Pound of Flesh

by Jessa Kane

  Meaning he’d earned the money illegally. Not that I’m surprised. Large amounts of money don’t appear overnight the honest way. “How are you going to get the money to Raider?”

  His eyes meet mine in the rearview, skating away fast. “We’ll get you somewhere safe, then call him with a drop site.” He shakes his head. “Saw the way he looked at you. Didn’t trust him to hand you over, even if I gave him the money.”

  “Yeah, we heard you charmed the beast, cutie,” Roger’s other friend says, giving my legs a not-so-discreet look. “Understandable,” he murmurs for my ears alone. “I’m pretty charmed myself.”

  My stomach roils. Traveling in the opposite direction of Raider seems wrong. Really wrong. The Stockholm syndrome theory I had before might have merit. Or I just fell for this big guy and I miss him, faults and all. Cramming my fingers against my mouth, I make a bitter sound. “I think he’d hand me over now, Roger. One day in my illustrious presence and he’s already planning to off me.”

  “What?” My brother rears back in his seat. “Are you sure?”

  I frown. “Why do you seem so skeptical?”

  Roger hesitates. “Listen, I never told you this, but…Raider took the fall for the job when we got pinched.” Red climbs the back of his neck. “Never told me why, but when I saw him with you, I thought…”

  “What?”

  “I figured he might have taken that fall because of you. So you wouldn’t be fucking orphan.” His fist taps the steering wheel. “Just a theory I had.”

  My heart starts to drum out of control. “How? I never met him until he kicked down our front door.”

  To my right, Roger’s friend clears his throat. “Before he went away, he warned me to, uh, keep my hands off Delilah or he’d split me down the middle.”

  “Same here,” admits Roger’s other friend. “His threat to me was more testicle-specific, though.”

  “I-I don’t understand,” I whisper, my body cooling suddenly with the hyper-awareness that Raider’s arms aren’t around me. “Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

  “Probably because he’s a freak,” spits the guy on my right. “Didn’t want you to know he had a sick little crush, so he worked us behind the scenes until he could get out and kidnap you. Otherwise you would have turned him down, being that you’re normal and all.”

  Would I have turned Raider down? Before I got to know him? Probably, yes. My whole body aches with the realization. Had he really taken the fall for my brother so I wouldn’t be alone on the outside? How can I reconcile a man who would do something so noble…with the man who’d been casually plotting my death back in the motel room?

  When the guy beside me shifts, cold metal brushes my side and the situation becomes clear. Too clear. “Why aren’t you taking Raider’s threats seriously anymore? You’re not even acting scared of him.” A far cry from cowering behind the couch as he’d done when Raider arrived at our home.

  No one answers me, but sitting up in my seat, I look around the car and count four weapons. Some of them are beneath the seats, others are shoved in waistbands. My skin turns clammy.

  “You’re not planning on giving him the money, are you?” I ask Roger. “Did you even come up with it?”

  “Just let us handle this, Delilah,” he grits out, a second before his frame tenses. His knuckles turn white on the steering wheel, gaze locking on the rearview and I know Raider has already found me. “Whatever happens, sis, you stay down. It’s show time, boys.”

  “No.” I smack the back of Roger’s headrest. “You can’t d-do this. You can’t hurt him. Didn’t you just say he took the blame for your crime?”

  “Didn’t you just say he wanted to kill you?”

  Had I? My heart still doesn’t want to believe it. “I-I don’t know. Just pull over and let me talk to him. I’ll straighten it out.”

  “Talk to him?” Roger bursts out. “No fucking way. If we let him get close enough to talk, he’ll crush us all.”

  Raider’s van pulls up alongside Roger’s Mercedes. My first glimpse of the wildness in Raider’s eyes expels the breath from my lungs. The guy on my right raises his gun and aims at Raider…and I don’t think, I grab his arm and jerk up, blasting a bullet hole into the ceiling. Raider’s bellow reaches me across the road, along with my brother’s much less powerful one, then suddenly the Mercedes is spinning, screeching, coming to a dead stop.

  It takes me a second to gather my bearings, but as soon as my vision clears of spots, I search through the windows for Raider’s van, finding it parked a short distance behind the Mercedes. All three men begin to load their guns, faces intent, obviously preparing to shoot my giant.

  “Don’t shoot!” I scream, my voice echoing in the car’s interior. “Don’t shoot him. You can’t. Please.”

  “Stay out of it,” says Roger. “It’s for your own good, sis. I’m protecting you.”

