by Zoey Parker
He pulled away and looked into my eyes. “I love you,” he said. I almost wanted to laugh. We were standing in the drug manufacturing facilities of a cartel, dirty, bleeding, with a sadistic murderer at our feet and fires consuming everything overhead, and this crazy man was kissing me and telling me he loved me.
I kissed him again, and said, “I love you, too.”
After all, what else was I gonna do?
A pained chuckle from below interrupted us. We broke apart and looked down at Lobo. The blood gathering in his lap was almost as black as his eyes. There was too much of it for him to survive, but he was chuckling.
Blaze stared at me intensely. “No one is ever going to touch you again,” he promised.
“It’s too late for that, amigo,” Lobo hissed.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” Blaze said. “You don’t want to know what’s going to happen to you if you don’t.”
Lobo only laughed again. Blood oozed between the cracks in his teeth, painting his lips when he spoke.“Go ahead,” he said, jutting his chin at me as best he could. “Ask her.”
Blaze’s eyes narrowed. “Ask her what?”
He grinned his awful, crimson grin. “Ask her how my cock tastes in her throat. Ask her how it tastes to swallow me.”
The images came careening into me again, more relentless than before.
Lobo grabbed me by the roots of my hair and pulled my head up. He unbuckled his belt and pulled his dick free from his pants. It was monstrous, fully nine inches long, dangling just a few inches front of my face.
He rose up, tall and foreboding. His cock stiffened as he squeezed my cheeks to force open my mouth. He started to lean in, the head of his member coming closer and closer to my outstretched tongue.
My mouth was pried open. There was nothing I could do but accept it as he crammed his throbbing cock into my mouth. He banged my head back against the bed post as he thrust his hips forward and back. The tip of his prick rammed against the back of my throat.
My hands were bound. My tits, bared through the rips in my dress, were bouncing against my chest with the violence of his gyrations.
He fucked my mouth over and over again. I lost count of how many times he thrusted. I gagged, but I couldn’t vomit.
Finally, he climaxed, shuddering. His come poured geyser-like into my mouth, thick streams that filled and filled it.
He pushed the knife tip to my temple and said, “Swallow it.”
Blaze saw everything written on my face, as clear as day. I couldn’t hide it even if I wanted to. He roared like a gorilla, grabbed Lobo by the front of his shirt, and slammed him on top of the lab workbench. Pink glass flew everywhere.
Again and again, Blaze smashed his fist into Lobo’s face until it wasn’t even recognizable anymore. Bone disintegrated, blood and brain fluid dripped, but still, Blaze kept punching.
I didn’t know how long I stood and watched Blaze drive his fist into Lobo’s face. I could have watched it forever. Only when I noticed the smoke billowing through cracks in the ceiling did I realize that time had passed.
“Blaze,” I said, grabbing his arm. “We have to go! This whole place is going to burn down!”
He looked at me, his eyes brimming with hatred for the man slumped dead in front of us.
“No one will ever touch you again, Liv. I promise you.”
I could have lived in that moment forever, too. As crazy as it was, everything about him was wrapped up there. I was his, Blaze’s, the wife of an Inked Angel. My protector, my husband. His jaw was clenched at a fierce angle and sweat dripped down his face. His right fist was drenched in blood.
I loved him. He had come back for me, after everything. Even after he thought I betrayed him and lied to him, he came running thousands of miles to keep me safe.
I wanted nothing more than to be his forever.
We scrambled up the ladder, leaving Lobo’s bloodied husk of a body behind us. Above ground, plumes of fire were eating away at everything with ferocious appetites. The whole place was going to go up in flames, and once the inferno reached the lab equipment below, we were going to see an explosion that would rattle windows half a world away.
Blaze held my hand as we raced through the complex, winding between buildings in search of the exit. He kept looking up. I didn’t know why.
“Where the hell are they?” he yelled. His head was cocked back, searching the sky for something.
“What are you looking for?” I asked him desperately. The fire was growing hot at our backs.
All the sudden, I saw a blue flare pop and fan out on the southern half of the sky. “There!” Blaze said triumphantly. He redoubled his grip on my hand and we sprinted through a guard post and out into the field that separated the Diablos compound from a thick cropping of trees.
Our feet flew across the grass, kicking up clouds of dust where we ran. We scrambled over a hill and slid down the other side, coming to rest at the foot of Croak.
“Didn’t think you were going to make it,” he said to Blaze. “Where’s Lobo?”
Blaze wiped the sweat from his brow. “Dead.”
I looked over his shoulder and saw twenty or so Inked Angels. Many were hurt, with blood-soaked bandages and tourniquets cinched around their limbs. Their motorcycles gleamed, reflecting the fire that grew larger and larger with every passing moment.
Croak nodded. “Let’s get the fuck out of here, then,” he said.
