“We still don’t know for sure who it is,” Cal pointed out. “Shit, the vandalism could have been high school kids, for all we know.”
“This is what I’m talking about, acting like a bunch of fucking frightened little pieces of shit!” Winger roared back. “What the hell, Cal, do you seriously think some goddamn high school kids would have the balls to come to the Stone Kings clubhouse just to slash a few tires? This ain’t kids, brother. This is the Cannibals, doing shit to make us look even weaker when we don’t retaliate.”
“Seems to me the pussies are the goddamn Cannibals, if they’re too scared to put a signature on what they’re doing.” Cal replied.
“If it is them. Which we still don’t know for sure,” Grey said quietly. Some of the men grumbled, and from the sound of it, the ones that were grumbling were getting sick of waiting for a clear sign before we made a move. Grey had a long, slow burn, and I respected him for that. But the men were starting to get antsy, out a desire for vengeance. Hell, even I was starting to think doing anything was better than doing nothing at all.
“Fuck it,” Trig interjected. “This shit has got to stop.” His voice rose as his fist pounded once on the table for emphasis. “I don’t care if it’s risky with the cartel. We need to act. The longer we sit around and try to figure out for sure who’s attacking us, the weaker we look. And the weaker we look, the weaker we become.”
I opened my mouth to respond, when the room concussed, a sudden boom and then a whoosh of the air that seemed to take all sound with it. Then, into the sound vacuum came the noise of shattering glass, but muted, as if impossibly far away. My ears felt as though the drums had been pushed in, and the outer chamber filled with cotton. Hard, pelting rain came down on my back and arms, biting into my skin like a thousand tiny insect stings.
Dazed, I was unable to move for a few moments as my lizard brain tried to get some sort of bead on what had just happened. I had flung myself to the floor instinctively, and now I cautiously took my arms away from my head, ready to get back into position if a second blast came. I opened my eyes and looked up to see dust everywhere, filling the shafts of sunlight coming through the broken windows like impossibly small snowflakes. I started coughing, violently, but the sound coming from my own throat sounded like it came from the other side of the clubhouse. In between coughing fits I called to my brothers, but couldn’t hear if they answered. Eventually the dust began to clear enough for me to see some of the others as they struggled to stand up. I looked wildly around the room as one by one, my brothers appeared, dusty and confused, through the haze.
Head pounding, ears still ringing, I staggered to my feet and lunged for the door. Cherish. Out in the clubhouse, men and women looked around in confusion as they tried to process what had just happened. I knew in my gut that this was the Cannibals, but right now I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered right now was Cherish. I had to find her, had to know she was okay.
I stumbled toward the kitchen where I’d last seen her, but there was no one there. Turning, I raced up the stairs to her apartment, not bothering to knock. The door wasn’t locked, and I burst inside to find it empty. Wildly, I ran back downstairs, but I could find no sign of her.
Back in the main room of the clubhouse, I could see many people who looked to have minor injuries and cuts, but at first glance, no one seemed seriously hurt. My hearing was beginning to improve a little, and I stopped a few people and asked them if they’d seen Cherish. One of the women said she had left some time ago, and relief flooded my veins, making me feel light-headed. I rushed back to the chapel, where my brothers were all standing now, looking around at the damage and shouting directions at one another.
“Everyone seems okay outside,” I told Grey. I yelled over to our resident medical man. “Patch, you good?”
“Yeah,” he shouted back. “I’ll grab some supplies and get to work patching people up.”
A few of us went outside to survey the damage. Apart from some blown-out windows on the east side and some wall damage on that side as well, the main part of the building looked to be largely intact with no structural damage evident.
“Winger,” Grey barked. “Grab the surveillance video from this morning. There’s no way they’ll get away without a trace this time.”
“Grey.” Trigger was standing in front of us now, his hair covered in dust. “Do we need to go on lockdown?”
I watched our president consider this. On the one hand, we needed to get all the Stone Kings and their families in one place to know they were safe. On the other, given the clubhouse had just been targeted, was this the safest place to have them?
