Primal Heat

by Piper Davenport

  He sighed. “Stick to only taking him there on family nights and you’ll be good.”

  “I am so sick of this alpha male bullshit.”

  “Ooh, Auntie, you owe Uncle Luca ten dollars,” Felix admonished, waltzing back into the room.

  “I’ll take it off his tab,” I sassed, and Felix laughed. “Up you go,” I directed, and Felix climbed up on one of the stools.

  “You want milk, bud?” Luca asked, and Felix nodded, so Luca poured him a glass.

  “This looks good,” Luca said as I set plates in front of them.

  “Mom’s meatballs. She left me some to freeze.”

  “She’s the best mom on the planet.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, she really is.”

  “How was school?” Luca asked Felix while we ate, and Felix chatted about his day and the new girl at school. I got the impression Felix might have a bit of a crush.

  “May I have ice cream for dessert?” Felix asked.

  “You had cookies for your snack after school, but nice try,” I said.

  The rule in our house had always been one bad food snack like chips and one sweet treat per day. We were allowed to have them whenever we wanted, except breakfast, but we only got one. It’s something Maria had continued with Felix, so I had as well.

  Felix sighed, dropping his head back. “I thought I could be sneaky.”

  “Oh, I’m aware,” I said. “Go ahead and set your dishes next to the sink.”

  He slid off his stool and hugged me. “Sorry, Auntie.”

  “Always forgiven,” I said, and he carried his dishes to the sink.

  “You go get your PJs on and Uncle Luca will play with you in a minute,” I said. “Brush your teeth, too, please.”

  “Okay,” he said, and ran off.

  “You need to give me information, pronto, big brother,” I ordered.

  “Why? Specifically?” he asked. “And why do I feel like this has something to do with more than Fox?”

  “You don’t think it’s important that Felix be with someone safe?”

  “You opened that can of worms, Bree. If you cared about Stoney and the Howlers’ being unsafe, you would have stayed the fuck away from their club.”

  I let out a frustrated groan. “I couldn’t keep him from Felix, Luca. It would have been wrong.”

  “I get it, sissy, but you understand this makes things complicated, right?” he asked, starting to rinse the dishes.

  I nodded. “But I want to know exactly how it makes it complicated.”

  He sighed, setting a plate into the dishwasher. “Honestly? We don’t have any evidence of illegal activities. They own grow businesses all over the state, pay taxes, appear to be above-board, but I also know bikers from rival clubs have come up dead and the Howlers’ have more than enough motivation to make them that way.”

  “Motivation how?”

  “One of them allegedly killed Sundance’s wife more than ten years ago now. He was found soon after her death. It was a gruesome scene, so I know he didn’t go quickly.”

  “Tell me honestly, if your wife was murdered by someone, wouldn’t you want to kill them too?”

  “Of course I would. But I wouldn’t do it. I’d let the system deal with it.”

  “Unless, they don’t feel like the system would deal with it.”

  “Are you seriously defending them?” he growled.

  “They haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “That’s incorrect. We just haven’t caught them. That doesn’t mean we won’t,” he said.

  I crossed my arms. “And you’re gunning for them, I take it.”

  “No, sissy, I’m not. But they don’t make it easy to turn a blind eye.”

  “I don’t think they’re asking for you to turn a blind eye. I think they just want you to mind your own business.”

  He frowned. “So, you’re an expert on all things Primal Howlers now?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying.”

  “You like him,” he accused.

  “Of course I like him. He’s nice. And I need to keep the peace for the sake of Felix.”

  “Bull,” he said, keeping his language clean.

  I hated how well my brother knew me.

  “Nothing has happened,” I lied. “And nothing will happen, so you can set your scowly expression back to disinterested.”

  “I’m ready,” Felix announced.

  “Let me finish this, then we’ll play,” Luca said.

  “I’ll do the dishes,” I offered. “You go have fun.”

