by Tia Lewis
Bingo! “Oh my God. How could you tell?” I whispered, biting my lip to make it look like I was concerned at giving myself away.
“Please. The way you two looked at each other? The way you talked to each other? I thought I was gonna have to use the soda gun on you two.” She snickered, going back to getting bottles together.
“So you see, then, why I’m not crazy about the idea of sleeping with Jack. He’s not who I want,” I said.
“I get it. But we don’t always get to decide these things.” She turned to me again, looking serious. “Jack’s gonna make a pass for you. It’s what he does. You can either piss him off by refusing, or you can make it so Drake claims you as his own right away. When he does, Jack won’t touch you, because that’s the code of honor these guys live by. They don’t shit where they’re not supposed to if you get what I mean.”
“Yeah, I get it.” What a lovely way to put it. I struggled not to wrinkle my nose in distaste.
We didn’t talk about it again as we worked, and I made two trips up and down the old stairs with boxes. “I guess we’ll have a full house tonight. Thirty club members, maybe thirty-five women in all.”
“Geez, that’s a lot of people,” I said, shaking my head.
“Yeah, well, we have a lot of whiskey, beer, and a lot of room,” Tamara smiled a very wise, knowing smile. “You’re in for a night you won’t soon forget, girl. You ready?”
And I would have to seduce Drake if I didn’t want Jack on me. Yeah, it would be quite a night, indeed.
9
Nicole
By ten o’clock that night, the place was packed.
I didn’t know what made me more uncomfortable—the various state of undress most of the women were in, the way the men drank like they wouldn’t live to see another day or my aching feet. I was dying to take off my boots since my toes were starting to go numb. I’d never dreamed I would end up being so successful right off the bat. I’d thought I’d be able to go home after eating, maybe meeting a few people. Instead, I’d been with the Club since noon-ish, and it didn’t look like I’d be leaving anytime soon. I would probably have to stay the night, an image that didn’t leave me with a smile on my face. Where would I sleep? With whom?
I kept Tamara’s warning in my head throughout the night, noticing the way Jack smiled at me, sizing me up with his sinister eyes. I wished for the first time all day that I was wearing something a little less revealing. The way he looked at me, it was like my entire body was on display. I didn’t like it one bit.
I found myself clinging to Richie, letting him corner me into conversation time and again. We had to shout to be heard over the roaring music, of course. It was loud, throbbing, pulsing music that I felt from my head to my feet as it vibrated in the floor. People danced—men with women, women with women, both inside and in a fenced-off courtyard outside.
I liked Richie as much as I could like any of the men in the Club, but he wouldn’t be enough to hold Jack back if he decided to make his move. I didn’t know much about the Club and the way the men interacted, but I knew Jack was the alpha. What he said was law. Nobody went against him.
Except for Drake, maybe. He was an alpha, too, and Jack’s hand-picked successor. He had the same strong personality, which I knew from experience. He could save me. To think, I counted on one outlaw to save me from another outlaw.
Richie stood with me at the bar, telling me all about how he planned to be patched into the Club within six months. “I’ve done a lot of good for these guys,” he explained. “I know it doesn’t look like it when Drake pushes me around, but he respects me.”
“Oh, he does?” I was hardly paying attention, searching the room for the very man Richie was talking about. Where was he? I needed him.
“Yeah. I mean, I protected his ass on the last run he took. I was his second. He actually trusted me that much. And I covered him when he went into the warehouse, even though we were sure there would be Cobras around. I mean, it would be a huge win for Hawk and his guys if they could take Drake out.”
“You don’t say.” I felt sorry for him, but it didn’t mean I felt like listening to his personal history. Besides, I was tired and sore and just wanted to soak in a hot tub. I didn’t need his life story, and frankly, I didn’t care right now.
“Yeah. If they could take out Drake, it would mean cutting Jack down at the knees. That would be it. Who else would he pick to take over for him?”
