by Evelyn Glass
“Relax,” he breathed against her neck, pulling her tightly to his crotch and holding her still. “We’ve got all night.”
She exhaled in a long slow release of tension, the anticipation adding another layer to her pleasure. His fingers plucked at her buttons, opening the front of her shirt while his lips caressed her neck and shoulder as the shirt opened to reveal more flesh for his exploration.
Her shirt opened, he quickly untucked it then dragged his fingers slowly down her stomach, enjoying the way she squirmed and moved under his touch. His lips still exploring her shoulder, he stepped back slightly to give him enough room to slide a hand under her shirt to unsnap her brassiere as the other unbuttoned her jeans, before slowly sliding her shirt from her shoulders.
She sighed softly as her bra fell away and he cupped and tickled her breasts. He kneaded them softly, his fingers dancingly lightly over their hard points as he kissed under her jaw. She turned her head to offer him her lips, and he took them, his kiss slow and incredibly erotic.
She turned in his arms and began to unbutton his shirt, pushing it off his shoulders then stepping in and kissing him, pressing herself into his bare chest to feel his skin against hers. They parted and he smiled softly as they stared into each other’s eyes. He touched his head to hers, and as he began to push her pants over her hips, she unbuckled his belt and slid her hand inside. He was hard and slick, his cock dripping in anticipation.
She groaned as he slid a finger into her wetness, pressing firmly against her button. “I want you,” he whispered.
“I want you, too.”
He eased her to the bed, removed her shoes, then slid her pants down, kissing along each thigh, making her squirm and twitch. He began to kiss back up her leg, but as he approached her most intimate area, she pushed gently against him.
“No. Not tonight. I want you,” she whispered as she scooted back into the bed.
He removed the rest of his clothing and followed, her arms beckoning to him. He settled between her legs, slowly sinking into her wetness as he lowered himself onto her. He watched her face as she smiled then pulled his head lower, taking his lips with hers.
He moved slowly, taking his time, not rushing to completion, wanting to enjoy this time with Shayna for as long as possible. Something had changed for him since last night. She was no longer just a fuck. She was more than someone for him to use to get his rocks off. He didn’t even want to fuck her anymore; he wanted to make love to her, to give her pleasure and draw his pleasure from pleasing her.
Conor was different tonight, and she smiled, realizing that she no longer thought of him as Beast, the nickname no longer applying for her. Last night he’d been fiery and dominating, fucking her as she’d never been fucked before, but tonight he was gentle, the blazing heat of last night replaced by a glow that warmed her with the fear of burning. She sighed, enjoying how he had her tucked in tight, making her feel safe, protected…and wanted. Wanted not just for her body, but for her, for who she was.
“I’m going to come,” he grunted many long moments later.
She’d wrapped him up tight, drawing him down onto her, holding him as if she never wanted to let him go. He didn’t know if it meant anything, but their long, slow, love-making and her fierce grip had touched him. They hadn’t changed positions, their lips never far or long removed from each other as they looked into each other’s eyes. He liked how her faint smile of pleasure touched her eyes, how she seemed able to peer deep into his soul, and how that gaze touched him.
“Make me come, come with me,” she murmured. She’d already come once, a small one, but hearing him announce his impending rapture excited her at a deep level far beyond the physical.
He began to drive into her with purpose, trying to tip her over the edge. He grunted, battling against his pleasure but losing the war with his body. “I’m going to come. I can’t hold it.” He grunted again, hard and deep, driving into her harder still, unable to hold back the pleasure bearing down on him.
Her orgasm was coming and she could feel it wrapping her in its warm embrace. “Not yet. Not yet,” she murmured.
“I can’t…” he grunted, struggling against the tidal wave of pleasure.
“Don’t stop, please don’t stop,” she gasped, her orgasm bearing down on her. She felt him shudder as he drew her in tight, almost crushing the breath from her lungs, but she wanted to be held tighter still.
He was alive, his entire body burning as he pushed against his orgasm, wanting to experience the peak of pleasure with her but unable to hold back the rushing pleasure. “I’m—”
“Come,” she gasped as she tumbled into her orgasm.
They sighed together, their orgasms washing out of them in the same moment as he found her lips and kissed her deeply. He pulled back from her kiss and watched her face, trying to read the emotions that played there.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm,” she nodded with a smile, her eyes closing. “That was nice.” It wasn’t the hardest orgasm she’d ever had, but it was fulfilling in a way that none of the others had ever been. It was as if this orgasm warmed her at a deeper level, somehow touching her beyond the physical. It hadn’t left her gasping for breath, but she was relaxed and satisfied.
