I returned to Phoenix’s room and sent Ember out to sit with Badger. “What’s up, Prez?”
“Have we identified the men we have in the cells yet?”
“Not sure. Last I heard, Byte was working on that with Coal’s help.”
“We need them identified and then we need to figure out what in the hell we are going to do with them. It’s going to have to be quick, too, otherwise both sides of that farm are going to start wondering what happened to the ever present assclowns.”
“I’ll track down Byte as soon as I get back. What are you thinking we should do with them?”
“I think we should hand them over to the authorities. This is too big for us to handle in house without drawing attention. We’ve always gotten along with the local cops and I don’t want that to change. Also, a few guys I served with are now with the FBI or work closely with them, so we’ve got options. Only problem is, Octavius is mine. I’m not turning him in.”
“How are you going to do that?” I asked.
“Still thinking on that. For now, I want him kept separate from the others. I don’t care if they can hear him, but I don’t want them to be able to see him. Can you make sure that happens for me? Starting today?”
“Sure thing, Prez. Anything else?”
“Actually, yes. I want you to marry my daughter,” he stated bluntly.
I choked on my own spit when he said that. I coughed so hard I thought my eyeballs were going to shoot out of my head. When it subsided, I looked up to find Phoenix watching me closely. “What? You’re dating her, making her your old lady. You can’t put a ring on her finger, too?”
I blinked stupidly at him. “Uh, I, yeah, I can. I just thought it was maybe too soon for that, you know? Girls look at that stuff differently.”
He scoffed, “Marriage is the same as becoming an old lady in our world.”
“I know that and you know that, but she doesn’t.”
“So explain it to her and then marry her. I don’t want her becoming a mother before she is married,” he put his hand up and quickly added, “and I don’t want to know anything about her chances of becoming a mother or lack thereof. That’s my baby girl and I’m not used to my role as a father yet. I know she’s grown, but I still don’t want to know anything about you two being together like that.”
I chuckled, “Got it, Prez. I’ll talk to her.”
“See that you do. And one more thing,” he paused and narrowed his eyes, “If you hurt her, Carbon’s techniques will look like child’s play when I’m through with you.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less, Prez.” We shook hands and did the best we could for a half hug/back slap given his current state before I left to get Ember and follow through on Phoenix’s requests.
CHAPTER 30
Ember
We arrived back at the clubhouse and things seemed almost normal, which was weird. Things shouldn’t be normal at all. I wasn’t sure how things should be, but normal wasn’t it. I looked around the common room and noticed most, if not all, eyes were on Dash and I as we entered the room. I leaned in close to him and whispered, “Why are they all staring at us?”
He grinned and whisper yelled, “Because I’m holding your hand and they want to know why.” He raised our joined hands in the air and announced, “She’s mine! With Phoenix’s blessing.” The roar of cheers and applause that immediately followed was almost deafening. I was hugged, squeezed, patted, and had my hand shook more in the 30 minutes that followed than my whole life put together.
Everyone seemed genuinely happy for us, except for one person. The one person I thought for sure would be happy for me. Reese.
“Congratulations,” she said in her monotone robot voice. “I’m so happy for you two.”
There were a couple of ways I could have handled her response. I could have gotten mad and yelled at her. I could have cried and said she hurt my feelings. I could have ignored it and accepted her fake congratulations. I chose none of those. I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes, “What. Is. Wrong. With. You?” I punctuated each word with a gentle shake of her shoulders.
She jerked back from me and ran from the room. I went after her, but a large arm wrapped around my waist and stopped me from going any farther. “Let her be,” Carbon quietly rumbled near my ear.
“Get your fucking hands off my old lady!” Dash roared from the other side of the room. The crowd parted, creating a clear path for the raging bull, otherwise known as Dash, to come charging toward Carbon.
Carbon immediately released me and put his hands up. “No disrespect, brother. I was only looking out for my sister. She’s having a tough time right now and I was telling Ember to let her be.”
“Still doesn’t explain why you had your hands on her. You can talk to her without touching her,” Dash spat.
