Dominic: Cerberus MC Book 4

by Marie James

  I don’t see Kid and Khloe in the living room, but I didn’t expect to see them so soon with the heated look in Khloe’s eyes as she stared at my neck.

  I sit down on an unoccupied chair, grateful that it’s not too close to anyone. Unfortunately, it’s directly across from Dom who happens to be right beside Bri. She looks possessive, and he looks more than a little uncomfortable. She’s angled her body his direction, and it’s then that I can see how uncomfortable he is. Stiff shoulders, darting eyes, and the hardness of his mouth are only a few clues.

  I’d expected to be grilled and interrogated when I came out here, but everyone talks and jokes, including me at times. I’ve never felt this welcome some place new. Hell, I don’t feel this welcome at the Renegade clubhouse. I smile when appropriate, keeping my eyes away from Dom even though I can feel his burning a hole through me.

  Chapter 28

  Dominic

  The air shifts the minute she walks into the room. An electric charge drags my eyes from the tight fit of her jeans to the mess of hair piled on her head, the hair I instructed her to take down to hide the marks I’ve left on her neck. She refused, and it made my cock harder than it’s ever gotten for another woman.

  Two available spots left in the living room and she picks the one that’s not beside me. I’m both proud she feels comfortable enough here that she doesn’t cling to me, but at the same time the distance between us, albeit only a few feet, makes me feel cold, empty.

  Bri sat down beside me within minutes of me entering the room, and I know Mak seeing her beside me is part of the reason she’s keeping her distance. Jealousy looks incredible on her. It isn’t until half an hour later, after Kid and Khloe join us that I realize she’s not jealous, just indifferent. I don’t feel her eyes on me, even when I get distracted by others in the room, even when I know she can feel my eyes burning into her.

  She has Snatch’s undivided attention, although Kid and Khloe are also part of the conversation. He hasn’t reached out to touch her, and I can’t hear every word they’re saying, but it doesn’t seem sexual or explicit. It still niggles that she’s laughing and smiling with another man, annoying me to the point I feel the tips of my ears heat from my blood pressure increasing.

  Bri is in my ear squawking about nothing like usual. I pick her hand up from my thigh and place it back into her lap, again. She’s been drinking and seems to have forgotten our conversation in Tennessee.

  I interrupt her mid-sentence. “I thought you were going to stay back home for a few days to get things straightened out.”

  With lazy eyes of inebriation, she glances over at Mak and back. “I wanted to get back. Make sure everything was okay.”

  Translation: She got wind of Makayla at my house, and she’s here to get in my business or try to keep herself in the running for my attention.

  The couch shifts beside me, and I can’t even hide the sigh that rushes from my lips.

  “Hey, Dom,” the redhead whispers on my left.

  “Snapper,” I say.

  She doesn’t touch me other than the light rub of her thigh against mine. She knows better. Snapper and I fucked once, years ago, long before she turned into a sneaky, conniving bitch. I wouldn’t touch her today with Snatch’s dick. Hell, I don’t think he’d touch her with his either.

  She’s pulled way too much shit in the clubhouse, and I have no fucking clue why she’s even still allowed to hang around. If I were running things, she would’ve been gone at the first sign of trouble. I haven’t heard of her pulling anything other than jealous, possessive banter since she fucked Kid when he had amnesia.

  “You looking for some company tonight?” Snapper purrs in my ear

  I huff, not even bothering to look over at her ridiculous offer.

  “Are you kidding me right now, slut?” Bri leans forward to make eye contact with her. Her hand is on my thigh again, but I don’t attempt to remove it. The anger rolling off of Bri right now annoys the fuck out of me, but at least she’ll keep Snapper away.

  I look over to see Mak with her eyes pointed in my direction. She’s not looking at me, but shifting between the women on either side of me. A slight frown pulls down the corners of her mouth before she looks away, turning her attention back to the cluster of people she’s sitting with.