His brow furrowed, and he made the decision. “Have the men do a thorough check of the perimeter, inside and out. Once they’re sure there’s nothing more on the premises, call a lockdown. We’re gonna get the people who did this,” Grey seethed, turning to me. The fire in his eyes burned bright and unforgiving. “And they are gonna pay. I don’t care what it costs.”
I needed to find Cherish, and bring her back before the lockdown started. I told Grey where I was going and jumped on my bike, flying into town on the route I knew she must have taken. I found her just as she was emerging from the courthouse. Her hand flew to her mouth as she saw me. I must have looked like hell from the expression on her face.
“Levi, what happened?” she cried.
“Get on,” I yelled at her. “Don’t ask questions. I’ll tell you back at the clubhouse.”
13
Cherish
It was really, really awkward getting on Levi’s bike in my sundress, but the look on his face told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to just do as he said and not ask him why.
When we got back to the clubhouse and I saw the damage, I let out a shocked cry of alarm. A couple dozen Stone Kings, some covered in dust, were milling around, barking orders at each other and scanning the scene with sharp eyes. I saw guns tucked into back waistbands, and a few of the men speaking into two-way radios in low voices.
Scrambling off the bike as gracefully as I could, I handed my helmet to Levi and finally tried to ask the question that had been in my mind since he came to get me. “What happened to —?”
“Upstairs,” he roared at me, making me jump. My eyes widened in surprise as I stalked mutely toward the stairwell, then up to the apartment. He followed me through the door, then slammed it with a loud bang.
“Goddamnit!” he shouted.
I flinched. I’d never seen Levi behave like this, and I couldn’t figure out why he was so angry with me all of a sudden. “Why are you yelling?” I cried.
“I’m not yelling!” he yelled. “Jesus!” He began to pace back and forth, running a hand through his hair.
Okay, now I was just getting mad on top of being scared. “Levi. Stop it.” My voice was sharp. “You have got to tell me what’s going on.”
“Where were you?” he demanded, his voice thundering through the apartment. He stopped his pacing and stood in front of me, a challenge in his eyes.
“You know very well where I was!” My hands went to my hips as I confronted him. “I told you earlier where I was going, and that’s where I went!”
“You could have…” he cut himself off, then pointed a finger at me. “Don’t just go off on your own again. What if something had happened to you? How the hell was anyone supposed to get in touch with you?”
I scowled at him and reached into the pocket of my dress. “Seton gave me a burner phone,” I told him, thrusting it in his face. “She put her number in it, in case I needed to get hold of her.”
Levi’s eyes widened as they fixed on the phone I held in my hand. He seemed slightly mollified, but he wasn’t ready to give up his anger just yet.
“Why didn’t you give me the number?” he demanded.
I sighed at him in annoyance. “Levi. You were in a meeting when I left. What was I supposed to do, burst in there and interrupt you?”
His hand went back to his hair, running roughly through it. He was
quiet for a moment, then let out a long groan. Shutting his eyes, he fell into the low chair behind him.
“Goddamn…” he muttered. “Goddamn.”
“Levi.” I sat down on the edge of the coffee table in front of him. “What is going on? Will you please stop for a minute, and explain what happened, and why you’re so angry with me?”
He sighed and opened his eyes. “I’m not angry with you, Cherish. I’m just… I was just worried.”
My heart began to hammer with emotion. He was worried about me. Why did that make me feel so… happy? I had to push down the thrill that his words had caused inside me. “Worried why, Levi?” I nodded toward the door. “Tell me what happened out there.”
“An explosion,” he said tiredly leaning back in the chair. “Someone bombed the club.”
My eyes widened in horror. “Was anyone hurt?”
“I don’t think so. Minor cuts and stuff, from what I can tell.”
I looked at his arms and noticed the nicks and scratches for the first time. “You’re bleeding.”
He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
“Levi,” I said softly. “I’m fine. Nothing happened to me. Let’s stop this arguing and focus on going down there and helping people clean up.”
