by Snow, Jenika
She’s been afraid her whole fucking life, and I hate that.
“I don’t think of you like a dog, Lee,” I tell her, my voice softer, gentler. I put my hand against the small of her back fully now, leading her toward my bike, just wanting to touch her, to keep her close.
“Maybe doggy style, hey, Ride?” Tub calls out, and the others laugh.
I ignore them, but I feel Langley’s body jerk against my hand. She’s used to a lot of horrible shit in life, but I don’t want her to get used to the shit that happens in the MC world.
“I need to go to work,” she mumbles, looking around as if she’s trapped. But I guess she is, in a way. Hell, I think both of us are.
“Where do you work?” I ask her, and she gives me the name of a shitty dive bar up the road. I frown, curling my lip in disgust. No fucking way will I allow her to keep working there. If she hasn’t been assaulted yet working at that shitshow, she will eventually. It’s only a matter of time.
She’s much too innocent to be working at a joint like that.
Yeah, Langley definitely needs someone taking care of her.
And for whatever reason fate has set it up… that man taking care of her will be me.
Chapter Fifteen
Langley
I can’t believe I got on his motorcycle, wrapped my arms around his waist, and let him take me away, back to his club, to the place where he would do whatever he wants to me.
Because I owe him everything.
I owe him my freedom.
And as I stand in the center of his clubhouse, looking at all the debauchery, all of the degradation, sexual acts, drug use, and copious amounts of alcohol being consumed, I feel like I am Alice falling down the rabbit hole over and over again.
I can hear Ride behind me, speaking with some of his men, but I’m not paying attention, because all I can think about is what my future holds. And that terrifies me.
He might not have actually said what he plans on doing with me—to me—but I’m not an idiot. He wants me for sex.
He wants my body, my very soul.
It’ll all be his. I know that without a doubt.
And there’s nothing I can do about it, because I owe him.
I swallow roughly as I watch a woman kneel between a club member’s thighs, pull out his erection, and start giving him head. I turn my focus to another couple, the man having a completely nude woman bent over a pool table as he pounds into her from behind. I feel my eyes go so wide I have no doubt I look like a deer caught in headlights.
The smell of marijuana fills the interior of the club, and I start to feel dizzy, no doubt getting a contact high. There’s a couple card tables set up, men sitting around them as they pass around a tray with white lines on it.
Cocaine.
Each man snorts a line and passes the tray to the next.
God, where am I? What have I gotten myself involved with?
Scantily clad women walk by me, some of them completely naked. A few of them look me up and down, disgust clear on their faces as if they don’t know why I’m here. I don’t know why I am here either.
I feel someone wrap fingers around my wrist and I look down to see Ride’s big hand on me. His touch scorches me right down to the bone, but it’s not unpleasant; in fact, my body heats, and that scares me even more.
“Come on,” he says gruffly, and before I can respond or react, he’s pulling me out of the main room and down a hallway.
There are several doors on either side of us, and I can hear people having sex, the women moaning loudly, headboards banging against the wall, and the men saying crude things. I feel my face heat. I’ve never been around such obscenity. Although I’ve seen some pretty horrid shit in my twenty-one years, especially with Einstein, when it came to experiencing things sexually on a personal level, I have absolutely zero experience.
A virgin.
My heart speeds up at that thought, and I glance at Ride. I have to crane my head back to look at him. His profile is fierce, hard, with his jaw set tight and scruff along his cheeks from the days’ worth of him not being able to shave… because he was chained up in the basement.
I imagine having sex with him. God, I know he won’t be gentle. I know he’ll be raw and hard, brutal even. He looks like a man who takes what he wants and doesn’t give a shit about the repercussions.
To think he’ll be gentle, go easy with me, is a fantasy.
A fantasy?
My mind is hazy, but I realize we are already in a room. His room. I can tell immediately. Everything smells like him, this spicy aroma that instantly has my body heating. I’m embarrassed by how aroused I am. I should only feel fear, maybe even disgust.
“This is your room,” I say matter-of-factly. He doesn’t respond right away, and I glance at him. He’s watching me with this hooded expression that makes me feel extremely bare. I shiver in response.
“Yeah?” He phrases it like a question and takes a step toward me.
On instinct, I take one back.
“And how do you know that?”
I lick my lips and move another step back, retreating although I know there isn’t anywhere for me to escape to. “I’m just guessing,” I lie. Although I don’t know for certain this is his room, in my gut, I know it is. “Why else would you bring me in here if it wasn’t?” I don’t know if I want to hear his answer.
He says nothing for long seconds but walks past me to go to the dresser. I watch as he pulls one of the drawers open and grabs a pair of sweats and a shirt.
“These will be too big on you, but until I can find some decent clothes for you, mine will have to do.” He turns and faces me, and I see the way his jaw has clenched after he said those words. He looks me up and down, and I shiver again. “And the only clothes the girls will have that would fit you are gonna be nothing but scraps of material.” He sounds grumpy, pissed even, as if that thought repulses him.
