by Blue, Jayne
I had given this speech every time.
I unlocked the back of the truck and Kade hopped in first. He gave me his hand and I climbed in.
“I’m here for whatever,” he said, and I appreciated having someone there who the dogs now knew. Kade had done his part with the little ones on the rest breaks. I sensed that Tookie was going to be a sad girl; she’d taken a particular liking to the tough biker, just like I had.
The dogs were barking and their tails were wagging wildly. This was always the craziest part. I put them each on a lead, one at a time, and walked them out into the waiting arms of their new families. Each family waited their turn to meet the puppy they’d seen on video and had waited patiently for.
“HI! We’re so glad to meet you! Yes, we are.” The family of the pit mix nuzzled the top of his head. I watched for a moment. It was a couple with two teenaged sons. Perfect, no little ones, just like Rudy and I wanted. This dog needed stability and not the frenetic pace of little ones in the house.
Then there was Elaine. She was all love and cuddles, just what the little family with two daughters needed. I could see her future with pink bows and painted toes, just exactly what Elaine would love. She was a princess.
Kade handed me the leads he’d hooked to the collars. Each lead had Ruff Life printed on it. That was my idea. To get the word about the shelter out. These families, if they had a good experience, could help donate someday.
I took each lead from Kade and I was grateful for the help. I wondered what he thought of this part of my job.
We quickly had all the animals with their owners, except Tookie.
I opened her crate and she backed into the corner.
“Come on Tookie, we’re here, your family is waiting.”
But Tookie wasn’t moving.
“I think Tookie likes you more than me, you want to try?” I asked Kade and he stepped up.
“Whatever you say, boss,” he replied and he looked into Tookie’s crate.
“Come on sister, it’s okay.”
And I watched as the rough biker coaxed the shaking chihuahua out of her crate. Tookie took a few steps and then crawled into Kade’s hands.
He pet her head. I tried not to tear up to see how sweet he was with the little girl. He said a few sweet words to her. I didn’t catch exactly what but they must have been the right words.
“Okay, where to? Tookie’s ready.” Kade was so fucking handsome at that moment I felt my breath catch in my throat. He’d been thrown into my word in such an unlikely way, but here he was, attached to this little dog, the same dog that he’d bristled at walking just a few short hours ago.
“These better be good people,” Kade said, and I wasn’t sure if it was to himself or me.
“They’re a retired couple. They’re going to be perfect,” I assured him.
I pointed to where Tookie’s new family stood. They were in their late seventies, both with almost the same color white hair as Tookie, and they were smiling through tears as Kade brought her out.
“I told you she was a beauty. That diamond collar’s going to be perfect on her!” The woman told her husband and he shook his head but you could see that indulging his wife was a joy. Tookie had a few families who wanted her, but there was something about Sandy and Don Lovitt that was right for Tookie. Their home was small, their kids were grown, and Don told me that Sandy needed to dote on something, someone. Tookie would love that.
Kade gently placed a shaking Tookie in Sandy Lovitt’s arms and she started cooing. Tookie looked back at Kade.
“You got this. This lady is very nice. You can see that.” Tookie listened and turned around to face Sandy and, sure enough, her pink little tongue came out and she gifted her new mama with a link on the chin! Tookie and the Lovitts would be just fine.
I looked around at the six new families and tried not to cry. But that was a wasted effort. The whole thing made my heart feel full.
But it was time to go. The sooner the dogs were out of my sight, the better. I had grown attached to each one of them. And it hurt a little to know they were out of my care.
“Thank you all for helping us find the right homes. Please keep Ruff Life in mind so we can continue to move dogs from kill shelters to loving families. Our number is on the leash.”
I said my goodbyes and Kade helped me close up the truck. He leaned on the back of the truck as I waved. All the new families drove away from the parking lot. It was barely seven a.m.
As the last car faded from view, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to it.
Kade’s lips were on my lips and then his arms were around me and drew me in tight. My hands shot up to his hair and I felt the silky strands run through my fingers.
Our bodies were pressed against each other and I still wanted to be closer.
I felt his hands on my ass and I felt him slide me into him. He was so hard against me, every inch of him was muscle. His lips trailed to my neck and I leaned back. I heard myself moan. Just the feel of his mouth on my neck, his hands sliding inside the waistband of my jeans and tugging at my panties had me nearly over the edge.
I had no sense of where we were, only that we were kissing, and I was frantic. I wanted to be underneath his powerful body.
Kade’s hands slid up under the t-shirt I wore and I felt his rough palm on my pebbled nipple. I was straining against the bra cups and wanted nothing more than to be naked with him, now. My clothes were in the way of Kade’s hands and my skin. Everywhere I felt his fingers, his hands, my cells fizzed, came alive.
Kade pulled me toward the front of the truck. Any second he wasn’t kissing me was a second I was starving for it. He opened the door of the cab and I crawled in. Kade followed.
I had a small bunk in the back. It was curtained off so I could sleep on the road without spending money on motels. Neither Ruff Life nor I had any to spare.
