“You need to find him,” I scoff, my hand closing and opening, itching to have a weapon in it. You think a man is scary? Try messing with the mother of two small children. Ever since I witnessed firsthand how dangerous this world was, I’ve pushed myself to train with various weapons, honing myself into what I like to think of as a modern warrior woman. I’m much more than what meets the eye, and I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am today. The women in the clubhouse look to me for guidance, and if something bad were to happen, it’s me they’d expect to handle things. Years ago, on the night that one of our women, Mary, died, I wasn’t ready for what happened. Was I brave? Yes. Did I handle the situation the best way that I could at the time? Yes. But if I could do it all over again, if I was better prepared that night, I like to think that Mary would still be alive.
Dex steps behind me and massages my shoulders gently. “Relax, babe. We’ll be one step ahead of them all the way. They aren’t going to do anything to us. Our babies are safe.”
I exhale and close my eyes. “It will be good to have Talon and Ranger on our side. Talon’s pretty much already family to some of us.”
Besides being Shayla’s cousin, he’s also Anna’s quasi-brother. And now he and Tia, Bailey’s best friend, are attached at the hip. I think Bailey is quite fond of him too. Hell, maybe I should get on board this Talon thing. He must have some redeeming qualities if he’s slowly recruiting a fan group. As for Ranger, I don’t really know him, only what I’ve heard from Shayla. I do know that he’s a pretty good-looking guy though, and extremely intelligent, so he’ll definitely fit in here fine.
Talon trusts Ranger, and Dex must see something in him too—the men wouldn’t make this offer to just anyone. It’s like inviting someone into your family, into your household, and trusting them in every way. And given our history with the Wild Men, especially with Arrow and Rake, I truly can say that I never saw this coming.
Years ago, Talon’s stepfather—Anna and Rake’s biological father—was the president of the Wild Men. We were at war with them, and one night they broke into our clubhouse, guns blazing. The men were all gone, except for Vinnie, and the Wild Men knew it. We all survived the night, except for Mary, who at the time was Arrow’s woman. Arrow and I took the loss the hardest.
Although I hadn’t known Mary for long, she was such a sweet woman and tried her best to make me feel welcome at a time when I was completely lost. It’s unfair that her gentle soul had to leave us. Talon didn’t have anything to do with the attack, and didn’t even retaliate when Arrow took his revenge for Mary and killed his stepfather. Arrow didn’t know at the time that he’d killed Anna’s biological father. Maybe that’s why Anna is so close to Talon. He’s her last connection to her father. I hope Talon is a good man.
Some people only think of themselves, of what they can get out of everything, and they go with the highest bidder. People like that don’t belong in the Wind Dragons, and they don’t belong in my life. When I look back at what I was like when I first walked through these clubhouse doors, I can see how different I am; yet I’m also the same. I don’t think I’m harder, but I’m stronger, wiser. More diligent. I’m the best version of me, physically and mentally, and yet I’m still the goofy woman who arrived here, using humor as her weapon and coping mechanism, obsessively cleaning, and pushing boundaries with the men, turning them into family.
I’m now a mother, a wife, and a woman that people look up to.
Dex tells me that I’m everything. It’s the only word he can think of to explain it. I don’t know about that, but I do know that I’m this club and this club is me.
I sit down next to Rake and lay my head on his shoulder, staring up at the sky. Talon came and went, and Dex told me he accepted their invitation. “How are you feeling about the Talon thing?”
He wraps his arm around me in a brotherly way and makes a sound in the back of his throat. “The vote was unanimous.”
My eyebrows rise, surprise hitting me. “I thought you weren’t a fan.”
“Got to look at the club’s best interests, not just mine, yeah?” he says, removing his arm. “Besides, saves me from having to worry every time Anna goes to see him, or about whether she’s taking Bailey with her. And Ranger? He’s a smart guy. He’ll be an asset too.”
I gasp dramatically. “Rake, are you . . . growing up?”
“About time, I guess,” he grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. “We all have to become an adult at some point.”
“Yeah,” I agree, smirking. “Never thought you would though.”
“Faye?” he murmurs.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
I can hear the smile in his tone.
“You shut up.”
“Make me,” he replies with narrowed eyes, contradicting his previous theory about being an adult.
I pull out my phone. “I’ll call Bailey and make her make you.”
He plucks the phone out of my hands and lifts it up in the air. “And now what are you going to do?”
When he starts going through my phone, I try to grab it back off him. “Trust me, Rake, if you go through that you’re not going to like what you see.”
He stills and flashes me a wide-eyed glance. “Nudes?”
I nod. “In all different poses and distances.”
He hands me back my phone instantly. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Because you know me?” I grin, sliding my phone into my bra. There’s actually only one photo on there I wouldn’t want anyone but Dex to see—a sexy one of me in lingerie that I sent to him the other night while he was working at Rift.
He was home in fifteen minutes.
Like I conjured him with my mind, Dex comes to sit on the other side of me. He doesn’t say anything about me sitting so close to Rake, or pay any attention to it, because he knows we’re like family. I’m like this with all of the men, pretty much. They’re like my brothers. Brothers I never expected or wanted, but ones that turned out to be everything I could possibly need.
