Paladin's Hell

by Manda Mellett

  She doesn’t seem in a hurry to move, even when I let her hand go. She leaves it lying on my chest, then her fingers start moving, tracing my muscles.

  “Doll,” I protest.

  “Can I kiss you?”

  Jeez. She’s playing with fire. But what can I do, but give her permission?

  “Sure, have at it, sweetheart.”

  Her leg, thank fuck moves away from my hips as she pulls it down to her side, giving her leverage to sit up and lean over me. Her blue eyes sparkle as she looks down. She seems emboldened that I’m lying next to her, keeping still, unthreatening, leaving everything up to her.

  I watch as her hand approaches my face, tentatively, then faster, until her fingers make contact with my skin. Then she traces my features as if learning them. Finally, she touches my mouth. I open it slightly, unable to resist flicking out my tongue to taste her salty digit.

  She grins.

  Now her lips approach mine. A gentle touch, she pulls away. Then moves her face back down, this time applying more pressure. When she licks at the seam, I open my mouth. Her tongue touches mine, I play with hers gently. Morning breath should be horrible, it’s not.

  I can’t get enough of her touch, her taste, her feminine aroma. But I force my hands to stay where they are, tamping down my impulse to take over the kiss and control it.

  Suddenly she moves. She’s straddling my chest. Her mouth descends again, and this time, both palms caress my cheeks as she kisses me. She’s killing me and she doesn’t even know it.

  “Am I doing it right?” she whispers against me.

  Fuck if I know. I’ve not properly kissed a woman before. A few fumbled attempts in high school, but I was more interested in staying alive than being laid. Then I was a prospect, the club girls forbidden to me. By the time I was patched in, I’d already committed to her.

  “Feels right to me,” I say softly. “Fuckin’ good, Jay.”

  “You want me to stop?”

  “No, but you ought to.” I wiggle my hips, my cock’s twitching automatically, pressing painfully into the zipper of my jeans.

  My movement catches her by surprise. She looks down at those innocent-looking unicorn pyjamas, and then at my face. “Pal, I…”

  “You go get dressed babe. Breakfast’s probably ready downstairs. I’ll get some more shut-eye.”

  If she doesn’t go, even her unicorn armour might not be enough to stop me.

  “How long will the lockdown last?”

  Please, Doll, get off me. I try to stop them, but my hips flex again. If she moved a bit lower, she’d be sitting where I want her… “I don’t know. But we’re doing everything we can to end it.” My voice sounds level. Almost normal. I’m not sure how.

  “Will you be in danger, Pal?”

  I grab hold of her hands, look into her eyes, and tell her, earnestly. “Not if I can help it.”

  A thoughtful look, much older than her years. A quick nod, then, thank fuck, at last, she moves off me. First back to her three-quarters of the bed, and then out that side. Then, grabbing some clothes, she disappears into the bathroom.

  I want to call her back. I don’t. But I touch my hand to my lips, remembering the feeling of her there. Something I want to repeat. And soon.

  I’m asleep before she comes back out. It’s mid-afternoon when I finally wake and go downstairs. Jay’s deep in conversation with Mo, so waving my hand to show I won’t interrupt her, I go straight to the kitchen and make myself a sandwich. I’m just finishing my last mouthful when Lizard puts his head around the door.

  “There you are. Prez wants everyone in church.”

  Putting my plate in the dishwasher, I follow Lizard. This time when Jay catches my eye, I grimace slightly and indicate I’m following the rest of my brothers who are heading into the meeting room. She nods to show she understands.

  The first thing I notice is Cad. He’s always struck me as very laid back. When I worked with him selecting the security cameras, he’d not get frustrated when we couldn’t find the ones we were after, trying store after store until we found them in stock. Today, for the first time I’ve noticed, there’s some colour in his face, spots of red in his cheeks.

  Prez takes his seat at the end of the table. With trouble surrounding us, everyone shuts up as soon as he sits down.

  Instead of immediately speaking, his head shakes side to side. He catches Cad’s eye and raises his chin. It’s only then he opens his mouth. “Okay. Except for Paladin who was catching up on his beauty sleep, I’ve spoken to everyone now.”

