The front door opens, and Gigi’s standing there, staring at Uncle Thomas and me before her eyes go to Mammoth and James. Her eyebrows shoot up, and I can practically read her mind.
“I better go see Angel. I’ll let you two talk,” Uncle Thomas says before releasing me, then giving Gigi a quick kiss and disappearing into the house.
Gigi comes out onto the front porch and stands next to me. “What the hell is that about?” She throws her hand out toward the two men in a heated conversation.
“Hell if I know. They didn’t say shit to me, but they know each other somehow.”
Gigi has a look of horror. “They know each other?” Her mouth gapes open as she eyeballs the men across the yard.
I nod. “Apparently.” I sigh. “Uncle James called him Saint.”
“No shit,” Gigi whispers, shaking her head. “That’s not good, Tam. Not good at all.”
I shrug and purse my lips. “It shouldn’t matter if they know each other. Mammoth’s a solid guy. He’s been nothing but nice to me since we met.”
Gigi bumps me with her hip. “Explain nice.”
I snicker, staring at the tall, well-built man who had my toes curling repeatedly and delivered orgasms like he was a freaking expert. “We fucked a few times.”
“News flash, I wouldn’t expect anything less,” she teases, bumping my hip again. “I want details, and what happened with Crow?”
I roll my eyes. “Hell if I know.”
“He seemed to really like you.”
“Seemed is the operative word,” I mutter. “I thought he’d be happy to see me again, but I was wrong. So wrong. He treated me like a piece of shit when I showed up thinking we were going to have a good time. He acted like I was a nuisance and not someone he’d spent days flirting with.”
Uncle James and Mammoth are now standing closer, their bodies a little more animated as they speak. But their voices are too low, and I’m too far away to make out any of the words.
Damn it.
“And him,” Gigi asks, pointing at the object of my current attention and infatuation. “How did you end up with that man?”
“Dumb fucking luck.” I laugh, remembering the way he looked at me from the other side of the bar, smiling with those sexy gray eyes and amused by my attitude. “But girl, let me tell you, that man…” I fan myself. “No one’s ever lit my fire the way he does.”
Gigi’s mouth falls open. “This isn’t a hit it and quit it.”
I shrug. God, I hope it’s not, but who the fuck knows. He’s a biker who also lives on the other side of the state. I can’t see him uprooting his life for me, and I still have a year of school left. The upside is that my dorm room isn’t that far from the compound if he’s game for more. “I don’t know, babe.” I sigh. “I’m not the only one making that decision. If he wants more, I’ll happily spread my legs for that man again.”
“What’s going on?” Pike asks, coming up behind us.
Gigi turns around, but I keep my back to him. I have so many words to give him. None of them nice. But now’s not the time, and I’m too worried about whatever Mammoth and Uncle James are still arguing about to give two shits about the traitor.
“Uncle James is having a little chat with Mammoth,” Gigi tells him, moving farther behind me. She’s probably nuzzling her boyfriend because she can barely keep her hands and body off him.
“What are they talking about?”
“We don’t know,” she answers.
Suddenly, the two men break apart. Mammoth stares at me as Uncle James stalks toward the front porch. I take a step forward, moving away from the house and toward my sexy biker.
Uncle James puts up his hands and says, “Don’t.”
I stop walking, rocking backward on my heels. “Excuse me?” I ask, glancing at Mammoth as he starts to climb back on his bike. “What the hell did you do?”
“What did I do?” he asks, touching his chest and glaring at me like I just robbed a bank or some shit.
“Mammoth!” I yell, leaving Uncle James standing in the middle of the driveway because he’s not my father and I’m a grown-ass woman. Ain’t no man, especially not my uncle, going to send any of my friends or lovers away without my okay. And right now, he doesn’t have my okay to send Mammoth packing. “Stop!”
“Tamara, let the man go,” Uncle James calls out.
I keep moving forward toward Mammoth, shaking my head as he reaches for the key he’s already stuck in the ignition. “What the hell?” I ask when I’m within a few feet and no longer need to yell. “Where ya going, baby?”
