“Bella,” he murmured against the damp, heated skin of her breast.
“Don’t. Please... be quiet.”
He shifted the two of them on the seat so he sat up straighter and he drove his hips up harshly, the denim of his jeans rough against her bare thighs and her sensitive flesh.
He sucked a nipple deeply into his mouth and the sharp scrape of his teeth against the tight tip made her shudder against him, made her core clench tightly around his length.
A noise escaped deep from within his throat and he dropped his hands back to her ass, grabbing handfuls of her flesh to hold her still above his lap. He was no longer letting her keep the pace. He controlled it now with the lift and fall of his hips, fucking her hard and fast. She wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and squeezed, while her other cupped his cheek as she pressed her forehead to his and gasped for breath.
“Axel,” she groaned. “Yes...”
“Yes,” he grunted, pounding her relentlessly until he said, “Baby, you’re soaking me.” Then his body stuttered, lost its rhythm, and he sank down onto the seat, allowing her to follow.
She ground her hips in a circle, needing to feel him as deeply as possible, unable to take any more of him inside her, even though she tried desperately.
Once and done, she reminded herself, as she felt the crack begin to split wider.
No, no, no.
Here and now. That’s it.
That’s all she had to give him.
She shoved her face into his neck and bit him hard. With a sharp curse, he shuddered beneath her, dragging his hands through her hair until he had a good hold and jerked until her neck arched and he took her lips again, swirling his tongue into the recesses of her mouth. She raked her nails down his chest, her fingers getting caught in the cotton fabric of his shirt. Tugging it up frantically, she raked her nails down his chest once again, this time into his skin. He broke off the kiss and stared into her eyes.
“Jesus, Bella.”
“Make me come again,” she panted. “Once more... Please.”
All the breath left him as he thrust up and she ground down to meet him. He dropped one hand between them and, finding her clit, he pinched it hard.
She cried out, rocking her hips back and forth against his hand, driving his cock deeper.
She was there. He took her right there. To that elusive edge and then without hesitation he shoved her over. Her body became boneless, weightless, and she cried out his name as she free fell, pulsating around him. Everything about her melted against him, the pieces of them fitting together almost perfectly.
Not quite, but almost.
With a groan, his fingers dug into the flesh of her hips as he stiffened beneath her and lifted his hips once more, his cock twitching and throbbing as he spilled himself within her.
For the longest time, his body remained hard, stiff, his eyes closed, and his lips parted. Then he collapsed into the seat once more, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close, not letting her retreat.
His breath came as harshly as hers as she tried to slow her breathing, her heart still pounding a rapid beat in her chest. When he cupped her face softly, she closed her eyes to avoid what she knew she’d see in his... even in the darkness of his truck cab.
“Bella,” he whispered.
She shook her head, then turned it away from him before opening her eyes. She spotted her jeans and her boots on the driver’s seat and she pulled them to her chest, putting up a wall between them even though they were still connected intimately.
“No. You got what you wanted.” She twisted in his lap and shoved open the truck’s passenger door, letting the cold night air rush in.
“Bella,” he said more firmly, grabbing at her arms, trying to keep her on top of him.
She pushed away, breaking their connection, scrambling out of the truck, even though she was naked from the waist down. Even though she could begin to feel him sliding from her, the warm silky fluid rolling down her inner thighs.
She shook her head, holding her clothes tightly against her pelvis.
“No, Axel, you got what you wanted. Now stay away from the bakery. And stay away from me.”
She shut the passenger door before he could get out and ran to the house. Unlocking the door, she rushed inside, slammed it shut, twisted the deadbolt, slid the chain home, then punched the code into the alarm’s keypad.
Slamming her back against the door, she slid down to the floor, and pressed her face against her bent knees.
A long, low wail escaped her before she could contain it. Then she sat there for the longest time, Axel slipping from her body one drop at a time until she felt empty once more.
Chapter Three
Axel yanked his heavy duty belt up, trying to adjust it more comfortably on his hips, as his father entered the empty patrol room.
“The captain wants you to take all the toys collected to Store-All Storage out off Route 23. The owner’s donating a large unit for everyone in the area who’s taking part in the toy drive.”
“And the captain couldn’t tell me that himself?” Axel asked, annoyed.
The same blue eyes that were in his own head stared back at him, only his father’s had narrowed. “Since I’m your Corporal, I’m passing on the order. You have a problem with that?”
Axel scrubbed a hand over his short hair. He was acting like a miserable bitch and he couldn’t help it. He not only got corralled against his wishes into this Toys for Tots thing, but he hadn’t had his cupcake fix in a week, and he couldn’t get the memory of Bella as she rode his cock out of his head. That played on a continuous loop almost twenty-four, seven.
And all of that made Axel a cranky boy.
What he needed was to climb on his bike and go for a long ride. However, unless he wanted to freeze his nads until they cracked off like a nuts-icle, that wasn’t going to happen.
