by Jade Kuzma
“Life is Hell before you get to Heaven… It feels like I’m already there.”
“Nah, you’re still in Hell. But you’re a Devil. That just means you can enjoy it a little bit.”
Murph patted me on the arm and headed toward the exit.
“Where you going, old man?”
“Gonna hit the road and get some fresh air. Got a bit of reminiscing to do…”
After Murph was gone, I finally decided to start the celebration. But I hadn’t even put my beer to my lips when the entrance to the bar opened up again. I thought I was seeing things when I saw Kristen standing there. She marched toward me, unblinking focus that I noticed immediately.
“We have to talk,” she said.
“What’s wrong—”
“Now.”
“All right, all right. Let’s go to my room.”
Even when she was bothered like she was now, I still couldn’t think about how amazing she looked. She was out of place in Hades with that black dress of hers but I didn’t give a damn who was staring at her.
As soon as we got into my room, I took a seat next to the window while she started pacing back and forth.
“What’s up?”
“…Do you know anything about this?”
“About what—”
“Come on, Sebastian. Don’t play stupid now. Just tell me the truth.”
I clenched my jaw and stared back at her. I couldn’t tell her. Not yet. Not when it just happened.
“What happened?” I asked.
“James… I was with him at the party. All of a sudden he got a phone call. He was smiling and laughing the whole night but then it was like he found out his dog died or something.”
“Did his dog die?”
“You know damn well what happened. He told me someone hit him. Robbed his spot for every dollar that was inside of it.”
“Crazy—”
“Cut the bullshit, Sebastian. I know it was you.”
I sighed a deep breath, resigned to the fact that I couldn’t hide anything from her. I slowly walked toward her and held my hands out.
“What if it was me?” I said.
She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly in frustration.
“Sebastian… Don’t you realize what you’ve done?”
“I realize exactly what I’ve done. I’ve done what you’ve been trying to do this whole time.”
“What?”
Her eyes shot open, confusion all over her face.
“James Emerson is a drug kingpin. He’s poisoning the streets of Ivory with his product and every city around us. He’s a bad man. An evil man. He got what was coming to him.”
“I planted the bug. All you had to do was wait and the FBI would have enough evidence to press charges against him. He’d be behind bars. He’d get the kind of justice that he deserves.”
“Deserves? You’ve been undercover for a year and nothing has happened.”
“It’s over, Sebastian! Tonight was supposed to be the end of it. Whitaker would have everything on James recorded. Why did you have to go and do this?”
“What difference does it make if he loses some money if he’s getting locked up anyway?”
“Because,” she said through gritted teeth. “You don’t know James like I do. He’s a dangerous man. An evil man. When he finds out what you did, there’s no telling what he’s capable of.”
“He won’t find out. I’ve been planning this for longer than you can imagine. Ever since I saw you with him and found out you were back in town.”
“Sebastian…”
I put a hand on her cheek and cut her off. She closed her eyes, stuck between her frustration and a growing desire I knew was burning inside of her.
“There’s nothing you need to worry about,” I said. “I’ve got everything under control, okay?”
I leaned forward and put my lips on hers. All of the frustration. All of the stress. All of the worry. I felt her exhale all of it softly into my mouth as I kissed her.
I put my hands on her, running my palms down her sleek black dress. The curves of her figure felt so right underneath my grip. I reached up and squeezed her breasts through her top and she gasped into my mouth.
I pulled away from her just long enough to look into her eyes. She didn’t say anything. She only responded with that seductive look that always hypnotized me. That same look that told me to take control. So I did.
My hands moved to her waist and spun her around. I pushed her forward to my bed and bent her over it. I kept my eyes locked on hers as I tugged her dress up her thighs then over her ass. Porcelain legs on display for me, so smooth as they led up toward a mound that was dripping behind that black thong of hers.
I pulled her panties down and put my mouth on her lips.
“Oh… Fuck!”
Her body jerked when I tongued her clit. She spread her legs a bit and stuck her ass out to let me get better access to her pussy. I hadn’t tasted her in such a long time. My mouth was watering so damn bad. It was amazing that I’d gone so long without it.
I licked up and down her slit, working my tongue over her folds then up toward her swelling clit. The fluids dripping down her thighs made me thirsty for even more of her.
My hands moved to her ass and squeezed. She was trembling with pleasure in my grip as I spread her even more. I kept her in her position so I could stick my tongue as deep into her as I could get it. My lips smacked against her until my own desires became too much for me to hold back.
I stood up straight and unbuckled my belt. The metal clasp and teeth were the only sounds in my room along with the desperate breaths we were both making. The anticipation was unbearable. My cock was already on the verge of exploding.
I slapped her ass and got a squeal out of her. One hand sliding up to her waist, my other grabbed my dick and pushed it toward her entrance.
“Fuck me,” she groaned. “Fucking give it to me.”