Mammoth ticks his chin toward something behind me. Or should I say someone… Uncle James. “James and I have,” he says, moving his hand to the back of his neck, “history.”
I put my hands on my hips, tilting my head, wondering where the badass biker I met has gone. “So fucking what? Whatever happened between you two has nothing to do with us.”
Mammoth shakes his head before reaching for me, grabbing me by the hips. “Princess, you don’t understand.”
“Did you sleep with him too?” I’m trying to be funny, but the look on Mammoth’s face tells me it’s really not a joking matter. “Did you?” I ask, confused. Other than him having a very intimate relationship or being a felon, I don’t understand why it would matter how they know each other.
Mammoth pulls me closer, his thumbs toying with the skin on my stomach. “We know each other from a club.”
I snake my arms around his shoulder, tangling my fingers in the back of his hair. “He already knew you were a Disciple, and so does everyone else in the house. Who cares?”
Mammoth laughs sweetly, his gray eyes twinkling in the sunlight. “No, princess. Not that kind of club. A very different kind of club.”
I blink, more confused than I was a moment ago. “A different club?” I blink again, letting his words settle, and then I gasp as realization finally smacks me in the face.
Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a…Dom?
Shittttttt.
14
Mammoth
By the way Tamara’s eyes widen, she finally understands exactly what I’m telling her. “Wait, you’re a…” Her voice trails off, and she blinks those beautiful hazel eyes at me again. “And you know my uncle from a…”
I nod. “Yeah.” I squeeze her sides, waiting for what I’m telling her to finally sink in.
Her eyes widen for only a moment before she pulls her shit together like she’s not entirely put off by the idea. “But you didn’t seem that way at the compound.” She draws her plump lip between her teeth, gazing down at me, chewing on the soft skin. “Are you a sub, then? That’s what it’s called, right? A submissive.” She’s dead fucking serious when she asks me that. There’s not even a hint of a smile or a playful blink.
The bark of laughter that bubbles out of my throat can probably be heard for blocks. I shake my head, never imagining she’d go there, but finding it cute as hell when she does. “Do I really look like a sub?”
She shrugs, eyebrows raised, her beautiful mouth turned up on one side. “Kinda.”
My lips flatten, but I know she’s yanking my chain. This chick is such a ballbuster and she’s trying to fluster me, but I’m used to a challenge. I’m used to attitudes. Hell, I’m used to people testing my limits as much as I do theirs. This is child’s play. “You’re fuckin’ with me, princess. And this time, I’ll let it slide.”
“Or else you’ll…” She cocks one perfectly black eyebrow, always pushing the limits.
I pull her body against mine, our eyes lock, and our lips are barely an inch apart. “Spank your ass,” I murmur softly against her mouth.
Her breathing’s shallow and fast, matching my own. What I wouldn’t give for a few hours alone with her right now.
“Baby.” She wraps her arms around my neck, straddling my leg, taunting me with her pussy. “Get off your bike and come inside.”
“I should go.” Fuck. I don’t want to, but I know it’s the honorable thing
to do.
I’ve known James for years and have always respected the hell out of the man. The last thing I want to do is literally fuck someone in his family and cause issues, but I like this girl. Hell, I more than like her. She’s like a drug I can’t get enough of. She could quickly become an addiction if I’m not careful.
“Fuck my uncle,” she says softly, brushing her tits against me, practically putting them in my face. “He doesn’t get to decide my life or yours, yeah?”
The pull of her words, the smell of her body, and the warmth of her skin have me moving her back and my body untangling from around the bike. “I’m not ready to give you up yet.”
I wasn’t ready when we started the drive, and even after my heart-to-heart with James, I’m sure as fuck not ready now. Nor am I willing. Even though I was in the military, I’m now shit at taking orders. I spent enough of my life being told what to do, and I am done. Over it. Finished.
