GRIT: A Spartan Riders Novel

by J.C. Valentine

  “Please,” Ash begged, “I feel better when you’re here. Then Mommy won’t take me ‘cause you’ll protect me.”

  Right in the feels. Gabby’s hand fluttered around her throat, her words tangled all to hell.

  “I would never let that happen. You’re always safe with me. Come on, buddy, time for bed.” Blake carried him out, taking her silence as answer enough. “Do you want to read another story?” she heard him ask, his voice fading the farther away they got.

  Alone, Gabby dropped back on the bed and considered her answer. Did she want to leave? No. But did she want to stay? Not necessarily. She and Blake had been having fun, and she was definitely on board for more, but staying the night would up their level of intimacy, and she wasn’t certain that either of them was willing to take that next step.

  Blake wasn’t exactly what she would deem boyfriend material, unless she was measuring his incredible way with kids, with everyone he cared about, and with her. He was respectful and kind and sweet and sexy and demanding and incredible in bed from what she’d experienced of his skills so far. So, basically, her list of pros versus cons was leaning heavily to one side and she was screwed, no pun intended.

  The nice girl inside of her, the side that wanted to stay out of trouble and follow her parents’ teachings, told her to make a break for it before it was too late, but the devil on her shoulder was whispering all the things she wanted to hear. It highlighted the good, with a special feature of what they’d been getting down to moments before they were so rudely interrupted.

  Blake had been inside of her, his thick cock buried deep, turning up the volume on her orgasm and keeping it going for what seemed like forever.

  She’d never, in all her years, throughout all her lovers, experienced something so earth-shattering. There was no other way to describe it. If they never said a word to each other again, that moment would be ingrained in her memory forever.

  And she had a nagging feeling that Blake Mahone might have ruined her for all other men in that single, mind-blowing moment.

  So it was probably best that she go before she got in any deeper with him. Besides, he didn’t appear to be in the best of moods, and the way he’d just walked from the room rested heavily on her mind. She didn’t know what to take from it. Was he mad at her lack of decision, or was he just plain mad?

  She didn’t know him well enough to say one way or the other.

  Righting her clothing, Gabby located her missing socks and began putting them on. She would just go home, get some sleep, and sort tonight out in the morning.

  “He crashed the second his head hit the pillow,” Blake’s soft voice was saying as he rounded the corner. When he saw what she was up to, he stopped dead in his tracks. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

  Pausing with her toes tucked halfway into a sock, Gabby looked up in confusion. “Uh…home?”

  “The hell you are.” In two long, determined strides, Blake grabbed hold of her upper arms, and shoved her back onto the bed. Standing before her, the faint glow of moonlight slashing a silver path across his torso, Gabby watched as he stripped out of his clothing, revealing all that sinewy muscle she’d had her hands on earlier.

  Suddenly, she couldn’t wait to touch him again.

  “You’re not going anywhere, teach,” Blake growled as he shoved his pants down his legs and stepped out of them. His cock, already hard, jutted from his hips, arrowing straight for her. “I’m not even close to being done with you.”

  “Blake,” Gabby breathed as he got to work stripping her naked again, but her thoughts fled the instant his lips caressed her skin. For the life of her, she couldn’t recall what she was going to say, never mind formulating a complaint of any kind.

  “I need this right now. I need to be inside you, teach.” His voice was unlike anything she’d ever heard from him—edgy and desperate. It was clear that he was still affected by his fight with his ex, and he needed to blow off some steam. Gabby found she couldn’t say no.

  Kneeing her legs apart, Blake planted himself right where she wanted him to be, and leaned to the side. He came back a moment later with a silver packet between his teeth. His eyes, dark and laden with heat, held hers as he stroked himself.

  Gabby had never seen anything so erotic…and she watched porn once when she was in college.

  The way the muscles in his arm flexed with each pull made her clit throb and her pussy tremble. Needing some kind of relief, Gabby’s hands covered her breasts and squeezed.

