behind me. Before firing up the Roadster, I listened for the lock, which he quickly slid into place on both sides.
No one was going to be able to lift that door to get in. I just hoped the police stopped with HQ and didn’t decide to pay me a visit at home. And I hoped Clara wasn’t okay. I needed something to go wrong to convince me not to take all of my anger and frustration out on her when I got there.
I gunned the engine and listened as the Roadster came to life underneath me. I didn’t drive her nearly enough. I pulled away from the clubhouse and started to head into the center of town, where the newer buildings reached up into the sky, where business and traffic still existed, and where the streets weren’t littered with the bodies of my fallen brothers and their mangled motorcycles.
I was going to get Clara, and she was going to lead me to Skull. Skull was going to pay for what he’d done to us, and Clara wasn’t going to be able to talk me down. She also wasn’t going to get the opportunity to tip him off.
Chapter 18
Clara
In the darkness, I could still hear muffled voices all around me. There was almost constant talking. There was some shouting, but there was also laughter. I forced my eyes open, or thought I did, and sat up.
I was back in Mason’s bed, alone again. I ran my hand over his side of the bed, where he should have been lying with me, but he wasn’t there. I looked around the bedroom, but he wasn’t there.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked into the living room, where I could hear the TV. I couldn’t tell if he had the news on or some TV show, but I didn’t see him on the couch either. The TV was just on. Was I alone again? Had he left me alone in the apartment and just let the TV on so I wouldn’t hear him leave?
I pushed his soft, heavy covers back from my naked body and decided to get out of bed to see what was going on, when he appeared in the doorway with a couple of cups of coffee and a warm, loving smile on his face.
This time, he wasn’t wearing anything else. He stood in the doorway with a cup of coffee in each hand. His hair was disheveled and hanging down in front of his face instead of being brushed back like it usually was. His green eyes looked at me with love and care in them. He was concerned about me for some reason, but I had no idea why he would have been. I was fine. I had just been asleep for a while.
I slid over to the edge of the bed and spread my legs, patting the mattress between them to call him over. He approached me slowly, and I ran my hands along his perfect chest and stomach, following the contours of his muscles. I grabbed the coffee cups and set them down on the table beside the bed, freeing his hands so they could explore me as I did him.
I returned my attention to him after setting the cups aside. I took his already hardening manhood in my hand and stroked it, coaxing it to get even harder for me. I wrapped my thin fingers around it and pulled it towards me, stroking him right over my tender breasts. I pulled him closer to that the tip of his head touched my skin.
He watched me with his gentle green eyes while his erection grew in my hand. He put his strong hands on my shoulders and pushed me back as he climbed on top of me. I let go of his cock as I lay back on his soft, welcoming bed.
He put my hands above my head and held them there. My thin, slender fingers intertwined with the thick fingers on his strong, controlling hands. He squeezed my hands as he leaned in to kiss me.
His lips met mine. The kiss was tender, passionate. Our mouths opened, and our tongues met, stroking each other between our mouths. He didn’t kiss me like he wanted to devour me. He kissed me like he wanted to become part of me.
His body pressed against mine. I could feel his weight pushing me down into the bed as he lay on top of me. His firm muscles pressed against my soft curves. My nipples hardened from his touch.
My body ached to feel him inside again. I felt my desire for him growing wetter by the moment. My muscles tightened as if begging for him to enter me. I rocked my hips toward him, pressing my wet sex against him.
He reached down and ran a finger along my lower lips, parting them to receive him. He slid his finger inside me and stroked my g-spot. I arched my back and sucked my breath in through my teeth in a spasm of pleasure.
“Oh God, Mason,” I called out.
“Is that good, baby?” he asked me. “Is that what you like?”
“Oh God, yes.” My body tensed as he did it again.
He slid a second finger in, opening me wider. He drove them deeper into my core and pulled them back across my front wall again, sending shivers up my spine as he stroked my spot over and over.
Then, he slid his fingers out and ran them along the delicate folds of flesh between my legs. He spread me open and pressed himself against me, sliding his head just inside my wet opening. I felt him pushing at my entrance, passing just barely inside of me. It was such an incredible tease.
