Mammoth (San Francisco Steel, #4)

by KJ Dahlen

  “Please do.” He growled and he realized he was going to do far more with this woman ‒ and she was a woman not a girl ‒ than he had intended at first.

  She turned to view him and her hands held the bar of soap now. She looked like she didn’t know where to start. “There is a lot of skin here.” Her eyes sparkled.

  Mammoth just stared at those eyes of hers. God, they are like emeralds in the rain. Her eyes were so full of life and something else. He wanted to find out what that something else was and he would too.

  She reached out and began running the soap over his skin. First, his chest, then his waist, then his thighs. She did it slowly as if it was a worshipping or something and she kept letting out little moans and gasps.

  “Sprite... you’re playing with fire,” he warned her.

  “Maybe I’m waiting to feel the burn.” She shivered as she said the words.

  “It’s about to get very warm in here, little girl. I hope you like it hot.” He reached around her and grabbed the globes of her ass lifting her up so her legs would circle his waist. He lowered his mouth to cover hers and their kiss was hard and fast. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and she began dry humping his thigh. Then he lifted her a little higher and his cock sought out her wet core, as he’d determined that she wasn’t going to have to dry hump anything now. In one thrust, he was balls deep inside her.

  She screamed as he filled her. Pain and pleasure sounded out in her voice.

  Mammoth was not a small man by any means and his cock was bigger than most. He really didn’t think he would fit but surprisingly, she took all of him inside her. It was if she was made to fit him despite her small size and he reveled in it.

  They began the age-old dance of give and take. Each thrust was harder and deeper than the last and it didn’t take long for either of them to fly over the edge. Zoe went first but he was right behind her. At the last possible moment, Mammoth covered her mouth with his own and he swallowed her scream of ecstasy. He kissed her hard and deep and never wanted to stop, the flavor of her burst over his tongue. He knew now, for sure that he wanted more of this.

  They both slid down the shower wall in their weakened state and sat on the tiled floor, allowing the water to pour over them until it turned as cold as ice.

  “I think we have to move now,” Zoe finally spoke as she reached up and turned the cold water off.

  “I don’t know if I have any strength left to move,” he grumbled.

  She got to her knees and urged him up. “Come on big guy, I can’t lift you, you gotta do that part, even if you have to crawl to the bed.” She used almost the same words as when she’d found him early this morning.

  “Don’t get so pushy woman.” He growled but had to smile.

  “Then don’t be a pussy.” she countered with a grin.

  “Grrr... I’ll show you how a pussy is,” he spoke in a low voice.

  Zoe laughed and easily got away from him. Stepping out of the shower, she dried off and turned to leave when he caught the edge of her towel.

  Pulling it away, Mammoth frowned when he noticed a big scar on her back. He never saw it in the shower because of her hair maybe. “What the hell?” he mumbled.

  Zoe caught his glare and quickly grabbed the towel away from him. She hastily wrapped it around her body again. Then she quietly walked back into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. Hanging her head, she waited for him to get out and dry off.

  It only took a minute, then he came after her in just his boxers. Sitting down on the bed next to her, he took her hand. He just held her hand for a while then yanked the covers back and laid down. He pulled her down beside him and held her in his arms. He didn’t say a word and neither did she.

  There would be time for questions later. He also intended to show her a slow session and take her to heights she’d never known. Just now though, he needed to sleep off the ambush.

  With her ear on his chest, she listened to his pounding heart for a moment then fell asleep within the safety of his arms.

  Chapter Six

  Sometime later, Zoe was awakened when she heard voices in the room. At first, when she opened her eyes she didn’t know where she was, then she felt the warm but large body next to her and she turned to look at him.

  Mammoth was thrashing around the bed, seeming to be caught up in a nightmare.

