Lock and Key

by Cat Porter

  “What’s the matter, Little Sister? You had enough or want some more?” Lock’s deep voice rose behind me.

  I spun around, and there he was filling the hallway. Dark emotion pounded off him and charged the space between us. My heart skipped a beat.

  “What did you say?”

  “There I was thinking that you needed time to deal with your past before you moved on to something new, but I was wrong.” His brows snapped together, and his small hoop earring swung. “You’re too busy climbing all over your past.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are?”

  “I know who and what I am. Do you?” His glassy eyes flared at me. “Is Butler another one of your former flames? As if the fucking deputy wasn’t enough.”

  “What’s it to you?”

  “Answer me!”

  “I’ve never hooked up with Butler, if that’s what you’re implying. I was a faithful Old Lady.”

  He smirked. “So now’s your big chance then, huh?”

  “Well, there’s an idea!”

  Lock’s hands reached out, wrapped tightly around my neck, and pulled me into his body. His tequila-laced lips brushed mine, and I gasped for air. His tongue lashed through my mouth. Sensation exploded inside me.

  Hell no.

  I pushed back against his chest and managed to tear away from him.

  “You can’t have it both ways, Lock. One minute you’re all over me and the next you push me away and play it cold. Now this? What’s it going to be?” I asked. “You’ve got a problem with me and an old friend spending time together after so many years, but you’ve got bitches climbing all over you, kissing you, touching you!”

  His jaw tightened. “They’re just the same old tits and holes, Grace. They’re nothing, they don’t take any effort,” he said. “I’m old enough to know the difference.”

  “Really?”

  His hand pressed up my torso, and I fought my body’s ridiculously instant, heat-filled reaction.

  “Just can’t keep away from you, no matter how hard I try,” he muttered against my cheek. My nerves jumped and caught fire at his words, at the timbre of his voice.

  My fingers sank into his sides then slid around his back. A raw groan escaped his throat. “Then don’t,” I breathed.

  I opened my mouth to him, and his tongue plunged right in and claimed mine. The kiss quickly became desperate, hostile. I pressed in closer to his body. His fingers found the button and zipper of my jeans and undid them. His cold hand slid against the warm skin of my tummy and sank in between my legs. I let out a soft cry.

  “Aw, fuck,” he grunted and sank against me.

  “Lock—” A rush of pounding blood erupted in my veins.

  “You gonna let him in here?” he said on a hiss. My eyes flew open. Two of his fingers rubbed around my clit and squeezed. The sensation tore through me like a flame. I panted hard.

  Why did it have to be like this? A stolen moment with me pinned up against the wall, Lock servicing me like some house slut. Right here, where he had gotten blown by Heather and who knows how many others.

  My hips jerked against his hand, and I snapped my legs together. “Screw you!”

  He slammed me against the wall and bit my lip. I gasped into his mouth. He yanked my jeans down further, and his one hand swept down under my panties over the flesh of my ass and the other went down my front. I choked against his double-handed onslaught. The smooth coldness of his silver ring grazed me right on target. My knees buckled.

  “Oh God, don’t!”

  “You gonna give it away to Butler tonight, baby?”

  Both his hands moved quicker over my sensitive flesh. The knot of tight, tight pleasure built and towered over me. I was going under. My head pressed back into the wall, and I strained for whatever oxygen remained in the hallway. Pain, pleasure, and shock riveted me to that hard wall, to him.

  He let out a brutal snarl.

  “Lock… oh God!”

  “You want me to fuck you now? Want me inside you?” The seething fierceness in his voice incinerated a hole in my chest.

  I gazed up at him like a lost child. He slid his hands out of my panties and traced my lips with a wet finger. My scent wafted around me. His eyes flashed over me, and my flesh vibrated. He suddenly thrust two of his fingers up inside me, and I gasped. His other hand was wrapped tight around my neck and his forehead was glued to mine. His lips were just degrees out of my reach, but he wouldn’t give them to me. My hips jerked in tandem with the quick rhythm of his fingers.