He looked up at me, a raw fierceness in his eyes that I should have been afraid of, but wasn’t. He came out of the chair and then he was kneeling in front of me. He was so tall that his eyes were level with mine. Taking me in his arms, he kissed me, his lips hard and demanding. I moaned against his mouth as the now-familiar heat I felt at his touch flooded through me.
Levi picked me up in his arms and carried me to the bed. He lay me down, then moved over me, his body pressing me down into the mattress. I could feel his hardness pressing against my hot core, and I gasped and felt my body angle up of its own accord to meet him. Oh… It felt almost unimaginably good, this communication of our bodies, and suddenly all I could think about was wanting nothing between us. No fabric, nothing but flesh on flesh. A plea died in my throat as he kissed me again, his tongue probing, insisting. His beard scratched the soft skin of my face, and I marveled at how much I loved the sensation. I wanted to feel him, all of him, everything…
His mouth broke from mine and his lips grazed my ear. “Cherish, I want you, so badly,” he whispered. “I can’t think about anything but you. You’re driving me crazy.”
Every nerve ending in my body was crying out for his touch. “Levi… please…”
“Tell me, Cherish,” he murmured against my throat. “You have to tell me what you want. I won’t go further than you’re ready for.”
“Levi,” I whispered. “Please… take me.”
He raised his head to look at me. His eyes were dark like the night. “Cherish. Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “Yes.”
Levi raised himself up and knelt over me. Reaching behind himself, he pulled off his T-shirt in one fluid motion, revealing a mosaic of intricate tattoos that covered his arms, chest, and stomach. My mouth opened in wonder at the way they moved as his muscles flexed. I reached a tentative hand out to touch his stomach, marveling at the taut firmness of his skin. Levi shuddered slightly as my fingers traveled across his abdomen.
“Jesus, Cherish,” he groaned. “I don’t know how you do this to me.”
Below his waistline, the outline of his erection strained against his jeans. The throb between my legs grew as I imagined him entering me. With more courage than I knew I possessed, I let my fingers trail southward until they grazed the hard length of him through the fabric. He inhaled sharply, watching me touch him with eyes that burned with desire.
My lips parted as my hand closed over his length. I felt him pulsing against my touch, and I drew in my breath, knowing that he was pulsing for me. The thought came unbidden that I wanted to taste him, to explore his manhood with my tongue, as I had never done before with any man. I blushed furiously, knowing he couldn’t read my mind but feeling shy for thinking it just the same.
I began to stroke him through his jeans, instinctively understanding this would feel good to him, and he groaned loudly and closed his hand over mine. “Wait,” he said simply. “I won’t last long like that. You’ve got me too wound up.”
He lay back down, covering me with his body, and began kissing me again, deeply. His hand traveled to my thigh, and began to lightly stroke the soft inner skin. I moaned softly as I remembered what he had done to me the first time he’d touched me. My legs parted, and his stroking continued. Slowly, he pushed my dress up as got nearer to my pulsing center. A finger, then two, slipped underneath my panties, finding my soaking core, and he began to stroke me there, first softly, then more insistently. He chuckled in satisfaction as I gasped and arched toward his touch, my hand clutching desperately at his arm. After a few moments he withdrew, and slowly brought his finger to his mouth, sucking my juices from his skin as his eyes bored deep into mine.
He sat up again, and pulled my dress up past my hips. Wordlessly, I overcame my embarrassment and raised my arms for him to slip it over my head. He tossed it to the floor, then sat back to look at me. I forced myself not to shy away from his gaze. “You’re so fucking gorgeous, Cherish,” he breathed, shaking his head. He reached out a hand and cupped one of my breasts, teasing my nipple to hardness through my bra. Heat coursed through me, making the ache between my legs stronger, almost unbearable now. He reached behind me and unclasped the bra, pulling it off and throwing it next to my dress. As I waited, his eyes traveled over my body slowly, taking in the fullness of my breasts and the heated flush of my skin. Levi drew in his breath and let it out with a low growl, then lay me back on the bed and began to tease one nipple with his tongue as he continued to softly pinch the other with his thumb and forefinger.