  “Pal won’t have any info to give you. He’s a v-i-r-g-i-n. He won’t have been fucking around.” Ink looks like he’s made a big joke.

  I just sit fuming.

  “Be that as it may, I still need to talk to him.” Hellfire glares around, stopping any other comments dead. Luckily.

  “Hope he fuckin’ hasn’t,” mild-mannered Cad actually growls. “Got more than enough work as it is.”

  “Yeah, well. Can understand that, Brother. It’s a shame none of you other fuckers have the willpower our new brother has.”

  “Hey, don’t include me in that!” Buzzard glares at him. “I’m faithful to my wife.”

  I wait for Bomber to confirm he is too. He doesn’t. Oh fuck. I’d never have guessed that, seeing him and Jeannie together. But I do notice him scowling at Hellfire and wonder why.

  Prez looks around, his gaze settling on each of us one by one, ending up with Cad. “I’ve just fuckin’ given Cad two hundred and twenty names. Two fuckin’ hundred and fuckin’ twenty names of people you assholes have fucked in the last six months. And that’s only those whose names you can remember.”

  “Fifteen were mine.” Pyro’s fist bumps Taser’s proudly.

  “Hey, the odd twenty were mine,” Ink puts in.

  “I couldn’t remember most of their names,” Sparky is frowning. “Or their faces. I could probably recognise their cunts though.”

  “Not much help,” Demon says, drily. “Not unless we have a naked line up of all the bitches in Pueblo.”

  “A lie down, not a line up,” suggests Ink helpfully.

  Cad thumps the table. “It’s going to take me some time to narrow down the possibilities.”

  “Yeah,” Hellfire nods at him, then raises his chin at the rest of the brothers. “Need you to think on those you might have forgotten to wrap it up with.”

  Demon jerks his chin at the prez, then looks down the table. “Any you might have left with a reminder. A kid or a fuckin’ STD? Or any that might have an angry husband or partner.”

  Most don’t look bothered. Pyro and Taser look a bit worried to me.

  “Do we need to have the convo with everyone about keeping their shit covered?” Demon asks, quite seriously.

  The expression on Hellfire’s face is comical. His fist comes down hard on the table. “I run a fucking MC,” he shouts. “Not a fuckin’ sex-ed class.”

  That Demon mentioned it to lighten things up becomes obvious when his hand goes over his mouth to smother his laugh. Chuckles come from around the table.

  Hellfire stands. “Just wanted to let you know Cad’s got his work cut out to get answers. And that’s if we’re even on the right track. If he finds anything he wants investigated, we’ll have to speak to any and all the women he identifies.”

  “They’re all women?” Thunder asks.

  His question is greeted with wide-eyed stares as brothers look at each other. I notice everyone puffing themselves up and trying to look manly.

  Before he moves toward the door, Hellfire looks around evilly. “Mostly,” he replies.

  Well, fuck me. Then everyone’s looking around wondering who might like to play for the other team. Lady and Joker were great guys back in Tucson. I’d stand up for any man if that’s his preference. Doesn’t matter none to me.

  Prez is making his way past. “Pal, a word.”

  Well, he said at the start of the meeting he needed to speak with me. I’ve nothing to hide, not
hing to worry about, so I follow him into his office.

  I take the seat he waves me to. Before he can speak, I let him know. “Can’t say I’m particularly happy it coming out in front of the brothers, but yeah. I’ve had no woman. Got no one hiding in my closet. And I can’t believe the Herreras are behind this. The trouble we’re having seems almost juvenile to me.”

  “Feel you there, Pal. That’s my gut instinct too.”

  Okay. So can I go now? But I wait for my official dismissal. It seems Prez hasn’t finished though. “You okay to go to the strip club again tonight? The night shift?”

  “Taser going?”

  His eyes sharpen. “You got a problem if he is?”

  Quickly I shake my head. “Not at all. Just wanting to know I’m not the only fucker being deliberately kept away from his bed.”

  He rolls his head around on his neck, lifting a hand and rubbing the back of his skull. “You’re not slow on the uptake, are you, Brother?”

  I knew I was right. “Keepin’ me and Jayden apart won’t stop anything happening. In fact, it’s more likely to start if there are obstacles put between us.”

