Rock Bottom

by Manda Mellett

  Admiring his stamina, I realise he’s exciting me all over again. I can’t, can I? But his relentless lunges deep into my core drive me higher and higher until, “Rooooccck!” I scream as he propels me into space once again. This time I’m sure I see planets, the moon, and the sun as well as stars, and am only just aware of him roaring out his release behind me.

  Now both our chests heave in unison. The air smells heavy with musk, neither of us seem capable of moving. As I try to get sufficient oxygen to speak, Rock leans forward and places a kiss between my shoulder blades, his tongue coming out to lick me.

  “Fucking love the taste of your salty, just fucked skin, Becca.” His voice rumbles, the vibrations causing goosebumps.

  “Sweaty skin,” I tell him. “You’ve definitely killed me.”

  He chuckles, and I feel his cock slip out of me, his cum dripping down my legs. He must feel it too, as he sits back on his haunches. Turning my head to the side, I see him watching, his hand tracing the path of the moisture trickling down.

  I want to squirm with embarrassment as he says, “Best fucking sight in the world, Becca. Before you, I’ve never seen that. Never taken a woman bare.” He looks at me. “Forgot the fuckin’ condom, Becca. Sorry.”

  “I’ve got the implant.”

  My announcement causes him to grin widely. “Bare it’s gonna be then.”

  I go to move, though my legs don’t seem able to support me. “I need to wash,” I tell him.

  Rock’s still stroking between my legs and watching as if it’s the most satisfying sight he’s ever seen. “Hmm?” he prompts, only half listening.

  “Wash,” I say conservatively, still trying to breathe properly again.

  Rock slaps my ass, lightly, not enough to hurt, then leans over me again. “How do you feel about shower sex?”

  Oh my God!

  Chapter 26

  Rock

  Walking down to the clubhouse, Becca’s hand clasped in mine, I’m unable to keep the grin off my face. Last night, last fucking night, was, well. I don’t know how to describe it. I worshipped Becca, treated her as she deserved to be treated. Every touch, every kiss only serving to inflate my arousal so when I came it was the hardest I’d come in my whole fucking life. I can’t ever remember treating a woman so reverently before, but once I started I couldn’t seem to stop. After I made love to her, I fucked her. I’d woken her in the night and fucked her again. I’m so fucking addicted I can’t stop.

  Am I an asshole that I laughed when she declined my invitation to shower with me this morning? Or when she moved stiffly when she got out of bed. She’ll be feeling me for the rest of the day, every twinge a reminder of me. I adjust myself in my jeans, I won’t need a physical reminder. Just the picture of her in my head is enough to keep me hard.

  “What you thinking about there, Rock?”

  Realising I’m still wearing a shit-eating grin, I try to wipe it off as I look down at her. “Last night.”

  Her small fist bumps my arm. “Proud of yourself, are you?”

  Picking her up, I swing her around. “Fuckin’ right I am.” I lift her to me and kiss her. “Fuckin’ proud of you too. You’ve come a hell of a long way, Becca.”

  She glows at my compliment. “All thanks to you. If it wasn’t for you I’d still be chained in that cellar.”

  Or she might be dead. The thought sobers me. Putting her down, she puts her arm through mine and we carry on walking. And fuck me if I don’t just enjoy being close to her.

  Just as we come up to the clubroom door it swings open, almost knocking into me. “Hey…” I’m just about to admonish whoever’s coming out when Prez pushes past, along with Peg, Blade, and Wraith. Fuck me, Slick and Marvel are coming out too.

  “Rock. Got visitors. Need you with,” Wraith barks as he passes.

  I react immediately. “Becca, go find the women and stay with them, okay?”

  I’m pleased when she doesn’t question me, just goes into the clubroom, her puzzled expression when she looks back over her shoulder the only sign she’s concerned. Fuck yeah. That right there. That shows she’d make a great old lady. But I park that thought as I hurry down the track, catching up with my brothers.

  Coming to the gate I don’t even need to ask who’s come calling, there’s immediate recognition. But I can’t remember getting a home visit from them before. It’s members from the local chapter of the dom, the Wretched Soulz. Headed up by none other than their prez, Chaz.

  Matt gets the nod to slide the gate open. Getting off his bike, the prez comes inside, his members stay where they are.

