Beyond Control (Beyond, Book Two)

by Kit Rocha

  "I don't know how you're still in charge," a quiet voice murmured from behind him.

  Craning his head, Dallas met Six's gaze and stilled his angry retort when he saw the honest bafflement in her eyes. As clumsy as the words were, there was a bone-deep need to understand hidden beneath them.

  She'd come into adulthood under the brutal hand of a man too weak to hold his people without abuse and violence. Of course she didn't understand the obedience that came from loyalty and respect instead of crippling fear.

  So he tried to explain. "This is my family, sweetheart. These are my people. I'm in charge because they trust me to make life a hell of a lot better for them than it would be without me. I don't need to beat them into line, and I don't need to prove I'm the strongest."

  She blinked at him, her eyes huge and painfully wary. "Everyone needs to prove they're strong."

  "The truly strong only have to do it once." But no comprehension showed in her eyes. Maybe you couldn't explain safety to someone who'd never experienced it. Dallas contented himself with a smile and a shake of his head. "Stick around, Six. We'll revisit the topic every couple months and see if you've changed your mind."

  From the way she watched him as she curled deeper into the chair, she thought he was insane. She probably wasn't wrong. As he settled facing forward again, his gaze caught on Lex moving toward Noelle, and his dick strained against his fly.

  He was a liar. If he didn't have to prove he was in control, he'd be down there already, sliding a hand under Lex's dress while Noelle writhed against them both.

  Strength. Control. Two things he needed more than life. Two things Lex shattered when she was around.

  God help him, Six was right. He was insane.

  "You're in my spot."

  Bren laughed at Lex's words and lifted his head from Noelle's shoulder. "Pardon me."

  "Lex, you have to share." Noelle's scolding tone was ruined by her smile as she stretched up and kissed Bren square on the lips. "But I've been waiting for my dance with you, so Bren and Jas will just have to deal with it."

  "I don't share," Lex grumbled as the men melted away, headed for the bar in the corner.

  Except the words weren't true. Share--that was one thing she always did, without fail. It was the secret to maintaining the harmony in their little gang, sexual freedom and pleasure without jealousy. Lex had always excelled at it, getting close but never too close.

  So what the hell had happened?

  She pressed her face to Noelle's cheek. "I'm losing my mind. I don't know if I'm cranky because I'm horny or because Dallas is driving me nuts."

  "Aw, honey." Noelle wrapped her arms around her. "What did he do now?"

  "I don't want to think about him." Lex drew her thumb over the new tattoo framing Noelle's throat. "This is beautiful on you. Did I tell you that?"

  She shivered. "Ace works magic. I swear, it feels like more than just ink."

  It must, because it seemed to have changed the way Noelle and Jasper looked at one another. "I'm happy for you."

  Slender fingers tangled in Lex's hair, and Noelle pulled her down for a long, slow kiss. "I'm horny too," the other woman said against her lips. "You know Jasper's going to spend all night letting me stew before he gets around to fucking me."

  "And you'll love every second of it," Lex said. Noelle was already soft against her, open and hungry in a way she recognized.

  "Especially if you help him." Noelle dug her teeth into Lex's lower lip. "Are you going to help him?"

  The two of them together burned so hot, and it would be easy to fall into them, to borrow a little of that fire for a while. Easy to walk away when it was over, too, secure in the knowledge that Jasper and Noelle had each other to hold.

  As simple as it was arousing, as satisfying as it was safe. "Help him fuck you?" Lex asked softly, drawing aside the lacy white strap of Noelle's dress, baring her shoulder. "How would I do that?"

  Noelle arched her neck, putting all of that gorgeous ink on display. "I was thinking we could be bad girls. Sometimes that inspires Jasper to hurry."

  "So I'm a means to an end?" Lex couldn't keep her amusement out of the words. "I see how you are."

  "I'm wretched." Noelle teased her hands over the curves of Lex's breasts. "A wicked, wicked girl."

  "More like delicious." Lex watched as Noelle's dress slipped low enough to bare one hard nipple, then bent to circle it with her tongue.

  "Oh, oh." Noelle clutched at her shoulders and moaned. "God, I love your tongue."

  "More than mine?" Jasper stepped up behind Noelle, wrapped his arms around them both, and stroked Lex's cheek.