She seemed contented with their love-making, so he pulled himself from her, gasping in pleasure as he withdrew, and settled in beside her. She snuggled in close, throwing an arm and leg over him possessively. He tucked her in, smiling into the gathering darkness.
“What?” she asked.
“What, what?”
“You’re smiling. I was wondering why.”
He chuckled. “Damned if I know.”
She took a deep breath as a smile tugged at her lips. I understand completely.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Beast! Wake up!”
Beast blinked in the darkness, trying to figure out what woke him.
The door rattled again as someone knocked firmly. “Beast! It’s Rowdy! Wake up!”
“Go away!” He didn’t know the time, but it had to be early.
“What?” Shayna snuffled as she scooted in a little tighter.
“Nothing, babe. Go back to sleep.” With a growl he slipped out from under her and pulled on his pants before padding to the door. “This had better be important.”
“We found Orson.”
Beast slipped out and eased the door shut behind him. “When? Where?”
“About an hour ago. We found his car parked in the parking lot at Calico Basin Golf Resort. He was inside. Shot once in the back of the head.”
“Fuck!”
“Yeah. We called the police and reported it. Nothing he could tell us and we didn’t want to open the door. You could smell it even with the windows up.”
“The Scarred cleaning up loose ends.”
“That’s what it looks like.”
Beast took a deep breath. “Okay, Rowdy. Thanks.”
“Yeah. Sorry to wake you but I knew you’d want to know.”
Unable to sleep, his mind buzzing with the news, Beast prowled the clubhouse. They didn’t need Orson, not since the meeting with Grizzly confirmed he owed The Scarred money, but he wanted to know how deep The Scarred were in, and what was driving them. The Argentines, the threats at the tournament, the kidnapping attempt, it all had to be related. It had to be The Scarred. Was it simply to get at the tournament money? If it was, they were playing the longest of long shots. Were there still pieces of the puzzle missing or The Scarred were out of options and were going for the Hail Mary?
It was almost four when he returned to the guest room to shower and dress. He gave Shayna a soft kiss, pushing a lock of hair out of her eyes before slipping out to make coffee.
“I suppose you heard the news?” Beast asked Hightower as his VP entered the clubhouse.
“Yeah. Tripper left me a text last night. I thought about it some on the ride in. I’m not sure it matters anymore.”
“Yeah, so long as Grizzl
y doesn’t get too stupid.”
Hightower snorted as he serenely dunked a teabag in a mug of hot water. “He was never known for his genius level IQ.”
Beast snorted. “I remember. But they won’t be a problem much longer.”
“Good riddance to bad rubbish.”
They were still gloating over The Scarred when Beast’s phone rang. He checked the number but didn’t recognize it. “Conor Boyd.”
“Beast. Grizzly. We need to meet.”
Beast pressed the button to put Grizzly on speaker so Hightower could hear then put the phone on the table. “No, I don’t believe we do. We found your man Orson last night. Looks like he died of a splitting headache.”
“You want to heed off a club war, we meet. Just the two of us, at that park thing by the airport.”
“You must be crazy if you think I’m going to meet you alone after what you did to Skellon and Orson.”
“Fine, I’ll be alone. Bring one man with you.”
Beast watched as Hightower shook his head. “Why? What can you offer me? From where I sit, I hold all the cards.”
“You don’t want a war. I don’t want a war. But that’s where this is going unless we can work something out.”
Beast rubbed his chin. “Fine. Hightower and I will be there in an hour. You be there first. If I so much as suspect you’re setting us up, we ride on past.”
“Don’t do something stupid, Boyd.”
“As far as I’m concerned, we can call this off right now.”
“Just be there,” Grizzly rumbled before killing the call.
“This isn’t smart, Beast,” Hightower complained.
“No, probably not. But for him to reach out like this, it’s serious. We need to find out how serious.”
***
Beast rode into the viewing area first, Hightower five seconds behind, stopping well back so he could keep watch. Hightower pulled his weapon, but kept it low and out of sight of the occasional passing car.
“I’m here,” Beast said, shutting his bike off but not dismounting.
“Beast,” Grizzly began, “you have it figured out. We’re in deep with Orson. He owes us over thirty million. We can’t absorb that.”
“So you floated the loan using Russian money?”
“Yeah, but we’re out of options. They’re going to expect payment for the guns, and we don’t have it.”
“I don’t see how this is my problem.”
“Don’t you see? I can’t let this drop! They’ll kill us all! We tried to do it peacefully with Orson in the tournament. But you fucked that up when you went to the producer guy and made a big deal out of it.”
“You were trying to fuck me up with the Argentines? You tossed their rooms?”
