by Jayne Blue
And dammit, I was going to have to get a better handle on how I felt about her. I didn’t have the time for this distraction or whatever it was. I had to focus on my club, and on making sure we stopped Bane.
I left Em, safely at Friendly Forest, and the sun came up on the neighborhood.
Ridge had made sure we had a strong presence around the local businesses. My shift on patrol was over. I looked over at the building where Em worked. I saw her, through the window, greeting kids, smiling.
She was fucking spectacular. Beautiful. Warm. And damn, I had to stop my brain from going there. I watched the next shift of Wolves as they rode up on me to hand off the baton.
“Keep an eye on the preschool building, Brogan’s kid sister works in there,” I told MitchRob and Enzo, two newer club members, what was what.
“Will do.”
I was headed to the hospital. There were a dozen or so Harleys in the parking lot. We’d been on a loop, patrol, the club, and the hospital. This place had become our second home, and it needed to stop. Except, maybe it never would. Maybe this was the price you paid for being blood brothers. This was what it took to rip the claws of corruption from Stickney Forest. There was pain, risk, and violence. Down was the way the Earth pushed us; we were trying to lift things up. It was going against the fucking gravitation pull of the planet.
Things had been touch and go for the last few days. But there was still hope. Even though Bane had done terrible violence, there was still hope.
But that hope had ended for one of my brothers.
I walked down the hall, and I heard the noise. I’ll never forget that noise.
A woman cried the word no. It was a cry, it was a scream, it was the unmistakable sound of death.
Brogan walked toward me. Behind him, I could see Frankie holding Track’s Old Lady, Gabby. I didn’t really know her, but I felt her anguish.
Ridge stood, as a guard, while the awful news seeped in. I didn’t go further. I could not comfort her. I supposed no one could. They could only gather around her and contain the bits of herself, clearly blown apart by violence.
Brogan put a hand on my shoulder.
“What do we do?” I asked Brogan.
“We do whatever Gabby needs. And things are going to get uglier. Bane is going to lose one for our one. Maybe two.” Brogan was deadly serious. And right.
The next few days were quiet from Bane.
They were quiet everywhere in Stickney Forest. But the sights, the feelings, the sounds turned each moment into a time I’d never forget.
Ridge showed us how to honor a fallen brother. It was part military, part big family, part some sort of pageant.
On the plus side, the neighborhood gave us our space to honor our loss. But they also looked at us with a new skepticism. We couldn’t protect our own; how were we going to protect them? I could feel the ground getting unsteady underneath us.
My usual need to joke, to be lighthearted, failed me. I did what the club needed. And stupid fucking jokes, weren’t it.
During our dark tasks, I didn’t let myself think of Emlyn. I was not on patrol in those several days. I was in charge of making sure the other members of the M.C., and members of our alliances, flung in a few directions, were all represented in Stickney Forest.
Indiana Viper Crew, Titus’s old club, a few Devil’s Hawks that Tracks knew, and even Great Wolves from Michigan, Ridges’ old crew showed up.
That worked for two reasons: one, to honor Tracks, and two, to let Bane know they could fuck right off. We were an army of bikers.
On the day of the funeral, there had to be at least one-hundred Harleys, double file, from H.Q. at Zablocki Corners to St. Casimir’s Cemetery.
The sound of one-hundred Harleys shook the earth, rattled the windows, and I hope it trumpeted to whoever came against us, that we were pissed. We wanted vengeance, and we’d get it, no matter what side of the law we had to be on.
Ridge spoke at the graveside. I marveled at his ability to keep his voice loud and steady. We all heard every single word.
“Tracks was a soldier in this army. He was a loyal brother. He was a badass. He gave it all for his club. He sacrificed all. And we won’t forget it. We also won’t let this go. What happened to him. Ever.”
Ridge was a study in contained fury. His jaw clenched as he spoke the words. When he walked back to his place next to Frankie, I noticed the limp, the last remnant of his own wound on the streets of Stickney Forest was gone. He’d fucking hate healed it or something.
