by C. M. Owens
The man I’m unintentionally targeting spots it, darts his eyes up, and immediately starts firing toward us.
Maya squeals and rolls away, while I scramble back, staying low to the ground as I twist and—
Rapid gunfire from behind me sounds, and I glance over my shoulder to see Drake on his feet with two assault rifles as he grits his teeth with wild eyes.
“I’m damn tired of being shot at when I’m unarmed! Come at me now, bitches!” he shouts like a deranged lunatic at his breaking point.
The men start tumbling down, but when they start firing back and end up knocking one gun from Drake’s hand, he curses and dives to the ground, rolling up beside me.
“That’s all I got!”
I’m in the process of popping my magazine back into place.
“I have one shot!” I tell him as the barrage of bullets keep pelting the whole room around us.
“Fucking peachy!”
“Where’d you get the guns?” I ask him hopefully.
“They were just on the ground beside me when I woke up like the gun-fairy came while I was sleeping. Where’s that fucking banshee who loves this stupid fucking song?” Drake yells at me like this is all my fault and I’m now in charge of remedying the situation before our imminent deaths.
Before I can formulate even a partial answer to that ramble of nonsense, more gunfire sounds from overhead. My gaze jerks up, and my heart stops completely when I see Rush dropping with a rope around his waist, way too freaking exposed, as he fires away.
His expression is totally blank.
His eyes are cold and detached.
It’s like he’s done this a thousand times and feels invincible when he’s not.
When his feet hit the ground, he barely lands in a crouch, never interrupting his spray of bullets as he mows down the men coming up the stairs.
Yells for retreat sound when he pulls another gun over his shoulder with his free hand, and picks up where he left off.
Sarah drops down behind him, grinning over at us with a this-is-the-best-day-ever smile. It never wavers as she turns with bright eyes, pulls her own gun over her shoulder, and starts firing at will.
Axle...drops...with much less grace, slamming the floor on his side, and grunting out a curse.
He rolls out of the way, and he starts popping off rounds at the ones below us, who...are stepping over all the dead bodies in suits as they try to take us from this side.
That damn song plays on, carrying over the war-zone melody.
I peer around the edge just in time to see Rush’s body jerk a few times. A scream tears from me as Drake struggles to hold me back, but my panic flees when I see him still on his feet with no blood. It’s then I realize he’s armed with a bulletproof vest.
Axle continues to fend off this side, while Sarah and Rush clean up what’s left. It’s when the gunfire completely ceases that Maya rushes Axle. He catches her midair and pins her against the wall, looking around to ensure nothing else can get close to her unless it goes through him. Then he kisses her like he doesn’t care if he’s distracted and dies.
“If Rush wouldn’t shoot off my dick, I’d kiss you like that right now. Just because I’m so damn happy to not have a single bullet in me,” Drake states evenly as he collapses to the ground with a whimpered groan. “Need new friends.”
“I’ve been here a month, and I agree with you,” I say as I pat him on the chest. “You don’t belong.”
“Thanks for pointing that out,” he groans as I carefully stand, crouching out of paranoia.
It’s hard to go from spitfire weapons to utter silence, and my heart is thumping wildly because I have no idea what shape Rush is in. With it being so quiet, aside from that damn song, I’m scared to find out.
I cling to the railing to help me balance as I kick at bodies to clear a path. One guy groans next to me, and I startle when two bullet holes magically seem to appear in his head, the sound of a gun firing catching up to me after the fact.
I end up tripping over the next body, unable to look away, and feel myself falling. I land hard against someone who grunts as they drag me up to my feet, my legs slowly turning to jelly as it all starts to sink in.
The adrenaline causes my hands to start shaking as it tries to shut off all at once, and my eyes collide with an annoyed set of icy ones.
“I gave you one order. Just one,” Rush deadpans, eyes narrowing on me.
My hand that’s not holding the gun flies up and grabs the back of his neck, dragging him down to me.
He kisses me so hard that I know he’s angry, and I shove the gun down the front of my pants so I can grab him with two hands.
He lifts me with his hands firmly gripping my ass, and my legs wind around his waist as I drink him in, needing to feel every inch of him to be sure it’s not an illusion.
He groans against my lips, gentling his attack on my mouth, stumbling a little—likely over a corpse.
Someone else groans, one of his hands goes missing from my ass, and two shots ring out, never interrupting the kiss.
Rush hauls me outside where the sun licks at my skin, and I never open my eyes, because I’ve seen enough for one day.
I don’t check to see what car we’re in when he puts me in the broad bench seat of one, coming down on top of me as his hips shove my thighs wider to make room.
His kiss turns desperate as he rips open the front of my jeans, letting the gun tumble out.
“Save it, Dark Romeo. We gotta get out of here before reinforcements show up to kill you all during your celebratory fucks. Besides, a storm is rolling in. Been a while, so it should be nasty,” Sarah chirps as she hops in the front seat.
Rush curses against my mouth, running a hand over his hair as he breaks the kiss for the first time.
I snatch the gun from the floor, shove it in my pants, and start closing them very quickly. In the next instant, he’s off me and yanking me away.
“We need to get off grid for the rest of the night. Should be fine by tomorrow to return to the club, but things are going to get uglier if anyone got word as to who helped me out today,” Sarah adds through the window she’s rolled down on her newest stolen vehicle.
“I came for her,” Rush says, pointing at me. “Not you.”
“Says the only guy I know who could have stolen one of my finest weapons, shot a hole through that chain, and allowed me to kill several very elite fellows in crime-syndicate world,” she deadpans.
I swallow my words, glancing down at Rush’s crotch as he makes another frustrated sound. “You’ve lost your mind. Axle and I never even had the pleasure of seeing you defenseless.”
My mind thinks back to Snake’s smirk, almost as though he really enjoyed that moment of pure, unadulterated power over her life.
