Fighter: The Devil's Highwaymen Nomads #4

by Claire C. Riley

  She stared at me open-mouthed, her eyes wide in shock at my words. Truth was, I was shocked by my words too. Penny stood up and I thought she was about to walk away from me when she reached around and unclipped her bra, freeing her tits. She slid her panties down and then reached over and dragged my boxers down my legs. My dick was rock hard and dripping with pre-cum at the sight of her fine-ass body.

  “You wanna feel like a man again?” she asked, angrily.

  Why the fuck she was angry at me? I didn’t know, and right then I didn’t care.

  “Yes,” I grunted, barely able to drag my eyes away from the furl of hair between her legs where I knew her pussy was waiting for me, hot and tight.

  Penny straddled my lap, rising up on her knees before grabbing my rock-hard dick and holding it tight as she slowly lowered herself back down on it. Her tightness gripped me as I filled her up from balls to tip, and she moaned as she adjusted to my size.

  “Fuck,” I gritted as she shifted her weight, her tight pussy gripping me. “You okay?” I asked, seeing the pain on her face at being filled by me. I wasn’t sure what Solomon had done to her, but it couldn’t have been good.

  “You wanna feel like a man again?” she asked, ignoring my question.

  “Yeah.”

  “You wanna make your woman come?”

  I grunted a yes, my hands on her hips and my eyes on her hard nipples.

  She thrusted her hips forward and backward sharply. “I can’t hear you, Fighter,” she drolled.

  “Fuck, yes,” I hissed, pain and pleasure shooting through me. My grip on her hips tightened and her hands reached up to squeeze her tits together, twisting her hard nipples. I groaned and used my arms to thrust her back and forth on my cock.

  “Is this what you want?” she purred, thrusting back and forth gently. I could see pleasure and pain on her face, and it filled me with pride, making my dick harder.

  “No,” I grunted, loving the way her eyes widened. “This is what I want.” I gripped her hips and lifted her up before slamming her back down on my cock and she cried out in pain, a shudder running through her pussy that made her clench around me. I did it again, slamming her up and down on my cock over and over until I could feel her muscles tightening around me. Until she was exploding on my cock, her juices running over me as my balls drew up and I pumped into her with a grunt, coming so hard I struggled to catch my breath.

  She stayed on top of me, my cock going soft inside her as we caught our breaths, our eyes connected.

  I stroked the side of her face again, staring at the bruises. “I’m so fucking sorry he did this to you.”

  She twisted her head so she could kiss my fingers. “And I’m sorry that my daddy did this to you.”

  I shrugged. “It’s nothing.”

  She smiled and shook her head at me. “It’s not nothing. It’s the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me.”

  I lifted her up and off me and she lay next to me, our collective juices running out of her pussy. “Did he touch you?” I asked, and she lowered her gaze. She knew who I was talking about and what I was talking about. Solomon. I was going to kill him. I’d already decided on that.

  “Not in the way you think,” she finally said and I frowned. “He would have, but he was having too much fun hurting me. Then you turned up.”

  I wasn’t sure if she was lying or telling me the truth. She’d sure as hell felt like a virgin when we’d fucked, but what did I know for certain.

  “You’d tell me?” I asked her, and she placed a kiss on my bruised chest in answer.

  I breathed heavily, scared for the first time in my life of what might happen next. I’d never believed in anything other than living for the next day. But knowing that she was in my life now changed all that. Now I needed to live for more than a day. More than a week or a month. Now I needed to think of more than just myself.

  “I want you to be free, Penny,” I said. The words were coming out before I even realized I was saying them, but I knew them to be true. “I don’t want you to be owned or claimed, by me or any other man. I want you to have a choice in your life.”

  “Well, I choose you,” she said with a small frown.

  I shook my head. “Nah, I chose you. I took you, I stole from you from your fucked-up family, then your daddy gave you away and let some piece of shit claim you. And then that fuck Solomon stole more from you than any of us could. But it shouldn’t be like that. I want you to have the life you wanted, Penny.”

  “Well, I want that with you,” she said stubbornly.

