Before the End (Beyond Series Ultimate Glom Edition)

by Kit Rocha

  Ignoring the wide-eyed incredulity, Dallas took a long drag from his cigarette and blew smoke up toward the night sky. "I was talking marks. Damn right I'm serious. You of all people should know."

  "Guess I never thought I'd see it." Jasper rubbed his chest through his shirt, right over the spot where Noelle's name had been inked into his skin. "You've collared other women, but you never really wanted to, did you?"

  "Sure I did. I wanted sex, and I needed it to be simple." Not quite a lie. Once Lex had pushed him to start accepting women into the gang, he'd had to draw a line to keep applicants off his dick. Nothing killed his hard-on faster than a woman counting the ceiling tiles--or mentally counting the money she hoped to get.

  "Simple," Jasper echoed in agreement. "Yeah, that's the last damn word I'd use to describe Lex."

  "Guess I got tired of it." He snuffed out the cigarette on the wall and turned to face Jasper. "Gonna have to learn to be flexible again."

  "Uh-huh. Your woman doesn't play by anyone else's rules."

  She'd play by his, if he was smart enough to keep the game too addictive to quit. And she'd given him a good idea of where to start. "Speaking of playing, I think she misses you and Noelle. Next time we have a night off, we should fix that."

  He shrugged. "I'm down for it. Don't think I need to check with Noelle."

  "What if it wasn't just the four of us?"

  Jasper choked on a lungful of smoke. "You mean, like a party?"

  "A little more exclusive than that," Dallas grumbled. Sharing Lex with Noelle was tolerable, and Jas was damn near an extension of her. As for the rest... Well, at least Lex's fantasy included a jealous rampage. That was pretty much a guarantee. "Lex wants something. I wanna give it to her. That's all there is to it."

  He nodded slowly. "I'm down," he said again. "Just let us know where and when."

  "Soon." The sooner the better. He'd tested plenty of Lex's boundaries, shoving her to the edge of her comfort zone and coaxing her beyond. Time to find out if he could do the same.

  A trio of shadows parted from the darkness below, and Dallas put thoughts of Lex and pleasure aside as they approached the building. "At least they're punctual. Now we just have to worry about whether or not they're here to kill us."

  "I won't be impressed unless they try."

  Grinning, Dallas turned to the propped-open door that led into the abandoned building. They'd already cleared out a room and righted a beat-up old conference table and a few rickety chairs. He'd meet them here, in their territory, and feel out their motivations. If he was lucky, he'd find that same mixture that made Jasper so valuable--greed tempered by sense and a healthy dose of self-preservation.

  If he wasn't, he'd stare across that table and see his own suicidal ambition reflected back at him. And he'd grant their death wish.

  There was only room for one crazy bastard in his territory.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Someone was at her door.

  Lex heard the latch and saw the door swing open, reflected in the large mirror backing her vanity. It had to be Dallas, a fleeting thought confirmed when he stepped across the threshold, dressed in jeans and a simple dark T-shirt.

  Just as presumptuous as before, and she made him wait until she finished sweeping blush across her cheeks before speaking ruefully. "Come on in, O'Kane."

  He leaned against the wall behind her and met her eyes in the mirror. "Not gonna throw something at my head and tell me to knock?"

  "Have I ever?" She spun around on her stool. "Wait--don't answer that."

  "Mmm, best not to." He studied her face for a silent moment as his smile settled into a more serious expression. "I need you to pull off one of your miracles this weekend."

  That sounded ominous as hell. "It doesn't involve a trip to another sector, does it?"

  "No. But it involves bringing people from another sector here."

  It could only be one thing. "A party for the prospects from Three?"

  "Yep." Dallas pushed away from the wall and strolled toward her with all the lazy arrogance of a man secure in his welcome. "We'll invite others. Allies and friends of the gang, a few fighters from all over. But they already know what we're about. The guys from Three are the ones who need the right first impression."

  The ones who could round out Dallas's power base in their home sector. He could take over in Three and lead with fear alone, but if they could be trusted and useful, bringing some of Trent's former men into the fold would be smarter. "No problem," Lex agreed.

