Locke Brothers Series

by Ashley, Victoria

  I look at Ace and see he looks pissed off, his expression dark as he stares at Sterling. “She needs to see what we are about. She needs to know how far we go.”

  Sterling just shakes his head and exhales. “You’re fucking insane, dude,” he says under his breath. He glances at the house. “I guess if you were going to bring her with you this would be the right house to do it at. Shit that we can control.”

  I’m so confused at this point that I don’t bother asking questions. I have to assume this is one of their “less violent” runs, because why else would Ace bring me with him if it were really dangerous?

  Or maybe they are so sure of themselves that they know how this will go down before they even step foot in the house.

  The latter seems more likely.

  “Well,” Sterling says, rolling his head around and cracking his neck. He’s just as pumped up as Ace. “Let’s get this fucking party started.”

  And just like that, my heart sinks to my stomach as the unknown presents itself.

  I lift my gaze and stare at Ace’s hammer, his weapon of choice. He swings it into the door, one, two, three times, before the whole thing practically comes down in front of him.

  I would think seeing him with his hammer, heated and full of rage would frighten me somehow, make me think less of him, but it doesn’t. In some strange way, it turns me on, knowing that he has the power to hurt some asshole who deserves it.

  Ace is fearless with his hammer and I’d be lying if I said I’m not curious to see what he does with it next. I know now they don’t hurt people unless it’s justified and deserved. It just took me a while to realize that.

  With his jaw flexed, he turns behind him and reaches for my hand. Without a word, he pulls me inside, with him leading the way.

  Sterling enters behind us, and I glance at him, seeing him cross his arms over his chest and lean against the wall. He’s wearing a pretty big grin. “The fucker is in the basement. I’ll let you take care of the prick. I’ll stay up here for backup, but I’m positive he’s alone down there.”

  Ace grins at his brother while rolling his head around on his neck. “This piece of shit is mine and Melissa’s. Just stay the fuck right there.”

  My heart hammers against my chest, adrenaline pumping through me as Ace grabs my hand again and begins leading me down to the basement.

  Mine and Melissa’s?

  What does that even mean?

  Why does this situation excite me, yet make me so damn nervous at the same time?

  It’s almost as if I want to see Ace hurt someone and I don’t know how I feel about that.

  Maybe being around Ace makes me want to be just as twisted as he is. Maybe inside, I’m just as corrupted as he is and he’s been able to see it all along.

  And maybe that’s why I feel we are perfect for each other.

  Whatever the reason, I’m about to see what Ace is all about. I’m about to see him. The true him.

  17

  Ace

  I’ve been watching Melissa since the moment we arrived. Been testing her body language, her breathing, to see how being here makes her feel.

  I’m not sure she’s ready to admit it just yet, but being here, about to hurt some motherfucker who deserves it, the excitement of it, has her just as pumped as I am.

  She’s just confused by these feelings. I know this, because my emotions were just as twisted and confusing the first time too. Still… she’s here with me and it doesn’t look as if she plans on running anytime soon.

  The knowledge of that has me wanting to slam her against a wall and bury myself between her thighs. Call me a sick fuck, but the thought of catching this motherfucker, beating him until he’s bloody and tying him up while I fuck my woman in the next room has me hard as a fucking rock.

  But I school myself and gather my self-control. I can’t lose focus.

  This motherfucker thinks he can put his hands on a woman without her permission. Thinks he can fuck someone without their consent. But once I break both his hands and legs, let him really feel pain, he won’t know the feeling of being inside a woman for a long fucking time.

  I want him tortured and in agony.

  Once we reach the bottom of the stairs, I turn around and back Melissa up against the wall with my body. With my free hand, I grip her neck and lean in to whisper in her ear. “Stay here.” Her body is tense against mine, the anxiety practically pouring from her in waves. I close my eyes and place my hand on the center of her chest, just breathing in and out slowly, telling her, showing her without words that she’s safe.

