by Lexie Davis
“You need to stay the fuck away from her or we’re going to have bigger issues than we have now.” Ryker stood his ground, staring into his father’s dilated eyes.
“You think you’re man enough to tell me what to do?” Razor asked.
Ryker glanced around. “I think you’re obsessed with her. You want her and she doesn’t give you the time of day.”
“She did that first night.”
“No, she didn’t.” Ryker stepped away from him. “Ella is mine. Stay the fuck away from her and that includes going after her for your little fentanyl habit.”
Razor stared at him. “Or what?”
“You’ll get your wish.” Ryker went to the bar and poured himself a drink. “The hard way.”
For the first time in Ryker’s life, he saw a moment of fear in his father’s eyes. He’d always talked about Ryker taking over the club. It was his goal. His dream. There were only two ways for that to happen. Death or his father stepping down. His father had no plans to abdicate his throne, so Ryker was pretty sure he’d gotten his message across. Now he needed to figure out how to get Ella back.
Ryker left to do his work for the day. His mind was a fucked up mess and that was how his father liked to keep him. He wanted control over him. He wanted absolute submission. Ryker was the only one that butted heads with Razor in the club. Everyone knew it too. They were one and the same, yet Ryker was meaner. He wouldn’t hesitate one second to put a bullet in his brain if he hurt Ella. He was pretty sure his father knew that too.
He collected money from his drug runs and took it back to the club. He didn’t bother talking to his father as he went to one of the back rooms. Two club whores were getting it on in the room and he kicked them out. Moments later he pulled out his phone and called Ella.
“I’m really busy right now. What do you want?”
“I want to say I’m sorry and make it up to you.” She didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity. “Ella, that bullshit with my dad has stopped. He’s not going to bother you again. I—” What did he say? His heart threatened to beat out of his chest as the nerves kicked in. He didn’t know what he could do to make it up to her. She was scared of the Roaming Devils and she should be. He was dabbling where he didn’t belong but like the junkie he was, he couldn’t let her go.
“I just need to see you.” He sounded desperate to his own ears. There was something pathetic about the way he was attached to this woman. He’d never wanted someone as badly as he wanted her, and the craving he had wouldn’t go away easily. He’d tried. First it was fucking other women, any woman he could get, and there were plenty to go around. Then when that had stopped working he’d turned to drugs. Everything he did only intensified how much he wanted her.
“Fine,” she finally said. “I’ll be home around nine. I have to check on my dad since I spent my lunch hour with you.”
She hung up and he blew out a breath. He knew in the back of his mind that he should let her go. She didn’t need to be mixed up with the club and all the shit that came with it. She was too damn good for him. He knew this and everyone around him knew it too. Ryker hung his head and thought about what he wanted to do. If he really cared about her, and he did, he would cease all ties and continue to focus on the club.
But there was a part of him, deep inside, that simply couldn’t. He couldn’t walk away from her. He couldn’t stop wanting to be near her. To hold her and breathe her in. He wanted to protect her and cherish her. God, he wanted to do everything for her, everything a man was supposed to do for his woman. It was such a stupid thought that he could be that for her. That she would want him to be that for her.
Ryker took a shower and changed his clothes. He wanted to do so much, yet he didn’t know how. She’d talked about books she liked and the characters she fell in love with. Ryker would never admit it to anyone, but he’d read those books. He wanted to be that man that she searched for.
He pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. He stared at the devil’s face on the back of his cut. Men like him didn’t want to be some romanticized hero in a novel. Men like him took the woman he wanted and made her his. He pulled the cut on and attached his knife to his pants.
The club was all he knew. It was the only family he had. It had been drilled into his head from the time he could understand it that this was the life he’d lead. This was his legacy. One day he would take over and the thought of what a sad and lonely existence he’d lead scared him. Some men had women they went home to at night, but those women knew and accepted their role. Ella wouldn’t do that.
Ryker left the clubhouse and went to grab some dinner for him and Ella. He sat outside the free clinic, drinking his soda while he watched her. Her blonde hair was pulled back away from her face even though a smaller, shorter strand had fallen from the tie sometime during the day. She blew at it in annoyance while she scribbled on a clipboard, writing something for the nurse standing next to her. She wore blue scrubs, something he’d grown to like on her. He loved the tight pants and oversized sweatshirt she’d worn the first night he’d visited, but the scrubs were his Ella. She only had a thin coat of makeup, and a sheer gloss on her lips. She was beautiful without even trying.
When it was time for her to leave, she stepped out in the parking lot and spotted him leaning against his motorcycle. She stopped in mid-stride and stared.
“What are you doing here?”
He chewed on the straw in his drink. “I don’t know. Watching you.”
She glanced around. “You know that’s creepy, right?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
She clutched her bag tighter to her body. “Well, I’m fine. My mom called, so I’m not going to visit my dad tonight. I’m on-call tomorrow, so I’ll spend my free time with him then.”
“I got us something to eat,” Ryker commented. “Cheeseburger plain, large fry.”
After a moment, she nodded. “I’m starving.”
He tossed the empty drink into the trashcan next to him. “Get on.”
