“We’ve been married for some time now, but the alliance clearly isn’t working in either of our favors. I resent having to go back on my word, but I’ll be serving you with divorce papers soon.”
He tried to gauge her expression, but she was impossible to read. There was always a cold fury on her face, even when she smiled, but besides that she was a blank slate. Again, so different from Shayla, whose expressions mirrored the world around her.
“I understand,” said Raven, rather jarringly. “I had to expect that a lowlife like you would eventually recant your oath.”
Her wording irked him. His oath, as if he had pledged to her with a sword. He gritted his teeth, but tried to keep calm.
“The marriage was meant to stop fighting between our clubs and solidify the territory boundaries. We’re not fighting yet, but we will be soon if your members don’t stop selling drugs in what’s clearly my territory.” He clenched his hand at his side and leveled his gaze at her. “What is the point of staying married if the conditions of our union aren’t being upheld?”
She smirked, twirling a piece of her long, straight hair around her finger idly. “Well, there’s always the fact that we took vows to stay together until death did us part.”
Oh, and how he wished sometimes that death would part them.
“Thankfully we live in a magical time and place when divorce is both legal and commonly practiced.” Luke smiled back at her. “Don’t you love not being trapped by archaic laws?”
Raven’s smile never dropped. “Well, if that’s what you want, I certainly can’t stop you.”
Something was wrong. Why wasn’t she fighting him more on this? He expected screaming. Maybe even crying. But Raven had barely even raised her voice. Her only challenge had been more about the definition and terms of their arrangement than a protestation of his intent.
“Why are you not making this any harder on me?” he inquired. Hesitant to test his luck, he’d taken a moment to compose himself beforehand. In that time her grin had never wavered.
Raven cocked her head to the side. “Why shouldn’t I be obliging to my husband? Especially one who has been shown on TV to be such a nice guy.” She reached out and playfully cuffed him on the shoulder. It felt like a barely concealed punch.
“Because you’re never obliging.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “What are you up to?”
Suddenly, a ringing filled the air between them. Raven put up her finger, as if to gesture to him to wait a moment, then answered the phone with a smile. “Anthony! Hi!”
Luke’s stomach clenched. He’d known she was in cahoots with Anthony about the video, but what else were the pair planning? He had a bad feeling that he was about to find out.
“You have such great timing,” Raven said into the receiver. She looked directly into Luke’s eyes and smiled. “Yeah, I actually have Luke right in front of me. I know, right?” She continued to twirl her hair around her finger, laughing lightly. “Tomorrow morning? Of course. I’ll see you then.”
She hung up the phone and made a sheepish expression. “Sorry about that, hubbie. Duty calls.”
Luke laughed grimly. “So you’re fucking that dickhead now too?”
Raven batted her eyelashes at him. “Why? Are you jealous?” She sounded so innocent and sweet. Luke remembered how, at one point, he’d thought the toughness had been an act, and she’d been sweet underneath it all. Turned out to be the opposite.
He scoffed. “No. You’re right. I don’t care.” He turned to go, wave a hand dismissively at her. “I’ll see you in court.”
Raven’s arm shot out, her fingers gripping his hand tightly and pulling him back to face her. “I have a surprise for you though.” She snickered. “I can’t decide whether I want to tell you, or have you find out tomorrow on the news.”
Luke wanted badly to shake her hand off of him, but let her hang on while he figured out what she was planning. “Just tell me, Raven.” He glared. “I don’t want any more of your games.”
She pouted, released his hand, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I got so jealous of you and your little fifteen minutes of fame,” she said. “I decided I wanted my own. Anthony was such a dear, he arranged the whole thing. I’m going to have my own little exposé.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “Good for you.” She’d always been an attention whore. He might’ve been happy that she finally got what she wanted if she wasn’t such a pain in his ass.
She shook her head slowly and laughed. “You don’t understand, honey.” She licked her lips, slowly. “I’m going to tell Anthony and the whole world everything bad that you’ve ever done. Everything.”
Luke’s heart sank into his gut. No. He’d worked so hard to build up a reputation of credibility and restraint. He’d worked with his guys to clean up his part of the city. He’d done everything he could to make sure that his past mistakes wouldn’t drag him down in life.
He’d covered them up.
And now she was just going to blast them on TV like some sick psychopath intent on his destruction? He supposed that was what she was. He just didn’t understand why.
Luke gritted his teeth and walked up to her, bending close enough to her face to see the little imperfections and lines on her otherwise perfect skin. “Why do you have it out for me so much, huh?” His voice was a low and deadly snarl. “What’d I ever do to you? Why can’t you just leave me be?”
She blinked, and for a moment her facade dropped, ever so slightly. But it was enough for him to see. And in that moment, Luke felt he knew Raven better than he’d ever known her. He saw more of her than he’d ever seen.