“Yeah. We thought you would be an easy mark. Get you side tracked by your security company.”
“And Shayna?”
“Yes.”
He pulled his weapon and pointed it at Grizzly’s head. “I should kill you where you stand.”
“Go ahead. Save the Russians the trouble.”
Beast held his weapon on Grizzly a moment then pulled it down but kept it in his hand. “No. I rather like the idea of the Russians squeezing you to find out what happened. So what do you want from me?”
“Time. I need time to raise the money.”
“Sorry, can’t help you.”
“You can. I need thirty-two million before next weekend. You have it.”
Beast snorted. “I don’t have that kind of money, and even if I did, why would I give it to you?”
“Don’t give me that ‘I don’t have it’ bullshit! You just won fifty million dollars.”
“Let me explain to you this little thing called taxes. I may have won fifty million, but the IRS and the state of Nevada get theirs first. You don’t like it, take it up with Uncle Sam.”
“What do you have?”
“None of your fucking business!”
Grizzly licked his lips. “I have a business proposal.”
“Not interested.”
“Just hear me out! Twenty-five percent of our take, right off the top, until the loan is paid back, with interest.”
“Still not interested. We got out of the gun running business, remember.”
“I can’t let this rest, Beast. I have to have the money.”
Beast started his bike. “Still not interested.”
“This will mean war, Beast! A lot of your brothers are going to die!”
“If you think your dick is big enough to go up against us, then let’s see who has the biggest dick! I will personally fuck you in the ass!”
Grizzly reached for his weapon, but with his gun still in his hand, Beast was faster, much faster.
“Come on!” Beast snarled. “Give me an excuse to blow your fucking brains out all over the pavement!” Grizzly slowly extended his hands to his sides. “So, you’re not as stupid as you look. With your left hand, slowly pull your gun out.” Grizzly reached behind him and pulled the chrome plated .357 revolver. “Empty it then toss it over the fence,” he said with a jerk of his head, his eyes never leaving Grizzly and his weapon never wavering.
Grizzly did as ordered. “We’re going to be coming for you, Beast. We can’t let this go. You’re leaving us no choice.”
“Sucks to be you.” He kicked the bike into gear then tucked his pistol away.
“We’re coming for you, Beast! We’re going to kill you all!” Grizzly raged as Beast circled his bike around and rode back toward Hightower.
***
“That went well,” Hightower said as the two men stepped off their hogs at the clubhouse. “I nearly shit when you pulled the pistol.”
“Actually, it did,” Beast said with a grin. “The Scarred are going under. They lost thirty million of Russian money on Orson’s deal. They’ve been riding the float, but they’re out of options. Grizzly, the stupid fuck, wanted us to loan them the money. Well, when I say us, I mean me.”
“Are you going to do it?” Hightower asked with a grin.
“Shut the fuck up! I might just stay on as President if The Scarred are gone,” Beast said with a grin, but then turned serious. “He said they would be coming for us. We need to let the brothers and sisters know to watch their back.”
Hightower nodded. “We’ll start riding only in pairs, like the old days. How long, did he say?”
“He needs the money by next weekend. So two weeks?”
Hightower nodded. “For two weeks, we can hole up here if we have to.”
Beast nodded in agreement. “Start putting the word out, and have someone stock up here, just in case we have to go to ground.”
Hightower nodded then pulled Beast into a back-slapping hug. “This is Ace,” he said, pushing Beast back. “You finished what Animal started and now you’re destroying The Scarred.”
“We just have to get through the next couple of weeks, until the Russians can do the dirty work,” Beast said as he opened the door to the clubhouse. Hightower turned for the DRS office as he continued into the big common area where he found Shayna bent over the pool table.
“Where’d you go? And when?” she asked when she noticed his approach. “I had plans this morning but you weren’t there.”
He chuckled. “Business. Nothing to worry about,” he said as he kissed her.
“I’m not worried, but you still haven’t woken me up in a certain special way. Last night I was thinking this would be the morning.”
“We found Orson, dead, this morning.”
“No,” she gasped.
“Shot in his car. It’s The Scarred.”
“What does that mean? Is it over?”
“No, but soon. It’s going to get ugly before it’s over, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Scarred are in trouble, big trouble. They owe the Russian mob a lot of money, money they can’t pay. They’re desperate and desperate people do stupid things.”
“Like what?”
He
grinned. “Nothing to worry about. We just need to be careful for the next couple of weeks, then it will all be over.”
“The mob?”
“Yeah. They aren’t going to take kindly to losing thirty million and will probably make an example out of them as a warning to anyone else that tries to screw them over.”