by V. Theia
That man who could give her every fricking sexual fantasy she didn’t share with anyone.
He could give it to her.
Oh.
Shit.
And then. ... Then he did something that resurrected Ruby’s dead syrupy belly, making it spirit straight up to lodge in her throat. Instead of cranking his head down to kiss her as was the normal way, he put his hands under her armpits and lifted her clean off her feet, dangling her in mid-air, bringing her in effortlessly like she weighed less than a bag of vinegar chips, up to his face and pressed their lips together.
Chaste. Lovely. Claiming.
His kisses were always dynamite, setting off explosions in Ruby’s underwear, this one was no less lethal, only different, softer and he smiled while he did it.
Back on her feet she swayed a little ungraceful, put a hand up to her mouth. “God, I want to fuck that look on your face. C’mon, beautiful, let me finish shit here then we can get to the motel and you out of your clothes and onto my cock.” Hand in hand they headed towards the garage.
She knew one thing for sure when she paused walking, Preacher looked down at her quizzically. She touched his wrist, she couldn’t give him all the power now could she when she said. “I’ll take that fucking hard, Preacher man, when I come all over your face. But remember, I’m a cripple, you have to do all the work.”
Sex with a freak was just the balm she could hide behind. She wanted him to feast on her like he’s eating his last meal. If anyone can stop her feeling crappy it’s Preacher and the sex he gives.
“Goddamn, tiny dancer. Don’t get me hard when I’m about to walk into a shop full of dudes or I’ll take you right here.” That mouth of his.
She laughed and didn’t give a frick. Grow hard, Preacher, she wanted to say. Because she was using him. She used him to get to Nebraska, felt bad about it, but she’d happily use his body over and over until he was dry and spent and couldn’t pound her any longer, because that was her bit of sunshine, that first ray through the clouds, the only thing that made her feel good these days.
They might only be sex between them.
But what sex it was.
Great sex was better than the lonely existence she was in.
She hated her family and she loved her family. She was just tired of her family all together.
The things he makes her feel should be illegal, they probably are in a few states, no one that sexy is a law-abiding citizen and it was taking all her willpower not to worship on the sex alter that is Preacher, and only because his ego is already astronomical and he doesn’t need the petting. But the need…. Boy, it was real.
Sex was her catnip and she had rolled herself in a great batch.
She was going to gorge and make herself feel better.
“I haven’t tried to make you hard. Yet,“ she told him in a whisper only for his ears as they walked into the garage, all men stopped what they were doing and looked their way. “Get me to the motel and I will.”
His laugh reached into her chest. “Behave. For five minutes, then be bad as you want, this won’t take long.”
Five minutes. Then she was banging his brains out.
With him doing all the work, of course.
******
Ruby was determined to kill him. Death by arousal. Here lies Asher Priest. His dick gave out first.
The hotness coming from her was palpable, letting him taste it on his tongue. Something had happened while he talked to H when he’d left her at the bar. Preacher had thought it was Styles who had said something to her, but it was before that glowering at her cell phone. Who had she been talking to? Who put the kicked puppy look in her eyes? His gaze had constantly strayed over to Ruby while he’d been with his brothers, he couldn’t stop his eyes wandering back over to her, she was a hunger gnawing inside his gut, but then he’d seen her face fall, she’d typed out some long-ass message to someone and slipped her phone away.
Who hurt you, baby?
A guy? Homicide increased in his chest. Soon squashed because they weren’t that.
She’d set her rules and for as long as he wanted his dick inside her he had to adhere to them.
Pushing it to the back of his mind to ask her later, he took hold of her hand, saw how she side eyed him but left it in his. He’d liked the guys thinking she belonged to him, he’d been hit with questions soon as he’d walked away from her. Thank fuck he had shown she was taken, or those horn-dogs would have been all over Ruby and he hated to break legs when he’d come all this way to lend a hand.
