by Kiki Leach
"Yeah." Tractor snickered. "Fuckin' right, asshole."
"Alright," Prez repeated. "We're done with this shit."
As he pounded the gavel on top of the table, Xavier jumped from his chair and flew out of the room as if his shoes were on fire.
He moved outside and pulled an old joint from the inside pocket of his cut, shoved it between his lips and lit the tip with a match. After dipping his head back to blow out the smoke, he sat down on top of a nearby picnic table and stared into the parking lot.
Pissed off was an understatement for what he felt in those few moments of solitude, in knowing what he would now be forced to ask a woman he had grown to love more than life itself; a woman whose life had come to matter so much more than his own since they were children.
That motherfucker was determined to make someone bleed for this shit.
"Yo!" He turned as Scooter stepped next to him while clutching the neck of a beer. "You good with this shit, brother? First with Mariah maybe goin' back to work for ACE'S and now askin' her to see if she can get info from that asshole on LapDog and the Kings?"
"I'm doin' great, motherfucker -- what the fuck do you think?" He took another hit from his joint and hopped to the ground, then turned toward the club and pointed at the door as the other brothers gathered around the bar. "That asshole is gonna push me to a point of no motherfuckin' return 'fore all this shit is said and done, brother -- he's gonna push my ass right over the goddamn edge with his shit."
"You know Tractor's got a big goddamn mouth," he replied. "With an ego the size of one. Shit's bigger than my own."
"That's the problem. That VP patch blew him the fuck up -- he thinks the rest of us ain't nothin' but motherfuckin' cattle meant to do every goddamn part of his fuckin' biddin'."
Scooter shook his bottle and arched a brow, staring into his brother's face with concern. "You think Mariah is gonna turn down helpin' the club?"
"No," he replied. "She won't. Which is why I didn't wanna fuckin' ask her to do it." He tossed his joint to the ground and slammed his heel on top of the lit tip, extinguishing the flame.
Scooter watched the smoke pour out from beneath his brother's foot and sighed. "If she can get that info from him, brother, we'll be solid."
"She won't get shit from that asshole without a goddamn fee bein' paid on her back for it first."
"If she chooses to take that route with him--"
"She ain't gonna choose shit when it comes to that prick, we both know that; it's what the fuck I've been sayin'." He shuffled to his bike and reached for his helmet.
"You headin' out?"
"Yeah. Need to clear my goddamn head 'fore I see her again tonight; need to think 'bout some shit and what the fuck I've gotta say."
Scooter nodded. "You want me comin' with? I could keep Gabi company in the back again -- bitch has been blowin' up my phone all goddamn mornin' with titty pics and texts of how she plans to handle my cock the next time we see each other. I don't mind that shit bein' tonight." He snickered.
"If you can keep your cock in check for tonight, I'd appreciate that shit. Think I need to talk to Mariah alone 'bout all this."
"Alright, brother. I'll keep my cock out here tonight; maybe call and see if she wants to meet at the clubhouse or force me into findin' some other bitch rollin' through to suck me off 'til I pass out again."
Xavier laughed to himself. "You do that shit." He slid on top of his bike and revved the engine, said goodbye to his brother and roared into the street.
Chapter Eight
Xavier
Mariah's eyes flew open as the knock at her front door had her nearly falling to the floor from the couch. She mumbled obscenities and blinked a few times to remove the sleep from her eyes before turning aside and shoving her hands into the cushion to sit up; then shifted her attention to a clock near the television and glowered.
As 12:37am flashed in bright red numbers, she looked to the door and cleared her throat between groans.
"Who the hell is out there?" she called.
