by Evie Monroe
I nodded dumbly. Because it didn’t matter what he told me. He could’ve called me worthless, and I would’ve reacted just the same. I wanted him, no matter what. I was so completely his.
“Do you want my finger inside you?”
I nodded, helpless.
He slowly inched a finger inside and began to move it in and out. The way way he took his time, so sexy and sweet, letting me know he cared what I needed, I could barely breathe. “Yes. That’s good.”
“More?”
I nodded because I couldn’t even speak.
He added a finger and started to thrust into me, fucking me with expert fingers. I shuddered, my hands gripping his hard shoulders, as he held me in place, only letting me move to rock my hips to his thrusts.
I wanted more. He pushed himself closer, spreading my legs impossibly wide, going faster. Faster. His other hand dragged from my throat to my breast, squeezing it, tweaking my nipple hard. I opened my mouth, panting ragged breaths like an animal in heat as he continued his assault. My body was so hungry, so starved, I wanted everything he could give me.
He set his forehead on mine and continued driving his fingers into me, palming my clit. He seemed to revel in the moans of pleasure he tore from my throat. Ripples of feeling shot across my body, spiraling out as he milked me closer and closer to the edge, rubbing and thrusting with a rhythm that made me shake.
I tensed and came so hard, I threw my body against his chest. I would’ve sunk right into the mattress if he hadn’t been there to hold me still. He held his fingers inside me, as my pussy contracted and I gushed all over the bed. I moaned and cried like a puppy, staring at him in disbelief.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
I debated for a moment whether to tell him, then decided I was bare naked on his bed—there was no reason to have any shame now. “You’re the first man who has ever made me come.”
“Yeah?” He kept his forehead pressed up against mine, breathing hard. “That’s a goddamn shame.”
“I’d honestly started thinking I didn’t work that way. That something was wrong with me.”
“Trust me, baby. There’s nothing wrong with you.” He lifted his forehead from mine. The look on his face was pure, badass male pride as he slid his sopping wet hand from my pussy, brought his fingers to his mouth, and sucked my juices. “You taste good.”
I tried to sit up and look for my boxers, wherever they’d gone, using the sheet to cover myself. He tugged my hand away and slipped a hand between my damp thighs.
“Don’t think I’m done with you, yet,” he said, slipping a finger under my chin and lifting my mouth to his. He nibbled sexily at my lips, and I could taste myself on his tongue.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked.
“No. It’s whatever you have in mind.”
I sat up, grabbing him by the waistband of his jeans, and dragged him toward me. I climbed up to my knees on the bed, pressing my tits up against his body, and he groaned low in his throat. He reached for the fabric of my tank top, the only thing between us now, yanking it out of shape so that my breasts popped out of the armholes. “This is a good look for you.”
I smiled. “Oh, yes, this is the new fashion trend. Women will be wearing it like this on the streets next spring.”
“Fuck no. I want these tits all to myself,” he said, dipping his head and licking lightly at a nipple. “They’re too precious to let just anyone see.”
I unbuckled his jeans, slipping the zipper down and sliding the jeans over the magnificent curve of his ass. His cock sprang free, hard and ready for me.
The moment I saw it, I couldn’t help myself. I had a one-track mind. My mouth went wet and my pussy clenched. “Please. Just fuck me.”
He let out a chuckle, and I could tell my request was one he wouldn’t deny. He had one arm still wrapped around my waist, and he lifted me up, cradling my ass in his arms. I wrapped my legs around him, feeling that massive hard length of steel trapped between us.
Then he dragged his lips to mine, nipping at my lips with his teeth in a savage way before plunging his tongue into my mouth again.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, tighter, as his tip touched my entrance. His hands were so big, holding my ass firmly, cupping it, squeezing it. I tilted my pelvis forward, sucking in a breath in anticipation as he slowly lowered me onto his cock so that was sat facing each other.
When he’d found just the right spot, he rocked his hips forward in one sudden movement, meeting me halfway, tearing a raspy moan from my throat.