“What’s the time?” I ask him, knowing that we have to leave to get Clover from school anytime now. I really hope the dogs haven’t destroyed the house in our absence, or I’ll never hear the end of it from Dex.
“We have to leave in twenty,” he says, then looks to Rake. “Are we still picking up Cara and Rhett?”
The kids wanted a playdate, so I said I’d have them all at my house today.
Rake nods. “Yeah, that would be fuckin’ great. I have to drop by Rift and Toxic now. We’re hiring new bouncers.”
With that, he stands, but not before kissing the top of my head. “I’ll come and get the kids once I’m done, yeah?”
“Sounds good,” I say, watching him as he disappears back inside the clubhouse. “I hate waking up Asher from his nap,” I say to Dex.
“Me too,” he answers, nuzzling my neck. “But, babe, it’s the only time we have peace.”
I laugh at that, because it’s the damn truth.
I stand up and offer Dex my hand. He takes it, even though there’s no way I could pull him up on my own. He’s a large man, and he’s made of pure muscle. He looks exactly the same as the first day I fell in love with him, although the actual date is debatable—I think I always loved him, even as a child. He used to call me his fairy, and I used to love it every single time.
He stands up and pulls me in for a slow kiss before we head back inside. It’s time to put a sleeping Asher in his car seat and pick up the kids.
Dexter Black carpooling.
It still makes me giggle.
THREE
Faye
THE next evening, Dex and Tracker take Talon and Ranger to follow a lead regarding Talon’s rat. They still aren’t any closer to finding out who it is, and I know it’s driving Talon insane. I stay at the clubhouse with everyone else, just in case something happens
. Until the traitor is found, I don’t think I’m going to be able to relax. Talon is now one of us, and we could be targeted next. Not that we couldn’t take on whoever it is, but I like to know what and who we’re up against. The kids are playing outside, the dogs running around, Arrow and Irish busy on the grill. We seize any opportunity to have a barbecue, even when some of us are trying to track down a killer with ties to our newest members.
Tina sits down next to me, looking straight ahead as she speaks. “Which prison is Darren in?”
My eyes widen. “What?”
Darren is Tina’s ex-boyfriend, and he’s a cop. At least he was a cop, until Irish killed him. He was abusive, and threatening Tina, so Irish took care of it. He also lied and told her that Darren was arrested, hence the questions.
“Which prison is he in?” she asks me again. “No one really talks about what happened to him. No one even told me how many years he got. You’re the one that helped the prosecution, so could you just give me some peace of mind?”
Well, fuck.
The information I have, she isn’t going to like.
And I can’t tell her, because Irish would do the same thing to me that he did to the man in question.
Colt, Shayla’s dog, runs up to me for a pat, which I use as a distraction, stroking the top of his massive head.
“I’ll tell you what,” I say, needing to talk to Irish about how to handle this. “I’ll get the paperwork for you to read over, all right? I’m not sure where he is right now, but I can find out.”
It’s kind of the truth. I know he’s six feet under, but I’m not sure where exactly. Who knows where they buried the body. I certainly don’t. I’m a lawyer—everyone needs to be cautious about how they word things around me.
She nods, shoulders relaxing. “That would be great. Ardan changes the subject every time I bring it up, and I get it, Darren is an asshole and doesn’t deserve the mention, but I just want to know what happened, you know? It’s annoying me that I don’t. Do you think we can keep it between us? I don’t want Ardan getting upset.”
Fuckity fuck.
I can’t tell Tina the truth because Irish wants to protect her from what happened, and now Tina wants me to do the same for him? These two really need to sort their shit out.
I don’t know how Irish thought he’d get away with it anyway. Women are an inquisitive bunch, and we rarely let shit go. I can’t not tell Irish though, because I need to ask him what to do. I don’t want to lie to her, to give her bullshit documents.
How did I get myself into this? No, better yet, how do I get out of it?
I decide to evade and distract. “I think you should just tell him, Tina. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
She sighs and crosses her arms over her chest. “Yeah, you’re right. I can’t ask that of you. It’s just not a topic he wants to talk about.”
I’ll bet.
“Don’t let Darren affect your happiness,” I tell her, reaching over and touching her shoulder. “Forget him. You have Irish now; you should look forward, not behind. There’s nothing for you back there.”
Nothing except skeletons.
Literally.
“I know,” she huffs, now watching Irish. “I just want to know, is all. Then I’ll move on and forget about everything that happened. I keep replaying that night in my head, you know? I want to put it behind me, but it’s not so easy. I think if I knew where he was, I could lay it to rest.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Lay it to rest, huh? Great choice of words.
Irish has some explaining to do. Lies or truth, it’s his call. Either way, he’s kind of screwed.
When Tina finds out he lied, all hell is going to break loose. But the longer he continues to lie, and the later she finds out, the more upset she’s going to be. Surely Tina can handle the truth. She’s not a fragile flower. She’s with a biker—what does she expect exactly? Darren was going to kill her; any of the Wind Dragons would have done the same to protect their women. If I were Irish, I would tell her so it doesn’t reach that point. But hey, what do I know? I’m just the woman who apparently helped put Darren behind bars, so I should have all the information on his pretend prison sentence. I could have given her a prison name, any prison name, but her snooping wouldn’t have ended there. She’d probably go to the prison. It’s something I would do anyway.