"Me, darlin'," a warm, solid voice returned from the other side. "Open up." She jumped up with sheer excitement rattling through her body like a launched rocket and brushed her hair from her face in realizing it was Xavier, then adjusted her black tank top and matching lace shorts while moving toward the door. "Need to talk to you 'bout the shit with Rocka and ACE'S, and..." He trailed off when she answered; his eyes fell to her breasts, spellbound as she inhaled. "Goddamn." Realizing she wasn't wearing a bra, remembering the last time he had seen her without one, the last time he felt her bare against his skin, he damn near came in his pants like a seventeen-year-old without the hope of self-control. She sucked her bottom lip to keep him from taking note of her smile at his reaction and slipped her fingers inside his hand, curling her tips against the roughness of his skin and pulling him into the living room before closing the door. He cleared his throat to keep from saying something he knew shouldn't as a result. "Were you asleep or somethin'?"
"I was. Passed out studying on the couch for an exam in a few days." She released his hand with hesitation and combed her fingers through her hair. "What are you doing out here so late tonight, X?"
"Needed to talk to you 'bout some shit," he said. "But it can wait if you ain't up for it."
"I'm awake now." She bent her head to the side as another smile emerged and pointed toward the couch. "Do you want to sit and tell me what's going on?"
"Yeah."
He turned from her and took a seat along the arm of the couch. As Mariah moved in front of him and crossed her arms, he sat up straight and lifted his eyes to her face. Scanning her features in almost a dreamlike state, his heart thumped against his chest. She remained beautiful as the goddamn day was long. There would never be another like her in this lifetime or beyond it.
"Your, uh..." He pushed his brows together and swallowed hard. "Your girl out here tonight?"
"No. Scooter called earlier wanting to meet her at the club, but she's still hesitant to make her way out there, so she took off to meet him somewhere else before driving down to Muskogee to see her parents. Did Big Tech let you know about the two women vying for the same position you're looking for?"
"Yeah. But my shit could be delayed dependin' on this other I gotta talk to you about..." His voice dropped as he sighed heavily and shook his head. "But first, I uh... need to tell you that I talked to Rocka 'bout what you wanted. Asshole said he's willin' to meet with you down at ACE'S when he gets back from Nevada in a few days."
"Okay--"
"Said he doesn't want my ass down there with you, though; said he wants to see you alone."
She tapped her fingers against the back of her arm as a shot of panic slammed into her chest. Xavier eyed her with a wave of guilt soaring through his own.
"Part of me figured as much," she started, "but... did he say what he'll want me to do once I'm there?"
"I'm thinkin' he'll want you to dance for him, darlin' -- motherfucker ain't never been too goddamn subtle with his shit."
"Right."
He sucked in a sharp breath to suppress the rise of bile forming in his chest; the thought of Rocka seeing her again made him ill as fuck; the thought of what he knew that asshole could get as a result made him want him more than dead.
His jaw flexed as he kept his eyes on her face, concern rolling between them with each second passed; he gulped. "Said he wants to know if you still look the same for the pole."
She guffawed and leaned back. "I think I look as much the same as I did three years ago..." She stared down at herself in damn near disbelief that those words would come from his mouth, and frowned. Then she closed her eyes and exhaled before returning focus to Xavier and tilting her head in amusement. "Don't you?"
His gaze dropped back down to her breasts before sliding past her stomach; a small smile parted his full lips, softening the hardness of his features as a slight rise developed in his cock; he nodded. "Yeah, darlin'," he replied gruffly, "you don't look to
o much different than the last time we saw you out there."
"And that's a good thing.... I'm still fine." She dropped her arms and stepped closer to him as a flood of heat rushed her sex. She gasped in leaning into his face, then gradually pulled back and bit her lip until it swelled between her teeth. "Right?"
"Yeah, darlin'." His cock twitched with the idea of rolling it between her lips all over again. Jesus, he missed that feeling as much as he missed the scent of her taste. He pulled back in realizing it was a stretch too far. "You are still fine as fuck, just like I said the other night... and it's still a damn good thing."
