His raucous laughter from behind made me jump. “THERE IS NO MAN IN THIS BAR WHO CAN BEAT ME!”
A group of annoyed men and woman clutching cocktails approached him. “Sir, I think you should leave.”
Spike threw back his head and laughed, even more drink spilling on his tattered, ugly suit. It was the most obnoxious thing I ever saw. It was royal blue and his undershirt was an appalling banana-yellow. “Are you going to make me, pal?”
He squared his shoulders and faced the polished man who approached him. Suddenly, the belligerent drunk looked threatening. “I—I just—”
“If someone beats me at a game, I’ll leave.” Spike took another drink from his mug, his eyes sweeping over me.
I bent over the pool table and continued my game.
“You!” he barked. “Hey, girl in the red dress!”
Straightening myself, I assumed a look of disdain as the drunken man stumbled to my table. “You got something you want to say?”
Several onlookers watched the exchange with angry looks at him and sympathetic looks at me.
“There are many things I’d like to say to you, baby,” he said in a husky voice. “Come to my place and I’ll tell you them.”
An unsuspecting wave of heat flushed my skin as he looked down at me under his heavily lidded eyes. He said it so convincingly and I stared a bit too long into his playful brown eyes.
Since Spike was playing the role of a disgusting drunk, his head swooped down and his lips came far too close. My head rattled as I thought what it would feel like. I was unprepared for the bubbling giddiness and I didn’t know what to do about it. Our lips touched and I pulled back as if I was burned. Cain will kill me. I didn’t dare look at him.
“Step back, asshole!”
A random guy shoved Spike’s chest.
“Let’s play a game. I bet I can beat you.”
He bellied up to the bar and leaned his head into his palm, slipping several times. “Oh, yeah? What’s the wager?”
“A hundred per game.”
With the whole bar rallied behind me to beat Spike, we played a game. I made sure to lose to him at a very close margin. They groaned in pain when I lost.
“Sorry, babe.” He winked. “You were good, but not good enough.” The curly haired man let out a booming laugh that made everyone around me cringe.
“Play him again!” They urged me.
Even the skeptics that doubted a woman could be good at pool seemed converted. I shrugged hopelessly. “I would, but I’m out of money.”
The lanky biker gave me a sly grin as the whole bar pooled money together.
“Let’s double it,” Spike said.
We played a spectacular game, the entire bar cheering whenever I sank a ball. Spike pretended to be annoyed.
“You can’t win against me, little girl. I’m fucking invincible!”
To prove his point, I sank the eight ball in the wrong pocket and lost the game. This time, everyone screamed and stamped their feet in disapproval. It had been so close. So damn close. Not really. I was impressed that he could still play while being so wasted.
He spread his arms open, squinting under the harsh light. “Is there anyone in the world who can beat me?”
“Just one more time! Beat this motherfucking bastard!”
“I’m not playing unless you can get four hundred bucks together.”
My eyes widened and even Cain from across the room returned a sharp look. He was getting too cocky.
I laughed as the bar patrons ran across the room to the ATMs to withdraw twenties, piling them into my hands. Spike gave me heavy, suggestive winks throughout the game, telling everyone that he was going to take me home after the game.
“Dream on, loser.”
Ball after ball sank into the pockets and they rallied behind me. I waved off their offers of drinks as I bent over the table, Spike shamelessly looking at my cleavage. I almost felt sorry for them all. This was the biggest scam I had ever pulled in a while.
The final hit. This part was always the most stressful. I had to hit the ball so that it appeared as though I almost won. My last ball was lined perfectly with the top right pocket. I aimed, striking the ball on its side so that it knocked into the corner and shot out, looking like a freak accident. Spike gave out a triumphant yell as he won yet again.
“I’m sorry, everyone,” I moaned when Spike collected his winnings. “I really thought I could win.”
My lip trembled and even tears squeezed out of my eyes. Men surrounded me, handing me tissues and giving me friendly pats on my shoulder. Spike gave me a mock bow and stumbled for the exit, Cain quickly following him.