  My phone buzzed just as I closed the dishwasher and I saw that it was Stoney calling. I debated on answering, but good manners won out and I picked up my phone.

  “This is Sabrina.”

  “Hey.”

  “Hi. How are you?”

  “I’m good. You?”

  “Good. Busy, though. I’m in the middle of something, can I call you back?”

  “Yeah, nothin’ urgent. Was just checkin’ in.”

  “Okay, cool. Do you want to text me some dates for you and Felix to hang out and I’ll get those on the calendar?”

  “Yeah, Breezy, I can do that,” he said.

  “Okay, great. We’ll talk soon.”

  “Have a good night.”

  “You too,” I said. “Bye.”

  I hung up and sighed, leaning against the counter. God, I needed to reel in my emotions. I was bordering on rude to Stoney, and that was because I had already started to put a wall up. I didn’t want to get hurt. But that was no excuse for being short with him.

  I picked up my phone again to call him back just as a text from him came through with dates for Felix. I decided I’d call him back when I was a little more relaxed, grabbing a glass of wine and heading into the family room to hang out with my family.

  * * *

  It was almost ten, Luca was gone, and Felix was asleep, so I figured I’d text Stoney back and see if he was up. The second I’d sent the text, my phone rang, so I picked it up. “Hi.”

  “Hey, Breezy. You good?”

  “Yep. Why wouldn’t I be good?”

  “No reason. You just sounded pissed earlier.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I did?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, baby, you did. You gonna deny you were irked?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. “Yes, I’m going to deny it.”

  “Okay. You do you,” he retorted. “Did you get those dates?”

  “Oh, yes, thank you. They all work except Sundays. Family dinner happens every Sunday, rain or shine, sleet or snow.”

  “Right. Okay, we’ll find an alternative,” he said.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  I sighed. “I’m really sorry I was short with you earlier.”

  “It’s all good, Breezy.”

  I ran my hand over my comforter as I shook my head. “No, it’s really not. My brother was over, and I guess I just let my frustration get the better of me.”

  “Yeah? Did you get the information you wanted?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Do I want to know?” he asked.

  “Probably not. Plus, I don’t know how much I can share. I’ll ask Luca and get back to you.” He sighed and I wrinkled my nose. “Look, Noah. Either you start answering my questions, or I’m going to get the information in ways you might not approve of.”

  “You doin’ that thing with your nose right now?”

  I rubbed my nose and frowned. “Stop it.”

  He chuckled. “I told you I’d answer any question you had, provided it’s not about my club and I want to answer it.”

  “Did your president kill someone?”

  “Your brother tell you that?” he asked.

  “He suspects it, yes.”

  “Well, that falls under club business, Breezy, so I’m not answering it.”

  “So that’s a yes,” I sassed.

  “Swear to God, Sabrina, you can’t assume that it’s a yes or a no based on me sayin’ I’m not
answerin’ it. Because, for instance, if you assume this question is a yes, and you tell someone else that, you could bring a world of hurt down on me and my club and that will not stand.”

  “I would never, ever, share any of that to anyone,” I said. “I would never repeat anything you told me, either.”

  “Not even with your brother?”

  “Especially not my brother,” I avowed.

  “I’d like to believe that, Sabrina, but you’ll have to excuse me for being leery.”

  I chewed on my thumbnail. “I get it.”

  “You still pissed at me?”

  I dropped my head back and stared at the ceiling. “I wasn’t pissed at you.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I was annoyed. I’m frustrated because I feel like I’m stuck in the middle of a fight and I have no idea whose side I’m supposed to take.”

  “You take Fox’s side,” he said.

  “Easier said than done when his father and his uncle are in a pissing contest and I’m trying to keep us from getting splattered.”

  Stoney chuckled. “I’ll do my best to face away from you going forward.”

  “Or, how about, you make peace with my brother and then you can keep your urine to yourself?”

