“Shhh sweetheart. I got you. Nothing is gonna happen.” He eventually sat me down on what felt like a real bed. I immediately tried to put space between us but my aching body would not obey. More feeble sounds escaped me as I fought against my own body.
“Relax,” he murmured. “Please just relax. I am going to get you some ice to help with the swelling. I’ll be right back.” A slight nod of my head and his footsteps moved away from me. The door closing signaled that I was alone. Only then did I roll over and give into the despair that was clawing to get out. Big, ugly sobs tore through me as the last few days finally caught up to me.
I did not know how long I allowed myself to wallow, but all too soon I was being turned over and into HIS chest. Strong arms encased me as he whispered, “Let it out. Go ahead, I got you.” The ugliness of the last few days washed away with my tears. Sweet murmurings and the gentle feel of his hands on my body brought me back to the present. I burrowed deeper into him as his arms tightened around me. Exhaustion pulled me under as a quiet thank you passed my lips.
Knox
Her gut wrenching sobs still echoed in my mind even after I left my sleeping beauty in bed. I stood from the couch feeling the violent energy surging through my body. To the door and back, to the door and back, I paced trying to alleviate some of it, but it was no use. I knew if I let it, it would pull me under like it did my father every time he drank. The anger, the need to inflict my misery on others, was all too familiar as the need for violence lit my blood on fire. What started out as a spark at how Logan and Campbell were treated was now a wild fire that could only be put out with buckets of their blood.
This in-and-out grab was too easy for my liking. After leaving her room, I found out that Whistler, Tank and Colton had left to race back to our clubhouse because Crazy Z was able to contact Logan. We all knew something was up. But what? Did we have a leak?
Gunner came down the hall and stopped when he saw me. He leaned against the wall watching me as I paced back and forth, his hand on the butt of his rifle as it rested by his side. Gunner was a nomad from Baton Rouge and a retired Army sharp shooter. He pretty much kept to himself, but was solid with that gun or any gun put in his hands. And right now I could not ask for a better brother to be at this safe house with me.
“You good?” asked Gunner as he watched me make another pass.
“Getting there,” I truthfully answered. “What they did to her was beyond fucked up. I can’t get what I saw out of my head. It is driving me ape shit crazy right now thinking about it.”
“Brother,” he warned. “You need to let that shit go for now. Store it away. Not deep down somewhere where you have to look for it, but right next to your heart so that you have easy access to it when you need it. When you need the hate and the anger to finish what we started here tonight.”
“Sounds like you got experience with this brother,” I said as I stopped pacing and really looked at my nomad brother-in-arms.
“You have no idea,” Gunner mumbled before he looked away. “I am going to take the first watch from the front here. Put Ax on the back of the house. Someone needs to check on Baxter then you and Trigger get some sleep.”
“I doubt that is even possible,” I argued.
“Then go watch your girl sleep until it’s your turn.” My girl? What made him think that? But Gunner was out the front door before I could comment. After Ax was in place, I found Trigger already asleep on the front couch. Next I checked on Baxter to find him passed out in the back bedroom, even with being handcuffed to the bed.
With everything in place, I finally made my way back to the girl . . . my girl. Maybe! The thought quickened my steps as I quietly entered the bedroom where she was. Still curled on her side where I left her, I toed off my shit kickers and sat my gun on the floor by the bed before crawling in next to her. The minute our bodies made contact she snuggled into me as I draped my arms around her. We aligned perfectly as I curled my body around hers with her head resting under my chin. Relaxing my body, I felt the familiar pull of sleep, letting my eyes drift close as I pulled her tighter into me.
“NOOOOOOOOOO. Stop. Please. Stop.” More words and cries dragged me from sleep. Unsettled, I grabbed my gun as I sat straight up in bed, taking in my surroundings. Sunlight peeked through the curtains illuminating the room. Thrashing in the bed next to me pulled my attention to the woman.
