I look up, and there is Jack, his face lit up with a breathtaking smile. With a huff, I turn away. He may have tracked me down and is gearing up to punch my ex, but there’s something I need to hear him say.
“You wish,” I mutter.
“You love me,” Jack says. “I know you do. You said it.”
“Maybe I changed my mind after you were such an ass.” I look over at the biggest ass in the world sitting across from me at the table and smile. “You two have a lot in common.”
Jack growls, deep in his chest. “He’s your ex, isn’t he? Well, I’m nothing like that piece of shit.”
“Fucking wanker.” Adam moves to stand, and Ray appears out of nowhere and pushes him back down.
“I know who you are, and that means we’re not done with you,” Ray warns.
Jack gets down on one knee. He clasps my hand, presses his lips to my knuckles. “I fucked up. I said stuff I shouldn’t have said and stuff I didn’t mean. I know you tried. I know you couldn’t say anything. And even if you had told me about the cameras, I wouldn’t have stopped going to the club. I’m not the kind of man who bows to threats. I meet my enemies head-on.” He glances over at Adam and then back to me. “Like you.”
Ray barks a laugh. “You grovel good. It’s not a skill I picked up easily. I can’t even count the number of times I had to sleep on the couch until I learned how to say sorry.”
I press my lips together, fight back a smile. “It’s the accent. Everything sounds sexy with that soft Tennessee twang.”
“So I’m forgiven?” He gives my hand a squeeze, and I shake my head.
“Not yet. I’m going to make you suffer first. I have a little bit of sadist in me.”
Jack leans in and whispers in my ear. “You’re gonna have a lot of sadist in you as soon as we deal with this tosser.”
“Tosser?”
“I learned a few British words on the drive to find you.” He kisses my cheek, and warmth spreads through my body. “I thought I should learn all the insults so I would understand what you said when I found you.”
Adam rolls his eyes. “What the fuck is this? Why the fuck did you call me? Did you think I was going to feel jealous that someone else picked up my broken piece of trash? I never thought about you from the day I kicked you out until I started my psych course and realized you would make a perfect case study ’cause you’re the most twisted, broken bitch I know.”
Ray’s face smooths into an expressionless mask. “Just confirming. This is the ex?”
I came here for closure, not revenge, but maybe I do want some payback after all.
“Yes.” I briefly consider listing out all the abuse I suffered at Adam’s hands—emotional and physical—but it doesn’t really matter. For men like Ray and Jack, he crossed a line with the very first punch, and his punishment will be the same.
“The one who hurt you?” Jack’s voice is deceptively mild, but I can feel the anger rolling off his body in waves.
“Yes.”
Ray turns to Cora, who has just returned to the table, an apologetic look on her face. “We’re gonna need a clear path to the back door. Blade Saw is out there. He’ll give you a hand.”
Her eyes go wide. “Jimmy?”
“You think he was gonna get left behind when his woman was on the road in a potentially dangerous situation?”
A smile tugs at her lips, and she leans in to whisper. “His woman.” And then louder she says, “Got it. I think we can manage a distraction.”
“You got two choices,” Jack says to Adam after Cora slips away. “You can walk with us out the back door, or we’ll drag you by your fucking hair.”
Clearly unaware of the danger, Adam snorts a laugh. “This has nothing to do with you. And if you think I’m going anywhere…” His voice trails off when Jack grabs his shirt and yanks him out of his seat.
“Looks like he picked curtain number two,” Jack says to Ray.
Ray gives him an evil grin. “I always like curtain number two. Gets them warmed up for the big event.”
I hear a scream and then a shout and breaking glass. The bouncers race over to the bar, and Ray pulls Adam up and shoves him toward the back door.
“Out of the way,” Jack shouts, grabbing Adam’s other arm with one hand and covering his mouth with the other. “He’s had too much to drink. He’s gonna puke.”
People scramble out of the way as Ray and Jack half-drag, half-shove a struggling Adam out the back door.