  Hellfire stands. “My wife,” he begins, then pauses as though not knowing how to proceed. “Well, Moira’s taken a liking to Jayden. Sees a lot of herself in her. Doesn’t want her to make a mistake.”

  “Everyone makes mistakes, Prez. Don’t do it knowingly, but they happen all the same. Jay trusted the wrong person when she’d just turned a teenager, that was her error. And one she’s still fuckin’ payin’ for. Anyone got Jay’s best interest at heart? Well that’s me. Jay knows where she stands. She wants me? She’s got me. She doesn’t? Fuck, that would tear me apart, but I’d stand aside. Here in the clubhouse, where I haven’t got the measure of all the men yet, I want her by my fuckin’ side. I need to be there with her, so I know she’s safe.”

  “You’re still protecting her?”

  “Fuckin’ right I am. And I always will. Whether we’re together or not.” I try to wipe the glare off my face. “Look, Prez. Demon’s, what, thirty-five? Moira can’t have been far off Jayden’s age when you got together. You telling me you didn’t know what you wanted then? That your relationship’s been wrong all this time?”

  “Watch your tone, Brother,” Hell snarls. But he returns to his chair and sits down, putting his elbows on the desk. “I’m not saying that. Best fuckin’ thing that ever happened to me, never wished it any other way. You got the same feelin’s I had for Moira, and your girl feels the same way? Then I hope you’ll be half as happy. And no, it wasn’t a fuckin’ mistake.”

  “I know how I feel, Prez. I hope Jay feels the same, but ain’t gonna pressure her. But I need space. Yeah, she’s sharing my room, and I feel better for knowing she’s there. Under my protection. But to do that job properly? I need to be with her. Send someone else tonight, please?”

  I watch his face, hoping my pleading tone gets through to him. I don’t want to beg, but I’m getting close to it now. Time seems to pass slowly until he lets out a deep sigh.

  “Mo’s gonna kill me,” he mumbles under his breath, then to me, “I trust you, Pal. Just don’t hurt her. You do? I’ll let Mo at you first then finish what’s left of you off.”

  Chapter 28

  Jayden

  Last night I was disappointed to sleep alone in Paladin’s bed. I’d snuggled under the covers, placing my head on the pillow that smelled of him. Even though he hadn’t been there, I’d felt closer to him than I ever had.

  All evening Mo had been saying things that were eating away at me. That a young man like Paladin wouldn’t have waited, suggesting Bitch couldn’t possibly have been the only female to have been in his bed. That nearly three years was too long for a biker like him to be satisfied with his hand, not with all the willing pussy around him.

  When Pyro, one of the men left in the club to protect it, had come over and offered to play pool, I’d accepted, if only to get some space to clear my head. Ignoring some of the stains on the pool table, I’d thrashed him three times. I’d then beaten Buzzard. The computer guy, Cad, put up more of a run for his money. By then, time had passed. The club girls had started dancing around the pole, showing off their bodies in ways I’d be ashamed to. The old ladies, what there were of them, were making moves to make themselves scarce. It was my cue to leave this strange party.

  That the compound was shot at didn’t particularly upset me, no one had been badly hurt and I was thankful for that. I’m no stranger to this lifestyle. I’d been on the Tucson compound when a bomb had gone off, and Slick had got badly injured. I’d been there when a wildfire was approaching. I know what a biker’s life is like and the risks that they take. That we take, the women who choose to throw their lot in with them.

  As I started making my way to the stairs, out of the corner of my eyes I saw Titsy had now got her top off. When she writhed on the pole, interest flared in the men’s eyes. The words Mo had been throwing at me all evening had come back to me. Perhaps she was right. With all this temptation around him, how would Pal be able to resist?

  Before I’d settled down to sleep, I’d done something I never thought I would. When I’d gone up to his room, I’d shamelessly searched it, smelling the sheets, seeking anything, a note, letter, something to show he hadn’t been honest. I’d found nothing. No signs the bathroom had been used by anyone else. The only sign a female had been in here, a few stray cat hairs on the bed cover.

  It’s was then I knew I was being stupid. Pal would be mine if I reached out to take him.