I picked my legs up and wrapped them around his waist, encouraging him to enter me again. I grabbed his hand and pulled it up to my breast. He cupped my tender skin with his masculine fingers and squeezed me. Pleasure rippled through my body.
I arched my back and moaned as he slid inside me. His shaft passed through the entrance to my sex effortlessly. He spread me open and stretched me around his hardened flesh. He filled me completely with his cock. I could feel every inch of him inside of me. I pushed my hips against him, forcing him deeper inside of me, taking all of him greedily into my center.
His fingers worked my nipples as his other hand grabbed the other breast, gripping me for leverage as he thrust into me, deep into me.
“Yes, Mason,” I called out. “Give it to me. Let me have all of you.”
He shoved himself into me forcefully, and I felt my pleasure picking up a hint of pain around the edges. It just made the sensation that much more intense.
My legs quivered as he thrust into me again and again. Each time, I could feel myself drawing closer to the edge of ecstasy. My climax was already growing deep within.
“I’m yours,” I whispered in his ear. “Do whatever you want with me.”
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br /> He kissed my neck, then my shoulder. Then he kissed the front of my neck and my chin. The whole time, he pounded into my hips and held my breasts in his commanding grip.
My body shook underneath him as the pleasure inside me built to a crescendo, but he didn’t stop. He penetrated every inch of me. I felt my walls expand to contain him every time he pushed into me. He fit me perfectly, as if our bodies had been crafted for each other. His head stroked my g-spot each time he shifted himself forward or back.
“I’m coming,” I breathed. “I’m coming.” My voice came out as little more than a whisper.
I grabbed his back and tried to pull him down to me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held him as he continued to thrust his hips into me. My whole body quaked with the force of his thrusts and the ecstasy roaring in my veins and my nerve-endings. I felt myself overcome with passion as I rocked my hips against him.
He still wasn’t finished with me yet. He put an arm under my waist and lifted me from the bed, holding me up while he continued to stroke my delicate insides with his hard shaft. I ached as the pleasure grew too strong to be contained. I arched my back and tilted my head back, closing my eyes against the rush of ecstasy.
I cried out as my pleasure peaked again and again, as he took me there over and over. My body was filled with a steady flow of climactic ecstasy. Pleasure ran through every fiber of my being, filling me with white light that pulsed with each thrust of his sex deep inside me. As he pushed into me, pleasure flowed out from my deep core to the rest of my body. As he pulled back, it drew back in, flowing down to the muscles around my entrance as they closed, attempting to seize him and hold him inside me.
My body eventually gave out underneath him as the pleasure I felt became too much and ecstasy stole all the tension from my body. My arms and legs felt like jelly as they fell uselessly to my side as I gave myself over to the pleasure he created inside of me. I wanted to call out his name, but the words just wouldn’t come. I moved my mouth, but only moans and whimpers would come out. My body had become one giant nerve-ending, and every sensation was pleasure. Every touch was ecstasy.
He let me fall onto the bed and slid out of me. My body immediately ached in the vacuum left behind by his sex. I felt myself clenching, reaching for him as my body begged for his return. I felt so hollow all of a sudden.
His breath came heavily above me, and I felt the bed shake as he finished himself off above me. He spilled his seed onto my stomach. I felt each warm drop as it hit my skin, as he emptied himself on me. I opened my eyes and watched his hand gripping his shaft. His fingers wrapped around himself perfectly, gripping it like a weapon. He worked himself masterfully over me. He looked like he was forcing himself to come onto me.
I reached for his rippling muscles. I wanted to beg him to let me have it all, every drop, on my tongue and down my throat instead of on my stomach, but all I could do was moan appreciatively as he let me wear every single drop of himself.
I closed my eyes and licked my lips, remembering how he tasted. I imagined that he was filling my mouth with his warm, salty flavor, letting me drink from him as he had done so often by this point.
His weight lifted off the bed, and a moment later, I felt a towel wiping my stomach where he’d just finished himself on me. Once the towel was gone, his weight returned, and he pulled me against him. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight against his chest.
Again, I felt safe and comforted. My body relaxed against his. Our pulses ran in sync with each other. Our breath aligned. I closed my eyes and buried my face in the muscles of his chest.
