by Naomi West
But she’d worked Blade into enough of a fervor that he’d decided it was his turn. As soon as Venus began crawling up the bed to straddle him, Blade grabbed her hips. He pitched her forward as he launched himself toward the foot of the bed, positioning himself so that she straddled not his package but his mouth. He dug his fingers into the flesh of her backside as he pulled her down to him, returning the favor she’d done for him.
“Oh!” Venus started to protest. She’d wanted to please him, and she hadn’t done it with the idea that he would have to do the same. But being on her hands and knees meant her muscles were tensed in all the right ways, and the wet heat from his mouth was already building up inside her.
Venus threw her head back, reveling in the feel of her long hair against her back and the insistent laving of his tongue. He was good at his work, first flicking her clit and then stroking all around it with the tip of his tongue, then burying himself inside her and reminding her just who was in control here.
A whimper of arousal escaped from her lips as he devoured her, coaxing her toward the edge of her control. Venus felt her body reacting on its own, her muscles clenching, her body pressing toward him. A flood of molten pleasure flowed over her as she came, crying out into the dim light of her room.
“You don’t know what that does to me,” he growled as he rolled her back onto the mattress. “I love knowing that you’re getting off on me.”
Her entire body was buzzing with energy, making her gloriously weak. She managed to bring up one hand to cup the side of his face as he lowered himself down onto her, his manhood pressing against her eagerly. There were times when she thought she might never get to do this again, but seeing him here on top of her in her room let her know that Blade was a man who kept his promises.
She wrapped her legs around him as he eased inside her, their union both languorous and searingly hot as he pushed down. “I’ve needed you so badly,” she panted, unable to stop the flood of emotions that she’d been pushing back ever since the last time they’d done this. “I wanted you inside me this whole time.”
“We won’t have to worry about it anymore,” he promised as he bent forward to pull her nipple into his mouth.
Venus felt the inside of her body exploding around him, and she arched her back away from the mattress to increase the sensation. Blade straightened up, slamming into her harder as he came. Their foreplay had made her ready long before she expected to be, and Blade had apparently been ready too.
He kissed her neck as he rolled off her. “You make for some thirsty work. I’m going to get a drink.” Blade pulled his phone out of the pocket of his pants, which had been discarded on the floor, checked it, and set it on the desk.
“Hang on, I’m coming too.” She hated to break the halcyon atmosphere of their time in the bedroom, but she was thirsty as well. “Aren’t you going to put any pants on?”
“Nah.” He gestured at his phone where it lay as he reached for the door handle. “If Jet was on his way back here, I’d know about it.”
Venus trotted down the stairs after him, secretly thrilled to have this massive naked man in her house. It made her see it all differently, realizing just how much she’d been a barely tolerated guest in Jet’s kingdom. It wasn’t really her home at all, and she remembered once again how she’d been feeling like it was a prison just before Blade had shown up.
“There should be plenty in the fridge,” she said as they entered the kitchen. “Bottled water, beer, soda, whatever you might want.” Venus checked out his tight ass as he opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.
“Whatever I might want?” he said as he turned around, opening the door wider so she could look inside. “I think I already know what I want.”
She grabbed a soda, feeling indulgent. “Do you? Care to share?”
Blade took a long drink of water. “I think it would be much more efficient if I just showed you. Otherwise, something might be lost in translation.” He dared to slip his hand inside the front of her robe, gliding it over her breast and down to her waist.
“I don’t know why you put this on,” he murmured in her ear. “I can’t see you anymore.”
“You’ve already seen me,” she said bashfully, feeling her body pulse at his touch. She’d already gotten two orgasms that night, but she clearly wasn’t done with him.
His member was becoming hard again as he buried his face in her hair. “You think that was enough? I want to see you in every light possible, every room, every angle. I’ll never be done exploring that magnificent body of yours.”
