by Fox, Regina
I had a feeling that by the time this was over, one of us would go home brokenhearted. And I was pretty sure that somebody would be me.
Chapter 18
“Dance for me,” Aiden commanded.
I looked up from the toes I was polishing but didn’t bother to move from the pretzel-like position I was sitting in. “What?” I asked with furrowed brows.
He walked around the bed and kneeled on the floor, coming face to face with me. I tried not to move as his intense eyes seared through mine. There was something different about him tonight, something I had never seen in the months I’d been with him.
“Dance for me like you did for those men,” he repeated.
“I thought you hated strippers,” I pointed out as I closed the nail polish bottle.
“I never said I hated them. Dave did. I don’t particularly like what strippers do. It reminds me of—” he trailed, shaking his head.
My curiosity turned into words. “Reminds you of what?”
“No one.” His reply was absolute, and he turned away from me.
I studied his face. A muscle ticked on his neck and a flicker of pain flashed in his deep blue eyes. I couldn’t help but wonder who he was talking about. I knew I didn’t have the right to pry into his business. After all, despite our odd arrangement, I wasn’t his girlfriend or anything. Still, I cared for him and for that reason wanted to know what had him so upset.
“What’s wrong, Aiden?” I asked, treading the waters carefully.
“Nothin’, babe.”
“You’re clearly upset,” I pointed out. “You can tell me what’s upsetting you, you know?”
Aiden tilted his head to the side and met my gaze once more. “I ain’t willin’ to talk about this shit, babe. Forget I said anythin’. I was just talkin’ outta my ass.”
I chewed on my lip, wondering whether I had crossed the line. I wanted to know him. I wanted to understand what had him riled up, and what his problem with my previous profession was. Since he wasn’t willing to say, I would have to pry the answers out of him, even if it would kill me to see the betrayed look on his face afterward.
“Alright then,” I said.
“You strippin’ for me?” I heard the slight desperation in his voice, and it ate at me.
I smiled and nodded. “If you want a fucking show, then I’ll give you one.”
His face relaxed like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. His lips curled up in a glorious smile that warmed my heart and froze my plotting soul.
“Wait here,” Aiden requested. He stepped out of the room and came back seconds later with his phone, a docking station and a chair from the kitchen.
My lips quivered at the odd combination of items. I watched quietly as he placed the chair in front of the bed and set up the music device on the bedside table. He fumbled with his phone for a moment and then, the room was flooded with music. It was an uplifting song that would certainly make you want to dance—especially if you used to be a stripper.
Without a word, I got up and waited for his instructions, but Aiden just flopped down on the bed and crossed his arms, waiting. “Go ahead.”
I took a deep breath and pushed away the sudden shyness that washed over me. If I wanted my answers, I had to do this. I would use my body to drive him into a frenzy. I had never been a manipulator in my life, and being one now felt all kinds of wrong, but it wasn’t fair that he knew so much about me while I knew so little about him.
With a long, deep breath I shut my mind and focused on the music. I gave myself to the beat, allowing it to control me, to move me, to become everything I was at that moment.
I turned around to face Aiden. His eyes were focused on my body as I swayed my hips to the beat of the music. I ran my arms up until my fingers combed into my hair, lifting them up from their roots as I continued to dance.
Aiden’s desire rolled off his body and filled the room like a hot, charged magnetic field. Every couple seconds he shifted in his seat making me smirk.
I quickly wiped the smug look off of my face and worked around the chair he brought. With a deep arch in my spine, I sat down and stared him straight in the eyes. I held his gaze as my hands glided down my face, neck and chest until they reached my breasts. I bit my lips as my fingers fondled my heavy bosom and pinched my nipples. A moan slipped through my lips as I opened my legs, allowing him a visual of the red lace panties I was wearing.
A loud groan erupted from his chest as my fingers worked the buttons of my white blouse. Button by button, I parted the fabric, revealing my stomach. I let the material fall from my shoulders, loving how it brushed softly against my skin. I shook my hair out of its pins, allowing it to tumble down my back.
Lust and pleasure flowed hot and heavy through my bloodstream. I got up and turned around. My lower back arched, tilting my bottom in his direction as I reached behind me to unclasp my bra. The silky material fell to the ground. I used my hair to hide my breasts as I turned back around to face Aiden.
His hands were clenched into fists on either side of his hips. The bulge in his pants seemed like it would tear the denim at any moment, allowing his cock to break free and be stroked until he came. I smiled at the visual and the idea.
Deciding to torment him even further, I walked over to him and grabbed his hands. I guided his hands over my flesh, staring at the base of my neck, down my shoulders and breasts, moving on to my stomach and hips. Driven crazy by the joyride through my body, he tried to inch his fingers toward my pussy. With a devious smile on my lips, I pushed his hands away and slowly shook my index finger.
“You’re driving me insane,” Aiden muttered, as he leaned toward me again.
Shaking my head, I stepped away immediately. I didn’t want to put an end to this yet. I couldn’t. I wanted to understand his feelings toward strippers, and this was the way to do it.
