I didn’t care that his stupid arm was in a sling. It wasn’t his arm I was falling for.
So, when Grace and Lacey whisked me off into the clubhouse, I was grateful to get away from him for a while. The crazy mixture of feeling like shit and blaming myself for him being in this predicament, and being thrilled and turned on by the result, was starting to fuck with my head a little. Being out of his presence would let me breathe.
Grace and Lacey were so comforting and gentle with me, that once I took that breath, and then another, I finally started to relax a little. It helped when they introduced me to Cherry, a woman who had obviously been around the clubhouse for years. She ran the tiny kitchen like she owned it, and quickly prepared a glass full of whiskey and ice.
“You’ve been in a car with Slade for an hour, I bet you probably could use this,” she said as she pushed it into my hands.
“You’re right! Thank you,” I said, smiling at her gratefully.
“Yeah, did he give you a whole speech about how unsafe cages are?” she asked, a huge pile of copper colored curls shaking around on her head.
“He did, actually,” I replied. I thought of Slade again, the determined set of his jaw, the way he seemed to know exactly who and what he was, and how he wasn’t about to waver away from that for a second. At first I didn’t understand what the big deal was about riding in a car, but then I figured it out. It wasn’t. It was just a big deal to him. It went against his identity, this image he had claimed of himself. And without that, he felt out of control.
It made me like him even more. Because that wasn’t me. Not anymore. I thought I knew who I was - a reporter. But that’s just someone reporting on other people’s lives. I didn’t have a life of my own. When I stepped off the property of the news station, there wasn’t anything out in the real world for me. I had made my whole life out of other people’s lives.
It made me sad when I realized it. And it was Slade who had shown it to me. Slade, who knew exactly who he was, without question, with unshakeable certainty he knew what he was all about.
It would take me years of searching to figure that out for myself.
I envied him.
And, if I was honest with myself, I was starting to love him.
It’s absurd, it’s impossible and a miracle all at once, but it’s true.
I had spent hours by his bedside before the Gods had shown up. I watched him, waiting with anticipation through out each breath he took, hoping he would wake up. I had flinched every time his body twitched, the same body that had jumped into motion when I called him, hurling through the night astride a powerful, dangerous machine.
He had stayed by my side every minute.
Nobody had ever done anything like that for me before.
But it was then that I knew. My heart melted during those hours. Any barriers I had put up crumbled to the floor of his hospital room. By the time he opened his eyes, I knew I had to figure out a way to keep him in my life.
***
The tall pine trees swayed overhead, grower denser and darker with each step as Slade and I hiked into the lush forest. I would have been slightly nervous to be so far off trail, but Slade carried himself with such a sleek, confident, animal instinct that I couldn’t help but relax.
“Were you a boy scout?” I asked. I was a little embarrassed that I knew so little about his background. He wasn’t much for talking and every time we had been alone together, talking about our pasts, hell talking about much at all, didn’t happen.
He scoffed softly.
“Hardly,” he muttered, grabbing my hand and leading me through the trees.
“Then how do you know what you’re doing out here?” I asked.
“Doing? We’re just walking through the forest, beauty. Bobbing and weaving, making our way around the obstacles, finding new solutions when the old ones don’t work anymore. Surviving in the woods is just like surviving on the streets. You just make do with what life tosses your way, you know? Don’t matter if it’s a coyote in the forest, or a stranger in a dark alley. You just make sure you appear bigger than your opponent, and don’t fight a stranger unless you are left with no choice.”
Okay. I suspected he was talking about something else entirely, but I didn’t push it. He would tell me about his past when he wanted to.
“So you spend a lot of time out here?” I asked.
“Yes. Riot and I use to come out here together, not so much anymore, though.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because he has Lacey now,” he said, maneuvering over a large boulder in our path. He turned around and put out his left hand to help me as I climbed over it.
“Do you not like Lacey?” I asked, noticing some underlying tension in his voice.
“I like Lacey. I like Riot more. I guess you could say I’m still getting used to him not being around as much.”
“I see.”
“So who else are you close to?” I asked.
“Close to? All of them, none of them…they’re my friends and family, Diana, and I’d kill for any one of them, but things have changed a bit lately. There aren’t as many late night parties, so chances for hanging out have been slim to none. We take care of business, and that’s about it.”
We rounded a bend in the trees, and the sound of rushing water that had been so faint before was suddenly blasting in my ears. Sunlight streamed through the trees, lighting up the frothy, flowing stream in front of us.
“Oh!” I said. “This is beautiful!”
I went to rush forward, but Slade grabbed my hand, pulling me back to him. I slammed into his cast, and he winced slightly.
“Sorry,” I said. His nose was inches from my face, the mischievous glow shining in his eyes once more.
“Hush,” he said, leaning closer, pressing his lips to mine. He tasted like the fresh, crisp Oregon air. The slight sheen of mist that covered both of us mingled together between our lips. It was the first time he had kissed me since the accident. Since he had left my bed that morning.