“Reese can lash out, verbally and physically, when she feels cornered or threatened. Didn’t want her doing that to Ember. That’s the only reason I used my hands to stop her,” Carbon explained, his eyes full of honesty and a deep sadness I guessed was put there by his sister.
“Fine. Just keep your hands off next time. Feel me?” Dash grumbled.
“No problem, brother. Again, didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“Come on, Ember, I need a shower and then I have a few things your father asked me to take care of today.” Upset at Reese’s reaction and slightly embarrassed at the show of machismo, I followed Dash to our room without question.
As soon as we crossed the threshold, I started, “Something is going on with Reese. Something major and I am seriously worried about her. Carbon says to let her be, but that is not helping her.”
Dash stalked toward me and captured my lips with his. He mumbled against my mouth, “Don’t want to talk about that right now.”
I pushed back from him, “Dash, I’m worried about my friend and you’re what? Trying to have sex with me right now? Really?”
He sat down on the end of the bed and pulled me to stand between his legs. “I’m sorry, baby. I know you’re worried about your friend. It’s just, well, a lot has happened and it’s been stressful. Sometimes a man needs to relieve that stress, and there’s only one way I want to do that right now.” He rubbed his hands up and down my sides in a gentle caress. He lowered his voice, “Do you think you could help me out with that?” He pulled me closer and nipped at my lower lip. “Give your friend some time to get herself together.” He continued to place little nips from my neck to my ear and back. He squeezed my butt with both hands and growled, “You gonna let me fuck you, baby?”
I could only reply with a soft moan. I really should have been angry with him, but there was no use in fighting it. He had me where he wanted me and he knew it. “It’s going to be hard and fast. If you can’t handle that, say it now,” he warned.
What would happen if I couldn’t handle it? Would he go find what he needed somewhere else? He must have seen something on my face, worry or fear, or complete devastation. “If you don’t think you can, I’ll just go to the gym or get one of the guys to get in the ring with me. After I fuck you,” he winked. “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“It’s okay. I want to. I mean, I want to see if I want to. Ugh, why is this so hard?” I swallowed and took a quick second to organize my thoughts. “I’ll never know if I like it that way or not if I never try it. So, consider this me volunteering to try it.”
I thought I would get a laugh out of him with my ramblings of inexperience, but I was very much mistaken. He squeezed my butt even harder before pushing me away from him. “Strip!” he barked.
I jumped from how loud and stern his voice was. He had never spoken to me like that. It was kind of scary, but a little exciting, too. I jumped again when he roared, “Now!”
Not wasting another second, I moved quickly to do as he bid.
He pointed to the floor in front of him, “Knees.”
I sank to my knees in front of him. I wa
s trying to trust him, to not question him. He knew I had limited experience. Surely he would guide me through the next steps.
He stepped closer to me. Cupping my cheek with one hand and giving me a gentle caress, he unfastened his jeans with his other hand. He shoved his pants and boxers down just far enough to free himself. He stopped caressing my cheek and moved his hand to the back of my head. “Open,” he commanded.
I opened my mouth without hesitation. He took another step closer and slid his cock into my mouth. I instinctively closed my lips around him, but I was unsure of what to do. The next second, I learned that I didn’t have to do anything. He held my head in place and slid himself in and almost all the way out of my mouth over and over. “Ember, baby, that fucking mouth,” he groaned.
His thrusts began to go deeper and deeper until he was hitting the back of my throat. I felt the urge to gag, but he would pull back each time before anything actually happened. I was beginning to wonder how much longer I could keep my mouth open that wide when he pulled me off of him and lifted me to my feet with the hand he had fisted in my hair. “On the bed. Hands and knees,” he barked, turning me and punctuating his demand with a sharp slap to my butt.
I crawled onto the bed and remained on my hands and knees, not sure of what to expect from him. He grasped my cheeks with both hands and pulled them apart. I squeaked in protest, knowing he could see all of my most private places. He completely ignored me and shoved two fingers inside me. I moaned like a shameless hussy and started pushing my hips back into his hand.
