Took three reconstructive surgeries to repair the bones he broke in her face. I killed him for it, but he still got off easy. Todd won’t get that same courtesy. His death will be slow and painful. I was sloppy the last time. I won’t make that mistake this time around.
**
I lift the punk motherfucker’s head up as blood seeps between his lips. “How long you been working for Lion?”
Mustering a weak smile, he spits a mouthful of blood at me. “What’s it matter? I’m dead anyway. Did she tell you how she screamed out your name when I fucked her?” A gurgled laugh erupts in his throat.
“No but I’ll be sure to tell her how you cried like a bitch when I cut your balls off. Get him up,” I tell Slick. This isn’t usually his thing, but right now I don’t trust anyone else. Not when I know Lion, my club Prez played a key part in assaulting Alexa. He’ll pay, but I gotta do it right. I’ve wanted the prick gone for years. It’s time to take him out and turn this club back around. Too many brothers are hooked on Cloud Nine and dying. Lion can’t see what he’s doing or he’s too damn greedy to care. I won’t sit back and watch him dig our graves. A man like him there’s only one way to take him out—by surprise and under everyone’s noses. It has to appear natural. Gotta beat him at his own damn game.
I rear my fist back and nail Todd in the nose with my spiked brass knuckles hearing his bones crunch.
Chapter Ten
“I tell you I’ve met someone and that I want a divorce and all you can do is say okay? When did you stop loving me? When did you stop caring about our family?”
I shake my head. “I’m not in the mood for more of your shit. Enough with the fucking games, Ruthie. If you met someone who makes you happy then fucking go be with him.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do. You want a divorce then I’ll give you one.”
“So that’s it.”
“What the hell do you want from me?”
“I want you to fight for me. To show me you give a damn. To tell me you’ll kill him or me. That you’ll never let me go.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not in love with you.”
“You’ve met someone else. That’s all there is to it.”
“No,” I lie. My mind flashes to Alexa. Someone I can’t have. Someone I shouldn’t want but crave. If Rochelle found out I don’t know how she’d react. Ruthie would take her far away and Lion would put a bullet between my eyes. That’s not going to happen though I can’t and won’t let it. Everything inside me screams in protest as I take a step toward Ruthie. “You want me to fight?” I grab her by the back of the head and tighten my grip, forcing her head to tilt.
“You loved me once,” she whispers.
“Is there another man or not? You know what I did the last time you fucked around on me.” I slit that fucker’s throat and Ruthie helped me dispose of the body.
She licks her lips. “I just wanted to make you mad. Wanted you to come home and pretend that you give a damn about me.”
“Is that blood on your shirt?”
“What?”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing for you to concern yourself with.” I let her go. “I gotta get a shower then head to the clubhouse.”
“You’re leaving already?”
“I’ll be back, and we can talk then.”
“I don’t want to wait till later we need to talk about this now.”
“Well wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills faster.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“But I’m the asshole you married for better or worse. Guess neither of us knew that the worst part would last us till death do us part, huh, sweetheart.”
“I hate you. I hate you.” She cries, punching at me as she sinks to her knees.
Black streaks of mascara trickle down her face. “What did I ever do to you to deserve this? Why are you so heartless?”
“You moved another man into my house. Had him play daddy to my kid. You tell me how I shoulda felt about that?”
“I said I was sorry. You can’t hold it against me forever.”
“Play stupid games, babe, you win stupid prizes. Yeah?”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means you ever think for a minute that it was you who should be fighting for me?”
“You’re right. I’m selfish and terrible. But I do love you, James. You’re Rochelle’s father.”
“Is that all I am to you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well when you figure it out you let me know.”
“I want things to go back to the way they were before all the bad,” she calls out as I close the bathroom door.
My life’s been nothing but bad since the first time I kissed her.
