by V. Theia
He knew she was full of shit.
“What are you doing here?” He was sitting on the side of her bed with the cold scent of outside clinging to him.
God. Now that her heart had its original beat, it sped up seeing Tad in her bedroom. The place she’d had a million dirty fantasies of him while she brought herself to climax, wishing it was his hand.
“Thought I’d be the one breaking and entering this time,” he smiled and used a finger to move the hair from her eyes. “Happy birthday, Roux.”
His lips met hers, gently at first but Roux, overexcited to feel and smell him, she latched her arms around him, opened her mouth and moaned.
He leaned in and deepened. Roux all but purred as Tad’s flavor filled her senses and she freed her hands so she could roam them under his shirt. He hissed against her lips. “Take your clothes off and climb in with me.”
“Fuck.” He groaned, palming the full left side of her face.
All remnants of sleep disappeared. She leaned into his hand, using her teeth to nip the skin of his wrist where his leather jacket sleeve rode up his forearm.
“Please. I need you.”
He cursed again. “You’re tempting a devil, Roux.”
“You don’t want to fuck me?”
She knew he did. She could practically lap up the smell of his arousal. If she climbed into his lap now the evidence of how much he wanted her would poke her thick and hard.
His growl was music and she had to hide her grin. Tad grasped her chin, tipped it back so she only saw the whites of his eyes from the shards of moonlight through the blinds. “You know I always wanna fuck you, you little cocktease. I’d live inside you, stretching you around my swollen dick until it hurt.” He grunted, vibrating the noise to her lips. “My cocktease, aren’t you?”
She flipped back the top sheet to show the little bralette she slept in with the booty shorts and Tad groaned. “I’ll be yours if you fuck me.”
He dragged the sheet down further, roaming his hand over her stomach before he pushed under the bralette and palmed her boob. Pleasure erupted and made her back leave the bed.
“You are mine.”
“Tad, please.”
“Not with your dad in the house, I already feel like I’m robbing the cradle again being in your bedroom.”
Roux laughed. She didn’t care, not then, not when her vision misted over with want.
“Maybe I want my cradle rocked. Maybe I want you to rock it so hard that you have to put your hand over my mouth, so the neighbors don’t hear me.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.” The sheer power and masculinity he displayed was eclipsed only by the attractiveness of his face. He stared at her with unrepentant passion mirrored back at her. His dark eyes assessed her attentively before he wrapped a hand around the front of Roux’s throat.
She jolted with shock and lust. Her thighs churned together under the sheet.
Fucking hell, he was so virile that she knew living with him was going to put her in some kind of sore coma, because how could she keep her hands off him?
“My girl needs something from me?”
“God, yes.” She breathed. Jerking again when his free hand stroked the front of her body, and dipped right into her shorts. Not stopping until he was teasing her pussy open.
A little teasing circle around her clit and then he went lower. Roux gurgled her pleasure as her head hit the pillow and his fingers around her throat caressed her pulse.
“You have to be quiet, baby. Can you do that for me?”
Absolutely not. There was no way, it felt too good already, but her eyes half closed, and she bobbed her head. Already swimming in the imminent bliss he was gliding into her with his two fingers.
His size dwarfing everything around her, she held onto his forearm. Not because the hand around her throat was scaring her, far from it. She loved the hold, she needed to touch him in return.
She wanted him naked and heavy on top of her but her medical man wasn’t going to fuck her in her childhood bedroom.
His long fingers inside her was the next best thing, she thought with a humming whimper, as she contorted on a silent moan when he started to torment her G-spot with precision flicks.
“Ah, god. You feel tighter on your birthday.”
His thumb started to caress the side of her neck, then moved across her parted lips. It was right at the point of detonation that her eyes widened because she felt an out of control scream starting to brew behind her lips, she flipped her gaze to Tad who hadn’t taken his eyes off her face and without having to tell him, he brought his mouth down to hers as she burst into flames and colors. Coming harder than ever while her man tormented the pleasure out of her.