He blew out a breath and began to pace the small room, ignoring his father planting hands on his hips and staring at him with his eyebrows furrowed.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m giving up sugar. It’s harder than you might think,” Axel growled.
“Right before the holidays?”
“Yes,” he hissed.
“Well, you’re acting like you’re on your period. So, knock it off and eat a damn cookie or something.”
“I need to go out on patrol.”
“Right. Check the donation boxes while doing so, say hello to the business owners, thank the citizens of Shadow Valley for donating toys, and do a little goddamn community policing while you’re at it.” Mitch stepped into his path. “And if you can’t resist stopping at Sophie’s and shoving a cupcake down your gullet while mooning over Bella, I’ll stop there later and check the box myself.”
Axel halted mid-stride before he plowed right into his father. “What box?”
“At the bakery.”
“I didn’t put one there.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because Bella did.”
Mitch’s bushy eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Why? Is she helping you with the drive?”
“No. The club’s doing one, too.”
“Are you shitting me?” Mitch growled.
At least now Axel wasn’t the only cranky male in the room. “No.”
“Was this Zak’s idea?”
Axel shrugged. “I don’t know, but I would assume so since he’s now back as president.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“I thought I told you.”
“No, you seemed to have forgotten.”
“Right. Well, they did a coup to oust Pierce and Z took back the head of the table.”
“Jesus.” Mitch dropped his head to stare at his patrol boots for a moment. “The prodigal son is definitely going places in life.”
“Pop.”
“Don’t start.” Mitch shook his head. “At least I have two other kids to be proud of.”
“Pop.”
“Pop,” Axel tried again.
His father frowned at him. “What?”
“You know Z wants what’s best for the club. And they’re getting back to helping out the community. Look how successful the Dogs & Hogs event was last summer.”
Mitch’s eyes widened, and he barked, “They only held it because Hawk got his ass thrown in jail for assault and he needed to do community service. Did you forget that?”
“No.”
“And have you forgotten what a cluster it all turned into when the Warriors rode through the fairgrounds wreaking havoc, beating up women and stealing the money?”
“No.” He couldn’t forget the day that Bella chased one of the Warriors through the grounds as he escaped with some of the donation money. She was on foot, the outlaw biker was on his sled and even though there was no possible way she’d catch him, she didn’t give up until Axel had caught up with her and snagged her ass to take her home. Though, she fought him the whole way. He actually thought he might lose an eye that day.
He didn’t, though he did end up with a couple bruises in the process since she was furious that he stopped her.
“And now my grandson or granddaughter will be born and raised in that mess. Your mother’s beside herself.”
No, Axel didn’t believe that. Not one bit. It was his father who was beside himself. His father who cared that Zak had patched into the club as soon as he turned eighteen. His father who lost it when Z became president of the club at an unheard of early age. And it was his father who went ballistic when Z got arrested, convicted, and thrown in prison for ten years.
No, his mother still loved Z as much as she did Axel and Jayde. His mother only followed his father’s bidding to keep Z out of their lives because she desperately wanted to keep the peace and keep her marriage on solid ground.
If anything, his mother was beside herself because she’d be forbidden from having anything to do with her future grandchildren.
He looked directly at the reason why. “Maybe once the baby’s born, she should go buy a cupcake every day.”
Mitch’s nostrils flared as he stared at his youngest son. His so-called pride and joy. Axel snorted at the thought.
“Pop, you might have escaped the DAMC, but you still act like one of them.”
“I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. You boss mom around like she’s your property and you’re overly protective of Jayde.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“She’s in her fucking twenties.” Not that he needed that reminder.
“So?”
Axel threw up his hands. “Do you want to lose her like you did Z?”
“What are you talking about?”
“She’s got an itch to be a part of the club.”
Mitch shook his head. “No. She’s college educated and sending out resumes. She’s going to have a good, solid, successful life.”
“Pop, she’s got that itch. That itch that runs through all of our blood.”
“No.”
“Yes! Why are you the president of the Blue Avengers? Why am I the VP? Why the hell did you name me after a bike part?”
“Because we like to ride—”
“No shit,” he cut off his father. “It’s in our blood. It’s coursing through our veins. You just think our club’s different because it’s made up of law enforcement.”
“It’s legit. It’s a family-based club, a social club.”
“Pop, you grew up in the DAMC. You know their MC’s more of a family than ours is.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Maybe not in the past. Especially after your father was killed and vengeance reigned back then. But now...” Axel shook his head. “Pierce is out, Zak’s in. Old school versus new school. Like I said, Z wants nothing but the best for the club. And now he’s ready to raise his children like you were raised before all the murder and mayhem broke out between the Angels and the Warriors.”
“That will never go away.”
“Maybe not,” Axel murmured.
“And the club will never be completely legit.”
“It can be.”
“Diesel...”
Axel sighed. Right. Diesel. The Enforcer. The go-to guy to clean up messes and to exact revenge. To provide protection by whatever means necessary.
