by Stasia Black
Guess you don’t hate it so much if you’re coming. You must like being my whore, you’re so wet for it.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
No. It wasn’t Jason behind her.
It was Rafe.
Her husband. This was pleasure she didn’t have to be ashamed of, not mixed with hate. Rafe swiveled his hips and fucked her harder. She clenched her teeth against the pleasure as it spiked from her core, tightening around the cock spearing her.
“Goddamn, babe,” Rafe growled.
But then he gathered the hair of her ponytail and tugged her head back.
And in a second, the sunshine was gone.
Rafe was gone.
The Scrapper Yard was gone.
It was her and Jason back in their house in Travisville and he was slamming her facedown on the kitchen counter.
He yanked her head backwards by her ponytail even while he shoved her chest down to the counter and threw her skirt up. Then he fucked her, hard, the whole time calling her all sorts of names.
“Fucking whore!” he shouted, shoving his cock in before she was even wet. “You’re just a bitch in heat, aren’t you? I saw those fuck-me eyes you were giving my lieutenants at the dinner table. It make you feel like a real hot bitch to have all my men panting after you?”
And no matter how much she cried that no, no, she only had eyes for him, that she never wanted anyone else, it never made a difference.
Just stay still.
Don’t make him any angrier.
He’ll be done soon.
Just don’t fight. Whatever you do, don’t fight. He’s too strong. He’s too strong.
In and out he went, and as he did, her own pleasure rose too. Oh God, how could she? She hated him. Why would her body—
See, you did want it. He was right.
“No!”
“Shay? Shay! Holy shit, SHAY!”
Shay blinked. She wasn’t in the kitchen with Jason.
It wasn’t Jason behind her.
It was Rafe.
She shoved back against him.
And he moved. He didn’t keep holding her down. Didn’t keep fucking her.
She spun around in shock, blinking for several long moments. She lifted a hand to her forehead. God. She’d had vivid flashbacks in her dreams, but never during the day like this. What the fuck?
She stumbled sideways and dropped a hand to her stomach.
Oh shit.
She fell to her knees and emptied her stomach to the side of the old stove.
Chapter 20
RAFE
“Shit. Shay?” Rafe stepped close and reached out a hand for her elbow. The second he made contact, she flinched and jerked away.
Fuck. Was she afraid of him? He shoved himself back in his pants.
But the next second, she swung toward him and glared. “He’ll kill you if I tell him you touched me like that. You know that, don’t you?”
What?
She was staring at him like she was watching for some reaction to his words.
Shit. This was bad. “Shay? Do you have your water bottle?” She didn’t answer. “Fuck.”
It had to be ninety-five degrees out here. She could have heat-stroke. He ran his hands over his head before looking around them.
Then he stepped close again, hands up so she’d feel safe.
“Come on, babe. Follow me, okay?” Jonas’s grow yard wasn’t far. Just down the block. He’d know what to do.
Shay watched him warily for another long second before finally nodding, her whole body sagging.
He held out his one good arm and she sank against his. And she didn’t flinch when he touched her to pull her shirt and jeans back up.
Thank Christ. The sense of relief that washed through him was so immense he had to take a breath. But Jesus, she felt so tiny against his side.
What the hell had he been thinking, fucking her out here in the ninety-degree heat? He hadn’t been thinking, at least not with his big head.
She was just so gorgeous and she’d been flashing that gorgeous ass of hers every time she bent over to examine some little scrap of junk.
Still, it was no fucking excuse.
Or was he just trying to prove to himself how goddamned useless he was at this too—the one thing he was supposed to still be good at?
You’re just fucking kidding yourself. You should have died when that landmine went off on the eastern front.
He gritted his teeth against the thoughts and stopped the first Scrapper he saw. “Water,” he demanded.
The man in the blue overalls took one look at Shay by his side and fumbled with the water flask at his belt. He held it out, which was a good thing, because Rafe was about to yank it out of his damn hand. Well, Rafe would have if he had a spare hand.