“I just don’t understand what happened,” I sniffed hard.
I sulked at the bar for about fifteen minutes, waving off anyone who tried to hit on me, and then I finally grabbed my purse and left the bar. Spike and Cain were nowhere to be found, but I knew they must be nearby. I found them tucked in an alley, counting the money Spike earned. He spotted me and waved me in enthusiastically.
“You did really good, Spike.”
“And you. Jesus, what a brilliant scam. We made seven hundred dollars in a couple hours work, plus the couple thousand we got from hustling.” He hiccupped loudly.
“Half of that goes to Crash,” Cain said, ripping the money out of his hands. “Not much left after that, really.”
He looked disappointed. I touched his arm. “That was only a few hours of work.”
“Still. It’s like a futile enterprise. It’s not like you can do that same routine anywhere near that bar.”
Spike’s brow furrowed. He punched Cain's shoulder playfully. “Oh, come on, Cain. Give your old lady a break.”
The blonde man allowed himself a small smile. “Okay, fine. It was really damn smart. I just couldn’t stand watching all those douchebags running their hands over your body.”
“Including me?” Spike grinned.
Smartass.
“Especially you.”
“It’s just an act,” I said in a hard voice.
Cain shrugged, and I gave Spike a worried look. There was a strange tension between them I hadn’t noticed before.
“Lighten the fuck up.” He shook a cigarette out of his carton and it fell into a puddle. He swore. “I’m still drunk as fuck.”
“I’m going to wait by the car.” He swept out of the alley before I could say a word.
Nausea filled my stomach as I watched him walk away. He’s going to hurt me when we get back, and I was just doing what he wanted me to do.
“You look like a ghost.”
Spike’s dark face lit up in periodic flashes as he attempted to get a light. Then he looked down at me with a sleepy smile.
“Hey,” I said, touching his hand. “Can I have one of those?”
Watching me, he took another cigarette and lit it for me. I grasped it with a shaking hand. “Thanks.”
“So, what’s your story?”
My body stiffened until I realized that he probably hadn’t heard it. “I stole money from the MC, they caught me and killed my husband. Then they dragged me here to kill me but somehow Cain convinced Crash not to.”
His face darkened, the red light of the cigarette casted an ominous glow. “I remember.”
“You stood up to Crash,” I said in a quiet voice. I never really thought about how scared I was and how his warm eyes met mine, giving me strength. Why did he care?
“I just think it’s fucked up. I didn’t sign up to terrorize women.” His voice sank lower. “That day, I really questioned why I was there. But then he told me he meant to save you all along.” His gaze drifted to mine again. “Why did you stay with him? Why not run?”
I smiled at him. “And go where?”
Spike’s eyes shined with pity. God, he’s so normal. It was so strange to notice, but maybe there was a dark side of him I didn’t see.
“You’re with him against your will?”
My heart gave a painful squeeze as his e
yes softened. I shoved his drunken ass against the wall and slapped my hand over his mouth. My heartbeat raced as if I just did a line as I stared down the alley. Cain could be right there, listening to every word.
Spike’s cigarette flew from his hand and extinguished on the ground, smothering us in darkness. I could feel his slow, strong heartbeat under my hand and become uncomfortably aware of his closeness.
“Don’t fucking say that. He could be listening.”
Spike’s face was indiscernible in the dark. “Julia, no one should have to live like this.”
His speech was badly slurred, but the words burrowed in my head, warm and perfect but dangerous. I shook my head violently and pulled back but he held my arms and I tried to fight the longing stirring in my heart.
“I’ll talk to him.”
And he let me go and actually walked forward. I grabbed his hand and yanked him so hard that he stumbled.
“You’ll get me killed. Just leave it alone, Spike.”
I threw my cigarette into the puddle and stormed out of the alley, leaving him behind.