Being a Dom has been a way for me to have control during a time in my life when I had very little. That’s military life. But now…now, I want my freedom, and I want Tamara, no matter what James or anyone else has to say about it.
Tamara takes my hand, pulling me toward the house. She almost stumbles when she looks up, noticing her parents standing on the porch, watching us with James at their side. Her mother’s eyes are raking over me.
Hating me? Most likely.
Her father, he’s easier to read. If he could murder me, he’d do it in this moment. James must’ve told him everything, including my past and my sexual tastes. Not something I’d do to him, but I see he has no problem talking shit about me to his family.
They turn their backs, heading into the house before we make it within twenty feet of the front porch.
“This should be so much fun,” Tamara whispers, clutching my hand even tighter. “If I die today, know you gave me the best dick ever.” She looks up at me with those big eyes and a small smile. “Okay?”
“No one’s dying, princess.” I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss her skin. “And Tamara, I gave you Mammoth Light. You’ve never gotten the best stuff.”
Her eyebrows rise immediately, almost meeting her dark hair above her forehead. “You were holding out on me?”
“You’ve never met Saint,” I say, teasing her mostly, but serious too. There’s Mammoth the biker, looking to get laid, and then there’s Saint, a whole different side of me only a select few ever get to meet.
“Well, fuck me.”
“Is that an invitation?” I cock an eyebrow.
“Do you need one?” she asks.
“I’m not sure you can handle all this,” I tell her, taunting her, wanting nothing more than to have my way with her.
The light fucking of the last few days, the sweet fucking we’d done, was nothing compared to what I wanted to do with her. And if I have my way, it’ll happen.
Tamara stops walking, turning her body toward me, gazing upward. “Baby,” she whispers, a smirk on her lips, “I’m not sure you can handle all this.” She throws my words back, and I know above everything else, I’m going to love the hell out of the challenge.
* * *
“So.” James hasn’t taken his eyes off me, and by the way he’s holding the fork in his hand, I’m pretty sure he wants to jam it right into my eye.
“So,” I say back, staring across the table at the man I’ve known for years and always thought was a friend.
“This is so weird,” James’s wife, Izzy, whispers at his side, moving the food around on her plate like she’s not sure what to do. I’ve seen the woman almost completely naked and never expected to be sitting at the dinner table across from her. “Isn’t it?”
The room has emptied. Everyone finished their food and is cleaning up, except for the six of us. James, Izzy, Tamara, me, and her parents. Awkward is an understatement. Weird doesn’t even begin to cover what the mood in the room is.
“Let me get this straight…” Anthony, Tamara’s dad, says, rubbing his chin as he narrows his eyes. “You go to those kinky-ass sex clubs and sleep with total strangers to get your freak on.”
Those words have James and Izzy stiffening. The fork could now easily go toward Anthony and not just me.
“Do you honestly think everyone is fucking each other? That it’s just some crazy-ass orgy?” James asks Anthony, finally not giving me the death glare.
Anthony shrugs. “Listen, we’ve been in a few to watch. I’m not a total idiot, James. I’ve seen what goes down there. It’s hard enough for me to think of my sister in a place like that with her husband, but to think of my daughter…”
“Hold up,” Tamara says, pushing her plate to the side before resting her hands on the table. “I’ve never been to a sex club. Let’s get that straight right now.”
All eyes are on her, including mine. This is her family. Her time. Her information to give or hold on to and not my place to make shit worse for her.
“Well, thank God for small miracles,” her mother whispers, running her hand across her thick black hair.
“I’m also not a virgin,” Tamara announces. “Haven’t been for a long time.”
If I could crawl under the table, I fuckin’ would. What kind of family has an open conversation about sex like this? Sure as fuck not mine.
“Motherfucker,” Tamara’s father curses, tipping his head back to look at the ceiling when he does it.
“Oh, please,” Tamara says, pursing her lips. “You were a complete and total manwhore, Dad. I know all about your days in the band, banging your way around Tampa Bay. By the time you were twenty-one like me, how many women had you slept with?”