I hurry through my shower, I’m eager to personally deliver the news to Alexa that Todd is no longer breathing the same air as the rest of us. I exit the bathroom to find Ruthie in the bedroom. Candles lit, lined up on the dresser top. Soft music plays. She’s laying across the bed in a purple nightie. I take one look at her and feel nothing at all. She no longer resembles the girl I thought I loved when I was a stupid kid. Young, dumb, and full of come. Her dark hair rests on her shoulder, stick straight with a few highlights. Heavy makeup that makes her look old and worn. She never used to wear too much makeup. Back then she didn’t need it. Would look better now if she washed all that shit off her face. Still has a banging body though. I’ll give her that much. Hell, I paid for her to have a tummy tuck and get her tits done.
Bitch doesn’t do it for me. Looks like a damn plastic doll now, but it’s what she wanted to make herself feel good, and I didn’t want to deny her.
“You shouldn’t have gone to the trouble.”
“James...don’t you want to try? Rochelle needs us together. Before you know it, she’ll be off to college, and then it’ll be the two of us. We can get back to good.”
I should cross the room and go to her. She’s my wife. But I don’t love her. “Smells like desperation in here. Told you, I’m not playing your games. You can’t control me with sex. I’m not fifteen anymore. You sure as shit aren’t either.”
“Who is she?”
“None of your fuckin’ business.”
“James...please.” Ruthie hops up off the bed, her fake titties popping out the see-through purple lace. “Let me show you that I do care. That we’re worth saving.” Bitch drops to her knees and wraps her arms around my leg. “Don’t leave.”
I breathe out heavily through my nostrils. “I don’t have time for this. I got somewhere to be.” I bend down to pull her arms off me. “Stop embarrassing yourself.”
“You told me to fight.” She cries. And scratches my jaw, digging her nails in so damn deep it burns.
I grab her up by the hair, sling her on the bed, and undo my belt. “This how you want me? Rough and unfeeling, babe. Want me to act like a monster for you?”
“I want you to take your pants off and make love to me.”
“I can fuck you but there’s no love between us. Roll over. I don’t want to see your face.”
Ruthie rolls to her stomach and sticks her ass in the air. I’m not even hard, but I unzip and start stroking my length, thinking about Alexa and her pretty red lips. The way she gazes at me as though I’m her white knight instead of a demon from the pits of hell. I’m no hero. No saint, but when she stares at me with them pretty green eyes I feel as though I could be saved.
My cock grows erect, and I part Ruthie’s thighs. I don’t want her body or her heart. I slide inside her wishing she were someone else and hating myself for wanting what I can’t have.
“Yes,” Ruthie hisses.
I jerk her head back and clamp a palm to her lips. “Shut the fuck up. Don’t want to hear you either.” She nods, and I grip her shoulder, driving into her harder and harder, closing my eyes and remembering how good Alexa felt when she gave herself to
me.
The sweet part of her lips and thighs so ready to be owned by me. The taste of her on my tongue. Fuck. I pull out and beat the head of my dick against the crack of Ruthie’s ass, to finish getting off.
“That’s it?” she seethes as I tuck back into my jeans.
I shrug and she flies at me like a crazy bearcat. Scratching and hitting anywhere she can connect with me. I wrap my arms around her, caging her in. her body sags against mine. “You gonna stop,” I murmur in her ear.
“I swear to you, James, if I find out who you’re fucking I’ll tell my father, and he’ll cut out her heart and make you eat it while I watch.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, sweetheart. I’m a heartless bastard. Bitches I stick my dick in to get it wet don’t matter to me. No more than you do.” I let her go. “Don’t wait up.”
“If you leave, I’ll tell my father you hit me.”
“Think I’m scared of your old man? One day he won’t be around to protect you. Then what will you do?”
Ruthie flings herself onto the bed and punches the mattress like a damn toddler pitching a fit. I leave her to wallow in her own misery. I slam the door and see Rochelle’s light is on. I pray she didn’t hear. I stop at her doorway and peer in at her to see her asleep with her headphones in. Probably to drown out her mother and me. I flick her light off.