After, we congregated at the HQ building in the center of our corner of the world. It was where we gathered, fought, planned, and where we did business.
The day of Tracks’ funeral, it was quiet, for a time at least. Frankie fed us and Brogan poured drinks, stiff fucking drinks.
I had one, but it wasn’t doing what I needed.
“Hey, listen. I don’t want this shit from you anymore.” Brogan said as we both stared out the long window of the MMA gym that fronted the street and brought in legit cash thanks to MMA events and shit, I didn’t really know much about.
“What the fuck?”
“I know what you’re thinking, we’ve been brothers too long.”
“I’m thinking Bane has to die, each one of them.”
“Oh, we’re all thinking that. But this shit with Tracks isn’t on you.” There it was. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to punch a hole in the glass in front of me.
“Yeah? I get there one minute earlier and he’s alive.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. We all underestimated them, and you were there when the club said you should be there. It’s on ALL of us.”
“Hmmph.” I didn’t have a word to say. I kept replaying the moment in the street when I’d been one minute too late to do a damn thing.
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Whatever you need.”
“I need you to be there for my kid sister.”
I tried not to react. What the heck was he asking?
“What?”
“Ridge has some shit for me to do, a lot of shit actually. And I can’t be checking in on Emlyn. And she’s working in that building near where the Tracks shit went down.”
“Yeah, I told you, I found her walking in the fucking dead of night the fucking night after it happened.”
“I need you to make sure she’s safe getting into the preschool. Hell, I need you to check on her tonight. I gotta go. Let her know I’m going to be out of pocket. Can you do that for me?”
“Are you sure I’m the one to trust? Shit man, Tracks is dead on MY WATCH.” I raised my voice; I was losing my cool. I had a tight control on all the shit I was feeling, but it was threatening to break loose.
“I trust you the most. Keep her safe. Now get the fuck going. Ridge needs me in an officer meeting.” He fist-bumped me and I nodded in understanding. I had no choice. And I couldn’t tell him why I wished he’d give this job to someone else.
I wanted to keep Em safe too. But to say she was safe with me, was a lie to Brogan. I wanted her with me, safe, and more. And if Brogan found out, he’d kick the shit out of me.
But he’d asked me for a favor, to handle the most important person in his life.
And I couldn’t say no.
I got on my bike and headed to their house. I fixed my fucking meanest face on. I didn’t need armor from Bane, I needed it to shield me when I was close to Em.
I parked in the back of the house. And banged on the door.
I stepped back when Em answered. There she was, fuck, t-shirt and yoga pants, hair in a fucked up messy bun. She didn’t even try, and she was sexy as hell.
“Hey, you.” She opened the door wider and I stay planted in my spot.
“Brogan asked me to come. He’s on club business, and he wants me to keep you safe.”
“I’m so sorry about your friend, Track. Is there anything I can do? Want a beer? Coffee?”
“No, I’m going to crash out here, make
sure no one messes with you. Take you to work, that shit.”
“Oh, so babysit me?” Emlyn had a spark of fire in her eyes when she said that. Like I was overstepping. She had no idea the danger every single person connected to the Great Wolves was in right now.
“Maybe so. Brogan needs to do his job without worrying about you.”
“I am a grown woman.” I knew she was. I could see she was, man could I fucking see it.
I stepped forward.
“My job is to make sure you’re safe, not deal with your attitude. Got it?” I loomed over her. She pointed her clenched jaw at me.
“It’s a package deal.” As she opened her pretty lips, the flash in her eyes turned into a spark. I leaned down and kissed her hard on those pink lips. Her arms wrapped around my neck and we moved further into her kitchen. Out of sight of whatever neighbor might be looking at the biker who’d knocked on the door.
My hand roamed up and down her back. I itched to rip off that t-shirt, to slide down those yoga pants. My tongue touched hers, claimed her mouth, and her body melted under my hands.