I followed Blaze to his bike. He threw me on the back, then swung his leg across. The engine rumbled to life and I felt the wind weave fingers through my hair as we put rubber to road and took off screeching down the highway, all the Angels arranged in formation.
A few seconds after we’d pulled out, I felt a wall of air hit me like a speeding train, followed by the loudest tearing sound I’d ever heard in my life. Looking back, I saw a huge ball of flame expand and then rupture.
The fire must have reached the lab and caused it to detonate. As I watched, streaks of white flame shot up miles into the sky, spinning wildly through the night.
The hellfire heat poured on our backs, but we rode on, my hands wrapped tightly around Blaze’s abs. Against my fingertips, I could feel his heart beat.
Chapter 16: Epilogue, Part I
Blaze
A Few Weeks Later
We were all gathered in the courtyard, looking at the scarred bastard standing in front of us. The weeds had started to shrivel in the heat of another blazing Texas summer. Luke Morris stood framed by the gate that separated the clubhouse from the rest of the world.
His cuts hadn’t fully healed, so bandages crisscrossed his face and torso. He couldn’t walk without some kind of support, and I doubted he’d ever run again in his life. He sure as hell wasn’t gonna be riding a motorcycle. The Diablos had done some serious work to his kneecaps when he was being held hostage, enough that it looked like the future for Mr. Morris didn’t contain anything that moved faster than a couple miles per hour.
I studied his face as he prepared to talk. He was hunched over, leaning heavily on his crutches. I wondered what the son of a bitch was thinking. I cast my eyes around the circle.
There were a lot of men standing here that he’d put in harm’s way. A few men hadn’t made it out, and even the ones who did survive wouldn’t ever be quite the same.
I saw Steezy limp in to join the circle. His side was swaddled in gauze, but he was gonna make it. That shit-eating grin he always had plastered on his face wasn’t going anywhere as he turned and flashed a toothy smile at me. It would take a hell of a lot more than one lousy bullet to get rid of that one.
Ember walked up, looking somber. He’d grown up a lot since the first time I’d seen him, evolving from a runny nosed prospect into a real man, a real Angel, one I was proud to have as my brother. He crossed his hands over his chest and stood silent, waiting for Luke to speak his piece.
“There ain’t much to say,” Luke said. It was hard just listening to him. This was a broken man. There wa
sn’t any fight left in him. It had all been bled out of him, beaten senseless, and left to burn. He owed a lot of remorse to a lot of people—more than he would ever be able to pay back in this lifetime. But it was still hard not to feel for him.
“There ain’t much to say at all,” he repeated, “so I’m just gonna say a quick little bit and move on. Most of you, if not all of you, I won’t ever see again. That probably ain’t such a bad thing.” He stopped to suck in a breath. I didn’t know whether the pain that racked him was physical or psychological, but it clearly agonized him either way.
Sometimes a manhurt himself more than anyone else could.
“If it meant anything, I would say that I’m sorry for all the pain I caused. And I am sorry. But I just don’t think my apologies mean much right now. I don’t think it will ever mean much.” He paused, readjusted his grip on the crutches, and resumed. “A man who lies to his brothers isn’t fit to lead them anymore. I lied, and I’m man enough to know I was wrong. This…” he pointed to the president’s patch he held in his hand, “…this doesn’t belong to me anymore.”
Luke turned and offered the ragged piece of fabric to Croak, who stood by his side. Croak looked him in the eye as he took it without a word.
“If anything good comes out of this, I hope that it’s all of you loving your old ladies and your brothers just a bit more. I don’t mean to sound all soft; that’s just my advice. Do whatever you want with it.”
No man had moved a muscle. The courtyard was spooky quiet, except for the crickets that chirped in the bushes.
Luke opened his mouth to say more, but then fell silent. He shook his head sadly. “That’s all,” he concluded. “I’ll be going now.”
He turned and began to trudge out of the yard, headed for what, I had no clue. I was the last man at the gate. He started to pass me, then stopped and looked up at my face.
I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that this was the man who’d thrown me down in his backyard and fired a shell into my leg. This man had kicked me out of my hometown, sent me running like an unwanted pet. This was the man my woman had lied to me about in order to protect him. This was the man who’d unleashed unholy hell on our whole club. He deserved to suffer for what he did—everything on his face told me that he had suffered, that he was suffering, that he would continue to suffer.
“Treat her well,” he told me. I said nothing. And then he left, climbing into a taxi and shutting the door behind him. His face disappeared behind the tinted window. I watched the car pull out and disappear in the hazy distance.
Some people might be inclined to pray for him. I wouldn’t be praying, though.
Angels didn’t go to church.
* * *
“Come in, sit your ass down,” said Croak, waving me into his office. I sat down in the chair in front of his desk, still favoring the shoulder that Lobo had put a bullet through.
“You still look like a sack of shit.” Croak laughed.
“Your wife sure don’t think so,” I fired back. He just laughed again and shook his head.
