by M J Marino
“You’re both mine now,” I say with the utmost seriousness as I drink my coffee, watching her over the brim.
“Is that so?” says a snide voice from behind us.
I turn around in my seat and glare at Jacob. What the fuck is he doing here? Is he following my woman now?
Hades is up on all fours, snarling at Jacob. I run my hand down Hades’s back and feel his muscles shaking. The dog clearly dislikes Josephine’s ex-boyfriend. Was Jacob the intruder last night and Hades recognizes his scent?
“Jacob? You’re still in town? I would have thought you’d have already left for Denver.” Josephine asks with surprise, pulling on Hades’s leash to make him stop growling, but he doesn’t stop. I take the leash from her since I’m able to restrain him better.
Jacob smiles tightly down at her. “I’m staying near here, remember? Came here to get my morning coffee and breakfast. I was hoping to have some company last night and stayed in town.”
Having heard enough, I stand from my chair with Hades in front of me, making Jacob step back a pace. Good, a line needs to be drawn in the sand.
“Sorry, but Josephine will not be keeping you company again. She’s mine.”
Jacob gives me one of those polite smiles which really means ‘fuck off.’
“Didn’t realize you speak for Jo,” he chides before addressing Josephine. “So, what, you’re into bikers and bad boys now? Are you going to let him control your life? Seriously, what would your parents say if they knew?”
I bark a laugh and thumb at Josephine. “If you think she could be controlled, you really never knew her.” Josephine snorts in agreement.
“It doesn’t matter who I’m with, Jacob, as long as the person is decent, which Maceo is. He’s honest and compassionate, and all things I deserve in a relationship. And don’t bring my family into this. I’m done with their negative opinions anyways. No one, especially you, has the right to judge who I date,” Josephine chides back.
I frown because ‘date’ isn’t the word I would use. It simply isn’t strong enough for what we have together. I will address it later with her when dickhead is gone.
Jacob’s face puckers and his eyes narrow at her. “I won’t be leaving for Denver until after the weekend, maybe, and I’m not sure when I will return to San Diego. I have lots of vacation days I plan on using while I’m here,” he says in a possessive tone.
My fingers twist into the Velcro of Hades’s muzzle. Jacob just needs to give me a reason to unleash our hellhound.
Josephine sighs, like she’s exhausted with Jacob pushing himself on her. “You’ll be wasting your time sticking around here. I would head to Denver now or go back home if I were you.”
Anger is clearly etched on Jacob’s boyish face, and he takes a deliberate step toward Josephine.
Hades, suddenly free and clear of his muzzle and off his leash, takes a running leap at him. He jumps against his chest, snarling and gnashing his teeth near Jacob’s face. Jacob shrieks like a little kid.
“Whoops! He must have got away from me,” I say unapologetically, pulling Hades back to me by his collar. Hades continues to bark at Jacob, yanking hard. I hook him back up to his leash. “Wow! He really doesn’t like you. Almost as if he senses you’re a threat.”
Jacob’s eyes are bulging. “I’m the threat? He attacked me!”
I shrug my shoulders and hand the leash back to Josephine, who is looking as wide-eyed as Jacob. “He’s a guard dog. He protects Josephine with his life. He doesn’t attack anyone unless he senses a threat. Are you a threat, Jacob?”
Jacob straightens out his shirt and throws me eye daggers. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really? Because I think you do. I think, when Detective Quire came and questioned you last night, you lied to save your own ass,” I taunt.
Jacob glowers and looks to Josephine. “Jo, I’m here for you if you want to get away from this asshole. Call me and I’ll be there.”
I laugh maniacally. “She won’t be calling you. And trust me, I’m taking great fucking care of her, exactly how she likes it.” It’s low and dirty, but I’ve never been above it before and I’m not going to start now with this asswipe.
His eyes flash and I see him clench his fists at his sides.
Oh, Oh, OH! Please bring it. I would love for the loafer-dick to take a swing at me. I would end it all right here, right now, and be within my rights of self-defense. To my great displeasure, he looks once more at Josephine begrudgingly and stalks into the café.
