by Jade Kuzma
“Run along now,” he said. “If you wait any longer, you’re going to give Lieberman a chance to catch up with you.”
I nodded to him then moved over to Charles’s bike. He got on his ride and I took my place right behind him. I squeezed my arms around his stomach.
“This is it,” he said. “If you wanna come back to Ivory, it won’t be for a long time.”
“I’ve had enough of Ivory to last me a lifetime. I’m ready to see what else is out there.”
“Then let’s ride.”
Charles revved his engine and sped off down the road.
I didn’t know where we were headed. I didn’t know what was waiting for us. It didn’t matter though as long as I was with him. My life in Ivory was over.
Chapter 26
CHARLES
One week later…
“How are things?”
“About as well as they can be, given all the shit that just went down.”
“Lieberman?”
“Pissed.”
“It’s hard to tell with that permanent bitchface she’s got going on.”
He laughed so hard that it took him a few seconds to respond.
“I know she’s mad. She didn’t get her man. Either one of them.”
“But there’s still you.”
“There’s still me. With Holmes out of the spotlight, she could turn her attention back to the MCs.”
“The Triads?”
“I still keep in touch with them. They’re not interested in doing business with us. Not as long as she’s around.”
I sighed a deep breath as I thought about it.
“I’m sorry—”
“Don’t apologize. Lieberman was here before you got here. She’s still here now that you’re gone. You’re a nomad. This ain’t your problem.”
“I’m still a Reaper. I still wear the patch.”
“All the more reason for you to have our support.”
Garnet had done more than I could ask for. I’d never be able to pay him back but I fully intended on trying to do what I could.
“Garnet—”
“Listen, brother. I know what it’s like to be in love. You said it yourself. When you’re in love, it’s the only thing that matters. Every man who patches up dreams of finding that special woman. It makes the rides a little more special when you’ve got an old lady to share it with.”
“…Are you sure you can handle things? We might’ve pulled one over on Lieberman but she’s not anybody you can fuck around with. Shit’s not a joke.”
“And I’m not treating her like one. We’ll keep our heads down and our noses clean. She’s been trying to bust us for a year now. Even if she’s stockpiling evidence like she was with Holmes, she doesn’t have much. But if she wants to start a war, I’m ready. I’ll do everything to maintain the peace in Ivory for now.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way… Maybe Lenora and I will come back one day. Hopefully the Reapers will still be around.”
“As long as I’m around, BRIC will stand proud.”
“Good. I still have to pay you back 50-grand. You know, I took some of Holmes’s stash on my way out. The 50 Gs is chump change to me now.”
Garnet let out another hearty laugh.
“Glad to hear it… Is it such a good idea to be carrying that kind of cash?”
“I’ve been on the road for a long time now. I know how to hide money. Lieberman would have to go through a lot of trouble to trace it back to me.”
“Then it’s probably a good idea for you to keep the money I gave you. Consider it a gift for the honeymoon.”
“We’re not married.”
“Not yet…”
I smiled thinking about Lenora.
“What about Sutton?”
“Lieberman doesn’t believe him. She’s not that stupid. But she’s not gonna question him either. He’s still in charge of the Sheriff’s Department around here.”
“It must be strange… Working with the sheriff. The same man who’s been trying to put the MCs on ice.”
“He knows what the right move was. The Reapers do a lot of good in this town. Even Sutton knows that with Holmes out of the picture, Ivory is a better place.”
It was a relief to know that neither the club or the old sheriff were suffering for their part in what they did.
“Where are you headed?”
“Don’t know. We might just stick around where we are.”
“Lieberman is keeping tabs on all of us. It’s probably best that we don’t stay in touch. Any chance she could catch up to you. But it’s not anything you should worry about. She won’t leave Ivory to go look for you. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Right… Then I guess this is goodbye.”
“For now. You take care now, Char. Rep the Reapers wherever you go.”
“It’s an honor to wear the patch.”
“Yeah… That’s for damn sure.”
I listened to the phone disconnect. I held it up to the side of my face for a few seconds before lowering it down onto the bar in front of me.
“Did I miss anything?”
I looked to the side and saw Lenora standing there.
I always thought she was gorgeous. Ever since I first laid eyes on her. But now… I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
Gone was the slutty dress she tried to entice men with. Just a pair of tight jeans and a plain t-shirt. Her hair was shorter. There was less makeup. Her injuries had healed. Everything about her seemed different. But the way she looked at me… Those hypnotizing green eyes that seemed to shimmer. And that pixie smile on her lips. It was like falling in love with her over and over again whenever I saw her.
She took a seat next to me.
“You didn’t miss a thing,” I said. “Things in Ivory are…”
I looked at her and paused for a moment. I stared into her eyes and saw all of the shit she’d been through. All of the loss. All of the pain and suffering. That shit was over and done with, stuck in Ivory in a past I knew she didn’t wanna remember.