  “I know. And we will. But first I need you to have a life of your own.” I swallowed, hating the stupid fucking words. Hating my stupid fucking mouth. Hating this stupid fucking life. And the stupid fucking conscience that I’d suddenly grown. “Without me.”

  She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. “No!”

  “Yes,” I said, my voice gentle. At least as gentle as I could make it.

  “Why are you doing this?” she said with a sniffle.

  “Because this life ain’t worth anything unless you’re free, and you’ve never had a day of freedom. That ain’t living.”

  Tears dripped from her eyes, despite her trying to hold them back, and I stroked my thumb under her eye to catch one of them. “Don’t cry. I’m trying to set you free,” I said.

  “I don’t want to be free,” she sobbed, and I chuckled.

  “Yeah, you do. And when you’re done being free, I’ll be waiting for you, right the fuck here.”

  She bowed her head to her chest and I leaned up and gripped both sides of her face gently before pulling her mouth to mine and kissing her again, ignoring the pain burning through my muscles and my heart. Her tears mingled with our kisses and she sobbed against my lips. Fucking killed me. Almost made me tell her that I changed my mind. But I didn’t because she deserved more than that. She deserved better than that. She deserved better than me, but that was okay because I was going to try and be better, just for her.

  “Promise?” she finally said against my lips.

  “Cross my heart,” I replied, and she kissed me harder.

  Her tits pressed against my chest, soft and plump, her nipples hard, and my dick twitched. I reached around to cup her ass and shift her body so she was straddling me again. Penny rose up and gripped my dick in her hand before sliding herself back down on me, and that time when we fucked, we made it last. Because neither of us knew when we’d do it again.

  ~ 32 ~

  Fighter

  5 months later

  My fist slammed into the side of Solomon’s face and I heard the crack of bone. Rolling my shoulders, I rearranged Battle’s brass knuckles on my hand before smashing my fist into his face again.

  He grunted in pain, but put up no resistance. The fuck was already dead, he just hadn’t quit breathing yet. His head lolled, his jaw hitting his chest as saliva, sweat, and blood dribbled from his mouth and down his front. I was sweating something fierce; it was the most I’d done since I let the Vipers almost beat me to death, but I wasn’t done with him yet. Not even close.

  I slid the brass knuckles off and handed them to Battle as I attempted to catch my breath. Battle handed me a semi-cold beer and I took a long swig from the bottle before dragging the back of my hand across my mouth.

  Battle stepped forward and gripped Solomon’s hair so he could lift his head up. The fuck was out cold. Eyes rolling, tongue flaccid, his breathing was labored.

  “Piece of shit,” Battle grunted, letting go of his hair so his head would flop back down.

  I finished off my beer, flinging the bottle to one side, and wiped my mouth again. I was still out of breath and Battle shook his head at me.

  “You’re out of shape, brother.” He grinned.

  “Fuck you,” I replied, even though he was right. “Fuck you and fuck him and fuck the Vipers.” I kicked the legs of the chair Solomon was sitting on and he fell sideways, still unconscious. “Motherfucker,” I grunted, dragging the
chair upright again.

  Battle placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t we take a break for tonight?”

  “No,” I snapped.

  “Ain’t no point in getting yourself an injury.”

  I stared down at Solomon, tied to a chair, blood, sweat, and piss surrounding him, face barely recognizable. It wasn’t enough. His death wouldn’t be enough. Nothing would be enough.

  “What is it with you and this guy?” Battle asked before lighting a cigarette like we were on a work break. “He really got that far under your skin?”

  My skin? No. Her skin—Penny’s, yes. He’d gotten under her skin and she still wasn’t quite over what he did to her. She’d never told me what happened, but I’d gotten the gist of it. Made me sick to my stomach to know that her own dad had handed her over to that animal.

  Razuuk was next on my list.

  I’d always thought of myself as a monster. Even wore that badge with pride. But I’d come to realize that compared to Solomon, I was a fucking pussycat.

  The door to the basement swung open and Hardy, Butch, and Gauge stepped inside. Hardy’s gaze fell to Solomon, a circle of smoke surrounding him as he puffed on his cigar.

