Pierce's Claim

by Jenika Snow

  They’d stayed at the library for an hour, and although it was an awkward exchange, and one she didn’t know if she should experience again, Fallina couldn’t deny that she enjoyed spending that time with Pierce. Of course it hadn’t been anything sweet and soft, no romantic gestures or flowers and chocolates given to her.

  Pierce was just like every man she’d encountered in the MC. He was hard, unforgiving, strong and powerful. He was frightening, could be violent to his enemies, but above all she knew he was loyal, truthful, and would protect what he cared about at all costs.

  When he’d said he wanted her, only her, and that it wasn’t about the sex, she was, of course, skeptical because she knew how men in the club were with women. She’d been inside of the Brothers of Menace clubhouse while growing up, even when her father was in prison. And then they’d moved, transferred their charter to River Run and she’d still been close with them. They were her extended family, all the men, and she loved each of them like they were her blood.

  She stared at him, the light from the library shining a gleam on the chrome of his Harley. The sun had set already, and the muted yellow glow from the streetlights made everything look a little murky. They were several hours outside of River Run, and still she felt like she was too close for comfort concerning her father and the club.

  It wasn’t that she was ashamed of being seen with Pierce. It was the opposite. He was a guy she’d be proud to be with, because she knew he’d be loyal, treat her well, and show her what it meant to be with a real man. She was afraid because she knew her father wouldn’t approve of her being with a Brother, and when he confronted her she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold back the truth of who she really was. It was hard as it was, and every time she saw him she just wanted to be that little girl that looked up at her father and confessed what she was afraid of.

  “Come with me for a ride,” Pierce said, standing beside his bike, his helmet in his hands, and this serious expression on his face.

  She wanted to be with him, if only for one night, but the repercussions were so dangerous. It was like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking over at the bottomless pit beneath her, and knowing the slightest breeze could have her falling over the ledge.

  He moved a step closer. They’d spoken in the library about random things, safe things that had nothing to do with her father, the club, or her stripping. Lil was another part of her, an extension, and although she understood who she was, and what she did, Fallina didn’t want to talk about that with anyone, least of all Pierce.

  “Where would we go?” Her heart was thundering, and everything in her body was alive right now. The smell of him, strong, masculine, with a hint of spicy cologne, made the feminine part of her long to touch him, to be with him. But she was afraid, frightened of how she’d react if it even came down to that. It had been years since she’d been with someone sexually, and she knew she shouldn’t do anything close to that with Pierce for both of their sakes.

  “Just for a ride. I just want to be with you, and the library hadn’t been my first choice for privacy.” He smirked, just a lift of the corner of his mouth.

  “Privacy isn’t a very good idea, Pierce,” she said softly, seeing him move another step closer. He stopped when he was a foot from her, his big body blocking out the scene behind him. He was tall, at least nearing six and a half feet, and his body … God, his body, so big, muscular, and all those tattoos covering him, made her needy, aroused. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt such lust before. It was exciting, but also frightening, and it was that fear that had her taking a step back.

  “Privacy with you is the best idea, Fallina. It’s actually one of the best ideas I’ve had in a long time.” He moved closer still.

  Her heart was thundering in her chest. People were all around them, children laughing, couples talking, saying sweet, erotic things to each other. All of that was a sensory overload, but even though that surrounded her, all she could think about, see, feel, was Pierce. What was it about him that made her feel like this?

  “Don’t tell me you don’t feel this … connection, between us, Fallina,” Pierce said and lowered his gaze to her mouth.

  She licked her lips, as if his looking at them made her suddenly aware of their presence. It was so strange feeling this kind of heat, arousal, with a man that she didn’t know, shouldn’t even want, and could seriously get hurt if one of the Brothers found out.

  But nothing has happened … and if you walk away now, leave Pierce and stop being selfish, he won’t get hurt and your disgraceful, disgusting behavior won’t come back to Dad.

  “Just tell me that this isn’t just me,” he said, lifting his hand and touching her cheek. She didn’t move away, and in fact felt herself lean into his touch. His fingers were rough, calloused from working on the motorcycles, doing hard labor … being a man. “Just tell me that you want me as fucking badly as I want you, and that nothing matters aside from that.”

  God, she wanted to say that, because did he even realize what he did to her, how he woke something inside of her that only stripping had done? Was she actually allowing herself to feel these things, realize and accept that being with Pierce made her feel that rush that she felt when on stage, dancing for those men, and being someone else?

  “I do feel something, but can you say that this isn’t frightening? Even just a little?” Of course she didn’t think a man like Pierce was afraid of anything, but the thought of her father finding out, of the club seeing this as some kind of betrayal, surely that had to spark some kind of awareness in him.

  He didn’t speak for a second, but continued to stare at her, look right in her eyes. This man transfixed her by the aura around him. Everything from his tattoos to the scruff around his cheeks, even his lip piercing and all the tattoos, called to the very feminine part of her.

  “If anything in this world could frighten me, it would probably be being with Cain’s daughter and risking his wrath when he found out.” He took a step closer. “And eventually he’d find out, because you’re a female I wouldn’t hide, wouldn’t see behind his back. You’re a woman I’d have by my side, keep out in the open, and fuck up anyone that thought to challenge me about that.”

