by C. M. Owens
Finally, they abandon their pointless endeavor, and I lower the gun before reaching behind me and tucking it back into the hidden compartment on my piece-of-shit headboard.
I grab a handful of her ass to use as leverage to drag her practically on top of me, and she comes willingly, even in her sleep.
I glare at the door when a shadow passes under the crack, but the wise person keeps on moving.
People are fucking ridiculous.
They’re the reason I’m having to resort to such extreme measures. All they had to do was leave me be.
I kiss the top of her head again as my eyes finally get heavy. I have little alarms set to go off just in case the door moves even an inch. It makes it easier to let my guard down.
Chapter 21
KARA
I wake up when Rush mutters something in his sleep that has me lifting my gaze to his peaceful expression. A small smile tugs at one corner of my mouth when his arms tighten around me.
I’ve lost my mind if I’m even a little bit flattered by his crazy antics. It’s weirdly romantic, though, because he wanted to sleep. That’s it.
I knew he was insecure back then, but I had no idea how rough it was now that he’s a slightly terrifying adult version of himself.
Now that I know he’s apparently missed me in some very disturbing capacity, at least I understand the damage I’m working with.
He kisses my head in his sleep, and my heart does weird things for the broken guy under me.
Just as I start to kiss him to wake him up and see how to get through to him, using my body in any way necessary, something slams into the door.
Loud alarms wail, and Rush bolts to his feet with a gun in his hand so fast that I can’t register where the hell it magically came from.
“Don’t shoot them,” I hiss as I tug at his arm.
He grabs me and jerks me to him, tucking me against his back.
“Pete’s sake, none of them are going to hurt me or take me away, if that’s why you’re pointing a gun,” I assure him, but he smirks as he keeps the gun pointed at the door.
“Whoever crosses the threshold first will end up with a bullet in their kneecaps. The second one will end up with a bullet in their feet and hands. The third will end up fucking dead most likely, because I’ll be really pissed about everyone trying to control a situation that doesn’t need controlling,” he warns them.
The door stops getting rammed, even as the alarms continue to wail.
“This is really fucked up, man. And that’s coming from me,” Sledge says from the other side.
“I know it’s fucked up. I just don’t know why I’m the only one who can’t do something fucked up. Stop being a judgmental bitch,” Rush replies with zero emotion.
“Stop being a raving mad lunatic, and I’ll stop being judgmental.”
“Since when have I ever been anything else?” Rush volleys.
There’s a beat of silence, and I nod like I even understand that. He’s certainly never pretended to be less than crazy. Just not quite this crazy.
When Sledge releases a breath of frustration, Rush drags me to be in front of him, slipping his free hand around my bare middle.
“I’ll bring her back out when we have shit settled. Until then, everyone needs to back the fuck off. You’re just making it worse,” he goes on.
I’d smile, but this really is an inappropriate sort of thing to smile about. I just had no idea how much he actually wanted me here.
“You could have just asked me out on a date,” I murmur against his chest, since he has me pressed really tightly against him and there’s not much wiggle room.
“I told you to work for reward. You’re the one who kept working for punishment,” he drawls.
“You told me to suck your dick to earn information. I’d hardly call that reward,” I counter.
Sledge curses very loudly as the alarms finally stop busting eardrums all over the warehouse.
“You really don’t need to encourage his antics right now, Kara. Be the rational girl you left Halo to become,” Sledge cuts in.
“Don’t make me shoot you. You’re the only family, besides her, that I have. But I’ll shoot you if you try to turn her against me when I’m finally making real progress,” Rush warns. “You already forced me to hurry along my plans.”
He had plans? I’m almost afraid to ask what those plans detail.
I shouldn’t kiss his chest, but I do, and his hold tightens in response.
“I don’t know what to say right now. If you hurt him, I’m out of here. I’ve served this club long enough to be owed that much,” Sledge is saying to someone, likely Drex.
“If you hurt him, I’ll take his gun and shoot you myself,” I call out.
“Don’t do that. I’m in control of the situation. I don’t need you to handle it,” Rush tells me a little harshly.
Oye. This is a mess.
His hand slides down my back to my bare ass, and I pretend to have no reaction to its presence.
The vast majority of his attention is trained on the door, and his cold composure is that of a survivor in survivor mode.
I’d accuse PTSD, but it’s more like...I’m-so-fucked-up-that-my-brain-doesn’t-work-like-everyone-else’s-anymore disorder.
I get it. My brain works a lot like his. It’s why we got together in the first place.
Until this moment, I had no idea just how much me disappearing the first time actually affected him.
“I promise I won’t run again, if you promise not to tie me up to punish me. I’ll cede control without contest, but we have to bring the level of crazy back down a notch,” I tell him.
He narrows his eyes down at me, the wheels in his head turning.
“You’ll stay with me, or in my room if you need space. No interaction with anyone outside of my presence,” he says like he’s laying down the new rules that are essentially the same rules.
“For now. We’ll revisit this topic at a later date when your crazy is lidded,” I decide.
“Are you fucking serious right now?” Drex snaps from the other side of the door.
