Bound (Soldiers of Darkness MC Book 3)

by Michelle Betham

  I place my hands behind me, palm down, and I throw back my head as he starts to cover my neck in tiny kisses, so light I can barely feel them, yet their intensity is overwhelming. His hands grasp my hips as he continues to fuck me; long, slow, deep thrusts that find a place within me no one’s ever found before. Every time he pushes back into me he hits that spot, nudges me closer to the edge, and I cry out with the kind of pleasure I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s good at what he does. He is so fucking good! And then I feel him slide a hand around the back of my neck and push me forward, forcing me to look at him, and his eyes are so intense, so dark and deep. And when he kisses me, that’s when I start to feel it, when those white-hot tingles start to make their presence felt; when my entire body starts to shake with the weight of whatever it is that’s about to engulf me. And when it happens it isn’t anything I could’ve been prepared for, it hits me like a sideswipe I never saw coming. But I am. And so is he, and I have no idea how he did that, how he made that happen, but I’m coming, my body bucking and jerking as he spills out inside of me, our moans merging together in one loud, animalistic cry.

  It’s over. He’s done. And I feel like someone just came along and tore something clean away from me, the empty feeling that’s left is devastating; the reality of what we’ve just done all consuming.

  Once again he rests his forehead against mine, his hand lightly cupping the back of my neck as we both try to calm our breathing. And I wrap my legs tighter around him, keeping him close, I like him, this close.

  “I should go,” I whisper, even though I don’t want to. I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to sleep in this man’s arms and wake up beside him but that can’t happen. It can’t ever happen, and that realization hits me like the hardest of punches. Because I didn’t even know that I wanted it to happen. Not until now.

  “I know,” he murmurs, his mouth touching mine as he speaks, and I feel his breath sink into me and I breathe him in, swallow him down, I want him inside me even when he isn’t there.

  And then he pulls back, and that empty feeling intensifies as he steps away from me, and I slide down from the sideboard and immediately retrieve my clothes, quickly pulling them back on.

  “Skye, I’m… I’m sorry.”

  “What’re you sorry for?”

  He turns to face me again. And I’m seeing a different man in front of me now. “For putting you in that position. For letting that happen.”

  “Did I make it stop? Did I say no? Did I push you away?”

  He looks at me for a second before he shakes his head. “No.”

  “Then you’ve got nothing to apologize for. We crossed a line, that’s all.”

  “That’s all? Do you know how much trouble I…”

  I shut him up with another kiss, and he slides a hand into the small of my back and pushes me against him. “Nobody has to know. Do they?”

  He takes my hand and squeezes it tight, bringing it to his mouth and kissing it. “This can’t happen, Skye.”

  I smile slightly as I pull back from him, picking up my jacket from the back of the couch. “It already has, Gabriel.”

  Chapter Eight

  Skye

  “You and Mack, I hear you got history. Y’know, before you got married.”

  Izzi raises an eyebrow and throws me a look. “You heard?”

  I shrug and pick up one of the kids’ toys, turning the blue and white teddy bear over and over in my hand. “People talk.”

  “Yeah, well, you shouldn’t listen to gossip.”

  “I’m sorry, Izzi, I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry.”

  She takes the toy from me and hands me a mug of coffee. “Me and Mack, that history we have, it’s a mess, Skye. I was a mess, when I first met him. I mean, we all have our demons, we all have our flaws but, Jesus… I was fucked up. For so many reasons…”

  She trails off, and I know what those reasons were but I also know she isn’t going to tell me herself. She’s guarded, she’s been made that way now. Her time here, in this world, it’s made her who she is now. She’s going to tell me something, just not everything.

  She rakes a hand through her hair and takes a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have gone anywhere near him, in reality, but I… I had to. I had to…”

  Once again she leaves that sentence hanging and I watch her as she turns her head to look out of the window, out into the back yard where a couple of the younger club girls are playing with her kids. And then she turns her attention back to me, and it’s almost as though she’s snapped out of some kind of trance.

  “But, y’know, a lot of shit’s happened since then.”

