She shut the door quietly behind her as she headed out into the night. The sleeping pills she had administered would only last another five or six hours, good enough time to get her a head start back home and into enemy territory.
CHAPTER SIX
The light in the bedroom was switched on. Normally, this wouldn’t alarm Vinny, but he had not been home in several weeks. He had not been in his own bed since before Gloria had taken over housekeeper while he was nursing his broken rib.
But tonight, the light was on. The window was drawn. And from the parking lot where Vinny parked his motorcycle, he could clearly make out the outline of a figure moving around the room.
The doorknob was unlocked – something completely unusual. Whomever was in his place had not even bothered to padlock it. They weren’t hiding their tracks. There were footprints in the doorway of muddy shoes walking through the foray. In the living room, the television was turned on and the volume was blasting an old Western showdown. A teakettle simmered on the stove.
Vinny shut off the heat as he turned to the bedroom door. He could hear the faint voice of someone lightly whistling a familiar hum – a song he once knew and loved. A pain took over him when he realized what was waiting for him behind the door.
His hand reached for the door to push it open, but it flew open before he could touch his hand to the wood. A soft voice whispered to him, “Vinny,” as he looked down at Gloria standing before him. She was soaking wet, her dirty blonde hair dripping small puddles on his carpet. The black eye makeup she wore was streaming down her face as it traced the lines of her cheekbones and jawline. Her blue dress hung heavily while clinging closely to her body.
Vinny had no reply to her. He only could stare at her in wonder as he tried to decide his next move. A million contradictions ran through his head and neither made sense to him. He longed to dry her body off while also slowly stabbing it ‘til it met its end. She was everything and nothing to him.
“Vinny,” Gloria repeated. Her exhausted voice was a plead as she stated the obvious, “I’m back. For good.”
“What are you doin’ here, Gloria?” Vinny had turned cold. It was his only defense against her charms.
Gloria could not read the stony face before her. She had expected more, much more. She had wanted nothing more but to lay in his arms knowing that she was safe and protected. But the one man who could give her that sense of security was looking back at her like she was nothing more than an ant on the ground.
She started, “I, uh, I know how to make this right.”
“I’m sure you do.” Sarcasm dripped from Vinny’s voice as he remembered the revelations Benni had presented to him. Gloria was a traitor, a businesswoman, and a conman. Whatever she was doing here in his apartment was not to unite back with him.
“Please, just listen to me.” She ran back to grab her backpack she had laid in the corner of his room. He stepped farther in, watching her carefully go through her own bag.
Gloria pulled out the black notebook he recognized she used when she was pulling a scheme. Her hand shook and shivered as she flipped through the pages quickly before resting on one near the back. “Here, look.”
Vinny glanced down at the pages. Scrolled in her fast, yet careful print was a combination of gibberish. Words like “attack” and “pickup” were underlined and circled. He looked back up at her, unsure what he was supposed to be getting from all of this.
“It’s notes!” She was frantically excited as she took the notebook from his hands once more and placed it on the bed. She kneeled on the floor, flipping through the pages up close. “The Devils, they followed me. I think Junior told them about me and what I did to Carl. That, or they were using me to get to you. But I managed to seduce two of their scouts and get this information from their phones.”
“You seduced them,” Vinny was not convinced. “How am I supposed to believe that?”
She was taken aback. She had broken his trust before, but she had never outright lied to him. “I’m givin’ you information, Vinny. I want to go to the Horsemen and present this stuff to them for immunity. Do you think it will work? Do you think they will see me?”
Vinny suddenly remembered the vow he had made to Benni just hours before. He was to return her back to headquarters so he could kill her there. It was part of his mission to regain the men’s trust. Now Gloria had wanted to go back by her own freewill.
Despite his oath, he found himself softly saying, “Don’t be stupid, Gloria. It’s over for you here. You should have never come back.”
“You don’t get it, Vinny!” She was still racing at a hundred miles an hour. Her voice cracked as she tried to push him in her direction, “I know things…I know where Junior is being kept! I know about their merchandise, their sellers, their plans to pull a second attack against the Horsemen.”
“Attack? Do you mean from two weeks ago? I know all about that, thanks to you.” He lifted his shirt gingerly, revealing the bandages covering the shallow stab wounds he had sustained to the torso.
Gloria’s face went white as a sheet as she studied the marks that had marred Vinny’s thickly muscular waist and stomach. Still kneeling before the bed, she turned to reach out to touch him with her searching fingers. He flinched and took two steps back. She lowered her head as she whispered, “I don’t understand. Did you not get my email?”
“I got your message, Gloria! I got it almost twenty times. You sent me to my death. They were waiting, just like you knew they were.”
“I didn’t know anything about this! Jordan told me about their plans. I just passed on the word to you. I was tryin’ to save you, Vinny!”