Somehow, Richie’s words got my attention. I looked at him in the light from the neon signs behind the bar. He was so wide-eyed and innocent, but not that innocent if he saw half the things he’d already bragged about. Shootings, beatings, interrogations which I was sure involved more beating. “You think they would go after him, then? Drake, I mean?”
“Sure. Why not? It was bad enough when they took out the other three. I guess you know who I mean.”
“Yeah. Of course.” They were like martyrs in the Club. People spoke their names in hushed tones reserved for saints and other famous people.
“So if they killed those three, why not kill more important people?” I couldn’t imagine why anybody would want to be part of it. Richie had a choice. He hadn’t joined yet. He didn’t need to sacrifice himself for a bunch of outlaws. He stood there, telling me there was a chance a rival club was picking them off, and he didn’t seem to understand the gravity of his words. He almost sounded like he thought it was cool. I couldn’t understand any of it.
Drake came in from outside, looking a little sweaty—it was still dreadfully humid out there. His dark hair curled a little from the humidity, somehow making him even sexier. He bellied up to the other end of the bar, grinning at Tamara.
“Something cold! I’m sweating my ass off!” There he was. I had to make a move.
“Excuse me,” I said to Richie. “I have to ask Drake a question about something we talked about earlier.”
“Oh.” His face fell. He knew I wasn’t interested, then. Once again I felt sorry for him, but there wasn’t much I could do about him having a crush on me. I told myself it wasn’t anything like the way Drake treated women. I hadn’t used Richie. I wasn’t trying to act like an asshole. I only wanted to get inside the Club, and he gave me that chance. I squeezed his arm giving him a playful smile.
“Find me for a dance later,” I said. Richie grinned and nodded, then went off to find somebody else to talk to. I hoped one of the girls would take an interest in him. He was a nice enough kid.
I wove my way through the dozens of people around the bar, feeling a lot of eyes trained on me as I did. They knew I was the new girl. Did they expect me to screw Jack that night? Were they making bets on how long it would take him to wear me down? They could bet all they wanted. No way would I go that far, sleeping with a man old enough to be my…
My heart sank. What would my father think about what I was about to do? I hoped he would understand I was doing it to survive. I had to get Drake to like me.
“Can I have a vodka tonic?” I called out; elbowing my way between Drake and the guy he stood next to. A glance to my left told me it was Creed. He chuckled, moving further away.
“A simple ‘excuse me’ would work,” he teased.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m dying of thirst. I didn’t mean to be rude.” I grinned, speaking over the music.
“You’d better teach your girl some manners,” he called to Drake, laughing as he walked away. My cheeks flushed with mixed embarrassment and pride. Good, plant the seed for me. Let him think about me that way. I want him to.
“Your girl, huh?” I rolled my eyes, leaning over the bar, so my cleavage was on full display. Tamara glanced over, shaking her head. I ignored her. So what if I was a little obvious? I was desperate.
Drake looked at me, and his eyes seemed to glue themselves to my chest. “Yeah. Where do they get these ideas?”
“They’re worse than a bunch of old ladies,” I laughed.
“That’s what Jack said earlier. Funny how you said i
t, too.” At the mention of Jack, my heart sank. Where was he? I hadn’t seen him all night. What was he planning for me?
“Great minds, I guess.” Tamara slid me a drink, and I took it gratefully. I would need a little booze in my system if I were going to go through with what would surely be an awkward seduction. I never seduced a man in my life—the closest I’d ever come was getting Richie’s attention at the deli earlier, and that had been a fluke with an inexperienced kid. Drake was far from inexperienced. I was sure he’d had every girl in the place, so he’d seen it all.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He looked me up and down, grinning. “You’re a lot friendlier than you were earlier. What changed?”
“Eh, I guess because you’re not giving me all the shit you were giving me earlier.”
“I was giving you shit?” He scoffed, waving a hand like he didn’t agree.
“If you weren’t giving me shit, I’d like to know what you were giving me because that was sure how it felt.” I caught Tamara’s eye. She crossed her arms in an X, telling me to knock it off. She was right. I couldn’t let my temper control me.