He tried to grab me again, his face aiming for my tits, but once more I stepped away. “No, not yet,”
“C’mon,” he growled.
I shook my head no as I turned, moving my hips in slow circles.
“You’re making me suffer here.”
“You know how to end it. Just answer my question,” I said.
He moaned. “Put me out of my misery, honey.”
I looked over my shoulder to see a wide smile on his face. A pang of guilt burned in my heart, but I ignored it and continued, “Once you tell me why you hate strippers.”
His body tensed. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from apologizing and making him forget I asked the question in the first place.
“No,” Aiden bit out.
“Aiden,” I begged.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I said no, babe. I ain’t goin’ to that topic and I ain’t willing to tell you why I hate…” he sighed and corrected himself, “why I disliked strippers.”
“See? You do hate strippers,” I pointed out.
He chose not to answer.
I sashayed over to him and bent down on my knees, bringing our faces closer together. He curled his arms around me and tried to kiss me, but I turned my face to the side.
“No, Aiden.”
“You’re denying me?” Disbelief was etched in his words. I wasn’t surprised by it, though. After all, what Aiden wants, Aiden gets.
“I’m not denying you anything,” I said, brushing thick locks from his face. “I’m yours. And as soon as you tell me the reason why you hate strippers you can do to me anything you want.”
“Okay. Here’s your answer: It’s none of your damn business.”
Ouch, that stung. I reminded myself to breathe, to fill in my lungs and exhale the pain away. I knew he was just being a dick like the asshole he was.
“I told you the reason why I became a stripper.” I pressed my fists to my waist. “You know all about my past. It’s only fair for you to tell me about yours.”
He arched a brow in challenge. “You live here. We fuck. In return, you get my club’s protection. It’s a win
-win situation.”
My hands tingled to either rip my hair out of my scalp or slap him in frustration. Luckily for him, I did none of the above.
“Fuck you, Aiden. I agreed to be in your house and your bed in return for your protection. I opened up for entirely different reasons; you’ve got to know that. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
A vein popped on his forehead. “Don’t cuss at me, Abby. And you’re in my bed because I want you to. Because you’re mine and no one else’s.”
I raised a brow and clenched my jaw. That only seemed to piss him off more. His fingers wrapped around my arms as he forced me up to my feet.
His angry words were cut short as I fell back down to my knees and grabbed his hard dick, squeezing it through the fabric of his jeans. A pleasured grunt erupted from his throat.
“Stop that,” he said, trying to push my hand away. “I’m gonna cum if you don’t stop it.”
“Then cum,” I responded, fighting him tooth and nail.
“I don’t wanna to yet. I wanna be in your pussy when I do it.”
“You’re not going to touch me.”
His eyes narrowed. “I am.”
“Nope. Not until you tell me why you hate strippers.”
I slipped my hand into his pants, and down his boxers. My fingers wrapped around his cock and I started gliding my hand up and down his shaft. A drop of pre-cum leaked onto his boxers as I ran a fingertip over the mushroom head, pumping my head in an upward and downward gesture. A dribble of sweat formed on his forehead as his arms circled around me.
I waited for him to stop me, but he didn’t. Instead, his breathing became labored, and he called my name.
“Baby,” he breathed into my ear. “I need to...I can’t…”
If this was just another day, I would have smiled and gave what he wanted, but this wasn’t one of our typical nights. I wanted information, and I was bound and determined to get it. For that reason, I stopped the thrusting of my hand and left him hard as ever.
“Fuck me! You’re driving me crazy. Put me out of my misery. I need to come so hard I’m seeing stars.”
“Okay, baby. You just have to tell me,” I begged. “Don’t I have the right to know?”
“Fuck this,” he said.
He reached for my hand and started moving it against his dick. I let him move it, let him bring himself to his own release. I ignored the tingling between my thighs and the wetness in my pussy. I knew I could come just watching him masturbate.
“Abby,” he pleaded.
“Aiden.”
“Motherfucker…pump your hand.”
I shook my head. “No.”
A few broken curses escaped under his breath before he finally let me go and ran his other hand over his face. I could sense the frustration pulsating off of him, his need to come clear as day.
We stared at each other in frustrated silence for a couple seconds before he finally gave up. “My ma was a fucking stripper. Danced in a bar and grinded her body on the pole. She stripped for all those assholes and fucked them afterward. One day, she got knocked up by one of her clients. Nine months later, I popped out, and she dropped me off at my aunt’s house.
“My aunt said Ma didn’t want anything to do with me. She raised me by herself and never married.” Aiden looked me in the eyes as he added, “That why I don’t fuck strippers, baby. And if I’d only known you were one before, I probably would have stayed the fuck away. But here we are, both screwed and wanting my dick inside of you.”
He took a long breath and ran a hand through his hair. When he stared back at me, his eyes were pained and disappointed. “I don’t let women fuck with my head. I don’t let them manipulate me into telling them something I didn’t want to tell. Yet, here I am.”
“Is that why you hate strippers?”
“What else?”