She grinned and casually reached for the lapel of his cut. "Why else did you want to see me tonight, X?" She brushed her thumb across the leather as he wrapped his fingers around the tail end of her tank. She gulped at the heat of his touch and shifted between his legs, then dragged her fingers across his Enforcer patch and wagged her head. "God, I've missed you," she muttered. "Everything about you, so damn much... In all this time of being gone, it never occurred to me even once that I would see you again and here you are, back two nights in a row." She lifted her other hand to his face and cupped his cheek. His eyes closed as he pushed himself into her palm, tickling her skin with the hairs of his growing beard. "Why did you come back to me tonight, Xavier? Outside of letting me know about Rockafeller agreeing to meet with me about ACE'S?"
He inhaled the rising scent of vanilla pouring from her skin and swallowed it back. "I don't fuckin' remember anymore, darlin'."
"No?" She laughed almost too softly for him to hear and rolled her tongue across her lips, remembering his taste against her own. "Have you missed me since I've been gone?" she asked him. He nodded. "How much?"
His nostrils flared as he locked his jaw. "Couldn't fuckin' say even if I knew the goddamn answer to that shit, Mariah." His eyes reopened to her face. He leaned into her and slipped his hand beneath her tank, pressing his fingers against her skin. She flinched against him and yelped as her sex flooded with an all too desperate need for more than his touch, then dropped her hand to his shoulder and scraped her nails across the leather of his cut. "You still got my name on your back?" he asked in a low, gravely voice that damn near sent her flying directly into his arms and on top of his cock. She bobbed her head. "You wanna turn around and let me see it after all this time?"
"Have you earned it from me?"
"Yeah, darlin'. I think the fuck I have." She smiled as wide as her lips would allow as his response washed between them, and turned on her heel, lifting her tank until it reached the middle of her back. Xavier shifted against the arm of the couch as his cock pushed against his zipper, and traced his name across her skin with the tip of his index finger. She swallowed a set of unsteady breaths and closed her eyes as his skin burned against her own, then leaned her head back and whimpered. "You ain't ever had the idea of replacin' it with somethin' else?" he asked.
She looked aside as his question consumed her thoughts, and rocked against his hand. "My body left you, Xavier... never my heart or how much I wanted you to keep it with your own."
"Jesus," he muttered. "You want the same goddamn thing from me, darlin' -- even now?"
"If I did?" She lowered her tank and whirled back around to face him, her eyes scanning his expression for answers as he stared into her own, hoping for more of the same. "Would you let me have all of what I've ever wanted from you and more of it?"
"Darlin'."
"I'm no longer afraid to have it for myself; my only fear is losing it again without the chance of getting it back next time." She slinked her arms across his shoulders and curled her fingers at the nape of his neck. That motherfucker moaned as a shiver flew up his spine and rested between his lips, a pair he was all too eager to match with her own once again. "There's a reason neither one of us has ever managed to find someone else after each other, X." She leaned against his chest and exhaled across his tongue.
"Shit, darlin'." He jerked his pants to conceal his full-blown erection and grunted loud enough to wake the goddamn dead. "That other shit I needed to tell you 'bout," he started, "I'm startin' to remember what the fuck it was."
"It can't wait?"
"Wish it could, but the shit can't..."
"What is it?"
"Prez," he said in damn near a whisper. "Motherfucker wants you doin' a favor for the club."
"What kind of favor is he looking for?"
"The kind that could... help us out with some possible shit to do with Rockafeller and the Kings."
She dropped back and lowered her arms from his shoulders. Her brows pinched as she straightened her back with concern. "Are the Kings behind the coke being passed around campus?"
"We still don't know for sure; it's the shit we've gotta find out."
"And you think I can help with that by talking to Rockafeller -- Why?"
"'Cause Rockafeller had you tracked after leavin' the club; said he's known you've been at Wexley from the time you enrolled."
Her eyes closed as a spark of fear shattered through every part of her body. She tucked her hair behind her ears and released a sharp breath full of nerves before allowing herself to form a response. "Is he still having me watched?"
"We don't know that shit just yet either, but I don't think so. If he did, could be LapDog that he's usin'--"
"LapDog?" She looked to the corner of her room and made a face. "Did Kyla show up to the club and tell you what you needed to hear?"