  Her heart plummeted to her stomach, but it was the good kind of drop, the real kind. If she was going to do this then she was going to jump in with both feet and hold on tight. “Okay, let’s go for a ride.”

  ****

  He had no clue where he was, or where he was going. But Pierce didn’t care. He just wanted to be with Fallina, to have her close, to just have this time with her before all hell broke loose. And it would. It always did.

  Because of the situation with M, and the fact things were going to get dangerous, he knew that this time with her might be one of the only ones he had. But he was focusing on them right now, on the fact she was behind him on his bike, her arms wrapped around him, her head on his back.

  Pierce never thought he’d feel anything like this. He certainly had never wanted an old lady, never cared about a woman enough to even consider that. Even before the club he’d jumped from bed to bed, not settling, just enjoying himself.

  “Turn off here,” she said loudly behind him, and he took a left, drove up a dirt, narrow road, and ascended until a large outcropping of boulders restricted him from going further.

  Pulling to a stop and bracing his feet on the ground, he let the engine idle for a moment, not sure what they were doing up here. But when she climbed off the bike and started walking toward the edge he cut the engine and followed her.

  It was dark, but he’d kept his headlight on, and the whitish glow made a swatch of light across her. She was gorgeous, so fucking gorgeous, and not only on the outside. She was smart as fuck, witty. But of course he saw that darkness in her whenever he looked into her blue eyes.

  One of these days he’d find out her secrets, find out why she had this shadow covering her, but even if he had an idea what caused it, he wouldn’t press her to tell him
. As far as he was concerned they had all the time she needed.

  She froze, so close to the edge he got a little twitchy at the fact it looked like it might be a straight drop down. He stopped a few feet from her, giving her space, but also staying close to her.

  “You’re newer to the club,” she said without question.

  He didn’t answer, but then again she hadn’t asked him anything, just made a statement. She looked over her shoulder at him. “But I’m sure you know why my father went to prison?”

  He nodded slowly.

  She held his gaze with hers for a second, and then turned back around. He moved closer, stepped beside her, and looked down. The town below them was lit up, but it was small, obscure, and looked like it should be in a doll’s house.

  “After the attack I used to just drive, would drive for hours with no place in mind. I just needed to get away.”

  He could relate, had felt like that plenty of times, although Pierce couldn’t even contemplate what she’d gone through. Just thinking about another man touching her consensually had him seeing red, had him wanting to beat a motherfucker up. But the very thought that some asshole had laid his hands on Fallina without her consent, trying to take from her, rape her, had Pierce so fucking angry he curled his fingers into his palms and was holding himself together.

  He got like this the last few times he thought about it, and it hadn’t affected him like this until he realized Lil was Fallina, and that he felt some pretty deep shit for her. He’d been angry for her when Cain had gotten out of prison and he’d taken out the asshole that hurt her and Violet, but until Pierce had seen her as his, seen her as the woman he wanted by his side, this rage had been dormant. Now all he could think about was digging up the bastard that Cain had killed all those months ago and fucking him up once more.

  “So I just kept driving, and one day ended up here. I would come up here, stand at this ledge for hours, just looking at the town, thinking about what everyone was doing, how they were dealing with the shit in their lives.” She turned and faced him then, looked up at him with such vulnerability written on her face it broke his heart. “I thought about if I just took a few more steps, right off the ledge, I wouldn’t have to deal with the anger, with the sadness and frustration that churned inside of me, making me sick every single day.” She looked at the ground and shook her head, chuckling humorlessly.

  “Baby,” he said the endearment, the word just spilling from him as he took in the broken, damaged woman in front of him. She sounded defeated, lost.

  “I wanted to just end it all, but I knew I couldn’t. I had my dad, Violet. I couldn’t disappoint them, let them live with the fact I couldn’t be strong enough for them. So I dealt with it all, sucked it up, and then I found an outlet that helped me feel something other than this shit bottled up in me.” She looked at him again, this rawness in her face stripping him down. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you any of this.” A moment of silence passed. “But I guess I feel like I can with you, and as strange as that is I’m grasping onto it like a lifeline.” A lone tear was on the precipice of falling down her cheek. He smoothed his thumb along her skin, right below her eyes, and collected that tear. Bringing it to his mouth, he held her gaze with his as he sucked that salty droplet off his thumb.

  Her eyes widened, and her mouth parted. The fact he cared about her like this, felt this intense affection for her, obsession, even this proprietary need to protect her, when he didn’t even know her, should have surprised him more than it did. This was the first real conversation, first bared and opened talk they had ever had. He could love this woman, might even be halfway there already.

  He’d never let her go. He couldn’t, and he wanted to show her that she was his, her sadness, frustration, and the broken soul she carried. All of that was his to bear with her, to make sure she got through it, and she would. He’d make sure she got through it.

  “I’m sorry.” It was all he could say at the moment, all he could say because what he wanted to tell her, that she was his whether she wanted to accept that right now or not, would frighten her. That was the last thing he wanted to do to her.