“Fuck,” I said, involuntarily as I slid my tongue down her neck. I had zero control now. I had no brakes. Fuck was right. I wanted her and I’d let my need for her take over.
I stood up. I dropped my hands to my sides.
I needed her to understand that there was no turning back. I had to be crystal clear that I was going to make love to her, on the floor of the kitchen, if this didn’t stop right now.
“I am here to keep you safe, but I want to fuck you. Right now. It’s not a good idea to let me in this house, alone with you.” My voice was barely a whisper.
She looked so delicious, so gorgeous, and so fucking perfect. Her eyes caught mine, and they were dirty, she wasn’t thinking like a prim preschool teacher. That much I could fucking tell.
Emlyn stepped around me. I was careful not to touch her. If I touched her again, we were doomed.
She pulled the door shut and turned the lock.
“I think you’re wrong. It’s a very good idea for us to be alone.”
She put a hot flame to the kerosene with those words.
I lifted her off her feet.
Ravishing her was the only thing on my mind.
Six
Emlyn
My lips ached for him the second he stepped back. And then he swooped me in his arms. I was overwhelmed with the animal lust that had turned my senses inside out. Kase ripped my t-shirt over my head.
We tumbled backward. He feasted on my nipples like a starving man. I felt my body turn liquid with his touch.
He yanked down my yoga pants, my panties came with them. It had been a second since I’d locked that door and I was naked, bracing myself against the pantry door. Kase was relentless, hungry, and everywhere. I wrapped myself around his body. I wanted him to touch me everywhere. I wanted to rain kisses in return, but there wasn’t time for that. There was only the raw attraction we had for each other, exploding into each other, obliterating reason and space.
I pulled his face to mine and tasted his lips. My skin was alive, my cells sparkling with something they’d been aching for without knowing.
“Please,” I said it to make sure he knew if he hadn’t figured out from my naked self, that I was just as hungry as he was. That I was ready and wanted him inside me. I couldn’t wait.
He quickly produced protection. I’d have to probably ask about that later. But right now, I was grateful for his smooth perfection in the heat of the moment.
His strong legs lifted me off the floor. He was huge, hot, and I cried out as he entered me. And I held on. His body pumped into mine. I was impaled on him; I had no way to protect myself or shy away. I encircled him with every muscle I had.
“Jesus Em,” he said with that husky, almost animal voice.
“Kase,” I said. It was a sigh. It was a plea, for God help me, more.
I held on to him, as my legs opened wider. His body pinned me the wall. I felt the length of him go deeper, harder, and then deeper still.
Kase buried his head in my neck, and I felt him suck hard on my flesh. His hands gripped my ass, hard. Each place where our bodies touched was alight.
And then he pushed my hips down harder on his. He was hitting a climax with me. I didn’t know I had this place. I had never felt this power.
“Come, now,” he whispered it in my ear, but it wasn’t a plea. It was a command. And my body answered. Everything in me was about him. His savage rhythm was answered by a wave of sensation so strong that I know I cried out. I do not know if there were human words involved.
Kase pummeled me again and again, and finally, a shudder rolled from his hips, where they were connected to mine, up to his shoulders. He lifted me, still inside me. And looked into my eyes.
“Oh my God,” I said as he slowly pulsed again, as I tried to find some control, some normal, in this heat tornado we’d been caught in.
I felt him finish, pull out, and shift me into his arms still, off the ground, now almost cradled. He walked us to the living room and set me down on the couch. He tumbled on top of me. I found his mouth again and kissed him. The kiss was long, sweet, and in gratitude to him for the moment we just had.
“I’ve never felt anything like that before, Kase.”
“Me either, baby. Me, either.” I didn’t know if that was true. I knew the bikers were rough, randy, and not exactly monogamous. But I didn’t care right then.
“Let’s go upstairs,” I said. I wasn’t done, I’d never be done.
And yet, I knew we’d just started something that could set a bomb off in my life.