I pushed back the curtain and scrambled in. Kade was hot and fast behind me. He was pulling on my jeans. I kicked them away. Then he ripped off my shirt so fast I gasped. I was now topless in front of this man and he looked at me like I was a meal and he hadn’t eaten for weeks.
I lay there a second, naked, under his ravenous gaze.
“Jesus, it’s better than what I’d fucking fantasized you looked like.” Kade had ditched his leather jacket but was fully dressed compared to me. I was exposed to him, almost bare, and vulnerable. His eyes were fixed on me and I watched them travel the length of my body. I couldn’t take the wait and felt myself writhing, without meaning to. I was so ready for him.
Kade leaned down close to me and kissed my mouth, the rough fabric of his jeans, the sharpness of the buckle on his belt, all of it shredding the flimsy material still barely covering me. He used his teeth to bite my nipple while his fingers hooked a string of the bikini panties I wore. Then they were gone and I was open to his eyes, his fingers, his mouth, and his sex, now so hard and insistent I worried for a second on handling what came next.
Kade freed himself and before I knew it had put on a condom. I felt his hands on my thighs and then around to cup my ass. I pulsed up to meet him and my legs wrapped around his waist.
Then he dove into me, hard, and deep, and the force of it felt like it was going to tip the truck over. I braced my hands above me and planted them as he rocked me again and again. My moan turned into a scream as each stroke exploded an intense sensation of pleasure in me.
Kade buried his head in my neck and then lower, his mouth clamping on my nipple as continued to drive into me. Kade lifted my body off the bedroll and I was angled up. The new leverage did new things to the riot of sensations I felt.
I tried to hang on, move with him, kiss him, but it was too much. He was too much. His body overwhelmed mine and I felt a climax crash through me.
“Oh God, Kade. Yes!” I buried my lips in his neck this time, I pressed into him as he moved his hands to my hips and held them tight. His climax was happening with mine.
“Fuck.” It was a growl, almos
t an animal sound that came from deep in his throat.
“Yes,” I said, but where he growled, I sighed, my breath was heavy, and words didn’t seem right, or even possible in that moment.
As he came down from his high, Kade feathered light kisses down on my face, my neck, my shoulders, and my breasts. His body slowed down and the hard pulses turned into undulating strokes. He was still inside of me and I was completely unhinged.
We’d both come so hard, so intensely, it couldn’t go on. I had to regroup, catch my breath, and recover. But Kade kept going, slow, deep pulses inside me had me almost whimpering. I fucking wanted more, again, right now.
“It’s too much,” I said. The sensations he’d awakened were new to me, overwhelming. I’d just been pushed over the edge, and here I was again, moving my hips with his. I felt my core tighten around him. He was bigger than any man I’d ever been with and I felt filled up, stretched, almost to the point of pain, but not quite.
“I don’t think they’ll ever be enough with you Harlow,” he whispered in my ear. The deep growl of his voice in my ear did almost as much to melt me as his mouth on my skin and his hands on my body.
“I never, uh, twice.” I didn’t know how to say I’d never come twice like this, one after another. This couldn’t be real life. How was it possible to be this much in need so soon after being so completely satiated?
“Just move with me, Harlow, that’s all you need to do,” he said and I did. I matched Kade’s hands with mine. I found his skin under his white t-shirt. I tasted the sweat dripping off his gorgeous abs. And finally, when I was on the edge again, I lay back and let a slower, but somehow deeper orgasm nearly render me unconscious. It turned me liquid from eyelids to toes. Kade impaled me; this time it may have been slower, but he was as hard and as insistent as the first time. He held me tight and came again, hard, with my body wrapped around his.
Our breaths synced together now and slowed.
“I’ve never felt like that before. That was incredible, Kade.”
“You’re incredible.”
He moved a few unruly curls away from my face and we kissed slowly. I was unwilling to move any inch of my body away from his. And he seemed just as happy to be tangled up with me in the back of my truck.
I’d never had a reaction to a man like this before. The hazy dawn had given way to full sunshine and yet we didn’t move, other than to kiss, stroke and tease. Something spectacular was going on between our two bodies.
I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want to break the spell that he’d put me under. I didn’t want to think about anything but the delicious feeling of Kade’s body in mine, of his arms around me, of his smell, his stubble, of his everything.
I was perfectly content to lay there until the cops knocked on the window. Luckily, we were way outside of the San Nonnus city limits. And this wasn’t exactly a likely place to stop and, well, whatever we’d just done.
I was naked and he wanted to keep me that way. I had no complaints about that at that moment.
That was until huge crashing noise shattered our little bubble and shards of glass sprayed all over the both of us.
9
Kade
I didn’t have time to think about what had happened with Harlow before the little fucking world we’d created exploded around us.
“Stay low.” I pushed her down to the floor of the small cab area we’d barely fit in and I climbed over her. I had a piece in my leather jacket, something she hadn’t caught on to. I stayed under the window line and hoped a bullet wouldn’t pierce through the truck door and into my head.
There was no doubt in mind what was happening.