  Almost every eye in the room shifts when Kincaid walks back into the room after helping Emmalyn to bed. I use it as my opportunity to get out from between the bickering women.

  Bri’s hand tightens on my leg. I look from it to her face in warning, but she doesn’t read me the right way, alcohol making it impossible.

  “At least he’s fucked me,” Snapper hisses when Bri smirks at her. “He wouldn’t give you his dick once.”

  Shadow’s sister’s eyes widen in disbelief, not that I fucked Snapper once upon a time because that’s not news to anyone here, except Makayla. I watch, angered when Mak’s head snaps over at Snapper’s loud confession. Disappointment clouded with an air of resolve cover her gorgeous face, as if she suspected as much and confirmation changes her opinion of me. She’s looking at me as if I’m every other man in her life, assholish and unable to think without his dick.

  “Fuck this,” I mutter standing from the couch.

  I turn back to both girls who have the gall to turn expectant eyes up at me, like it’s time for me to make a choice between the two of them.

  “How about you women fight over someone who you actually have a chance with.”

  Bri’s face falls, tears pooling in the corners, but Snapper sits back, arms crossed over her chest, bitchy as usual. She’s getting pretty used to the guys at the club turning her down. I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t move on to another club soon.

  I don’t give a fuck about Snapper’s feelings, but I hate the crestfallen look in Bri’s eyes. I walk away before I apologize to her, knowing she’ll just see that as another chance. Hopefully being a dick tonight will get her to move on and give up on the notion that we’ll ever be more than friends.

  Standing attracted Kincaid’s attention, so I walk to him, slap him on the back, and head to the front door. He follows just like I knew he would.

  He’s laughing by the time we hit the front steps and close the door behind us.

  “Don’t start,” I bite out.

  “Two,” he says holding his fingers up for emphasis. “You have two drunken women fighting over you and the only woman in the room your cock gets hard for is chatting it up with Snatch.”

  “Story of my life,” I mutter with more vulnerability than I want to show.

  “You don’t have to concern yourself with Snatch, brother. He knows not to push up on her.” As if I need the reassurance, he slaps me on the back with camaraderie I don’t feel right now.

  Maybe it’s the glint in his eye or the minor quirk of his lip, but I get the sensation he’s taking too much joy in fucking with me right now.

  “Fuck off,” I say shrugging his arm from my back.

  “Come on,” he chides. “Don’t be like that. You want to talk about it? Get some advice on how to keep a woman after she’s already seen your tiny dick.”

  I could junk punch him right now.

  “It’s all in the tongue, big brother.” He smiles from one side of his face to the other, and I picture what he’ll look like after I knock out a couple of his front teeth. Em getting mad at me is the only reason why I don’t.

  “Give me a ride back to my house,” I mutter as we walk across the gravel in front of the clubhouse.

  “You just going to leave her in there without even telling her you’re going back home?” He says the words but never stops walking toward the truck parked out front.

  “I need my bike, but I need the Tahoe here in case something happens and I have to get her out of here in a rush.”

  “Makes sense,” he offers with a shrug as he climbs inside.

  Pulling off of the property, he glances at me several times before he speaks. I keep my eyes on the darkness out of my s
ide window, hoping he’ll just keep his damn mouth shut, but knowing my brother enough that he won’t.

  “She’s not Karen,” he says after ten minutes of blessed silence.

  I grunt. We’ve never had this conversation. Diego was a kid when I went into the service, and by the time I took my next leave after finding my wife with another man, I was already divorced, and our mother was dead. We had a billion other things to talk about, and dozens more to pretend didn’t exist than my cheating wife.

  I was willing to discharge from the Marines then to be responsible for Diego, but he wanted to live with our aunt, uncle, and cousin Kaleb. He got years to live in a fully functioning family, time to be raised by a real man who knew how to treat a woman. He didn’t have a serious relationship until Emmalyn, but he knew how to treat women right.