  “You done?” he asked.

  “He still breathin’?” I asked.

  “Looks that way.”

  “Then I’m not done,” I snapped.

  He blew out some more smoke. “Move this shit along. We’ve got business to take care of and you’ve been on this for too long already.”

  I huffed out a heavy breath. “He almost killed my woman.”

  Hardy pulled the cigar from his mouth and looked over at me. “Your woman? I don’t see no woman around here. No woman in your bed, no woman on your bike. In fact, I don’t see no woman anywhere near you or that flaccid cock between your legs.”

  Gauge shifted uncomfortably, his brows pulling in. “We got a meeting in the church in thirty, brothers.”

  “We’ll be there,” Battle replied.

  “You need some help?” Butch asked, taking a step forward, his gaze on Solomon. “Nothing worse than a man who beats a woman. I’d be more than happy to lend a hand in this fuck’s disposal.”

  I looked down at Solomon. He was beginning to wake back up, though I was certain that he was going to be wishing that he hadn’t very fucking soon. He lifted his head, a pained groan coming from his mouth. His eyes met mine, and just like every other time he’d woken up, he forced a smile to his face.

  “Can still taste her,” he slurred, his fat tongue darting out to wet his lips.

  Rage burned hot like liquid fire in my veins and I slid the brass knuckles back on. “By all means, brother, the more the merrier.”

  It had been my job within the club to get information—especially information that people didn’t wanna give up. I knew how to keep a man on the brink of life and death for months at a time, and that was what I intended to do with him. I wanted him to suffer. I wanted his pain to last for months, years even. I wanted him to know, every time he took a breath, that it was because I was letting him breathe. And eventually he’d fear every fucking breath he took because he wouldn’t know when it would be his last.

  Butch came to stand next to me, staring down at Solomon. Man was never making it out of there alive.

  Butch crouched down next to him, looking up into his face. “Fuck, my brothers really messed you up.”

  Solomon sneered, spitting blood between his broken teeth. “Pussies, both of ’em.”

  Butch laughed and looked up at me. “You been going easy on him?”

  “That was Battle. He’s turned into a pussy since he hooked up with his woman,” I teased.

  “Fuck you,” Battle bit out.

  “Let’s be honest, he was a pussy even before her,” Butch chuckled.

  “Fuck you too!” Battle threw his cigarette to one side and scowled at us.

  “Pretty sure his dick has shriveled up now though,” I agreed.

  Battle stepped forward, his hand on his crotch. “I can assure you two motherfuckers that my dick is happy and healthy and being well fuckin’ serviced by my woman, unlike you two shrimp-dicked losers.”

  “When you assholes have finished,” Hardy said from the doorway, “you wanna get your sorry asses up the stairs and into church? We got shit to deal with.” He gave a cold, hard look to Solomon. “And deal with that.”

  He turned and left without another word. Gauge gave a mock salute and left too and Battle, Butch, and I turned back to our little friend tied to the chair. I cracked my knuckles as he looked up at me, his bloodshot eyes barely able to focus on my face.

  “She still dream of me?” he asked with a dark laugh that turned into a coughing fit.

  I grabbed one of my tools from the bench next to me and held it up to the light. Crouching down so that we were face to face, I held the screwdriver up for him to see, turning it in my hand as I glared at him.

  “Yeah, she does,” he said, his tongue darting out to swipe along his split lips. “Still dream of her too. Always wanted a woman who’d fight back, and that bitch was everything I ever wanted.”

  The motherfucker still wasn’t backing down. Instead he grinned at me, like my face wasn’t the last thing that he was going to see.

  “Does she scream for you like she screamed for me?” he asked, his voice thick with hunger—a hunger which would never be sated no matter who he hurt. It wasn’t about Penny, or me, this was about him being a sick fuck.

  I smiled then.

  He might not ever back down. Men like him rarely did.

  But I was looking forward to destroying him all the same.

  This sort of job was what I was born to do.

  After all, they didn’t call me Fighter for nothing.