“Sleep tight, princess.” I shut her door and go out to climb on my Road King, roaring off into the night toward Alexa.
Chapter Eleven
It’s late that much I know when my door creaks and he enters the room I’ve been staying in at Lily’s. She’s been great to me. Letting me share what I want to at my own pace and never forcing me into any uncomfortable situations or conversations. I’ve been here three or four days and have gotten to know some of the other women and their heartbreaking stories. One thing I have taken away from them is I’m not alone and there is hope for all of us.
“Hey, pretty girl. Did I wake you?” he leans against the wall looking like a biker dream, but there’s a sadness in his eyes.
“No. I couldn’t sleep anyway.” I sit up against the headboard and fiddle with the strap of my tank top that keeps sliding down my arm. “Wasn’t sure I’d see you again.”
“Made you a promise. You’ll never have to worry about Todd ever again.”
I suck in a breath. Chills tingle up and down my spine. The hair on my arms stands. I know Todd’s dead. Part of me is relieved. The rest of me is worried about James. He committed murder for me. “I see. Is that all?” my chin wobbles and tears burn in the creases of my eyes. I don’t want to cry but can’t seem to stop myself. My body trembles, my stomach twists in knots.
In three strides he comes to me. Knuckles brushing along my jaw he smiles. “I’m not good at goodbyes.”
“Does it have to be?”
“Seeing you again was a risk. Got a lot of shit going on. Shit I don’t want you dragged into.”
I wrap my fingers around his wrist. “Don’t go. Not yet.”
“Lex,” he winces, saying my name as if it pains him.
“Please, James. I know you have to go but can’t you just hold me for a minute.”
“It’s not a good idea, babe.” His lips brush over my forehead, and the tears I’ve been holding back fall freely. “Don’t cry.”
“I’ll be okay. You have to go.” I hiccup on a sob, turning my head away, unable to watch him walk out the door for good.
“Look at me.” He jerks my head toward him. “Wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“I know. Will you....can I kiss you goodbye?”
James sucks in a breath then exhales. “Wish I was strong enough to resist the temptation of you.” His mouth comes down hard on mine, tongue prodding at the seam of my lips. I open to him and taste the saltiness of my own tears.
I grab the collar of his shirt and yank him toward me, catching him off guard. My sexy savior falls onto the bed with me. Fevered by desire he doesn’t break away. He continues to kiss me deep and with lots of tongue, fingers yanking at my clothes. My tank top gets tossed to the floor, and I return the favor, removing his tee, needing to feel him skin to skin one last time. A wave of perfume hits me, and I jerk away.
“You’ve been with someone else.” Scrubbing a palm over his beard he doesn’t deny it. I know he isn’t mine. I wish he were. The realization that I’m not the only woman in his life sucker punches me in the gut.
“You know I’m a married man.”
“I wish you were mine,” I confess. “I hate her. I shouldn’t, but I do. I wish terrible horrible things on her. I know that makes me a bad person.”
“If things were different, I’d make you mine.” He brings my hand to his lips, kisses my knuckles, and slides me to his side, hugging me tight. “I need to go. You deserve better. A fresh start somewhere new. Leave the mistakes you’ve made and the pain you endured behind.”
“Come with me. We can go anywhere. No one would ever find us.”
“We both know I can’t.” he nabs his shirt off the floor, but I stop him from putting it back on. I straddle his thighs. James wraps an arm around my back, and I cup his face between my hands, rubbing his beard.
“I don’t care that you’re married. You were meant to be with me. I know it, and you feel it, don’t you?” I press his palm to my heart over my bare breast. “It can be our secret. Just you and me. No one else. We can make it work. I’ll be with you any way I can be.”
I roll my hips and kiss his lips softly.
“Wouldn’t be fair. Wouldn’t be right.”
“You’re an outlaw. Since when do you care about doing the right thing? Do you love her?”
I hold his gaze refusing to back down from my question.
“Not talking about this with you.”
“I can handle the truth. I may be young, but I’m a good listener.”