Bracing for the animosity as he spied Red Light, his gaze bouncing down to Ruby’s hand linked to his, he should have taken Ruby to the motel first, but wanted to get this part of the trip over with. As it was he’d been on the phone with his contact for thirty minutes. Genty was a good guy as far as criminals go, knew money, loved money, but was a suspicious motherfucker, and would only deal with people he knew; namely Preacher having to hoof his ass back down here until Genty was comfortable with H. A meet was set up between Genty, H and a few boys tomorrow, play the middleman and hopefully all the business dealing from here on out could be done without him holding hands and petting wary feelings.
“You got a minute, Red?” He called over. Red stepped up from under the hydraulic car lift. Preacher had to clench his jaw from smacking the stubble off his face the way he was eyeing Ruby up and down, fucking her with his nasty gaze.
Keep it together, he warned himself.
“And who is this?” Red chose to ignore Preacher altogether, strolling over he smiled at Ruby. Preacher had seen that smolder before and wanted to smack him harder.
“I’m Ruby. And you are?”
“You can call me Red Light, babe.” Preacher’s back molars turned to dust. Jackass. Red turned a sly look Preacher’s way for a second. Yeah, the asshole knew what he was doing. Taunting Preacher.
Go ahead. Ruby would make ground beef out of Red Light. There was only one man who could match her appetites and she was holding his fucking hand.
Cutting in before Red could make a fool of himself. “H wants us to head over to Barrow to meet with Genty, can you be free sometime tomorrow? He needs to see who he’s gonna be dealing with on a regular basis, cautious fucker, this should smooth things over for everyone once he meets with us.”
Red light looked him square in the eyes, Preacher expected more, but Red shrugged. “Sure.”
Too easy. Five steps away Red enlightened in a quiet tone. “Careful with him, babe. His specialty is choking. And not with consent.”
Motherfucker!
Preacher rounded on him, blood cold in his veins, eyes blazing seeing his smirk and the wink at Ruby. She’d gone deathly still, her fingers flexed inside his.
That giant motherfucker, Preacher was going to kill him.
“Beautiful, why don’t you go and wait with the bike, Red and I are just gonna have a talk.”
With my fist, so far down his throat, he’ll gargle knuckles. Preacher was barely hanging onto his temper.
“I don’t think so. I’ll wait right here.”
“Awe, don’t have a lover’s tiff because of me. You didn’t tell your latest bitch what she has in store, Preacher? I mean it should be on the welcome pack you hand out. After the fucking comes the near-death choking. Just warning you, babe. Wish my sister had been told.”
“Enough, Red! You got beef with me, you have it with me, you don’t talk to her, you don’t fucking look at her.”
“Just a friendly warning is all.” The bastard shrugged grinning slyly.
Ruby dropped his hand.
It was the worst goddamn feeling he’d ever had. His chest tightened in a strong grip until he thought he’d quit breathing altogether.
“What’s he talking about, Asher?”
“It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later. Come on, we’re fucking leaving.” Before he strangled the life out of Red light so the bastard could finally be justified.
She didn’t budge. Instead was staring
at Red Light. “Come on, you obviously had something to say to me, so say it, or drop your catty subtleties.”
“Ruby. We’re going.”
“No, your latest bitch wants to hear this. PSA, you overbearing man, you dare call me a bitch again and you’ll be wearing that screwdriver for a new hat.”
Red smiled looking somewhat awed and apologetic towards Ruby. “You’re right, my bad, babe.”
Preacher didn’t like it one fucking bit, he was a second away from losing his shit, it was one thing for the hostility towards him, after all this time it was a drop in the ocean, but to harpoon it at an unsuspecting Ruby just to needle him with, not fucking cool. He bared his teeth and placed himself in front of her blocking her view of the dickhead. “We’re leaving, Rube. Now. I’ll explain later.”
“Why don’t you tell her how you put my sister in the hospital. How she couldn’t speak for two days because of the bruising around her neck. Tell your girl how you did it with only one hand and almost killed her. She deserves to know what she’s getting into. I saw her on the back of your bike, you don’t do that, Preacher. She deserves to know what’s to come. Or have you already given her a little welcome squeeze?”