  “That’s right, teach, touch yourself. Squeeze those perfect tits, show me how you like it.” Blake’s gruff words spurred her on, and Gabby began pinching her nipples, relishing the shock of pleasure that shot straight to her core. Blake dialed up the intensity, slapping her aching clit with his cock, until all Gabby could do was writhe in pleasure and pain, an exquisite mix of sensations that had her teetering on the brink of losing control once more.

  The soft tearing of the foil wrapper barely registered, Gabby was so lost to the moment. The only thing she could do was lie there and feel. A moment later, she felt a whole lot more.

  Taking his time, Blake filled her to capacity, edging in slowly and retreating, stretching her open to accept every inch. When he was fully seated inside her, Blake folded over, covering Gabby in a blanket of warmth. She latched onto him, her nails digging into his shoulders and her heels into the backs of his powerful thighs as he began to rock his hips in time with her heartbeat.

  “Look at me, Gabby,” Blake’s forceful voice commanded. “I want to watch you when you come.”

  Prying her eyes open, Gabby’s stare met his, though it was difficult to make out any details in the darkness. Still, despite the lack of clarity, she felt connected to him somehow. She attributed the feeling to orgasms, since he’d been the only man to ever deliver her not just one, but two.

  Reaching back, he hooked his hand behind her knee and pulled her leg up, tucking it beneath his arm, and the new angle had him diving even deeper into her, hitting spots that no man had ever touched.

  Gabby’s gasp of surprise and profound pleasure sounded extra loud to her ears, but she couldn’t help herself. It was impossible to hold back, not with the way Blake was pounding into her, making every cell in her body buzz.

  That familiar feeling began to take over, creeping up her spine. Her limbs began to vibrate, and her skin seemed to shrink, and then Blake swiveled his hips and Gabby’s eyes slammed shut, an explosion of light erupting behind them. For a suspended moment, she felt as if she were floating, but it didn’t last long. Readjusting her legs to rest against his shoulders, Blake rose above her and drove into her at a brutal pace.

  Wrapping her fingers around his wrists, all Gabby could do was hold on. She watched in fascination as the skin around Blake’s eyes tightened, his lips peeled back from his teeth, and his muscles bunched and flexed under the strain. When his rhythm became disjointed, Gabby arched up and captured his mouth, swallowing his roar as he released inside of her.

  FIFTEEN

  The alarm was about to go off, signaling the start of the day. Staying was out of the question, but that’s exactly what Blake wanted to do. Having a woman in his arms felt good. Sharing his bed with a warm body felt good. Sinking deep inside a warm, wet, willing woman all night felt damn good.

  Blake was loathe to call an end to the night’s festivities, but it was time to get up and get moving. “Come on, teach, time to roll.” Flinging back the covers, he rolled on top of her, nudging her slack thighs out of the way, and filled her with morning wood.

  Her head rolling on the pillow, Gabby moaned, and Blake grinned as he took up a slow, steady motion, like waves lapping against a shoreline. She had a sweet pussy, better than any club whore, and he couldn’t get enough.

  “How am I supposed to go anywhere when you’re constantly inside me?” she said lightly, feigning annoyance.

  Lazily circling his tongue around her nipple, Blake hummed. “That’s your problem, teach. I
got no issue calling in sick and spending the day right here.”

  “I’m going to be so sore later.”

  “Good.”

  “Good?” Her eyes danced with fire.

  “Good,” he repeated. “It means you’ll spend the day thinking about me.” Just like he knew he’d be thinking about her. Gabby made his dick painfully hard every time he looked at her. It only seemed fair to return the favor.

  She made a face then, with her hands on his shoulders, pushed him onto his back. Straddling his hips, Blake’s attention latched onto her perfect teardrop breasts and he palmed them, squeezing and kneading as she rocked against him.

  “I need to get home so I can shower and change before school,” she told him, her breaths choppy as she rode him.

  “Then you’d better fuck fast so you can go,” he told her. “Ash is going to be up soon.”