  “I can’t even fully describe it in words, but I feel like I can be myself with you, the broken, damaged girl that I don’t share with anyone.” She smiled, but it was sad, a little lost. He wanted to take that away from her, just make her feel something other than what she was in this moment. “And that scares me, Pierce. It scares me more than my father finding out that I strip, that taking my clothes off for strange men helps me cope with my past.”

  God, she was breaking his fucking heart over and over again.

  “And that’s why I do it, why I get on that stage.”

  He smoothed another tear away from her cheek.

  “I strip because it’s my therapy. I become Lil because she has no worries, no problems. She only gets up there, shows her body, and is transported to a world where there are no problems.”

  And then Pierce couldn’t help himself. He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, pulled her close to him, and slanted his mouth on hers. At first she was tense, but then she moaned, clung onto him like he was a lifesaver, and kissed him back.

  He didn’t take the lead. Pierce let her control this. She needed it, and as much as he wanted to be the one showing her what this was about, showing her with his mouth that she was his, Pierce let Fallina stroke her tongue along his mouth and take the lead right now.

  She gripped his biceps, her nails digging in, and opened her mouth. He slipped his tongue in her mouth, stroked her with it, and loved when she made this desperate, mewling sound. But she broke away too quickly, their mouths now only an inch apart.

  “I haven’t felt this kind of passion, Pierce. I’ve never felt this.”

  He groaned, cupped her cheek with his other hand, and leaned down. He kissed her softly, and this gentle side rose up, wanted to show her that she was special, she was whole, and that he’d make sure she never saw herself as broken again. This was new to Pierce. He’d never given a shit about how a woman felt. Unless he was sticking his dick in their pussy for a few hours a night he didn’t give two shits about their emotions.

  But Fallina was different. He’d known it from the first time he saw her on stage as Lil. He just hadn’t known how special she would end up being to him.

  “I’d kill him all over again, Fallina. I’d fucking gut him like a pig if he wasn’t already in the ground, rotting for what he’d done to you and Violet,” he said against her mouth, not sure why he’d thought to say that at this moment. Maybe he needed her to know that he’d protect her, make sure no one hurt her ever again. But he knew he’d fucked up as soon as he’d said the words because she tensed.

  She pulled away, looked up at him, and the confusion was on her face. “What?”

  He cleared his throat, knowing from Cain that he hadn’t told her that her abuser had been taken out. Hell, he knew Cain didn’t want Fallina to know he’d beaten the hell out of the prick right before ending his life. And Pierce had just opened his fucking mouth.

  “He’s dead?” she asked, referring to Carl, the man that had raped Violet and tried to do the same to Fallina when they were sixteen.

  Shit, he couldn’t exactly feign ignorance right now. His passion and feelings for her had made him break one of the key rules about being in the club: don’t fucking talk about what happened. But he wasn’t going to lie to her. He’d never do that.

  “Yeah. That motherfucker is dead, Fallina.”

  She took a step back, looked at the ground, and for a few seconds she didn’t do anything but stand there, motionless, not even breathing.

  “Fallina?” he said softly, and moved closer to her again. Taking her arms in his hands, he gently squeezed them, knowing he’d fucked up. She lifted her head and looked at him.

  “He’s really gone?” she asked, the tears in her eyes not falling yet.

  He nodded. “Yeah, baby, he really is, but you weren’t supposed to
know, at least not from me.”

  “And it was my father that did it?” she asked, but it didn’t sound like a question. It sounded like she already knew the answer.

  He swallowed, knowing telling her this would surely get him in deep shit with Cain, but he couldn’t stop himself. He wanted her to know the truth, but he also knew telling her could ruin a lot of things between them, between her and her father. For whatever reason Cain hadn’t told her, and Pierce was now breaking that tether between the truth and what was supposed to be kept hidden.

  “My father killed him,” she said again.

  “Yeah, he did. He didn’t want you knowing, and I’m assuming he didn’t tell you because he thought he was protecting you from that.”

  She swallowed, her eyes still wide, her tears falling. And then she broke down, and cried hard. These wracking, body shaking sobs stole her, and all he could do, all he wanted to do in that moment, was hold her.

  Fuck, what had he just done?

  Chapter Eight

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Pierce asked.

  Fallina nodded. “I’ll be fine.” She smoothed her hands over her skirt, and looked behind her at her front door, as if she was trying to find something to occupy herself. She felt a little strange having him on her doorstep, but for some reason it didn’t have anything to do with the fact anyone from River Run could see them. She only lived in the next town over, and her father had made unexpected visits to see her in the past. No, she was feeling a little strange right now, a little embarrassed, too, because she’d broken down in front of Pierce, just shared every part of herself that she’d kept hidden.

  It was so strange to have this feeling of comfort with a man she hardly knew. She’d never even told Violet about the stripping, about why she did what she did, or the fact she couldn’t shake this darkness in her. But with Pierce she’d just laid it all out there, and he hadn’t run, hadn’t looked at her like she was as broken as she felt inside. When she was with him she felt this comfort, this fullness that made her feel warm and safe. How strange, but wondrous and incredible. She didn’t want to let that go, no matter who her father was or the club they were affiliated with.