  She smiles slightly, her eyes locking on mine.

  “We were meant to be together, me and Mack. I truly believe that. Whatever sick and twisted crap had to happen to get us here, I believe we were meant to be together. Eventually. And I love him. For all his fucked up ways, the shit he pulls; the danger he puts himself in that I can’t stop, I love him. And I’m not ever gonna be able to change that.”

  She drops her gaze and stares down into her coffee.

  “Izzi? Is everything OK?”

  She looks up and she throws me another small smile, but this one doesn’t reach her eyes.

  “It’s nothing. It’s just, when you’ve been with a man like Mack for as long as I have, you kind of know the signs.”

  I frown slightly. “Signs?”

  “Come on, Skye, you know what I’m talking about.”

  I’m not sure what to say, to be honest. This really was supposed to be just a coffee and a chat, I don’t need anything from Izzi. Not anymore. But, you know, if she’s going to say something that might be useful…

  “You think he’s planning a job of some kind?”

  “The worst kind. The kind he keeps secret from his wife. The kind where we women are on a strictly need-to-know basis. The kind where we also have to pick up the pieces if it all turns to shit. And I don’t think, I know. I know something’s going on….”

  She trails off, and I don’t think she’s going to say much more. She’s savvy, she’s the president’s old lady, she knows when she’s said enough. I lean back against the counter, but I keep my gaze steady. I look as though I know what she’s talking about and I sympathize. That’s all I can do.

  “It’ll be fine, Izzi. I’m sure.”

  I’m not sure. Of course I’m not sure. Because I know what Mack’s up to. And I think Izzi has every right to be worried, but I can’t tell her that. In a couple of days I’ll be out of here, and I don’t want to jeopardize that, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty about keeping shit from her. From Theo. From Mack. Because they’ve all been nothing but kind to me. But this is what I have to do. I really don’t have a choice.

  “Yeah.” She smiles again, and it’s a slightly brighter smile this time. “Yeah. You’re right. It will. Whatever it is, Mack always comes through it, he always does. I just…” Her expression changes again, and this time it makes the guilt I’m already feeling intensify, it floods my body, making me almost breathless. “I can’t lose him too, Skye. And that’s what I’m scared of. Losing him.”

  “Whatever it is, Izzi, it’ll be OK.”

  But it won’t be.

  It can’t be.

  Not for everyone…

  Theo

  “I need a word.”

  I narrow my eyes as Mack approaches me outside the clubhouse. And the look on his face – that’s making me slightly nervous.

  “Something up?”

  “You seen Skye today?”

  “Skye?” I frown.

  “Yeah. Your neighbor. You live right next door to her, so, you seen her today?”

  “No, not yet, I thought she might be here. You asked Izzi if she’s seen her?”

  “She was with her this morning for a couple of hours, but she ain’t seen her since then.”

  “Why you so desperate to see her?”

  He lights up a cig
arette and takes a long, deep draw. “We got a problem.”

  My frown deepens. “A problem? What kind of problem?”

  “A Cole fucking Rockwell sized problem.” He takes another draw and leans back against the wall, looking out into the compound. “He’s developed a bit of an obsession with our new club girl.”

  “Huh?” What the hell is he talking about? “What’s happening here, Mack?”

  “What’s happening, Theo, is that if Cole Rockwell don’t get to play with your new neighbor then we don’t get shit in the way of help from him.”

  “You… you’re kidding, right?”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding? The man’s a fucking prick, but he’s a dangerous prick, and we need to keep him on side or the only place your brother’s going is that brand new prison cell.”

  “Jesus…”

  “When Cole Rockwell wants something he usually gets it. No matter what it takes. And right now, he wants Skye.” Mack tosses his cigarette to the ground and stamps it into the concrete. “I need to talk to her.”

  “And say what? Hang on… you’re not seriously considering asking her to…?”

  “You want your brother free? Then Skye’s gonna have to put out. She’s a born and bred biker girl, she knows how this shit works. All she has to do is close her eyes, let that low-down piece of shit take what he wants, and you and your brother are outta here.”

