Merrick: Harlequins MC

by Olivia Stephens

  “Yeah, I figured we were just buying a little time. But still, every second counts.”

  “Yeah.”

  Cassie knew she should have hung up and let him concentrate on riding. But having him on the phone and being able to hear his voice helped calm her down some. It made her feel like she wasn't alone and didn't have to face it all on her own. It was stupid, really, she silently chastised herself. He was on the phone; it wasn't like he was there with her. Cassie knew that she was still more or less on her own. But just the sound of his voice helped mellow her out. If only a little.

  “How sure are you about this bridge?” she said. “About me being here and you heading for the right place?”

  “About as sure as I could be, given the circumstances. It's not like I had a map. I was taking a guess, really.”

  “Wonderful.”

  “An educated guess, Cassie,” he said gently. “I know the area pretty well. I saw the group of cops and knew which way they were headed. So it wasn't a complete shot in the dark.”

  “Just a partial one?”

  He laughed again, but softly enough that she could barely hear him over the background noise. “Yeah, just a partial one. But it's a pretty good partial shot in the dark. So there's that.”

  The sound of a sharp bark in the distance startled her and sent adrenaline coursing through her body once more. It was still in the distance, but Cassie could tell they were getting closer by the minute. Images of being run down by dogs and torn apart flowed through her head. It was ridiculous, really. Rationally, she knew the cops would never let that happen. Irrationally, though, Cassie couldn't shake the pictures in my mind.

  “How are you holding up?” Damon's voice helped bring me back to the present.

  She shook her head, trying to clear the images of a gruesome and violent death out of it. It wasn't easy, but Damon's voice – as it always did – grounded her. Brought her back to herself.

  “About as well as can be expected, I guess.”

  “Are you hidden?”

  Cassie looked around and shrugged. She was sitting out on the bank of the creek, out in the open. She figured that if the dogs were on to her scent, hiding in some bushes wasn't going to help much. She was reasonably sure they'd be able to find me. Maybe Damon already knew that. Had already thought of it. And maybe he knew that trying to hide from a pack of dogs was futile. But she thought maybe he wanted her to hide just to make them both feel better. Make them feel like they had some control over the situation when in reality, they had none.

  Cassie knew the reality was that if the cops showed up before Damon did, it was all over. Regardless of whether she was hiding in a bush or not.

  “Yeah, I'm okay where I'm at,” she said.

  “That's good. I'm almost there, babe. Hang tight.”

  It was strange, almost surreal really, to be sitting there, talking to Damon in such a casual way when she knew the cops were bearing down on her. When her entire life and future were hanging in the balance. But Cassie didn't want to hang up the phone, despite the fact that she had nothing to say, really. And she could tell Damon didn't want to hang up either. It was as if the mere sound of each other's voices brought them both comfort even in the most stressful of times.

  She listened to the sound of the dogs again. Their barking was louder, more insistent. She knew they had her scent again and were closing in. It was only a matter of minutes. But then she heard something else, something that lifted her heart and gave her hope. It was the sound of a roaring motorcycle engine.

  “I think I hear your bike, Damon!”

  “I'm just about to the bridge.”

  Cassie jumped to her feet and scrambled up the embankment to the road. Her footsteps thumped hollowly on the wooden bridge as she raced over it, searching for Damon's bike in the darkness.

  “I – I think I see you!”

  From around a bend in the road just before the bridge, Cassie thought she saw the glow of an oncoming headlight. And the faint roar of an engine began to grow in volume and intensity. Her heart quickened its pace – but this time, it was in a good way. He'd made it in time. Damon's bike roared around the bend and he pulled to a stop next to her.

  Cassie threw her arms around his neck and smiled as she kissed him. She poured all of herself into that kiss, as if trying to convey the sense of relief and gratitude she felt in that moment. After a couple of seconds, he broke the kiss and pulled away.

  “I'm really happy to see you, too,” he smiled. “But it's time we go.”

  He motioned behind me and the sound of the dogs was only growing louder. Even more ominously, though, Cassie saw the beams of flashlights in the darkness. They were still faint and seemed relatively far off, but they were close enough to be seen. And the way the beams of light bounced up and down in the darkness told her that they were running. The fact that they'd drawn so close was unnerving.

  “They're going to hear your bike,” she said.

  Damon shrugged. “Probably already did. But a lot of people ride around here. They can't prove it was me. They can't prove anything.”

  Cassie looked back at the beams of light bobbing in the darkness and listened to the sound of the dogs. Part of her was in disbelief that she was actually going to get out of the mess she'd put herself in. She looked at Damon and smiled, relief still washing over her.

  “But then,” he said, “they're not going to have to prove anything if they run up on us while we're still standing here staring at each other. We should probably go.”

