No Mercy

by Tory Richards

  Everything he was feeling was reflected in his hard eyes, as they made a thorough sweep over me. As if time hadn’t separated us, I felt my body respond to his potent masculinity, and just managed not to let out a whimper when I felt my nipples harden. And, God, I tried to ignore the buzzing between my thighs. I felt my breath catch and reached for strength not to reveal myself, because then I’d be vulnerable.

  “Finding you was easy,” Rock said in response to my question. “Once I decided that I wanted to find you, and my son. So if moving a couple of times was your way of running away it wasn’t very effective.”

  He appeared as angry as I was afraid. I swallowed hard. “I was angry,” I admitted. He growled and took a menacing step forward, and I stepped back. I decided to ignore the reasons for the decision I’d made back then. “Why are you here, Rock?” I wet my suddenly dry lips, watching his gaze move to my mouth. I had to keep control of the situation.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” he grumbled in a deep tone. “Or are you that stupid?” I flinched at that. “Why do you think I’m here, Allie?”

  Jesus, this was going to be messy. I clamped my mouth tight and backed up into the couch when his eyes turned to ice and he took another step closer. And then I grew angry, because he was purposely trying to scare me, to intimidate me with his outlaw badness. I stood my ground, even if it was on shaky legs. “You have no right coming here after all these years and trying to intimidate me like you did when I was an eighteen year old virgin. I’ve built a life here for my son and I, we have friends−”

  “Friends?” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Does that include a man?” I saw his hands ball into fists.

  His gaze zeroed in to where my pussy was behind my shorts, and I knew at that moment that he was remembering the time when he’d taken my virginity. I felt a hot flush surge through my body and knew that some of the heat had settled into my cheeks. His nostrils flared as if he were sniffing something. “Best virgin pussy I ever had,” he smirked crudely. “Only virgin pussy.”

  “And you’re still a bastard.” I hated the fact that he could still make me want him. My body was pulsing with arousal, betraying me. But so was Rock’s. I could clearly see the bowed tent behind the zipper of his worn jeans.

  “That’s right, baby.” He reached down and crudely cupped his cock. “My dick remembers your nice, tight, cunt, too. How it felt to rip through your hymen and claim your innocence.”

  “I hate you!” I said with passion, biting down on my bottom lip to keep from crying. How could he turn something that at the time had been so amazing, so life-altering, into a memory that seemed unimportant and mundane?

  Rock released a guttural sound and moved so close to me that I was trapped against the sofa. I caught my breath. “Hate me, Allie. Keep on hating me. But know this--I’ve come for my son.”

  “What makes you think that he’s yours?” I taunted before I could think clearly. All I knew was that his words scared me. My words pushed Rock over the edge and the next thing I knew his hand was at my throat, and he was bringing his face down close to mine.

  “Don’t fucking go there,” he grated between his teeth. His eyes were like glowing embers, burning into mine. “Seems we covered this seven years ago.”

  “You’re the one who questioned it,” I managed to squeak out. I knew it would take little effort for him to break my neck, I could feel the power of his barely-contained rage in the fingers that were digging into my skin. Strangely, though, I wasn’t afraid that Rock would hurt me.

  “If you’re trying to convince me that another man got into your pussy when you were with me, I know better.”

  “At the time you thought that.” I was a fool for reminding him of the words he’d flung at me that day, but his doubting my loyalty had stung. He’d accused me of so much when I’d told him that I was pregnant, denying that he was the father.

  He gritted his teeth. “He’s my son, Allie.”

  I focused on drawing in air because his hold had tightened, nearly cutting off my air supply. I guess something in my face must have relayed the message that he was choking me, because suddenly I felt his fingers loosen.

  His gaze fell to my mouth before returning to my eyes. “Don’t push me, baby. I’ve never hurt a woman, but you might become the first. Now, where is my son?”

  “Sam’s not home from school, yet.”

  His head turned toward the clock. How had he known where it was? “When do you go get him?”

  “I don’t. A friend drops him off.” He was trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. I could see it in his eyes as they narrowed on me. “He won’t be home for an hour.” The muscle was twitching in his jaw again, but at least he had released me and stepped back. I struggled to hold back the tears. “You can’t take him away from me!” I rushed in panic.

  He scowled at me. “I just want to meet him, for starters. Haven’t decided anything beyond that.”

  “Why? After all these years, why do you care now?” Surely he remembered what his last words to me had been.

  “I’ve cared for seven fucking years,” he snarled, baring his teeth. “You didn’t waste any time in leaving.” I frowned, unsure of what he meant because I’d waited around for him for months. “I went for you, Allie. I went to your place, but you’d packed up and run away.” He reached deep in his pocket for something and pulled out a folded, slightly stained piece of paper. My heart dropped when I realized what it was. “Here, in case you forgot.” He threw the note in my face.