As it was, he kept his one good arm in place, supporting Shay as she stood. She took the water bottle for herself and took a long drink. She only emptied half the flask.
“More,” Rafe ordered. “And do you have any gum?” He knew it was a tall order. Gum was hoarded almost as much as cigarettes. But lo and behold, the man produced a pack of Big Red.
Rafe pulled one of the last pieces out as Shay shook her head. “I don’t want to drink all his—”
“More,” Rafe growled again. Rafe leveled the man and he immediately started waving his hands.
“I don’t mind. Drink it all. And take another stick for the road.” He held out another stick of gum.
At least his size could still intimidate people. Even if he was fucking useless in a gun fight. Or most fist fights. He even had to teach himself how to eat with a goddamn fork again. Cause naturally it couldn’t have been his left hand that got blown to bits. Nope, it was his dominant hand. And he was left trying to learn how to wipe his own shits with his clumsy non-dominant fucking hand, much less retrain himself in knife and gun play. He could practice his old combat drills two hours a day for the rest of his life and never get back to his old skill and speed.
Now here was this gorgeous woman and of course he was fucking letting her down, too.
As soon as she drank down the rest of the flask, Rafe hurried her forward. He needed to get her to one of the other clan men. Someone whole who could actually help her. Someone who wouldn’t make her cry and freak out when they fucked her.
Yeah, he hadn’t missed the fucking tears in her eyes when she panicked and told him to stop.
There was a separate lottery pool for wounded veterans. He’d thought—what the hell? He never thought he’d win. But they all did it, cause… he didn’t know. Hope or some shit?
Otherwise it was hard as fuck not to take his old pistol and put a bullet through his damn temple.
After The Fall when almost all the planes got fucked by the EMP and there was no more Air Force to speak of, he’d joined up with the Elite Guard and trained his ass off, becoming the New Republic’s version of a Navy Seal. The baddest of badasses.
When everyone else was running away from a fight, they were charging toward it. He’d spent years honing his skills as a killing machine. He proudly fought in President Goddard’s army, but after two tours and six years, he’d rotated out and settled in Jacob’s Well.
He only made it four months before reupping. Civilian life just wasn’t for him, he’d thought. Too boring.
He was a fucking idiot. Taking life for granted. Now he was forced to forever be a civilian. He thought, he didn’t know, maybe he could get married. Pop out a couple of kids.
But he couldn’t even do that right. And what the fuck else was the point of a one-armed fighter pilot?
“Here,” he said, unwrapping the stick of gum and handing it to Shay. She took it and popped it in her mouth, then they started walking. Her little body solid against his made his hammering heart slow slightly, but only slightly.
She’d looked so fucking scared when he’d finally realized she wasn’t with him anymore when they were having sex. It had just been a couple seconds—she was with him, she was with hi
m, and then suddenly she wasn’t. The thought that he might have put that look on her face—Jesus, it was a wonder he hadn’t joined her in upchucking his lunch.
“Jonas,” he called out as soon as they came onto the shaded lot where weed grew like… well, weeds.
It was close to the river so it was the one place in town where the trees actually grew taller than a shrubby ten to fifteen feet and provided actual shade.
Rafe saw Jonas sit up from his slouch in a lawn chair by the small, maroon shed. He stood and immediately started striding straight toward them.
Thank Christ.
“What’ssss goin’ on? Somethin’ wrong?”
Jonas’s glassy eyes moved from Shay to Rafe. But they did it slow.
Son of a bitch. Was he—
“Are you high right now?” Shay asked the question that was on the tip of Rafe’s tongue.
She pulled out from under his arm and stood up ramrod straight. Rafe felt one eyebrow shoot up. She looked pissed.
Jonas blinked and tried to stand up straighter too. All it did was make him wobble slightly. Damn, looked like Rafe might not be the only fuck up today.
“After last night, you really thought coming here and getting baked off your ass was the best thing to—” Shay broke off with a high-pitched scoff. “You didn’t even think that I might need—”
She heaved out a huge breath, nostrils flaring as she glared Jonas down.