His tongue slowed in her mouth and she puffed out an exhausted breath as he nipped his teeth on her lower lip. “You taste sweeter on your birthday too.” He shared with a masculine hum and brought his fingers out from between her legs and showed her he meant it by popping them into his mouth for a long suck.
God, he was driving her nuts.
Lips that she craved came down on hers, “I give you what you need, baby?”
Roux grinned against his mouth. “Mm, almost.”
Tad groaned into her mouth, lashing her with his tongue and then he stood up. “Get dressed, wanna take you out.”
“At midnight?”
“Yeah, got stuff for you. You’re spending tomorrow with your dad, so I want you now.”
Roux was out of bed and dressed in minutes. Tad cupped his hand around the shaved part of her skull and held onto her ponytail. “You are beautiful, you know that?”
She wasn’t prone to blushing, but her cheeks heated.
“Wait, aren’t we going out of the window?” Pulling at his hand when he made for the bedroom door.
Tad smirked. “Nah, not risking you falling and hurting yourself.”
Shit.
Axel never slept this early if he was home.
And yep, he appeared in the hallway, thunder all over his face.
Roux squeezed Tad’s hand, who looked unbothered as fuck.
Her two favorite men in the world would have to get along sooner or later, she decided to let them figure it out themselves.
“Wondered if you’d have the balls to walk out of my front door and not the window you went through.”
He had ears like a fucking bat if he’d known Tad was here. She grinned at him. Tad ignored Axel for a second while he helped Roux into her jacket, taking the time to zip it for her like a gallant biker.
She wouldn’t confess to anyone because it made her feel silly and girlie, but she loved those small gestures he did. Like taking hold of her hand again.
“Didn’t want my girl to break her neck.”
“But you don’t mind breaking into my house…”
Tad replied in the same tone. “You get her in the morning, I get to spend some of her birthday with her now.”
Axel grumbled and Roux grinned. “See you in the morning, daddy.” She leaned over and popped a kiss to his rough cheek.
“You fucking make sure she’s safe.”
“Always do.”
“You know, I think you two are becoming friends,” she declared when Tad clipped a helmet under her chin. He climbed on his bike and held her hand when she got on behind him, her arms banded around his waist.
He chuffed a laugh. “Don’t push it, Cookie. He still wants to choke me.”
She snuggled deeper into his hard body, her fingers found their way beneath the bottom of his shirt and rested on his flat belly. “But I’m worth it, right?”
The engine thrummed beneath them and sent a thrill as always through the middle of Roux’s body. She felt at home on a bike, most especially on the back of Tad’s and she squeezed him tight.
As he gunned down the street to an unknown direction, he turned and sent her a cocky grin so scorching hot over his shoulder. “Every inch of you is worth it, Roux.”
Already this was turning out to be her favor
ite birthday yet and she didn’t have the first clue where he was taking her.
TWENTY-SEVEN
“The thing about trouble … it always circles back.” - Roux
“Do you remember the Thai food we had on my birthday?” Roux asked, happy nostalgia to her tone and Butcher felt it in his gut because of course, he did. He kept hold of every stolen night they had together. And he especially remembered each birthday they’d celebrated together.
As fleeting as they’d been.
The Thai food was on her twentieth birthday. He’d left her napping in their motel room to drive down the street to get them some food.
“I thought it was gonna kill us.”
Roux laughed and cuddled into the hand he was holding. “It really did taste horrible. But it was a good birthday. This is a good birthday too.”
They were leaving Gino’s in the center of Denver. The man himself shook Butcher’s hand. “It’s always a pleasure to see you, my friend. Come by more often and bring your beauty with you.” He announced, beaming at Roux.
“I will, my man, thanks for tonight.”
“How did you get the whole restaurant for just us and after opening hours too?” She asked once they were on the sidewalk taking the slow walk back to his bike.
“He’s a good guy. And he owed me a favor.”