  Zoe knew this feeling and terror all too well. She sat huddled up with her arms around her knees watching the big man struggle for a few minutes, then she began calling his name gently. She knew better than to touch him, or to wake him rudely. She wasn’t that fond of pain. But she also knew she had to reach his mind and pull him from the situation he was in. She began to hum softly, it was a tune she’d heard somewhere a long time ago, but she could never remember where.

  Mammoth began to sweat even more as he called out in pain. He kept asking if they were in hell because it was so hot. He was reaching out to someone asking if they were okay. Suddenly, his voice raised and soon, he was yelling, “Stop! No, run for cover! Fuuuuccck!”

  Zoe kept humming and singing softly like an annoying drone but after a few minutes, she could tell he was beginning to hear her. The tone of his cries began to lower and he was turning his head to where she sat. Her voice was drawing him away from the pain of his nightmares. Away from the horrors, he was reliving in his dreams.

  Then her humming was nothing more than a whisper she began calling his name, “Mammoth, it’s over. You can wake up now. Come back to me. I’m waiting for you big guy. Mammoth, come back to me.”

  Some minutes later, he was calm enough to open his eyes and stare at her. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he looked pale as he watched her reaction.

  “Can I touch you yet?” she whispered.

  “Why would you want to touch a freak like me?” he grumbled in embarrassment, turning his head away. His nightmares bothered him and after he woke up, he always cried at what he’d lost that day in the hell of that ambush. It had been so long since he’d had one that he was shocked to find himself waking from it.

  Zoe reached out her hand and laid it on his jaw. Turning his head back her way, she smiled kindly at him.

  Mammoth wanted to turn away from her, but he kept staring at her face instead. She had some soft light in her eyes, like she understood what he felt. But that was impossible, no one could ever know that.

  Her smile then faded as she spoke, “You know I had that same reaction to a nightmare once. I woke up and didn’t know where I was but there was an old man sitting next to me. He was just sitting there, waiting for me to come back from whatever hell I was at. He told me, ‘There was nothing wrong that time and patience can’t cure. He said nightmares aren’t always fun, in fact they aren’t fun at all, but they are our minds remembering something we lived through. The pain and suffering we had to go through and that’s always going to be part of until we face it and then let it go. Sometimes the thing we fear the most is the very thing we should face first.’ ” She kept her eyes on him the whole time she spoke, “I don’t know what happened to you, what keeps haunting your dreams, but I do know that old man was right. We all have our own nightmares, or things from our past that haunt us. The longer we ignore what happened to us, the stronger that one thing becomes. The more power it has over us. Whether its war or something else, sometimes all you need to do is talk about it with someone who knows what you’re going through. Someone who’s been where you’ve been. When you can accept that, you’ll be able to talk about it, but only when you’re ready.”

  Mammoth listened and understood her words. He couldn’t fathom how a little sprite like her could be so dammed wise.

  Zoe leaned over and kissed him gently. The barely there touch of her mouth on his made him reach out and grab the back of her head as he ravaged her mouth with his.

  Zoe groaned and the next thing she knew she was on top of him. Skin to skin, she opened her legs and her core was rubbing and writhing along his pelvis. She was able to feel him growing hard
and then his cock was soaking in her juices as she coated him.

  Mammoth’s hands grabbed her waist and he slammed her down on him. He invaded her core and then he began to piston in and out of her body. His strokes were on the border of out of control from the first one.

  But Zoe didn’t mind, in fact she reveled in his possession. Their kiss became a dance of its own as he took her higher and higher and finally, they both were caught at the top of the precipice. Mammoth roared as they flew into the abyss and he unloaded his fury inside her.

  She collapsed on top of him and for a moment, neither one of them could move. Their mating had been fast and fierce and they were both stunned by it. After a moment or so, Zoe lifted herself up and looked at him. His tears were still wet on his face, so she reached down to wipe them away with her thumbs.

  Mammoth growled and went to grab her wrists. “Don’t.”