I don’t like lying, and I don’t like being put in this situation.
Irish needs to make a decision on how to handle this.
Let’s just hope he makes the right one, because what’s done in the dark always has a way of coming to the light.
“Turn the light off,” I tell Dex sleepily, as he walks into our bedroom and turns it on. Seriously, how rude. I grab my phone and check the time—I’ve only been asleep for about an hour. Dex stayed up with Asher, who must have only now gone to sleep.
“No,” he says, and I watch through one open eye as he lifts his T-shirt off and throws it on the ground.
Oh.
I open both eyes, suddenly interested, giving him my full attention. He removes his gray sweatpants. He’s not wearing any underwear.
“Hello there,” I mutter, gaze stuck on his thick, hard cock. Someone is in the mood to fuck, and I for one am glad he decided to wake me up. Sitting up, I lift off the T-shirt of his I’m wearing, leaving me naked and ready.
He ducks his chin, intense blue eyes pinning me with a look that’s pure need. I slide the blanket aside, baring myself completely. He takes his time perusing my body from head to toe and back up again, before he stalks toward the bed and gets onto it on his knees, hands reaching for my thighs. I don’t miss the possessive look in his eyes; in fact, I thrive off it.
He spreads my thighs with his large hands but doesn’t look down at my pussy. His eyes stay locked on mine. He holds my gaze for a few seconds, my breaths getting deeper as I wait in suspense for him to make his next move. He leans forward then, kissing me deeply with no hesitation. I make a sound in my throat, then groan as he slowly slips a finger inside of me, testing. I’m wet, and have been ever since he gave me that look, the one that lets me know how much he wants me, right here and right now. He ends the kiss and flashes me a small smile, one that makes my heart flutter.
“We have at least four hours,” he rasps, kissing me once more. I smile against his lips, relieved to have even this brief uninterrupted stretch before Asher wakes up wanting his bottle.
“You going to fuck me for four hours, Dex?” I ask huskily, kissing down his jawline.
I can hear the smile in his voice when he says, “You doubting my abilities, Faye? You should know better by now. Maybe I should teach you a lesson.”
He pushes me back against the pillow, removes his finger from inside me, and braces himself on top of me. I spread my thighs and take his hard cock in my hand, stroking it a few times, just enjoying the feel of him before leading it to the entrance of my pussy.
Dex is always hard, and I fucking love it. He really does only get better with age. He pushes forward, and I sink my teeth into my lower lip as I feel him slide into me. His hand cups my cheek as he looks into my eyes and starts to thrust back and forth, so slow and deep that it has me whispering his name, silently begging for more. He presses his lips against mine and sucks on my lower lip, gently biting before pulling away and burying his face in my neck, starting to kiss me there. He pushes my thighs up with his hands and goes in deeper.
“Dex,” I plead again, and this time he listens, going faster and harder, kissing up my neck just soft enough to not leave a mark, but hard enough that it drives me crazy. His hand moves from the flesh of my thigh to my clit, where he gently presses his thumb against me and rubs in a circular motion that he knows drives me fucking crazy. I don’t know how people can get bored of sleeping with one person. If you do, then it’s probably not the right person for you, because to me, there’s nothing bett
er than being with someone who knows your body so damn well that they can give you exactly what you need every time. There’s no hit or miss here; Dex will have me screaming his name, and I will fall asleep with a smile on my face.
“I’m going to come,” I say, gritting my teeth together as I feel all the tension in me about to explode.
“Come,” my husband demands, watching my face. He applies a little extra pressure to my clit, which pushes me over the edge.
“Fuck,” I mouth, my thighs trembling and my back arching as the pleasure hits me, nothing else in the world mattering in this second. Just as I come back to myself, Dex pulls out of me and puts his mouth on my clit, pulling another shattering orgasm from me. I grip the sheets with my hands and ride it out, sagging onto the mattress when it’s over, suddenly tired, but extremely sated. Dex lifts his head, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I love how fuckin’ squirmy you get.”
“Squirmy?” I ask, groaning as he lies down, spoons me from behind, then slides back into me again.
He doesn’t elaborate, but I get the idea.
He grabs my nape with his hand and continues to fuck me until he comes, then kisses my shoulder.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” I reply, smiling. I turn my face and kiss him once more, a deep, hungry kiss that tells him that I’m ready for another round if he is.
“Death by fairy,” he mutters against my lips, making me stop mid-kiss and pull my lips away from him as they quirk upward.
My shoulders shake as I start to laugh. “I was just thinking about that the other day, how you used to always call me fairy. Now you call me babe more than anything else.”
He gently puts his hand on my throat, stroking my neck. “You used to complain about it so fuckin’ much, but secretly you were loving it, weren’t you?”
I narrow my eyes. “I never said that.”
“You don’t have to, fairy.”
“Dex?” I whisper, then start to kiss him again, effectively shutting him up.
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