Gloria watched in horror as he suddenly charged at her. He reached down and grabbed her by the straps of her dress to move her to standing. She flew like a ragdoll with his mighty force. He threw her onto the bed, the mattress bouncing under her weight. She called out once more, “Vinny! You have to believe me. I had nothin’ to do with this!”
“Do you really expect me to believe you?” He straddled her and held down her arms as she let out a sob. He yelled, “Why in the hell would I trust someone like you, someone who makes their money connin’ others. Was I just part of the payout, part of your game?”
“No, Vinny! Please. I would never.”
“Why! Tell me why am I different. Please, enlighten me!” He was trying to taunt her, but he felt himself grow more earnest. If she was being honest with him, Vinny wanted nothing more but to know why he should believe her when she said she had no part in the ambush at the restaurant.
“Because…” She stared up into his face. For the first time, she saw the man who had protected her time after time – the man who had kept his promise to protect her every turn of the way. She stopped crying as she quietly said, “Because I love you.”
He pushed down harder on her wrists. Vinny had heard her clearly but the words had not set in. Despite this, he could not break his eyes from hers. They had softened as she confessed. The hard ice melted into tiny pools before him. A small tear rolled down her face, cutting through the black mascara lines.
He released her as he fell back on the bed beside her. After a long moment, he turned to her as she stayed in place, not daring to move. “I still don’t believe you.”
“I know, I know. But it’s all true. The night I left, I met up with Jordan in the parking lot of Jackman’s. Casey, the bartender, had heard info that they’d known about the Horsemen’s plans to stake out the quarry for Junior. When I heard that, I waited until I was out of state to send that email. I would have sent it earlier, but I, well, I just couldn’t.”
“And what about the stuff in the notebook?” She had a good, solid story, Vinny had to admit that. But he was still not seeing all the holes filling. “How did you get that information?”
“I was in Florida when I saw them. They checked into my hotel. I caught them wearing colors on their jackets. So I fled and they followed, and I think they called a caravan after me, as well. I pass
ed at least twenty riders on the highway. I made it to St. Louis when they found me again. I was singing in this dive bar, Max’s Pub, when they came in. I drugged them, got them to bring me back to their hotel room, and I stole the info off their phones.”
“Gloria…” Vinny looked up at the ceiling as he shook his head in disbelief.
“Look! I took pictures of their phones—screenshots.” Gloria sat up in a shot as she ran towards where she had set her purse down next to the backpack. She came back with her cellphone in her hand as she scrolled through her images from that night. She continued, “I think you can see one of them in the background…Here!”
Vinny studied the small screen. There in the center of the frame was another phone, an older model that was banged and nicked up around the edges with buttons that were faded from use. The screen had a calendar pulled up. But something else about the photo caught his eye. Behind the phone and its schedule app, was a figure dressed in black. It unnaturally was slumped over a chair.
“See! See!” Gloria was practically giddy. She had proof of her actions, and Vinny couldn’t deny it. For his part, Vinny had little doubt after seeing the man in the image that Gloria was telling at least some part of the truth.
“Why did you come back? Why didn’t you just keep running farther?”
“I’m tired of tryin’ to get away from the things I care for. I want to be here, and I want to be with you. Whatever that means, for however long that lasts, if I’m gonna run, I’m gonna run with you. If that means puttin’ myself right in harm’s way, then so be it.”
Vinny sat up and looked at her with tired eyes. He placed his hands on her hips as he gently dragged her back down into the bed. She fell forwards onto him, her wet hair falling in his face, creating a canopy for the two. They both stayed still like that for a lingering second. Their breaths intertwined as they unconsciously moved their faces closer and closer to one another until their lips gently touched.
A heat built between them as they fell into a deep, passionate kiss. She dove her tongue deeper into his warm, salty mouth as she tasted every crevice of him. He used every bit of his remaining strength to sit himself up so he could hold her closer to his body. He pulled away at her wet clothing, letting the dress fall into a heap near the bed.
As she remained in his embrace, she used her free hand to unhook the leather belt around his waist and slid his pants down his waist. He kicked them off as she worked on pulling off the gray shirt he had taken from his hospital room partner. It was still covered in tiny shards of glass from the fall, and they left little slivers embedded deep in the sheets.
Gloria sat upon his lap, completely naked and unafraid of what was about to happen next. She had taken him before, but this was new. She had opened herself up to him, and it had brought her back to life. Her kisses were longer. Her touches against his sticky hot skin were softer. The urge that curled up every muscle of her body from her toes to her clit to her shoulders ached wilder.
Vinny could feel the difference. She had never been so urgent or fearless. He had taken the reins every other time, but tonight was hers to lead. She was careful, but commanding, as she pushed him back down towards the sheets. Her hands pushed off his shoulders to sit herself straight up.