* * *
Spike was unusually quiet when Cain drove him home. I sat in the back, quietly panicking as the streetlights passed in a blur.
Twice, Cain looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I feel a hangover coming on,” he said in a flat voice.
“Normally, I have to tell you to stop talking.”
Blood rushed in my face as Cain glanced at the rearview mirror at me.
Spike, you’re a horrible actor.
He was not a guy who could conceal his emotions. When he was pissed off, he let the world know. Cain, however, was a blank slate. Impossible to read. And me?
I gathered my thigh and pinched hard to lose the worried look on my face. Nothing could erase the terrifying attraction I felt for Spike.
That’s fine, I told myself. You will never act on it, that’s all. It was disturbing, it was dangerous and I needed to kill it. Now.
We stopped at Spike’s apartment, which was tucked at the edge of Dragon territory. He swung out of the car with more grace than I expected of a man who drank as much as he did.
“Bye.”
As Spike disappeared inside, I got out and slipped into the passenger’s seat.
“So what the hell happened between you two?”
I bit my lip hard. I prayed that Cain wouldn’t notice, but of course he fucking did. “Nothing, really. I just don’t like him.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Everyone likes Spike.”
Shrugging, I looked ahead and pretended not to care. “Well, I don’t. He annoys me.”
I can’t be around him.
“Well, you’re going to have to get over it because I’m going to send him to the bars you’ll hustle. To protect you.”
Well, fuck.
“Besides,” he said as he stopped the car, “I wouldn’t be able to stand watching those assholes groping you all day.” He opened the door, his seething energy following him out.
I sighed as he swept around and opened the door for me. Such courtesy behind all that violence. His face was joyless as I took his hand and leaned into his chest. I squeezed his hand and stroked it with my thumb, pressing myself into his chest. Desperately seeking that flash of warmth I felt with Spike.
Nothing.
Coldly, Cain pulled me upstairs and once we crossed the threshold. I had a job to do, so I launched myself at him. For a moment, he thought I was attacking him and he grabbed my arms and pinched them hard enough to leave bruises. Ignoring the pain, I kissed under his jaw and flicked my tongue across his skin listening for his intake of breath.
I bit his ear. “You’re not the only one who had to watch someone they wanted all night across the bar.”
His energy shifted after I said that. His hand stopped over the small of my back and he dipped into his jacket pocket, holding Red next to my face. I pulled away from him, heart hammering as he turned to me with a slick smile on his face.
“That’s what I want,” he said when he saw me backing against the sofa.
He unscrewed the cap.
“Cain, please don’t.” My hands gripped the black leather behind me, my eyes darting to the door. “You’ve never done it in front of me. You might kill me.”
“I won’t.”
Helplessly, I watched as he lifted the red dropper in the light and grinned at my fear.
I tried to be nice—I tried to pleasure him but he doesn’t want that. He wants to own me, body and soul. He wants me cringing with fear whenever he walks into the same room.
I couldn’t get over how someone so handsome could be so evil. Dressed in slacks, he looked like a perfect gentleman. Intimidating, but professional. His eyes reddened and he threw the Red aside, it smashed on the tiles in a small pink puddle.
I won’t give him the satisfaction. I won’t show my fear.
I forgot that as he cornered me against the couch, my arms stiff on the leather. I didn’t dare touch him. One wrong word or action and he would snap. I could see the drug coursing through his system. His eyes were lively, animated and he gripped my chin lightly as I winced, expecting a slap.
“Do you still want to give me everything I want?”
He kissed me and it was the opposite of tender. My lips trembled against his as his fingers dug into my shoulders, hurting me.
“Yes,” I gasped.
“No, you don’t.”
Without warning, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me towards the bedroom. I whimpered in pain as he shoved me inside. I sprawled on the floor, bewildered as Cain stood over me, his fists clenched.
“Take off your clothes.”
On the floor, I fought the urge to cry as I slipped the dress from my shoulders and down past my knees. I tossed the heels and removed my thong.