  “I know she’s not Karen,” I mutter as we pull into my driveway. I finally pull my eyes away from the nothing I’ve been staring into and over at him. “She’s a lot like mom. Brave even when her chin is quivering, and she wants to cry. She’s resilient and compassionate even after the shit hand she’s been dealt.”

  Kincaid smiles. “I know exactly what you mean, man. Em is the same way.”

  We sit in silence for a long moment, both reflecting on the woman who raised us as best she could and the ones that currently have us so tangled up.

  “You have a beautiful family, little brother, and it’s only going to be better when those angels get here.”

  He nods, accepting my praise but the look on his face says he’s thinking much deeper than this very moment.

  “I don’t want to be like dad,” he whispers, eyes pointed through the front windshield.

  “You’re nothing like that motherfucker,” I assure him. “You’re not the one choking a rape victim and watching her eyes roll in the back of her head as she comes, fully aware of the cycle of violence. If anyone has to be worried about ending up like that fucker, it’s me.”

  He tries to stop me, but I climb out of the truck. Walking past my bike, I head around the house and down to the dock. Nothing like a reflective conversation with your brother to bring out all of the faults, concerns, and worries you’re having about a woman, one I’m not even sure will be around this time next month.

  Chapter 29

  Makayla

  Kid and Khloe are unlike any couple I’ve ever seen. The proof of his love is evident in the way he watches her, touches her for no other reason than to feel her skin against his. It’s in the brush of his fingertips on her forehead when her hair falls into her eyes, the smile on his face when she whispers something in his ear.

  Their attentiveness isn’t something I’m used to. At the Renegade clubhouse, everything is brash and dirty. The men are getting sucked off in the middle of a conversation, the girl choking on dick while the guy rests his beer on the back of her neck and slaps her across the face if she jerks up when he chokes her, and she causes it to spill. The women serve the men and then know to stay out of the way unless they’re needed to sexually please one of the men. The women here are valued and treated with respect, involved in the conversation. They seem to be part of the family.

  I do my best to keep my attention on Snatch, unnerved by the passion and comfort of the couple in our small cluster. There are at least a dozen people in the room, grouped together carrying on numerous conversations, and I’m thankful that the three people are taking the time to speak to me and make me feel welcome.

  My eyes drift more than once over to Dom who is now sandwiched between Bri and an attractive redhead. I feel his eyes on me, feel the burn of them on my face, the exposed skin on my arms, but I keep my attention on my present company.

  I may have been lying about wanting to keep things casual, but I refuse to let him in on that little secret. Acting like a crazy, jealous woman just isn’t something I’m going to do. If he wants those women, he can have them.

  “Really?” Snatch says bringing my attention back to the conversation. “I would’ve never guessed. You seem pretty fucking smart to me.”

  Khloe glares at the side of his head. “Just because you struggle in school doesn’t mean you’re stupid.”

  I nod in agreement. “I had a lot of family shit, club shit going on. I couldn’t concentrate on the work, missed a lot of days. I’m just glad I graduated. Not that it means anything now.”

  “You can always go to college,” Khloe says with encouragement.

  “Khloe got her GED and is doing great in school.” Kid punches Snatch in the shoulder. I wait for them to start brawling which is what would happen back home, but Snatch just grins over at him. “My girl isn’t stupid either, asshole. She had other shit going on too.”

  Snatch holds his hands up in mock surrender, a playful smile on his tattooed face. “Fuck, sorry. I didn’t mean anyone was stupid. I can’t say shit. I didn’t really graduate either.”

  Kid scoffs. “You were in the Marines idiot. You had to have finished school in some fashion.”

  “I had a couple of chicks who did all of my work, took my tests even. I got in so much trouble in school the teachers threw a party after I walked across the shitty stage at graduation.”

  “At least he fucked me!” We all look over at Dom and the two women who seem to be competing for his company.

  “Here we go again,” Khloe mutters.