I plunged my cock into her and pushed another deep gasp out of her. She so damn wet that my dick was drowning. She was warm, too. So warm that I could feel it all through my body, adrenaline coursing through my veins like my blood was on fire.
I gripped her waist and pounded her hard, thumping my cock into her with thick, forceful strokes.
“Yes… Harder… Just like that… Harder…”
Kristen was always like that. Unable to hold back her desires. When it came down to it, she didn’t care about being mature or acting like a lady. She told me what she wanted in the bluntest way possible.
“Fuck me… Harder…”
I gritted my teeth and slammed my dick into her wet pussy so hard that the sound of our bodies colliding echoed through my room. Her tits rocked back and forth in front of her, moving to the rhythm I banged her.
Every thrust was harder than the last. I fucked her like I was trying to break her in half. And Kristen took every inch of me like she would die if she didn’t get it.
She felt so damn good that I couldn’t hold back any longer. I wanted to fuck her for as long as I could. I clenched my jaw. I tightened my muscles. I held my breath. But my cock had its limits. The dam was overflowing inside me. Cum was already beginning to trickle out of my tip.
“Fuck… Harder… Sebastian…”
“Mmm… Fuck…”
I grunted one last time then buried my dick so deep inside of her that she screamed louder than she had before. A sudden jolt fired through me as I came hard. I tightened my grip on her waist and held on as the violent spasms surged through my body. Thick pulses of cum spilled out of me like my soul was leaving me. Coming inside of Kristen was like nothing else.
I pumped my cock into her until I finished making a mess of her insides. Some of the cum squeezed out of her and trickled down her thighs when I pulled out of her. I collapsed on top of her, my chest pressed against her back, as we both tried to catch our breath.
But I couldn’t enjoy it for long. I could feel the anxiety coming from her.
“James won’t let this go,” she whispered. “He’ll keep looking until he finds you.”
I kissed Kristen softly on the cheek then put my hand on top of hers.
“If he comes looking for me, he’ll regret it.”
Chapter 17
KRISTEN
I worked in a small office by myself. I had no secretary or coworkers. It was nice knowing that I didn’t have to depend on anybody else to get my work done. Clients came to me and I handled all of the paperwork when they were interested in buying or selling their homes. There were times when businessmen and women would come to me talking about other property and I accommodated them. With so much open space in Ivory, there was never a shortage of work.
It wasn’t glamorous. I never bragged to anybody about what I did or how much money I made because I knew it wasn’t that interesting. But I was good at it. More importantly, it was more than enough to make ends meet.
Right now though, I needed it for something else. Everything happening with James and Sebastian and Agent Whitaker distracted me enough that I couldn’t focus. Thankfully, I didn’t have any meeting scheduled for the day, so I could take the time to myself that I needed.
It was the middle of the afternoon when my time alone was interrupted by a phone call from James. He didn’t say much. It was hard to read how he felt from his tone, though I didn’t imagine he was very happy considering everything that happened just last night. He called me in to see him. It wasn’t long before I was sitting in his office.
James had a place in Golden Hills. It was the one part of Ivory where they view was more beautiful than anywhere else. James stood next to the window of his spacious office, his arms behind his back as he peered down into the city.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Where are my manners? Do you need something to drink? To eat?”
“I’m fine,” I said with a nervous laugh. “I had lunch earlier.”
“Yes. Of course you did. I’m sorry I couldn’t join you. I’ve been busy since this morning.”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me. Your schedule is always full.”
“Today it’s full as usual. But in a different way.”
He slowly turned around and walked toward me. He was smiling softly but it didn’t do much to mask the intensity in his eyes.
Something’s wrong…
I tried to shake my nervous anxiety but I could feel the chill all the way down to my bones.
He took a seat on the front of his desk before me and crossed his arms.
“Thugs. Criminals. Petty thieves. They’re all rampant in Ivory.”
“I’m sure you’d find those people in every city,” I replied.
“You would. But Ivory has a particular abundance of those people. Especially in such a small town. In a city of thousands, it makes those kind of people seem a lot more common, don’t you think?”
“I haven’t thought much about it but I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”
“More specifically, there are a lot of MCs in this town. Motorcycle clubs. They’re really fascinating.”
“To outsiders. I’ve lived here for most of my life, so I’m kind of used to it.”
I let out another chuckle but it still did nothing to fight the stress that was twisting my stomach into knots so tight that my lunch was about to come up.
“Sebastian Cain.”
My heart stopped inside my chest.
Calm down. He doesn’t know anything.
“He’s a club member,” he continued. “I spoke to him just last night.”
“I remember. I was there.”
“Yes, you were there… Tell me, Kristen. How do you know Cain?”
“We’re friends,” I said with a shrug. “Old friends. Back when I just got out of high school. It was a long time ago.”
“Old friends… Were you ever more than friends?”
I sighed softly through my nose then nodded.
“There was a time when we were something,” I said. “Before I realized what kind of man he was. Before I realized how loyal he was to his MC.”
