by Rye Hart
“What’s happening?”
“It’s Friday night, girly. Time to party!” he said, jumping up.
Music started blaring from the jukebox and he looked at me. “You just gonna sit there or are you going to join us?”
I rolled my eyes but smiled and stood up, going over to the dartboard and pulling the darts out. I knew I could kick some ass at darts.
“Let's play!”
The night went by like a blur. People kept giving me drinks and I kept downing them. Each drink got me more and more out going until I was tipsy and laughing easily. The drinks helped me to release all the pent up emotion that was building up inside of me. All of my fears and worries went away and for the first time, I was able to admit to myself that I actually felt close to Dylan. I was starting to fall for this vigilant. He started off as just eye candy, but now that I was getting to know the real Dylan. I was truly falling for this man. His heart was what attracted me the most.
It was getting late and soft music was playing. I was still floating and smiled when Dylan came over to me offered his hand. His own cheeks were red and I had to guess that he was a bit drunk.
“Want to dance?”
“I guess I could spare a moment,” I said, grinning and walking over to him.
He pulled me into his arms and I was surprised at how right this felt. I leaned into his chest and moved slowly with him, looking up at his strong jaw and stubble.
“Why do you stay?” Dylan asked after a moment.
“Don’t got nowhere else to go, do I?” I murmured.
“That all?”
“I guess you’re growing on me. You’re different - in a good way.”
He laughed a deep throaty laugh. “You like a righteous man, do you?”
“I like good men. Always wanted to fall in love with one.”
He was silent for a moment as he moved together. “Am I a good man?” his voice was weak and doubtful.
I looked up at him and my eyes focused on his face. After a moment I nodded. “Yes. You’re a good man.”
The music stopped and we just stared at each other and he looked down at me. “You’re going to be mine. I’m going to take you as my girl,” he whispered.
The words sent a chill up my spine and I found that it didn’t bother. There was possessiveness in his voice, but instead of frightening me, it made a shiver and a pleasure run down my spine. I was completely drawn in and unable to hesitate any longer.
“Then do it,” I whispered.
Chapter Thirteen
He didn’t waste any time. Those words lit a fire under him and he grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out of the bar and along the dirt path. I didn’t hesitate to follow.
It took what felt like forever, but we finally made it to the house and up the stairs, tearing at each other’s clothes all the way to his bedroom door. My heart was racing, even though my mind was screaming that this was a terrible idea. Our lips didn’t break accept to suck in deep, desperate gulps of air.
I knew where this was going, and while it wasn’t my first rodeo, I was far more excited for this than any other encounter I’d ever had. It was a miracle we made it across the threshold without falling over.
We tumbled onto the bed and I pulled him into a long, desperate kiss, enjoying the way it felt when our lips finally met. I whimpered against his mouth and pulled away, pressing our foreheads together. “I need you. I need you, Dylan,” I whispered, shivering as his hands ran up my sides, his thumbs brushing along my shoulders as he pushed my bra and tank top aside.
He was making it more than clear that he wanted me as badly as I wanted him. His touch made my body come alive in a way I’d never expected. I’d been with men before, but none of them had been this attentive or gentle. I was suddenly hyper-aware of everything, especially the throbbing ache between my thighs. My body was begging for him and the burn of it made me hungry for his touch.
He pressed me back into the sheets and the expensive hotel silk felt good against my skin. I melted into the bed and pulled him close, moaning against his lips as he met me for another long kiss. I tangled my fingers in his hair before letting them explore his muscular back, my nails digging into the flesh.
“How badly do you want me?” he whispered against my neck, nipping at the sensitive skin.
I shivered and moaned softly, arching my back in a desperate attempt to get more of those delicious kisses. “I can’t even tell you,” I admitted.
He smiled and caught my lips, kissing me deeply. We didn’t break from each other until our lungs burned for oxygen. We met each other’s eyes and in that moment we knew we didn’t need words anymore. This was how things were meant to be. He needed me and I needed him. My life was finally starting to come together.
“Spread your legs for me beautiful,” he ordered, growling deep in his throat.
The warmth of his breath made me shudder and I did exactly as I was told, surprisingly enjoying his dominance. I was usually the type of person to argue with being bossed around, but not today. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he slid into me with a long, low groan. I whimpered and arched my back, trying to take him deeper inside me. We fit together like the pieces of a puzzle and it was more than I ever could have hoped for.
When he was completely buried inside of me, he ran his fingers up and down my sides. As his fingers came to rest at my hips, he dug them into the tender flesh. I knew he would leave little bruises come morning, but I didn’t care. I wanted to be marked by him. I wanted the entire world to know he was mine and I was his.
He thrusted deeper and deeper, soft growls escaping his lips. Each thrust and growl was another proclamation of his control over me. I was his. Maybe it was a little early to start making proclamations, but I didn’t care. My hazy brain knew what it wanted and it wasn’t going to back down in the face of reason.