Josephine shakes her head. “You just had to poke the bear, didn’t you?”
Wanting to show my ownership of this woman, I scoop her out of her seat ‘till we stand chest to chest, clasping my hand at the nape of her neck, demanding she look up into my eyes. I claim her lips in a crushing blow, forcing my tongue past her teeth. I don’t stop kissing her until she’s practically mewling.
I hope the loafer-dick is watching. I hope he sees how much she belongs to me. I hope he fucking covets what I have, and what he will never have again.
“Mine,” I growl, as if it explains my behavior.
“Geez, Maceo. Glad I’m not wearing yellow like a fire hydrant or else I’d be scared you’d mark me with your piss,” she says breathlessly.
I grin impishly down at my slip of a woman. “I’ve never been into urolagnia, but for you I’d make the exception.”
“Eww, gross!” She giggles.
“Don’t knock it till you try it,” I tease with a laugh of my own.
“Hard pass,” we both say at the same time and laugh in unison.
Her smile fades. “Can we not stay here? I don’t feel comfortable with Jacob close by.”
“Of course.” I kiss the crown of her delicate head. “Come on. We can walk to my next errand.” I take Hades’s leash and give her my arm.
I give her a serious look. “Oh, and we aren’t dating.”
Josephine looks crushed. “We’re not?”
I stop walking and kiss her hard for a moment before looking directly into her aqua eyes. “You’re mine. My woman. My pixie. My baby. And I’m your man. That’s enough of this dating nonsense. We’re more than that shit and you know it.”
Josephine smiles and blushes hard. God, I love this woman.
Five minutes later, we’re walking into Lloyd’s Barbershop, a modern and edgy spin on the classic barber joint. The place is packed, usual for an early Saturday morning, with many guys wanting to get cuts before a new week begins.
I’m in desperate need of cleaning up. Since I’m on guard duty, I don’t have a choice but to bring mi amor along. On one hand, I’m happy as fuck to show her off to all the guys in here. But on the other hand, I’m ready to fucking deck anyone who’s going to look at my woman in a pervy way. Keeping myself in check will be second to watching over my pixie.
“Atlas, my man,” Lloyd says, greeting me with a bro hug. “You’re overdue, hombre.”
“Don’t I know it.” I run my hand through my unruly hair. “I need an undercut and straight razor.”
“You don’t want me to trim the beard? It would look good on you, man,” Lloyd suggests.
I shake my head and look at Josephine. “Nah, shave it clean. I want to be able to feel my woman again.” A few heads whip around to look at my pixie.
Lloyd does a double take and homes in on Josephine, appraising her for the beauty she is. “Damn, Atlas, when did you pick up this fine woman?” He reaches out for Josephine’s hand and takes it in both of his. “Are you in trouble, miss? Do I need to sneak you away from this guy? Seriously, how did you get mixed up with this asshole?”
Josephine laughs. “I’m good, but thanks.”
“Josephine, this is my Colombian brother, Lloyd Martínez. We served together on a couple missions back in our SEAL days. He’s one of the best guys I know.”
“Nice to meet you, Lloyd,” she says sweetly.
“Likewise.” Lloyd’s eyes drop to Hades. “Oh, man! A Cane Corso. Damn
, he’s a big boy.” Hades sniffs at him, wags his stubby tail, and backs up to Josephine.
“This is Hades,” Josephine introduces. “He’s a little protective. We’re going to hang out over here while we wait for Maceo.”
Lloyd’s eyes bulge. “Oh, man, she’s calling you by your birth name. You have fallen hard, hombre,” he hoots. “Come on dude. Let me make you look good again for your woman.”
Now, few guys will admit they like getting pampered, but we all fucking love it. A hair wash, a haircut, a good shave. They’re all things that help me relax. But as relaxed as I am, I continue to watch Josephine in the mirror sitting in the waiting area behind me. She watches me back with a cute smile.
Fuck, I want to have her right now.
