“I’m not. I really love your cupcakes.”
“So you keep saying.”
“It’s true.”
Bella reached into the display case, snagged a Tiramisu cupcake and shoved it towards Axel. “There you go. Here’s a fucking cupcake. Take it and go.”
“Bella...”
“Bye,” she said with a raise of her eyebrows, which clearly meant “get gone.”
Axel looked at the cupcake in his hand. “Am I going to like this one?”
Bella blew out an impatient breath. “How the fuck would I know? Bye,” she repeated.
Axel’s lips flattened out. “Fine. I’ll stop back during first shift tomorrow.”
“Can’t wait,” Bella said and turned her back to him.
Axel looked toward Sophie, dug into the front pocket of his jeans and threw a crumpled five-dollar bill onto the counter by the register. “Thanks.”
“You get two for five,” Sophie said.
“I’ll pick the second one up tomorrow.”
She gave him a sharp nod, and he turned and left, looking a bit put out.
Sophie moved behind the display case and leaned against the counter watching Bella’s stiff, jerky movements as she assembled more boxes.
“You don’t have to do that. You’re not a paid employee.”
Bella’s chest heaved as she took a deep breath. She turned and leaned a hip against the counter, mirroring Sophie. “I know. I just want to help out because I appreciate you doing this. You could’ve kicked me out when you did Z. Rid yourself of all of us. You know,” Bella dragged a hand through her long, thick dark hair, “you’re still at risk with me being here if the Warriors want retribution for whatever they’re looking for retribution for. Which... who knows what the hell it’s about this time. One could’ve gotten a hangnail and it would be DAMC’s fault. This whole life can be fucked sometimes.”
“Then why are you a part of it?” Sophie asked gently.
“Because it’s my life. I don’t know any different. It’s my family. Always have been. I’m not going to desert my family when things get rough. I’m not going to do what Mitch and Axel did to Z. It’s wrong.”
Sophie pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. She agreed. But then, isn’t that what she did to Zak also? Things got rough, and she kicked him out of her life.
“So what do you think of me, then?”
The blood drained from Bella’s face at Sophie’s question. “I didn’t mean... Sophie, it’s not the same. You didn’t choose this. He sort of forced it on you. I don’t blame you for doing what you did.”
Her words did not make Sophie feel any better, though they should.
“He’s a good guy, Sophie. He really is. He’s always wanted what was best for the club, what was best for all of us. He sees better things for the club’s future. As Ace always says, Zak’s been progressive.”
Sophie chewed on her bottom lip. “He’s a misogynist.”
Bella laughed, and Sophie was shocked at the beautiful tone of it. It brightened the whole shop. She couldn’t help but smile at the sound.
“It’s true!” Sophie insisted.
“No shit. Aren’t they all? But let me tell you something, Sophie, all you have to do is get them wrapped around your little finger and they sing like a canary. They’re not supposed to talk club business with their ol’ ladies. But you think that Ace doesn’t have pillow talk with Janice? You think Pierce doesn’t talk things out with his woman? They need us. We give them a different perspective and they’ll die before they admit it but they respect our opinions. Now... the house mouse or the sweet butt or the fuck... Hell, the strippers, the patch whores... the list goes on. They don’t get told shit. A good man will respect his ol’ lady. And don’t be put off by the name either. Believe it or not, it’s really a term of endearment. The rest of them... all those others hang out at the club, put out, clean up, do whatever they’re told, just with the hopes of becoming an ol’ lady. Sometimes it happens, most times it doesn’t. They come and they go like the tides.”
“Damn. I don’t even know where to begin with my questions,” Sophie mumbled.
Bella threw her head back and laughed again. And, once again, it pulled a smile from Sophie.
“Like house mouse. What the hell is that?”
“Something you’ll never be. The only thing Z has wanted from you was to be his ol’ lady.”
“Why?”