“Always the smart ass.” He chuckled to himself. “Always got somethin’ to say.”
“Life’s too short to keep the good ones to myself, Prez.”
His face turned serious. “Life’s short, indeed, brother. Too short for a lot of people.”
“Why so serious?” I prodded.
“A man in charge has to be serious sometimes, Blaze.”
“Don’t use that wise old man voice on me, Croak,” I said. “What’s the deal? What’d you bring me in here for?”
He pointed to an object on the desk in front of me. I leaned forward to take a look. What I saw took me by surprise.
“What the hell is that doing there?” I asked him.
“It’s yours if you want it,” he replied. “I’m offering you the presidency of the Austin charter. Luke left it, so it’s mine to give to whoever I think is the right man for the job.”
“And you picked me? You must really be getting old.”
Croak leaned forward and tented his hands. “The last time you were sitting in this chair, I told you you were getting married. I know you went through hell and back, but now that you’re sittin’ on the other side, things are working out pretty well for you, eh?”
I hated when he was right. If I didn’t respect the man so much, I would’ve swung at him.
“What’s your point, old man?” I asked cautiously.
“My point is,” he said, “that I know what’s good for you. So here’s what you're gonna do: take the patch, give me a big, cheery ‘Thanks, Croak,’ and take that old lady of yours back to Austin.”
* * *
I stepped out of the office, rubbing the back of my head, wondering how I let that crafty old fucker get the best of me yet again.
The boys were sitting in the bar, drinking casually and shooting the shit. A few of them had old ladies perched on their laps, Steezy included. Ember, I saw, was restraining himself to just one woman at a time these days. Maturity at its finest.
Steezy looked up at me and whistled when he saw the bright red badge sewn onto my cut. “Never thought I’d see the day!” He grinned.
I couldn’t help but smile back.
“So, boys,” I said. “Who wants to go to Austin?”
Chapter 17: Epilogue, Part II
Olivia
I woke up panting and sat straight up in bed. A cold sweat covered my body in a sheen. My chest was heaving like I’d just run for miles. I put my hands to my throat, but there was nothing there. The image of jet black eyes staring straight into mine was seared on the backs of my eyelids.
I felt a warm, familiar pair of hands wrap themselves around me and pull me close. Blaze squeezed my head against his chest. I let the rhythm of his heart soothe me and bring me back down to reality.
“Sh, baby,” he whispered in my ear. “I’m right here. Nothing’s gonna hurt you.”
I believed him, of course I did. But I couldn’t shake those eyes out of my head.
Blaze’s chest was broad and warm. I traced my fingertips around the lines of his tattoos. I’d seen them all before, but it felt good to touch him, to feel my heat mingle with his and his skin against my own. He ran a hand through my hair, tugging lightly.
“Him again, huh?” he said, voice rumbling.
I nodded.
Suddenly, Blaze grabbed me fiercely by the shoulders. I looked into his eyes and, for the first time since I’d been woken up by the nightmare, felt calm rush back over me. There was no denying the strength, the fire, the love in those eyes. How could I look at him and be scared? How could I look at him and do anything but love him back? Anything but be his?
Impossible.
He smoothed my hair back with one wide palm. “Listen to me right now, Liv. You’re out of that hell. You’re here with me. Touch me. Feel me.” I did what he said, laying my hand on his brawny biceps. I liked feeling his muscles move as he shifted.
“That son of a bitch is nothing more than some motherfucking ash blowing around that godforsaken piece of land right now, you understand? He’s gone. He’s never gonna touch you again. Matter of fact, no one is. You’re my old lady, and that means you’re mine in every way. I swore I’d protect you from everything in this world. I killed that bastard who tried to take you, and I’ll kill anyone else who ever even thinks about trying something similar.”
I pressed my lips against Blaze’s hand where he held it cupping my chin. He pulled me in and spun me around so that I sat with my bare back to his naked chest as he whispered in my ear.
“Now, it’s time we got rid of him once and for all. I’m gonna fuck that devil right out of you. Do you hear me?”
His fingertips danced down to my hip, barely touching me, just grazing along the skin.
“I’m gonna make you come so many times you forget his name, my name, your name, every name you’ve ever heard. You aren’t even gonna be able to talk by the time I’m done with you, much less walk. Hell, yo
u aren’t even gonna need to eat, ’cause I’m gonna put so much come in you that it’ll feed you and our future baby for months.”
The black eyes had almost completely faded away. I giggled, smacking my hand against Blaze’s thigh. I could sense his cocky grin even without seeing it.
“You’re crazy,” I told him. “You don’t want a baby with me.”
“Oh, hell yes, I do,” he said solemnly. “You don’t have any choice at all. I’m gonna put a little one right in there, and there ain’t a thing you can do to stop me.” He slid his hand from my hip to my stomach. I felt a rising quiver start to stir deep below where his fingertips touched me.