“You always wanna bite my head off,” he said.
I cleared my throat since this is my chance. “Maybe there’s something else I can bite, instead?” I moved closer to him.
“Whoa. Slow down, girl!” He backed away. Damn it! That was so clumsy. What was I doing?
“Sorry.” I backed away too. “After what you said earlier, in your room, I thought that was what you wanted. I must have misunderstood.”
He shook his head like he was trying to clear it. “Yeah, but when you come on that aggressive, I don’t know what to make of it. You took a total one-eighty. What’s with you tonight?”
He had to yell for me to hear him over the music, so we had an audience. My cheeks burned with shame. Who was I to think I was cut out for his lifestyle? I wasn’t like those people—grinding on each other, laughing, drinking, and sloshing beer around. I didn’t think it was cool that they killed, or ran drugs and guns. I didn’t think it was fun or something to look up to. And there I was ready to throw myself at one of them so another one wouldn’t claim me as his own. Who was I trying to kid?
I turned away, looking around in a panic. I had to find a way out. I saw a red light-up “EXIT” sign above a door and headed for it. I had to get out. I needed fresh air to breathe. I pushed my way outside, fighting the dancing pairs and trios and groups. They laughed at my desperation, or maybe they were just laughing because they were having fun. The way the Romans had fun before Rome fell.
Stepping outside was like stepping into an open mouth—wet, sticky, slimy, disgusting. Humidity hung in the air like a blanket, and instantly a thin sheen of sweat developed on my skin despite my thin shirt. I didn’t care, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting home and forgetting the Blood Riders existed. I was done. I was in way over my head. I would have to learn to deal with my father’s death somehow, in a way that didn’t involve me turning into a whore.
The worst part was the way Drake appeared to do a total turnabout. He was one to talk about a one-eighty, wasn’t he? When he was the one who’d worked on seducing me in his bedroom. He acted like I was nothing but an air-head slut when I tried to come on to him. Yes, it was sloppy and stupid, but his reaction made me feel like such an idiot. I felt tears burning behind my eyes.
“Hey, Bree!” I heard his voice as he barreled out of the clubhouse. “What’s with you? What’s going on?”
I looked around. There were people around, smokers mostly, a few couples making out in the semi-darkness under a wide metal awning. I looked beyond the awning. The street. Cabs. I would only have to get in one, and I could be free and forget I ever decided to get into this mess.
Drake’s voice tugged at my consciousness. “Hey! I asked you a question. What’s with you?”
I could have walked away. Hell, I could have run. I could have gotten in a cab and gone home. I didn’t even have a purse with me, only some cash in my back pocket. I hadn’t wanted anybody to find my ID and put two and two together.
I didn’t. I stayed where I stood. Held in place by Drake’s voice.
“Are you going to answer me?” he asked. I turned to him.
“Could we not talk about this right here?” I asked, looking around. “It’s a little public out here.”
“Fine.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me around to the side of the building, where there was no one but us. “Tell me what’s wrong with you.”
“I thought after today you wanted me, is all. And I thought, okay, I’ll make a move. But you made me feel like …”
“Like what? A slut?” He smirked.
“You think this is funny? You’re disgusting!” I raised my hand to slap him, instinct taking over, and his hand was out in a flash to grip my wrist. He had the reflexes of a cat to go with the way he moved.
“That’s more like it,” he murmured. “That’s the real you. Not the one who flashes her tits and tries to come on to me. You’re the girl who tries to hit me because she doesn’t know what else to do to pretend she doesn’t want me.” He leaned in, pushing me back until I was pressed against the sun-warmed bricks of the Clubhouse, still holding their heat from earlier in the day. My body burned the way they did.
“Leave me alone, Drake.”
“You act like that because you don’t like the way I talk to you. You’re not used to guys talking to you that way. But you like it. You like it when I do it, and you hate yourself for it, and you put up walls between us.” His body was against me, all muscle and strength and power. I felt the heat coming from him, too, just like that from the bricks. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck.