Darkness rushed over me as the murmuring voices from Mason’s TV returned. I heard the voices that sounded like they were talking to each other again. There was more laughter.
I smiled and snuggled against the strong, muscular man protecting me, but there was something soft in his place, like a pillow instead of his firm chest. I furrowed my brow in confusion.
The laughter grew louder, and the voices seemed more present, as if I had been moved into the room with the TV. Though they were louder, I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Their words were still muffled.
I could feel myself falling again, and I realized that what had just happened to me had simply been a dream. I wasn’t in Mason’s bed. I wasn’t even on his couch in the living room.
I tried to remember where I was. I couldn’t force myself to open my eyes to look, so I simply relaxed, letting my training take over. If I didn’t fight it, I could start to make sense of it.
“I think she’s starting to wake up,” I heard one voice say.
“She’s a tough one, boss. She would have had us if you hadn’t stepped in,” another voice said.
I was beginning to remember where I was. I had been at Mason’s, but there had been some sort of fight. Apparently, I’d been too much for the voices I could hear. I squirmed on the couch or whatever it was I was lying on.
“Rise and shine,” Skull’s voice called from the front seat.
My eyes shot open, and I knew exactly where I was. It had all been a dream.
Chapter 19
Mason
I reached for my door without pulling out my keys first, and I wasn’t surprised to find it was already unlocked, even though I had locked it behind myself when I left. I pushed the door open and drew my gun.
“Clara,” I called into the empty apartment.
Everything was just as I’d left it that morning, but it still felt empty without her there. I carefully walked through the living room to the kitchen. I peered into the bedroom. I checked behind the door and opened my closet. With the barrel of my gun, I pushed aside the clothes hanging there. No one was waiting for me. I checked behind the curtains in my bedroom windows. I walked into the bathroom, checked the linen closet, and checked the tub even though my shower door was mostly clear.
“Clara,” I called again, just in case she’d found a hiding place I hadn’t thought about.
I walked back into the kitchen, heading for the balcony, and noticed that one of the drawers was still open. The gun that I usually kept in it was gone.
“Son of a bitch,” I cursed.
I looked at the counter. There was a glass sitting with a couple of melting ice cubes in it. A bottle of whiskey sat beside it. I considered pouring some for myself and using the same glass, so it would be like kissing her as I placed my lips where hers had been. I needed to keep my wits about me, though. There would be time for drinking once everything had been handled.
I was starting to get the picture of what had happened after I left. She’d obviously called Skull to let him know we were on our way to his hideout, giving him the opportunity to wipe the place clean. There was no way the office we’d gone to would have been that clean if it hadn’t just been cleaned out in preparation for our arrival.
He’d offered to come pick her up. Or had she requested it? Either way, on her way out the door, she stopped and grabbed a gun for protection. Then, to gather up her nerve, she grabbed a drink. It hadn’t been that long ago. The ice was still in the glass.
She had obviously begun to suspect the same thing I did about Skull and his goons. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have grabbed a gun. She wouldn’t have needed a drink to convince herself to go through with it all.
Clara was in trouble.
I slid my gun back under my belt and grabbed my phone. I called Mick at HQ.
“Shoot,” he answered on the first ring.
“Have you guys heard anything out of Clara? Has she been by?” I asked, sounding a little more panicked than I would have liked to.
“No, we haven’t heard anything out of her.” He paused. “We haven’t seen her either,” he said. “Is everything all right?”
“Well, she’s not at the apartment,” I told him.
“I’m telling you, brother, after she gave Skull the heads up, she went back to him. We should have seen it coming,” he said.
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure Skull was behind th
e attack at the park, which means if he came to get her, she’s in danger right now,” I told him.
I closed and locked my door. I didn’t need my home spread out and open for anyone who wanted to go in and look around. I knew how lucky I was that no one had already gone through my place.
“Look, stay by the phone, but make sure you and a couple of other guys are ready to ride if we need to,” I told him.
“You’re still going to protect her, even after everything she’s done?” Mick asked.
“Even after everything she’s done,” I answered. I couldn’t explain it, but she was in trouble, and despite all the trouble she’d caused, I’d promised to take care of her and to protect her. Plus, there was the possibility that she’d stolen something important from me when she left the apartment, whether I wanted to admit it or not.