The Hawks had caught up with us again. I looked around. The parking lot behind the shelter seemed safe before, and now it was the opposite. It was obscured from the road by an embankment and behind that was scrub and woods. Harlow and I were in a terrible position. I didn’t have time to call my guys or do much of anything, so I was going to come out fighting.
“Stay hidden as best as you can.”
“Kade!” Harlow had no experience with shit like this, how could she? I expected her to be terrified. I had to get this shit neutralized before they got to her.
I scrambled to come up with a plan. I needed to get out there before they came in here.
“I’m fucking coming out. Stop shooting.”
“Fuck you, Saint,” I heard back at me, but the shooting did stop. Glass continued to plink down from the window of the truck. The side window was toast.
“Kade, no,” Harlow whispered at me, but I put a finger up to my lips. I needed her quiet and still for the time being. I was terrified that they’d get the guns back and they’d mow through Harlow and me to do it.
I made a quick decision. If I went out there armed, they’d grab my gun, and that would be it. I decided to leave my leather on the seat of the cab. Maybe then I’d have an option. As options went, it sucked, but there it was.
“I’m coming.” I slowly pushed open the door and exited the truck with my hands up. It was one of the Hawks from before and two new ones. They were meaner, bigger and, I saw from their patches, higher up. These were not fuck ups on a probie errand.
I did my best count. There were three bikes to match the three Hawks. That was at least good news. I’d had worse odds.
“You’re fucking old lady killed Farkus.” The one who I recognized was there. It would be pointless to argue, his patch said Talon.
Great. Talon.
“Your guy was harassing my old lady. You don’t fucking do that.”
“Really? Well, you stole something from us, and we’re taking it back, plus interest.”
Talon walked into the truck and the other two Hawks grabbed my arms. They held on tight while Talon pulled her out. I’d left her naked but thank God she’d managed to get jeans and – fuck, my jacket! She had my jacket covering her! She pulled it tight around her as Talon slammed her to the ground.
I felt white hot pokers of rage behind my temples. Watching the way they grabbed her, threw her down, and how the other two looked at Harlow made my blood boil in a way it hadn’t in years. This wasn’t happening the way they thought it would. I’d rather get shot in the head then let them touch one more curl of hers.
But my two fucking asshole Hawks held tight to my arms. I kicked into the air and they snickered. Talon leaned down to Harlow who was curled into a ball and slid his hand between her legs.
“You’re primed for me, thanks, Kade.”
She spat in his face and dammit if he didn’t backhand her while she was still on the ground.
“Oh yeah? You killed my brother, you’ll get way worse than that.”
“He was torturing Tookie,” she replied in her defense. She was unrepentant and the Hawks weren’t ones to listen to word one from any woman. And now we knew she had killed Farkus, this was worse than the problem with the guns. This was payback. This time he kicked Harlow and the pokers of rage got worse.
“After we find where the Saints stored the guns, we’ll be leaving you right here, real close to the shelter. Maybe one of those puppies will find you when they shit on your dead body.”
It was all I could stand. I let go of the effort to keep under control and let that shit fly. I kicked the fucker to my left and slammed the other down on the pavement. I kicked him in the head and hoped that took care of him, permanently. The first one recovered enough to try again but it was fucking futile.
I had done time for this very thing, losing my shit. When I lost it, when I let my fury get the best of me, blood was shed. I’d kept that shit on lock, clamped down, and under control, for Bear and the club’s sake.
But it was all off right now.
I felt my knuckles connect on bone and flesh. I saw blood spray, but my hope was motion and speed. I needed these two before I could help Harlow.
Because when I got to Harlow, Talon would be praying for his life. Of that I was sure.
The second Hawk went down and I head
ed for Talon who’d grabbed Harlow to her feet and had her by the throat.
“Calm the fuck down, Kade,” Talon said.
“I don’t think so.”
“You see her neck, easy as fuck to snap, so I’d back off.”
He also had a gun to her side. Still, I moved slowly forward.
“You authorized to start a war?” I asked him.
Because that was the goddamned truth. We were on the brink, Hawks versus Saints. It was already bloody between us. There was already hate but this fucker had no idea. If he meant to blow shit up with me, there was no better way.
“You started this one when you stole our rightful property,” Talon said.
“Property you were trying to traffic in Saints territory. That’s bullshit and it won’t stand.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what won’t stand. This little number ever again.”
I didn’t think or have time to use any of my ‘anger management’ fucking strategies. I lunged forward. Playing the peacekeeper wasn’t in my wheelhouse anyway.
I knocked Talon away from Harlow and went for his piece at the same time. We struggled back and forth and I knew I’d have to fucking kill him. He was on top and then I reversed it. I would crush his throat with my bare hands if I could get them free. Talon swung wildly at me, landing a fist where he could.
That’s when a shot rang out and up over our heads.
Our death match stopped mid-swing.
“Stop. Stop it right now. Kade?” I looked over and realized Harlow had found the gun in my jacket. She held it shakily over her head. Talon had loosed his grip and his focus enough. I punched him on the jaw.
I popped up and kept my eye on him. He was smart enough to stay down. I walked over to Harlow.
“Give it to me.” And I took it out of Harlow’s shaking hands and trained it on Talon.