But then the mask was back in place, and she was pushing him back with her hands hard against his chest. “Don’t come near me ever again,” she spat. “You disgust me. You’re just a shitty criminal who was bad at crime. You’re nothing.”
Luke looked at her with different eyes. Maybe not understanding eyes, but they must have been different enough for Raven to quickly turn and stalk toward the other side of the courtyard, up to the house that she shared with her brothers.
Luke took the side way around, not wanting to walk back through the shop and face Herman or any of his boys. He suppressed the urge to punch everything he walked past, especially the shitty sculptures that were so crappy even Dax didn’t want them around. Their hideous and wretched forms littered this little side aisle. Luke wondered how much time Dax actually spent making these godawful creations.
While not particularly fruitful, Luke’s visit to Raven had at least been informative. He was pissed that she was going to expose him on TV, but at least he’d have a chance to rebut her claims. Hopefully. Or explain himself a bit more. Maybe redeem himself? Anyway, it was the least of his problems. It was clear that Anthony was a force to be reckoned with, and Luke needed to figure out what to do about that recording before it was too late.
He reflected, as he straddled his bike and pulled on his helmet, how strange it was that it had never occurred to him that Raven even had feelings. No less that she had ever spared any on him. Even before he’d come to fully understand how crazy she was, he’d found her cold. Always so cold.
Would things have been different for them if she’d just let him know how she felt instead of hiding behind a mask of impassivity? Would things have been different for him and the way he felt?
Luke still hated Raven. He doubted that anything could have made him like her even a little bit, even back in the days when he hadn’t figured out the extent of her rottenness yet. But it was interesting to him to think that even Raven, with her fiery temper and dead eyes, was human enough to fall in love.
Chapter Thirty
Luke didn’t pick up the first time Shayla called, which filled her with a sense of dread. It was late. Maybe he was asleep? No, surely Luke wouldn’t be in bed this early. It was midnight, yes, but far from truly late.
She called again, not caring how desperate that made her seem. She just needed him. She needed Luke. Only he made her fee
l safe. Tomorrow evening she’d be at Anthony’s house. The thought made her want to retch.
When Luke still didn’t pick up, Shayla curled up in a ball on her bed and held her knees to her chest, repressing panicked sobs. Her life was over. Her career was over. All gone in a flash because of the malicious intent of one sleazy newscaster. And Raven, of course. Or her brothers. It didn’t really matter who had taken the video—only where it had ended up.
Shayla’s phone rang and it sounded like heaven’s choir. She fumbled with the device and answered it breathlessly.
“Is everything okay?” came Luke’s panicked voice. “I missed two calls from you. I was worried.”
Shayla let out a sigh of relief, though not one that eased much more than a slight amount of the ache in her chest. “I need you to come over. Now. Can you do that?”
The sound of the door slamming behind him caused Shayla’s heart to flutter. “I’m already on my way,” Luke said. “Will you be okay until then?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
Shayla hung up the phone and curled back up into her ball. She hated feeling and acting so weak, like she was just going to let the grindstone of the world pass over her and crush her to smithereens, but she didn’t know what else to do. She couldn't think. She could barely breathe. Every part of her screamed, and she knew the only thing that would calm her was Luke.
The fifteen minutes it took to get him to her house were long. She’d been fine at work. Well, fine enough. The anxiety had been lingering under the surface, but it was hard to hurt in any visceral way when she was surrounded by other people. But since she’d gotten home she’d been surrounded by quiet and cold, and it seemed every empty space was mocking her and her decisions. She hated it.
When the noise of Luke’s boots thumping up her front steps jarred her back to the present, Shayla swelled with joy. “I’m in here!” she called out to him when he walked through the door.
His footsteps echoed down the hallway, and when he appeared in the doorway and caught sight of her wretched appearance his eyes bulged. He was so handsome, even with the lines of worry etched into his skin. So handsome and hers. Soon he’d be the only thing that was hers. Unless...unless she did sleep with Anthony. Then she might not even have him.
Luke rushed to the bed and pulled her up onto his lap, cradling her in his arms. “What’s the matter?”
His warm and comforting voice sent waves of relaxation through Shayla. It was hard to feel stressed with his big, strong arms holding her tight. And the way his stubble scratched at her forehead actually made her smile. She allowed herself to enjoy the moment, the security, for just a second longer before she spoke.
“Anthony yesterday...came and talked to me,” she said finally, clenching her hands into fists. “He has a video of us in the cemetery. He says if I don’t have dinner with him tomorrow he’s going to put it on the internet.” She took another long breath and then said the rest of the truth. “He implied a lot more than dinner.”
Luke inhaled slowly, and Shayla felt the complicated web of muscles of his frame tense all at once. “That fucking prick.” His tone was low, dangerous. She’d never heard him sound quite so scary.
In that moment, when she looked up at him, Shayla saw what everyone else saw when they looked at Luke. At least, what she presumed everyone saw. He was all hard lines and fury, his jaw tight and his eyes staring far away.