“I wouldn’t mind doing a little exploring myself.” She kissed him, instantly getting lost in his touch once again. How could this man feel so damn good? Venus had already asked herself that once before, but she’d never found the answer. She’d been denying herself too much in her lifetime, and she had a lot of making up to do. Her hands roved over his back and down the smooth plane of his flank, wondering if she could ever get tired of the way his muscles felt.
Her robe had fallen away, and even though it hadn’t been all that long since they’d been in bed together, she relished the feel of his nakedness against her. The hard planes of his body were so enticing, and she was quickly forgetting just why they were in the kitchen in the first place.
No matter their original purpose, Blade had plenty of ideas for what they could do. He kissed her tenderly as he backed her up against the countertop, grabbing the backs of her thighs and lifting her so that she straddled him. He pierced her, his intense desire mirroring his own.
The angle gave Venus a new perspective on what they were doing, and she caught her breath as she watched his abs working against her, his member penetrating her. She clutched the back of his neck with one hand, but she knew she wouldn’t fall. Blade was holding her tightly. Venus felt the heat of it all flood her system once again, a feeling she was swiftly becoming addicted to.
They both jumped when the kitchen door slammed open. Venus screamed, grabbing the edges of her robe and pulling them over her body as Blade lowered her to the floor. Her heart stopped when she peered around him to see Jet standing there in the kitchen, his chest heaving and his gun aimed straight at them.
“I should’ve known!” he screamed. “A new business deal like that doesn’t go bad that quickly without someone on the inside making it happen! I never thought it would be you, Venus. I thought you were smarter than that. Apparently you’re more concerned about getting some dick than keeping the Skulls together!”
She gaped at him, at a loss for words. It wasn’t like she could explain it to him; he wouldn’t listen anyway. “We’ll leave,” she finally rasped. “Give me five minutes and we’ll be gone.” She didn’t know if Blade would even be willing to take her with him, but as long as she got out of the house, she’d find a way to make it work.
“Fuck no! You stay right there. I’ll deal with you in a minute. First I’m going to shoot your little boyfriend here, still with his dick hanging out from fucking my daughter!” Jet moved the barrel of the gun slightly, ensuring it was aimed at Blade.
The leader of the Fangs stood in front of Venus, his arms spread out to protect her instead of folded over his body for privacy. He didn’t seem to care that he was standing naked in another man’s kitchen. The set of his shoulders was wide and hard. He was all business now. “Just what did you expect, Jet? You’ve been trying to sell her off for a while now. It was only a matter of time before she figured out what she wanted.”
Jet laughed coldly. “Don’t fool yourself, you idiot. If she’s sleeping with you, it’s only because she thinks she can get something out of you. Venus has never actually cared about anyone. She uses them, stringing them along until she’s done with them.”
“That’s not true!” Venus had tied the belt of her robe, but she still felt incredibly vulnerable. It was like her entire life was being exposed, hung out for everyone to see.
“No?” Jet turned his eyes to her, but he kept his gun trained on Blade
. “Then what do you call the way you’ve been acting for the last month? You’ve been happily running missions, sending communications, and behaving just like I want you to. I was dumb enough to think you’d finally turned around, but you were just manipulating me. Am I wrong?”
She fought for words, but none would come. Why was this so hard? Her brain and her heart were clamoring with the truth, demanding that she tell him what an unforgiveable asshole he’d been her entire life. But when she stood there facing him, she couldn’t make her mouth say it. The only thing she knew was that they thought they’d gotten away from him, and they hadn’t. Blade was here, and he said he’d protect her, but his weapons were upstairs with his pants.
“Let’s just talk about this …” she said meekly, taking a careful step forward. “It’s really not the way it looks.”
Jet’s eyes were on her, and Blade took the opportunity. He charged forward with lightning speed, his bare feet gripping the hard floor and giving him traction as he shot straight toward Jet. Venus screamed as the gun went off, expecting a spray of blood, but there was only a spray of glass as part of the light fixture was shattered. Blade was within arm’s reach of Jet, his arms and hands moving so quickly she didn’t even see how he managed to wrench the gun away from her father.