  Noelle laughed and raised her arms, curling them around Jasper's neck. "Don't be jealous, baby."

  "Oh, I'm not." He cupped her breast and met Lex's eyes. "Suck."

  A command, but Lex was already so wound up she parted her lips without thinking. Pleasure thrummed in her body, a quick pulse that left her pussy aching as she drew Noelle's nipple deep into her mouth.

  Noelle's soft cry drowned under dark laughter. Familiar fingers slid around Lex's waist, strong hands that found the flare of her hips as if every curve belonged to him. "I love watching you make her writhe," Dallas murmured against Lex's ear.

  She shuddered. Her and Noelle, sandwiched between Jasper and Dallas. Lex had been here before, and she knew how it would end--with all four of them naked on the floor.

  And she was helpless to stop it, helpless in a way she never was when Dallas wasn't part of the equation. Lex tilted her head back on his shoulder, both making room and inviting him to lick the taste of her mouth from the tight, slick peak of Noelle's breast.

  And he did, flicking his tongue over Noelle's nipple. When she gasped, he gave her teeth, more than Lex would have used so soon. But Dallas had a rougher touch, and Noelle seemed to like it.

  "Fuck," Jasper rasped. He combed his fingers through Noelle's hair and urged her head to one side, baring her neck for a slow, lingering kiss. "I'll fuck you, sweetheart. Nice and hard, the way you like it--" he glanced at Dallas, "--but only if you make Lex come."

  Sleepy eyes met hers. "Do you want that?" Noelle asked, already tracing the neckline of Lex's dress. The words held a breathless undertone, a plea for her to play along with the fantasy, the one where Jasper withheld satisfaction until Noelle satisfied every one of their lurid demands.

  Oh, the hunger. Lex swallowed a moan and nodded. "I won't make it easy, either," she lied. "You'll have to be so, so good."

  Noelle actually shivered, and Dallas chuckled again as he caressed Lex's cheek. "She'll have to be so, so bad. Put her on her knees, Jasper."

  He did it with nothing more than a twist of his hand in her hair, as if Noelle's body had been finely tuned to his touch. He sank to the floor behind her, one hand already sliding the ruffled hem of her skirt up. "Fingers or tongue?" he asked roughly, then swatted Noelle's ass without waiting for an answer. "Tongue tonight, I think."

  No straight-faced adherence to fantasy could keep the glee from Noelle's eyes as she eased her hands under the hem of Lex's dress. But there was something else there too--awareness. Noelle bared only Lex's thighs, holding the fabric tight across Lex's hips, shielding the new tattoo on her lower abdomen.

  If Dallas noticed Noelle's precision, he didn't understand the significance. He was too busy wrapping a hand around Lex's throat and whispering silky commands. "Part your legs, love. Let Noelle and her sweet tongue at you."

  Lex knew she'd fall without Dallas holding her up. She leaned back, sliding her hands into his pants pockets and drawing in a shaky breath when her ass rubbed against his erection. "This makes you so damn hard," she said softly.

  "Of course it does." Dallas stroked the top of Noelle's head. "I love watching her bury her face in your pussy. Tonight everyone's going to love watching it."

  They'd drawn stares already. Part of it was the attention due Jasper and Noelle, but Lex knew the rest revolved around morbid curiosity. They were watching her and Dallas.
Probably had a fucking pool going. Fifty credits says they blow up tonight.

  Lex laid her hand over Dallas's. "You feeling a little wild, Declan?"

  He tensed behind her, and the fingers around her throat tightened. "When am I not?"

  "Mmm." She eased her legs apart. Noelle was there in the next moment, lips soft on the skin of her inner thighs. A tease, nothing more, sweet kisses that tormented Lex and taunted Jasper with the barest hint of disobedience. When Noelle's gaze met hers, there was mischief there, an awareness of her own power.

  Jasper pushed Noelle's dress higher, revealing the bare curves of her hips. His hand slipped past the fabric, up to her hair, and he turned her head, guiding her mouth.

  Her tongue grazed Lex's clit, wet and rasping. The sudden sensation rocked Lex onto her toes, arching against Noelle's mouth and Dallas's hand, which was still caged around her throat.