  Her eyes shot open wide, and all movement stopped. So Blake took it upon himself to do it for her. Taking hold of her waist, he pushed up into her at the same time he pulled her toward him, then away.

  “He can’t see me here.”

  “He asked you to stay.” Thrusting up, he caught her sweet spot, and Gabby’s head fell back, a soft moan spilling from her kiss-bruised lips. Engaging every abdominal muscle he had, Blake sat up, his mouth closing around her throat so he could feel the subtle vibrations on his tongue.

  Her fingers threading through the longer bits of his hair, Gabby said, “He’s going to get the wrong impression.”

  “That you’re fucking his dad? Newsflash, teach, you are.” Blake muffled his raspy laugh with a tit between his lips.

  “You’re terrible.”

  “Yet here you are, riding my cock like it’s a carnival ride.”

  “Shut up and fuck me, asshole.”

  Grinning, Blake rolled her back onto the bed, flipped her over onto her stomach, and pulled her up onto her knees. Positioned right where he wanted to be, Blake said, “I plan to,” then slammed home.

  ***

  Sitting behind his desk in the company’s single-wide, Blake stared at the stack of endless papers and let loose a curse. He fucking hated paperwork. It was worse than death, truly. Where the fuck was Country when he needed him? Whenever shit piled up, he pawned it off. Being the only person who knew why he hated that part of his job, Country was cool like that. Without him, the project would fall behind and eventually come to a halt.

  Leaning back in his chair, Blake rubbed his eyes, feeling the strain. Days like this, he wondered why he didn’t just stick with engineering. Reading, of any kind, always fucked him up. Case in point, that humiliating moment in Ash’s room when he got all twisted over a children’s book. But sorting through contracts and other legalese was a special kind of hell, and one that he’d only wish on his worst enemies.

  Like Ricky Cruiz.

  That piece of wasted sperm was on the move. Word around the clubhouse was that a couple of Cruiz’s boys had busted up a carry-out late last night after the owner refused to pay their toll—a fee that would purchase their so-called protection from rival gangs.

  Only problem with that was the Spartans were the closest thing to a gang within a hundred miles, and they’d gotten out of the game a long time ago. But they still held enough clout with the locals that Cruiz was playing it smart, sticking to the outskirts of Spartan territory, though it was clear he was tightening his belt notch by notch. For the time being, Blake and his men were playing it cool, and as long as Cruiz kept a respectable distance, there wouldn’t be a problem. The second he didn’t…

  Blake’s thoughts threatened to take a dark turn, and he shook his head to clear it. No sense traveling down that road unless he had to.

  Instead, he reflected on the previous night and that morning. He’d known Gabby would be sweet, but he hadn’t anticipated just how much. Man, she was a hot piece. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been able to go more than two rounds in a night, never mind five. His dick was sore from taking her so many times, but it was worth it. Hell, if she was sitting in front of him now, he’d spread her out like an all you can eat buffet and take her again, that’s how good it was.

  That was the difference between screwing a broad at the club and screwing a lady with class. Gabby was all class, from her silky brown hair to her polished toes, and Blake was the kind of man who enjoyed some of the nicer things life had to offer—like brown-haired beauties with polished toenails.

  But with class came complications, and having Gabby stay over brought with it a few that Blake wasn’t certain what to do with. Sometime during the night, when he’d decided to cut her a break and let her get some shut-eye, he’d ended up lying there like a schmuck and watching her sleep. He knew as he was doing it that he could be in trouble, and when she curled into his arms and slung her leg over his, nestling in real close-like, he knew for a fact that he was. Couple that with the fieldtrip to the zoo when he told Gabby she would be his old lady one day? Yeah, there was no coming back from that.

  And when she’d started whimpering sometime later, caught in the throes of a nightmare, he’d been there to kiss her awake and chase her troubles away with a gentle touch.

  What a woman like her would have nightmares about, he hadn’t a clue. From what he could see of it, her life was pretty damn idyllic. Good job, great parents, roof over her head. But he knew better than anyone that appearances could be deceiving. The trip to Swan Creek came to mind, as did that brutal scar on her back. He’d traced it more than once throughout the night, and it most definitely hadn’t been a scratch. However, she came about that marking, it’d been a traumatic experience.