He looked upwards towards the ceiling to see her brush back her hair and wipe the makeup from her cheeks. She inhaled softly as she moved one hand downwards until she found his hardened cock. She refused to break eye contact as she began to rub her palm slowly up and down against the skin. Her touch was magic as Vinny temporarily forgot about the stinging, burning pain where his stiches were still heeling. All he could do was focus on the motion of her hand taking him farther and farther into paradise.
His hands found work, as well. They curled up against her hips, holding on to the soft folds. He moved one hand slowly upwards from her bellybutton to her breastbone. The softness of her skin and the fragility of her bones were engulfed by his large, tanned hands. He rested his hands upon her breasts as he traced the curve of her bronzed tits. Her nipples turned to erect mountains as he continued to massage the skin and twist the pink tops.
She answered back by releasing her hands from his cock and instead finding his stiff hard on with her wanting pussy. He used his hands to prop himself up higher as she began to slowly sway and rock. Her hips twisted gracefully, tantalizing. He wanted nothing more than to take control of her, to force her to move faster, to bounce higher. But he wanted her to go slow. He wanted to feel every inch of her from the outside in. He wanted to need her like she had needed him.
Without warning, she stopped and spun herself around, not releasing her folds from his cock. She faced his legs as she used her knees to rock higher and harder. The sensation was totally unreal to the both of them. He had not taken a woman from this position before, and the new angle had made him regret not trying it out sooner.
Gloria arched her back as the back of his cock rubbed directly up against her clit. She wanted to own every bit him, and this was the best way to lay her claim. She moved harder and faster, grabbing his thighs for support. She rooted downwards and then rocketed herself upward, her head and chest following this motion. Vinny could only watch from his rear angle as she took control.
Each grew more in sync as the rhythm picked up. He reached up and grabbed for her hair, pulling it back in a ponytail for him to hold tight to. She yelled out as she felt his tug and yanks. She may have been the rider, but he was not about to let go totally. Gloria knew that by the way his cock drove harder into her. While he had started with abandoned control, he was now moving upwards and downwards with her, both falling into a spiral, neither knowing what was on the other end.
A rush of blood came to Gloria’s head as she lost her breath and her consciousness altogether. She wanted to cry out, to scream, to burst. She wanted to sing. It was like nothing she had ever felt before, and he was giving it to her wrapped up like a present.
She fell into him, his member still vibrating inside. He wasted no time flipping her to her back and lifting her legs straight above her head. She was too tired to protest as he dove his cock into her. He pounded her unearthly fast. Her legs broke from the pressure and speed and rested lazily upon his shoulders. She could feel him collapsing with each fast, quick stroke. His face contorted and reshaped as he felt the familiar release. Every bit of life and love and happiness spilled out of him into her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Wake up.”
Gloria heard a loud voice coming from the door. It startled her as she stirred from a restful sleep. “Wake up, Gloria,” the disembodied voice repeated.
She moaned audibly. After so many days on the road and in fear that she would be captured at any moment, she wanted nothing more than to just sink in the folds of Vinny’s king-sized bed.
Gloria attempted to roll over to stretch her arms outwards towards where Vinny stood. But she found herself stuck. Her arms were stuck above her head, and her feet were pushed unnaturally together. She tried to spin out of the position, but a long piece of rope kept both her feet and arms in place to the bed.
Her eyes opened up in terror. She looked around the room for her captor, the Devil that finally had gotten to her. Gloria called out instinctively, “Vinny! Vinny!”
To her surprise, Vinny did answer. “I’m right here.” He was serious, almost stern. She wrapped her head to the doorway where he stood with his arms crossed across his chest. He was watching her expressionless. The rest of the room was completely empty. There were no Devils riders. No guns to anyone’s head. It was just Gloria and Vinny looking at one another in complete confusion.
A picture came to Gloria as she asked him, “What are you doing, Vinny? Unite me.” Her voice was teasing. After the night they had, she could not imagine he would want to do much more than rest next to her.
“No.” Vinny again remained motionless. His voice was void of humor or play.
“C’mon. If you’re into this, that’s great, but you can’t let me j
ust lay here all morning.” Gloria turned her naked hips to point at him. She flashed him her curves and flesh, still pink from the lovemaking.
“You’re not staying there. You’re coming with me. I’m just waiting for a phone call back. Until then, shut up or I’ll have to gag you.”
“Gag me then, sweetie.” She smiled revealing the bright white teeth she gritted.
“I don’t want to do that.” He put his arms down as he looked towards the floor and his boots. “You don’t understand what’s happening.”
“Obviously not. Enlighten me, Vin.” Gloria attempted to shrug as she watched him walk closer to her.
His slow footsteps dragged on the carpet. He sat next to her on the bed and looked towards the empty walls. “I don’t believe you.” He said it softly. “Your story just doesn’t work, Gloria. I got my orders. Leadership wants you taken in.”
Reckless Abandon (Black Horsemen MC Book 3) Page 5