  “You’re condoning that, are you?”

  “I ain’t condoning shit, son, I’m just doing what has to be done to get your brother free. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  “And you’re OK, just pimping her out like that?”

  Mack throws back his head and laughs, and I’m feeling everything from frustration to a deep, dark anger, I can’t control this crap. I can’t.

  “Listen, kiddo, this world ain’t nowhere near perfect. And sometimes we have to do all kindsa crap we don’t want to do just to get shit done. And Skye, she knows that.”

  “And what if once isn’t enough, huh? What if he decides that one time was just the beginning…? Jesus!”

  I rake a hand through my hair and turn away from him. I can’t get my head around this. I mean, I knew some twisted shit went on in these places, but this? I turn back around to face Mack, and I shake my head. “No. No, Mack, come on! There must be something else we can do?”

  He looks at me, and that expression isn’t budging, he’s serious. He’s fucking serious.

  “Why her, Mack?”

  “When Cole Rockwell becomes fixated with something – or someone, Theo, then he either gets it, or them, or people suffer. And you ain’t going nowhere if he don’t get Skye. Your brother stays behind bars, and you’ll have to live with the guilt of what you did. But, hey, you might get to keep the girl, right?”

  “She’s not my girl.”

  “Then why the hell are you so bothered about Cole taking her?”

  “Because it’s twisted bullshit, Mack!”

  “And you knew what you were signing up for when you came to me, son, so you either suck it up and accept that she is gonna have to play her part, or you live with the consequences.” He lights up another cigarette. “Because there ain’t no talking to Cole Rockwell. There’s no middle ground, no compromising.”

  “Surely she’s gonna need to know why she has to do this? Why you’re making her do this?”

  Mack shrugs. “We’ll have to tell her something, yeah…”

  I take a deep breath, and I look Mack straight in the eye. I have to tell him now. I have to. “Look, Mack I… I already told her. What we’re doing.”

  I drop my gaze but I can feel Mack’s eyes boring into me, burning my skin.

  “Jesus Christ, Theo… What was it, huh? Your dick got hard so your brain turned fucking soft? What the fuck did I say? You tell no one unless they need to know. And you go spouting your freakin’ mouth off to some girl who ain’t been here five fucking minutes?”

  I sink to my haunches and hang my head, clasping my hands between my knees. “I needed to talk, Mack. I needed to get this…”

  He takes hold of my arm and yanks me back up, and his eyes, man, they’re angry now. “Listen to me, son. You ain’t some hot shot lawyer now, y’hear? That world you left behind, you ain’t ever going back, and the kinda shit that went down there? It don’t go down so well in this world, and the quicker you start realizing that the better everything’s gonna be. Now, the second you see Skye you tell her to come see me.”

  He lets go of my arm and stalks back inside, and I lean against the wall, closing my eyes and breathing in deep before I turn around and slam the palm of my hand against the brickwork. I need to feel the pain, I need to realize that this life I’m living now, it’s real. There isn’t a get-out clause, there’s no fucking escape. I’m in this up to my neck. And Mack’s right. I’ve just got to accept that.

  Skye

  Everything feels different now, yet, nothing’s changed. It can’t change. But last night, Gabriel and me, we crossed a line, and we can’t change that, either. And I still don’t know how I feel about what happened. I just know that I liked it, when he touched me, when he kissed me; when he fucked me. Just thinking about it makes me shiver, but at the same time, it scares the hell out of me. Because it’s wrong. Everything’s wrong.

  “Hey, Skye.”

  Theo’s voice interrupts my thoughts and I look up. He’s leaning back against the wall outside the clubhouse, his handsome face clouded by all the crap I know he’s going through. And I wish now that what happened between us; I wish it hadn’t. In hindsight I know it really didn’t need to happen at all. I think he would’ve talked to me anyway, eventually, even if I hadn’t let him fuck me. And the guilt I feel at what I’m doing to him, it hits me hard, I can’t shake it. But it was him, or me. I did this, or I did time. I had no choice.