  She looked down at him. “Allow me to do this. Tears are nothing to be ashamed of. This is God’s way of healing our souls when we hurt. Your nightmare brings you remembered pain, pain you had to live through once already. Your tears are your body’s way of cleansing. Everyone cries at some point.”

  “Men don’t cry,” he told her gruffly. His voice was dead to emotion and flat with disappointment.

  “That’s nothing more than a myth. Men cry. Mostly on the inside but men, do cry. There’s nothing wrong with it. We all carry our own burdens, but what makes us or breaks us is how we handle them. Never be ashamed of who you are.”

  Mammoth grabbed the back of her head and brought her mouth down to his. She expected the kiss to be harsh but he surprised her. It was a soft and gentle mating of the mouths and when he was done, he wrapped his arms around her and just held her for a moment.

  Then a while later he said, “I suppose we have to get up now and join the rest of them. I’m getting hungry.”

  Zoe chuckled. “I could eat.” Then she looked away and began gnawing on her bottom lip. “I’m just not sure about meeting the others. I mean I look like a street person and my clothes aren’t exactly clean.”

  “Honey, they won’t care,” he assured her.

  “But I do,” she whispered back.

  Slammer was sitting at the table with Ivy, Shotgun, River, Booker and Bess when they all heard the shouting coming from Mammoth’s room.

  Everyone else noticed it too. The room got quiet as the shouting continued.

  “What is that all about?” Ivy asked.

  “Mammoth has nightmares sometimes,” Slammer told her but he didn’t explain it.

  “It’s best to ignore them.” Booker shrugged his shoulders.

  Everyone sitting there didn’t move a muscle to help the other man.

  “Why is that?” River asked looking upset.

  “Because we all found out the hard way, and I do mean the hard way, not to be anywhere near him when he gets like this.” Slammer rubbed the line of his own jaw and remembered the hard hit he’d taken on more than one occasion when he went to try to wake the other big guy.

  “Didn’t you say he brought a woman home with him?” Ivy asked. “Is he going to hurt her?”

  “I guess we’ll find out,” Slammer stated. It wasn’t a comforting thought but he had to let the man attend to his own.

  “You can’t just leave her alone with him, not when he’s like that!” River protested.

  Shotgun reached over and wrapped her in his arms. “Mammoth has never hurt a woman. We have to pray he doesn’t now either.”

  Then the shouting ended and everyone in the main hall held their breath that it wouldn’t start up again. When they heard nothing, they all began to relax. A few minutes later, they heard his roar and it startled them. They looked at one another and couldn’t help but be curious as to what was going on in his room.

  Booker muttered, “I hope he didn’t smash anything this time.”

  A little while later, Mammoth’s door opened and he walked out. Joining them at the table, he grinned.

  “Is she alive in there?” Slammer asked.

  “Yeah boss, she’s still alive.” Mammoth nodded. “But she claimed her clothes are too messy to join us out here. So I’m just going to take her a plate.”

  “Would she come out if she had clean clothes to wear?” River asked.

  Mammoth turned to look at her. “I’m not sure.”

  Booker nudged his brother. “Are you all right man?” he asked quietly.

  Mammoth glanced around the room to see that all his brothers had concern on their faces. Then he looked back at Booker and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. She brought me out of it before it got too bad.”

  Booker swung his stunned gaze over to study the other man. “She brought you out of it? How the hell did she do that?”

  “I have no fucking clue but she did.” Mammoth shook his head.

  “How bad did you scare her?” Slammer asked still feeling disbelief, as he knew what Booker was referring to. They had both suffered injuries a year ago when Mammoth had one of his nightmares.

  “I didn’t scare her at all,” Mammoth told them quietly.

  “What the hell?” Slammer was stunned. He’d seen the big guy during one of his nightmares and it was enough to scare even him. “How could that happen?”

  Mammoth shook his head. “Don’t know and don’t care right now.”

  “Did she say anything about what happened when you guys left?” Slammer asked softly. “You know the reaction I mean.” He motioned his head to the three women in the far corner.