  “Baby, your brother’s tryin’ to lock members of my club up for the remainder of their lives. Good men. Men who have my back. So until he backs the fuck off, there won’t be peace between us. You need to wrap your mind around that,” he said. “I will do whatever I can to keep our conflict away from you and Felix, but it’s gotta come from Luca as well.”

  “I know. I’m working on him.”

  “Well, then you’re doin’ everything you can, right?” he asked. “Don’t borrow trouble, Breezy.”

  “Don’t psychoanalyze me, Mr. Stonewell.”

  He snorted. “You’re funny, Ms. Moretti.”

  I shoved my thumb back in my mouth and chewed on my already obliterated nailbed.

  “When’s Fox with Luca again?” he asked.

  “Tuesdays are his day, typically. Sometimes he takes him more often, but always Tuesday.”

  “You wanna go out?”

  “On Tuesday?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Like a date?”

  “Well, yeah. That’s usually what you call it when a man asks a woman out, right?”

  I bit my lip. “I don’t know—”

  “Dinner,” he pressed. “You gotta eat, right? I also owe you one.”

  “So, not a date?”

  “You worried about labels, Sabrina?” he teased.

  “Don’t talk to me like you think you’ve figured me out.”

  “I have figured you out,” he challenged.

  “You think so, huh?”

  “Let me take you to dinner and I’ll prove it.”

  I laughed. “I see what you did there.”

  “Six.”

  “Six-thirty?” I countered, because Luca was picking Felix up at five so it would give me time to get ready.

  “Sure, baby, I’ll pick you up at six-thirty.”

  I smiled. “Okay. I’ll see you then.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye,” I said, and hung up, flopping onto my pillows with a huge grin on my face. Lordy, a night alone with Stoney. It’s quite possible my stomach might explode with excitement.

  * * *

  Stoney

  I hung up with Sabrina, her voice doing incredibly inconvenient things to my dick, and headed to my bathroom. I stripped, then stepped into the shower, my dick at half-mast after my conversation with Breezy. Jesus, she was sexy as fuck.

  I soaped up, wrapping my hand around my dick, visions of Sabrina flooding my mind as I slid my hand up and down my shaft. I cupped my balls with one hand, working my dick with the other, pumping faster and faster as I imagined my dick inside Sabrina. I had a feeling she’d be tight, every inch of her curvy body ready to be licked, her pussy wet and ready.

  I moved my hand faster and faster until my balls tightened, and I let myself go, my cum landing on the shower floor. Jesus, I needed to bury myself deep and soon or I was gonna waste a fuck of a lot of hot water.

  I finished up my shower, then dressed and headed downstairs. Time for alcohol to ease the ache.

  Sabrina

  Tuesday night, Stoney arrived at six twenty-nine, and I pulled open the door to find him in a dark pair of jeans, motorcycle boots, a black Henley and his leather vest. He looked edible.

  “Hi,” I said, smiling. “Come in.”

  “Hi,” he returned, walking inside and kissing my cheek. “You look beautiful.”

  I wore a pair of skinny jeans with a blue floral, blousy top, and a pair of black four-inch heeled booties.

  “Thanks. So do you.”

  He chuckled. “You ready?”

  I nodded. “Let me just grab my purse.”

  He waited in the foyer while I gathered my purse and keys, then I set the alarm, locked up and followed him outside. He’d brought a truck tonight, which I was grateful for, and he gallantly held the door open for me and helped me climb inside.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked, once he was inside the truck.

  “Bistro,” he said, starting the engine.

  “Ooh, I love the Bistro.”

  He chuckled. “I do too.”

  “Are you always on time to dates?” I asked as we drove.

  “Haven’t been on a date in a long time,” he said. “But Sundance and Rocky have always driven home that on time is late, early is on time.”

  “Let’s roll back to you ‘haven’t been on a date in a long time.’”

  He chuckled. “You’re the first in ten years.”

  “Shut the front door. How old are you?”

  “Thirty-four.”