  “No, I don’t want this.”

  There’s only one man blocking me from getting out, so I reach into his lap and twist his nuts in a fist. While he’s distracted by the pain and shock, I hurtle myself out through the back door with a shout of denial. I run as fast as I can, throwing myself at an approaching Raider. He hoists me up into his arms, cradling me close, his heart hammering a million beats per second beside my ear.

  “Delilah,” Raider says raggedly. “The car…it spun…are you hurt?”

  “No.”

  He releases a relieved exhale. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You can see your brother. Okay? If that’s what you need to be happy, I’ll try not to hide you away from anyone but me. Please come back to me. Don’t run away.”

  Hot tears push at the backs of my eyelids. “You have to go, Raider. They’re going to kill you.”

  His scoff vibrates my whole body. “Only way I’m going is if you come with me.”

  “But I heard you on the phone.” Somehow what I overheard seems absurd now. I can feel his anguish over losing me. How could this same man want me harmed? “You said you’d changed your mind and wanted to get rid of me. I thought—”

  His anguished huff shuts me up. “You’re back to you thinking I want to kill you, Delilah? Really?” There’s pain in his eyes when they connect with mine. “I was talking about selling my car. So I can provide for you—like you deserve—until I get the garage open.” He brushes a wayward blonde strand out of my face. “My whole life is about making sure you never feel an ounce of pain as long as you live. I could never hurt my beautiful doll.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say, my insides puckering. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  “I’m the one who hollered at you.” His eyes close. “I can’t stand thinking about your pretty nose getting red.”

  “Step away from her, Raider,” Roger calls, appearing behind Raider’s shoulder, gun raised. “This is between us. Leave her out of it.”

  “I don’t want the money,” Raider shouts back, his eyes back open and trained on me. Hungrily. “But nothing will stop me from keeping your sister.”

  “Like hell. Pretty sure her climbing out of the bathroom window means she doesn’t want to be kept.” My brother spits on the ground. “Never had a problem with you, man. But you can’t just go around stealing people.”

  Lord, all I can think about is kissing my giant and apologizing for doubting him until I’m blue in the face, but I force myself to focus on the problem at hand. “Roger, guys, put the guns down. I won’t let you hurt him.” I brush his scarred cheek with my thumb. “He won’t hurt me, either.”

  “And if you fire a single shot while I’m holding her,” Raider adds coldly, “none of you are leaving alive. Do not test me on that.”

  “Raider.” Deciding to get the situation under control, I frame his face with my hands. “Is it true you went to prison on behalf of my brother, so I wouldn’t be left with no one to care for me?”

  Surprise slides into his expression. “Yes,” he says quietly, scrutinizing my face for a reaction. “I couldn’t stand the thought of you being put into
a system. Somewhere I couldn’t find you when I got out.”

  I heave a sigh of appreciation. “You big, sweet man.” My brother and his friends make choked noises when I lay slow kisses on Raider’s forehead, chin and cheeks. “How did you know I even existed?”

  The motor inside his massive body is begging to hum. “Saw you outside one day…” His voice drops to an abrasive rasp, green eyes fogging. “Just a girl. A sweet, little teenager with her pussy pressed to a bike seat. But I needed you to be my woman one day. Knew it in my stomach you’d be mine. And I figured the only way to keep you with me so you couldn’t get away…was to take you.” Regret laces his heated tone. “I should be ashamed for taking you without giving you a choice, but you’re kissing my face now, my cock is where that bike seat used to touch, and I can’t be ashamed for nothing, doll. I’ll do better, though. Please. Just don’t run away.”

  My heart gives a standing ovation, along with my nerve endings. My pulse. Uncaring about our audience, I kiss Raider’s mouth thoroughly, stopping only when wetness begins to spread between my legs. “Do I have your promise that I can visit my home whenever I want?” I ask, loud enough for my brother to hear. “And that we’ll make decisions together, instead of you telling me the way things are going to be?”

  “Yes,” he answers gruffly, his eyes full of affection. “I promise. Now that I know you can actually feel something for me…all on your own…I’ll allow you anything. As long as I’m there to protect you.”

  “Deal,” I breathe, tightening my legs around his huge waist. “Roger, I’m going home with my giant. I’ll call you when I’m ready to visit.”

  “You can’t be serious,” my brother says. “Jesus, you are.”

  When I look over, he’s got a bemused smile on his face. All three guns have been lowered. The men even look a little fascinated by what they’re witnessing.