  I pull back and look into her eyes. She nods in response to my statement, my demand. She’s breathing a little easier now, a little more even. She looks into my eyes, her pupils dilated, her desire clear.

  I smirk down at her, pleased to know that she’s still turned on by me, despite the fucked-up situation I have her in right now.

  With a small growl, I pull her bottom lip into my mouth, tugging it between my teeth, before I release it. “Don’t move. I mean it.”

  “Wait,” she says on a heavy breath. “I need to know what he did first. I don’t know if I can stay otherwise.”

  I stiffen, hating the idea of saying what this sick fuck did out loud, but for her to fully understand what we do, she needs to know.

  “He’s a fucking rapist. A sick son of bitch who takes what he wants, when he wants. He drugs women so he can control them. The last one just happened to stay awake long enough to know it was happening.”

  “A rapist,” she says on an angry whisper. “How many women?”

  I shake my head. “Five, maybe more.” I grit my teeth and grip the wood of the hammer tighter. “One was enough to punish the sick fuck and that’s what I’m about to do.”

  She nods again, her eyes filled with anger at the knowledge of what this fucker has done. “Give him what he deserves.” She looks down at my hammer as if imagining what she could do with it. “Break both of that sick asshole’s legs.”

  I back away and swing my hammer around, my gaze still locked on hers, until I finally turn around and head for the first closed door.

  The room is empty, so I move on to the only other option left down here in this creepy-ass basement.

  Her words have me even more worked up, my adrenaline pumping like fucking crazy to get to this son of a bitch and hurt him.

  It’s almost like I’m hurting him for her now.

  Bringing my boot up, I kick the door open and step inside to see a single bed and dresser set up inside the tiny room.

  There’s no closet and the room is fairly clean, causing me to laugh at the fact that this fucker thought he could hide from me down here.

  “Trenton.” I stop in front of the bed. “Are you really going to make me drag you out from under there?”

  It takes a moment before I hear shuffling from under the bed. Then I see Trenton haul his ass out.

  I take several steps back, curling my fingers tightly around the handle of the hammer. I can feel the smirk covering my face as the asshole stands and faces me.

  He won’t look me in the eye, and I can feel the fear coming from him.

  Good, he needs to be afraid, because what I’m about to do to him is what nightmares are made of.

  Finally, he clears his throat and shifts on his feet. He looks at me, his eyes going wide as they take in the hammer I’m holding.

  He knows why I am here, and what I’m about to do.

  He’s heard of me. Of us Locke brothers.

  Trenton holds his hands up in surrender, but that just makes me laugh. “I don’t know why you’re acting like this isn’t going to happen.” I take a step closer and he retreats one back.

  “Ace-I-I swear. It was a misunderstanding.”

  That just pisses me off even more.

  I tighten my hand even harder around the handle of the hammer and take another step closer.

  The rage boils up inside of me, causing my blood to pump hard and fast through my veins.
“You’re actually going to stand there and tell me it was a misunderstanding?” I cock my head to the side as I appraise him. “You held her down, took from her what she wasn’t willingly offering.” The words come out of me like an animalistic growl. “Tell me again how innocent you are.”

  He is shaking his head as he retreats even farther, but the wall stops him, cornering him. I’m only a couple of feet from him now, the anger inside of me so intense I can feel it tightening my muscles, preparing me for what is about to happen.

  “A misunderstanding.” He says the words on a whisper, now knowing that this is going to happen no matter what.

  Hell, he should have known that from the moment he knew I was here.

  I am not about to prolong this. I’m going to fuck him up and then I’m going to take my woman and make her forget about tonight, about all the shitty things that she’s seen, felt. I’m going to make her only feel pleasure as she stares into my eyes, knowing she’s in my arms, safe and protected.

  I bring my arm back, swinging my hammer forward.

  I’ll never let anything happen to Melissa and I’ll do anything for her. She’s mine, and I’m going to prove that to fucking everyone.