“…Everybody in Ivory is fine,” I said. “The people you care about anyway.”
“That’s good to hear. How’s the MC doing?”
“Garnet’s a good president. I’m not worried about them. Whatever chaos comes his way, he knows how to deal with it.”
“Is he mad about the money?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of it.
“Money is the last thing Garnet is worried about. He said… He said that I should consider it a honeymoon present.”
“Honeymoon?”
Lenora raised her eyebrows at me. The devilish grin on her face made me chuckle.
“Don’t get any ideas,” I said.
“What ideas could I possibly be thinking about?”
She leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek.
“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. “Ring or no ring. Just as long as I’m with you.”
“I’ll give you a ring eventually.”
“I’m yours no matter what. For now, I say we have some fun.”
She hopped up off of her seat and held her arms out.
“Our plane just landed and here we are sitting in the airport bar. What do you say we go exploring?”
“Yeah… That sounds like fun. If we don’t like what we find—”
“—Then we can just find somewhere else to be together.”
Chapter 27
LENORA
Charles had gotten us a penthouse suite in the finest hotel in town. The view was nothing short of amazing. I could see so far out into the city that the curve of the horizon was visible.
I sighed as I lounged in my chair. An umbrella blocked the sun that shined brightly but it was still warm enough to warrant me being completely naked. I didn’t care that my bare body was on display. There wasn’t anybody for miles that could see me.
My eyes closed, I slowly started to drift off to sleep when I heard footsteps approaching from behind m
e.
“What do you think?”
I peeked my eyes open and saw Charles standing there in all his glory.
Wide shoulders. Thick muscles on his chest and a wonderful six-pack on his stomach. Ink all over his arms and torso. Hair messy. Oh, and there was that cock of his that had satisfied me so many times before.
But I wasn’t focused on his amazingly sculpted body at the moment. Instead, my eyes were locked on his face. It wasn’t just that he was smiling. It was that I could actually see it.
“Wow…”
I reached a hand up in surprise and touched his freshly-shaved face.
“That’s what you’ve been hiding this whole time, huh?”
His beard was gone. In its place, there was a strong jawline that would have made any woman wet just from a quick glance.
“I figure it’s time for a change,” he said. “Besides, it’s better that nobody recognizes me.”
“You’re pretty handsome without it. I’m afraid you’re gonna be drawing even more attention to yourself.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
He leaned forward and kissed me. I giggled as his tongue licked my lips.
He took a seat next to me. We enjoyed the view of the city together. I trailed my hand along his chin, letting my fingers linger on his skin.
“If you were always this handsome without it, why did you bother growing a beard in the first place?”
“When I joined the Army, everybody had to shave their heads. No facial hair either. It was part of following orders. They kept telling us to shave our heads every single fucking day. It was just part of the routine. But one day it stopped. When they sent me out, I figured I would enjoy every bit of freedom I could get…”
“So you decided not to shave and grow a beard.”
“I decided to grow all my hair out.”
I reached down between his legs and ran my fingers along his smooth hilt.
“Well, you didn’t grow all of it out…” I said with a giggle.
I immediately felt his cock beginning to stiffen against my hands.
“Naughty boy… Just my hand and you’re already getting hard.”
“Just looking at you is enough to do that for me.”
“You flatter me… I think I can do better than my hand though… And I can prove it…”
He kissed me deeply as I pumped my hand on his shaft.
“Stand up…”
I whispered into his ear. He obeyed my command. I sat up straight and looked at his growing cock right before me.
I licked my lips and didn’t wait another second. I wrapped my mouth around his shaft and proceeded to bob my head back and forth.
Charles let out a deep sigh as I slowly pleasured his throbbing length.
I’d done this before. There was no greater pleasure than listening to the sound of him grunting in ecstasy. But I never got the chance to suck him off on the balcony of a penthouse suite. I had to take this opportunity.
My hair was short now, so it made it easier for Charles to run his fingers through it. He massaged the back of my scalp. It spurred me to work even harder to please him.
The soft sound of sucking grew louder as I moved even faster. Wet smacks of my lips on his length covered his shaft in my spit. I stuck my tongue out as I took him down into my throat. He was big enough to make me gag but I’d trained enough to swallow him whole. Having his length twitching in my throat was like nothing else.
I pulled off of him to catch my breath. I wiped the spit from my chin and looked up at him through blurry vision. He put his hands on my arms and lifted me from my seat. A deep kiss sent a wave of pleasure through my core and down to my legs.
I giggled as I jumped up into his embrace.
He carried me back into our suite and plopped me down on the bed. He kept stalking me, crawling toward me like a predator about to pounce on his prey.
“Now what?” I said, unable to hide my blushing cheeks.
“Let’s do a little exploring, shall we?”
“Exploring it is…”
I bit the corner of my bottom lip to try and hide my smile.
