Blood & Rust (Lock & Key #4)

by Cat Porter

My damp skin was streaked in chocolate. Butler’s hungry eyes flared over me; he had marked me. He raised himself up, his mouth hovering over mine, a groan unsticking from the back of his throat, the rich scent of chocolate thick between us.

  “Come get it, baby,” he rasped.

  I rose up and smashed my mouth to his, my tongue exploding in bittersweet chocolate Butler.

  “You taste so, so good,” I managed between licks and sucks.

  “It’s all you on me,” he murmured.

  He sprinkled more cocoa over my breasts, tossing the canister to the side. His mouth sank over one of my tits again, taking me down into a whirlpool of sensation. He sucked each nipple with long, drawn-out movements of his lips, making each one painfully, ridiculously hard.

  He groaned. “Fuck.”

  My legs went around his waist, locking there. I was desperate for friction, desperate for him.

  He glanced up at me from my chest. “Impatient, determined—”

  “I thought you said you liked that about me.” I laughed.

  “I like a lot about you.”

  He grabbed the cup of ice and as he held my gaze, sucked a cube into his mouth. My insides seized as he crunched on it. His mouth closed over a nipple. The sudden cold had me pulling on his hair. He sucked on more ice and sank his mouth between my legs.

  “Butler!” I squirmed.

  He pressed a melting cube against my clit then tucked it through my opening where it melted and tingled and melted.

  “Oh my God!”

  He chuckled as his cold mouth and icy tongue lashed over my skin. My eyes were glued to the thick muscles of his shoulders, arms, and chest as he moved over me. He lifted my hips, and I let out a cry as the hard cool tip of his tongue flicked at my clit, ice melting around it, over and over.

  One long, slow, heavy lick.

  Flick, flick, suck.

  Playful, wicked, malevolent adoration.

  I shuddered in his grip, my head dropping to the side. “Oh, shit! You’re—oh, oh!”

  Butler’s hands smoothed over my bare torso, covering my breasts. “Who knew scowling sour Tania would taste so fucking sweet?”

  I kicked him with my feet, pushing him onto his back, and he let out a grunt. I straddled him, laying kisses over his sweaty chest, my hands stroking over the firm contours of his muscles. I traced over the gorgeous flaming tattoo on his shoulder and down his arm.

  “I love your tattoo.”

  “Are we gonna chat now, or are you gonna say hello to my dick?”

  “So sorry. Will you ever forgive me?” I nestled myself in between his legs.

  “Do your best to make it up to me.”

  I firmly wrapped my hands around the base of his cock, and his breath caught in his throat.

  “I’ll try.” I licked up the side of his stiff length.

  His eyes blazed. “Try harder.”

  I licked the other side of his cock. “Look who’s impatient now.”

  “Stop talking, and do it.”

  My tongue swirled over the wet tip.

  “Tania!” His face drew into a hard frown, his breathing shortened as he watched me take long licks of him.

  I finally took him into my mouth, my lips closing over his cock, sucking, pulling back, stroking his velvet hardness.

  “Ah, fuck!” A ringed hand dug into my hair, keeping my head close to him.

  I worked him faster, my fingers stroking his balls in firm circling motions.

  I glanced up at him. His eyes were on me, his lips tense. His cock stiffened in my mouth and throbbed. My neck ached, and I didn’t care. I kept the pace and the intensity up.

  His head arched back, and he let out a long groan as his cock pulsed in my mouth. I took my time lavishing him with attention, and his small moans, his fingers sifting through my hair rewarded me.

  I finally released him. His head stayed back, and his eyes closed tight as his chest heaved.

  I raised myself up over his body, my hands planted on either side of him. “Sorry, did you want to spray my face or boobs with your cum or whatever a He-Man does these days?”

  He let out a laugh and opened his eyes. He reached up and brushed back the hair from my face. “Scarlett, you working me like that, taking me in, taking every last drop, everything I had to give—nothing like it.”

  “And I meant every suck and swallow.”