“Sweetheart, wake up. You are having a nightmare.” I gently shook her to no avail. She was stuck in her nightmare. A little more force from me had her sitting up straight in bed right as she yelped in pain cradling her left arm to her chest. “I got you.” My hushed words were met with resistance. Her attempts to shrug me off did not work as I pulled her onto my lap to straddle me. I laid the gun beside us before returning my hand to her hips.
The puffiness around her eyes was still an angry red with tinges of purples and black where the swelling was starting to go down. She was going to be sporting two very big black eyes.
“Let me take a look at your wrist,” I said, keeping a hold on her in case she tried to slide off. Damn she felt good on my lap. Stop thinking with your dick jackass! But man, she was right where she needed to be.
Her head shook no as her other hand came to protect her injured one. “Please,” I added, hoping it would get her to show me. There was a moment of hesitation before she shook her head again. This little act of defiance was both annoying and a turn on. “Fine, but soon sweetheart.” Her defiance short lived as her shoulders slumped and a small nod was given in agreement.
“Tell me your name.” I refused to say please this time around. She buttoned her lips and gave me a firm head shake no. I could feel my blood rush south as she squirmed to try and get off my lap. “Sit still,” I commanded, earning me a scowl. Damn she was sexy, even all beat to hell you could tell she was a wild cat.
“Alright then, Princess,” I emphasized the last word. “Since you don’t seem to want to help me out here, I will just do all the talking.”
CHAPTER THREE
Dylan
How did I end up on his lap in bed? One minute I was knee deep in nightmares and the next I was straddling him trying to curb the lust I felt coming to life. It seemed that every time I told him no his body responded by growing thicker against my most sensitive spot. How could I be responding so easily to him? My mind screamed at me as my body melted against his. What started out as an ache in my core was turning into an avalanche of need.
Stop it! My mind screamed. I did nothing as my nipples pebbled and wetness flooded my channel as the memory that I was panty-less took center stage in my mind. All I had to do was drive down my hips onto his to get rid of at least one ache in my body. His jeans were the only thing separating us from where my body wanted him to be.
How the fuck was my body even responding to his when I was as messed up as I was? What was it about him?
“I am Knox Montgomery.” His words interrupted my inner slut. What the hell was I thinking? Sex should be the furthest thing from my mind. “And no it is not short for Knoxville.” I could not help the small quirk of my lips at his playfulness. Even without seeing him I felt his charisma rolling off of him in waves. “I was born and raised in Knoxville, hence the nickname Knox. I was born a Matthew, but if you could see me right now you would know I was never meant to be a Matt.” I could not contain the smile that spread across my face so I quickly turned my head to prevent him from seeing it.
Too late.
“Is that a smile?” Knox teased as his hand cupped my chin, bringing it back to face him. “It is.” His small victory in his voice. I would have rolled my eyes if I was able to open them. “You ready to share?” His insistence was both cute and annoying.
Although all of my instincts told me I could trust him; this experience that I was going through right now told me that they were a little off when it came to the opposite sex. He sighed in frustration as I shook my head no again. “In due time princess.” He stated this as a fact, lifting me off hi
s lap and setting me next to him. I immediately felt the chill of separation between us.
My stomach growled, saving me from saying anything to fill the silence. Knox sighed, but from what I was not sure. I maintained my silence, when he finally said, “Let me get you some food. One of my brothers is an EMT. He is going to look at your arm.” Before I could react to his words, Knox was off the bed and out of the room.
A few minutes later what smelled like a nuked, day-old McDonald’s burger sat on my lap as Knox put a large glass in my good hand. Not realizing how thirsty I was until I started drinking it, I polished it off before I even touched my burger.
“I’ll get you some more,” Knox said as I heard him leave the room.