  He laughed near her ear, breath tickling heat over sensitive skin. "Look at her, Lexie. Those big eyes aren't so innocent anymore." Dallas's fingers covered Jasper's, tangled in Noelle's hair, and he braced the back of her head before rocking his hips, forcing Lex closer to her tongue.

  He was in control. The thought flitted through Lex's mind faster than the helpless zing of pleasure that shook her. And just like the pleasure, it circled around, tighter and tighter. Dallas had the control, and even though she reveled in it, she also wanted to take it.

  One day, she would.

  Noelle moaned helplessly, and Lex opened her eyes just in time to watch Jasper slide home, his jaw clenched. Noelle's eyes fluttered shut as bliss rolled over her features, and she renewed her attentions, slicking her tongue into Lex with quick, hungry thrusts before sliding up to work her clit with newly inspired dedication.

  Dallas flexed his fingers around Lex's throat, but his next rock was more of a grind, rubbing his caged erection against her ass. "They make a pretty picture, don't they? Except..." He moved his hand from Noelle's head to Lex's dress, winding the fabric higher, giving Lex an unobstructed view of Noelle's lust-clouded eyes.

  "Better." Dallas slid the slinky fabric over Lex's skin.

  Jasper wrapped his fingers around Noelle's wrists, one after the other, and pulled them behind her back. It left her balanced on her knees, rocking precariously as he eased his cock in and out of her pussy. Every thrust jolted her just a little, pressing her mouth more firmly to Lex's wet flesh, turning her gentle, eager caresses into hard swipes of tongue and the barest graze of teeth.

  The room might as well have dissolved in a haze. The mounting heat reduced Lex's vision into a series of flashes--ink on skin, pink lips, the wet glisten of Jasper's dick as he fucked Noelle faster. Harder.

  "So fucking beautiful." Dallas muttered the words against her cheek, his lips brushing the corner of her mouth. He had her pinned against his chest, her legs splayed wide, held up by the brutally gentle hand at her throat and one iron forearm across her hips. "Come for her, Lexie," he whispered. "Show her she's a good girl and come all over her hungry tongue."

  "No." The denial was as much for her as it was for Noelle.

  His growl vibrated through his chest, more amused than irritated. "Are you teaching her to be as disobedient as you are?"

  "Never," Lex panted. For Noelle, disobedience was a means to an end, a reason for Jasper to punish her until she came.

  Jas slowed his thrusts and shifted both of Noelle's wrists to one hand. He leaned over her, pausing to slip his thumb into her mouth before massaging it in a firm circle over Lex's clit. "Get her off. Now."

  Noelle hummed her agreement, her tongue slicking over and around Jasper's thumb and then lower, moving in the rhythm Lex had taught her over lazy nights curled together, with or without him, the one Noelle knew twisted her into dizzy knots.

  Lex gave up trying to still her hips. They rocked in anticipation of every lick, and the world narrowed even more, shrank until the only things that existed were touching her. Her dress, chafing her nipples with every movement. Noelle's mouth. Jasper's fingers. Dallas.

  She came with a cry she could barely hear through the buzz in her ears, but it had to be loud because it burned her throat like whiskey. Like a scream. Pleasure and relief, and beyond it all a hunger Lex couldn't quite understand. A need for more, for less, for something.

  The world tilted and took her along for the ride, and she realized belatedly that Dallas had spilled them both to the floor. He knelt a foot in front of Noelle and Jasper, with Lex sprawled across his lap, her knees on either side of his and her face level with Noelle's.

  Noelle licked her own lips with a husky laugh before straining forward to kiss Lex. "You didn't make me work for it."

  "I tried." Dallas's hands were sliding up Lex's thighs, and she tried to wiggle away.

  He laughed and hauled her back, splaying one hand across her belly as he lifted the other to Noelle's mouth. "Jasper?"

  "His turn," Jasper whispered, and Noelle parted her lips without looking away from Lex, even as she swirled her tongue around Dallas's fingers until they were slick and wet.

  Lex was still squirming when he dropped his hand and stroked her clit. "I told you you'd get a chance to ride my hand. Think you can come again before Jas fucks her over the edge?"

  He knew the answer. Sometimes she felt like he knew everything--the only explanation for his raging arrogance. Lex spun around and crawled onto his lap, folding her arms tight around his neck. "You have to make me," she challenged, her mouth close to his. "Can you?"