Bella shook her head. “You’d have to ask him. He’s hurting, Sophie. I know he is. He’s stuck on you. I want to ask you to give him a chance, but I’ll understand if you won’t. Why the Warriors want to take him down or out, I don’t know. But, I do have to say it’s not only him. While he was away, they would show up, pull some stuff and then ride off back to wherever they go.”
While he was away. A nice way of putting his prison term.
Bella continued, “They shot at Diesel a few times. For a while there, they were determined to take out our enforcer, our club’s Sergeant at Arms. I seriously thought I’d lose my cousin to a bullet. But, there’s no way D or any of them will live their lives in fear. Though, I heard rumors Diesel took care of that particular threat.” She raised her palms up. “Not sure how. Don’t want to know, either. Especially when we have Axel sniffing around here.”
“Something between you and Axel?”
“Nope,” Bella answered way too quickly.
“Was something ever between you and Axel?” she asked, rephrasing the question.
“I’ll say this. I had it rough for a while. I won’t go into details right now, but let’s just say Axel knows more about it then a lot of the members do.”
“Why does he know more?”
Bella hesitated, then looked Sophie straight in the eye. “He’s a first responder. And I don’t want to talk about that part of my life any further. It’s not because it’s you, it’d be the same for anyone.”
Sophie nodded. She wouldn’t pry. If Bella ever wanted to talk about it, Sophie would listen. Bella was turning into a good friend and she wanted to be there for her.
“So back to Z,” Bella said. “If it wasn’t for the stuff that went down, would you give him a shot?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure being a biker’s ol’ lady is for me. Hell, I’ve never even been on the back of a motorcycle.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Weather warms up and your ass would be affixed to the back of his. Clubs aren’t all bad, Sophie. We give back to the community when we can. It’s one way we’re accepted so we’re not run out of town. The cops harass us sometimes. Sometimes we deserve it, sometimes we don’t. Some of the town folk don’t like the strip club, but hey,” she shrugged, “it makes good money, so apparently someone from this town is showing up to tuck wrinkled dollar bills into G-strings. Dawg does his best to make sure his girls aren’t selling themselves. That will get him shut down quicker than anything. And he makes sure they stay clean. No drugs. No prostituting. He takes care of them, believe it or not. The rest of the businesses, well, they’re all respectable. Pierce isn’t running guns out of the gun shop. Ace isn’t accepting stolen goods in the pawn shop. The garage isn’t a chop shop. And Crow’s tattoo shop is licensed like it should be. Plus, Hawk and I make sure there aren’t any minors sneaking into the bar. Everything’s on the up and up.”
“Like I said before... quite an enterprise.”
“Yes, it is. And like I said before, we live good. We party, we drink, we laugh, we love. And we do it hard. Nothing’s done half-assed. So, think about that when you’re thinking about Z.”
“Who said I’m thinking about Zak?”
Bella just gave her a smile and went back to assembling pastry boxes.
Shit.
Chapter Thirteen
Sophie tried to roll over but hit a brick wall instead. And part of that wall felt like it laid on her waist. Her hands grasped whatever it was... which was a hairy arm. And obviously it wasn’t hers.
Her heart jumped and pounded fiercely as she lifted her head, trying to see the person behind her in the dark. She was definitely still in her own bed and, thank goodness, hadn’t been knocked out and kidnapped, waking up in some strange room. But whoever it was had her pinned to him.
“What...”
A nose nuzzled her hair and she stiffened. She jerked against his arm but he didn’t release her, instead tightening it around her waist, spreading the fingers of his hand along her lower belly. Low enough that a couple of his fingers were now below the elastic waist of her panties. She cursed at her body’s response. Which was her pussy clenching and her nipples pebbling.
Fucking Zak.
A sound formed at the back of her throat when the fingers dipped lower, brushing the top of her narrow strip of hair. The clench turned into a throb.
But no matter how much her body wanted him, her brain said he shouldn’t be here.
“How the hell did you not only get into my apartment but into my bed without me knowing? Are you a biker ninja? How did you get past the security system?”