Fury rose inside him until his feet were moving, his chest expanded with so much fire he had a tight grip of a pair of blue overalls before he realized, shoving him back crashing Red’s spine against the wall, getting in his face snarling like a monster ready to devour its enemy.
He wasn’t aware of Ruby yelling his name.
Only of the thunder rushing through his ears. The dark dangerous leash of Preacher’s past was untethered blowing in the wind of his rage.
He’d had enough of this bullshit.
"E-fucking-nough, I fucking said!"
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“It was like watching two junkyard dogs snarling. Only one junkyard dog turned me on.” - Ruby.
Nose-to-nose it was easy to see fatigue on Red’s face now like he’d lived a hard life the last four years. Being an MC nomad was not for everyone, moving constantly, never calling anywhere home, it was a lonely life. Finding a family not of blood or sin in the Renegade Souls was like coming home to ready-made acceptance for Preacher, he’d hungered for that for years and so being the sap that he wasn’t it pissed him off that he was on the outs with one of his crew.
Home truths came out on a growl.
"Goddamn. You're so full of shit, Wayne, I think at this point you're just pissed at me to keep hearing your own whining. I'm fucking tired of it. Go ahead and hate me, I don't care any longer. Do you think I choked Ginny on purpose, that I thought to myself, hey this chick I just had a nice time with, I'll wait until she's asleep, then I'll go to sleep and have a nightmare about killing the insurgent who murdered my brother and two of my squad, and I'll choke her? fuck you, do you know how pathetic that is? You’re reaching hard for a reason to hate me. I said I was sorry, I'm fucking sorry, man. But it was years ago, she's happily married, she's not sitting around traumatized by it, I haven't scarred her for life, she's not floundering spewing hate, that's just you. No one can hate me more than myself for what I did to that sweet girl, to know I hurt her even for a second, and to know I damaged our friendship. Ginny accepted my apology, she moved the fuck on, why you can't is beginning to look like you just love the attention.
“I could give a fuck anymore, Wayne. I can't atone anymore. I slept with your sister. I'm sorry! I wasn't even patched into the club, I wasn't breaking any fucking rules. I don't have a sister, but you can have a crack at my younger brother, though he's not into big and dumb, you might have to woo him." Rage filled Preacher's eyes. He'd met the end of his rope and was about to fucking hang Red Light with it.
Behind him, he was all too aware of Ruby. He could feel her in his skin, feel her eyes boring into his spine. He hated that she was seeing this, hearing Red Light spit his bullshit that wasn’t so much bullshit but the dead-on truth.
Everything he said happened.
He’d met Ginny one drunken night, how it goes in a bar, he hadn’t known she was Red’s sister, didn’t care whose sister she was to be truthful, he was using sex back than as a hardcore balm for his broken body and tired soul. He fucked anything anytime. Just as he was careful with Ruby now by not sleeping next to her, he hadn’t meant to that night either in Ginny’s small apartment. Sex wasn’t even memorable, but she was a sweet girl, she laughed at his bumfuck jokes, told him she wanted out of Colorado to go to nursing school.
They’d fucked. They’d drank. And then he’d woken in a dead sweat, his heart pounding outside of his chest, the fear so strong he could smell the Afghan blistering sandy air in his nostrils, Shane’s name on his tongue, buzzing in his head, that same devastation watching him die, grief devastating him all over again, his soul felt like it had shattered into a million pieces. There one second, gone the next.
And he’d had his hand locked tight around her slim throat, Ginny’s face beet red from lack of oxygen, veins standing out on her forehead, struggling to unlock his hand, it was a spider trying to stop a rock smashing it, looking at him with despair and death in her eyes.
Fuck. He’d hated that fucking night.
It had been a living nightmare every night back then.
He’d let go of Ginny so fast, backing up he’d crashed onto the floor in a heap, the fall jarring his spine, apologizing over and over as she’d doubled up coughing until she was blue.