Ella looped her bag over her head so that it went across her body. Then she climbed onto the back of his bike with his help. He drove the bike the short distance to her apartment. After grabbing the food, he followed her up the stairs and waited while she undid all five locks on her door. Once the door opened, he stepped inside and set the food on her table.
“Let me change my clothes. It’s the first thing I always do when I get home. Then we can eat.”
Ryker didn’t say anything as he made himself at home. He went to her small kitchen and poured them something to drink. She came back in a pair of short shorts and a tank top that gave him a pretty damn good outline of her braless breasts.
“So is this to make up for your father coming to see me?”
He set her glass down and took a seat at the end of the table. “Among other things.”
“You never did tell me why I’m a problem. Is it because he thinks I got you arrested?”
“No. He wanted me arrested that night.”
“Why on earth would he want you arrested?”
“Club business on the inside.” Ryker rubbed his forehead. “I don’t want to talk about that bullshit with you. Not tonight.”
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, making herself comfortable as she ate her cheeseburger.
“I don’t know.” He lifted his glass. “Anything but that.”
“I was attacked twice today.” She held her wrist out to him. “Junkies wanting drugs.”
He reached for her hand and smoothed his thumb over the back of her wrist. “Did they bite you?”
“One did, yes. They come in wanting narcotics and sometimes they get violent. The first one was a mother. I had to wrestle with her to get her off me, then turn around and called social services for her kid. The bite was from a kid, though. Thirteen, maybe. It didn’t draw blood, but it hurt like hell. I bathed it in alcohol and that hurt like hell too.”
He
frowned at her. “Your job is dangerous.”
She smiled. “Yeah, well, I’m tough. I also had to give a lecture to a teenager about sex and STDs. Then I had to call social services on another teen whose mother hadn’t been home in three days. They came to the clinic because they thought their mom may have been put in the hospital.”
Ryker let her hand go. “I don’t know why you’re at the free clinic. You should be doing something great like trauma surgery or something.”
She smiled. “A doctor wears many hats if they are a good one. It’s not always a glamorous life. Besides, I am doing something great. I’m helping people whether they realize it or not.”
Ryker shrugged. “Those punks are in good hands, I’ll give you that.”
She snorted. “What about you? What exciting things did you do today?”
“I don’t want to talk about me.”
“Why not?” Ella pushed her chair back and turned toward him.
“Because what I did today has to do with the club, and we’re not talking about the club tonight. Plus, I can’t tell you most of it anyway.” Ryker sat back in his chair, staring at her. “Drop it.”
Ella stood. “Yes, sir.” She saluted him. “Excuse little ole me for asking little ole you a question.”
He reached for her and dragged her over to him. She didn’t fight him as he pulled her onto his lap. Instead of saying something, he kissed her. She felt perfect in his arms. He gripped her wrists and held her to him while his tongue dipped inside her mouth. She kissed him back for a moment before pulling away. Her nipples beaded to tight little points beneath her tank top and he couldn’t resist the urge to brush his thumbs against them. She let out a soft gasp.
“You can talk to me about anything. Just not the club.”
“Fine.” She cupped the back of his head. “When’s the last time you had sex?”
“Two weeks ago.” He smirked at her. “Oral with you is the last thing.”
“That’s not sex. You didn’t even get off.”
“Oh, I got off.” He leaned forward and sucked her nipple into his mouth, shirt and all. “In the parking lot. Barely made it downstairs before I fucking came like a rocket shooting into outer space.”
She glanced down at him. “You really haven’t done anything in two weeks?”
“No.”
“What about a lap dance?”
He chuckled and gripped her hips, rubbing her pussy against his cock. “Just you.”
“I don’t believe you.” She pulled away from him. “Two weeks and nothing?”
He watched her as she walked across the apartment. “Why don’t you believe me?”
“There are women everywhere in that club. Your chair is right there for them to spread their legs in your face.” He tilted his head. “It’s not plausible,” she finished.
“No?” He stood and walked toward her. “Why do you think I want some other woman? Maybe I just want you.”
“Maybe. But you’re really going to say you don’t get hard?”
Ryker smiled at her. “Not like I used to.”
She blinked a few times. “What does that mean?”
He pulled his cut off and set it on the sofa. Next went his shirt. “It means that you’re the only one that gets me off. If I put some effort into it, yeah, they can get me off. But I don’t want that. I don’t want a girl sucking my dick for the sake of an orgasm or a group of girls letting me fuck them all night long.” His hands went to his pants next and undid them. “I want you.”
“You want me to get you off.”
He wanted her any way he could have her. Ryker stood before her in the buff, tossing his clothing to the side. “Here’s the thing, Ella. You’ve been my walking fantasy since we were in school. Sex or no sex. I want you.”
“And what happens when you have me?” She stared at his cock. “What then?”
“I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not a good man. My life is the last thing you need complicating yours. You’re so damn special and perfect that I teeter back and forth with pulling you closer and pushing you away. You don’t need me, I get that. But I need you.” He shook his head. “I can’t explain it.”
She met his eyes. Instead of responding, she lifted her shirt over her head, revealing her perfect breasts to him. She tossed her clothes to the side and slipped her shorts over her hips and off her legs. She didn’t wear panties and Ryker’s mouth watered.