  I watch Dom stand from the two women as they face off against each other. The arguing and women fighting over each other is what I’m used to. The unfamiliar sight is Dom standing up, facing them and speaking to them in a voice only they can hear and walking away. A Renegade would have sat back and let them fight over him, and the one who won would’ve been the first one to deep throat his dick while the other had to wait for her turn.

  The sneer on Khloe’s face when she turns back to our conversation has a story of its own. Kid leans in and whispers in her ear, and some of the anger melts from her eyes. I’m a pretty smart girl, so I can tell something happened between Kid and the redhead, something Khloe is not happy about at all, but whatever it is that Kid tells her appeases her for the moment.

  He holds her closer, her head resting on his shoulder the same time the slam of the front door rings through the clubhouse. Conversations start up again as if a club girl didn’t just voice her history with the man I’ve been sleeping with. A quick glance back in that direction shows that Bri has gotten up and left. The redhead sits alone, running her eyes over everyone else in the room, planning and plotting out her next attempt to get in someone’s bed tonight.

  I fake a yawn and make my excuses before leaving the room. I only wanted to be out there because that’s where Dom was. He walked out and has been gone for some time, so I don’t bother staying. I take a shower and climb into bed with wet hair and still damp body. Soft silky sheets wrap around me as I bury deeper on the opposite side from where Dom sleeps in his own home.

  I have no false illusions. I know he may not get in this bed tonight. I may hardly ever see him while we’re here, but at least I have Khloe and Em seems really nice and welcoming. It isn’t until I’m straining to hear what’s going on outside of the room that I realize it’s very quiet and peaceful, another contradiction to the Renegade Clubhouse. There, you’re lucky if you get only a couple of hours of sleep. People normally party until they pass out and no one is on the same schedule, so it’s chaos all the time.

  I’m on the cusp, the part of sleep where you’re awake but still miss chunks of time when the bed shifts behind my back. His familiar scent hits my nose before the warmth of his chest hits my naked back. Still inches from me, the safety he provides calms nerves I didn’t know were still on high alert at being in a foreign place.

  “Those other women,” I whisper. “You really aren’t getting attached to me are you?”

  I feel his weight shift, and I wait for his arm to wrap around me. The air between our bodies turns cold at the lack of contact.

  He clears his throat like he hasn’t used his voice in a while. �
�I told you. I don’t work that way.”

  When I think he’s going to face the wall, turning further from me, I feel his arm wrap around my waist. The heat of his chest against my back is welcoming but sets me on edge as well.

  “I won’t fuck you on the same night you fucked someone else,” I mutter and try to pull away.

  He responds by holding me tighter but doesn’t say a word.

  “Maybe if there’s someone else you want to pair up with and we all get started together,” I offer only as a test. I don’t fault people for doing that sort of thing, but I truly have no interest.

  “Threesomes aren’t my thing, Makayla. When we fuck, it’s only going to be you and me.”

  “Okay,” I whisper because honestly, I can’t think of anything else to say.

  I settle into his embrace, allowing my muscles to relax against his hold. I don’t want him to let me go, and I know how dangerous those feelings are.

  “I want to spank your ass for not sitting beside me in the living room earlier,” he confesses in my ear. I smile in response. “I feel territorial over you, and I don’t know why.”

  I give him the answer I know he wants to hear. “Lock that shit down.”

  He sighs, his warm breath rushing over my bare shoulder and cheek before he pulls away. “I’m trying to.”

  I feel him roll over and face away from me, the distance allowing me to think straight once more.

  I know I’m getting emotionally involved. He’s on my mind all the time. I wonder what I can do to please him or how I can anger him, so he fucks me with relentless abandon. In the days he was gone to Tennessee, I let myself imagine he was mine and only gone on a business trip. I pictured him coming home to a clean house and a woman who missed him so much she was waiting on her knees ready to act out all of his dirtiest fantasies.

  It’s dangerous, deadly. False hope and a worthless sense of security are not only unhealthy but also unsafe. More to my heart than my physical well-being.