by Stacey Lynn
Daemon’s hands came up and kissed my cheeks. “You know how I feel about you, right?”
I knew. He hadn’t told me he loved me, but I knew. It wasn’t his way to get romantic and mushy and I didn’t need it. Daemon told me how he felt about me every time his eyes turned dark with need whenever he looked at me.
My hands gripped his biceps and I tugged him closer. Pushing up to my toes, I leaned forward and placed a firm, quick kiss on his cheek.
“I’m not running Daemon. I’m staying.”
He blinked once and nodded. I wasn’t sure if he believed me or not. I hoped he knew that I meant more than ‘just in this tiny little room while he left to make a phone call’.
“I wouldn’t let you run, even if you tried,” he told me, whispering his lips against my cheek. It made the hairs on my neck and arms stand straight to attention. I fought the urge to rub my arms with my hands and erase the feeling. Then he kissed me. Roughly and firmly and I opened my mouth to him, and let him feel everything I was feeling too.
He pulled away too quick and was gone, the door shutting behind him, before I had fully recovered.
“You got Daemon,” I snapped into the phone. I had left the room, left Olivia almost completely naked again, and hopped on my bike with Jaden, taking off from the rally to get some distance.
It was the last place I wanted to be and I hoped this asshole made his business quick.
His big city, Chicagoan accent rolled through the phone with a cocky arrogance that made me want to shove a gun into the back of his head.
“You got trouble,” Angelo Sporelli warned.
“We always got trouble,” I laughed coldly.
Jaden watched me; his eyes flickered from the phone on speakerphone to me. He took everything in, he always had. It was one of the reasons I trusted him so much. His ability to read a situation and ferret out a lie was impeccable.
“Cain being stabbed is going to ruin any chance of Hammer and Black Death working with you to keep me the hell away from your town.”
My hands tightened against the phone as his arrogant laugh came through the line. I eyed Jaden. How in the hell did he know that? Jaden shrugged, equally concerned.
“You think I didn’t know this shit? Kid, I got ears and eyes all over the place. But I’m willing to let the hit, and your attempt to block me from your ports go, for one thing.”
I ignored the kid comment and glanced at Jaden. He nodded toward the phone, silently telling me to listen to the man. “What is it?”
“I take out Hammer and Black Death. You get your town back and all you have to do is some work for me.”
“I don’t work for anyone, you cocky son of a bitch,” I sneered into the phone. He interrupted me almost immediately.
“I’ll also tell you who was responsible for that hit on your dad and your woman’s mom.”
The air escaped my lungs in one huge breath. My heart stopped and I’m pretty sure my head spun in a circle. Jaden looked just as shocked and confused. We already knew who shot Cherry and Liv that night. I had shot the Black Death prospect myself.
“Wasn’t Black Death.” Three words. Not even three words exactly, but my world stopped. Sporelli kept talking, explaining everything, completely unaware that I wasn’t breathing. Or maybe, he was completely aware that he had just knocked me on my ass. The nail in the coffin was decided when Sporelli finished. “There was only one man who had anything to gain by taking out the former Vice President of your club and his own old lady. And the shooter was a rogue hit man.”
“No,” I gasped. Everything made complete fucking sense.
No. Fucking. Way.
“Son,” Sporelli continued. My head was still spinning. Jaden’s hands balled into fists and his face was red with rage. He had figured out the exact same thing I did, at the exact same time. “I’m about to make you President of your own fucking club. And when I do, I expect a little bit of gratitude.”
Then he was gone. The click as I closed the phone echoed in the open park where Jaden and I stood.
He had to be lying.
“He’s wrong.” I looked to Jaden for confirmation, searching for a sign that told me he agreed with me.
Unfortunately, he hiked an eyebrow and said nothing. I saw the silent question he asked me anyway. Is he?
“Shit.” I closed my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. “Fuck!” I threw the cell phone across the park. I flung it so hard my shoulder and arm muscle hurt from the force behind it. Jaden and I watched it sail through the air and shatter when it hit a metal playground slide in the distance.