  He traced one fingertip along her jaw before sinking his hand into her hair. "I want to close down the club for the night and hold it in the Broken Circle. Dancers, but not any of our girls. Everyone needs to be shined up pretty, but I want you to double-check the lieutenants and their women. And no sweet white lace for Noelle. The two of you will be front and center, and I want you both as fierce as you get."

  "Dallas," she chided softly. "I know how recruitment works."

  "I know. But this is a whole new playing field." His fingers curled around the back of her neck, commanding and possessive. "For all of us."

  Lex shivered. "I'll get it done."

  "Tomorrow." A word that allowed no argument, and he didn't give her a chance to make one. "You got plans tonight?"

  "Asks the man who just barged into my bedroom," she whispered. "Would it matter if I did?"

  "Maybe." His grin returned, edged in wicked promise this time. "But mine are better."

  "Yeah? Why don't you tell me about them?"

  He reached into his pocket and dragged out a two-foot length of black silk. "Were you telling the truth about your fantasy?"

  Her mouth went dry as the implications of the silk hit her. "I wouldn't make something like that up."

  "The blindfold is for me," he admitted, watching her with dangerous intent. "But the hands and the mouths and all that comes after... That'll be for you, if you trust me and take it."

  If you trust me. There was no going back. If she denied him now, they'd lose the careful, fragile balance they'd fought so hard to find. And if she said yes...

  Could she say yes?

  Lex swallowed hard, held his gaze in the mirror, and nodded. "You won't let anything happen that I don't want."

  He smiled and settled the silk over her eyes, dropping her world into darkness. His breath danced over her ear as he tied it, and his words...

  Wicked words. Evil words. "Jasper and Noelle know all about what you want. They're waiting for you already, and you're right. She's so hungry to touch you. So are Ace and Mad. But they still know you're mine."

  "Six of us?" she asked, her voice hitching over the question.

  "Two of us." The knot pulled tight, and he dragged her head back. "Don't ever forget it, Lex. I don't care how many people are piled on a bed, in the end it's still about me giving you what you want and getting off on getting you off."

  No, it would always come down to just them. Everyone else, no matter how cherished a companion, was secondary. No one else could compete because no one else was Dallas.

  No one else was her.

  Lex relaxed against him. "They can touch me," she murmured, "but they can't have me. Only you."

  "Damn straight," he said, then hauled her out of her chair and into the air.

  The world spun around her, all the more dizzying from behind the blindfold. She landed across his shoulder a heartbeat later, pinned by a strong, unforgiving hand dead center on her ass.

  Lex dug her nails into the small of his back through his shirt. She could only track their progress through the disorienting dip of his steps and the sway of his turns. It seemed to take an eternity, but finally he paused, and she heard his boot thump against a door.

  The next thing she heard was Noelle's familiar laughter, low and sultry. Dallas strode forward, and footsteps whispered past her to the right before the door clicked shut.

  Were they all there already, watching? Waiting? Lex tried to slow her breathing, but the anticipation that
prickled along her skin had kicked everything else into high gear, too.

  He stopped after half a dozen paces--too few to be near his bed--and let her body slide along his as he lowered her to the floor. "Kitten, I know how you love to undress Lex. How about you crawl on over here and get started?"

  Hands. A touch she would have recognized, even without Dallas's pet name, tugging at the belt on her robe. The satin slithered to the floor, and Noelle traced her fingers up Lex's sides. "You're so beautiful."

  Lex opened her mouth, but the hot sensation of lips grazing her hipbone turned her words to a gasp. Not Noelle, not with the rough rasp of beard that chafed as the mouth moved, opened, followed by the wet heat of a tongue soothing her skin.

  "Jasper thinks so, too." Noelle's fingertip brushed the edge of Lex's bra and followed the line of lace until she reached the bow nestled between her breasts. "I'm mad at him now. I wanted to taste you first."

  If Dallas's goal was to fulfill her fantasy, they'd all get their chance. "Plenty of other things you could do," Lex said, catching Noelle's hand. "But you'd better hurry before the others beat you to it. There are others, right?"