I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly feeling more vulnerable than I ever have in his presence. Maybe I read him wrong? Maybe he doesn’t want me for sex?
He tosses the clothes on the bed and turns to walk to the door.
“Wait,” I call out before I can stop myself. He turns and looks at me but doesn’t say anything. “W-What am I supposed to do?”
He’s quiet for long seconds. Finally, he exhales roughly and lifts his hand to rub it over the back of his head. “Listen, you have to be hungry, thirsty too.” He looks me up and down again. “You’re too skinny.” He stares in my eyes. “I’m going to get you some grub.”
“And then what?” I ask immediately after he stops talking. He lifts an eyebrow. I can tell by his expression he isn’t used to people questioning him. “Why am I here? What do you plan on doing with me? To me?” I swallow the thick lump that has lodged itself in my throat.
He turns and faces me fully. “I told you what I want.”
I shake my head. “You didn’t,” I whisper. I look around the room again. “I know this is your room. Can’t I have my own?” I have no right to ask for anything; I know that. Maybe it’s survival, self-preservation that has me pushing him, asking for things I don’t deserve.
“Langley,” he says my name and takes a small step toward me. His voice is so deep, husky, serrated. “Why would I put you in a room other than this one?” He lifts a dark eyebrow again. It’s almost as if he’s… amused. He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before he’s smirking and speaking again. “Why would I have you anywhere but with me, when what I want from you calls for privacy… and you in my bed.”
Oh. God.
His words shouldn’t have the type of effect on my body as they’re having. And the way his smirk grows tells me he knows exactly what is happening to me right now.
He knows he has me right where he wants me.
Literally and figuratively.
Chapter Sixteen
Ride
I close the door. It sounds final, but it’s not. I’m merely putting things off. I’m not even
sure why. Not truly. I should pack Langley up and send her away, let her explore her newfound life without her past tarnishing her—without me tarnishing her.
A good man would do that.
But I’m not a good man.
I want to keep her close. I want to keep her with me. I want her in my bed, and in time, I want between her legs. I’m man enough to admit that, even if only to myself. I can lie and say it’s because she’s too young and needs someone to take care of her, to protect her. That’s partially the truth, but it goes deeper than that.
I want to be the man she lets between her legs. I want to the be the man she looks to for protection, for comfort, and to cool that fire that’s burning inside her.
I can see it. I can see the heat in her eyes when she looks at me. Langley may not want to admit it, but she wants me. Her body certainly wants me. Her nipples were so fucking hard a minute ago that it took all I had not to suck them into my mouth.
Langley and I are going to come together, there’s no point in denying it any longer. I’ve already put the plans into motion. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s going to be my old lady. For that to happen, she’s going to have to stand up to the fire. That means she’s going to have to show the spark inside her, that drive not to put up with anyone else’s shit, especially when it comes to the club girls. They know what I have in mind, and they aren’t happy. They’re going to try to prove Langley is too weak to fit in. She’s not, and I need to make sure she knows that.
I can step in and make her way here easier, but I don’t want to. I want Langley to make her home here and to prove to my men and the women here that she belongs not only here, but by my side.
I want her to want to be here of her own free will.
Maybe it’s not fair, but that’s the way my world works, and the sooner Langley accepts that, the better it will be for both of us.
“Yo, Ride.”
I look over at Tubs as he walks toward me. “You get that cut ordered?” I ask, irritation in my voice. I want to go get Langley some food, as well as some decent clothes, even if I fucking love the fact that she’s wearing mine. I wasn’t lying to her about going to get her some food. She’s too damn skinny. I know it’s because that fucking Einstein didn’t feed her properly, that she had been scraping by just to keep food in her belly. She will never have to worry about that again, because she has me. She’ll soon learn that lesson too, and that will just be one more thing that will draw her to me. I’m going to take away all of her worries. I can’t give her a clean life, but I sure as fuck can give her one that doesn’t drain the fucking life out of her, like the one she was living before.
“Yeah, they’ll have it ready in two weeks,” he says, his gaze moving over me, and I know he has more questions; hell, maybe he’s questioning my sanity. I sure as hell have been fucking doing that myself.
“Not good enough. I want it done by next Saturday.”
“Ride, damn, that’s not even a week away.”
“I know that, asshole. It’s four days. That gives you and the crew four days to get this place ready for the biggest fucking party we’ve ever had.”
Tubs knits his brows. “Party?”
“It’s not every day I claim an old lady. It’s going to be a fucking party. You got me?”
He’s silent for long seconds. “Are you sure you want to do this, Ride? She’d make good club candy. You could use her and—”
“Tubs, man, we’ve been through wars together, and I respect the hell out of you, but unless you want to breathe through a damn straw, you need to shut the fuck up.”
He clears his throat. “I’m just saying,” he mutters, but he’s smart enough to keep his fucking mouth shut after that. Probably because he knows where I stand on this shit.
I still decide to make it crystal-clear.
“I’m claiming her as my old lady, and when I’m done, all of you will know to stay the fuck away from her. Langley isn’t fucking club candy. She’s my old lady. You got me?”