“Wait.” I run up to them, my glass in my hand. “He forgot his drink.” I dump the glass of beer on Adam’s head, and he splutters and curses as they take him away.
“We’ll meet you at your hotel,” Jack shouts over his shoulder.
“How do you know where we’re staying?”
“Ray.”
A breathless Cora runs up to the table. “Let’s go. Distraction in progress, but it’s best if I’m not around for the fallout.”
“What did you do?”
“The handsome doctor at the bar got the impression I was going home with him. Jimmy wasn’t pleased. Punches got thrown. I don’t want to be around when the best man wins.” She looks to the rapidly disappearing trio in the back hallway. “You got a lot of love happening there.”
My heart gives a little squeeze. I hope I can find some forgiveness, too.
25
Oh Jack, my lord and master
PENNY
Waking up with Jack’s mouth on my pussy, his tongue licking me hard, is not a bad way to greet the dawn. Throw in his naked body and the throb in my clit that means I’m about to peak, and it’s damn near perfect. Lucky for me I got a hotel room with a super-king-size bed. Even luckier Jack insisted on staying with me last night.
He cups my ass with his broad hands, and I whimper. He was wound up tight after his drive with Ray, and doling out a little Redemption justice to Adam pushed him to the edge. So I let him release a little tension, sadist style. And now I’m paying the price.
“Shh.” His gentle caress soothes my abused skin. “I’m not going to hurt you this morning. I’m going to love you slow and gentle.”
“Do sadists do slow and gentle?” I fall back on the pillow as his tongue glides up the side of my clit.
“They do after they’ve acted like an ass.”
His hair is soft and thick in my hands, and I tug his head back so I can stare into his eyes. “Is that your way of saying sorry?”
“Best you’re gonna get.” He spreads me apart, massaging my labia with his thumbs as he plunges his tongue inside me.
“Oh God.” I arch my back, moving against his mouth, wanting more.
“Oh Jack is what you should say.” He lifts me, squeezing my sore flesh as his tongue delves deep. “‘Oh Jack, my lord and master, love of my life, man who is going to make me come so hard I’ll beg for his cock.’”
I spread my legs wider to accommodate his broad shoulders, offer him more, everything. “How about ‘Oh Jack, if you don’t make me come right now, you’ll be sleeping in the hallway’?”
He laughs softly, the sound vibrating against my slit. “I want to taste you while you come.”
I tug on his hair, pulling him closer. “I want to come while you’re tasting me.”
He traces his tongue over my clit and drives his fingers inside me. So deep I can barely breathe. So hard I’m afraid to move. With measured strokes, he moves his mouth and fingers together, nudging me closer and closer to climax but always drawing back before I fall over the edge.
“Please.” I rock against him, hovering on the brink of pleasure, so desperate to come I am panting.
“The sadist in me is tempted to keep you on the edge,” he murmurs. “But I can’t wait to taste you when you come in my mouth.” He thrusts his fingers deeper, licks me harder, moves faster. Finally, I shatter, throbbing against
his mouth as he draws out my orgasm with little pulses of his fingers and gentle licks of his tongue. I come for what seems to be forever, trembling, groaning, and praying Cora and Jimmy in the room next to us aren’t awake.
Jack rubs his fingers over my wet pussy, and my muscles tighten. How can I want more when I’ve just come so hard I can barely see?
“I like this sexed-up look.” He sheaths himself and then stretches out on top of me, taking his weight on his elbows. His erection is thick and heavy against my stomach, but he seems in no hurry to find his release. “I’m gonna fuck you every day so you always look all soft and sexy.”
“You don’t even know if I’ve accepted your many apologies,” I tease. “Maybe I’m still pissed at the way you treated me.”
He gives me a warning look. “Maybe I should spank some sense into you.”
“Actually, I’m glad you reacted like you did. It gave me a chance to see my cutting was as much a habit as it was a true emotional release. I was upset, but now I know other ways to deal with the emotional pain. I even threw the box of blades away, along with Adam’s ring. It felt good. Liberating.”