Jonas lifted his hands, the fact that he was in hot water obviously finally sinking into his pot-addled brain.
“You wanna get outta here?” Rafe asked her, but she held up a hand sharply.
“This is bullshit,” she said. “I thought you were a man.” Rafe stepped back but thank Christ, the barb was aimed at Jonas.
Jonas took a step toward Shay, his own nostrils flaring but Rafe moved in between him and Shay. He thought weed was supposed to chill people the fuck out.
“Get out of my way. It seems like our baby doll here is forgetting exactly who she belongs to.”
Aw hell no, he didn’t. Shay’s eyes widened like she wanted to stab Jonas’s eyes out and roast them over an open fire.
“I. Belong. To. Myself,” she said through gritted teeth. Then she looked to Rafe. She only gave him two words, but it was enough to get her point across. And he’d never been happier to follow an order in his life.
“Hold him,” she said.
Rafe grabbed Jonas with his good arm and swept his legs, taking him down easily and pinning him to the ground.
So Jonas could do nothing but struggle feebly while Shay walked around the rows of plants to a metal barrel. Rafe couldn’t see what was inside it from his vantage point, but whatever it was, it sure got a reaction out of Jonas. Especially when Shay pulled something out of her pocket.
“Shay. Don’t. Shay,” Jonas said in a warning voice, suddenly sounding a lot more sober. “Don’t you dare, baby doll.”
But Shay just turned their way. A match. That’s what she was holding. She lit it against the side of the barrel. And then she gave a wicked fucking smile that had Rafe’s dick hard in seconds as she lifted the match over the barrel and then dropped it in.
On some level, Rafe realized what she was doing in that brief moment before she dropped the match. But it wasn’t until the flame whooshed up that he fully contemplated all the ramifications.
“Shay!” he yelled, letting go of Jonas and jumping to his feet, hurrying over to where Shay stood, coughing and backing away. Because after the initial flame, smoke now poured out the top of the barrel. Right into Shay’s face.
Aw shit.
Rafe took a deep breath and lifted his shirt to cover his face as he went in and grabbed Shay around the waist before pulling her out from the cloud of smoke.
As soon as he got her back across the small side yard, she was giggling her ass off.
For fuck’s sake.
It was always out of the frying pan and into the fire with this one.
Rafe looked down at her and grinned, shaking his head.
She kept blinking and swiping at her eyes with her fists, like she couldn’t manage much more coordination than that.
Fuck, she was cute.
Never thought he’d see the day a chick had him whipped. And certainly never thought he’d be so damn happy about it.
Chapter 21
JONAS
What the fuck was Jonas gonna do with his baby doll? He didn’t know what had Rafe bringing her here like he had. The first instant he’d seen them, her limp against Rafe’s side, he’d known something was wrong and he’d almost lost his shit.
But then she’d gotten so full of piss and vinegar when she realized he’d been smoking.
Yeah, maybe he shouldn’t have toked up when he got to work today. It was just old habit and damn, last night… He had to get his mind off it somehow if he didn’t want to walk around with a giant stiffy all day.
A problem which should have been immediately solved on seeing the shipment he was supposed to send out to East Texas go up in smoke.
But after he ran over and threw a bucket of water on the barrel—from the side opposite the smoke was billowing out—and hurried back out before taking a full breath of the smoke, all he could do was stare at Shay.
She was giggling and grasping for Rafe’s arm like he’d just told her the funniest joke she’d ever heard in her whole damn life.
Jonas looked at Rafe over her head and the guy just grinned and shrugged.
Son of a—
Jonas strode over to both of them, biting the inside of his cheek and doing his best to keep his temper back as he looked down at Shay. “You’re in big trouble, baby doll.”
Shay froze and blinked up at him, her eyes glassy. “You mean…” she trailed off. “You’re going to… punish me?” Then she started cracking up, slapping at Rafe’s chest.