Quick footsteps entered the room as I felt someone rush to my side. I shrunk away from this new person as I heard an intake of breath next to my ear. “I can get you out of here,” he whispered. “You just need to wait for a little while until my back-up shows.” I shook my head no as my heart hammered in my chest. Was this a trick? Who was this person? Before I could ask his footsteps carried him out of the room and down the hall. I heard voices, but could only make out Knox’s voice.
No longer desiring the food on my lap I covered it back up as Knox entered the room. “I thought you were hungry,” he said as he put the cup into my hand. I took it from him and drowned my response in cool water as I gulped the whole glass down again. A million questions swirled in my mind as I tried to piece all this together. “Well I have lookout for the next few hours. Gunner is coming in now to check your wrist.” I heard another set of footsteps as another person, who I assumed was Gunner, joined us.
“Hi there. My name is Gunner and I was an EMT in Louisiana before coming to this great state. My brother here tells me that you keep cradling your arm. May I have a look at it?”
At first I wanted to refuse, but then I felt Knox by my side. I turned my face to him as he said, “Let him princess. If something is wrong he can try and fix it.” I nodded as the bed dipped and Knox sat next to me. I leaned against him as I felt a second set of hands, first on my shoulder and then down my arm. Gunner’s touch was very methodic as he gently prodded down my arm. At my elbow I started to feel the pressure that bordered on pain. At my forearm, I grimaced, but did not pull away. “It okay,” Knox soothed. “Just relax. I got you.” My body sagged even more against him as his arm encircled my waist. There was a moment of silence before Gunner said, “Hold her.”
All logical thought of how I knew Gunner was not going to hurt me, that this was what was best for me, took flight like a flock of startled birds as he moved to my wrist. I grunted in pain as he continued to kneed my bones feeling for something. Knox’s grip tightened as he held me in place. No amount of pulling or pushing relented his hold on me. Knox continued to whisper what I can only imagine were soothing words as I howled in pain. Although Gunner was extremely efficient in checking my wrist, the pain did not ebb as he gently laid my wrist across my chest.
“It’s definitely broken. Emma will want to look at it before we call Doc. I got some pain killers in my saddle bag that I can give her. I can also do a make-shift sling until we get back.”
“No drugs.” My voice raspy from lack of use and all the screaming I had been doing over the last few days.
“Holy shit.” From the surprise in Knox’s voice I knew he was not expecting me to talk.
“But it will help you sleep and with the pain.” I could hear the truth in Gunner’s words, but there was no way I was taking any more drugs.
“No drugs,” I repeated. “Had enough to last me a lifetime,” I croaked as I felt Knox tense next to me.
“Your call,” Gunner countered. I had a feeling he was not talking to me when Knox responded, “It’s up to her brother. She said no drugs, then no drugs.”
“Let me know if you change your mind,” and with that I heard Gunner leave the room.
With just Knox and me in the room I finally breathed a sigh of relief. I took comfort knowing it was just us. I still felt lost in the dark, even if I was seldom afraid of the dark. The shadows casted by what was done to me were haunting me even now that I was awake.
“Why don’t you rest and I will come check on you in a little while?” Too numb to do anything but nod, I let Knox help me back into the bed. A soft press of his lips to my forehead was the only good-bye I received. My mind needed to focus on something other than the wrong turns I had taken to get me here. I needed to figure out what was going on so that I could prepare myself for whatever came next.
I thought back to what Crazy Z had said. He had made a trade with the Night Demons, the club Sam was in. Crazy Z had said a favor for a favor. Getting me into the Soul Reapers’ compound was obviously one favor, but Lucifer, Sam’s MC President never told me about any trade. I stupidly made the deal with Lucifer that if he left my mom alone I would go with the Hellhounds who would hand me over to the Soul Reapers. Sam never told me that he knew who my father was or what club he belonged to. Crazy Z said that Lucifer told him I was the daughter of one of the Reapers. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered. Who was the girl the Night Demons promised the Hellhounds? How did the Night Demons know that my mom was connected to the Soul Reapers? And why did the Hellhounds care? She told me she slept with a member of the Soul Reapers and when he found out she was pregnant he told her to abort me. So she left Camden City. My mom was a piece of shit parent, but at least she kept a roof over my head most days and enough cereal in the house that I did not starve. At least she wanted me more than the damn Reaper did.