  “And you meant every suck and swallow.” His face softened, a hand stroking down my neck. “You’ve humbled me to the extreme,” he breathed. His lips pressed into a firm line, his jaw tightened.

  “Is something wrong? Did I—”

  He let out a deep breath. “No. You’re amazing. That was amazing.”

  I lied down next to him and lightly caressed the side of his face. He pressed his hand over mine, leaning his head into my touch, his eyes closing again for a moment.

  My heart jumped. With that one simple movement, he’d shown me how he had let me in. I loved being his respite from the circus.

  “It hasn’t been like that for me in a long while,” he said.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah.”

  My hand roamed down to his chest, caressing him over his pounding heart.

  “When I started overdoing the blow, getting off got difficult. And, since I’ve quit, things have been a little different. But this, with you—”

  “Yeah?”

  “So good. Been a long while.”

  “What exactly? It being good or—”

  “Both.”

  I raised my head on my hand. “Oh. I thought you and Nina—”

  “Not really,” he said quietly.

  My heart raced. So much for Ms. Hot Twenty-Something.

  “Nina and I hooked up a couple of times before we agreed on our deal,” he said. “It was fine. Later, after we got together, one time we fucked, I didn’t last long enough for her to get off the way she wanted, and she got pissed.”

  “Did she?”

  “She called me an old man.”

  “She fucking did not!”

  “She did.” He let out a dark laugh. “She paid for that. Big time.”

  I bit the side of my lip as kinky visuals flitted through my brain, trying to imagine what that meant. She’d probably loved every minute of it, whatever her punishment had been.

  I bet he did, too.

  I blinked. Stop!

  “After that,” he continued, “I really didn’t want to have much to do with her in bed.”

  Hmm. Accent on the much.

  Tania!

  Adrenaline rushed through my veins. Butler was mine for the satisfying. Mine to fulfill sexually, emotionally, in every fucking way, and I wanted him in every one of those ways. I wanted to be the one to fill him up, make his dreams come true. Be his completely. Make him mine.

  I stroked his chest, my fingers tracing a circle around a nipple. “Tell me, were you tempted to go further with me that night in the motel?”

  He took my hand in his and kissed my fingertips. “Hell yes, but I was trying to be a good boy.”

  “For Nina and your ‘relationship’?”

  “Fuck no. For you.”

  “For me?”

  “I knew you’d find out about me and her once we got back to Meager, and I didn’t want you to think I was some shitty cheater or that I’d used you because I wasn’t. That night between us wasn’t like that. It wasn’t about that for me. I wanted to be inside you real bad, but it felt like stealing, and I couldn’t do that. Not to you.”

  My heart doubled over. “Butler—”

  He turned on his side and faced me. “I couldn’t lie to you. I’d been lying to myself for years until recently. I finally got out from under that web, sliced it right open. When we got to the club, and I saw that disappointment on your face, I felt like a real shit.”

  “You noticed?”

  “Yeah. I noticed.”

  “You assumed I’d be disappointed that I couldn’t get more of you?”

  “Yeah, of cours
e.” He grinned at me. He loved teasing me, and I loved it too.

  I sank my teeth into his chest, on the swell of a pec.

  He let out a long hiss. “Watch it. I like that shit, baby.”

  My pulse spiked at the heat in his eyes, the raw tone in his voice.

  I cleared my throat. “You took a huge chance that night when you touched me. I could’ve slapped you and kicked you out of the room.”

  He gently traced a heart-stopping line around my breast with the edge of his thumb. “I wanted you to feel good, like Gerhard’s queen did. Adored, beautiful, a sexy-as-fuck and so fucking hot one and only. You were this mixture of elated, sad, and wistful that night. Then, that Blade grabbed you.”

  “And you went all caveman.”

  He cupped my breast. “I was protecting you.”

  Shivers raced over my skin. “Yes, you were. I liked it. I haven’t had that in a long time. Not since my dad died. I mean, that knowing that I’m safe with a man, that I could face anything if I had him at my side.”

  His fingers lazed over my skin. “I don’t want to be your daddy.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He laughed and kissed me.

  “You’re strong on your own, Tania. Never doubt that.”