“Dead serious. Go away. We’ve got this,” I answer, seconds before Rush’s hand shoves into my hair.
I’m startled when he somewhat roughly tugs my head back, using my hair as leverage, but in the next second, his lips are on mine, hard and demanding. My hands slip up his bare chest, and he deepens the kiss as a deep groan vibrates from his lips to mine.
It’s like it sets off a live wire in me, and I heave myself up, wrapping both of my legs around his waist. His hands immediately go to my bare ass, and he turns to press me against the wall so he can more thoroughly devour me, while also surrounding me with complete control.
“Is she fucking kissing him right now?” I hear Drex asking.
“I’m sure she’d like a little privacy,” Maya chirps.
“I’m about to start shooting motherfuckers,” Rush says against my lips just loud enough to be heard by all of them, before resuming the thorough devouring.
My fingers tangle in the soft, wispy strands of his hair, remembering exactly why he was always like a drug to me.
Rush was always selective about who got close to him.
I forgot to remember how much he hates losing people he’s risked attachment to, because I was too young to see the big picture back then.
I just assumed all that had waned over the long years and chalked it up to puppy love between two damaged kids.
“I really think we should get out of here before he loses it,” someone else says, but I’m too distracted to care who.
Just as Rush reaches between us to shove his boxers down, a loud siren wails from outside, and he abruptly breaks the kiss. His head lifts, and his attention gets strained as he listens to the next wailing of the siren.
I hear a lot of cursing on the other side of the door before Drex shouts, “Let’s roll!”
“Shit,” Rush bites out as he abruptly drops me to the floor. “Put on
clothes.”
Whiplash please and thank you.
“What?” I ask like he’s lost his damn mind.
How can you go through all that madness just to get me, and then tell me to put my clothes on just when things are finally heating up?
He hurriedly tugs a pair of jeans on, and then he finds a shirt to pull on before he grabs his Death Chasers cut from the floor.
I hurry through the motions of dressing, even though I’m confused about this, as he starts freeing the door of his homemade barricade.
Motorcycles rev so loudly that the building feels like a steady vibration. It’s the first time I’ve heard so many of them starting up at once from inside the hangar.
Rush grabs my hand, giving no explanation, as he practically drags me through the barely-there crack in the barricade he’s made.
Everyone seems to be over the hostage situation, since everyone is hurriedly racing out of the hangar to some clandestine meeting place brought about by random sirens outside.
Rush straddles his bike, and I quickly pull on the spare helmet, but I pause as I stop to examine the helmet. It’s not the spare one after all. It’s a new one with a polished, metallic sort of writing on the side with my initials—KLC.
My eyes flick to his back as I quickly strap it on, and I find him studying me over his shoulder with those intense eyes.
When my arms slip around his waist, holding onto him with a more relaxed hold than I’ve been using, he cuts his gaze away, revving his bike a few times. In the next instant, we’re zooming out of the hangar, and it takes him no time to catch up to the rest of the crew.
He weaves in and out of the convoy, and I keep darting a look around, trying to figure out where it is we’re going so suddenly.
Maya is on the back of Axle’s bike with her legs wrapped around his waist instead of her arms, and she’s leaned back like she’s soaking in the sun on her face.
I really wish I knew her deal.
We ride beside them, and it takes a while before I realize we’re on path to go to the hospital. Drex is leading the pack, but Eve isn’t on the back of his bike. I’m not really sure where she is.
Drex turns into the hospital parking lot, and he parks in the middle of the driving path. Everyone pretty much parks right behind him, leaving a sea of bikes around the side.
Rush hops off, offering me his hand without looking at me, and I take it as he starts guiding me inside.
We get on the elevator with Drex, who casts a glare at Rush.
“We’ll be having a very long conversation about your stunt later,” Drex informs him as Axle, Maya, Sledge, and Snake load into the elevator with us.
“Sounds fun,” Rush states dryly. “Last I checked, she’s mine. You need to remember that shit in the future.”
I’m worried Drex is about to punch him to the elevator rendition of Bad Romance, but the doors slide open, and Rush drags me out. His arm drops around my shoulders as he releases my hand, and people all down the hallway stop to turn and look at the brigade of Death Chasers filling up the small space.
People part, eyes darting anywhere but on us. It’s this sort of power that draws people to the club. It’s also the power that corrupts the already broken minds of the people who see it as a better option in life than living the way they’re living.
“He was fine when I was here earlier,” Snake says quietly. “He was well on the way to stabilizing.”
Drex’s fists tighten as he stalks through the halls with more determination. A small breath of relief fills me when I hear Dash griping about the numerous IVs he’s attached to.
We all stop in front of the room where he’s sitting up, cursing at the nurse who is patiently trying to stab him with another needle.
The guy in the chair beside him casts us a bored look. “He just woke up a few minutes ago.”
Dash cuts his gaze to us, giving Drex a lazy grin. “Surely you didn’t think I’d die that easily.”
Maya blows out a breath of relief as she props up on the wall beside me. Dash, like most of the guys, isn’t afraid of death. It’s just that no one wants to die without their death serving a purpose.