“I’m proud of you, darlin’.” He shifts his weight and slides his shaft between my thighs, pressing the head against my entrance.
“That’s how you show me you’re proud?” I give an indignant sniff. “You give me your cock?”
“That’s how I show you I’m horny.” He crushes my lips in a passionate kiss. His mouth softens, grazes against mine. “That’s how I show you I’m proud.”
I run my tongue over the seam of his lips. “How do you show me I’m yours?”
“I beat the shit out of anyone who hurts you or gets the fuck in my way. Then I convince you to get my name tattooed on your ass so you can be returned to me when you’re lost.”
I brace myself, waiting to feel his cock inside me, but he is in a rare talking mood, and all I get is the barest taste of what is to come.
“Why get a tattoo when you have Ray? How did he find me?”
“He has a friend who was able to track your license plate and credit card.” He nips my earlobe, grinning when I suck in a sharp breath. “At first, he didn’t want to share his information. Obviously that was unacceptable.”
“Obviously.” I run my hands down his back, feeling his muscles bunch and flex when he glides his cock along my slit. Teasing. Tantalizing. But not giving me what I want.
His smug expression leads me to make a wild guess that’s not so wild. “How long was the fight?”
“Three and a half minutes.”
“From all those bruises on your face, it looks like you took quite a few hits.” I lean up and press a kiss to his bruised cheek.
“Fuck yeah. He’s an underground fighter. Means he fights dirty. But I was an underground fighter too, back when Redemption was just an empty warehouse.” He kisses me softly on the lips. “And I needed a win to find my girl.”
“So you won?”
He twists his lips to the side. “Not exactly. I got him in a bulldog choke, but he wouldn’t tap out. Torment had to end it. Ray wants a rematch when we get back.”
“Ray doesn’t take defeat lightly. Actually, I don’t think he has ever been defeated.”
His expression becomes thoughtful. “It wasn’t until I was in the vehicle coming down here, listening to him curse up a storm, that I realized no one at Redemption treated me any differently when I showed up at the gym. I’d hidden that side of myself, carried the shame for so long, I didn’t know how I would cope. But they accepted me just like you did. So now everyone knows I’m a sadist. Maybe it will deal with the problem my manager had with me being perceived as a nice guy.”
An idea takes root at the back of my mind, but before I can tell him, he sits back on the covers and flips me over, positioning me on all fours, my chest down on the covers and my ass in the air.
“Don’t waste any time asking if I want to be sexed up in this position.” I look back over my shoulder and glare. “See a woman you want to fuck. Flip her over and do the deed.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke?” He shoves my legs apart with his thick thigh and leans over me to press his lips to my shoulder.
“We’ll see who’s laughing when I run off with another man who doesn’t treat me like a toy.”
Jack laughs. “Not gonna happen.”
“No?”
He feathers kisses across my shoulder to my nape and then down my spine, making me shiver in delight. “You’ll always choose me,” he continues.
“How do you know?” Tightness builds inside me, heat pooling in my stomach. I slide my hand between my legs and slick a finger over my clit, seeking the release I so desperately need.
Jack gives a low growl and presses me down, cheek to the bed. He grabs my hands and yanks them back, securing them at the base of my spine. “No one can give you what I can give you. No one can hurt you the way I hurt you. Do you know why?”
I swallow hard. Tremble. “Why?”
“Because no one can love you the way I love you.”
Hope flares bright in my heart. “You love me?”
“Yeah, darlin’. I love you, and now I’m going to show you by making you scream my name so Blade Saw and Cora next door know it, too.” His hand cracks across my ass, sending fire skittering across my skin. Before I can catch my breath, he fills me roughly, slamming his pelvis against my ass. Pleasure ripples through me, and I lose the last threads of that thought to focus on the feel of him inside me, filling me with his heat. He alternates thrusts with slaps, pulling me against him as he pumps into me hard and fast.