“D gave me the code.”
She closed her eyes at the roughness of his voice. She had missed its low rumble. But she needed to stay on track and not let her wanting him get in the way of staying on that track.
Diesel. When he’d finished installing the security system, she should have asked him to show her how to change the code and then changed it to something no one would know but her.
But she didn’t. Her mistake.
And, now, that mistake was curled around her, his bare chest to her back, her ass to his groin, his knees cocked behind hers. His warm breath tickling the hair by her ear.
A shiver ran through her that turned to a quiver at her core when she felt him growing hard against her ass.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered, cursing the catch in her voice.
“I know.”
His fingers slid lower, his middle one separating her now slick folds to find her clit. He pressed gently.
“I... I told you to get gone.”
His body jerked slightly at her words. “I know, babe.”
“But you’re here.”
“Couldn’t stay away any longer.” His words were so soft they were like a caress.
She needed to keep him out of her bed, out of her life. But when he pressed his face into her neck, his beard scraped her skin, his tongue traced a line along her jaw, she knew right then and there she was fucked.
And that she wanted fucked. Not just by anyone, but by the man who slipped into her bed in the middle of the night because he could no longer stay away.
She wanted this man who was not good for her. This man who may put her at risk, may put her business at risk.
She felt weak that she couldn’t push him away, tell him to stop, scream at him to get out of her house, out of her life. Claw at his arms and hands until he let her go.
She didn’t want him to let her go.
She wanted him to hold her tighter.
Which was crazy. Completely insane. In the last month, they spent less than a week together and then the rest of the time apart.
But she couldn’t get him out of her head. Out of her restless dreams.
It seemed like he couldn’t forget her, either.
At the moment, the way his fingers stroked her, teased her, pressed against her, made her hips dance, she was glad he hadn’t forgotten her.
Though, she’d probably regret it tomorrow.
He rolled her to her back, his hand deep in her panties, making her think about nothing but him being inside her, until he murmured, “babe,” against her skin and she completely melted.
He crushed his lips to hers and she opened to him willingly, the tips of their tongues touching as he explored her mouth, their tongues dancing, swirling, tangling, until she needed to pull away, gasp for breath when he rolled her nipple between his fingers, pulling hard, making her cry out.
“Zak,” escaped her on a breath.
“That’s right, babe, it’s me, Zak.” He sucked her bottom lip between his teeth and gently bit down, before releasing her and moving down the bed, down her body, worshiping her breasts, her belly, one hip, then the other. He tugged her panties down her thighs, over her knees, sliding them off her feet and tossing them into the darkness.
“I want to see you,” he said, his voice rough, demanding, as he switched on the bedside lamp.
She squinted at the sudden light but studied the man who now straddled her hips, his body a work of art made up of both ink and muscle. His eyes were dark, his face hungry as he took her in, murmuring, “You’re so beautiful.”
Those words alone were beautiful coming from a man who was a badass biker who had spent the last ten years in prison.
He could be hard, but yet so soft, gentle. He cupped her breasts, stroking her nipples with his thumbs, then dropped his head until he could suck one deep into his mouth, flicking the tip, nibbling around the edge until she arched her back and dug her fingers into his hair, longer than it was a month ago, more to grab, more to pull. More to hold him where she wanted him.
With a quickness she wasn’t expecting, he spread her thighs and settled between them. “Missed your sweet honey, babe.” Then she heard nothing else as his hot mouth found her, his fingers slid deep, and he drew an orgasm from her that made her fist her hands in his hair, holding him close until it was over. Her body fell back onto the mattress, but he wasn’t done with her yet.
Oh no. Nowhere near done.
He nipped her inner thighs, one then the other, then worked his way down to her ankles and back up the other side before flipping her over and doing it all over again, finally kissing, sucking and gently biting her ass cheeks, separating them, teasing her hole with the tip of his tongue, then moving up her spine. Finally, he pushed her heavy hair off her neck and bit the top of her spine as his cock nestled in the cleft of her ass. He rocked against her, tempting her to push back against him, to encourage him to take her there or her pussy. Hell, anywhere she could get him.