  “I haven’t asked her yet. She’s afraid of something,” he paused to turn his head to stare at the three girls in the corner. “Or someone,” he stated in a low quiet voice. “I did tell her that secrets could get us killed and I’m sure she listened. She’ll tell us when she’s ready.”

  “Hopefully it won’t come too late to make a difference,” Booker muttered.

  “Can we meet her?” River wanted to know.

  “I’m hoping so.” Mammoth nodded his head, as he looked a bit lost. “For such a tiny woman, she packs a huge punch.”

  “Women can do that.” Slammer grinned as he looked over at his own woman.

  Ivy stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled.

  “That’s our job you know,” Ivy told him as she looked over at River.

  River nodded in agreement.

  All three men laughed then Texas joined them. He had a sober look on his face as he handed Slammer a couple of photos.

  Slammer raised his brow at the brother and took the photos from him. “Am I going to like what I see or hate it?”

  “Most likely, you’ll hate it.” Texas sighed. “I know I did. But I’m not you.”

  Chapter Seven

  Slammer felt his heart sink as he gazed down at the photos Texas just handed him. At first, he didn’t see anything wrong, then he looked closer. There was a couple sitting at an outside table at a café somewhere in town. The woman was blonde and she seemed very friendly with the guy sitting at the table. He looked closer at the blonde. The photo was grainy and she had her face mostly turned away from the camera so that didn’t help. When he looked at the second photo, the woman had turned her face to glare at the man sitting with her. This time, there was no mistaking her face. It was Amber and she was looking hatefully at her companion.

  “Where did you find this photo?” Slammer dared to ask.

  “It was in Andrea’s file of the members of the Venom’s Tears Gang,” Texas dropped his bomb.

  “What the everlovin’ fuck?” Booker, their Road Captain swore loudly.

  The room grew quiet.

  Slammer looked up at Texas and asked quietly, “Are you sure about that?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Find Andrea and get her little ass out here,” Slammer ordered.

  “My little ass is already here,” Andrea quipped as she and Grinder joined them.

  Slammer handed her the photos and demanded, “When and where was this taken?”

  Andre
a studied the photo and the timestamp. “The when is timestamped on the photo the where is somewhere by the Fisherman’s Wharf. I was there on the date it’s stamped.”

  “This was three weeks ago boss,” Shotgun told him.

  Slammer stared at her. “And this man she’s with. He’s one of Anaconda’s men?”

  She nodded. “Look closely at his hand.”

  Slammer did so. He saw the snakehead and let out a low growl.

  “Is there a chance they have her as an inside person here?” Grinder asked.

  “I think that is what this means.” Mammoth looked angry too.

  “Yeah well, I’m not taking any chances,” Slammer told them in a quiet tone. “We’re about to find out and then she’s gone.”

  Shotgun grabbed Slammer’s arm. “You know if you do that, he will kill her for getting caught, don’t you?”

  Slammer glared at him then pulled his arm away. “You should rethink that mercy attitude man. If she is the one, she may have thrown your daughter out to the wolves, Shotgun. She should have thought about the consequences before she came in here to betray us. If he gets in here, do you honestly think he’s going to leave any of us alive? Including your woman and kid?” He ran his hands over the back of his head. “Hell, Amber would probably be his first causality. He can’t leave any of us alive.”

  Booker shook his head slowly. “I know you’re right, but no one deserves that.”

  Slammer raised his head and looked at his men, “And from now on, no one but no one, who isn’t a member, hears us talk about shit. If she’s been passing information to that scum, maybe he already knows what’s going on in here.” He stared at them all a moment longer, “Got that?”

  He saw everyone agree then Slammer got to his feet and looked over at the three women in the corner. “Amber, I need you front and center.”

  Amber got up from her chair and with a confused look came toward Slammer. When she got closer to him, she saw the photo in his hand and stopped in her tracks. She raised her head and bit her lower lip as her hands started to shake.