My head hurt with all the possibilities. And who were these people that I was with? Knox may have playfully told me about himself but nothing about why he was involved. And who was this stranger whispering he could save me? How did he play into all of this? And how was I supposed to know who he was when I could not see him? His voice was masked by the whispering. I growled in frustration as more and more scenarios played out in my head.
Minutes or hours could have passed but time still had no effect on me as sleep promised relief from the questions. I happily allowed my mind to drift to my few moments with Knox to help guide me into a dreamless sleep.
Knox
“One of our trucks is approaching,” Ax informed me as I stared from my look out spot at the back of the house.
Gunner was already standing at the front door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as I walked out onto the front porch. Whistler was driving and what looked to be Logan and Campbell accompanied him.
The girls piled out of the car and walked quickly to the steps with Whistler following behind them.
“No one is supposed to be here until morning,” I said with my arms crossed over my chest. Tank and Colton were going to be pissed. “Why are you here?”
“Calm down Knox,” Whistler directed. “One of Baxter’s girls is making the trip with him.”
“Since when?” I demanded to know. This was a battle I did not want to be a part of. I looked from Logan to Campbell wanting an answer. My eyes fell to the bags in Campbell’s hand getting the answer neither would give me. “Does Tank know? Hell, does Prez know?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Whistler ranted. “Since I’m the one driving Baxter’s sorry ass out of here, we can leave now and gain some time on the road.”
“You are leaving now?” questioned Logan.
“Pretty much. Get in the house and say your good-byes while I load up the truck.”
The girls practically ran up the steps to follow me into the house. I led them through the house right to the hallway that led to Baxter’s door. “The one on the left is Baxter’s. To the right is the girl’s.”
“Who is she?” Logan asked as we came to a stop outside the doors.
“She’s not talking,” I confessed. Frustration once again licking at my heels. I ran a hand through my hair as I admitted, “I can barely get her to eat anything.”
“Maybe I should try,” Logan offered.
“G
o see Baxter first.” I told them, knowing that they needed to see their father before Whistler came to get them. I quietly crept back into the room, giving myself a few moments to let my eyes adjust to the darkness.
The girl lay in the middle of the bed still wearing nothing but my long sleeve shirt. She slept half on her stomach and half on her side, with her one leg bent and the other straight. The shirt had ridden up and over her perfect ass. My cock thickened as I took her in. The way her legs lay left her pussy completely exposed, giving me a bird’s eye view of those pretty pink lips and her practically bare mound. I palmed my dick to adjust for it lengthening. My jeans grew too tight as my dick became well acquainted with my zipper.
She shifted, breaking her body’s trance over mine. I groaned in frustration as I tried to rein myself back in. What was I thinking? This poor girl had been through so much already. She did not need attention from my cock. Just as I was about to leave her in peace a quick succession of gunfire exploded in the air. I dove for cover next to the bed. Reaching up, I looped my arm around the girl as she cried out, “Knox.” My name on her lips was the sweetest thing I ever heard. I wanted to relish in the moment, but bullets breaking the glass made it impossible.
“I got you,” I told her, meaning it. The need to shield her from harm was overwhelming, while the demand to take out any threat against her was all encompassing. “Stay here,” I demanded her as I shoved her partway under the bed. “Don’t get up for anyone but me.” Her only response a nod as I placed a quick kiss on her forehead. I scrambled across the floor to the door before quickly sliding through. Across the hall Logan and Campbell were on the floor as the windows to that bedroom were shot to hell as well.
Gun drawn, I screamed, “Fuck. Everybody get down. We are taking hits,” before I took off down the hall.
Dylan's Reaper: Soul Reapers #3 Page 2