He’d tried to help her, god, he had… she was so scared of him.
He’d gotten her to the ER feeling like the biggest bastard walking. He’d called Grinder. Who came with a few boys, Rider included. Along with Red Light. That fucking revelation Ginny was his sister. The shock of it meant Preacher allowed Red to lash out and crack a fist to his jaw before Rider stepped in and said a hospital wasn’t the place for that. He didn’t have the words to make it right, how could he say sorry when Red's sister was being treated for strangulation in the other room? It had taken four of the boys to calm Red down, by that time the cops showed up, arrested Preacher, charges were dropped later once Grinder had talked and explained to Ginny, but he was still in lock-up for two days. By the time he’d gotten back to the club the hatred was deep rooted, there was no going back with Red.
He’d fucked his sister. Choked his sister. Who could forgive that?
Really, he hadn’t blamed him at all for it.
They’d had an almighty fight and Red had taken off. He’d seen Ginny a year later, and she’d forgiven him. Funny how he couldn’t forgive himself. She'd gone to nursing school, after all, got married, had a couple of kids, Preacher was happy for her.
“I’m so sick of this, Red. Aren’t you sick of it? Hating me?” Red's lips tightened as if he wanted to stay something, but he remained soundless. He sighed, dropped the grip he had on the overalls, paced away before turning back, hands on his hips, lips thin. Ages ago he wouldn't have thought twice about putting Red down for talking to him the way he did, he would have said fuck it and walked away without a regret for bashing his skull in. Shane's voice in the back of his head always stopped him. Damn his brother for seeing the good in Preacher when he couldn't see past the head-fuck that was his PTSD. He was dead and still being the only voice of reason. Still looking out for Preacher from the damn grave. What a job. His very own ghosted Jiminy bastard Cricket.
Only, now there was a second voice in his head telling him to back off, to not put Red in the hospital and she was located off to the side, this voice existed in the here and now, her eyes wide, taking in the ugly exchange.
For her, he was dropping it.
If he dared chance look at her he’d see that look in her eyes, the one people got when they knew what he had going on in his psyche. Oh, poor Asher. Poor Asher saw his brother die and now he can’t cope. Poor Asher is fucked up in the head.
There's no way he can look at Ruby and see pity. He kept her in his peripheral, standing with her hands in the leather jacket pockets.
So much fo
r their two days together.
It was all going to shit.
Inhaling, he had to get a hold of himself, couldn’t lose it, not here, not now.
Not in front of her.
She was already in receipt of too much of his history, shit he never would have shared with her, without allowing her to see that violent side to him.
An insidious part of Preacher didn't even want to care about who hated him or not, he just wanted to walk away, to not feel the tightness in his sternum, to say fuck it, and chalk it up to his winning personality being not so winning after all.
“What’s it to be, Red? Are we going to be enemies forever? Because truthfully, I’m fine with it, but just decide already. Because what you just did with her … that was a dick move. She doesn’t deserve you being a cunt, you don’t even know her.”
A flicker of remorse passed over Red’s face but gone a second later. “She needed to know,” He said in his solemn way.
“No, I didn’t.”
Both men turned to her. Preacher the more startled. His chest cavity sunk in a little as her eyes came over him. “He and I aren’t like that. So, you telling me his business for my own good, that’s a bullshit lie you’re justifying to yourself just to jab at him. And I don’t care to be used against him for your kicks. And from the sounds of things, you have a massive grudge Asher doesn't deserve, it's petty.”
“You aren’t like that?” Red cocked his head. And Preacher was interested in her answer as well, feeling every slow heartbeat like her answer was the most important thing he'd ever waited to hear.
If he was gonna have a heart attack he wished it would hurry up so he could check out of this position right here.
“I’m not his girlfriend.”
Direct hit, baby. He knew, but still.
Red Light laughed humorlessly and strode across the shop, somehow, despite the tension in the air, people had started back at the work again, power drills and hammering started, the noise finally penetrated through his ears. “Babe, how many chicks do you think he puts on his bike?”
