by Jordan Marie
Before she can even speak, I have her wrapped in my arms. I inhale her scent, breathing deeper so I can take it all the way in.
“God, Mama,” I whisper shakily into her ear, as I feel her arms go around me and hold onto me tightly.
Her nails are digging into my back with a fierceness that tells me just how scared my woman has been. I need to find out information, I need to hunt down the bastard responsible for it all, but all I can think right now is that I need Nicole. I need her taste, her comfort. I need the feel of her in my arms. It’s a need so huge that I almost take her right where we’re standing. I can’t. I have to capture this SOB before he has a chance to escape. So, for now, I push my tongue into her mouth and content myself with a kiss. It’s a fucking great kiss though, full of heat and need. Our tongues fighting each other for control and my dick pounding with the need to be buried deep inside of her.
We break away slowly. She takes a shaky breath and rests her forehead on my chest. Her hands are gripping my biceps and her nails are still digging into me. It soothes me.
“Dragon,” she whispers.
My name on her lips. Her taste on my tongue. That is all I need in life.
“Mama, talk to me.”
“They have Dani, Dragon. He’s demanding I…he’s torturing me with her. He has Dani, Dragon.”
I listen to her mumbled words and the fear in her voice physically hurts me.
“Where Nicole?”
“The old abandoned Laurel Elementary School. Dragon, we have to save her. She’s in such bad shape.”
“What kind of fucking shape?” Crusher picks that minute to come in the door and the anger in him at hearing Dani is hurt vibrates through the room. My brother has it bad.
“He…they beat her. She…Oh God, I’ve never seen someone hurt that bad before. He’ll kill her if we don’t get her.”
“We won’t give him the chance. I got one of his men being followed even now, Mama. I’ll find out where he’s staying. In the meantime, we’ll go check the school out.”
“Okay, I’m ready to…”
“No, Mama, you’re staying here. We’ll talk about what you went through when I get back. Bull will watch over you, and this time he won’t let you out of his sight.” I add that last part with a death-glare at Bull. He nods in agreement.
“But I need to be there for her, Dragon…”
“You need to think of our little one, Mama. I’ll go, and if Dani is there, sweetheart, I’ll be careful with her and bring her back to you.”
“I…okay, can Poncho check me out?”
“Shit, Mama, did they hurt you?”
“He just slapped me and pushed me. But he pushed me into a wall, and I hit my stomach…”
“I’ll get him right to you. I’ll let Crush and the boys go to the school,” I respond picking her up in my arms, intent on lying her on the bed and holding her until Poncho gets here.
“No, you need to be there to help Dani, Dragon. Please? I’ll be fine, I promise. Little Dragon is already moving around. I just want to be safe.”
I don’t respond till I have her back in our room and place her on the bed. She looks so tired and beaten right now, but there’s never been a more beautiful woman in the world.
“Are you sure?” I ask still not convinced and hurting at the thought of leaving her.
She takes my hand and guides it to the top of her stomach. It doesn’t take but a minute, and I feel the strong fluttering beneath. Will I ever get used to that miracle? I don’t think so. I bend down and place a kiss there. I raise back up and look at my woman—my life.
“I love you, Mama.”
“Forever, Dragon,” she whispers back.
I want to kiss her again, but I don’t. I’m so raw, that if I give in, I won’t be finished with just a kiss.
“I’ll be back,” I say, giving her one last glance and taking in her weak smile before I leave the room and close her door softly behind me.
“Bull, you call Poncho to get here, and you do not leave my woman unguarded for a minute!”
“Got it, Drag.”
I nod and turn to the door. “Load up, we’re headed to the old school building on Old 25.”
Crush is already gone. Just one more fucking problem at this point.
“Frog, you can take the SUV with me, just in case Dani is still there. The others can take their bikes.”
“No need for sneaking in?” That comes from Hawk.
“Nah man, I don’t look for them to still be there. I’m just hoping for a clue to where he might have taken Dani.” I don’t add that they wouldn’t have left Nicole still breathing if she could lead us to them. I don’t even want to think of that shit.
Kavanagh likes to orchestrate things, he wants a big impact. In this instance, that works to my advantage. I just need to make sure all my bases are covered before I retaliate, but I will. I’ll come down on him like a blazing fire, and when I’m done, the son of a bitch will not be breathing.
“Frog, who do you got tailing our man?” I ask getting in the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Frog turns around and looks at me confused.
“What man?”
“The scumbag we’ve been holding to lead us back to Kavanagh,” I say with a weary sigh, peeling out of the parking lot.
Frog rakes the side of his face.
“Uh, Boss?”
“Yeah?”
“Crusher came by the cabin and said you told him to deal with it.”
“Say, what?”
“Honest man, he showed up at the cabin, said you told him he was in charge of letting the worm go and following him back to his Boss.”
I reach down into my pocket and pull out my phone.
“Hello?”
“Yo, Dance, meet me out at the old elementary school.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“A fucking lot. Need you there man, I’ll explain then.”
“You got it, let me just get Nailer here to watch over my woman.”