Pain and pleasure become one. He slides his hand over my hip and pinches my clit. With a low, guttural groan, I clench around him. My climax hits me like an explosion, and I cry out, lost in a pleasure so intense I am dizzy with the rush.
“Fuck. I’m going to come.” Jack releases my hands and plunges deeper, thrusts harder, digs his fingers into my tender ass. He stiffens and chokes back a shout as he throbs his release inside me.
He collapses over me, kisses my back, my shoulder, nuzzles my neck, threads his fingers through mine on the bed.
“I have an idea,” I whisper.
Jack gives a satisfied rumble. “I have lots of ideas when it comes to you.”
“I mean I have an idea to save you.”
He drops to his side, turning me so I am cradled against him. “You already saved me.”
“Well, now I’m going to save you again.”
26
Sadist! Sadist! Sadist!
RAMPAGE
“Where is she?” I stare at the door to the Redemption meeting room, willing Penny to appear. I’ve been dragged over the coals for the last half hour in the team meeting, as everyone from my agent to my manager to the MEFC crisis team fights about the best way to salvage my career.
“Don’t worry.” Torment pats me on the back. “She’ll be here. Penny isn’t the kind of person who would let you down.”
She’s also not the kind of person to give a secret away, so I have no idea what she has planned for today that she promises will save my career.
Finally, the door opens, and Penny walks in. She’s wearing a fitted gray suit and a cream blouse, her hair in a neat ponytail. Damn, my girl looks good. Sexy and professional and walking with all the confidence in the world.
After I make the introductions, she hooks her computer up to the projection screen, faces the table, and smiles.
“Meet Sadist.” She turns on the computer, and there I am, in the middle of a fight, my face twisted in a snarl as I bend my opponent’s arm into an impossible angle. “Is he a true sadist? Are the rumors true? Does his nice guy exterior hide a monster inside?” She flips between images of me drinking beer at Score with the team, talking with the seniors in one of what have now become our weekly visits to Ambleside, and
holding up a victory fist with an unconscious opponent at my feet.
Now she flashes some logos on the screen. The word Sadist written in red, dripping blood on a black background. Fucking awesome.
“Now that Jack has gone pro, he needs a new image. Rampage was good for the amateurs, but moving into the top ranks of the pros takes more than talent. We need to build up his reputation. People need to be scared just hearing his name. So, to get a feel for the market, we spread a few rumors that he might be a true sadist, positioned him in places where suggestive pictures might be taken. And, as you saw, the media ate it up. Now we need to run with it. We rebrand him as Sadist. We keep people guessing. We build up a cult of fear. Maybe it’s true and he enjoys making his opponents bleed. Maybe he feeds off their pain. Maybe he spends his weekends whipping people in underground sex clubs. Maybe it’s part of the act. They’ll never know.”
She outlines a detailed marketing and branding plan. More pictures. Logos—some with whips and chains, me crushing a skull in my hand, fierce faces and lots of blood.
Torment leans over and whispers, “Fucking genius. If I wasn’t with Makayla, I might steal her away.”
“Friend or no friend,” I growl, “I’d break your fucking neck.”
My manager, James, claps at the end of Penny’s presentation and pronounces it a kick-ass plan. More claps follow. The MEFC crisis team has a brief discussion and gives her proposal the thumbs-up.
“So, is it true?” one of them asks.
“The fact you had to ask that question just shows how effective the campaign can be.” Penny smiles through her evasive answer, never losing her cool. That’s my girl up there. Rocking the entire room. Saving my ass. She is magnificent.
“What agency are you with?” James asks her.
For the first time since she walked into the room, Penny stumbles. “I…”
“Worthington Communications,” I say. “They are a boutique agency based in the Lower Haight.” I grab my phone and send a quick text to Renegade, letting him know I’ll be renting out the top floor of the building that houses Amanda’s office.
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