  “I like you being strong for me, too. Being there for me.”

  I kissed him. We held each other as we discovered the hollows and soft places over our throats and skin. His hand slid down over my rear end, caressing me there. The heat we generated wrapped around us like the softest warm wind.

  “I want to fuck you,” he whispered against my ear.

  “I don’t want you to be anxious.”

  His face darkened. “About what exactly?”

  I planted a kiss on his chest and peeked up at him. “That maybe I’m going to blow the hell out of your cock.” I nipped at his flesh with my teeth.

  “Fuck, it’d be a great way to go.”

  His blue eyes glimmered at me as I pushed him against the bed and straddled him. He handed me a condom from the pile at his side. I tore open the packet and fit the rubber on his cock. Positioning him at my entrance, I took him in.

  “Ah, shit,” he moaned, his head twisting back. “Baby.”

  His hand slid between us, his ringed fingers forming a V around his cock, providing incredible additional friction for the both of us. I rode him, and the pleasure inside me skyrocketed. My head fell back.

  “Scarlett, look at me,” he whispered hoarsely. “Look at me, baby. I want to see those beautiful eyes fuck me while you take my cock.”

  I opened my eyes, and his desire beamed at me, embracing me, swallowing me. I planted my hands on his chest and moved faster over him.

  His free hand went to a breast, palming it. He tugged on my nipple, and I cried out. I fell into his abyss, and I never wanted to get out. Never.

  Yes, absolute possession.

  “You like that, Scarlett?” he whispered hoarsely as his hips drove rhythmically, under mine.

  “Yes,” I rasped.

  Rough tugging, delicate stroking. I was a sculpture he traced his hands over, adoring every curve and pleasuring himself with every touch. He was the sculptor, summoning forth his creation with his hands, his cock.

  I was light-headed, exhausted, dancing on a high wire. Alive.

  I ground against him, and his breath hitched.

  “I can’t get enough of you,” I breathed.

  His hand released my breast and dug into my hip. “Whatever I’ve got to give, baby, it’s all for you. All of it.”

  I slid my hand over his heart. “I’m clawing my way in there deep.”

  “I can feel it, Scarlett. Make it hurt.”

  CLOUDS DRIFTED IN BUNCHES across the wide blue sky, shedding a patch of darkness over the One-Eyed Jacks’ property, while the rest of the land stretching in the distance rolled in the sunlight.

  “Butler.” Alicia’s low voice stopped me. She stood stiffly in the shadows at the side of the open front door of the club, a tray of empty juice boxes in her hand, a supermarket bag hanging from one wrist.

  We’d finished up painting the go-karts with the kids, and the old ladies had passed out snacks and juice.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “I just got a text from Wes. Says he’s spending the night with some friends.”

  “Okay?”

  “He would’ve called me, spoken with me about an overnight, but he just texted me at the last minute, without telling me where exactly he is.”

  “Babe, I’m sorry about this, but I’ve got to get going. Got to get to—”

  She put the tray down on the long metal console table propping open the front door. “Something’s off; I know it. He’s avoiding me and all of us.”

  “Maybe he’s really into that new girlfriend of his?”

  “I still haven’t even met her, still don’t know who she is. She’s not from around here. She’s from Nebraska.”

  The back of my neck stiffened. “Nebraska? You sure?”

  “He mentioned it once. See, Wes has never been so secretive with me before. We’ve always been up-front with each other, always been able to talk. It’s not like him to disappear for hours every day without letting me know where he is or who he’s with. Something’s going on. A mother knows these things. I’m his mother. I know.”

  Laughter and screeches from the kids playing tag rose up in the yard. Bear and his small son along with Tricky were leading the teams.

  “Alicia, I put in a call to him yesterday, but he didn’t pick up, and he never got back to me. He should’ve been here today.”

  “Yes, he should’ve. I just found this on his bike in his saddlebag.” She handed me the plastic supermarket bag.

  I opened it. Old glass soda bottles, cut up oily rags that stank of motor oil and kerosene, baking soda, petroleum jelly, rubber cement, strips of tire tubing. Fuck me, the kid’s been making Molotov cocktails instead of beer bongs.