  "There's--"

  A strong hand curled around the back of her neck, its touch so possessive and sure it had to be Dallas. "Don't answer that," he drawled, pressing his thumb over her pulse for a moment before sliding it under her chin to force her head back. "Are you doubting my word, Lexie?"

  "Yes." The word escaped her before she could think to lie.

  "You think I only invited Noelle and Jas, because they're safe."

  "Aren't they?"

  No answer, just that firm hand curved around her throat--and another hand, a different one, grazing the small of her back. Long, graceful fingers instead of blunt and rough like Dallas's, clever fingers that twisted the catch on her bra free in one deft move. And those were different still from the strong, work-hardened hands sliding up her leg toward her panties.

  Noelle's fingers were the softest, and they stroked her cheek. "We're all safe," she whispered as the two new pairs of hands set to stripping her bare. "He knows what's his."

  Lex's knees went weak. "Do you know, Dallas?"

  "Every fucking thing I see," he replied, close enough for his breath to stir the hair at her temple. "But you most of all. You above everyone."

  Her bra fell away, and Jasper--it had to be Jasper, with that same scratch of beard she'd felt on her hip--licked her nipple. Once, twice, then he drew it into his mouth and sucked hard.

  Lex whimpered and tried to lift her hands, but someone caught them. She didn't know who held her arms out to the side, but it was Noelle who buckled the cuffs around each wrist, and Dallas who stripped her collar from her throat only to replace it with something heavier. Leather closed around her throat, a collar that latched in the back with a long, narrow strip that settled over her spine like a promise.

  Cool metal tickled, D-rings that brushed her skin as someone folded her arms at the small of her back. Noelle claimed her other nipple as the cuffs snapped into place, leaving her unable to move.

  Helpless.

  Her panties slid down her legs, and she lifted each foot automatically to allow the fabric to be stripped away. The air in the room felt heavy, heavy enough to press in on her as surely as all the hands.

  "Like this." A low whisper, one she recognized as Jasper instructing Noelle. A moment later, their tongues tangled together around one of her nipples in a wet, open kiss--with her between them.

  The low buzz of anticipation turned to a very real buzz of pleasure in her ears, and Lex exhaled slowly. "Fuck."

  Wood scraped the floor behind her, something weighty being shifted into place. Fingers twisted in her hair, and Dallas's voice skittered over her. "Spread her legs."

  A masculine pair of hands obeyed, dragging her legs apart. Sure, strong, but with enough deference to identify it as Mad who buckled her into a pair of ankle cuffs. Someone caught her shoulders, someone else gripped her waist, every touch designed to tease as they urged her back and down until her thighs touched padded leather.

  Plenty of surfaces in Dallas's room fit that description, but when Mad's hands returned to coax her legs apart, she knew what she was sitting on. The custom-built chair Dallas usually kept in the corner, the one designed to hold its occupant captive, exposed, legs wide open.

  Jasper's ever-present leather wrist cuff brushed her collarbone as he guided her to lie on the reclined chair, midway between sitting straight up and lying flat on her back. In moments she was trapped, ankles locked to the base of the chair, her arms folded behind her.

  And all of the touch stopped.

  Lex clenched her teeth. Dallas wanted her to break--to squirm, even beg, What startled her was how much she wanted to, to hear the catch in his breathing when she finally gave in.

  She bit her lip and arched on the chair. "Please."

  Someone pulled off her blindfold, and at first all she could see was Dallas.

  He sprawled a few feet away, his arms resting along the back of the couch and his legs stretched out in front of him. He'd lost the black T-shirt at some point, leaving him in dark jeans, a heavy belt and not a goddamn thing else except his ink and his arrogance.

  And his smile... God, his smile. Slow and lazy, but the edge beneath it matched the one in his eyes, matched the leashed tension that made all his attempts at laziness a lie. Already he was digging his fingers into the leather of the couch, as if he needed a reminder to keep from lunging for her.

  Or lunging at the people who surrounded her. Four of them, with Noelle already kneeling between Lex's thighs, Jasper looming behind her, and Mad and Ace standing to either side. No one moved to touch her, not yet, and she knew they were waiting on Dallas's command.