I lay there, my body quivering with the sweet agony, marveling at how it could feel so wonderful and so torturous at the same time. I remembered how he had made me orgasm last time, and what he was doing to me now was so intense I thought I might come like that if he didn’t stop. It felt like I was riding a wave that was pushing me higher and higher, and all I could think about was getting to the top and going over. I was desperate for him to take me there, could barely wait for him to give me what I needed so badly, now that I knew how amazing it could be.
Levi’s mouth left my breast and seared a burning path down my stomach. Between my legs, my nub began to throb almost painfully. He went slowly, kissing and tasting my skin as he went, and when he moved below my belly button I suddenly realized where he was going. I gasped and started to sit up, but he gently pushed me down with one hand. My eyes were wide as I stared at the ceiling in apprehension. It was too much; I couldn’t let him do something so… intimate. I started to push him away weakly with my hands, but my body was already betraying me. The ache between my legs wanted his touch so badly, that when he reached to pull down my panties, I raised my hips to help him, unable to resist any longer. He spread my legs and knelt between them. My breathing was coming fast and shallow now, and I froze as I waited in terror and anticipation.
At the first hot, slick lap of his tongue against my needy nub, I gasped and cried out in pleasure. Nothing, nothing could ever have prepared me for the sweetness of this. Oh, God, the agony! From the second he began, I was unhinged. I writhed, I bucked against him, I called his name. He licked, and sucked, and lapped at me, giving me at once everything and not nearly enough with each flick of his expert tongue. Everything fell away, all my shyness, all my apprehension, as I gave myself to him, letting him tease me and lead me, bringing me close to the edge, and then backing away, only to bring me even higher. My hands fisted in his hair, my hips arched and thrusted to meet his touch. He licked and suckled me until finally I was begging him to release me. Then, with a deep, satisfied rumble in his throat, he drew me between his lips and licked me one more time, and I flew over the edge, calling his name as I shuddered and bucked against his tongue.
I was gasping for breath as I h
eard Levi unzip and remove his pants. I heard the rip of a plastic wrapper, and then he was leaning over me, looking deep into my eyes. “I know this isn’t your first time,” he murmured. “But tell me if you need me to stop.” I nodded, returning his gaze without a word. Then the hot, hard skin of his length was pressing against my still throbbing center. My lips parted in pleasure as I spread my legs to take him all in.
Levi began to push inside me, slowly at first, his eyes closed in concentration. He withdrew, then pushed in again, farther, and it was so good that I threw my head back and moaned. Finally, after the third thrust, he was inside me all the way. He froze for a moment, then opened his eyes and looked at me. “Cherish, God, you feel so good,” he groaned. “I don’t think I’m going to last very long.”
He began to move, slowly at first, and to my surprise, sharp desire began to build inside me again. The heat of him, the exquisite fullness of having him inside me, was something I had been craving when I lay alone in my bed at night, but I had no idea it would be this good. As he moved inside me, my body began to take over again, my hips thrusting up to meet his. We rocked together, finding our own private rhythm, and then Levi started to move harder, to push more deeply inside me. We locked eyes, climbing higher and higher together, and suddenly a second orgasm slammed through me. I cried out, feeling myself pulsate around him, and a few moments later, Levi thrust deeply one final time, then tensed and emptied himself inside me with a loud, powerful groan.
He pulled me toward him as our orgasms began to subside, and then fell onto the bed with me in his arms, still pulsing inside me. He enveloped me in his powerful embrace, our legs entangled. “Cherish,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes, feeling such bliss that I had to fight the urge to cry. I didn’t trust my voice, so I said nothing, but merely snuggled into his chest. I must have dozed off, because when I came back to the surface Levi’s breathing had slowed, and he was softly stroking my hair.
CRASH (A Stone Kings Motorcycle Club Romance) Page 11