  My body surrendered. I shut my eyes and saw stars. My fists opened in a pathetic attempt to grip the wall for dear life. My teeth pierced my lower lip and imprisoned the moan in my throat. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. All my joints had liquefied. Holy shit, he had serviced me in the goddamn hallway.

  He had turned the tables very nicely.

  Lock released me and numbness immediately stole over me. He stood back an inch and tugged sharply at my panties, then yanked my jeans up around my hips, jerked up the zipper and buttoned the top button. His hot breath fanned my skin, but an icy chill swept over me.

  He was done.

  “That should take the edge off for now, yeah?” he whispered.

  How did we turn so ugly?

  Who the fuck does he think he is?

  My hand shot out and palmed the full throttle erection in his jeans. He grunted and grabbed my wrist.

  “And how about your edge, huh? You going to blow your load inside one of those skanks now?” I asked. “Or maybe both of them, big man?”

  His hands cupped my breasts and squeezed. I winced.

  “Should I save it all up for you, baby?” he said in my ear.

  Tears stung the backs of my eyes. I released him, and my head sank against the wall.

  He planted his hands on the wall on either side of my face and leaned into me. “I know I can’t compete with your past,” he said. “And you’ve got to do whatever it is you need to do. It burns, but I get it. I get that whatever you’re feeling being back here is big. I get all this shit, babe, believe me.” He swallowed hard. “You want Butler, you feeling it for him, you should go for it.”

  I pushed against him, but it was no use. He was like a wall of iron barring my escape. His nose slid slowly against my jaw. The tangy aroma of his sweat mixed with faded spice made my head spin. A sob heaved from my chest.

  “But at least I’ll know when he fucks you tonight, I got in there first, and you’ll be thinking of me.”

  I slapped his face hard. My hand burned.

  He only nodded and pushed back from the wall, his lips pulled in a firm line, his eyes down. He walked away from me, his heavy footfalls echoed in the dark.

  I stumbled to my room and went right to Jake who remained in a full, deep sleep. I furiously washed my hands and face, brushed my teeth, reapplied my makeup, dark and smoky around the eyes this time. I ripped off my jeans, tore off my damp panties, cleaned up, and put on a fresh pair, and then pulled up my jeans again.

  I charged back out to the party, found Butler, and put my arm around his middle.

  “Hey, beautiful, there you are.”

  I grinned up at him. He handed me his beer, and I finished the rest of it in one swallow.

  “I wanted to take you out for a ride tonight, but with you on lockdown it ain’t gonna happen.” He kissed me. My fingers curled into his leather jacket.

  Someone whistled behind us and Butler laughed and hooked his arm around my neck. I leaned into his solid body.

  The party went on full blast for another couple of hours. Butler lit a joint and handed it to me, and I took a long drag. He winked at me, a wink full of heat and wicked promise. I let the smoke burn in my lungs then turned my head to the side to let out it out, and my gaze found Lock.

  He sat on one of the wooden picnic tables. That black-haired beauty danced to the music in between his open legs and had pulled down her halter top to expose her large, firm breasts. He laughed at something she sa
id, drained his beer bottle then tossed it into the nearby garbage can with barely a look.

  “Hey, Butler. Who’s that woman with Lock? Didn’t she come with you?”

  “Who?” Butler turned and a smile curled his lips. “Yeah, that’s Iris. She’s been hanging with us for almost a year now.”

  Lock leaned forward, grabbed her ass and pulled her into his body. With her arms wrapped around his neck, she gyrated to the music against his body, her long hair swinging across her bare back.

  “That’s quite a show,” I said.

  Butler chuckled. “That’s nothing for Iris, baby. Nothing. She’s just getting started.”

  I clenched my jaw and reached for the joint in Butler’s fingers once again and took another drag. What had Lock said? It’s better this way. Sure is. No mess, no muck, no worries.

  No connection.