He wrapped his arms around me and held himself over me, whispering sensuous, erotic things in my ear. His hand cupped my breast as he rocked into me again and again, beckoning me to moan louder, which I did without hesitation. I wanted him to know how good he was making me feel. The alcohol coursing through me dulled my inhibitions. I was drowning in pleasure and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
He put his hands on my hips and squeezed, groaning happily when I moved with a sense of urgency. I could feel my orgasm just out of reach and I knew I had to chase it. I gasped and arched my back, throwing my arms around him in a desperate attempt to hold him closer. I wanted him as deep inside of me as possible and as close. I needed him.
The fire burning in my belly became too much to bear and soon I was arching my back, trying to meet his hips, while moans and pleas for more slipped from my lips. My hips rode up against his in reckless abandon.
Stars exploded behind my eyes as my orgasm washed over me. My body shook with the force of it, wrenching sobs of pleasure from my chest. I buried my fingers in his hair and begged for more. He pumped into me twice more before letting out a long, low groan as he emptied himself into me, the pearly liquid filling me until it dripped from between my legs, staining the sheets underneath us.
For a moment we just lay in stunned silence, hardly able to believe what had just happened. He collapsed on top of me, panting and covered in a thin sheen of sweat that made his body glisten in the moonlight. I didn’t even think twice about wrapping my arms around him, holding him close as my eyes started to flutter closed.
I held him tight, laughing softly in his ear. He panted and looked down at me, eyebrow cocked curiously.
“What the hell are you laughing at?”
“I just fucked a biker,” I giggled.
“And that’s funny?”
I laughed again and ran my hands through my hair. “Well, if you would have asked me that question a month ago, I would have said yes,” I hummed, leaning back into the pillow.
“And what if I asked you now?”
“I would tell you I was very wrong about you. You’re…..amazing,” I murmured, my ey
es heavy with sleep.
He chuckled and kissed my forehead. “I’ll ask you in the morning when you aren’t drunk. Sweet dreams beautiful.”
I sighed and nodded, turning and burying my face in his chest as I dozed off into a peaceful sleep, a smile playing on my lips. He was mine. My bad boy.
Chapter Fourteen
I woke up to the warmth of the sun dancing across my face and a heavy but comforting arm around my waist. Dylan was still lying beside me, snoring softly, one arm slung over his face. I blinked against the bright light, the start of a headache gnawing at the back of my head.
As I started to wriggle out from under his arm, I hesitated, turning to look at Dylan as he slept. I half expected to feel some sort of regret. I expected him to feel like a mistake, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. My chest swelled with a feeling of adoration and before I rolled out of bed to take a shower, I leaned in and smiled, kissing his cheek gently.
I stepped under the warm spray of the shower, closing my eyes and trying to urge the dull pain in the base of my skull away.
The curtain rustled and there were suddenly strong arms around my waist, a familiar strength enveloping me and pulling me close. I smiled and turned, pressing the palms of my hands to his chest, chuckling and leaning up to kiss his jaw gently. I traced his tattoos with one of my fingers, glancing up at him.
He smiled and stole a kiss and I all but melted into him, sighing and wrapping my arms around his waist. He chuckled and held me close, swaying with me.
“So, you still think I’m amazing, now that you’re sober?” he asked almost cautiously.
“Absolutely,” I said simply, closing my eyes and resting my cheek against his chest.
“Good. I was hoping we could do it again sometime,” he teased.
I hesitated for a moment and leaned back, chewing my bottom lip. “I have a serious question, okay?”
He blinked, a bit surprised by the seriousness of my tone. “Sure. Shoot,” he said, nodding and cupping my cheek.
I took a breath and looked up at him and then away. “What is this exactly? Is this like a fling? Am I a booty call? I’m not trying to be pushy and I’m not saying we have to like be boyfriend and girlfriend or anything, but I just I think I deserve to know what this is,” I murmured.
His face softened and he looked at me for a moment. “Can I admit something?” he murmured.
“Of course.”
“You were a conquest when this first started. All I wanted to do was get you into bed and you’d be another notch on my belt. It was all a game, but now that we’re here and now that I have you I think I’d like to get to know you better, but if you’re just looking for sex, I guess I’m good with that too.”
My eyes widened and I shook my head quickly “No! No! I really want that too, to get to know you,” I said, looking up at him.
He nodded and leaned in close, kissing my forehead tenderly. “I think I’d like that a lot,” he said with a soft smile. “We’ll give it a try, okay? No pressure.”
I smiled and nodded, comforted by how quickly he was able to calm me down and bring me back down to earth. We enjoyed our shower, taking turns washing each other’s hair and offering kisses and caresses.
We got out of the shower and as we did he paused and went to his closet, a towel still wrapped around his waist. We both started getting dressed when a loud knock on the door broke the silence.
Dylan frowned but went downstairs to answer the door in nothing but jeans. I could hear whispered words, but nothing concrete. I left the bedroom and went to the top of the stairs, seeing Dylan with a serious look on his face.
“I got to go,” he murmured
Chapter Fifteen
He didn’t give me too many details about what was going on. At first he tried to tell me to stay back, but like hell I was going to do that. We both got dressed and went straight back to the bar we’d been in the night before. There was a woman sitting on one of the stools, her face was bruised and her black eyes told a dark story.