  “Prez.” Drummer greets him politely.

  “Prez,” comes the response. Respect given where due.

  “Your boys want to come inside?”

  The Soulz VP, Bull, still astride his bike, gives a stilted laugh. His prez sends him a dirty look, then turns back to Drummer. “Nah, this won’t take long. Stub got word to us this morning as we were riding back. Stopped off to tell you. Thought you needed to know as soon as possible.”

  Drummer makes a go on gesture with his hand.

  “Fact is we came to see if you were still breathing.”

  Now my prez stiffens, and around him all of us start taking this seriously.

  “Yeah. Seems he got close to the man you wanted him to. Gave him the message you wanted passed on. About his wife? Well, that put him in a bit of a quandary. Stub didn’t hang around to get details. He’s gonna go back later. But seems your man already had you targeted as the primary suspects for taking out the Chaos Riders. You’ve got explosives on your compound…”

  “Where?” Drum snaps sharply.

  “No fucking idea. But they must have been planted recently. Your man was beside himself. Seems something’s going to happen soon, maybe even today. He left exactly how it was going to be done to the man he hired. He thought his woman was dead, laid that at your door. Now he’s crapping himself in case she gets hurt.” His eyes sharpen. “Know you’re going to be pretty busy. We’ll meet when you’ve sorted it, Drummer.” He gives a sharp nod.

  With that, Chaz turns and goes back to his bike. There’s the thunder of engines starting, and soon only a cloud of dust is left at the gates.

  “Prospect. Get the women and children out of the clubhouse. Get them out in the open. Around the pool,” Drummer orders even before the sound of the bikes begins to fade.

  “Got it, Prez.” Matt sets off at a run.

  “Prez.” Blade pushes past me to get Drummer’s attention. “This place is sewn up tight. We need to get Mouse looking at the security tapes, but for starters, I reckon there’s only one way anything can be brought onto the compound without us knowing.”

  “Unless we’ve got a fuckin’ traitor somewhere…”

  “Ain’t got no traitors, Viper. Blade, whatcha thinking?” Drummer dismisses the notion one of us is responsible, as I would too.

  The enforcer points to the shop behind us. “We had two customers who left their cars over the weekend. Not unusual by itself, but given the circumstances...”

  Before he finishes speaking Slick’s on his way over and rolling the doors up. There are two cars inside, up on ramps, in the middle of being worked on. Yelling at everyone else to keep out, he walks around underneath, then, clearly not having found anything, lowers them both to ground level.

  I’m standing outside watching him, feeling useless. I’d offer to help but I don’t know what I’m looking for. Doubt it’s going to be something as handy as a spherical object with ‘bomb’ written on it.

  Prez stares into the shop, then looks around at the men standing with him. “Agree with Blade this is the most likely, but I don’t want something takin’ us by fuckin’ surprise. What else should we be lookin’ at, Peg?”

  In sergeant-at-arms mode, Peg’s eyes narrow. “Along the boundaries. We’re vulnerable if someone throws something over the fence. Mouse should check all tapes, and while he’s doing that we’ll have to do a perimeter check.” He tugs at hi
s beard. “And check out the clubhouse. There were hangarounds up last night.”

  “Good point, Peg. Get it organised, will you?”

  He didn’t need to tell him. Peg’s already moving. Men come flooding down from the clubhouse, apparently the prospect had told them we got ourselves a situation. Heart, Paladin, Joker, and Lady almost skid to a stop. They’re running so fast the others following almost crash into them like some kind of comedy sketch.

  “What can we do?” Heart exclaims.

  “Get those fuckin’ boundaries checked.” Peg starts assigning men. Nodding when he hears Mouse has already begun viewing the footage from the last couple of days. “Dollar, Blade, Shooter, Marvel, if you were with a hangaround last night, check out anywhere they had access to. Jekyll and Road, you too.”

  “Wasn’t with a fuckin’ hangaround,” Road grumbles.

  “Those that weren’t,” Peg glares at Road, “check along the fenceline. Look for anything that might have been thrown over. Tyre tracks outside, stuff like that.”

  “Found something, Prez.” Slick emerges from the auto shop. “Like Blade suggested, it’s in the fuckin’ car. The white Ford.”