  And why wouldn’t they be?

  This beauty just nabbed herself one gorgeous beast.

  EPILOGUE

  Raider

  One year later

  My beautiful doll loves frozen yogurt. I think it tastes like shit, but I eat it by the truck load, because it’s something we can share together.

  After I brought Delilah home, I don’t think I stopped fucking her for a month straight. My freezer is stocked with ice packs for the poor little thing, but she refuses to use them. At least not while I’m around. Probably because it would make me insane to see physical evidence that I made her ache from needing her so bad.

  I’ve managed to give her breaks now between fuck sessions. Some days it seems impossible to keep my dick out of her, but she’s managing her own frozen yogurt store now, so she’s off limits during working hours. Mostly. Sometimes the pressure in my balls gets too intense and she has to turn on the CLOSED sign while I rail her from behind in the storage room, all the blonde hair wrapped around my fist.

  Goddamn, just thinking about it makes me horny for my little wife. I wonder if she’ll take a break today. Maybe ride me in the backseat of one of the cars I’m repairing? Afterward she could sit on my lap and feed me whatever new fro-yo flavor she’s experimenting with. I’ll tell her it’s delicious, even though I’m wondering why people don’t just eat ice cream instead. Hmm. It would be really easy to make some backseat action happen, considering her yogurt store is attached to my garage. Hell, I’m the one that built the place for her, right onto the side of my shop so she’d be nearby. Couldn’t have her traveling into town or some shit where I can’t protect her from harm, right?

  Nope.

  Having her so close gives me peace of mind. My customers have taken to waiting in the yogurt store, chatting with Delilah while I change their oil or make repairs. The women, anyway. When men bring their car in for repairs, they wait the fuck outside.

  Damn. Now on top of being horny, I’ve got the possessive heat to my blood.

  I roll out from beneath the jacked up classic Chevy I’m working on, careful not to bang my hard cock off anything. Coming to my feet, I switch off the radio and poke my head around the doorway leading into Delilah’s shop.

  And there she is. My beautiful doll.

  She’s standing at the counter, waving goodbye to the group of elderly women who are heading out the exit. My gaze drops, as it inevitably does, to her tight ass…and my eyes narrow. Seems to me she wouldn’t have worn a short, red skirt if she didn’t expect a visit from her husband at some point during the day. Wouldn’t have left those smooth, toned legs out for me to imagine spreading. God knows that’s what I’m doing right now. Thinking about her knees locked around my head while I lick her perfect cunt.

  As if Delilah senses me standing there, she turns…giving me a look at my two favorite women. My wife. And the tiny, sleeping baby strapped to her chest.

  Sleeping. Thank Christ.

  Delilah bites her lip and scrutinizes my lap. “Did you need me for something?”

  “I never stop needing you,” I rasp. “Please.”

  With a slow stroll designed to drive me crazy, Delilah rounds the yogurt counter, her backside swaying left to right, turning my dick to concrete. She flips over the sign on the door, and I follow her into the small office where we keep a basinet for Hildie. No sooner has she laid down our sleeping baby, that I drag her into the storage closet across the hall.

  “Not so fast,” she murmurs, even as she starts popping open buttons on her shirt. One by one. “We’re going for a visit tonight at Roger’s. Can you still close the shop an hour early?”

  “Yes,” I grit out, refusing to admit that I no longer mind going to see her asshole brother. It makes my wife happy, and Roger has become tolerable since he realized I worship the ground his sister walks on. “Early. Closing early.”

  Delilah smiles up at me, and my heart slams against my ribs. “You’re so good to me.” She pushes open her shirt and presents me with her incredible tits, purring as I mold them in my extra-large hands. “I want to be good to you, too.”

  “You are,” I groan, rasping her pretty, pink nipples with my palms. “You’re so good to me, I still wake up every day thinking I’m dreaming.”

  “You’re not dreaming,” she whispers, unfastening the fly of my jeans, peeling down the zipper. “I love you. You love me. And it’s not a dream.”

  “Thank God.”

  When I bend down for a kiss, she evades me. Dropping to her knees. My abdomen lurches with wild lust as Delilah frees my cock, laying a kiss on the pulsing head. “You say I’m good to you.” Her tongue flickers out, catching a drop of come. “But I want to be even better, Daddy.”

  I swallow my growl to keep from waking the baby, snaring her hair in my fist and rocking my hips toward her suckling mouth. “Good girl, Delilah. Let Daddy show you how.”

  The End