  “You haven’t been on a date since you were twenty-four?”

  He smiled. “Yep.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Haven’t ever met anyone I wanted to take out. There’s plenty of pussy at the club if I need to get laid, so it hasn’t come up.”

  “You’ve never met anyone with whom you want to have a more meaningful relationship?”

  “What do I need a woman for?” he asked.

  I sighed. He had a point. “I don’t actually have an answer for that.”

  He laughed, reaching over and taking my hand. “I’m open to whatever comes, Breezy. I like you. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.”

  “What about Fox?”

  “What about him?”

  “I just want to be assured that if things don’t work out with whatever this is, it won’t affect him negatively.”

  “I won’t let it.”

  “You say that, but if emotions are high and my feelings are hurt, I’m nervous I’ll take it out on you, and you’ll take that out on Fox.”

  “Whoa,” he said. “Why are you expecting that your feelings are gonna be hurt?”

  I shrugged, unable to honestly answer his question.

  He squeezed my hand. “Breezy, I’m gonna need you to answer that.”

  “Because you’re you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, parking behind the restaurant.

  I blushed and faced the window. “I’m not ready to tell you that yet.”

  He released my hand, climbing out of the truck and walking to my side, lifting me down and pushing me gently against the door. “You are beautiful, Sabrina.”

  “I’m not fishing for compliments, Stoney.”

  “I know,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure you know that because the fact that you think you might get your feelings hurt is ludicrous. I’m the one at risk here.”

  I met his eyes. “If we do this, try to make something work between us, and it doesn’t, then you can just go back to random pussy. I tend to wallow.”

  “Why do you wallow?”

  I shrugged. “Because being dumped hurts.”

  “Now I’m dumping you?”

  I wrinkled my nose. �
��I also spiral and create narratives in my head.”

  He laughed. “Apparently.”

  “I’d love to be a guy and just fuck ’em and leave ’em.”

  “It’s not really all that it’s cracked up to be,” he admitted.

  “No?”

  His hand slid to my neck and he leaned down to kiss me. “No.”

  His lips covered mine and I sighed, opening my mouth to receive his tongue. My mind went straight in the gutter, wondering what his tongue could do to other parts of my body.

  I slid my hands up his chest, looping my arms behind his neck and deepened the kiss. I heard someone clear their throat, and broke the kiss, suddenly realizing we’d been making out where everyone could see.

  “Mind your business,” Stoney growled to the older man walking with his date, and I dropped my head to Stoney’s chest, hoping my hair would hide my embarrassment. His chest rumbled as he chuckled, his hand cupping the back of my head. “Come on, baby, let’s go eat.”

  I shook my head. “Are they gone?” I whispered.

  “Yeah.”

  I lifted my head and glanced around, seeing we were alone again, then I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him again. God, I couldn’t get enough of his mouth.

  “Fuck,” he hissed against my lips. “You keep doin’ that thing with your tongue, we won’t make it into the restaurant.”

  I leaned back slightly. “What thing with my tongue?”

  “Jesus.” He took a deep breath. “Make a decision. We go inside and eat, or we go back to your place and I eat you.”

  I shivered. I wanted to choose the latter, but my Catholic upbringing reared its moral head and I rasped, “We go inside.”

  He nodded, taking my hand and leading me into the restaurant.

  The hostess led us to a table and handed us menus, and we read in silence. I had to keep squeezing my legs closed because I was so freaking horny, I could barely stand it.

  “Take a deep breath, Breezy,” Stoney whispered, smirking.

  “Why?”

  “Because if you don’t, I’m gonna fuck you under this table.”

  I whimpered, hiding behind my menu. “Stop,” I hissed.

  He chuckled. “You’re amped up, baby, which means I’m amped up.”

  “I don’t mean to be amped up.” I peeked out from behind the menu and frowned. “You just kiss really well.”

  “So do you.” He leaned in. “When your tongue—”