  Cassie nodded, feeling like a fool. “Yeah, probably.”

  She climbed onto the back of his bike and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tight. He gunned the engine and in the blink of an eye, they were rocketing down the road, leaving the cops and the dogs far behind in the distance.

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  He rode until they reached Hillside. It was a small town outside the borders of Kingston and seemed to him to be a good hiding spot for the moment. He knew Cassie was exhausted, run down from a night of physical exertion, stress, and fear. Those things combined would wipe anybody out. He'd been half afraid she'd fallen asleep on the back of my bike as we rode.

  But when they pulled into the motel's parking lot, she squeezed him around the middle and kissed the back of his neck. Damon smiled as he left her in the parking lot and went into the office to get a room. Coming back to where she was, Damon gave her a small smile. She looked every bit as beat as he figured she had to feel. Her hair was disheveled and she was covered in dirt, but she was still smiling at him through exhausted eyes.

  “You look beat, babe,” he said.

  She nodded. “I don't know that I've ever been this exhausted before.”

  “I bet. Let's get you inside so you can collapse.”

  “Not before a shower,” she said. “I feel disgusting.”

  “You're still beautiful to me.”

  Damon wrapped an arm around her waist and let her lean against him as he guided her to their room. Unlocking the door, he nudged it open with his foot and stepped inside, checking around to make sure they were truly alone. He knew it was a bit paranoid, but his military training always made him visually sweep a room before letting anybody in. Part of him was worried he was going to see McReed sitting on the edge of the bed with a big shit-eating grin on his face the moment they stepped through the door. Irrational, of course, but the thought still floated through his mind.

  Thankfully, we were alone.

  Damon ushered her inside, checked the parking lot behind them, and then closed the door, throwing all three locks on it. Better safe than sorry, he figured. As he walked around the room, though, the one problem he found was that there was one way out – the small bathroom window. If McReed and his guys showed up, they were pretty well screwed. But that wasn't something he wanted to spend a lot of time worrying about at the moment.

  “You want to shower with me?”

  Damon looked at Cassie and smiled. She hadn't said
it seductively, nor as an invitation to jump her. It was just an invitation to share some warm water with her. Sadly. But after what she'd been through, he couldn't really blame her for wanting nothing more than a hot shower and sleep.

  “No, you go ahead,” Damon said. “I'm going to keep an eye on things out here.”

  “You think they'll find us?”

  He shrugged. “I really doubt it. But I just want to watch the parking lot for a little while. Just in case.”

  She nodded, yawned, and then disappeared into the bathroom. Damon heard the shower start up and moments later, saw the steam coming through the half-open doorway. Cassie liked her showers hot. Almost boiling, in fact. It was quite a bit hotter than he usually liked his showers and if it weren't for the fact that he enjoyed rubbing up against her warm, wet, naked body, he probably would have waited until she was done showering to take his.

  About twenty minutes later, she emerged from the steam room that doubled as the bathroom wrapped in a towel. The skin Damon could see on her was a vivid, angry shade of red.

  “One of these days, your skin is just going to melt right off,” he said. “You know that, right?”

  She shrugged. “It's not my fault you're a pansy that can't handle a little warm water.”

  “Warm?” he laughed. “I'm pretty sure you could cook pasta in that water.”

  “Pansy.”

  She laughed and sat down on the bed next to him. Damon stared into her eyes and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. They remained silent for several long moments, relishing each other's company and, perhaps, taking comfort in the fact that they were together and they'd made it out of Kingston. Together.

  “Thank you,” he said at last.

  She cocked her head. “For what?”

  “For doing what you did. For putting yourself in harm's way like that. I know you were protecting me and the club.”

  She shrugged. “You would have done the same thing for me if the situations were reversed.”

  “I would,” he said and meant it.

  “I know you would.”

  Damon leaned in and kissed her. It was a soft, chaste kiss on the lips, but Cassie wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him in tighter, deepening and intensifying their kiss. Their tongues swirled and danced together as she ran her fingers through his hair. The longer the kiss went on and the more passionate it grew, Damon couldn't help but feel the heat rising within him.

  Cassie pushed him back on the bed and climbed on top of him, straddling him. She quickly discarded her towel, showing him her tight, supple body. Damon remembered the first couple of times they'd slept together. She had been almost shy about being naked in front of him. But something within her flipped and that modesty was all gone.

  Running her hands from my stomach up his chest, Cassie leaned down and kissed him again with all of the passion and intensity of their last kiss. She ground herself down on his cock – which was growing harder by the second. Damon moaned softly and ran his hand from her shoulders all the way down to her ass, cupping and squeezing it.

  She sat up and looked down at him with a seductive smile upon her face.

  “Aren't you tired?” he asked.

  “Exhausted.”