We hadn’t really had any time to reconnect at all, and the feel of his lips on mine brought all those emotions tumbling back, and I kissed him back passionately, hungrily, and when he pulled away, I whimpered quietly as I met his intense stare.
“Diana, I’m sorry,” he began, rubbing his thumb against my quivering lip. “This has all been really fucking overwhelming for me. I never should have left you that morning. If I had stayed there, in that warm bed with you, instead of rushing off and listening to my fucking cock —,”
“I know. I know where you went. I saw the package in the closet at the hospital.”
“Right,” he said, shaking his head. “Listen, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I want you to know that, it’s important that you know that. I don’t want you to worry, I don’t want you to be scared, or think that I can’t protect you, not for a minute, okay?”
“I don’t think that. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Slade.”
“That’s just it. I haven’t done a fucking thing. But that changes now. I’m not going to let you out of my sight again.”
I didn’t want to hear his words, I didn’t need an apology, or some excuse. I just wanted him to touch me, to kiss me. But telling me he wasn’t going to let me out of his sight? That was too much. I couldn’t just stop working. There had to be some middle ground.
“Slade, I’ve been thinking about that. And I do understand what you’re saying, babe, but I have to work. I can’t just abandon my career."
“I know, but you’ve bought yourself some time. You can work from here for a while.”
“Yeah, but there’s going to be times I have to leave, to interview someone or something. You can’t just lock me up like a little girl!” My frustration was building and my voice was rising. I didn’t want to talk about this. I wanted to be free to come and go as I pleased, to do and say as I pleased. The one thing about living your life is alone is the freedom to do as you wished, all the ti
me. While I appreciated his sentiment, this was starting to get to be a little restrictive, and even though it wasn’t his fault, it was still making me uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry, Diana. It’s not happening. Not until that fucking kidnapper is found.”
“Slade! You aren’t listening to me!” I yelled, a little too loudly.
“No? You’re right, I’m not. I guess I’m not that skilled of a listener, then. I’m not good at all this relationship shit, Diana!” He was yelling back at me now, his voice echoing through the trees, his eyes thrashing with some unspoken pain. “I am, however, skilled at protecting you, whether you believe that or not.”
“Are we arguing?” I asked, attempting to return my voice to its normal level.
“Yeah, and that’s fucking great,” he replied, his eyes raging with anger and lust. “Because I’m also skilled at ending arguments.”
His lips crashed onto mine and he pulled me against him, his cock hard and ready between us, throbbing quietly, a steady and constant reminder of our primal instinctive desire.
He groaned as he kissed me and pressed against me. He led me two steps backwards and my legs hit a large boulder. Gently he pushed me down, his body hovering over me, his lips still kissing me as he guided me until I was laying back on the rock. The sound of his moans mingled with the sounds of the rushing creek behind us, and as his kisses began trailing down my neck and then my chest, I arched up against him, my pleading cries adding to the sweet music we were making with the forest around us.
When he reached my belly, after pushing up my tank top, he began working at the button of my shorts with his teeth. Shocks of desire ricocheted into my pussy as he deftly worked the button free, and then smiled up at me, pulling the zipper down with his free hand and holding the shorts taught with his teeth.
I smiled down at him, shaking my head.
“Lift,” he demanded, that sexy-as-fuck half grin spreading across his face again. I’d have done anything this man asked me to.
My hips raised as if they had a mind of their own, and he tugged the shorts swiftly over my hips and thighs. I kicked them off, and Slade wasted no time in diving right between my legs, his mouth hitting its target with delicious precision.
I writhed up against his hungry mouth, sinking into the rock beneath me, sliding into the pure, decadent wave of pleasure that washed through every inch of my yearning soul.
“Oh, baby, I’ve missed you,” I said, reaching down, my fingers sinking into his soft hair, feeling his head move as he worked his mouth against me, pulling my pleasure out of me with the relentless energy of a thousand ocean waves, pushing and pulling, retreating and caressing, bombarding me with the full force of his energy and then pulling back, teasing me, until I was ravaged by my need for release, a release only he could provide, only Slade, my Slade, my love.
He knew it. I knew it. I was his, I was all his, my body was his, my soul, in that moment, was his to do as he pleased with.
Through my submissive haze, I heard the distinct sound of his zipper and then his mouth was gone, replaced by the pure delicious rawness of his throbbing strength slicing through me, into me, becoming one with me, as he rocked against me, holding me close with his good arm, his body pulsing and pounding into me, his breath quickening and gasping, until he stilled, his cock pressed as deeply as it could possibly reach as he exploded, his warmth spilling into me with wild abandon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SLADE
Fuck, I thought, as soon as I pulled out of Diana’s sweet center. I had gotten carried away, and I was usually so careful not to forget the condom. There was something about Diana that made me throw all caution to the wind. And the feeling of her against me, with nothing between us, had put me over the edge so fast, I had come as quickly as a teenaged boy.
I would make it up to her later. But the condom thing couldn’t happen again. I might be able to get away with it once, but that was the last thing I needed to be taking my chances with.