Tubs nervously nods a little. “If you’re sure, man. But if you’re doing this out of a warped sense of loyalty because she wasted that fucker Einstein, you’re going a little far here.”
I clench my jaw, my patience wearing thin. “Did things fucking change while I was chained in that basement, motherfucker?”
“What? What do you mean?” he asks, and I know the tone of my voice makes him even more nervous. That’s good. The motherfucker should be scared shitless.
“Did things change so that you think you can question me about any-fucking-thing?”
“No, of course not.” He shakes his head furiously.
“I didn’t think so. If I wanted to thank Langley for killing that waste of space Einstein, I’d give her money and set her up far away from here. I’m not doing that shit, now am I?”
“No,” he says, and I think I see understanding dawning on his face.
It’s about fucking time.
“I’m claiming her as my old lady, because she’s got fucking courage; she’s got a fire in her that I’ve been watching for days.”
“I got it, man. I didn’t mean to piss you off,” he says, backpedaling, but I ignore him. I finish what I have to say, and he better tell them all, because I don’t want to repeat myself again.
“And I’m claiming her, because she wants me, even if she isn’t sure what to do about that just yet.”
“Christ, she’s a virgin?”
I don’t confirm or deny what he says. Fucking truth is, I don’t know for sure myself yet, but I’d lay good money down on the fact that she is, and I never take a bad bet.
“But mostly, motherfucker, I’m claiming her, because I want buried balls-deep inside her any fucking time I want. I don’t want any other man but me to have that sweet honey. Are we clear?”
“You don’t have to claim her as an old lady to get that, Ride,” he says, but he’s more relaxed now. He sees what I’m not saying and that’s good.
“Yeah, I can, but Langley is a good woman. She deserves my cut, and since I know she’s in my bedroom waiting on me, I’m going to tell you one last piece of information, when normally I’d just shoot off your dick for questioning me and walk off leaving your sorry ass to bleed on the floor.”
“Got it,” he says, and he swallows nervously. Tubs knows me well enough to understand I’m not making an idle threat. I don’t like that the asshole has questioned me at all. I respect him and we have been through a lot of shit together, but that doesn’t mean he can get away with this shit ever again.
“Langley will make her own way here, but you better make it known to everyone that if they try to pull shit with her that makes me unhappy, I will make them pay.”
“The men and old ladies will fall in line with that, Ride; you know that shit. But you can’t expect the candy to just stand around and let Langley have a clear shot at you. They’re going to test her.”
“Langley will handle them,” I tell Tubs confidently.
“She’s awfully young and new to our kind of life, man.”
“You’ll see,” I tell him, walking off.
The truth is, I hope I’m not fooling myself. Langley wants me; I know that, and I’m slowly going to feed that fire over the next four days. I just hope, when it’s all said and done, she’s going to step up and claim me as much as I plan on claiming her. Tubs is right. She’s not of my world and she might not know our ways, but she’s a woman, and I’ve seen the flash of jealousy she couldn’t hide back at her place when Dessie got near me.
Hopefully, Langley’s instinct and desire will take over. If not? I’ll be forced to step in, but I’d rather not. Ultimately, even with my help, if my crew view Langley as weak, they’ll separate from her. They won’t hurt her, but they will ignore her, shun her. Eventually, cracks will show, and our life together will eat her alive.
Chapter Seventeen
Langley
I don’t know how long Ride has been gone, but I find myself walking over to the massive
bed pushed up against the wall. It’s far bigger than any I’ve ever seen, triple the size of my little twin mattress that lays on the dirty floor.
I reach out, smoothing my fingers over the soft black comforter. It smells like him. I can scent that spicy aroma as it filters up and surrounds me. I envision him lying here, his big body taking up most of the mattress. Has he had women in here before? Has he given them pleasure on this bed?
I shake my head and push those thoughts away. I don’t like them. And it’s also not my business. He’s extremely attractive, bigger than life, not to mention the president of an MC. Of course he’s fucked women, probably countless times in here.
I sit down on the edge of the bed, brace my hands on the mattress, and just hang my head, closing my eyes as I feel exhaustion settle in. I can’t remember the last time I felt like I was safe. And as I lift my head and look around at these four walls, knowing where I’m at, who brought me here, for the first time in… forever, I actually feel like nothing can touch me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have laid on the bed. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought my knees to my chest and pulled the comforter up so it covered me. Maybe I shouldn’t have done anything other than be on alert, ready for whatever Ride has in store for me.
But I’m just so damn tired.
He doesn’t have to be sweet or gentle to me, doesn’t have to give me anything. He can take, take, and take from me until there’s nothing left, and how can I stop him?
I can’t. I won’t. Maybe because it’s useless. Besides, I want him too. Part of me hates myself for wanting him the way I do, but it doesn’t change the truth. Just thinking about him, his hands on my body, his gruff words moving against my ear, has lust slamming into me hard and fast. I hate myself for how wet I get, how I feel my nipples harden every time I look at him. I’m so tiny compared to him, his muscles are so defined, his height so massive.
He’s like a giant, and I’m like a mouse.