  “Can you disarm it?”

  “Tricky. But I’ll try.” Slick’s face is about as serious as I’ve ever seen it. He stands motionless for a moment, his palms cradling his bald head. “Need to get everyone well back.”

  “Timer or remote?” Peg asks quickly.

  “Timer. Can’t see when it’s set for.”

  “Okay then.” Peg starts to follow Slick. “The other car clear?” When Slick nods, he waves me across. “Get the second moved out, okay? Give Slick room to work. But push it, don’t start it. And move fuckin’ carefully.”

  I hope Slick’s right to have cleared the Mustang. I walk across, note the keys are in it, and with my heart in my fucking mouth take off the handbrake. Heart and Viper come alongside. Walking by the open door with one hand on the steering wheel, I guide it as slowly and carefully as possible as we back it out, fearing any wrong movement we might make could set the bomb off. I exhale in relief as we manoeuvre it well away from the shop. When we’re clear, my palms are sweating.

  Prez turns to Blade. “Looks like we’ve got a minute at least. Got any gas stored in there?”

  The man who manages the shop answers, “Yeah, not a lot. A couple of five-gallon barrels.”

  Prez’s eyes narrow. “Think you can get them out without disturbing Slick or the car?”

  Rolling his eyes as though annoyed with himself, Blade nods. “Sure can. There’s also the Argon for the welding equipment.”

  I step up. It’s the last thing I want to do, get close to the bomb once again, but I offer, unwilling to watch my brothers take all the risk. “I’ll come help.” Joker, Lady, and Marvel aren’t far behind me.

  We almost go into the shop on tiptoe. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I ease alongside the wall furthest away from the car Slick’s crouched down beside. Getting a trolley, we slide it under the first barrel and start to wheel it out, taking it well away from the estimated blast area. Blade carries the Argon gas out on his own.

  Then we return for the second barrel. Fuck this! I’m more than relieved when we make it safely back out into the fresh air. Joining my brothers, we watch Slick walking around the car, gingerly opening the doors. Fuck, my brother’s got some balls.

  “Fuckin’ hell,” Blade starts. “Sam was working on that just yesterday afternoon. Wanted to get a head start on it before the weekend. She can’t have seen a damn thing.” He shakes his head.

  “Slick’s looking under the seat,” Viper points out. “Sam was looking at the engine.” He looks distraught at the thought his daughter had been so close to the explosive.

  I’m not surprised Blade has paled. I’d have done so myself. Drummer sucks in air loudly through his teeth.

  The man we’re all avidly watching steps out of the shop. “Right,” he starts as if talking to himself. No one finds it strange he sounds tense and his muscles are bunched as though he’s preparing for a fight. His hands though, they seem quite steady. Unlike my own.

  “What you thinking, Slick?” Drum’s loud voice makes more than one of us jump.

  “I’m considering the best way to disarm it,” Slick replies. “I don’t want to rush this, cut the wrong wire…”

  As his voice tails off we don’t need more. He doesn’t have to draw us a picture.

  He returns to the car, then a few minutes later, Slick comes out the front again. “Okay…” he smooths his hand over his bald head. “Think I know what I’m doing now. I’m going to disarm it in a couple of minutes. First I’ve got to get the cover off.” He looks at us and grins. “Wish me good luck.”

  It’s so quiet it’s as though no one dares breathing. Now it’s not just my hands, my whole body begins to sweat, even though clouds cover the autumn sky. I loosen the neck of my tee with my finger. Christ, I hope Slick knows what he’s doing. He can build a bomb, we all know that, but disarming one must be another matter.

  No one’s moving. No one’s talking. Each of us keeping our fears to ourselves.

  Slick should have bombproof clothing. But we don’t keep that on hand in the club. Maybe we should in the future.

  My nose itches, I’m almost afraid to scratch it.

  Time ticks by. Slick doesn’t update us further, which none of us comment on, knowing he’ll be concentrating. The only thing we need to hear next is that he’s rendered it harmless.

  “Who brought that car in, Blade?” Drummer asks quietly.

  “Never seen him before, Prez. Just a citizen. Nothing unusual. Sam might remember more about him. He was black, that’s all I know. Twenties or early thirties perhaps? His name will be on the computer.”