“What do we do?”
My lips pursed and I put my hands on my hips trying to get my breathing under control. I didn’t have an answer to Jaden’s question. What in the hell did we do?
I’m not running, Daemon. I’m staying.
Liv’s sweet and confident voice echoed in my ears. I thought it was gonna be hard enough for her to stay after we attacked Sporelli and Black Death. This? This was unforgiveable.
Bull Masters. President of the Nordic Lords Motorcycle Club.
He was responsible for his daughter being shot.
He was responsible for her mother’s death.
He was ultimately responsible for my old man’s death, even if Ryker had been the one to pull the trigger.
There was no fucking way she was staying anywhere near me.
“He goes to ground.” I waited a beat before I could look at Jaden. No way was I puttin’ it up for club vote either.
I’d do whatever the hell Sporelli wanted if it got rid of Bull.
Shit. My hands flew to my hair, pulling on it before dragging my hands down my face. Fucking Ryker, he’d go ballistic.
I gasped for air, but no matter how much I sucked in, I couldn’t settle. Every fucking missing puzzle piece from the last five years clicked neatly into place as I stared at Jaden.
“Ryker will do it.” Jaden’s voice was cold. I hadn’t heard him sound that empty since Scratch died.
I nodded in agreement, Ryker would want the honors, unless I did it first.
I deserved a damn award for being around Bull for the last two days of the Sturgis Rally and not shooting him. Or having Switch gut him. Every time the man walked within ten feet of Liv or me, I pushed down the urge to throw her behind my back and protect her.
Several times, he caught me glaring at him when I didn’t turn my head fast enough.
What kind of sick bastard was he? I wanted to throw my hands around his neck and shake him, squeezing every last breath from the sick fucker’s lungs, and make him tell me what in the hell possessed him to do something as fucking stupid as hiring a hit on his own Club’s Vice President.
Brotherhood. He didn’t know the fucking meaning of the word.
I watched him at the bar, our last night at Sturgis, and couldn’t stop my hand from curling forcefully around my beer bottle. He sat in a leather chair in a dark corner, Vicki wrapped all over him, talking to Switch, his old lady, Marie, and Xbox like everything was sunshine and roses.
My lip curled when he laughed. He had almost been like a second father to me, raising me when my old man wasn’t around. I spent as much time at Liv’s house growin’ up as she had at mine. If I thought about it hard enough, I could still smell the chocolate chip cookies Cherry always had made for us after school. I loved those things. I hadn’t had a mom; my own died when I was too young to remember. Cherry had taken care of all of us club brat kids as if we were her own.
“What’s gotten in to you, Daemon?” I dragged my eyes from Bull and put them on Liv.
She chewed the inside of her bottom lip and fidgeted with her hands in her lap.
“Nothin’, babe.” I smiled like I was being honest with her and took a pull from my beer. Her eyes hung on my lips and dropped to my throat as I swallowed.
She studied me. Her eyes bore into mine and she knew I was lyin’ or hidin’ something. Your old man had you shot. No way in
hell was I tellin’ her until it was abso-fuckin-lutely necessary. Even then, I might not.
I stared at her and counted up all the reasons this was probably going to be one of my last nights with Liv Masters. They were innumerable. And when she left me after all this shit was taken care of and Bull’s body wasn’t nothin’ but ashes?
I’d totally fuckin’ deserve it.
“All right,” she said slowly, doubtfully. Then she set down her own beer and pulled down her short leather miniskirt. I grabbed the back of her thigh and pulled her to me. She stumbled right into between my legs and her hands wrapped around my neck.
I looked up at her. I love you. I opened my mouth to say the words but couldn’t. I didn’t deserve the right to say them. Not now. I should’ve fuckin’ said them weeks ago. Days ago—before all of this blew up.