Hades is a little restless as he waits. More than once he creeps over to where I’m sitting and lays his head in my lap. I pet his velvet head and he scoots back over to his mamá where she kisses the top of his nose.
“Man, Atlas, she’s a real belleza. I’ve never seen you this fucking happy before,” Lloyd says as he works.
I smile because he’s right, I’ve never been this happy in my entire life. “Well, eyes and hands off. She’s mine.”
Lloyd laughs. “How did you two meet?”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. The asshole in me would have told everyone I knew I fucked her out on the trail, fifteen minutes after meeting her. But the part of me which protects Josephine will always win out. “She’s the architectural engineer for the new MC clubhouse.”
Lloyd’s eyes pop. “She like, designs buildings and shit?”
“Yep,” I say, holding as still as possible when he’s shaving my neck with a straight edge.
“She’s reasonable?”
“Yes. You got something you want built?”
Lloyd shrugs and finishes up. “I’m thinking about expanding, but I want to do it right, ya know.”
“Pixie,” I call. She comes up to me, and I reach out and take her hand to my face, rubbing skin on skin.
“Looking good, baby,” she coos, and I kiss the back of her hand.
I grin wickedly at her in the mirror. Her calling me ‘baby’ is the sexiest thing I’ve heard come out of her mouth—apart from screaming my name, or the moans she makes when I’m making love to her.
“Could you leave a business card here for Lloyd? He’s thinking about expanding.”
Josephine goes into full business mode, and next thing I know, Lloyd is planning on sitting down with her next week to go over plans for his new barbershop. I have to give Josephine credit, she knows how to sell her business.
We walk back to the car and my motorcycle arm in arm. I can’t help but scoop her up half a dozen times to kiss her all over. I’m loving how much closer I am now that my face is shaved. We take Hades to the trails to run off his energy before heading back to her condo.
The new door has finally been installed. Wanting to be alone with Josephine, I tell Ziggy and Butch to head back to the rental and get some rest. Hades bounds inside and over to his bed where he plops down and starts snoring.
I grab Josephine by the hips and kiss her long and deep. There are many things I want to do with this woman, but right now I want to take her for a long ride on my bike. Give her a break from all this break-in shit and spend time with her doing something I hope she’ll grow to love as much as I do.
“Go get on some jeans. We’re gonna go for a ride.” I better be careful with how handsy I get right now, or the only place we’ll be going is to her bedroom.
Josephine’s eyes shine and she bounces excitedly. “Okay,” she squeals with delight. I smack her ass as she runs to her room.
I go to grab my bag when I hear Josephine’s purse ping. “Babe, you got a text,” I call out.
“Can you check it for me? I want to make sure it’s not a delivery for the build site,” she answers back.
“No problem, baby.” I dig around in her purse. I pull her phone out and there are no messages. That’s weird. But I hear another ping. What the…?
I dig in her purse and pull out a simple black phone. I touch the screen and it lights up with a text from loafer-dick.
*I meant what I said, Keebler. Call me if you need anything. I’ll be waiting for you.*
My fingers wrap around the seemingly harmless device as my vision goes red.
Chapter Eleven
Josephine
“What the fuck is this?” Maceo’s fire and brimstone voice says behind me.
I spin around with my shorts shucked and see Maceo holding up my burner. Well, fuck.
“It’s the burner I picked up when I found out you hacked into my phone.” I answer honestly. “I was pissed and I thought I wasn’t getting back together with you. I knew you were not settling on me walking away and weren’t going to stop tracking me.
“I felt violated and betrayed and I wanted control of my life again. I bought the phone to keep you from spying on me. I probably would have told you about it sooner if the past twenty-four since you came back hadn’t been so hectic.”
Maceo closes his eyes and grinds his teeth. “You have every right to be mad about me hacking into your phone and everything else. I understand why you got it, but I don’t understand why loafer-dick is communicating with you on it. How many times did you have contact with Jacob on this phone?”