“Let me guess,” she mused, a finger to her lips. Butcher smirked watching her. “You whacked someone for him?”
“Close. His son got shot up, I sorted him out.”
“Because he couldn’t go to the ER.”
It was a satisfied feeling that he didn’t need to hide shit from Roux. She got the laws of bikers. If there was a problem, the club dealt with it personally without calling on the law.
“Is his son okay?”
“Right as rain with his wife and kids.”
“You’re a good man, Thaddeus.”
His Roux was drunk on the red wine she’d slurped if she thought so, but damn if he didn’t want to be a hero in her eyes. He stopped at his bike and cupped the side of her face. She lifted it up and smiled and he was walloped in the mid-section with how fucking much he loved this woman.
Down to the bones and skin of him.
She was it.
He’d always known it.
He set eyes on her that day on the side of the road and whatever soul a man like him still had, knew she was meant to be his.
He dropped his head and put his lips to hers and pressed her up against the wall because where else would he put a masterpiece?
“I’ll be a good man to you,” he said with a rasp. It was the absolute truth.
He couldn’t envision a day where he didn’t break his back to make her happy, whatever that may be. Whatever she wanted; he’d get it for her.
Humming against his mouth, she gave him the best gift of all when she smiled.
“I think you should come to the next cookout with me.”
“At your dad’s place?”
“Yeah. I know it’s going to be awkward, you being a down and dirty Souls,” she teased him, her fingers sneaking under the front of his shirt. She had a thing for his belly. If she touched it he was gonna fuck her right here on the quiet street.
“But it’s a family thing and I want you there, Tad. Will you?”
He groaned because he’d rather have his balls in a mouse trap than be seen at any Diablos event.
For Roux, he’d do anything.
“Yeah, if you want me there, I’ll be there.” He kissed the back of her knuckles. “You get your fill, baby, or do you wanna go to a dessert place?”
His girl deliberated with a hum and rested her forehead to his chest. That was his cue to get his hands on her, seeing as how he was addicted and couldn’t go long without touching her in some way. He palmed the back of her nape and stroked up and down.
“I’m so stuffed, even though I do want more cake. Or a donut. Maybe a waffle cone.”
Watching her enjoying her food was a fetish for Butcher because he felt his cock twitch inside his jeans when she groaned. Kissing the top of her head, he started to clip the helmet on her when a Black SUV came from around the corner, slowed and pulled up alongside them. The window whirred down, and Butcher got the first hint of disturbance when a female face came into view.
They both recognized the woman.
He instinctively placed his body in front of Roux.
“Doesn’t this look cozy.” Verónica Garcia Ruiz remarked, her lips pulled in a tight smile. Dressed for business, but her eyes were all viper as she smiled tightly at Roux. “Miss. Tucker, this is fortuitous that we run into each other.”
“Yeah, I doubt that,” mouthed his girl. She tried to come out from behind him, Butcher got a hold of her waist to keep her next to him.
Butcher didn’t like coincidences, not ones that included the Ruiz woman. He wasn’t taking chances with Roux’s safety. He squeezed a hand on her hip to let her know to stay right there.
“You and I have unfinished business, niña. My husband was not happy with what you did.”
Butcher felt Roux stiffen.
“We don’t have business together and if your hubby is unhappy then try getting on your knees a little more, it works for my man.”
A grin pulled at Butcher’s lips. He’d always loved her spunk.
Ruiz’s dark gaze flitted to him and he saw a flare of appreciative interest through her eyes.
Yeah, lady. In your fucking dreams.
“Come on, let’s go.” He told Roux.
“You killed one of my men,” Ruiz announced in a tone that said the bitch was used to getting her own way.
“You’re dreaming, lady.” Butcher spoke before Roux could. She was already bristling against his chest when he fixed the helmet strap under her chin. “Go spend your night hassling someone else, stay the fuck away from my woman.”
“I recognize your jacket.” She told him. “I wonder how Axel Tucker would feel about his daughter running around with a Renegade Souls.”