  I connect the steel on the side of Trenton’s leg, going all Misery on his ass. He screams out in pain and falls to the floor. I kick him so he moves over, and then I swing the hammer down on his other leg.

  The sound of his kneecaps crushing under the onslaught of my hammer has my heart racing faster. I feel the rush of adrenaline at knowing this fucker is going to be in pain for a long time.

  This fucker deserves a lot more than I’m giving him.

  I swing out and knock the hammer against his knee again, then do the same to the other one. Blood is pooling through his jeans where I broke his legs, and the sight of that crimson stain spreading brings me a hell of a lot of pleasure.

  I turn and stare at the door, knowing Melissa is right on the other side, no doubt hearing the screams of this piece of shit.

  I wanted her here, but I didn’t want her to see this violence, didn’t want her to have that image ingrained in her memory. She needed to know exactly who I was, despite the rumors she’s no doubt heard, despite the shit she knows my brothers and I do.

  And tonight I gave that to her, tenfold.

  18

  Melissa

  I stare at Ace from the passenger seat, watching as his broad chest quickly rises and falls.

  He’s focused on the road, but I catch him glancing my way every few moments as if he can’t keep his eyes off me. Or maybe he’s wondering how I’ll react after what I heard? But I want to imagine it’s the former.

  I want to think that he’s so drawn to me he can barely manage the simple task of driving wherever he’s taking me without wanting to pull over and fuck me right here on the side of the road.

  At one point I would’ve been nervous not knowing where he’s taking me, but right now, all I feel is this overwhelming need to be alone with Ace. For him to do with me as he pleases.

  As twisted as it sounds, I’ve been wanting him to touch me, ever since the moment he stepped out of that room and his gaze landed on mine.

  There was something about the twisted smirk on his face that turned me on like nothing else.

  It didn’t matter to me that he’d just hurt someone and that I’d just listened to his victim screaming out in pain and begging for him to stop.

  I wanted him to suffer just as badly as Ace did, and the fact that Ace was the cause of his pain only made me want him more in that moment.

  Maybe I am just as fucked-up as Ace. Hell, maybe I’m more so, but as soon as I heard what that animal did, I wanted to hurt him my damn self. I was no longer scared of Ace’s lifestyle, or what was about to go down. All I wanted was to get justice for his victims, for all the women he’d hurt in the past and was going to hurt in the future.

  Ace did that. Ace did what the law wouldn’t have, which was take a dangerous piece of shit off the streets for good.

  The truck is filled with silence as Ace takes a quick turn onto the side road that leads to his spot in the woods.

  Excitement fills me at the idea of us being here again. The memory of his hard body between my legs makes me hot and breathless.

  “Does being here alone with me after what I just did make you nervous?” he asks the moment the truck comes to a stop. “Does it make you want to run now?”

  I shake my head as he leans across me to undo my seatbelt.

  His amber colored gaze locks with mine as he reaches his hand out and lightly squeezes my neck. It excites me more. “How about now?” His uneven breath hitting my lips has me swallowing, anticipating his next move. “Are you nervous now, Angel? Are you afraid of me?”

  “No,” I whisper, speaking the truth. “I wanted him to hurt. I wanted that sick son of a bitch to get what he deserved. I wanted you to hurt him.” I lean in closer, bringing my lips close enough to brush against his. “I’m not afraid of you, Ace. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good,” he growls against my lips. “I’ve been fucking dying to do this.” He releases my neck to push the truck door open. “Don’t move.”

  I watch as Ace jumps out of the truck. The moment he comes around to open my door and pull me down into his arms, heat fills me from the feel of his erection pressed against me.

  Holding me up with one arm, he slams the truck door closed, before pressing me against it with his hard body.

  “Fuck, Melissa. I can’t control myself right now. I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t be gentle. Not with how badly I fucking want you.” The feel of his teeth scraping against my neck causes me to jump in his arms. “Tell me you can handle me or I won’t touch you.”