  It fell to the floor and I bent to scoop it up. I didn’t need to read it. I’d written it. My eyes began to burn.

  “Read it!”

  I jumped at the sharpness of his demand, and slowly opened the note. It was hard focusing my teary gaze on the words, but I managed to see clearly enough to make them out.

  “Rock, by the time you read this I will be gone and out of your life for good. Your reactions over the unexpected news of my pregnancy have convinced me that you don’t deserve me or our child. I will always love you but it’s over. Please leave me alone. Don’t try to find us as I plan to move on.”

  By the time I was done tears were burning trails down my cheeks. I glanced up at Rock. “I was eighteen, Rock,” I said, as if that excused everything.

  “And that was on me. I knew you were too young, too inexperienced when we met. You were an innocent virgin that I didn’t even try to resist. I wanted you too fucking bad.”

  “You hurt me, Rock. When we were together my whole world revolved around you, so when you reacted so angrily about my pregnancy I didn’t know how to take it. You questioned being the father. You thought I’d gotten pregnant to trap you. You’re not without blame on how this went down. I thought I was doing you a favor by leaving.”

  “If you’d just waited until shit calmed down we could have fucking worked it out,” he growled. “But no, you ran as soon as things got tough.”

  “Not as soon, Rock, three months had gone by without any word from you. How was I supposed to know that shit was going to calm down?” I asked, wiping my cheeks. “Your last words to me as I left the club that day were ‘good riddance’.”

  “Fuck.” He ran his hand through his hair. “None of that matters now. We’ve both moved on.” His words hurt, and I wondered what he meant. Had he found someone else? “I have to take a piss.” He pivoted toward the bathroom. Again, I wondered how he seemed to know where it was, but dismissed the thought as unimportant.

  As soon as I heard the bathroom door close I ran to get my phone. There was no way I was going to let Rock meet Sam until we talked things out. I quickly dialed Becky’s number, holding my breath until she answered.

  “Hey, I just picked up the boys,” she said before I could speak.

  “Becky, I have to ask you for a big favor,” I rushed out, listening for Rock at the same time. “Is there any way you can keep Sam tonight?”

  “Sure, honey. Is everything okay?” There was immediate concern in her voice.<
br />
  “Yeah, it’s just, something came up that I have to take care of. It will be easier without Sam around.”

  “Okay. Not a problem. Call me tomorrow when you’re ready for him to come home.”

  “Thank you so much, you’re a life savor.” I could hear the bathroom door opening. I quickly ended the call and set my phone down. Rock was going to be furious when he found out what I’d done, but that was just too bad. I had Sam to think about.

  “Who the fuck were you talking to?”

  I jumped at Rock’s deep voice and spun around. I knew as soon as our eyes met that he could see the guilt on my face because I was a terrible liar, and I did feel guilty for keeping his son from him. But he had to know that he couldn’t just show up there and say, “Hi, Sam, I’m your dad.”

  I decided to get right to the point. “Sam isn’t coming home tonight.” I waited for him to explode.

  His eyes narrowed on me in a threatening way, and I could tell that he was holding back but was right on the cusp of losing it. I knew the signs well. Rock had an explosive temper when he let loose, when he really let loose, and that made him unpredictable and dangerous. While those traits had drawn me to him all those years ago, had even turned me on in ways I had never understood, we weren’t in the same place now. I didn’t quite trust him. Still, I would do anything to protect my son.

  “You can’t expect to just ride in here and tell Sam that you’re his dad, Rock. We need to talk this over.”

  “There’s nothing to discuss, Allie” he growled. “You’re not keeping my son from me. I suggest that you call whoever has him and get him home.”

  I braced myself for a fight, hating the slight shiver that went through my body. “No.”

  “Now!” He began to walk me backwards, and I felt my courage slowly deserting me. Our eyes remained locked, his with gritty determination and an almost glaring hate that cut me apart.

  Rock was a force to be reckoned with when he’d made up his mind about something, including the time that he’d decided that he wanted me. But I wasn’t going to let him control me. I wasn’t an innocent eighteen year old anymore, too young to know that I had rights, and a voice. That I didn’t need a man to take care of me.

  I didn’t need him.

  “Allie−”

  “No,” I said again. It came out weak, but at least I was staying consistent. I skirted around the sofa, putting it between us. It didn’t make me feel any safer, though. I knew that nothing could stop Rock if he’d wanted to get to me. “He doesn’t know about you, Rock.”

  “That’s your fucking fault,” he snarled. His hands were clenching and unclenching, but at least he’d stopped stalking me.

  “We’re going to do this right,” I insisted, as calmly as I could. “That way your visit here won’t be for−”

  “Visit?” he snarled, before laughing with little humor. “That’s old news. I did some thinking while I was taking a piss. I’ve just decided that Sam is going home with me.”