Her hair fell down over her shoulders and as her head dropped to my forehead; her dark hair caged us in. We were in our little world, my hands on the back of her thighs and her hands wrapped around me, softly playing with the hair at the back of my neck. I breathed her in and pulled her closer.
We didn’t say anything. I kept my mouth shut like a pussy, too afraid of what would spill out of it if I opened it.
I’m having your dad killed or I’m doing it myself.
Slowly, she pulled back and then looked over at her old man. Bull was watching us, no expression on his face. I looked away before he could see my hatred of him and went back to gripping my beer.
“I want to get out of here,” Liv finally said. Sweet damn, I knew that voice. It hit me right in my dick. Her hands pressed into my back and slowly rubbed down and up again.
I tightened my grip on the back of her thigh before moving further up her leg until my hand was right at the bottom of her ass. Don’t fuckin’ do it. Don’t fuckin’ do it.
That would have been the smart thing. I brushed off the voice on my shoulder and kissed her neck. My lips were wet from the beer and it was a sloppy kiss. I knew it. She knew it, but she arched into me anyway. I let go of the beer and moved my hand to the back of her head, pressing her against me.
“You want this?” I asked, already knowing the answer. Don’t fuckin’ do it. She’ll run and hate you forever.
She nodded and whispered my name. “I’m ready.”
I doubted it. No way could she be ready yet. Physically, yes. Mentally? I knew her better than she knew herself. She may have been getting better but she wasn’t ready for me.
Don’t fuckin’—her hand went straight to my hard dick. She massaged it through my denim.
Fuck it. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And I was already on my way.
I grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”
Something was weighing Daemon down. I had felt the shift in him as soon as he left me at the clubhouse the day he made me promise never to leave him.
I intended to keep my promise. My decisions to stay and be with him were made long before my head accepted it.
Now, I only wanted to show him how much he meant to me. How sure I was in my decision to be with him. No matter what else happened in our lives.
We fell through the door in our makeshift clubhouse and tumbled to the bed. Our shirts were already half off, hanging from our necks and I untangled my arms from Daemon’s body long enough to throw them both to the floor. Then my hands went to Daemon’s zipper. I pulled it down and pushed his jeans down. I didn’t care that he almost tripped over his boots before we fell on the bed.
I didn’t care that I was still clothed from the waist down.
His hard dick rubbed against my thighs and I widened my legs to take him.
“Daemon,” I moaned and arched into him. This was rough and wild, not the sweet love Daemon had promised me the other day. We were meeting a need. Blowing off steam and stress, and using the other to accomplish peace. “I need you.”
His lips pressed into the skin on my neck and travelled down. He played with my nipples, sucking and biting them. His heartbeat pounded against my skin. Both of our bodies were covered in a light layer of sweat. It could have been from the heat outside. It could have been from our own lust.
I didn’t care.
I just loved the way his body slid against mine as he kicked off his boots and removed his jeans.
We were moving fast; there had been no warm-up from the time I grabbed his dick at the bar. I didn’t care. I didn’t need it.
I only wanted Daemon.
With his jeans, removed, Daemon rocked back and sat his ass on his heels. His legs were spread wide as he removed my skirt and underwear. His hard cock stood straight out in all its glory. I wanted him inside me. Now. I wanted to remember what he felt like.
His callused and rough hands prickled my skin everywhere he touched. I felt goose bumps and little standing hairs erupt behind the move of his hands down my stomach to my legs.
“You’re fucking beautiful,” he murmured and looked directly at me. “Perfection. Always sweet fuckin’ perfection, Liv.”
I blushed under his words and blatant perusal. My chest heaved. My heart pounded in my ears. My pussy pulsed and clenched with need. Everything heated under his weighted stare.
“Daemon.” He slowly dragged his eyes to mine and his hands left my body.
He arched one eyebrow. “Yeah?”
I wiggled my hips. “Need you inside me.”
“Like this?” And he pushed two fingers into me. With his other hand, he pulled on my hips so I was draped wide open over his thighs. My hands fisted the sheets under me and I moaned.