For a few hours though—for now—I wanted only one thing and I didn’t want to talk about what it meant.
Kase lifted me up again, wrapped in a crochet afghan from the couch, and carried me to my room. This time I was going to be in charge.
Seven
Kase
I was relieved her bedroom wasn’t pink. It was white, clean, almost stark. I laid down with her and forgot about the shit going down with the M.C. Or the guilt I felt over Tracks.
I was going to fuck her again, damn me to hell. I’d taken her so harshly, so brutally in the kitchen, and this time I wanted Em to know that I wasn’t an animal.
But she tilted me back on her bed. I didn’t control a damn thing this time. Her hair fell around her shoulders and she looked at me. I wanted to say something, to let her know that she was blowing my mind. She put her finger on my lips.
“Let’s not talk.” She knew, or felt, all the things that I needed to make clear to her. She cut through the bullshit I was feeling and totally fucking distracted me.
I leaned back on her bed and she kissed me again. I took her head in my hands. I had wanted to touch that silky hair, to bury my fingers in it. And I did. I took a strand and put it to my nose. It smelled like apples.
She was still naked, raw from what we’d done in the kitchen. I felt a pang of guilt again, over how hard I’d been. Em lifted my shirt over my head and ran her fingers over my chest, my wolf tat, and down to my waistband. She trailed kisses and the gentle way she moved both calmed me and stoked a fire that I was struggling with.
I wanted her to do what she wanted. I wanted her. I didn’t want to scare her away.
She hooked her fingers over my jeans, and they were out of the way too now. Both of us, naked, skin to skin, as the sun set outside.
“You’re so gorgeous,” she said to me. I was hard muscle, scarred flesh, inked skin, next to her poured cream. If I were capable of doing anything but let her explore, I would have argued with her. But my muscles now gave me zero strength when it came to sitting up and walking the fuck out of this room.
Em straddled me; she slid onto me. Her heat surrounded me. It felt like she was made of nectar or hot honey, and I fucking nearly lost it immediately. It took a lot not to, but it was her time, I would let her decide. As long as I could at least.
I moved with her, slowly, and I took in the
sight of her breasts. Her nipples were pale, tiny little buds that I’d tasted, but wanted to capture again. I leaned up and did, fuck control on that. If this was going to happen once, I was going to get all I could of her.
She threw her head back as my teeth pulled her harder into my mouth.
She rocked back and forth on me and I held on longer. It was getting tougher and tougher not to flip her over and lose control.
I leaned back, though and let her do what she needed. What I need, too, really. She looked at me in the eyes then and I stared back. We were together more than together, and it was hot as fuck. She kept her eyes locked on mine.
Mine. That’s the word that kept coming to my brain. I wanted her to be mine. She should be mine. I wanted to have all of her, whatever that meant.
She moved faster on me and was almost frantic as her orgasm gained power and began to crest. I held tight to her and held on to my own climax. I wanted her to have all of it, everything she needed, more than she needed. I wanted to make sure she never wanted it from anyone else. A crazy possessive streak was born in me just now, with her. She made some sexy as hell gasps and I knew it was my time.
I felt her clenching around me in a way that drove me insane, pushed me over the edge. I held her tightly to my hips. I was on the bottom, but she wouldn’t be able to hold me down. She rode me, like the wild thing I’d become in the last few moments. And then I hit a high like I’d not experienced before. Even coming so fast after the romp in the kitchen, I was like a fucking volcano. What had she done to me?
I pulled her closer, and we both collapsed on her bed.
Our breathing was hot and still way too fast, and for a moment, neither of us said a thing. We’d been in a fantastic sexy as hell fairy tale, and I didn’t want to ruin it by saying something stupid. I was good at saying something stupid.
This next part, this part was almost better than the sex. We fit together, legs, arms, curves and muscles, perfectly. Her body relaxed into mine. We were liquid limbs and after days of no sleep, and guilt, and pain, I felt peace.