  “I can more than handle you,” I say honestly. I stare into his eyes when he pulls back and looks down at me. “I wouldn’t want you any other way.” I reach up and cup his jaw. His gaze is dark, deep, as he takes me in. “I know what I got myself into, and I’m ready for it all.” I’m breathing harder, faster, unable to keep myself under control either. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, Ace.”

  He makes this deep growl, this animalistic sound that has chills racing along my body.

  “I want you here, Ace. I want you now.” I don’t want a bed, don’t want romantic or sweet and gentle.

  I knew what I was getting into when I fell hard for Ace. There’s no going back, but I wouldn’t have wanted to anyway.

  Before I know what is happening, or can prepare myself, Ace is leading me toward the back of the truck, pulling the blanket he has on the bed flush, and helps me up so I’m sitting in the tailgate. He sits beside me and pulls me onto his lap, my legs spread on either side of him, my chest pressed to his.

  His hands are on my lower back, his fingers digging into the skin that is exposed because my shirt rode up. We are staring at each other, neither speaking, but nothing needs to be said. The magnetism I feel is tangible, like fingers skating over my body.

  Then he slides one hand up my back, tangles his fingers around my hair, and tugs on the strands until my head cocks back and I gasp from the pain. But on the heels of that, this pleasure washes through me, making me wet, needy.

  “You sure you want to go here with me?” he asks in a deep, guttural voice, one that is like a serrated knife moving over my body.

  I get wetter.

  I nod. “I want this.” I am so ready for him. “I’ve wanted this for a while, Ace, but was too afraid to say anything, to act on it.”

  “And you’re not afraid now?”

  I shake my head slowly. I don’t need to think about what he said, but I stay silent for a few seconds. “I’m not afraid of you, but of how I feel.”

  He seems to dig his fingers into me harder, as if he doesn’t want to let me go. “And how do you feel, baby?”

  My throat is tight, my mouth dry. I don’t know if admitting this to him is the best course, but I also know I can’t hide how I feel. I can’t pretend anymore.
I won’t. “I want you so bad that it hurts.”

  And then he has his mouth on mine, his tongue speared between my lips. Ace kisses me brutally, violently almost, but I love it. I want more of it, so much more that I’m drowning in it. We are both panting, gasping for breath when he pulls away a moment later.

  “I won’t fuck you in the back of my truck, not when I need you on my bed, surrounded by my things, smelling like me.”

  I’m about to tell him I don’t care where we do this, because I need him too desperately. But before I can get a word out he’s helping me off the truck, back into the passenger side seat, and is driving, presumably to his house. It all happens so fast I am dizzy from it all, can’t even take enough air into my lungs.

  This is really going to happen, and I’m not going to stop it.

  I feel like we are back at the Locke house faster than normal, but then again, I think Ace was driving well above the speed limit. It seems he’s just as frantic to start this as I am. I glance down and see the massive erection straining against his pants. He is ready for me, just as much as I am, my panties soaked, my nipples hard. Every part of me is screaming to finally be with Ace, to let him claim me, own every inch of me.

  We stare at each other for long seconds, the heat and air in the truck getting thicker, hotter. I want to just have him take me right here, right now. I don’t care if anyone sees us.

  In fact, this part of me wants it to be known that I’m claimed by Ace, that I am with a Locke. I want anyone who looks at me to know that if they fuck with me they’ll get wrath tenfold in return.

  “I hope you’re really ready for this, Melissa.”

  I swallow, the lump in my throat thick. “I’ve been ready,” I say again, meaning it more than I ever have.

  I don’t wait for him to help me out of the truck this time. I get out and meet him at the hood of the vehicle. He growls low, and I know it’s because he wants to be in charge, to call the shots. I am more than okay with that.

  I can feel my heart pounding in my chest, and I wonder if he can hear it, see it beating at the pulse point below my ear. He takes my hand and leads me inside, up the stairs, and finally into his room. Once the door is shut, we stand there in silence, this thickness coating both of us, drawing us together.