“Stop this.” I turned my head away, as his mouth was so close to mine. “Not this way.”
“What way?”
“I don’t like it like this. Stop trying to overpower me. You don’t have to try so hard.”
“And neither do you.” He placed a finger under my chin, turning my head until our eyes met. “I wouldn’t work so hard to get through to you if you didn’t work so hard to keep me away. Why don’t you just give in to what you want? What we both want?”
“And that is what?” I could hardly breathe, my heart was racing so out of control. My knees were jelly, the blood rushing in my ears.
“For me to take you to my room and give you a night you’ll never forget.” He brushed his lips against mine, ever so gently, causing a blazing inferno to erupt and consume me. I leaned further in, closer to him, but he pulled back with a devilish grin.
“See? I know what you want better than you do. And I can give it to you.” He licked his lips. “You want it?”
“Yes,” I breathed. It was so easy to give in. Drake was right.
10
Drake
I could hardly wait until the door closed behind us to attack her. Just like in my fantasy, I pinned her up against the bedroom door and held her wrists above her head. She groaned into my mouth as I plundered her with my tongue—first inside her mouth, then all over her smooth skin. She tasted just like I thought she would. So sweet, with just a little saltiness from her sweat.
“Yes, Drake.” Her deep, throaty moan went right to my cock, making it surge to attention. She might as well have been stroking me; the sound of her moans was so sexy. Everything I did to make her moan like that, I did again and again. When I licked her throat, when I held her wrists in one hand and ran my other hand down her body. I closed my eyes, feeling her curves for real, touching her softness. I weighed her tits in my hand, loving how full and firm they were. Her nipples were rock hard, poking through her lacy bra cups, and I reached into one to tease her while my tongue rolled in circles over the other.
“Oh, God!” she gasped, her body writhing. I wouldn’t let go of her wrists just yet. I wanted her to remember who was in charge. I sucked her tits, loving the way she moaned and gasped and whimpered my name. I strained against my zipper, dying to be let out.
Stra
ightening up, I stared into her almost green eyes before sucking her bottom lip until she hissed. I bit down, making her hiss more sharply. Then I kissed her again, my tongue in and out of her mouth in a steady rhythm, sweeping in circles over hers. She almost melted into the floor, her knees going out.
I released her wrists, then, lifting her by the waist. She wrapped her long, lean legs around me and we fell onto the bed together. Touching, kissing, and tearing at each other’s clothes. I needed her, all of her. No teasing—there would be plenty of time for that. I needed to come, and fast, or else I would die from the pain of needing her so much.
She was wet, slick, her pussy swollen underneath her panties the way my cock grew for her. I quickly pulled them down, taking in the sight and scent of her before grabbing a condom from the nightstand, sliding it down my pulsating erect cock and thrusting into her without a word. She arched her back, nearly screaming at the first plunge.
“Oh, God, too big,” she moaned. I didn’t know if she was just saying that or what, but it was enough to make me throb harder. I found a fast, sharp rhythm, falling onto my forearms as I drove myself into her. She wrapped her legs around my waist, holding me tight.
Finally, finally. I was finally doing what I’d wanted to do all day. Ramming in and out, making her scream. She bit my shoulder, trying to hold in the cries I ripped from her. I felt a thin sheen of sweat cover me, mixing with hers.
Propping up on one arm, I ran my hand over her sweat-slick body. Her tits bounced in time with my thrusts, and I watched them as my fingers dug into her hip, her thigh, her ass. She raked her nails down my back in response, growling. I almost came right then, it was so hot.
She was so hot, and not just sexy. But hot for me. She wanted me, wanted everything I gave her and more. She urged me on, begged me to go harder. Faster. Deeper. And when I did, when I sped up and drove deep into her core, she only wanted more. She couldn’t get enough. I covered her mouth with mine to muffle her little screams as her pussy clenched down on my cock, trying to milk me dry as she came the first time. I let her come, holding on, wanting it to last longer. Forever.