  What? My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. He couldn’t change his mind like that. I could live with him just wanting to meet Sam, he had the right, but . . . But you said−”

  “I know what I fucking said.” My stomach dropped at his confident smirk. “I’ve changed my mind, baby. You’ve had him for seven years, now it’s my turn.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I shook my head, dazed and confused. He couldn’t take Sam away from me. Could he? I thought about Sam’s birth certificate. I’d put Rock down as the father. Crap! As we stared one another down I knew that I was in serious trouble. Rock wasn’t a man you said ‘no’ to. He was a fierce outlaw who reached out and just took what he wanted, when he wanted, and he had the whole of Phantom Riders at his back.

  “You’re doing this to punish me, and you’re crazy if you think I’m just going to let you show up and take Sam from me,” I breathed softly, fighting like hell not to break down and cry. I felt so helpless.

  “Then I’m crazy,” he agreed. “He’s my son and I have a right to him.” He crossed his massive arms across his massive chest, as if that were the end of discussion.

  He would do it, too. I could see it in his eyes. At that moment I don’t think I could have hated him more. It wasn’t lost on me that all of this could have ended differently, if only I hadn’t moved away. And it looked like now I was going to pay the consequences for it. I had no options or resources to draw on, no family to go running to.

  Now Rock had found us, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what I’d wanted all along. I hated him for what he was doing, but I couldn’t deny that I was still attracted to the man, he was just too overpowering, too primal and raw in a way that aroused the woman in me, as if the last seven years hadn’t happened. It finally dawned on me why I’d never found that special someone to replace him. There wasn’t a man out there that had a chance of competing with him.

  I hated him.

  I loved him.

  How sick was that?

  Chapter 5

  Rock

  Fuck!

  Fuck!

  Fuck!

  I should have known that the minute I was face to face with her again all kinds of shit was going to come back, reminding me of how fucking good it had been with her-most of the time, anyway. Her temper was almost as hot as mine, but I’d used my muscle to subdue her to my liking on the rare occasion that her temper had flared. I grinned to myself. We’d had some of our most explosive fuck sessions in the aftermath of a good fight.

  My dick remembered how good.

  I couldn’t think of Allie like that now, couldn’t get off track as to why I’d hunted her ass down. There were too many fucking years between us, too much hurt. We’d both changed. She’d grown up, and fuck, she was more beautiful then she’d been back then. Having a baby and growing older had filled out her once too slim curves into more than a handful of tempting flesh. I’d always liked a woman with meat on her bones, which was probably why I always went to Marnie for a fuck when I was in the mood.

  I stood firm, challenging her to take me on. I wanted her to give me a reason to put my hands on her body. And I wouldn’t be gentle, either. Allie had never liked gentle. Another fucking reason why we’d gotten along so well. After taking her innocence she’d eagerly learned how I liked it, while realizing her own sexual preferences.

  I shouldn’t have, but I let my gaze run down the length of her body. I’d already scoped her out earlier, but the angst between us now kept my dick harder than fucking steel. By the looks of Allie, the flush on her pretty face, the fire in her eyes and those tight little nipples showing through her tee, she was feeling it, too. But I could tell that she wasn’t happy about her reaction to me. Fuck. With Sam away for the night, the sudden vision of the two of us naked and fucking in her bed flashed behind my eyes.

  “You can’t do that,” she finally said, shutting down my thoughts.

  She should have known better. “I can, and I will,” I assured her. “As his mother you’re welcome to come along.”

  She looked at me as if I’d grown another head. “Our life is here, Rock. My job, Sam’s school.” A grin tugged at my mouth when she slammed her hands on her hips.

  “Is that all?” I sneered. “There are jobs and schools everywhere.” Her cute little mouth tightened. The fire in her eyes became brighter. “What about your love life?”

  “That’s none of your fucking business,” she said with anger, her tits moving with her heavy breathing. “Now, either we sit down and talk like grown adults on how to handle this situation with our son, or you can get the hell out.”

  The slightest quiver of her bottom lip was the only tell-tale sign that she was about to lose it, and by lose it, I meant cry. In spite of that she was holding her own, facing off with me and putting down her foot. She was like a tigress where Sam was concerned, and that made me feel fucking good. It showed me that she’d been a good mother to our son. I grinned. I liked her spunk. And because this was about S
am, I’d let her get away with it this time.

  “There’s nothing to discuss, baby.” Why did I feel like I was beating a dead horse? We just kept going round and round. Guess it was time to put my own foot down and remind Allie who she was dealing with. She should have known that she could never win against me. “This is how it’s going to be. BK and Big John will help you pack up your shit and put it on a truck with my bike. You and Sam will drive back to Maine in the truck with me.”