“Let me get a condom.” She walked past him and Ryker followed her. She headed toward the bathroom, where she’d changed, then reached for her scrubs. He smiled. She’d brought some home from the clinic. She wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her. Standing, she blushed at him watching her. “I wanted to be prepared. I didn’t think you were in the mood to just hold me again tonight, if…”
“I would have,” he said, taking them. “If that’s what you wanted.”
It would have damn near killed him, but he wasn’t rushing anything with her. She could lead and he’d follow like a pup. Her hand rested on his chest as he leaned in to kiss her. Pulling her closer, he rubbed his cock against her belly.
“You are lying.” She smiled at him. “At least if this is any proof.”
Her hand drifted to his cock. He let her stroke him a few times before he dragged her hand away. “You do that and the fun will be over.”
She smiled. “We definitely don’t want that.”
She kissed his chest and he couldn’t stop himself from running his fingers through her hair. He closed his eyes, taking in the moment. The smell of coconut filled his nostrils when he breathed in and he couldn’t help bending forward to take a deeper breath. He kissed her. Her lips were so sweet and her tongue so timid when it stroked his. He didn’t know much about her experience, but he was fairly certain she didn’t date much either.
He cupped her behind and lifted her so that her legs could wrap around his. Her breasts were inches from his lips and he pulled one of her hard nipples into his mouth as he carried her back to the bed. He didn’t know much about women’s wants and needs, but he did know enough to take it slow. Not only for his sake but hers as well.
He laid her on the bed and smiled down at her. Her body was perfect. Not stripper skinny, but she had curves in all the right places. Her pussy lips were pouty and swollen with her arousal and he couldn’t fucking wait to taste it.
Moving down her body, he settled between her legs and pressed his mouth against her pussy. Being with her broke every rule in the book. Somewhere in the dark depths of Ryker’s mind, he knew this. He slid his tongue along her fleshy lips and reveled in the musky taste of her. He got high off her. He circled her clit with his finger, rubbing and stroking until she panted. She didn’t know what she liked and he was more than happy to test it all out to see what made her scream.
She clutched at his head, her eyes drifting closed. He was in fucking heaven and he didn’t want to leave. He tongued her clit until she screamed. Ella arched against him, pulling his hair. When she came down from the high, he stared at her, keeping most of his weight off her body.
“I think you like oral.”
She snorted. “What gave you that idea?”
He smiled at her and reached for a condom. He tried to pay as much attention to her as he could. She stared at his fingers while he ripped the package open. The soft scrape of her tongue slid along her lips as he rolled the thin rubber onto his thick shaft. The thought crossed his mind that he was tainting her by fucking her. She was so damn perfect. So much better than he deserved.
He crumpled the trash in his hand and set it aside before moving between her legs. Her opening was tight and he rubbed it with his finger. How the hell was he supposed to control himself inside her? He leaned down and kissed her stomach, loving how soft she was.
“Why are you taking so long?” She rubbed his arms. “It’s okay. I’m ready.”
She may have been ready, but he wasn’t. He struggled with the need to back off and the need to possess. On
ce he went there, there was no going back.
“Are you sure you want me to fuck you?” He glanced up. “You can have any other guy. A good guy. Someone that will hold your hand and kiss that soft little spot on your neck. A guy that can be with you and cherish you. Someone that will love you the way you deserve.”
She stared at him, rubbing her fingers along the back of his hand. “I want you.”
He took a deep breath and nodded. He couldn’t hold back anymore. Pressing his cock against her opening, he pushed just the tip inside, stretching her impossibly tight around him. She sucked in a breath and Ryker tried to ease her nerves by stroking her clit. It was going to take some effort to get inside her. Just like it was going to take effort to keep himself in control.
“Take a deep breath and relax.” Ryker met her gaze. “You feel amazing, babe. Your pussy is squeezing me tight and it feels like fucking heaven.”
Her muscles eased a bit and he pushed in deeper. She was fucking heaven all right, all silky skin, warm and wet with her desire. Her eyes closed as he sank deeper, her mouth forming an O. He’d passed the point of no return. She was his and only his. He wanted to be in her bed every night, filling her up and making her scream. The very idea of anyone else touching her was enough to drive him into rage.
Once he slid the last few inches inside her, he stopped. She took a deep breath and stared at him, watching while he withdrew, her deliciously hot body making it easy on him. He bit his lip at the tightness. God, he was fucking losing his mind inside her. He clutched her hips as he set his rhythm. Ella gripped at the sheet beneath her, tugging and pulling as her face molded into that of pleasure. She was beautiful and it hit him hard in the chest. He pumped his hips harder, shoving her body upward in the bed. He needed to feel her come around him. He needed it like his next breath.
“Come for me, baby.” He stroked her clit. “Suck my dick with your hot pussy.”
She gasped and let out a loud cry, arching her back off the mattress. Oh. Hell. Yes. Her pussy clamped down around him, massaging his shaft until he saw stars. He didn’t even realize he was holding his fucking breath until he tried to move. He couldn’t hold back any longer as he shot his load, shoving deep inside her.