“That crew of his...” Mitch added.
Right again. D’s In the Shadow Security business. His crew of questionable former special ops guys. His “Shadows.”
“They aren’t DAMC,” he reminded his father.
“Close enough.” Mitch narrowed his eyes at him. “Why are you defending all of them?”
“I don’t know.”
Jesus. He did. He knew exactly why.
Bella.
If he was ever going to have a shot at her, she needed to be accepted by his family and he needed to be accepted by hers. Or it would never work.
Somehow, he had to heal the break between them all while trying to help heal her.
“Leave her alone, boy. You’ll only court trouble. You know how protective D is of her. He’ll kill you and then I’ll have to do the same to him.”
“He’s not going to kill me.” He’d stated that one too many times recently, though he couldn’t be sure about anything the club’s Sergeant at Arms would do.
Mitch snorted. “No, maybe not him. But somehow one of his so-called crew could make you mysteriously disappear.”
Like that prospect Squirrel. Like the Warrior Black Jack. Just to name a couple.
Though, if anyone deserved to “disappear,” it was those two rapists and violent criminals.
At this point, he couldn’t care less if the investigation was ever closed on both of their disappearances and Diesel’s resulting gunshot wound.
“Gotta go,” Axel finally said, grabbing his patrol jacket from where it hung on the back of a chair.
Mitch only nodded his head and grunted in answer.
One side of Axel’s mouth curled up as he strode from the patrol room. That DAMC blood ran deeper than his father wanted to admit.
Ah, fuck.
After the owner handed Axel the keys, he pulled his patrol car up to the storage unit he was directed to. He had a trunk full of new, unwrapped toys that had been left in the boxes he’d dropped off at some area businesses. Though, when he had gone on his rounds, stopping to check the boxes, he’d found more than Shadow Valley PD’s there. Someone from DAMC had placed their boxes right next to his. And theirs always seemed to be overflowing with toys while the PD’s were only half full.
Whatever.
He knew who that someone was. He was staring right at her ass as she was bent over, digging out toys from the trunk of her car.
Since she was parked blocking the opening to the storage unit, he pulled up behind her and sat in his car, his eyes glued to her ass cheeks as they flexed while she shifted and gathered.
Fuck him.
She wore thin, tight black pants that looked like some sort of leggings similar to what his sister wore, knee-high black leather boots with a small heel, and from what he could see, no panties. Nope, that fabric was stretched tight over that luscious ass without a line or crease marring it. Well, except for the crease that ran north to south that he’d like to get more familiar with.
Axel pressed the heels of his palms into his eye sockets and ground them hard. What the fuck was he doing, eyeballing her like one of her red velvet cupcakes.
When she straightened, he could see she wore a black leather jacket that was fitted to emphasize her narrow waist but didn’t in any way hide her curvy hips.
He closed his eyes as he once again pictured her rising and falling on his cock in the cab of his truck.
Fuck!
Dropping his hand to his lap, he adjusted his now raging erection to a more comfortable angle.
He took one last look at the ass that wet dreams were made of before she turned around
, her arms full of packages. Her eyes widened when she spotted him, then they narrowed before she stomped into the open unit.
With a sigh, he turned off the ignition, grabbed his portable radio, and climbed out of the car. He hooked the radio onto his duty belt and the mic onto his shoulder, not bothering to pull on his jacket.
Before closing the door, he popped the trunk latch since she wasn’t the only one with a trunk full of toys.
Instead of heading to the back of his cruiser, he went to her car and gathered up an armful of “loot” before striding through the open garage door. The storage unit was one of the biggest ones on the property and it was sectioned off by group. It appeared as though DAMC had the back section of the cavernous concrete block unit and their area was already filling up.
Jesus. That didn’t look good for the SVPD. Shaking his head, he walked to the rear of the unit and stood behind Bella as she now bent over sorting the toys into large cardboard boxes by age and sex.
“Fuck me,” he said under his breath before he could contain it.
She popped up and turned to face him, her long dark hair falling loosely around her shoulders. Hair he wanted to fist tightly while he was fucking her up against a wall.
“Why’s that?” she asked. “Because the club is out-collecting the PD? Do you think it’s a competition?”
Hell no, that’s not why those words slipped from his mouth, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. “You want to show the community how much the club is on the straight and narrow, get all in their good graces, then you knock yourself out doing so. I got nothing against it. You ‘out-collecting’ us isn’t going to make me lose any sleep, Bella. It all goes to the kids just the same.”
Her head tilted and her dark brown eyes studied him for a second before traveling down his body and landing on the hard-on that was pressing against his zipper.
Fuck.
“Sure hope you don’t have that because of being around kids’ toys.” Then she pressed her lips together as her eyes crinkled deeply at the corners.
What the fuck.
“There’s only one thing giving me that.”
Down & Dirty: Axel (Dirty Angels MC Book 5) Page 4