I reached for the bottles of lubricant resting on the nightstand. I scattered all of the empty ones and grabbed the one that still had some in it.
Charles took it from my hand then forcefully put me on all fours. I gasped and giggled in eager anticipation.
I pressed my head into the pillow. I spread my legs and enjoyed the cool sensation of the lubricant sliding between my ass cheeks.
“Fuck… Just give it to me already…”
He lubed me up to the point that anything he put near me would slide right in. His tip against my entrance made me shudder in delight.
It was a strange feeling at first. But Charles and I were exploring each other as we explored the rest of the world. It seemed right that he discovered everything he could about me.
His hands on my hips, Charles pushed his cock into my asshole slowly. The lube made his cock slide in despite how large he was.
“Oh… Oh, God…”
I moaned in ecstasy, trying my best to let my muscles relax. Charles tightened his grip on me so that he could plunge every inch into me. He kept pushing until he was resting comfortably inside of me. His hilt pressed up against my ass cheeks. He held his position for a second before he started thrusting again.
He was slow at first, pumping in and out of me to loosen me up. My moans joined the chorus of the mattress squeaking beneath us.
“Fuck…”
Obscenities were the only thing that could escape my lips as I gripped the sheets underneath me.
Charles started to get more and more worked up. His thrusts became deeper and harder. He grunted louder. It wasn’t long before he was pounding me like the man I knew he was.
“That’s it,” I sighed. “Fuck me… Fuck me good… I’m yours… I’m all yours… Charles…”
He was pumping into me like a piston. He was stimulating me so much that I could barely think straight.
My body had taken complete control of me. My breaths were deeper. Sweat dripped all over me. My heart thumped in my chest.
I reached down between my legs and rubbed my swollen clit to increase the pleasure even further. I was dripping down the insides of my thighs, trying my hardest to hold back for as long as I could.
But it was a futile effort. Charles was giving it to me like no other man could. It wasn’t just my body that was on the verge of coming. It was as if my entire being was going to climax.
“Oh, God… Charles… Charles, I…”
I couldn’t finish. My mouth hung open but all of the words and obscenities and groans all got jammed in my throat.
I tightened all of my muscles and started to come hard. My body quaked underneath him, shivering in delight from how good my orgasm felt. Wave after wave of pleasure pulsed through my core, making my body shiver violently from his thrusts.
“Oh… Fuck!”
His grunt was a roar as he lost himself just the same as me. It was a different feeling to have someone come in my ass. Charles was the first to do it. He was the only one I would have ever presented myself to. As his cum filled me up, he continued to shake against me. He buried himself into me completely like I belonged to him.
And that’s the way it was.
I was his property and he was mine.
We didn’t belong to anything or anybody else except each other. Our orgasms were more than just physical. It didn’t matter how we came or where we did it. Just as long as we did it together.
He spilled everything he could into me and pulled out. He collapsed on the bed next to me, breathing deeply.
I remained on the bed in the position I was in, my face pressing against the pillow and my ass in the air. I giggled from the wetness of his fluid trickling out of me and down my thighs. Eventually my body lowered until I was resting comfortably next to him.
I laid there with my eyes closed, basking in the afterglow of my climax. A few mom
ents later, I opened my eyes to see Charles staring back at me.
There was a tender look in the way he stared at me. It didn’t matter if the beard was there or not. He looked at me like no other man did. So warm and caring. Even if the world was exploding all around me, I would feel safe with him here next to me.
“Whiskers,” he said suddenly.
“What?”
“Whiskers.”
He slowly sat up straight on the bed. I sat up next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. I ran my fingers along the knife wound on his arm.
“When I was out on tour, I was always getting into shit,” he said. “There was always some place me and the other rangers would have to go to clean up.”
“I can’t imagine what that’s like.”
“It’s a good thing you can’t. Nobody should have to go through it. All of the gunfire. All of the explosions. All of the shouting and screaming and yelling. People dying.”
Charles swallowed before he continued.
“Even after I left, I could still hear it. I’d be sitting in my room… All I had to do was close my eyes and it would be there. It was like I was right back there on the field. But then Whiskers would meow. He’d meow and just like that…”
He snapped his fingers.
“…It all went away. Whiskers would hop up on my lap and I couldn’t remember all of the things I went through, even if I tried.”
I sat up and looked at Charles as he stared off into the distance.
“That’s why I went to Ivory,” he said. “That’s why I was so desperate to make Walsh pay for what he did. He took my peace away from me.”
I nodded in understanding.
“I know your cat is gone but maybe you could get another one. There are a lot of strays that can use a good home.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I needed Whiskers because I needed someone to forget about all the bad shit I went through. I have you now.”
He put his hand up and caressed my cheek.
“You’re all that’s right in my world,” he whispered. “When I’m with you, I forget about everything I’ve ever done and everything I’ve ever been through.”
I swallowed as my eyes started to glaze over. I blinked to stop them from watering even more.