  The night carried on. Butler and I laughed at Boner’s crazy jokes and Dawes’s shy come-on’s to the girls. Clip got busy not with one, but two women on a picnic table. Dee, Alicia, and I gabbed about exercise dvd’s over more tequila shots. Then we held onto each other and stood on a table and sang to some vintage Grateful Dead tunes that blared over the speakers and laughed and laughed. It felt good not to have a care in the world.

  Or at least pretend I didn’t.

  Butler whooped and whistled loudly. “Get down here, Joan Jett!”

  Warm hands wrapped around my waist. Butler swept me off the table, and I let out a loud yelp. My girlfriends cheered and clapped.

  Butler’s lips nuzzled my neck. “Fuck me, you’re something else.”

  I giggled and his blue eyes shined back at me. He kissed me. Butler gently put me back on my feet, took my hand, and led me into the clubhouse. We peeked in on Jake who slept soundly, and then Butler took me down the opposite hallway to his guest room. He locked the door, and in a tequila, beer and weed-induced haze laced with plenty of anti-Lock bitterness, I got naked with Butler in the dark.

  “Fuck, look at you. Get on my face now, I want up in that pussy at long fucking last,” he said in the shadows, his voice rough.

  “Who could resist that invitation?” I asked.

  He roared with laughter. I did as requested. All I wanted was to be swept away into something far, far away. Butler’s pierced tongue danced through me. His hands groped my ass.

  “Always wanted you, baby.”

  “I know…” I moaned.

  “You wanted me too, smartass” He let out a growl and smacked my rear. Harsh bites of pleasure burst through me like fiery needles. I fell back onto the mattress against his body.

  Butler reached over to his nightstand and ripped a condom packet between his teeth. He smoothed the rubber over his cock.

  My heart thudded in my chest. I was really going to do this.

  Just like Lock was going to have Iris and maybe even the pink-blondie. Both of them begging him for it, begging for his mouth, begging for his…

  Butler’s hand slid up my thigh. “Come here, babe.”

  He rolled on top of me and his hands stroked my breasts. He kissed me. Waves of dizziness filled my head. He raised himself up and pushed into me.

  He let out a groan. “You’re killing me.”

  “I bet you say that to all the girls,” I said through gritted teeth. I battled with memories of Lock’s hands on me, his tongue teasing my skin, the warmth of his hand curled around my smaller one. The memory of the heat of his dark eyes in the hallway burned in my chest.

  That huge cup of ice.

  Iris’s half-naked body grinding into his.

  “You’ll be thinking of me.”

  Son of a bitch.

  Butler let out a laugh, and his hands went to my hips and gripped them tightly. “I’ve always been an asshole baby, but that’s one of things you liked about me.”

  That was true. Twenty years ago, I had found his Nordic good looks, sweet charm, and volatile edge to be a fascinating package. Back then I had a faraway girly crush on this blonde, blue-eyed Viking, but it was like having a crush on your brother-in-law… totally off limits, simply not done. Or like having a crush on a celebrity… impossible to come true, but fun to fantasize about. Butler had been my bad boy fantasy crush like the one I had on Axl Rose back in the day. That was the thrill and the extent of it for me, the fantasy. Until that night in the woods. That spooked me out of the crush and made me realize that this was not a harmless fantasy.

  I loved Dig, and my husband and I were dedicated to keeping each other happy. (Not to mention how fooling around with another brother is a totally evil thing to do to the brotherhood, and I was not that woman.) I had been thrilled when Butler and Caitlyn had gotten close and she wore his property patch, and then he had put a ring on her finger. They had been genuinely happy together. Eventually things had settled down, and the four of us had made for great company and good times.

  But now, here I was, getting my taste of Butler.

  Careful what you wish for.

  “Sister… damn.” Butler wrapped a hand around my left thigh and pulled it higher against his hip. “We’ve got all night to make up for years of wondering about it.”

  Club slut.

  That would be me.

  My head pounded, and I deserved it. I deserved a baseball bat to the brain, in fact. And to the pelvis. Were chastity belts available? I should get one, lock it on myself, and throw away the damned key.