He could have shot him, but Blade swiped the butt of the gun across Jet’s face. The other man continued to fight, swinging blindly as blood poured down his face. Blade swung again, lifting the gun over his head and bringing it down with force as it hit Jet on the head. He crumpled to the floor.
To Venus’ horror, Blade didn’t stop there. He continued his tirade of blows, his muscled arm swinging wildly but always hitting accurately.
“Stop!” she finally screamed, running forward and striking uselessly at Blade. “You’re hurting him.”
Blade halted on her command, but his face was that of an animal as he turned to look at her over his shoulder. “Isn’t that the point?”
“No! No, you said you wouldn’t hurt him!” Bile rose in her throat at the sight of the blood on the pale floor. Jet groaned as he rolled away from Blade, but he was in no condition to fight back.
“He was going to kill us, Venus. That’s what you’ve refused to understand this entire time. He’s not an innocent man or a kind one. We can’t afford him any chances when he doesn’t give us any.”
He wasn’t wrong, but still, Venus couldn’t see going any further with this. It was all just too awful, and Jet had been too right about what she’d done. She’d been angry with Jet for the way he treated her, but that had been no excuse for her own betrayal. Venus had simply sold him out in a different way. Snagging a kitchen towel, she blotted uselessly at the wounds on her father’s head, tears blurring her vision.
Blade was on his feet, pulling at her arm insistently. “Come on, Venus. We’ve got to go. If Jet knows we’re here, then someone else probably does, too.”
His words came through her ears, but they didn’t truly register. It didn’t really matter what happened now. She would never be happy, and maybe she didn’t deserve to be. She just shook her head.
“Venus …” His tone was warning.
She yanked her arm out of his grasp. “Just go,” she whispered. “Just go.”
She heard more than saw Blade fling his arms in the air in exasperation. “I can’t just leave you here. I don’t know why the hell you’re worried about him anyway. He’s the one who tried to sell you off like a horse, if you don’t recall.”
Venus did, but the memory was distant now. The fresh blood pouring from the lacerations in the side of Jet’s face were the only things she saw. “Just go,” she repeated. “I’m staying here.”
The sound of cars pulling up outside the house and headlights flashing through the windows made his decision for him. They both knew Blade couldn’t fight a bunch of armed men when he was naked and nearly defenseless. He headed off through the kitchen door. She vaguely heard his footsteps pounding up the stairs, no doubt headed to her bedroom to gather his things before he risked his escape.
Venus didn’t see the men who came rushing into the house, pulling her away from Jet and tending to his injuries with more skill than her pitiful efforts. They didn’t ask her what had happened, nor could she have told them. They didn’t care what her side of the story was, and it didn’t even matter. Everything had fallen apart.
16
“I’m done!” Blade hadn’t slept at all, but he wasn’t feeling the effects. His adrenaline was refreshed every time he thought about what had happened at Jet’s house. Much of it was his fault. He’d checked his phone for any messages from Sherlock that Jet was on his way back home, and he’d let himself be satisfied that he wasn’t coming. But what was probably only a minute after he’d left the phone in Venus’ bedroom, Sherlock had tried to get ahold of him. Jet and the Skulls had finished drowning their sorrows and were on their way back to the mansion.
That part had definitely been his fault. Blade had let down his guard. But he could’ve easily killed Jet if Venus hadn’t stopped him. That was the part that made him angrier than anything else. This girl had been grossly mistreated by Jet, and the man showed no sign of stopping. How could she possibly want him to live, and how could she expect Blade to let him?
He roared as he slammed his fist down on the conference table, ignoring the solemn looks from the men he’d assembled for this meeting. They’d never seen him so pissed, and they probably weren’t likely to again in the future. This had been the worst night in the history of the Fangs, and it was all because he’d let himself get too cocky.