That’s when Roux started laughing and slipped under Butcher’s arm to stare at the woman. “Fancy tattling to my daddy do you? You’re pathetic. You couldn’t stand losing at cards, Verónica, careful that the bitterness doesn’t wipe away your looks.”
The woman chuckled and lit up the screen of her phone, holding it out for them to see. And when Butcher heard Roux gasp, he wrapped his arm around her. Motherfucker. Ruiz had taken a picture of Roux standing over the dead bodyguard.
That fucking bitch.
His growl was that of a man pissed off and he placed his body between the car and Roux.
“We’re not interested, Ruiz. Stick to shopping because what you’re doing now is gonna take you down a path you won’t come back from, you get me?”
She chuckled again but gave her eyes to Roux. “I’ll leave it up to you to get in touch with me, niña. As I said, we have unfinished business.” The window whirred up and the car pulled away.
Butcher watched it disappear before cupping Roux’s face. “Ignore the bitch.”
“She has a photo of me, Tad!”
“Shit means nothing. Who’s she gonna show it to, the cops? I don’t think so, it would implicate her, and Ruiz isn’t gonna let his wife squeal to the law.”
“Then what the fuck does she want?”
“I don’t know but we’ll find out. Let’s head home, baby. I only have you for another 4 hours and I don’t intend to spend it thinking about a bitch in Prada shoes.”
Roux started laughing and curled herself into his chest. He was worried even if he wasn’t voicing it to her.
“What if I’m a bitch who owns Prada fuck me shoes?”
Butcher grunted, picturing her in only a pair of fuck me heels. “Do you? Actually, doesn’t matter, you’re getting fucked the minute we’re home anyway, shoes or not.”
She grinned, dotting a kiss to his rough jaw. “Better take me home then.”
He did, and he showed her how he celebrated his girl’s birth
day.
It was only after he’d taken Roux home to spend some time with Axel that he started to think about the Ruiz woman and what shit she could cause for his Roux.
Had Lawless been at the club instead of inside a prison cell, he would have asked the enforcer to hack into Ruiz’s phone. Fortunately, Butcher had heard of another hacker from Manhattan, so he put a message out through the channels.
He wanted the shit she had on her phone destroyed.
TWENTY-EIGHT
“It’s not a big step when you’ve wanted it forever.” – Roux
“I want the club’s weight behind protecting my girl, Prez.”
“No one is starting a war over a bodyguard. Relax, doc.” Rider said as the pair walked across the forecourt side by side. “I can reach out to Ruiz if need be, but I’d rather not deal with that dipshit by choice. His old lady is trying to exert some authority. What’s she gonna do, take the evidence to the cops? Not happening, it would implicate herself and Ruiz won’t have that.”
Butcher knew on some level that was true. But then he was acting on instinct, he was walking the line as Roux’s man, needing to protect her any way he could.
He’d already paid the kid in Manhattan to hack Ruiz’s phone cloud to delete the photo. Whether she had it stored somewhere else, he didn’t know. According to his guy, he’d done a comprehensive search of her devices, the sites she visited, and nothing turned up another copy.
“Keep your head, Butcher,” Rider advised. “I know the impulse is to go off half-cocked when it’s about your old lady, but the last thing we need is a battle. This shit isn’t Souls mess. It’s his.” He went on and indicated to the man on his rumbling bike at the gates.
Rider activated the mechanical gate and the pair of them stepped out.
“Hey, Rider. Thought it better we speak out here,” Axel said, casting his blank stare at Butcher who crossed his arms. He’d called the guy to meet them here, so he didn’t stand on ceremony. He explained the situation.
“That fucking whore, I’ll put her in a shallow grave.” Cold fury blasting out of him.
“I’m getting Roux moved in with me today.” Butcher told him, expecting him to kick off. Butcher couldn’t give a fuck about Axel’s tantrums, least of all right now. “If need be I’ll get her locked down in the compound.”