  “Hey.”

  “Haven’t seen much of you today. And you were pretty late home last night…”

  He trails off and I look at him, smirking slightly. “Who are you? My mother?”

  He laughs quietly and drops his gaze. “Sorry. I just…” He shrugs, and I really, really wish this wasn’t happening. We both made stupid mistakes that we can’t take back. We both fucked up, big time. And we’re both paying for that now. “Yeah… I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. It’s kind of nice to think you’re looking out for me.”

  It’s his turn to smirk and he raises an eyebrow. “You think I’m looking out for you?”

  We let a couple of beats go by before anyone speaks again.

  “Listen, Skye, Mack wants a word.”

  “With me?” My stomach suddenly dips and I feel a wave of nerves wash over me. “Why?”

  He drops his head again and I watch as he scuffs the heel of his boot against the wall. “He knows I told you. About Dom. About what I did. About what’s happening.”

  My stomach dips again and it’s doing nothing to calm those nerves. “Is that what he wants to see me about?”

  This is supposed to be over now, all I’m supposed to be doing is keeping up this act until the day of Dom’s prison transfer, but this – is this about to mess all of that up?

  Theo shakes his head but his eyes can’t seem to meet mine.

  “Theo? You gonna tell me what Mack wants to see me about?”

  “He’s inside, Skye. Just go talk to him.”

  I watch him walk away, and that exchange, it’s left me a little confused. I’m scared. I don’t know what’s happening now.

  I head into the clubhouse and find Mack by the pool table, flicking through the channels on the wall-mounted TV, until he sees me approaching, then he jerks his head in the direction of the chapel and I follow him into the meeting room.

  “Close the door.”

  I pull it shut but I don’t move too much further inside.

  “Theo told you, huh?”

  “We were just talking and… and suddenly he just opened up, I didn’t ask him to, and I told him he didn’t
have to tell me anything, I…”

  Mack holds up a hand to silence me, and I shut up immediately, crossing my arms against myself. “You just keep it to yourself, all right? You tell no one else, y’hear me? Because it ain’t no one else’s business.”

  I watch as he lights up a cigarette and starts pacing the floor.

  “Besides, you were gonna have to know now anyway.”

  He stops pacing and his eyes meet mine, and I frown. “Why?”

  Those nerves kicking about in my gut, they aren’t easing any. In fact, they’re getting worse, they’re intensifying with every second I’m standing here.

  “We got ourselves a bit of a spanner in the works, that’s why. And you’re the one who’s gonna help us sort that.”

  My frown deepens. I have no idea what the hell he’s talking about. “Me? How? I…”

  “Cole Rockwell. He’s developed a little crush on you, Skye.”

  And that really doesn’t help the growing sick feeling in my stomach. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Cole Rockwell is the man who’s providing us with the small private passenger jet that’s gonna get Theo and his brother outta this place; the man who’s providing them with new identities, so they can go get that new life they’re both gonna need. He’s got contacts, Skye. The kinda contacts I just don’t have, so we need him. Theo and Dom need him, and to be honest, sweetheart, I ain’t a fan of pissing off Cole Rockwell. That don’t end well.”

  “What does he want, Mack?”

  But the ice-cold shiver running down my spine is telling me I think I already know the answer to that question.

  “He wants you, Skye.”

  I throw back my head and close my eyes and I take a long, deep breath. “Oh, Jesus…”

  “Listen, darlin’, all you gotta do is let the piece of shit prick paw you a little bit, and if he wants to stick his dick inside you…”

  “You think he won’t want to?”

  He doesn’t miss my sarcasm. “Hey, listen up, sweetheart, you’re still a relative stranger round here so you mean shit to me in all honesty. You understand that? So you are gonna do whatever the hell Cole wants because if you don’t, we are fucked. And I ain’t about to let that happen. That work we all put in, that ain’t gonna go to waste, so you get ready to drop those panties, open those pretty legs, and let that asshole take whatever he wants. Keep him happy, and nobody gets hurt.”