  I think my lifelong good girl status had just been officially flushed down the toilet. At my age, too. My sudden lack of impulse control since I had crossed the border into South Dakota astounded me. What the hell was in the water?

  I clambered off the bed and scrounged around for my clothes. I got dressed in the half dark; the light in the bathroom had been left on. I leaned over Butler’s immobile body on the bed. My hand found his wrist, and I angled it to get a look at the dial of the large sports watch he wore.

  “Thank God,” I muttered. It was 4:34 in the morning. I let go of Butler’s wrist, and his arm plopped on the mattress. I went into the bathroom. My eyes widened.

  Three lines of white powder lay on the small bathroom counter by his keys, and an open plastic zippy bag full of what I assumed was a stash of coke. A hell of a lot of coke.

  No wonder he had the exuberance of a bull last night even after all the booze and weed. No wonder he couldn’t come. He had tried valiantly, but then he had dozed off much to my relief.

  I took care of my business and washed my hands carefully in order not to get any water on his pricey stash. I got the hell out of his room.

  At this hour everyone should be passed out. No worries about a walk of shame. Unfortunately, I still had to cross through the main clubroom to get to where I was sharing a room with Jake. Bodies were strewn over the couches, and a half-naked couple was in a tangle on one of the pool tables. Snores rose from another corner of the room. I watched where I stepped as there were bottles, cups, and smashed cigarette butts strewn everywhere.

  “Little Sister!”

  I froze.

  Oh, hell no—who was that? I turned my head in the direction of the voice.

  Jump leaned against the door of his office and motioned for me to come in. His face was grim. I tiptoed over a smattering of crushed potato chips and a puddle of yeasty beer on the floor and entered his dimly lit inner sanctum. He closed the door behind me.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked. “Did something happen?”

  “You tell me.”

  “What?”

  “Did you fuck him?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Butler—did you fuck Butler?” Jump asked.

  “Jump—what…?”

  His eyes glinted at me. “Answer the goddamn question, Sister!”

  “Yes! Alright? Yes.”

  “Good,” he said.

  “What?”

  “We got a problem.”

  “Jump, it’s just after four in the morning, my head is pounding, and I’m having a hard time putting two and t
wo together here after a very, very long night.”

  “I got a problem with Butler, and I need your help. You just made our lives a hell of a lot easier without me even having to ask. Have a seat.”

  I dropped my boots to the floor and slumped in the armchair in front of his desk. My eyes grazed over the photos of past presidents of the One-Eyed Jacks. Each face more dour than the next, a few of them cocky and defiant. All of them dead and gone, some by natural causes, most of them by the hand of another or at the mercy of a road machine.

  “You need my help?”

  “I need you to get close to that fucker.”

  “Are we talking about Butler?” I asked. My fingers rubbed at my sore eyes.

  “Yeah, Sister, keep up,” Jump said. “He’s been getting sloppy the past couple of years. Getting into scrapes with local law instead of keeping them happy. He’s been dipping into the profits for himself and reaching out to gangs he shouldn’t be. He’s more erratic than he’s ever been, and that’s saying something. He’s strung out half the time, and it ain’t only the green he’s dipping into.”

  I leaned closer to Jump who was sitting on the edge of his desk. “Well, he’s got quite a snowy mountain stash in his bathroom right now.”

  A bitter grin split Jump’s face in two. “After years of this shit, I’m surprised he can still get it up. Hell, I’m surprised he’s got a nose left,” Jump said.

  I sighed and crossed my arms and legs.

  “I think he’s working with Vig,” Jump said. “Vig’s been wanting us to patch in for a while. He wants our territory badly for his expanding drug empire and whatever the fuck else he’s into these days. And he likes our contacts out west. He’s hooked up with big, national clubs to compete with the crime organizations that have moved in up north. Drugs, whores, and guns are big business up there.”

  I’d been aware for sometime how the FBI, the ATF, even Canadian authorities were all over the Bakken now dealing with the higher crime rates. With the influx of tens of thousands of workers camped all over the shale oil reserve region that bridged North Dakota, Montana and Canada, Vig had his work cut out for him.