Jonas rolled his eyes. He’d only taken a couple hits off a small joint and any buzz he had was quickly wearing off. He wanted to both kiss and spank Shay. Not necessarily in that order.
She was fucking beautiful. He’d never seen her so carefree or smile like that. It looked good on her. Great, actually.
Then suddenly she spun on him and had her finger pointed in his face, her features hard. “No one owns me.” She turned back to Rafe, so quickly her ponytail smacked Jonas in the face. “And no pulling my hair when you fuck me.”
Then she turned back to Jonas, spitting out her gum on the ground and pulling her tank top off as she did.
“What the—”
“Shay!” Jonas said, grabbing her hands before she could yank it off over her head and looking around. It was lunchtime so his field hands weren’t around, but there were guards on the perimeter of the property at all times.
Shay bounced up and down. “But I wanna fuck,” she whined. “I’m so hornyyyyyyy.”
Fuck. Him.
Jonas and Rafe exchanged another look over Shay’s head. Rafe just shrugged again like, hey, what are you gonna do?
Jonas rolled his eyes again.
“Baby doll, come on. Let’s get you back home. Then maybe you can lay down for a nice nap.”
But she struggled against his hold when he tried to guide her out of the yard.
“Stop it!” she yelled, jerking away from his hold. He let go as soon as he was sure she was steady on her feet.
He didn’t understand what was going on. He’d never seen her in such a volatile mood. Maybe it was the pot, but she’d gone from obviously upset to pissed even before she lit his stash. And Rafe looked just as clueless as he was.
He’d only dabbled in BDSM before converting to Christianity and then marrying Katherine… maybe he’d done it wrong last night. He’d just been going from instinct and the basic principles he remembered from back in the day.
At their most stripped down, all power exchanges were about… trust.
He frowned down at Shay.
What had happened between last night and this afternoon? What did she mean about the
pulling her hair thing? Obviously something had happened between her and Rafe. But then she’d been clinging to his side when they came in the yard, so—
All the sudden, Shay flung herself against Jonas, knocking him back against the shed.
And then she reached back a hand for Rafe.
Jonas could have easily moved out from under where she pressed her body against his. But something was obviously going on. And for the moment, he decided to watch and take his cues from Shay.
She tugged Rafe until he was flush against her back and then she squeezed her eyes shut, snuggling closer against Jonas, sandwiched between them. She lifted a hand behind her to hold Rafe by the back of his neck. Like they were grinding on a dance floor, but she just stood there, all three of them unmoving.
A furrow grew between Rafe’s eyebrows as he skimmed a hand down Shay’s exposed side.
She let out the sexiest groan as she dropped her head back against Rafe’s chest.
“My husbands,” she whispered, eyes still shut. “This is what my husbands feel like.”
Jonas frowned, sensing something much deeper was going on underneath the surface. “That’s right, gorgeous,” he whispered, slipping a hand down to her hip and just holding her. Wanting to anchor her to them like she seemed to need.
She breathed out like she was letting go of a hundred years of tension and stress. Fuck but Jonas wished he knew what was going through her head at that moment. She’d bared herself to them last night. But she’d still held plenty back.
Like what life had been like before she lost the children. And who the children’s father was.
But when she lifted her head and smiled at Jonas, it was so goddamn sweet it about split him down the center. When she lifted up on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “Make love to your wife,” he couldn’t help wrapping an arm around her waist and dragging her up against him.
“Hey,” Rafe said from behind them and Shay giggled, turning to him. “Don’t worry. I meant you too.”
“That’s not what I—” He huffed out a breath. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea at the moment. Just a little bit ago— And you’re—”
Shay’s features darkened and she flipped around in the small space between them so that her chest was to Rafe’s. “I’m high on weed,” she giggled. “I feel all floaty. But my body is still mine.” She went up on tiptoes again and whispered into Rafe’s ear, but not so quietly Jonas couldn’t hear. “And it wants to fuck yours.”