  It came soon enough, low, hoarse words that started a dangerous game. "Jas. Get her ready for her new adornments."

  "Yeah?" He rubbed his thumb over the corner of Ace's mouth, then slipped it between his lips. Ace licked it, swirling his tongue around and around until it was wet and gleaming.

  Lex sucked in a breath as Jasper dropped his hand to her breast and flicked his wet thumb across her nipple. It tightened, tingling under his touch.

  But he shook his head. "Not enough, sweetheart." He cupped her breast, spread his fingers wide and then closed them, pinching her nipple to the point of pain.

  She didn't moan, but Noelle did. And then slender, soft fingers closed on Lex's other nipple, Noelle mirroring Jasper with breathless glee. She tugged gently--too gently until Mad's hand slid over hers, pressing her fingers together hard enough to drag a cry from Lex.

  Jasper rumbled his approval. "Ace, get the rings."

  He melted away, and Dallas caught Lex's gaze, holding it through intensity alone. "Not just for your nipples, love. Not this time. I bet Jasper's trying to decide whether he's going to shove Noelle's face between your thighs or just suck your clit himself. Someone's got to get it nice and hard."

  But Jasper didn't do either. He bent close to Lex and licked her cheek before whispering in her ear. "Your man doesn't have enough faith in my creativity."

  Lex shuddered as he straightened. "You--"

  The words dissolved into a groan as Jasper landed a sharp slap on her pussy. Lex shifted on the chair, the warm haze of pleasure already solidifying into a throb of need as she lifted her hips and waited for him to do it again.

  He grabbed Noelle's hair and pulled instead. "Spread her open and spank her clit, just like I did. And get your ass in the air so Dallas can watch how wet it makes you."

  Noelle's hands trembled as she petted Lex. Slow, soothing strokes at first, then deeper. As exposed as Lex had been before, this was a hundred times more intense. Noelle's ass might have been on display, but Dallas's burning gaze fixed on her fingers as they parted Lex's pussy lips.

  As they opened her.

  He inhaled sharply, his fingers carving dents into the couch as Noelle's fingers fell in a gentle slap.

  Jasper twisted
his hand, pulling Noelle's hair so hard it had to hurt. "What did I say?"

  She panted, her neck craned awkwardly back but her expression blissful. "I tried, I promise. Show me how, and I'll be good. I'll be so good."

  Dallas laughed low enough to send shivers through Lex. "No one believes you, kitten. You're always bad. And you've got two seconds to work that clit like you mean it, or I'll make sure no one punishes you tonight."

  Noelle groaned, licked her fingers, and brought them down on Lex's pussy with a smack. The sensation buzzed through Lex, a pain so hot and sweet it left her heavy, aching.

  Jasper moved, one shoulder brushing the inside of Lex's thigh as he knelt beside Noelle. "Touch her like you would if it were just the two of you," he commanded. "Let Mad and Ace see how you make her come when you're not putting on a show."

  That made Noelle laugh as she nuzzled Lex's belly, her lips a warm tickle. "The only difference is how fast I make her come. Or how slow..."

  "Is that true, Lex?" Mad's familiar face filled her vision, mischief in his dark eyes and his hair as rakishly disheveled as ever. He'd lost his shirt, too, revealing sinuous tattoos that started just below his collarbone on either side of his body and wrapped down his arms, arms that flexed as he tugged at her hair and grinned. "Did you teach her your trick? It's never about who's watching, is it?"

  No, the shows were about the truth at the heart of desire. Fake was exactly that, and no amount of acting could make it real. But if you started with something honest--attraction, affection, lust--then all you had to do was dress it up in naughty little costumes and let them watch you get off.

  The men and women watching might not know why it worked so well, but they sure as hell knew it did.

  Two wet fingers--one delicate, one wide and blunt--circled her clit, and Lex shuddered as the haze surged over her. "It is now," she whispered. "Dallas is watching."

  "Yeah, he is." Mad traced a path down her throat and around one nipple, teasing it with touches just as soft as the ones between her thighs. "You can feel it, can't you? Fuck, I can feel it. If I make one wrong move, he'll be over here, breaking my fingers off one at a time."