I shook it off, and with a vow to be better next time, I pulled Diana up and kissed her again.
“You taste like me,” she said, kissing me back.
“Yep,” I said, kissing her again, “peaches.”
She laughed, and it was like music to my ears.
“Right, like on your phone.”
“Oh, yeah!” I said, remembering when I had added her phone number to my cell phone right before she had left that first night. It seemed like so long ago now, so much had happened.
I led Diana back through the woods towards the clubhouse. The sun was setting and it was getting dark. I didn’t mind being in the forest in the dark, in fact, I preferred it, but I didn’t want to freak Diana out anymore than she already was.
When I saw Oliver and Olivia up ahead, I stopped her.
“I want you to meet some friends of mine,” I whispered to her.
“What?” she asked, looking around me.
“Not what - ‘who’!” I said, laughing at my own joke.
“I don’t understand,” she said, peering into the darkness.
“They’re camouflaged. Look - over there!” I said pointing to them just as Oliver turned his head towards us. He and Olivia were sitting in a tall branch overlooking the creek.
“Oh! They’re gorgeous!” Diana said.
“They hang around the clubhouse. Ryder swears he’s known them for years….or, well Oliver at least. He showed up a while back with Olivia in tow and I’ve never seen them apart.”
“That’s beautiful!”
“I’ve done a bunch of research on them. They’re Great Horned Owls. The Pima Tribe believed they are the reincarnated spirits of ancient warriors. Some other Native Americans believe they bring good luck in matters of the heart, and still others believe they are a symbol of fertility - oh, fuck.”
“What?” Diana asked.
“Nothing. Nevermind. Anyway, yeah, that’s them. They visit the clubhouse often.”
“I love them!” Diana said, her eyes lighting up, even in the darkness. She was so fucking beautiful.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are to me?” I asked her, cupping her chin, and drinking in her moonlit beauty. She was making me soft, and at this point I didn’t give a fuck.
“Oh, Slade,” she said softly, leaning into me.
We stood there for a while, holding each other in the silence of the darkening forest, surrounded by a million other species performing their own mating rituals around us.
***
Olivia and Oliver followed us out of the forest, flying along behind us, stopping every couple of trees and resting on the branches as we caught up with them.
“Do they always do this?” Diana asked.
“Yeah, they always seem to be watching out. It’s pretty cool,” I said.
“That is cool,” she agreed.
“I bet you’re hungry,” I said. “You didn’t eat much at dinner.”
“It was a lot to take in,” she replied. And it was. All the God’s family all in one house. You couldn’t hear yourself think with all those loud mouths in there.
“I understand, believe me! It should be pretty mellow by now. Let’s go raid the fridge?”
“Sounds perfect,” she replied. I could still taste her on my lips, and I couldn’t wait to get her in my bed again later.
We were just breaking through the tree line and stepping onto the dirt road that led back to the clubhouse when we heard a commotion in the trees a few hundred yards away.
“Stay here!” I shouted, pushing Diana behind me. I ran back through the trees, and peered through the darkness. A figure was yelling and thrashing around in the dark. As I ran towards him, I saw the reason he was thrashing. Oliver was on top of his head, his huge, sharp talons squeezing the man’s head, his pointed beak stabbing into his flesh.
The man threw his arms up and Oliver broke loose, his body flying threw the air, and slamming into a tree before landing in a heavy thump on the ground. Olivia was howli
ng above me, the sounds coming from her unlike anything I had ever heard - a loud, angry yelping that was incessant and ear-ringing.
The figure disappeared into the dark, and my eyes landed on Oliver’s crumpled body.
“Mother fucker!” I yelled, barreling through the forest. It was dark and dense, a part of the property that led away from the creek, a part I didn’t frequent often.
I ran awkwardly, my restricted arm hindering my speed. I spotted movement ahead of me, and a flash of a bloody hand in the moonlight. I closed the space between us and reached out with my left hand to grab his black shirt, my fingers closing around his bicep. He turned toward me, and with a fling of his arm, he was free and steps away from me before I caught my balance and began chasing after him again.
He was agile - jumping over fallen logs and random rocks and plants. He was headed towards the road, where I figured he probably had a car parked. I was determined not to let him get away. Whoever he was, he had no fucking business in these woods.
My arm wasn’t doing me any favors in what was turning out to be a distance run through the woods. He was a little faster than me, but only because he wasn’t handicapped the way I was, but just a small advantage was all he needed to stay just ahead of me and out of reach.
We reached a small clearing, an open meadow where the trees cleared and a field of tall grass stretched before us.
Finally, I could gain some traction. I was within inches of him, my arm reaching out to grab him, when my foot hit a rock on the ground. I couldn’t see it through the tall grass. My body flailed through the air, landing in the grass with a huge, resounding thud.
My arm screamed in pain as I landed directly on the cast. The man disappeared through the grass and I lay panting and gasping for breath through the pain, defeated and broken, the sorriest excuse for a man that ever lived.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Diana
RAW: THE ULTIMATE MC COLLECTION Page 35