“No,” I gasped. “Not like that.”
He pumped harder and faster inside me. I felt his fingertips rake against the nerves inside of me and I groaned and arched against him. It wasn’t enough. I needed more.
I shook my head and watched Daemon look at his fingers moving in and out of me.
“Fucking perfection,” he muttered. Then his fingers were gone from my body and he smiled right before he sucked them into his mouth. “Sweet and salty, Liv. You always taste so fuckin’ good.”
“Need you,” I said again. His fingers left me feeling empty. Barren. Alone.
I hated the feeling. I wanted Daemon to make me feel wanted. To make me forget all the pain I still carried.
I wanted to make him forget about whatever the hell he needed to forget.
I watched as he rolled a condom on. There was no time to prepare for his assault as he grabbed my hips and pushed himself inside me. Fully.
“Oh, my gah,” I groaned and tightened around him. He was so big and he filled me completely. He didn’t give my body time to adjust to him as he pulled out slowly and thrust back in.
My eyes squeezed shut. I tried to arch into him, but I couldn’t get the leverage. Daemon tightened his grip on my thighs and my head thrashed back and forth.
“Is this what you needed?”
I nodded and threw my head to the side.
Harder. Faster. More. I needed it all but couldn’t ask for it.
Daemon seemed to know, because he started pumping just like I needed him to.
“So good, babe—”
“Harder,” I groaned again. It hurt. It felt so good at the same time. Every time Daemon pressed into me, he hit something at the back that felt like pain but holy-mother-of-shit-the-best-thing-ever at the same time. It made no sense. I just knew I needed more of it.
And he gave it to me. He gave me everything he had until his sweaty hands were slipping against my hips and my hands cramped from grabbing onto the sheets.
He made me feel him everywhere even though we were barely touching. I felt sweat drop from his forehead onto my skin. The cool sweat stung my hot skin as he continued his assault on my body.
I took everything he gave me and pushed back for more as we fought to forget our nightmares.
Then his hand was on my clit, pressing and rubbing while he continued pushing into me. He dropped my legs and fell over, moving against me and hit the perfect spot.
&n
bsp; Stars danced behind my eyes. My toes cramped. I threw my head back and dug my fingernails into the skin on his back.
He howled in pain or pleasure as I skinned him, both of us yelling and moaning in ecstasy.
“Fuck—” he growled, right before he I felt him release inside of me.
I was gone. My teeth tingled. My toes hurt. My head was spinning, and I was pretty sure my heart might have bounced out of my chest and landed on the floor next to the bed.
I couldn’t think. With my eyes closed, I only saw white dots dancing.
“Holy shit, Liv,” Daemon said, and collapsed on top of me. His arms shook and I felt his heart all over my body. My tongue licked the sweat off his neck.
“That was,” I started, my breath panting. “I don’t even know what the hell just happened.”
I laughed, but no sound came out. Sex with Daemon had taken away my ability to think and speak.
“That was amazing, babe.”
I nodded against him. He was right. It was the most amazing thing I had ever felt in my entire life.
When I felt in more control of my limbs, or at least able to move them, I pushed Daemon’s hair away from his face. He planted a quick kiss on my cheek before rolling off me and cleaning us up.
“I want you to know something,” I began, propping myself up on my elbow on my left side. He mirrored me. Inches separated us and it felt like too much. The smell of sex filled the air and my nose. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Daemon’s entire look shifted. His eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened, and a small vein pulsed on the side of his temple. He completely shut down on me.
“You don’t know that.”
I winced at his words and blinked rapidly several times. It didn’t clear what was right in front of me, though. Whatever Daemon and I had just shared was gone.
“I do,” I told him, forcefully. I opened my mouth to explain. To tell him I loved him and that it had always been him—always would be him. But he blew out a harsh breath, muttered a curse, and got out of bed. “Daemon?”
The bathroom door slamming was the only answer I got to my question.