“You couldn’t have just called?” Drex asks, the muscle along his jaw jumping as the tension vibrates through him.
Dash’s grin spreads wider. “I wanted to look important. What better way to do that than have most of the crew come see me when I woke up?”
“Unbelievable,” Rush mutters while pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand.
“You’ll live?” Snake asks him as he shoulders his way into the small room.
“It’s still up for debate, since I have some lingering issues that may or may not kill me. But for now, I’m alive, and that’s all that matters. Any spottings on Herrin?” Dash asks, getting right down to club business, because it’s the only life they have.
His eyes flick over me, and he gets a confused expression on his face.
“When did you two mend fences?” he asks, gesturing between Rush and me. “How long have I been down?”
I’m not even sure what to say to that.
“You haven’t been down that long. Rush is just a fucking freak,” Snake says on an exasperated breath.
“Says the sick prick who got it up for a homicidal maniac,” Rush says with a sneer.
“We’ll discuss that later,” Drex bites out, eyes turning to Dash. “I need to know you’re going to walk out of here soon.”
Dash shrugs a shoulder. “It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been shot. I just have to wait to see how many complications are still developing. Doctors are cryptic with information, giving just enough of it to make patients panic.”
I nod in agreement.
Rush nods like he agrees as well.
His phone chimes with a text, and he lifts it. Whatever he’s reading causes his lips to thin.
“I’ll let all of you deal with the reunion. I have a job to do,” he says, dragging me with him.
“Leave Kara behind, you twisted fuck,” Drex snaps.
“My girl. My decision,” Rush carelessly calls over his shoulder.
With that, he steers me through the sea of Death Chasers, who all hurriedly move out of his way.
No one even blinks an eye in my direction. In fact, people actively avoid getting their eyes anywhere close to me.
Rush smirks like he’s accomplished a goal, and my eyes narrow on him in suspicion.
Chapter 22
RUSH
“How much of that barricade thing was for show? Or did you really just snap?”
I don’t answer her, even as my lips twitch. Regardless of my intentions, it worked out for the best, since she’s sitting in my lap right now while we kill time.
I check my phone to ensure Sarah hasn’t sent another text, before I put it on the table to the right of us.
Now the rest of the crew knows Kara is mine to guard. Not Drex’s. People want to fuck with the hotheaded P. No one wants to fuck with the unpredictable, lethal madman who will hoard the P’s sister in his room and tell the rest of the world to fuck off.
Shoving her hair to the side, I start kissing down her neck, clamping my arm over her lap to hold her in place. She arches her back in reflex, as a sexy little breath of surprise escapes her.
My hand slides up her smooth leg to her shorts, and I finger the frayed edges of the hem. Then I reach over and hit the button on the side of the wall, causing the tint to change on the glass before us until we can see out.
She sucks in a breath, considering we came in through the black-out entrance. I wanted to see her reaction while I had her in my lap.
A man crawls by, as the woman clad in a fishnet pink bodysuit that is genuinely a pointless apparel, guides him on the leash.
She stops and fixes her lipstick right in front of us, and he gets slapped away when he tries to kiss her thigh.
“We can see out, but they can only see a mirror reflection,” I tell her as she just gapes at the very intr
icate vagina tattoo the woman is sporting.
I see Drake’s name scribbled at the bottom in his signature style. Women love that shit when he wants to leave his mark on them. Fucking stupid prick. If he ever signs any piece of Kara’s body, I’ll cut off his fingers, make him change his name, and ruin his life.
“You brought me to a sex club?” she asks, sounding...oddly indifferent.
That’s ruining my shock factor here.
My lips pause as I glance out at the wild, shameless debauchery taking place, finding it more than anticlimactic that she’s not having a reaction.
“Did you turn into a shrew while hanging out with the normal people?” I ask as I start working the button on her shorts.
She lazily tilts her head, staring incredulously at a particularly flexible couple, who are using some very sophisticated contraption to make sex as uniquely difficult as possible. I’m not sure I understand the appeal of such extremes.
“I’m more intrigued by the emotionless devotion to cold sex as opposed to feeling turned on by the lifeless, almost fake desire. Only half of them look to be really into it—”
“Most of them are just getting started and insecure. This is Snake’s latest launch. I didn’t expect you to overanalyze it with judgment and disappointment,” I point out, a little annoyed that this isn’t working out like I thought it would.
She doesn’t even notice I’ve undone her shorts until I start pushing them down.
Absently, she lifts up, still not fully aware of her actions as she gawks at one very painful looking lashing. I push her shorts down her legs, and she is still mostly unaware of anything I’m doing because she is too captivated by all the lesser normal things.
She’s supposed to be getting turned on. Maybe I should have driven faster on the way here to rile her adrenaline a little.
Just to spike it up, I’m a little rougher when I jerk her panties down her legs, and she startles as she looks down. Her eyes widen, and she clears her throat as I get a little more aggressive with her neck.
“You’re zero to sixty,” she murmurs, shuddering when I start slipping her shirt over her head.
She doesn’t fight me, but she’s not really into it either. Frustrated, I blow out a breath.