“It was how I communicated with him about coming onto the project. I knew you were angry when you saw that I talked to him the night I blocked you, and Punk told me you needed to focus on your mission, so I used the burner instead. Check for yourself. It’s all right there. I believe it was three times I called him to update him on the progress of the build. He would text a lot, but I never responded to anything unless it was related to the project,” I say evenly and unashamed.
As pissed as he is right now, he has nothing on how furious I was the night when everything came to light. For Christ’s sake, he hacked into my life and was spying on me. I shouldn’t need to defend myself in this situation at all.
Maceo nods, accepting my reasoning but clearly displeased. The next thing I see, he’s crushing the phone in his hand like it’s an aluminum can. I gape.
Holy shit! How is that humanly possible?
He throws the broken phone into my bedroom trash can and stalks toward me, eyes coal-black and smoldering.
Before I can respond with words or move my body, he grips me by the waist and spins me to the bed where he forces me to bend over, my chest flush against the comforter.
What in the world is going on?
He bends to whisper in my ear. “I recall you giving me permission to do this.”
Oh my! I’m instantly moist between my thighs, knowing what’s about to happen.
His body moves away and I feel the slap of his palm on my ass. It stings and I suck in a ragged breath. He cups my sore cheek with his massive hand, massaging away the pain.
My body shivers in response to his touch. He slaps my other cheek with a loud smack, harder than the first. I yelp in surprise and struggle to stand. He uses his free hand to push me back down into the mattress. Again, he rubs the sting of the burn deeper into the curve of my ass, causing a trail of heat to go straight to my clutching sex.
My brain is discombobulated as it tries to make sense of my reaction, being forced into submission.
“The color red looks amazing on your ass,” he whispers.
It seems like Maceo’s done, but suddenly he gives me five more rapid slaps on alternating cheeks. I cry out. But worse than the pain or the humiliation is how turned on I’m getting from the punishment he’s inflicting on my bottom. My thong is soaked through and I bet my money he knows it too.
Both of his palms are massaging my burning ass cheeks and I hate how good it feels. I whimper at the contact and fight myself from pushing my butt up into his open hands, begging for more.
“I’ve wanted to spank your ass from the first day, when you took off after I fucked you on the trail. And every time since, when you
’ve done something to piss me off, I’ve been visualizing having your bare ass exposed to me,” he says in a husky, deep voice.
Maceo stands behind me rubbing my ass cheeks. His fingers lace into my thong and he slides it down slowly, sinking to his knees behind me. His hand cracks over my ass again, and he quickly runs his hand over my sensitive skin. I bite back the moan working its way out of my throat.
Again, he slaps my ass, but this time the massage comes from his mouth—sucking, nipping, and kissing my hurt cheek. No longer able to hold back, I moan embarrassingly loud.
He smacks his hand over the other cheek and repeats the kisses. I’m practically purring, and my resolve weakens.
“I love how fucking responsive and wet you are for this. I love how much my punishment turns you on. I love how you’re taking this like a champ,” he murmurs between kissing both sides of my ass with his soft lips.
He pulls my ass cheeks apart and inhales. “I love how fucking good your excitement smells,” he growls before diving in to feast on my pussy.
The sensation is intense and I cry out, pulling myself up on the bed. He grabs me by the hips and yanks me back.
“Nu-uh, Pixie. This pussy is mine to enjoy and you’re going to take everything I give you. Unless you say ‘ice cream,’ I’m not stopping” he growls before spreading my legs wide, giving him more access to my pulsing sex.
His thick tongue licks me from clit to ass crack before circling around my anus, making me squeak in surprise. I’ve never had my salad tossed before and the sensation is not one I can place, both erotic and weird, but not unpleasant.
Right, like I’m going to say ‘ice cream’ when he’s about to make me come? Not happening.
Maceo repeats the process using the broad side of his tongue so the barbell presses firmly into my most sensitive areas. He continues this till I’m grinding my sex against his mouth.
Christ, that tongue piercing is going to be the death of me.
He quickly stands and lifts me up on the bed, ‘till I’m on my hands and knees on the edge. I hear him fumbling with his pants and ripping off his shirt before he lines himself up behind me.