“Have him take her back to the club, she can keep Nicole company. We may be awhile.”
“Got it. Later Drag,” he says hanging up.
“Boss, I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s not you, man. Though from now own you double check all my orders through me. You get me?”
“Yeah, I got it.”
We’re silent the rest of the way to the school. My club is a mess and the two men I thought I could depend on the most are the very ones fucking up.
Son of a bitch!” Crusher screams for the tenth time.
Just as I figured, Kavanagh and his henchman are long gone when we get here. The place is completely deserted, with one exception. There is a fuck of a lot of blood in the old gym. If Dani is still alive, she’s in pretty bad fucking shape. Which explains why Crusher is going off. Yet, I’m so upset with the bastard that I’m about ready to snap his neck. I’m trying to rein it in. I’d rather deal with this shit in private.
“I knew you fucking around would end up screwing us in the ass. Now we have no idea where the hell Dani is!”
And this is where my restraint with Crusher ends.
My fist slams his punk ass under the chin with all my anger, and since I have a lot of fucking anger, Crusher immediately stumbles back and falls on his ass. He’s shaking his head back and forth, obviously dazed. He’s lucky that’s all he is. I still might pinch his neck before this is done.
“Motherfucker! That is not what screwed us in the ass!” I growl, squatting down so I am eye level with the bastard. “What screwed us in the ass, dick-weed, was you overruling my fucking orders. Tell me, where the fuck is my prisoner today, Crush? What the fuck did you do with him?”
Crush looks up at me, rubbing his chin and jaw. His eyes are bloodshot, his hair hasn’t been brushed, his clothes are wrinkled, and his knuckles are scraped and bruised. Brother is messed up.
I grab him by the hair on his head and pull him to me.
“Where the fuck is my p
risoner, Crush?”
“I did what you wouldn’t,” he says trying to jerk away from me, but I’m not about to let that shit happen.
“Yeah, and what was that, brother?” I growl, trying to tap down the anger so I don’t kill him.
“I interrogated the ass-wipe.”
“Gee, wonder why I didn’t think of that,” I respond sarcastically. “Tell me Crush, did you find out one more damn piece of information?”
His eyes lock with mine and then he shakes his head no.
I push him away from me in disgust.
“Do you know why that is dick-head? It’s because he didn’t fucking know anything!” I growl. “Did you set him free, at least, and have someone follow him?”
Crush avoids my eyes for a minute and then turns his head so his eyes, once again, lock with mine.
“There wasn’t anything to set free.”
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, where I feel the tension starting to build.
Fuck, it’s going to be a long day.
15
Nicole
I must have dozed off. I have no idea when or for how long, but I do know it is dark now. Dragon is beside me, his front is to my back, spooning me. His arm is loose over our child, cupping my stomach.
“Dani?” I whisper, already knowing the answer, but hoping against hope I am wrong.
“She was already gone, Mama,” he says softly, the words seeming to haunt the room.
I can’t stop the sob of pain that escapes my lips. I feel his breath against my hair as he kisses my ear, gathering me closer.
“We’ll find her, Nicole. I promise you, baby, we’ll find her.”
I want to believe his words, honest, but I can’t seem to. All I feel is that Dani is in trouble and neither one of us may survive this, because I have to help her.
“I’m scared, Dragon.”
“I know baby. I know.”
He turns me to my back and his large hand brushes along the side of my face.
“I’ll make this right. I promise. I will make this right for you, Mama.”
He’s breaking my heart. He’s blaming himself and he shouldn’t. It was my secret; it was my lies that brought us to this point. I touch his lips with my fingers. My man. How empty my life was without him…
“I love you so much, Dragon.”
“I feel the same Mama, right down to the…”
“Marrow of my bones…” I say with him, a weak smile on my face.
“We’ll get through this. There’s nothing we can’t handle when we work together.”
I wish I could believe that. I can’t. I feel defeated.
“Do you trust me, Nicole?”
“You know I do.”
“Then believe in this,” he says, and his eyes bore into mine.
I lean up and let my tongue dance over his nipple, he groans. I suck it into my mouth, while letting my fingernails drag along his side.
“What are you doing, Mama?” he asks his eyes closed.
“I must not be doing it right if you have to ask me,” I whisper against his skin.
“Mama, you’re upset and tired. You’ve had a rough day,” he protests, but even I can tell his heart isn’t in it. Which is good, totally good.
I stop and look up at him so he can see the truth in my eyes.
“Dragon, I need you tonight. Poncho said I was fine. I just need to feel you holding me in your arms, so I can forget about everything but us. Give that to me, please?”
He pulls away from me, and for a moment, all I can feel is disappointment. Total disappointment.
Then he pulls the covers from me. Up until this point his eyes have never left mine. Now they do. Now, they travel the length of my body, and I feel the heat of embarrassment flush my face.
I’ve always had image problems because I wasn’t skinny. Dragon has slowly made me appreciate my curves, but since I got pregnant, I cringe at how my hips have grown, my stomach is so big these days I feel like I waddle, and I still have three more months to go. There is nothing sexy about my body, nothing at all. Every time I see a Twinkie get close to Dragon, I want to go running like a banshee, screaming and clawing her eyes out. Luckily, he never gives another woman the time of day. I think if he did, part of my soul would wither.