  Mo’s been treating me like a kid who doesn’t know her own mind. Yet she was only a few months older when she met Hell. If it worked out for them, why wouldn’t it for me? They’d even started their family immediately.

  Paladin knows my story, he lived part of it. Was there during my recovery, was my rock to lean on when things got hard.

  Take my bad memories away I’d begged him, when I was just fourteen. Like the gentleman he is, he wouldn’t. He became my friend, giving me no sign he’d push to be anything else. Until now, when we’ve been given the opportunity.

  Do I want him? Or is it just my expectation of the natural progression of what I wanted all those years back.

  I fell asleep eventually, thoughts still whirling around my head.

  I wake to find I’m sprawled over a body. How Pal’s not fallen off the edge of the bed, I don’t know. I’ve managed to move from the side I’d taken, traversed the middle, and ended up taking over most of the rest. My leg’s over his denim clad thighs, my hand resting on his chest. His breathing alters, he’s awake.

  I keep my eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of his beating heart under my hand, feeling it speeding up as I leave it there. A strange emotion comes over me. A sense of possessiveness. He’s mine. Now I know I hadn’t just been searching for signs to prove him unfaithful and unworthy, I’d been making sure no one else had claimed something that belonged to me.

  I don’t want to move, I’m too comfy. I’m also embarrassed. The first time I’m in bed with him and I’m wearing my most comfy pair of pyjamas, with decidedly non-sexy unicorns on them. I should have worn a sexy negligee, but I don’t even own one. Putting off the moment when I have to talk to him, not knowing how to handle this situation, I concentrate on my breathing, gradually feeling him relax again, and then, like him, return to sleep, my lips curling. I like this.

  When I wake again, he’s staring at me. “Oh, God, Pal. I’m sorry. I…”

  He traps my hand that’s still on his chest under his fingers. “Ain’t got nothing to apologise for, Doll.”

  He doesn’t mind me lying on him? “I’m taking up all the bed.”

  “I’m comfortable,” Now that must be a lie. “Just don’t move your leg…”

  “Oh!” I suppress a self-conscious giggle, and my face burns red. I can feel he’s hard underneath the denim he’s still wearing. Is that down to me? Or is it just the state I’ve heard all men wake up with? I ease my leg down so I can
no longer feel it. I’m certainly not going to draw attention to his cock. “I, er, I’ll get up now. You must be tired.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to sleep on a while.”

  He lets my hand go, I still don’t want to move. Without me ever having admitted it, this is exactly where I want to be. It feels so good, so natural, as though we were made to be together. He doesn’t protest when I leave my hand where it lies, nor when my fingers start moving, exploring his muscular chest. There’s something tantalising about touching his naked skin, though I’d be hard pushed to name it. I don’t want to stop.

  “Doll,” he protests after a few minutes.

  Whoops. I’m taking liberties. But he’s taken none. Unlike the men who’d taken advantage of me. It makes me want more. There seems to be a disconnect between my mouth and my brain, as suddenly I find myself asking, “Can I kiss you?”

  He’s quiet, as if I’ve stunned him. Then, “Sure, have at it, sweetheart.”

  I don’t hesitate. Sitting up, leaning over him, placing my hand against his face. If he’d moved, trapped me, I would have been scared, but he does nothing to concern me, leaving me completely in charge. It’s what I want, need. I giggle slightly as I slip my finger into his mouth and he licks it, but my mirth fades fast as I hadn’t counted on nerve endings in my forefinger being able to send tingles down my body. Such a small thing, but how sexy.

  I can’t wait any more. I kiss him chastely. It’s not enough. I kiss him again. He opens for me. Our tongues touch. I’ve imagined it, dreamed of it, but never experienced it, that exciting tingling caressing him like this invokes. He must have more experience than me, but he lets me take the lead. I explore his mouth; he returns the action. His hands twitch, he does nothing to take charge.

  I need more. I move, throwing my leg over him so I’m sitting across his chest. I kiss him again, using my hands against his bristly cheeks.

  “Am I doing it right?” I ask, hesitantly.

  “Feels right to me,” he replies softly. “Fuckin’ good, Jay.”

  “You want me to stop?”

  “No, but you ought to.” His hips move. I feel a hardness against my ass.