  My eyes shot back to Alicia, her face tight. She knew, and she was worried.

  “Please find him. Please,” she whispered, stepping toward me. “I don’t know what else to say or think at this point. He’s been using Jump’s bike, and he’s out somewhere, doing God knows what. He’s angry and confused. Please, you and the men need to find him.”

  “I’ll find him, Alicia. I promise.”

  She pressed her lips together, nodding stiffly. “Thank you. Let me know.”

  “I’ll be in touch.”

  She picked up the drinks tray and headed toward the kitchen.

  “Butler, let’s go!” shouted Dready from the doorway with Dawes and Clip.

  “Hey, Dawes!”

  Dawes turned around. He shook his blond curls from his eyes, his shoulders standing at attention. “What’s up?”

  “You still keep that tracking device on Jump’s hog?” I asked him.

  The Jacks kept devices on all their bikes just in case they got stolen by rival clubs or anyone else. Your bike was your identity, your partner, your soul. You couldn’t let anyone fuck with that.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Wes is missing, and he’s out on his dad’s bike. Find it.”

  Dawes gestured toward the president’s office, and I followed him inside. He threw himself down in Jump’s old swivel chair and turned on the computer. The room still reeked of Jump. Stale cigarettes, old vinyl, boot polish. Just the creaking of that goddamn chair still sent prickles up my spine, reminding me of all the times I’d been in here in the past—being reprimanded, cursed at, or my hand being shaken, my back slapped. Grins and scowls, disappointment and approval had all been aimed my way within these walls over the years.

  A photo of Dig stared at me from the wall dotted with pics of former officers. His ringed hand, cut and bloodied, was balled into a fist, which filled the frame, his face with lips snarled blurred in the background. Determined, stubborn. A Jack.

  “Prospect, welcome to the brotherhood. Welcome to the One-Eyed Jacks.”

 
; Dig’s rich voice came back to me from one of the most spectacular nights of my life, the night I’d patched in and become a One-Eyed Jack.

  “There’s hope for you yet, bro.”

  That hearty laugh of his roared in my ears. The slap of his palm against my face, his hand smoothing down the stiff leather of the brand-new vest he’d settled over my shoulders.

  “You ready to take it on?”

  “Butler?”

  I tore my eyes away from Dig’s photo and focused on Dawes at the computer once again. I cleared my throat. “What did you find, man?”

  “I didn’t find shit. I got nothing.”

  My spine grew rigid. “Why the fuck not?”

  “Because the device has been disarmed since last night.”

  THE BELL RANG over the front door of the gallery. Lenore strode through, wearing a long black tank that showed off the beautiful tattoos swirling over her chest and down her toned arms along with black skinny jeans, topped off with black leather stiletto booties. She sported a number of earrings, and a gorgeous labradorite pendant around her neck. She was an unlikely vision in our small town laden with dusty pastels and cozy prints. Lenore placed a large Meager Grand Cafe iced coffee with a dollop of whipped cream before me on my front desk. A tasty peace offering?

  I removed my reading glasses. Inputting inventory data nonstop on my computer had screwed with my eyes. “That looks insanely yummy.”

  “That’s cold-brewed.”

  “Bless you, my child.” I grabbed the coffee and took a sip of the richly flavored drink, groaning. I gestured to the rattan armchair next to me. “Sit.”

  Lenore sat down. “I’m so sorry about the other night at my house.”

  Finger had come looking for me at Dead Ringer’s to help him get through to Lenore. She’d only thrown us both out.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Better. I’m sorry I lost it. You came over because you care, because you were concerned. And I was…a mess. I’ve been a burden to you. For years now.”

  “No, you haven’t, Lenore. Things are complicated. I get that. But maybe you could give an inch.”

  “Finger was really angry.”

  “Being upset was at the heart of his anger. He’s trying, Lenore. He’s reaching out.”

  “He hates me.”

  “No, he doesn’t. He can’t. I hate all these bad feelings flying between all of us.”