  I note Drummer’s face tightening as Blade mentions Sam and how close his old lady had unknowingly been to a bomb. Now I have Becca I can understand it. He shakes off his concern and turns back to Blade. “Mouse will only be able to check the name he’s given us. Did you see the documents for the car?”

  “Nah. Didn’t bother. He reckoned the car was a gas guzzler. Sam was going to check the timin’ and all that.” Turning around I see Blade looking worried. I’d be too, in his position, but I doubt there was anything he could have done to prevent it or that he’d missed anything suspicious. “His friend followed him and gave him a ride back. Said he’d come back on Tuesday. I was just relieved it wasn’t a rush job.”

  Their conversation over, not much more they can say, we all turn back to watch Slick again.

  Now it’s my ear that feels like a bug’s crawling over it. Gingerly I swat the imaginary insect away.

  Slick swears loudly, then shouts a warning. “Get back! Get back now!”

  A split second then we’re turning, not stopping to ask Slick anything more. He’s done his best, but he’s failed. Even before the blast I swear I feel heat at my back.

  I’m moving, but it seems like I’m running in slow motion. Wraith’s just ahead, but not by much. Peg’s in the lead, Drummer comes up alongside.

  Are we far enough now?

  A flash like a lightning strike, a deep hollow boom closely following, the rush of air sends me off my feet. Smaller fizzes, pops, and more explosions.

  My ears are ringing. I’m winded as I try to pull myself to my knees, shaking my head trying to clear it. Blind from the dust and sand sent up by the blast.

  “Slick!” Peg must have shouted at full volume, as I can hear him above the roar of the flames. As the dust starts to settle I see him racing back toward the burning shop.

  Slick.

  Drum staggers past me, and again I just make him out, yelling, “Slick! Fuck!”

  It’s then I see Slick on the ground, unmoving. Being the last out, he took the brunt of the detonation.

  Chapter 27

  Rock

  I manage to pull myself up, wishing my ears would stop ringing, and once on my feet run back as fast as I can hoping to fuck Slic
k’s okay. As I near the shop a physical wall of heat hits me. Peg’s gesticulating at Road, who’s got some first aid training. Slick. The one thing that cheers me is Peg wouldn’t be bothering to get him attention if he was already dead.

  The sergeant-at-arms stands over Road as he examines him. “Can’t we just move him? I can feel the fuckin’ flames from here.” He’s still shouting, he must be deafened like the rest of us are.

  “Give me a moment.” Road’s touching Slick gently, feeling for a pulse.

  Slick, man. You better be okay. How the fuck could we tell Ella her old man’s dead? Or Jayden, for that matter. Slick’s been like a father to her.

  Paladin’s looking sick. His eyes meet mine and I know his thoughts are running along the same track as my own.

  Joker runs up with a board he’s got from somewhere. Carefully, Road and Peg roll Slick onto it. There’s no shortage of volunteers helping to carry him away and out of reach of the burning matter, ashes and soot that are flying through the air. Something pops and lands just where Slick, only a second or two ago, had been lying.

  Road walks alongside the makeshift stretcher. “Take him to the clubhouse, but be careful with him. If he wakes up try to keep him lying down.”

  Drummer’s face is dark as he looks down at his stricken man, then at the fireball that used to be our shop. “We can’t handle this. I’ve called out the fire department. Got a bus coming for Slick.”

  Looking down at the injured man, I’m concerned his face is completely white. The board is reddening, showing he’s bleeding from somewhere. I feel helpless watching my brothers carrying him so gently. All I can do is hope he’s not seriously hurt. I can do nothing for him. Staying at the shop is probably where I can best help.

  I return to where Blade’s standing, looking at the burning pyre which used to be his business. In his hands is a useless fire extinguisher. He might as well piss on it for all the effect that would have.

  “Brother.”

  As I put my hand on his shoulder, Matt appears at a run from the clubhouse. He skids to a halt and looks around him, suddenly yelling, “Blade, need that over here.” Coming over, he grabs the fire extinguisher out of the enforcer’s hands. “It’s set some undergrowth alight. At least we can stop it spreading.” He’s noticed something we’ve missed. Good on the prospect. Small fires have started smouldering, and he’s right, we need to get on top of that shit.