  *

  Back upstairs I washed and headed into church with the rest of my brothers. The room was full to bursting and I frowned at the crowded room. Something important must have been going down, but I had no clue what because for the last five months I’d spent my time working out a way to set up Solomon so that Razuuk would want him as dead as I did. I’d finally found the right piece of string to pull on and open up a gaping hole in Solomon’s life last week and I’d been breaking him apart ever since.

  Other than searching for vengeance for Penny, I’d been setting up my woman in her own apartment. I hadn’t actually spent any time with her though. I’d let Charlie arrange everything from helping to pick her apartment to going with her to buy shit to furnish it with. I had more than enough money in the bank, even after paying Razuuk the 40k for fucking me up; I’d been saving it for years. As I watched my funds rapidly depleting, being spent by a woman I barely knew on couches and refrigerators and college courses in nursing, I’d become more and more fulfilled.

  My whole life I’d spent searching for something. Who knew that in setting Penny free I’d finally find it?

  I took a seat and Hardy brought the meeting to order with a slam of the gavel on the table. Rider sat to his right and Gauge to his left and all faces were aimed on me.

  “As you all know, we’ve had problems with the Vipers MC in recent months, not to mention the heat we’ve been getting from the Reverend’s men. It all came to a head last night when I took a meeting with Razuuk Benite and the Rev.” Hardy looked across at me, his fierce expression growing darker. “You claimed Penny, Razuuk’s daughter, for your own.”

  “Paid the fucking price for it too,” Gauge said.

  “And I’d do it again,” I interjected.

  “That may be, but Razuuk’s beginning to wonder why Penny ain’t been seen,” Hardy said. He reached into his cut and pulled out his cigars and lit one. “He’s beginning to question if you really took her as your old lady.”

  Rider glared across at Hardy. “Penny’s got nothing to do with Razuuk anymore. Motherfucker needs to learn his place.”

  A couple of the men stamped their feet on the ground in agreement, but Hardy wasn’t appeased by that response. I glanced across at Bat
tle, who was leaning back in his chair looking pissed off. He still hadn’t forgiven Hardy for taking so long to get the shit sorted out with the Burning Eights, and I didn’t blame him. A lot of the men were beginning to question Hardy’s leadership, including me.

  “Rider’s right,” Gauge said with a scowl. “What a man does with his old lady isn’t anyone else’s business. Fighter paid his dues. Penny is his and there’s nothing Razuuk can do about it.”

  Hardy stared hard at me, ignoring both Gauge and Rider. “Is she yours?”

  My nostrils flared. “Yes.”

  “You claimed her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then where is she? She ain’t in your bed or on your bike. She sure as shit ain’t been around the club.”

  As angry as I was, I forced myself to keep calm and not show it. Me blowing up at my president wasn’t going to get me anywhere. It certainly wasn’t going to help Penny.

  “Why?” I asked him, leaning forward. “It’s got nothing to do with him; he sold that privilege to me.”

  Hardy cocked his head at me before pulling out his gun and placing it on the table between us. “I’m your president and I’m asking you a question. You don’t reply with a fucking question back, you answer me.”

  Rider reached into his cut and pulled out his gun before placing it on the table in front of him. “With all due respect, Prez, I’m inclined to ask the same question.”

  Hardy turned his attention to Rider, his expression furious. “You’re my VP, Rider, but don’t think that means you get a Get Out of Jail Free card. If there’s a threat against me, I’ll be taking your fucking head as payment.”

  The atmosphere in the room was charged, testosterone flowing between the men as people took their sides, their loyalties being tested.

  “I claimed her,” I said, not wanting any more bloodshed in mine or Penny’s names. Especially not any of my brothers. “She’s mine. I’ve been busy hunting down Solomon and making him pay. I set her up in an apartment in town. She’s busy with college and I’m busy with the club. We don’t see much of each other, but she’s mine all the same. Penny’s been through a lot and I’ve been trying to give her some space while she readjusts to being a Highwaymen’s old lady. Things were different in the Vipers and she needed some time to sort through some shit.”