Every muscle in my body tensed. My head fell back and I inhaled. He held me up as he pushed deeper into me and then began a slow thrust. It was only moments before I felt myself tightening around him. The tight stretch made my orgasm retreat for a moment, but when his thumb began to rub my clit again, it came back with a vengeance and hit me like a freaking freight train. I heard myself scream as I clenched around his thick cock. I sank my nails into his shoulders as I pressed into him, coming and coming and coming.
But he wasn’t finished. No, he was a man possessed.
He looked like an animal, his face rigid with raw concentration as he fucked me, slowly, steadily. “Come on, baby,” he goaded me. I felt the fire building inside, starting low in my belly and screaming through me. “Come, Char. Come on.”
I felt the fire building inside me again. He asked, and I did as I was told. The tension overwhelmed me, sensations bursting inside me one after the other. I had no need for breath as I fell against him, crushing my mouth to his. I kissed him hard, urgent, the world going dark and blurry around me. I hadn’t meant to scream, but oh God, did I scream. He ripped his mouth free, grabbed my hips and stared into my eyes, pressing his forehead against mine.
“There you go, baby,” he growled, lifting his hips off the blanket and thrusting deep inside me. “Come with me.”
I met that thrust with an explosion of pleasure, my eyes rolling back to the sky, fireworks exploding behind my eyelids. He groaned and exploded inside me, gripping my hips and tensing around me.
My scream faded to a whimper, and just when I thought I was done, he rocked into me, stroking my swollen clit, prolonging my orgasm. I couldn’t find the voice to scream anymore. I just let the smaller ripples lap over me, as my body fell into a pile of mush.
I collapsed against his chest, my body heaving. Resting my cheek on his collarbone as small aftershocks coursed through my body, I finally understood what true happiness felt like.
“Um. Wow,” I said, shell-shocked. “That was . . . wow.”
He slipped out of me and rolled onto his side, gazing at me. “Good?”
Beyond good. I did the bobble-head nod again, wishing I could think of an exact word to describe it. Heavenly, Amazing, Incredible . All seemed to miss the mark. I was sweaty and sticky with his come, and so, so satisfied, like I could have the best night of sleep I’d ever had.
He kissed the tip of my nose gently. “Good. Come here.”
He pulled me to his hard chest, spooning me against his warm, solid muscles, with his cock nestled firmly against the crack of my ass. It felt like slipping into a space that was perfectly made for me. He draped a muscled arm around my waist, holding onto my hands.
“Okay?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
I felt more than okay. For the first time ever, I felt completely safe.
“Hart,” I whispered after a moment. “When I told you about . . . what I told you . . . before?”
“Um-hmm,” he said, kissing my ear. “It’s all right. You don’t have to explain anything.”
I exhaled. “I want to, though. I want to tell you everything.” I chuckled a little. “I’ve never told anyone about it before. But you’re the first person I can trust. I never had . . . anyone.”
His breath was hot on my neck. “What about your parents?”
I sucked a deep breath. “My mom used to panhandle with us. Sitting right outside the supermarket, with a cardboard sign t
hat said she couldn’t feed us. She said our cute faces got us more money. Even if we were hungry, she’d only take money.”
“Wow. Did you—”
“Hush. Let me talk, okay? Every time someone came offering us food or a place to stay, she’d tell them no. She knew exactly how much money was in that can at all times. The second she had enough for a bag of heroin, she’d hand it to my dad, he’d go off and score it, and then they’d shoot up right there in the parking lot. Then . . . right back to panhandling.” I wiped a tear that threatened to fall.
“You’re fucking with me.”
“No, and what was so sad was I thought it was my fault. God, I was so young, maybe seven, when I heard her talking to some guy, trying to sell us for drug money. At the time, I remember being happy about it. I thought if someone bought us, they’d treat us better.”
“Shit, Charlie.”
“So we went to the gas station where the deal was supposed to happen. Jojo was just a baby. Maybe two? Three? And the police showed up. My parents jumped in our car and sped away. That was the last time we ever saw them. They were so fucked up at that point, they didn’t even notice they’d left us behind.”