James smirked. The kind of smirk with something behind it. Only now, I had no idea what it was.
I had to do something. I had to say something to get James off the trail.
“Sebastian and I are still friends. But it’s nothing more. We’ve both lived in Ivory our whole lives, so we… share that in common.”
The smirk on his lips grew even wider.
“I’m not accusing you of anything,” he said. “I’m not concerned with any infidelity on your part. I’m merely trying to decipher your relationship with the man.”
“And why are you doing that?”
“Because I know it was him.”
James was no longer smiling. The seriousness on his face was something nobody would want to see. James had a way of looking charming and intimidating all at the same time. He was a politician when it came to dealing with people. But now… Now he looked like he was just trying to settle his business.
“H-how do you know it was him—”
“I know it was Cain,” he interrupted me. “The men who pulled this job were good. I’ll give them that. They got away. But they were sloppy. They left behind too much evidence. You can’t do something like that to me.”
“I…”
I looked down at the ground, searching for the words to say but there was nothing.
“…I don’t know what…”
“Kristen, Kristen, Kristen,” he said as he smiled at me. “There’s no need for you to be nervous. You have nothing to fear from me. Oh, look at me… Frightening my own girlfriend… It’s all right, Kristen. I’m sorry for worrying you.”
He moved forward and took a knee down in front of me.
“I’m only looking for answers,” he said. “You know Cain and Cain is the one who did this.”
“I… I don’t know what you want me to do.”
“I want you to send a message for me.”
“A message?”
He stood back up and straightened his tie. Then he pulled out his phone.
“Come in now.”
I scrunched my face in confusion then turned around when I heard the door to his office open behind me.
There I saw James’s personal bodyguard Blackwell walking into the room. The man was as big and stiff as he always was. It was like he could barely fit through the doorway.
But he wasn’t alone.
There was someone with him. An old man dressed in a suit that almost looked familiar. Well, he would’ve looked familiar if it wasn’t for how much his face was bloodied and bruised. I wouldn’t have thought he was still conscious if he wasn’t forced to walk forward by Blackwell.
“Move!” Blackwell barked.
They kept moving forward until they were standing just a few feet away from me.
“Do you know who this man is?” James asked.
I shook my head.
“His name is Thomas Murphy. He was a West Devil. An original patch of the club your friend Cain belongs to. As you can tell just by looking at this man, you can see it was a long time ago.”
James walked up to the old man and looked down his nose at him.
“I have to commend him on his courage,” James said. “No matter what I did, the old man wouldn’t confess. He wouldn’t squeal. He wouldn’t rat Cain or anybody else out, even though it’s been so long since he wore the patch. You should be proud of yourself, Murphy.”
“Fuck you,” the old man responded.
James chuckled softly at the man then turned back to me.
“I’m convinced that Murphy here is willing to die to keep his secret. But… I’m not a heartless man. You see this woman right here, Murphy. She’s Cain’s friend. I’ll give you one last chance. One last chance to spare her from what she’s about to see.”
I clenched my jaw tight and breathed hard through my nose. My heart was racing so fast in my chest that it started to hurt. I felt helpless as I sat there in the ch
air.
I looked around for something I could do. I looked for anything that would give me the answers I needed.
But there was nothing. I was at James’s mercy, the same as the beaten man in front of me.
“Confess,” James said. “Tell me that the Cain and the Devils are responsible for hitting me and I’ll let you live.”
The old man, his face bloody and barely recognizable, stared back at James. Through it all, I could make out the smile on his face.
“The Devils are the only MC in Ivory that matter,” Murphy said. “I’m proud to have worn the patch. I know what it represents. The men I rode with matter more to me than anybody else.”
James sighed a deep breath and nodded.
“I figured as much,” he said. “What is it about a piece of fabric that inspires such loyalty between men?”
He took a step forward in front of Murphy then looked down at him for a second before stepping to the side.
“Blackwell,” James said.
His personal security guard reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol. He held it right up to Murphy’s temple.
I looked right back into Murphy’s eyes. They were filled with so much life. So many memories and stories inside of him. So many experiences here in Ivory. I saw everything in his eyes.
He smiled at me as his lips opened.
“Life is Hell before you get to Heaven—”
The gunshot interrupted him before he could finish.
My heart stopped beating like it was no longer in my chest. My mouth dropped open but anything I could say was stuck in my throat, desperate to scream but unable to.
I stared at the man as he slumped on the ground, the life quickly trickling out of him before it was gone completely.
“Put the body on display, Blackwell. Put it somewhere they’ll find it easily. Make sure they get my message.”
James put a hand on my shoulder and shook me out of the horrified trance I was in.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said. “But I wanted to make sure that this message gets back to Cain.”
He stared hard at me. It was like looking right at the Devil himself.
“Tell him I want my money back. Tell him to give me my money or the rest of his MC is next.”