“Stop it, Mama,” his gruff command sends chills through me.
“Stop what?”
“You are beautiful. Fuck, woman, you take my breath away every day. You have since the beginning,” he says, sliding off the bed at an angle so he’s stretched along the side of my legs. He runs his hands up my calves and the warm feel of him creates a friction that instantly makes me hungry for more.
I arch my head back as I feel his tongue slide along the inside of my kneecap. Who knew that was an erogenous zone? I think maybe with Dragon my entire body is in that zone. He kisses along the outside of my thigh now, at the same time his hand is brushing on the inside. I know he can feel the wetness and the heat he has created. In that, I feel no embarrassment. He owns my body.
When his fingertips brush against my center, teasing the fine hairs that rest there, I can’t stop a whimper from escaping.
“Nicole.”
I hadn’t realized my eyes closed until I hear my name. Slowly, I open them to find him looking down and smiling at me.
“I’ve wanted you and no one else, from the first moment I set eyes on you. The fact that you’re carrying my child only strengthens that, Mama.”
“You just wanted to get laid, Dragon. You even scoped out Dani,” I argue thinking back to that day at the gas station, where I met him.
His eyes darken, somehow, and his face becomes harder. I know that look, and I might be in trouble. Dragon’s hands pull my legs farther apart. One hand moves to my pussy and instantly starts teasing my clit. No slow build up here, just an immediate punch of adrenaline and need. He must have decided I was wet enough to accept him, because without another thought, he lifts himself over me and thrusts inside, all in one fluid motion.
“How many women have I sunk my cock into since we met, Nicole?”
I bring my legs up so they cradle him on each side, and just that simple adjustment takes him deeper inside. Not as deep as I want, because Dragon is bracing himself above me, but still deep enough that the fact he is not moving, drives me crazy.
“Dragon, move, baby,” I urge.
“How many women have got my dick since you came into my life, Nicole?”
I try to move for him, but without his help it just won’t get us there. I groan out in frustration.
“Will you move?”
“Answer the fucking question, woman.”
“None!”
“And how many women have I looked at since that night at the Wolf’s Den when I finally had you.”
“Finally? Dragon, you fucked me pretty soon after we met. I was kind of a horn dog around you.”
“Bullshit. You were magnificent. But it was not soon, Mama. Each day was a fucking waste,” he argues, holding himself over me with one arm, while tangling his free hand in my hair.
“Dragon…”
“I’m only half alive without you Mama, it was true then and that hasn’t changed. Hell, if anything, it’s just stronger. You’re my soul, woman, my very fucking soul.”
Finally, he starts to move, his body an instrument that plays mine completely. His thrusts are measured, slow and methodical. When he moves his free hand down to torture my clit in unison with them, I can’t hold back.
I disintegrate into a million pieces. Screaming out his name so loud, I figure they can hear us three states over. It doesn’t matter, nothing matters except Dragon. I want to wrap my legs around him and pull him tighter. I want to feel his weight rest on me. I can’t have that, so I do the only thing I’m able to do at this moment.
“I love you. No matter what, I’ll always love you, Dragon.”
That seems to satisfy him because, with a moan of pleasure, he starts going over the edge and I watch.
I watch every feeling, every drop of emotion, every small piece of happiness and pleasure that reflects on his face, I watch and commit it all to memory. I’m going to need it, because I’m scared Michael is going to win.
16
Dragon
Today is the day. My wedding. Never fucking thought I’d want it, and now I can’t wait for it. Today is the day I make Nicole legally mine. It’s stupid. In my world, papers and legal titles don’t mean shit. You fight and earn what you get, you fight to keep it. Still, with Nicole, I want to have her in every way physically and humanly possible. That includes, my ring on her finger, and giving her my name. I want…no I need that. I always hated my name; found it just another thing the world mocked me with. Nicole made it okay to pass my name on to our son or daughter. So, this wedding is pretty damned important for a lot of reasons.
So important, I find myself wearing a damn monkey suit to make my woman happy. Fuck, I hate this shit. Still, my woman wanted one day filled with the dreams of her wedding that she has secretly harbored for years. Wearing a monkey suit to give her that dream? It seems a small enough thing to do. She’s so upset over her girl and so withdrawn since she found out that Kavanagh has Dani, I’d do anything to make her smile, even tying this mother-fucking-god-damned tie around my neck. Except, I’ve tried a hundred times and still don’t have it.
“Fuck!” I yell out, looking in the mirror of the small chapel and trying to tie the damned thing and failing yet again.
“Having trouble there, Drag?” Dance asks, walking in wearing his own version of the monkey suit, dress pants, white silk shirt, but buttoned down and no tie. My men may kill me. I’m not sure I’d blame them.
“Fucking-son-of-a-bitching thing, I can’t get it tied.”
Dance comes over and starts to work on my tie, the smart ass look on his face pisses me off, but I’ve got enough fires going. I’ll beat him down a different day.