I rock back in my seat, and Tamara’s hand moves to my knee, locking on to me. I’m captive, forced to stay here, witnessing one of the most uncomfortable conversations of my entire life. But I do it. I stay. For her.
“We’re not talking about me,” he replies, waving her off, dismissing her question.
“Because you’re a man,” she challenges him, cocking her head to the side, staring him down.
James blows out a breath, and I move my eyes to him and Izzy, his beautiful wife, who’s just as quiet as the last time I saw her. But that time, she was half dressed, collar around her neck, kneeling near his feet, and a perfect work of art.
“Stop!” Izzy says, slamming her hands down on the table. “All of you need to stop the bullshit.” She pushes herself up, palms flat on the wood, glaring around the room and at the five of us. “Anthony, you were a manwhore.”
Tamara’s mother opens her mouth to speak.
Izzy turns her attention toward the woman. “Maxine, I know you weren’t a saint either, so don’t even bother with the bullshit. You two were single for years and didn’t enter into your marriage as virgins. As for James and me, what we do, kinky or not, is none of your business. Just like it’s none of our business that you like it in your—”
“Shut up, Isabella,” Max says quickly, not letting Izzy finish the sentence.
My mouth is hanging open. The insanity going on in this room is shocking me, which is pretty damn near impossible because I’ve seen some crazy shit in my day.
“She likes it in her…” Tamara asks, gaze moving back and forth between her mother and Izzy.
Izzy shakes her head, holding the room’s attention. “It doesn’t matter. Is Tamara grown or a child?” Izzy’s hands are on her hips now, and she’s glaring at everyone, including her husband, waiting for a reply.
“She’s grown,” Maxine mutters, but not happily.
“And what about you?” Izzy asks James, who looks just as unsatisfied and pissed as Tamara’s father.
“She’s an adult, but that—”
Izzy shakes her head. “She’s an adult. End of story.”
Anthony waves his hand toward his sister, who’s still standing. “It’s not that easy, Izzy.”
“It is that easy. Jesus,” she mutters. “This girl—” she waves her hand at Tamara “—has dated some real dipshits over the l
ast few years. She finally brings around a solid and honorable man, and you’re all losing your minds.”
Her kind words have the corner of my mouth pulling upward.
“Do you want her to be alone her entire life?” Izzy asks seriously.
“Well, no,” Maxine says, toying with her diamond wedding ring. “Of course not.”
“And you?” Izzy asks Anthony, who immediately shakes his head. “Then calm your shit, enjoy dessert, and be happy your kid is healthy, safe, and seems to be enjoying her life a little bit.”
“You were always my favorite,” Tamara says immediately, earning a wink from her aunt before she sits back down.
“Listen.” James blows out a long breath, running his hand over the top of his short dark hair. “I can’t say I’m thrilled about this. I still think of Tamara as a little girl with crazy beautiful hair, playing with dolls. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that she’s grown up. And seeing her here, with you, someone I’ve known in other circles, is jarring. I need time for it to settle. Information like that isn’t easy for me to digest.”
“For you to digest?” Anthony asks, shaking his head, laughing. “What about me? I mean, do you want to think about Rocco being spanked or whipped by some chick?”
James blanches. “It would take one helluva chick to wrangle that crazy fucker.”
Izzy covers her face, slowly shaking her head as Tamara’s grandmother walks in with the handsy older woman from earlier.
“Strawberry shortcake?” Grandma Gallo asks, holding out the cake plate, showing everyone the dessert and totally clueless about the conversation.
I feel like I’ve been through battle, dodging bullets at every turn, but I’ve only had dinner and a totally awkward conversation. Jesus Christ. Is this how this family always is? Up one another’s asses, talking sex, sharing secrets, and bossy as fuck?
“Hey,” the old woman says, sliding her hands on my shoulders and digging her fingertips into my muscles. “I’m sure after a long ride, you could use a little rubdown.”
Wildfire Page 11