“Now get up and turn around.”
I raised myself, not wanting to turn my back towards Cain. I heard him move somewhere and open a drawer, removing several things before shutting it again. The coarse fabric of his suit bumped against my back and his arm wrapped around my waist, sliding down my hips and swinging back to stroke my dry clit. His chest rumbled in pleasure and he groped my wrist, slapping handcuffs around it as he tied a rope and fastened it to the bedpost. He did the same with the other arm.
“What are you going to do?” Fuck me? Please tell me that’s all you intend to do?
“Something I should have done the moment you entered my apartment.”
Soft, leathery tendrils swept up the back of my thigh, making my muscles shiver. Suddenly, they moved. I heard the fine strands whistling through the air. A cry erupted from my throat as they whipped across my legs like tiny scalpels. Burning pain radiated from the blow.
“You’re going to learn to obey me without question. You will not choose to be with me. I will.”
They slashed over my backside this time, the sensitive skin screaming. “Cain, please!”
“Yes, beg me,” he whispered.
I screamed as the next blow landed on my other cheek. “You don’t have to—ah!”
My body jerked as blow after blow rained down on my flesh. I bit my lip hard enough to split, and my throat thickened with tears. The more I screamed, the harder he hit me. Cain unleashed every ounce of his fury on my body.
“STOP!”
Between the sounds of my screaming and the whistling of the flogger, Cain spoke with a malevolent twist in his voice. “I heard the clubhouse has an issue with pests. Rats in the basement. Hundreds of rats scratching and clawing at the wood foundations. Perhaps you could get rid of them for us?”
His low chuckle reverberated in my ears as I sobbed. My back was on fire and I imagined hundreds of huddled, brown bodies climbing my body and biting. His low voice chuckled again as I twisted in the robes, hopelessly bound. Every movement was agony and still the whips rained down.
“Look at how pathetic you are, cringing at your irratio
nal fears. I am so glad I am not like you—I’ve always been special.”
I sagged against the ropes, hating him as blood trickled down my back. Fuck you, you sadistic monster. I would never want to be like you.
My back trembled as I waited for the next blow, but there was a loud thump as Cain dropped whatever he was holding and approached me. My legs shook violently as his hand gently brushed my hair.
“This is so much more—this is what I wanted from you.”
He moaned and I felt his erection digging into my raw flesh.
“No, please. It hurts.”
Cain was beyond pleading. He lifted his arm in front of me, which now held a knife. I tensed for a moment, but he simply sawed through the ropes binding me, not even bothering to uncuff me. Both arms freed, he shoved my back so that I bent at my waist. I knew what he was planning. My legs tightened and I cried silently into the comforter. His slippery hands grabbed my hips and forced my legs apart. His slacks were already off, I could feel his bare legs against mine, his cock throbbing against my ass.
I screamed into the comforter as a thick mass forced between my legs, parting my walls painfully as he jutted his hips and his cock split me open. My hands balled over the sheets as I let out a long, painful moan. Cain grunted as his cock speared me, his hands gripping my raw hips as his body slammed into my aching flesh.
“Please, stop!”
It felt like the first time I had sex, utterly painful and humiliating. His rough thickness jammed inside me, so painful that it felt like a knife. Until finally, against my will, my body lubricated his cock. I didn’t want it—I didn’t want him. I hated him for his cruelty, but still my body responded to him even though my mind didn’t want it. He liked inflicting brutal, sexual pain, but I just cringed and hoped it would be over fast.
His body leaned over mine and I screamed again as he rubbed against the wounds crisscrossing my back. His heavy breaths and groans filled my ears as his weight dropped over me, his cock still pounding with a rhythmic stab, until finally he buried himself and groaned and it was all over.
Cain's breathing eased and he unstuck himself from my body as I laid there, tears streaming down my face silently.
Please just kill me. What was the point if every day was going to be like this?
Ruthless (Dark MC Romance) Page 9