“Last thing I wanna do is talk about my marital problems.”
“Then. What. Do. You. Want. To. Do.”
“Bury myself so deep inside you I disappear.” He holds me tighter.
“I wish we could stay like this right here forever.” I breathe him in and hate that I can smell his wife on him. Doing my best to block it out, I cradle my arms around his neck, pressing my breasts against his chest. “Stay with me. For the night.”
His hands rest on my wrists. “I’m no good for you.”
“I can’t unlove you and I don’t want to. You’ll never belong to me in the way that I belong to you. It kills me. But I’d rather take what pieces I can and hold on tight for as long as you’ll let me.”
“Don’t you want better, Lex. Better than this. Better than me.”
“How could there ever be better for me than you? No one has ever made me feel the way I do when you look at me. When you touch me, I think I could die because you showed me what true love is. You’ll say I’m young and don’t know what love is, but I know what hate is. I’ve seen ugly. I’ve tasted it. You killed for me. If that isn’t love, then what is? Who else would go that far for me? No one.”
“I’m no hero. Far from a saint.” Running his hand through my hair he smiles. “You’ve changed. Been forced to grow up a lot faster than you should’ve. You’re going to be just fine without me.” Hand sliding down my back, his fingers trace the ridges of my spine. “I’ve gotta let you go. I can’t keep you, babe. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but you aren’t one of them.”
I rock against him as our lips meet. James kisses me slow and methodical. He does this switch move, flipping me to my back. He gazes down at me, and I swear I can see his soul blazing behind his eyes. Burning for me. I’ll never forget this moment. I’ve committed the memory to my heart. The flames of his kisses dance across my skin. Dragging my shorts down my legs, he continues to taste every inch of my skin along the way until he meets my pelvic bone.
Heart thumping out of my chest I anticipate his next move.
He buries his head between my legs and shows me just h
ow much he adores me with his fingers and tongue.
Teeth sinking into my lip, I bite it to keep from crying out. No one can know about us. They wouldn’t understand that he took the broken fragments holding me together, filled the gaps, and made me whole. Head thrown back on the bed I close my eyes as every stroke of his tongue is killing me slowly. I’ve never been more turned on.
The man doesn’t stop till my knees shakes and my stomach drops as though I’ve just gone down the big dip on a roller coaster.
“Look at me, Lex.”
I go up on my elbows.
“Can’t make you no promises. Can’t give you a damn thing but this. Understand?”
I nod. “You’re not mine. I know that. But it doesn’t mean I can’t be yours.” He snakes up my body and looms over me with intimidation masked over his features. “Shh.” I press my finger to his mouth. “Don’t argue. If this is goodbye let’s make it count. Make love to me.”
His forehead drops to mine, and I’m afraid he’s going to leave. I grab him between the legs, he’s hard as steel.
“I need you.”
A groan leaves his lips. “I fucked my wife before I came here tonight.”
I squeeze him harder. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not here now, but we are. You don’t love her.”
“No.” he tries to jerk away.
“So that’s it. You’re going to pretend that you don’t want me? That you feel nothing. That you don’t want to give me one last piece of you before you go. You gonna go home and kiss your wife after you ate me all night?”
“Watch it,” he growls the words at me.
“You want me.”
“Doesn’t mean I can have you.”
“C’mere.” I crook a finger at him.
“Fuck me,” he mutters and leans toward me.
I wrap a hand around the back of his neck. “Can you really walk away from what you feel for me?”
He pulls away and my heart shatters. My breath hitches in my throat. This is it. I’ve lost him.
“No.” I never knew one word could mean so much till now. He comes at me hot and fast. I go for his zipper, and he makes quick work of getting his jeans off. James lays me down, and slides inside me in one hard thrust that makes my body jolt. “When I’m inside you, feels like home,” he whispers into my neck. “But, baby, tonight I’m going to fuck you till you cry.”
Tempting The Biker (Royal Bastards MC: Charleston, WV Book 3) Page 7