“I don’t know what to do,” said Shayla. “Because I know by dinner he means…”
Though she wasn’t sure how it was possible, Shayla felt Luke become even more rigid. “I’m going to kill him.”
His next movement was far from the comforting gesture he’d originally started by pulling her into his arms. He slid her off his lap and stood up, back straight, and headed toward the door. Shayla had no doubt in her mind, in that moment, that he really did intend to kill Anthony.
She clambered out of bed, stumbling after him. “Luke! Wait!”
He was nearly at her front door by the time she caught up with him, wrapping her arms around his middle and holding him. He could have dragged her along behind him, and she would have been powerless to let him leave, but he stayed still long enough for her to try to talk to him.
“Don’t! It won’t do any good! Raven has the video too!”
“But Raven’s not trying to fuck you!” he roared. He turned to her, grasping her face in his hands. “I don’t care what happens to me, but I’m not letting that asshole manipulate you any longer. He’s going to pay for what he’s done.”
There was fire, burning bright in his eyes. He looked like an avenging angel on the path to smite a nonbeliever. And god, was it glorious. Shayla did the only thing she could think of to stay his hand and calm him down. She leaned forward and kissed him, hurriedly reaching for the button of his jeans before he had time to push her away. She had only a few moments to fully distract him before he’d be lost to her forever.
She guided Luke to the wall and pulled her mouth away from his, dropping to her knees in front of him. Like a light switch flicking on, Luke’s eyes changed from fury to lust so quickly it astounded Shayla. And the way he looked down at her darkly, his lips parted, made her heart quicken in her chest. Heat pooled between Shayla’s legs as she wrenched open his jeans and dropped them to the ground, pulling out his cock from his boxers and bringing it to her lips.
She’d given Luke head before, but it had never been this passionate. This intense. This was on a whole other level of eroticism. Her whole body ached for him, and her mouth watered at the thought of him taking his pleasure there. She licked at the tip, making sure she had his attention, and Luke closed his eyes and gasped.
Shayla stroked her tongue along the shaft, making sure to get each and every inch of his cock with her ministrations. She held his balls in one hand and squeezed gently, dropping the other to rub her tits through her shirt. Her nipples were hard and aching, straining against the fabric of her shirt.
Before she could take him in her mouth, Luke’s hand shot down to the back of her head and fisted in her hair, drawing her back slightly. She looked up questioningly, thinking that she’d misread him somehow. Was he telling her to stop?
But Luke didn’t want her to stop. “Take off your shirt,” he said. “And your bra.” His voice was molten. “I want to see your beautiful tits.”
Shayla was only too happy to do as he asked, stripping off quickly and easily until she was bare above the waist, staring up at him through her lashes. He bit his lip and stared down at her through clenched teeth. “Perfect.”
She took that as her sign to continue and inched toward his cock again, licking along the tip and then slowly sliding it into her mouth. She could barely fit him, but stretched her jaws open as wide as she could to accommodate his girth. The feel of him filling her in this way always turned her on so much, and she continued kneading her breasts with one hand and Luke’s balls with the other.
He brought his hand back to the back of her head and gently urged her to take him deeper. She tried her best, gagging slightly, but managed to press him in so deep she nearly had her face against his hard stomach. She took her hand from her breast and began to work it along the remaining bit of his shaft, stroking him with her mouth and hand in time and eliciting noises of pure satisfaction from above.
The salty taste of him on her tongue, and the urgent way he clutched at her hair, caused her arousal to heighten. She was acutely aware of how desperate she was to feel him inside of her, wishing that he could stroke similar spots in her mouth that he could in her pussy. Nonetheless, it was pure pleasure for him and sweet torture for her. Shayla couldn’t ask for much more.
She worked at him with vigor, even though her mouth began to ache. She was determined to bring Luke some relief. He was so pent up with frustration and ire that she worried he would actually do something stupid. Not only that, but she longed to feel him release down her throat. She was so turned on that it seemed nothing els
e would do.
Luke’s fist tightened in her hair and he began to push her faster, guiding her mouth in a rhythm that had Shayla’s heart racing out of her chest. She kept up with him, though not easily. There were times that she felt she couldn’t breathe. But it was all worth it—every damn second.
When his balls tightened and pulled up against his body, Shayla prepared for him. He let out a low groan as his cock twitched, releasing his salty load into her waiting mouth. She swallowed it greedily, licking along his shaft and tip in order to get every last drop. Then she sat back on her heels and looked up at him, trying to gauge how much her work had done to distract him.
Apparently it had done enough. Luke pulled her up and kissed her, clearly not caring about the taste of his seed still on her tongue. He sighed and leaned back against the wall, pulling her to him and plying her mouth open further with his tongue. His kiss was tired but enthusiastic nonetheless, and his hands roamed over Shayla’s bare chest with relish.
Devil's Property: The Faithless MC Page 35