“Damn, Charlie. I’m sorry. Sorry you had to go through that.”
I took another breath and let it out. “Since then, we’d been in foster care. Bouncing around all over the place. Sometimes a foster family would take siblings, sometimes they wouldn’t. We didn’t have a choice. But I promised Jojo that the second I turned eighteen, I’d get out on my own, and I’d take care of him and raise him the right way. It wasn’t easy. But I did it.”
“You’re damn right, you did. You’re fucking hardcore. Anyone ever tell you that?”
I smiled. “No, been called a lot of things, but hardcore isn’t one of them. I never wanted a thank you for just doing what it took to make sure my brother and I survived, and that was a good thing, because I never got one. I figure that one day, ten years from now, when Jojo is grown with a job and a family of his own, he might look back and say thank you. If he doesn’t, no biggie. When you love someone as much as I love him, you’re bound to put up with a lot of little injustices like that.”
“You are a great lady, Charlotte.”
“Thanks.” I yawned and settled up against Hart’s body, wishing I could stay there forever.
It was only as I was drifting off to sleep that I realized he came in me hard, and we hadn’t used a condom.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Hart
I fell asleep, cradling Charlie in my arms, dragging in the apple scent of what must’ve been her shampoo, and I held her close against my chest.
What seemed like only seconds later, I heard a faint buzzing and realized it was my phone, vibrating on the nightstand.
I reached over to grab it and squinted in the green glow of my digital clock. It said three in the morning.
Kissing Charlie on her bare shoulder, I pulled my arm from hers and slid out of the bed, grabbed the phone, and looked at the display.
What did Joel want?
Moonlight slashed in through the blinds, illuminating a faint smile on Charlie’s pretty face. I didn’t want to wake her, so I quickly headed out of the bedroom and closed the door. As I padded down the hallway naked, I answered. “Hey, kid,” I said, throwing myself down on the sofa. “You okay?”
“Hart?”
Shit. I could tell from that one word that things were most definitely not okay. He sounded like a wounded little kid. Like he’d been crying.
I sat up straight. “What’s going on, Joel? Talk to me.”
“I think I’m in trouble.”
After Charlie had poured her little heart out to me, I’d gone to sleep last night knowing exactly what I had to do. At all costs, I’d protect Joel. He didn’t just mean a lot to her. He was her whole life. From what she’d said, I’d learned she spent a lot of her time bearing the brunt of the world’s shit, just so he wouldn’t have to.
Protecting him like that might have been a mistake, because he didn’t have the tools to deal with the situation he was in right now.
But the poor kid hadn’t known what kind of hornet’s nest he was stepping on. Neither did Charlie. Unlike Joel, though, she had balls. Knowing her, she would’ve run down to the Hell’s Fury clubhouse and demanded they leave him alone.
I couldn’t let her do that. She’d get herself killed.
“What trouble?” I said, hoping that he’d just blown a tire on his way home. Something simple and fixable.
But then he said the thing that made me curse under my breath and punch the coffee table with my fist. All the little pieces of the arm I was tinkering with went flying in all directions. He said, “I think they know.”
I took a deep breath and set my jaw. “You think who knows?”
“The Fury. I think they know I’m working with you guys.” He voice cracked on the last word, and he let out a low groan. “What the fuck am I going to do?”
“All right. Calm down,” I said, standing up and pacing. As I did, I stepped on a bolt with my bare foot, and clenched my teeth, kicking it out of the way. “Okay, start from the beginning. Why do you think that?”
“They have photos, Hart. Of you and me meeting somewhere. I don’t know. They didn’t even point them out to me.” His words came out in a tumble. “They just fucking left them on the bar for me to find. I mean, they were grainy. But I’m pretty fucking sure it was obvious that it was you and me.”
I covered the speaker with my hand and gritted my teeth. “Fuck!” I growled.