“You like that, baby? You want me to fuck you with my fingers?” I moaned and vigorously nodded my head. He slapped my butt hard, “That’s not going to work. Beg me. Tell me what you want and beg me to do it.”
“Please, Dash. Please fuck me with your fingers. I need it. Please,” I begged.
He slapped my butt again, “You should have been more specific.” I could hear the sarcasm in his voice, but I didn’t understand until I felt something I had never, ever felt before. His fingers were still inside me, but something, I’m guessing his thumb, had entered me elsewhere. I squealed and started to rise up, trying to turn around and tell him no. I lifted my hands off the bed, but he slapped my butt so hard I stilled from the shock of it. “Hands on the bed, eyes to the wall. You want my thumb out of your ass, you ask me to take it out. But you don’t want that, do you, baby? If you did, you wouldn’t be pushing that ass back into my hand would you?”
He was right. My traitorous body was doing exactly what he said. I pushed back and he pushed forward, thumb and fingers. “That’s right, baby, fuck your pussy and your ass on my fingers.” He pumped his fingers forcefully in and out of my holes several times. I groaned loudly and arched my back. I was close to climaxing, just a few more thrusts. “Don’t you dare come, Ember!” He smacked my butt, alternating cheeks, several times.
“Dash, I’m going to come! You have to stop!”
He removed his fingers from me and fire blazed across my butt from the rapid fire swats he delivered. “You don’t give me orders. Now, roll the fuck over and spread those legs wide.”
I rolled over and gasped when my butt touched the sheets. I spread my legs and tried to raise my butt off the bed to keep the blazing skin from coming in contact with anything. He smirked, “Put that ass on the bed or I’ll redden it some more.” I reluctantly let it fall back to the bed. “Now, play with your tits for me while I fuck your sweet pussy.”
I looked at him with wide eyes. I had never done anything like that. I knew people did touch themselves, but I was always too afraid someone at the farm was watching or would walk in on me. He smacked my thigh, not nearly as hard as he had smacked my butt, but it still caused me to suck in air. “Pinch. Your. Nipples.” He punctuated the first two words with a light swat to each thigh, and the last one with a swat to my sex.
I brought my hands to my chest and began playing my nipples for him. I briefly wondered if I should be angry with him for the way he was talking to me, but I was enjoying myself far too much to worry about how I “should” be reacting.
All coherent thoughts ceased when he grabbed my thighs and slammed into me. He was relentless with his thrusts. He grunted, cursed, and said all kinds of filthy things to me. “You better fucking come, Ember. I’m about to fucking blow and I’m not stopping for you.” He lightly tapped my clit and that was all it took. I fell headfirst into the most intense pleasure.
When my sense of reality returned, Dash was hovering over me, sweaty and panting, with his hand over my mouth. “They’re going to think I was killing you with the way you were screaming,” he laughed. “Twenty bucks says someone is knocking on that door within two minutes.”
I blushed from my head to my toes, “You’re not serious are you?”
He grinned, “Yeah, babe, I am. They’re used to hearing that shit come from Carbon’s room, not mine.”
I frantically tried to push him off of me. “Let me up! I’ve got to get some clothes on!”
“Wait! Let me clean you up first,” he said as he started to move himself off of me.
“I can do it in the bathroom,” I argued. I just wanted to get some clothes on before anyone came knocking.
“That’s not what I meant,” he cast his eyes away from me. “I’m sorry, baby, I forgot the condom.” I gasped. “I pulled out. I know it’s not fail-safe, but I didn’t realize until the last second.” He glanced at my stomach, “Anyway, let me get something for that.”
He returned quickly with a damp cloth and cleaned his mess off of me. He pulled me into his arms and kissed my temple, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, are you okay?”
He chuckled, “Hell yeah, I’m okay. That was the best sex of my life.”
I beamed at his words, “Really?”
“Yes, really. I got a little carried away. Are you sure I didn’t go too far?”