He pulled my hand off of his pants and got up from the bed. He looked down at me as he straightened himself up. “Until you, I’d never fucked a stripper just as you probably had never slept with a biker. This is new to both of us, but keep in mind that I don’t appreciate you using sex against me to get what you want. This is a one time deal. Next time I’m done.”
“Aiden, I—” he didn’t let me finish as he walked toward the bedroom door.
“Where are you going?”
“Out.”
Chapter 19
I waited for Aiden to come home until after one in the morning. Exhausted, worried, sick, and disgusted at how I acted, I fell asleep hoping he’d come through the door.
The next day I woke up with a migraine. I swung my legs off the bed and walked over to the bathroom. I stared at my reflection on the mirror and came to the conclusion that I looked like death itself. My eyes were puffy from too much crying. My nose was red, and my hair was a mess.
I didn’t know how I would face him this morning, but I knew that I had to apologize for what I did and seek his forgiveness. I quickly brushed my teeth, hair and washed my face, before I went to check up on Jack. I pushed the door open and poked my head inside. My heart raced at how eerie silent the room was. I walked to his crib and found it empty. I looked around, desperate, but didn’t find him anywhere. I tried to calm myself as I descended the stairs, but panic swelled in my head. As I reached the living room, Jack wasn’t in there as well.
I reprimanded myself for leaving him by himself as terror gripped me at the thought of Vince finding us and taking Jack. I searched the room like a maniac, so frightened I could barely breathe. And then, I heard a giggle.
It took a while for the sound to register in my brain. When it finally did, I turned around to find my sweet little Jack in his highchair. He laughed as Aiden played peek-a-boo with him.
I thought I was going to pass out as a relieved breath slipped past my lips. I clutched my knees and waited for my heart to return to its natural rate. Jack was out of his room because Aiden had him.
I could have killed Aiden right now for scaring me like that, but I knew what he did wasn’t intentional. He would never turn out like Vincent. Never.
I kept telling myself this, as I walked over to them. My baby was the first to notice me as I approached them.
“Mama!” Jack cried. I forced myself to move as Aiden turned to look at me.
My stomach flipped when his gaze met mine. His azure orbs burned into mine for a couple of beats before they lowered down to in the shirt I was wearing—his shirt. My eyes followed his. When I looked back at him, I smiled.
Although, I was still upset by the fact that he didn’t come home—or at least to his room to sleep with me—I was relieved to see him here.
“Morning,” I greeted.
Aiden nodded. “Mornin’.”
I tore my eyes away from him to press a kiss on Jack’s forehead. I turned back around, ready to apologize to, but he simply walked out of the room.
“Aiden, wait!” I called.
I made sure that Jack was happy and secured in his highchair before I followed Aiden into the living room. I caught his arm and tried to stop him, but he didn’t budge. He just kept on walking until he flopped down on his chair.
“What do ya want?” he asked.
I fidgeted with my hands and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Finally, I found the courage to speak. “Look, about last night . . . I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have forced you into telling me something you didn’t want to. I’m sorry, Aiden.”
I waited patiently as he regarded me. It was impossible to know what he was thinking, but still, at that moment, I would have chopped up my left arm to know his thoughts.
“Well?” I said, in a small voice.
He didn’t speak.
“Aiden.”
“What?” he barked.
“I said I’m sorry.”
“So, I heard.”
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Aren’t going to say something? Anything.”
He didn’t say anything at all.
Instead, he took a breath and placed his breakfast on the coffee table. He walked over toward me, stopping about an arm’s length away.
His body towered over mine; his tall form intimidating, as he came even closer. I could feel his breath fanning my cheekbones. My eyes lowered and noticed the impressive bulge in his crotch. It made me aroused just thinking that it was for me.
“Hi,” I said.
He locked his jaw and grabbed my hand. He placed the palm over his manhood and pressed it hard. I bit my lips, and I might have shivered as his mouth approached my ear. “You’re apologizin’ to me?”
I answered with a nod.
Aiden ran a finger along my jawline, his lips grazing against that sweet spot behind my ear. I shuddered.
“You smell so good,” he purred. “I missed you, babe.”
“I missed you too.”
My body melted just hearing him call me babe again.
“Aiden,” I moaned.
“You gave me blue balls last night. I don’t think a woman has ever done that to me before.”
I smirked and shrugged. “There’s always a first for everything.”
He answered with a chuckle and a tap on my ass.
“Are you still mad?”
Aiden tilted his head. “Do I seem fucking mad to you?”
I shook my head. “I hope not.”
Aiden grunted.
I laughed.
“Wanna spend the rest of the day in bed?” I asked, hoping he’d say yes.
Aiden looked behind me for a moment. “Jack’s here.”
“I can get my dad to look after him for the day. I think he’d like that.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Chapter 20
They found Vince on a Thursday morning. The man I’d been running away from for more than two years was finally caught, and Jack and I were safe.
Bile rose in my chest as I hauled Jack into my arms. I couldn’t believe it was finally over. I watched from the window as Aiden talked to Dave and some other Rough Riders guys. Although I knew that the gang had found Vince that morning, I didn’t want to know anything else. I was still too shaken up by the stunts he pulled to scare me.