“I’m done,” he repeated, slightly calmer now. The only redeeming factor was the idea that his MC would help him take revenge, and he knew they had his back. “I should first apologize to all of you. I hesitated to do anything too rash because I was trying to assess the full situation. I’ve prided myself on being logical about these things, trying to reason it all out before I pulled the trigger. But Jet isn’t a man to be reasoned with, and I knew that. I’m ready to mow them all down.”
The resounding cry in the conference room heartened him, but it didn’t make his anger go away. “A week ago, I might’ve been satisfied with just killing Jet and calling that good. They were likely to fall apart without their leader. But playing the long game isn’t paying off for us. I want every single Skull dead. Anyone who lives had damn well better not show his face in the city again, unless he wants to catch a bullet with it.”
Champ grinned from his place to Blade’s right. “Is this officially war?”
“You’re damn right it is.”
Another resounding roar took over the room, reverberating against the walls and making Blade’s trigger finger itch. He and the other men fell to a rousing discussion of just how they were going to do this, weighing the benefits of either an ambush or an outright assault. The meeting took on the bravado of a drunken celebration, even though Blade had ordered nobody to drink. Some of their talk was pure fantasy on their part, bragging about all the Skull blood that would spill on the floor, but Blade knew they meant it. They were just as eager to obliterate those bastards as he was.
Champ pulled him aside as the rest of the men carried on boasting. “Blade, I think there’s another part of the plan we need to discuss.”
Blade nodded. Champ knew at least a little bit of what was going on between him and Venus. “I’ve already been thinking about it. I don’t know where she stands on the whole thing at this point. The way she insisted on staying with Jet makes me wonder if I can ever free her from the brainwashing he put her through. But I can’t just let her stay around if we know there’s going to be a massacre.”
His second nodded. “Agreed. It doesn’t seem like she’d be willing to just come with you, as crazy as that sounds.”
“It’s not really crazy at all.” Blade was still full of his own feelings about the subject, but he had to understand where Venus was coming from. Jet was a monster, and what he’d done to Venus was horrible. B
ut he was her father, and for her entire life, she’d had nobody else to mentor her and teach her how things should be. It shouldn’t have surprised Blade at all when she’d stopped him from killing Jet.
“Sounds like a little bit of abduction is in order,” Champ hedged, knowing how Blade felt about that.
The Devil’s Fangs had plenty of club girls, and the men in general used women in many ways. But none of them were ever at the clubhouse against their own will. The Fangs refused to make their money off human trafficking, even though there were organizations in the bigger cities who made plenty of cash that way. It was against what few morals Blade had left, and the rest of the men seemed more than happy to follow along with it.
This, however, was a different situation. “Agreed. I’ll go over there tonight. I won’t bring her back to the clubhouse, though. That’s what Jet will suspect. Even if she doesn’t want me to, I’ve got to keep her safe.”
“I’m going with you,” Champ said, “and we might want to take a few other men as well. Jet will have his security a lot tighter now that he knows you’ve been in his home. Hell, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t burn the place down after that.” He laughed, no doubt thinking of the story Blade had told him of Jet finding Blade naked in the kitchen.
Blade allowed himself a small laugh as well. “Maybe. I’m gambling on him being so outrageously pissed that he can’t think straight. I gave him a few good blows to the head, which probably isn’t going to help matters, either.”
“In the meantime, I think you ought to get some sleep.” Champ ran a hand over his smooth head as he looked around at the other men. “Let the rest of us plot this out. They’re dying for it, and you know I’ll keep them in check.”
“I know.” Blade clapped him on the shoulder and headed upstairs toward the room he kept at the clubhouse. The sun shone in far too brightly through the window, and even drawing the curtains against it didn’t make it quite dark enough to sleep. His eyes were tired, and his body was sore, but as soon as he’d stripped down and gotten in bed, he knew he’d never be able to find sleep. There were too many things on his mind, too many possibilities to go through. The entire livelihood of the Fangs seemed to rest on the success of this mission, and he couldn’t be the one to let it fail.