Dylan parked the bike and hopped off quickly, walking over to the group. “What on earth is going on here?”
One of the wives, a woman named Tammy, was rubbing the battered woman’s shoulders, trying to calm her down and get her to drink some water. Snake was the one who addressed Dylan’s question.
“This woman was running down the road, screaming like a banshee. She said someone was chasing her, trying to hurt her,” he murmured. “We haven’t really been able to get her to say much more than that,” he said, scratching the top of his head. “I think she’s in shock.”
“Does she need medical attention?” Dylan asked, standing in front of the woman and looking her over carefully.
“I don’t think so. Nothing looks broken,” Snake said, looking the woman up and down.
I frowned a little and moved to sit beside the women as Tammy dabbed at her bruising temple with a damp cloth. The woman looked more like a girl underneath all the damage. If I had to guess, I would have said she was about eighteen. I frowned and reached out, gently taking her hand. She shook and looked up at me, flinching away from my touch for a moment.
“You don’t have to be scared, no one here is going to hurt you, okay? We want to help you.”
She looked at me with wide eyes, tears streaming down her face. It was clear she’d been trying to hold them back but just couldn’t anymore. She whimpered and squeezed me hand.
“My husband beats me. He always has, and it’s getting worse. He’s got a quick temper and I don’t know …. I don’t know why I stay!” she sobbed. “People think I’m stupid. They think I like being there but they don’t understand what it’s like! They don’t understand what it’s like to be afraid in your own home!” she dropped her head into her hands and let out more shaking sobs.
I frowned and wrapped my arms around her, holding her close and stroking her hair. “Shhh, it’s okay. No one here thinks you’re stupid,” I assured her.
She sobbed into my shoulder, her entire frail body shaking with the force of the tears. “I thought he was going to kill me this time. I really thought I was dead,” she whispered.
I pulled away and looked down at her. “You can stay here, okay? You’ll have a place to go. We aren’t going to send you back to him.”
Dylan nodded, his brows knitted together in worry. “We aren’t going to let this bastard get away with this,” he said simply. “You tell us where to find him and we’ll take care of him. And we’ll take you to get your things if you’d like.”
She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “That would be nice, I didn’t even grab my clothes,” she murmured. “I was too afraid.”
I nodded and wiped the tears from her cheek gently. “We’ll go with you okay? The guys will protect you. It’s what they do,” I said with a soft smile, patting her back gently. “It’s going to be okay,” I promised.
She looked at me with wide, wet eyes and wiped her nose. “Really?”
“Really,” I promised, helping her stand. “Come on. You can come to our house so you can get cleaned up.”
She nodded and stood with me, leaning against me heavily as I led her up the drive way to the house. Feeling her small body shivering against mine made anger surge through me. I suddenly understood why Dylan did what he did. It was infuriating to see a poor woman so mistreated. I wasn’t sure how I could help, but I knew I wasn’t going to just stand by.
This fight was now my fight too.
Chapter Sixteen
Her name was Jessica and underneath all the bruising, she was a beautiful woman. Her skin was smooth and pale with freckles peppered across her smooth face. She was young and in a terrible situation.
On some level, I understood. I hadn’t been beaten, but I knew what it was like to feel cast aside and to be made to feel like you didn’t matter. I washed the dirt off her face and offered her a fresh towel and some clothes so that she could clean up.
Once she was ready to shower, I left her alone and
wandered downstairs where Dylan was already preparing for a fight. He slid into his leather jacket and glanced over at me. “What are you doing?” he asked as I started to dress myself.
I shrugged and smiled. “I don’t want to hold you guys up when it’s time to head out,” I said.
He frowned and put his hands on his hips. “You actually think you’re going to go with us?” he asked incredulously.
I threw my hair into a messy ponytail and glanced at him, brow cocked. “Of course I am. Why would I stay here?”
“Because it’s safe here.”
I frowned and looked over at him, reaching out to touch his hand. “Listen, you asked me if I wanted to join you. You asked me if I wanted to be a part of this family and I said yes. I agreed to be here and that means I agreed to be a part of everything that goes on around here, good and bad. I’m not going to just stick around for the good stuff, I want to help. I think it’s really amazing what you guys do, and I want to be a part of it,” I said, looking up at him.
He hesitated, but finally cracked a smile and took my face into his hands. “You never cease to amaze me,” he said with a sigh, leaning in to press a kiss to my lips.
I all but melted into him, sighing as my body began to tingle with a warmth I only felt when I was with him. My eyes fluttered closed and I took in his scent, enjoying the smell of leather and musk that always seemed to surround him. Everything about Dylan made me turn into goo.
A smile touched my lips and I stared up at him with a starry look in my eyes. I felt ridiculous for feeling this way about a man I barely knew, but Dylan made me believe it was possible to fall for someone this quickly. He’d done so much to show me he cared and while I didn’t necessarily feel indebted to him, I wanted to do anything I could to make him proud of me and to make his life easier.
He pulled away and looked at me. “You really want to be a part of this? You really want to join?”
“Of course.”
“Then we’re going to have to get you some ink.”