She felt him shift and heard his belt buckle jingle as he snagged his jeans off the floor to grab a condom.
“Can’t wait, babe. You ready?”
Oh, fuck, yes, she was.
She shoved her face into her pillow and tilted her hips, and he accepted that as her answer. Within seconds, his cock was there, hard, hot, gliding between her soaked folds, asking for entry. She gladly gave it, digging her fingers into the pillow as he slowly drove deep. She wanted all of him and he gave it to her, thrusting hard enough to make her ass bounce with the force.
Then he stopped, yanked her hips back and up until she was on her knees, and without breaking the connection, he leaned over, dug into her nightstand and grabbed her small vibrator.
Her nipples hardened and ached at the hum of the toy. Reaching beneath her, he pressed it to her clit and began to move again. It took only seconds, milliseconds until she climaxed around him once more, her toes curling, her inner muscles squeezing him tight and he grunted, his hips hiccupping.
“Fuck, babe. Feelin’ you come around me is sometimes better than my own release.”
With a tighter hold on her hip, he moved to press the vibrator against her again, but she stopped him. “Too sensitive. Not there.”
He stilled for a moment, then shifted once more to dig into the drawer. And when she heard the snap of the lube cap, she realized he understood what she wanted.
The cool liquid against her heated skin made her press her forehead deeper into her pillow and grasp the sheets tighter within her fingers. Then she felt it. The vibrations pulsating around her sensitive flesh.
“Yes, baby,” she groaned.
“Fuck,” came his strangled answer.
The vibrator was small and smooth and she accepted it easily. As he glided it in and out of her, he began to move again, slowly at first, then faster, softly at first, then harder.
“Beautiful, babe,” he groaned. “So beautiful.”
She moved with him, her body flowing with his as he took her once more to the cliff. She hovered until he pushed her over. She free fell, her core rippling around him blending with the vibrations of the toy. Her eyes rolled back, and she cried out his name.
“That’s it, babe. That’s it. Call my name,” he grunted, his fingers digging into her hip, holding her tighter as he began to slam her harder, their skin slapping together, their sweat mingling.
And when she thought he was there, about to follow her over, he stopped, slipped the toy and himself from her. She glanced over her shoulder in surprise.
“On your back. Want to see you.”
Good idea. Best idea ever. She wanted to see him when he came, too. She wanted to watch the pleasure overcome him, take him under.
She rolled over and reached out a hand. “Come to me, baby.”
Something flashed behind his eyes and then he was there, inside her, curved over her body, thrusting hard, deep, making them one. He sucked a nipple into his mouth but his eyes remained tipped toward her face. And she didn’t close hers, didn’t look away, she kept her gaze locked to his. He smiled around her nipple and snagged the other between his fingers to twist. Her neck bowed and her mouth gaped, but she fought to hold his eyes. She desperately needed to stay connected in all ways.
“Come to me, baby,” she pleaded again.
He did. Pressing his forehead to hers, they both lost focus, but didn’t break their connection, their bond. With his lips a hair’s breadth from hers he groaned, “Fuck, babe, gonna come.”
“Yes... me, too. Come with me, baby.”
“Fuck, Sophie. You’re so hot, so wet. Wanna give you everything. Everything I have. Everything that is me. It’s all yours, babe. I’m all yours.”
His words swirled around inside her head as the orgasm began at her toes, landed in her core, and exploded outward around him.
“Comin’ inside you now,” he grunted. “Here I come, babe. Ah... fuck.” His body tensed as he stared into her eyes and drove deep one last time.
She gripped his ass, holding him tight against her as his cock pulsated inside her with the last of his release. Then he dropped as if he no longer had any strength and even though most of his weight was on her, she didn’t mind. She didn’t want him to move.
Down & Dirty: Books 1-3: Dirty Angels MC Series Box Set Page 16