“I’m sure. I, um,” I looked down at my lap, fighting the urge to rub my palms together. I lowered my voice and said, “I liked it. A lot.”
He kissed my temple again, “I did, too. I’m sorry about the other part. I’m clean, so you don’t have to worry about that. We can get you one of those Plan B pills if you’re worried about pregnancy.”
I don’t know what came over me, but I said exactly what I was thinking without even considering how he would react, “I don’t want that. If I get pregnant, I get pregnant. If I don’t, I’ll make an appointment and get put on birth control.”
“If you get pregnant, we’re getting married right away. Your dad specifically told me not to make you a mother before you were married,” he said, completely serious.
“What?” I shrieked and then stopped myself. “Wait. Let’s worry about this when and if the time comes, okay?”
“Sounds good to me, baby.”
We cleaned up and got dressed. “Oh, by the way, you owe me $20,” I reminded him.
He scoffed, but handed me $20. “I’ve got to go, baby. Your dad asked me to get some things done for him as soon as possible.”
Dash left to go do whatever Dad had asked him to do. I laid back on the bed and pondered over what to do about Reese. The more I thought about it, the more I thought Carbon was wrong about letting her be. That’s not what she needed. She needed to talk about whatever was bothering her. She needed to get it out in the open and let people help her. She didn’t have an abundance of friends like most people our age. I was pretty much it for her, just as she was for me, but she also had a club full of bikers who considered her a part of their family. Then it dawned on me! Duke. He could help.
I quickly changed into something more presentable and went in search of Dash. Twenty minutes later, he was nowhere to be found. Frustrated, I went to the common room and planted my butt on one of the couches. I planned to stay in the exact same spot until I found someone who knew where he was. Surely, someone who did would come through there sooner or later.
It was Copper who finally gave me a straight answer, “He’s bu
sy taking care of something for Phoenix. It’s best if he’s not interrupted unless it’s an emergency.” He raised an eyebrow as if to say, “Well, is it?”
“It’s not an emergency,” I said, deflated. “I just wanted to see if it would be okay for someone to take me to see my dad. That’s all.”
Copper smiled. “I’ll go run it by him. If he’s okay with it, I’ll take you up there myself. I planned on going up later this afternoon, but now works just as good.”
With Dash’s approval, Copper took me to the hospital to see my dad. I just had to figure out how to ditch him, get to Duke’s room, and back to my dad’s room without anyone noticing. That might not be as easy as I originally thought.
After spending some time with Dad, who was looking remarkably better, I excused myself to use the facilities and stop by the cafeteria to grab something to eat. I hurried to the nurse’s station and asked for Duke’s room number. She clicked around on the computer screen until she found it. She told me his room number without any fuss. I rushed to the elevators, rode up two floors, and walked straight into Duke’s room.
His eyes widened when he saw me walk through the door, but he didn’t make a sound. I pulled a chair up next to his bed. “How are you doing, Duke?”
Nothing.
“Are they going to let you go home soon?’
Nothing.
“Did you know my dad is here in ICU?”
That got a response, possibly a flicker of surprise, but it quickly disappeared. Still no words. Did I miss something? Did something happen to his vocal cords or his tongue? Was he physically not able to speak or make a noise? I had a strong feeling he could talk, he just wasn’t.
Feeling a bit bold, I reached out and pinched the fire out of him. He jerked his arm away and yelled, “Ow! What the fuck, Ember?”
I jumped to my feet and pointed my finger at him, “Ha! You can talk! What the fuck indeed?” Yes, I actually said fuck. Like I said, I was feeling bold.
Duke clamped his mouth shut and glared at me. He was going to test every bit of patience I had left, which wasn’t much. Why was everyone playing the silent game? I flopped back into my chair and sighed loudly. “Nothing is ever solved by not talking. Do you think any part of my issues would have been resolved if I had refused to talk?” Not waiting for him to answer, I went on, “No, they wouldn’t have. In fact, silence on anyone’s part could have caused things to turn out worse than they did. More people could have been hurt, more people could have lost their lives. More good people, that is.”
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