  “We don't have to do this right now.”

  Her hands drifted down my chest, to my stomach, eventually grasping his belt buckle. She didn't say a word as she unbuckled his belt and then unbuttoned his jeans. She slid her hand down inside his pants and grabbed hold of his hard cock, stroking it up and down, continuing to give him that slow, seductive smile of hers.

  “I feel like I need this right now,” she said softly. “After everything that happened tonight, I just need to feel connected to you.”

  Damon gasped as she tightened her grip on his cock and stroked it a little harder. He took hold of her wrist and removed her hand from his pants. She looked at him, disappointment in her eyes. But then he stood up, picking her up as he did so and then turned around, laying her back down on the bed, and pulling her to the edge of it. Damon gave her the same sort of seductive smile she'd given him as he knelt down between her legs and ran the tip of his tongue along the lips of her pussy.

  She moaned and he felt her body shudder as he slipped my tongue a little deeper inside of her. She grasped his hair, moaning as Damon took her clit into his mouth and began to lick and suck on it. He slid two fingers inside of her, working them in and out while he sucked on her clit. She moaned and called his name as he fingered her harder and deeper while flicking her clit with the tip of his tongue.

  It didn't take long to bring her to the edge of an orgasm. Damon slid his deep inside of her and felt her let go. Her body quivered and she screamed as a powerful orgasm tore through her body.

  “Oh God, Damon,” she gasped between breaths.

  Damon stood up and kicked off his boots before letting his pants fall to the floor. Cassie looked at him with a hunger in her eyes as he stepped out of his jeans and climbed on top of her. Up on my hands and knees, Damon stared down at her and smiled. Passion and a hunger for her coursed through his veins and he leaned down and kissed her, feeling bolts of electricity running through his body.

  He gently lowered his body on to her and felt her wrap her legs around his waist. She looked at him, her smile gone. In its place was something darker, something more insistent. There was an urgency and an intensity on her face that he didn't recall ever seeing before.

  “I need you inside of me, Damon,” her voice was low and carried the same sense of urgency he'd seen in her eyes. “I need you inside of me right now.”

  Damon felt her hands slide down his back before feeling her nails digging into the flesh on his ass at the same time her legs tightened around him. She pulled him forward, urging him to slide himself inside of her.

  “Now, Damon. Now.”

  She inhaled sharply as Damon slid the head of his cock inside of her. She gasped and then moaned, urging him forward. She thrust her hips upward to take as much of his cock into her tight wet opening as she could. Damon obliged her by thrusting my own hips, sliding his cock deep into her.

  “Yes,” she moaned. “Yes, baby.”

  He started slow, wanting to savor the moment with her. Wanting to savor her body. She normally liked to take things at a slower pace. She liked drawing things out a bit, extending their pleasure. With her, it was more about the sensuality of it rather than the gratification. Most of the time, anyway.

  Right then, though, wasn't one of those times. She wasn't having any of the sensuality. There was a raw, primal need in her eyes. There was a fire burning inside of her that needed to be quenched. She gripped his shoulders and squeezed him with her thighs as she thrust her hips upward again.

  “Faster, baby,” she cooed. “Harder.”

  Damon did as she asked and picked up his pace. Pinning her hands over her head, Damon thrust his hips hard and fast, slamming his cock deep inside of her again and again and again. She moaned and called his name as she thrashed her head from side to side on the pillow.

  He could feel the climax building within him. It felt like a wave building far out on the horizon that was quickly rushing toward the shore. Cassie's nails bit into his shoulders so hard he winced.

  “Harder, baby,” she moaned. “You're going to make me cum.”

  His breathing was ragged but he kept going, the pleasure building up within him intensifying with each thrust of his hips. That wave out on the surface of the ocean was barreling down on the shore and it was beginning to crest.

  “You feel amazing,” Damon gasped. “I'm not going to last much longer, Cassie.”

  “Don't try,” she said. “Just let go.”

  Our bodies slapped together as he pounded himself into her again and again. She thrust her hips upward just as he was thrusting his downward and she was taking him in as deep as she possibly could. Damon felt her body tightening up beneath him as her breathing became even more labored – He knew she was close to coming. Probably just
as close as he was.

  Her moans became more frantic, more insistent. She kissed him gave him one last hard thrust with her hips and that was it. The wave that had been building and cresting finally came crashing down on shore. Damon grunted as his whole body shuddered while he came, shooting his seed deep within her.

  And almost as if he'd hit a trigger within her, Cassie's body tightened up and then let go. She screamed his name as she came, her body trembling and shuddering as her orgasm made her entire body shake.

  Damon collapsed down on top of Cassie, kissing her deeply as the waves of pleasure rolled over them for several long moments before finally subsiding. He kissed the corner of her mouth softly.