"She gave us some useful shit; not enough of what we needed to push this shit along yet."
"That's why you need me?" she asked. His eyes lowered between them as she shuffled around him and sat down in the middle of the couch. "I don't know how the hell I could get Rockafeller to tell me anything you would need to know, X. At least not with my clothes on."
"All we're lookin' for is answers, darlin'; if he snitched on our coke to LapDog and sold us out to the Kings, we can figure out how to navigate it back to the club without me bein' on campus in front of a classroom full of pussy to snuff it out. If Rocka didn't run his mouth and the Kings don't know shit, we're right back where the fuck we started and I'm bootin' Thing 1 and 2 from the list of options to teach that class." He got up from the arm of the couch and sat down next to her, sliding close enough to feel the rhythm of her heartbeat pounding through the weight of every limb. "I ain't askin' you to do this shit 'cause it's what I want for myself -- far goddamn from it, doll," he said. "But Prez and the others--"
"It would help you if I did," she interjected. He looked over at her and gradually nodded. "I can try to get as much out of him that he's willing to give. Maybe not the very first time I see him again, but--"
"How do you...?" He stopped as his tone became curious and lowered his voice. "How do you plan on gettin' that kinda info from him, darlin'?"
She fell back in aggrievance and crossed her legs, placed her hands on top of her stomach and squeezed her eyes shut. "Do you remember me telling you the night we were together that I used to think of you while I was on stage?"
"Yeah, darlin'," he replied, his tone softening as he stared into her face. "I remember that shit all too goddamn well. Why?"
"You never forgot it?"
"No..."
She reopened her eyes as a set of tears fell from the corner of each one. "It wasn't the only time I ever thought of you, Xavier; it would never be the only time I ever thought of you and us together..." She paused to catch her breath as the memories of them swept across her mind like violent waves across the shore and shook her head against the couch. "He'll want something in return for telling me what I need to know -- even if I'm subtle and he can't exactly figure out what I'm trying to ask him, or why."
"You ain't gotta give it to him, darlin'. If he tries for that shit--"
"You'll come and save me?"
"Yeah... You want that shit from me, I'll be right goddamn there to pull you out of it like always."
"Promise?"
"Cross my goddamn heart, Mariah."
"Don't know," he told her. "Why?"
"Because I don't exactly want to be alone anymore tonight; the idea doesn't make me feel safe or comfortable after what you said about Rocka having me watched."
"You've got class tomorrow?"
"Not until noon. I'll be rested enough by the time I wake up if I'm not sleeping alone."
He leaned away from her as the thought of what could happen between them set his heart on fire, and anxiously rattled his head. "Mariah -- darlin'--"
"Just sleep," she reassured him. "Please. Even out here on the couch would be fine."
He stared into her eyes for a long while; long enough for defeat to gradually overtake his need for something less. Then he looked to the couch and deeply exhaled. "Don't look like there's enough room on this thing for the both of us, darlin' -- not like that."
"There will be." She slipped her hands beneath his cut and pushed the sleeves until they fell beneath his arms, crawling her fingers along his muscles before pulling back. After removing it with ease and draping it across the back of the couch, Xavier removed his shoes and reached for her hand, helplessly pulling her into his arms as if no time or anger had ever passed between them. She fell on top of his chest while covering them with a blanket, then rested her arms across his shoulders and nuzzled her face against his neck, brushing her lips across his skin. The lower half of his body jerked as he felt the wetness of her tongue. "I needed this," she muttered. "Everyday for three years, I've needed this from you and no one else, X."
"I'd have given it to you. Any goddamn time you wanted -- any hour of the motherfuckin' day..."
"At what price?"
"The only one of ever bein' mine. Goddamn patch and all."
She lifted her head and stared at him with disbelief that his mind seemed to change in what felt like a flicker of a second. "Does that mean you're willing to try again this time?"