  He’d seen worse on brothers fresh out of the pen bearing battle scars from run-ins with scum who’d paid to see them dead, but not by much.

  There was definitely a story behind it, and Blake was more determined than ever to find out what it was.

  A knock at the trailer door shattered his concentration, and Blake shot an evil look at whoever stood behind it. “It’s open!”

  Country stepped inside, battling to shut the door against the heavy winds. There was a storm coming in, and Blake was looking forward to trying to talk the good teacher into sticking around for another night. After the way she moaned in his ear and called his name throughout the night, though, he didn’t think convincing her would be much of a problem.

  “Hey, Prez, catch you at a bad time?”

  “Why would you say that?” he asked, his tone cutting.

  “Because your dick is trying to punch a hole through your pants, and you’re looking at me like you want to put a bullet through my skull.”

  Glancing down, Blake saw that, indeed, he was rocking a pretty impressive hard-on. With a rueful smirk, he asked, “Why the fuck you checkin’ out my dick, Tuck? You straddlin’ the fence now?”

  Country’s lip curled as he dropped down in the chair across from him. “Fuck no. The only thing I get my dick wet in is pussy.”

  “The younger the better, right?” Every time he saw Country with one of the house bunnies, he swore she was younger than the last. Pretty soon, he’d have to start IDing bitches before they entered the clubhouse so they didn’t get raided for corrupting minors, or whatever the hell police arrested full-grown men banging teens for these days. He wasn’t up-to-date on the laws.

  “Always.” Kicking an ankle up on his opposite knee, Country slanted him his standard lazy look. “So what did you want to see me for?”

  That’s right. Blake had called him there, hadn’t he? Brows nearly touching in the middle, Blake sat forward, folding his arms on the desk. “Jodi paid me a visit last night.”

  “That bitch still crawlin’ around?”

  Nodding, Blake said, “Like a cockroach. She woke Ash up, got him upset.” Country cursed, and Blake cleared his throat and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “I had a woman over. Didn’t look good.”

  Country’s sandy eyebrows shot up. “I assume we’re not talking about a broad.”

&n
bsp; He knew the answer to that. Blake never took ass home. The only woman to enter his house after Jodi left was Gabby. He made it a point never to expose his son to anything that might harm his childlike view of the world.

  The time for that would come eventually, but until it did, he was doing his damnedest to keep him a kid as long as possible.

  Running his hand over his mouth, Country eyed the floor, his head nodding slowly. “Want me to have a talk with her?”

  “No, I don’t want anyone near her. I can’t put my finger on it, but Jodi’s up to something. You should have seen the wild look in her eyes last night. It’s more than just drugs.” His gaze lifted and Blake pegged Country with a hard look. “Get someone on her. Find out where she’s staying, who she’s hanging with, how she’s spending her free time. Everything.”

  Reaching into his back jeans pocket, Country pulled out his phone and started typing. “You got it, Prez. I’ll handle this one personally. If that bitch so much as queefs, you’ll know about it.”

  Holding up his hand, Blake chuckled. “I don’t want that much detail, bro.”

  “You sure? ‘Cause if anyone can dig up the dirt, it’s me.”

  “I’m not looking for that kind of dirt, but I appreciate your enthusiasm. Just make sure that whatever she’s into, it’s not going to blow back on me or the club.”

  Pushing from the chair, Country gave him a two-finger salute. “You got it. Anything else before I take off? I promised I’d take that little cherry I told you about the other night for a ride up the coast later.”

  Blake raised his brows, but didn’t ask. Instead, he slapped the stack of eye-bending papers sitting on the desk. “Yeah, you can get these out of my sight.”

  Striding over, Country lifted the pile and gave it a cursory glance. “These all need signatures?”

  “I’m assuming. I haven’t had time to read through them all.” They both knew that wasn’t entirely true. He’d had the time, just not the wherewithal.