  Hunger tightened his eyes. And something else, too--a hint of danger. She'd challenged him, and he wouldn't back down. Not here, surrounded by his people. It wouldn't matter that most were glued to the spectacle of whatever Jasper was doing to drive those crazy, desperate noises from Noelle's throat.

  Dallas O'Kane never let a challenge lie.

  He gripped her bare hips and dragged her against him, aligning the unforgiving steel of his cock with her clit. There was nothing slow or easy about his movements as he caught her gaze, held it, and rolled her hips in even, brutally direct circles. "I could make you come so many ways."

  "Not with a little dry humping," she lied. Her hands itched to slip between them, to open his pants and bare his cock and then ride him. "Noelle fucked me with her tongue. You have to do better than this."

  He just smiled and leaned closer, until his lips brushed hers. "Noelle needed her tongue and Jasper's thumb. I don't. All I need..." He caught both of her arms and crossed her wrists at the small of her back before pinning them with his hands. "Just like this."

  The silent, imperious command inherent in the position made her shiver as the ridge of his erection nestled between her pussy lips. Too much, too direct. If he'd been wearing denim, it would have hurt. But he'd donned soft, supple leather tonight, and she was wet, so wet. She took a deep, shaky breath, and even that was enough to slide her over the hard line of his cock through his slippery pants.

  Her inhalation caught in her throat, turned into something low and hungry.

  Dallas captured her lower lip between his teeth and teased his tongue over it. Nothing else--no movement, no rocking, just the tip of his tongue, sliding back and forth and back and forth, slick with suggestion even before he closed his mouth on her lip and sucked softly.

  A taunt and a promise, and it wasn't fair that he could do this to her with the tiniest of touches. Lex trembled through another blinding spike of sensation and tried to free her hands.

  He held tight.

  She struggled without thinking, lightly but still enough to shift her on his lap. Wet leather stroked her clit, and she bit her tongue trying to hold back a moan.

  His gaze held more than a hint of danger now. His cool detachment had shattered, leaving behind a hot-eyed man who bared his teeth in a feral grin. "You want to get away, love?"

  Yes. "No." Both answers were true, but neither was quite enough.

  He tightened his grip on her wrists and watched her face as if the rest of the room had simply d
issolved. Even Noelle's throaty cries of release drifted away as he lowered his mouth to her ear. "But you want to try."

  Telling, not asking. The words shivered over her, his voice like fingers on her skin. Truth, but he didn't understand. "I want you to stop screwing around."

  "You are so fucking bossy." Rough words, but they came out edged with affection, and he started that steady rock again, grinding her clit against slick leather. "Ask for it. Ask me to get you off."

  She wouldn't. She would not. Then the vise twisted, a tense ache that enveloped her. "Please," she ground out. "Please--"

  He soothed her with low murmurs against her cheek and moved faster, his fingers clenching every time he rocked her against his cock. He kissed her jaw and her cheek before his mouth found her throat, his lips parting only so he could close his teeth with a hiss of triumph.

  The bite was just as delicious as the heat that swept through her. She wanted it all--pain, pleasure, even the anger.

  The passion.

  Lex closed her eyes as the sensations collided, blistering and undeniable. She came again, and this time it was with Dallas's name on her lips.

  Her back hit the floor as pleasure ebbed, and Dallas loomed over her. Noelle sat curled in Jasper's lap a few feet away, both of them as lost in their own world as Dallas seemed lost in her.

  He reared back and reached for his belt, but his hands froze as his gaze swept down her body. The ragged hunger gripping his features twisted as his lips curled down and his eyebrows drew together.

  Lex followed his stare. Her dress had ridden up, revealing her new tattoo, dark and damning against her skin.

  He didn't look happy. He didn't look anything but confused, and she swallowed, suddenly feeling just as spun.

  Then she whispered the only words that came to mind. "Happy birthday."

  He blinked, but that was the only reaction she got before his face smoothed into lazy amusement, the king of Sector Four at his finest. He might as well have been sprawled on a throne instead of kneeling over her, his hand still crushing his belt buckle. Arrogance rolled off him, and the dangerous promise from before seemed tiny and harmless next to what filled him now.