I took a minute to consider my options. Why would they not tell him about them, unless they were fucking with him? Unless they didn’t realize it was him and me in the photos?
“Okay,” I finally said to him, calming myself. “Are you absolutely sure, that it was obvious to them that they’d nailed you and me? Could they have thought it was someone else?”
“No. No, I’m pretty sure they know it was me. Because when I got there they were acting weird. And then they kept making me go over to the bar to get them drinks, so I would see them. I’m telling you, Hart, they know.”
“All right, all right. Just play it cool. Where are you now?”
“I’m on my bike. I just pulled over onto the side of the road to call you. I don’t know what to do.” I could hear it in his voice, the panic rising, getting more and more frantic as we spoke. He was definitely not playing it cool. “Shit, man. Shit. What do I do?”
“Listen to me,” I barked out, turning toward my bedroom door. It remained closed, which was good. I didn’t want Charlie coming out so I’d have to deal with two hysterical people. Wherever he was, he was breathing hard and cursing under his breath. “Listen. Joel. Are you listening?”
He sniffled. “Yeah.”
“Do you know if any of them followed you?”
“Uh. No. I don’t think so. I mean. I don’t see anyone. I don’t . . .”
“All right. I want you to go to the Cobras clubhouse. Right now. Don’t stop for anything. I’ll text the guys and let them know you’re on your way. Someone’s usually there on the weekend. Knock twice on the door when you get there, and they’ll let you in. You got it?”
“Uh. Okay. I guess.”
I heard a noise down the hallway, toward my bedroom, which I chalked up to an open window and the curtains blowing in the night air. I’d have to get to the clubhouse right away. And I’d have to bring Charlie. She couldn’t stay here alone; it wasn’t safe.
“All right. I’ll be there in ten minutes, Joel, and I’ll bring your sister. Okay?”
“Yeah. Good. All right.”
“Stay calm, kid.”
I hung up and dragged a hand over my face. This wasn’t fucking good. The kid couldn’t start cracking. I could only imagine he hadn’t kept it together at the Fury meeting, either. He probably had his guilt written all over his face.
I quickly checked the tracker on his phone. He wasn’t too far from the clubhouse—maybe a
ten-minute ride away. Good. He was out of the belly of the beast, at least.
Poor kid. All he had to do was get to the Cobra clubhouse. That was it. After that, we’d keep him safe.
I sent a group text to the other officers: URGENT: Hell’s Fury knows about Joel. Heading to clubhouse now. Let him in and keep him there.
A second later, I got a text back from Zain: Shit. I’m here. I’ll let him in.
Moments after that, as I headed back to the bedroom, a text came in from Jet: Heading there now. FUCK THE FURY.
The rest of the guys sent texts as well, letting me know they had my back. I opened the door and saw Charlotte sitting up in bed, the sheets pulled up to her chest. “Is everything okay?”
I grabbed her backpack and handed it to her. “Nope. We’ve run into a little situation. Get dressed and I’ll explain,” I said, finding my jeans on the floor and stepping into them.
Her eyes widened with worry. I knew she was thinking of just one person. The only person who ever really existed in her life. Her brother, who meant more to her than anything else in this world.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Charlotte
A situation could’ve been anything. A lost sock. A clogged toilet. Anything.
But I knew it had to do with Jojo. And though Hart wasn’t one to overreact, or even react strongly to very much, I knew it was something bad.
“What kind of situation?” I asked, holding the backpack on my lap and undoing the zipper.
He pulled his t-shirt on over his chest and ran his hands through his long hair before pulling it back into a ponytail. Then he sat down to put on his boots. He motioned with his chin to the bag. “Hurry up.”
I grabbed a t-shirt and jeans out of the bag and started to fish around for my panties. I couldn’t find them, and he was making me nervous, watching me as he tied his boots. “Is it about Jojo?”
“I’ll tell you on the way,” he muttered, grabbing his vest and putting it on.
Not finding panties, I decided I’d go commando. I’d put on my jeans and stood with my hands on my hips. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what this is about.”