This club has gone to hell in a handbasket. I just thought it was jacked in my younger days. Back before therapy told me how significantly fucked we all are, compared to the normal folks living through their nine-to-five grind for the exciting, upcoming weekend.
As I settle in behind Rush on his bike and strap on my helmet, I say, “After you kidnap me for the second time, the place you’re taking me to will be nice, peaceful, quiet, and isolated from the drama that comes with civilization, right?”
With complete seriousness, he answers, “Abso-fucking-lutely.”
RUSH
My heartrate is still too high, and there’s a stinging in my soul to do more damage.
I soothe a little of that by dragging her to me, pushing her hair aside as I kiss down her neck. I get annoyed when I realize I’m splattered in blood. Kara’s not a fan of blood being all over me when I’m all over her.
“What is this place?” Axle asks as he limps toward the pastel flower couch and drops, wincing with the effort.
Maya goes to fawn all over him like the man’s a fragile doll or some shit.
“Just tweaked my knee with that shit landing,” Axle grinds out. “I’m not the kind of guy who drops through ceilings v
ery often.”
He cuts his eyes toward me.
“A little more instruction would have been nice,” he adds.
“I told you to click the button when you were ready to land. It’s a very sophisticated system,” I dutifully inform him. Again.
“One I gave him,” the identity crisis who is on my last nerve says.
“What the hell have you gotten us into now? Who the fucking hell were they?” I demand.
“Anyone want any tea?” Sarah asks from the kitchen.
“No,” we all say in a staggered unison.
“Actually, I could use some tea with some whiskey in it,” Drake states while sinking to a chair with a long groan, covering his face with one arm.
“We called in a team, but they said it’d take at least two days to gather intelligence and strategize,” Axle bites out. “Your phone took us to the middle of the highway. They managed to ping your location with the tracker you apparently have imbedded in the back of your neck, by the way.”
Maya’s eyes widen and she slaps the back of her neck. “That son of a bitch. He said he was going to do that. How did he do that?”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad he’s an overprotective, boundaries-pushing dick guardian right now,” Axle adds.
“See? Controlling men can be undeniably useful,” I say pointedly to Kara, who just exhales in presumably exasperation as she drops against me, putting her head on my chest.
“Is there a shower here? I could use one,” Kara tells Sarah, who is staring at her pot on the stove as if the damn thing will run away if she takes her eyes off it.
“First door on the right. There are actually three showers,” Sarah adds.
“Drex isn’t answering my calls,” Axle says around a grunt as he shifts on the couch.
“Just let me look at it,” Maya snaps at him.
He stands abruptly, drops trou, and his jeans clap the floor as he stands before us in his very predictable black boxers.
Mine are Christmas themed. I like Christmas. I felt jolly...until Kara went missing.
She’s barely been out of sight for a few minutes, and I roll my eyes at Maya as she gets on her knees in front of Axle to inspect his knee. Drake arches an eyebrow as he takes in the scene. Sarah is still staring at the pot with concentrated eyes.
“Drex is probably getting his dick waxed. Try Snake. If he’s not at the hospital, he’s likely at the club,” I state dismissively. “Or Sledge.”
I’m already following the sound of a shower that’s just kicked on when Axle says, “Sledge isn’t answering either.”
Thunder crackles outside. Of course the damn girl decides now is the time for a shower.
Rain pelts the tin roof as I push through the bathroom door, immediately feeling the smile stretching across my face when I see the bare body through the glass.
A few bruises are all that show today was even a struggle for her.
Her head tips back under the water, running over her shut eyelids as she releases an audible sigh.
“Are you watching or joining?” she asks, causing my smile to stretch more.
“Just waiting on an invitation,” I tell her as I pull my shirt over my head.
After pulling off my boots and socks, I stand to let my jeans and boxers drop in unison, and I kick out of all of it, undressed in record time.
Her hands immediately slide up my bruised chest where I took a wailing few hits from a high-powered rifle.
“One of the perks of owing Sarah favors is that she just lets you keep the gear after the jobs are done,” I tell her as she leans over and kisses one of the spots.
“You’re way too reckless. You’re lucky you took them to the vest and not to the head or femoral artery or any other uncovered place that could have gotten you killed,” she says as she looks up at me like I’m the one who has pissed her off.
My fingers slip through her wet hair, as my other hand slides down the curve of her spine, the spray of the water assaulting her back as she stares up at me.
“Worried?” I muse, lips twitching when her eyes narrow.
“You seem to think I started hating you when I ran away. I still loved you, Rush. I just hated that you chose the club,” she says.
“I didn’t choose the fucking—”
“To a fifteen-year-old girl, that’s exactly what it sounded like. How was I to know any differently? You were so smitten with the life of the MC, and you were just a prospect back then. I’d seen the type plenty of times,” she says quietly.
“You saw wrong,” I fire back, admittedly little angrily.
Her fingers skim over the circular bruises sprinkled over my sore abs.
“I’m sorry,” she says so quietly that I almost miss it.
My brow furrows, because she sounds so sincere. She was just pissed at me, and now she sounds sad and truly apologetic. Talk about whiplash. Women are fucking hard to understand.
“Of course you are. That’s why you’re willingly going to be kidnapped, taken to an isolated location, and learn to love me again,” I point out. “We’ve established the past is the past. Now be a good girl and suck my dick for saving you.”
When her eyes meet mine this time, she looks almost annoyed and enamored in unison, if that’s a possible expression.
“You should shut up and kiss me while you’re ahead—”
My lips crash to hers, and she moans into my mouth as her arms go around my neck. Her leg slides up, and I drag it to my hip, which brings her wet skin pressed right up against mine.
We kiss until my balls ache and my dick throbs to be inside her. She keeps herself pressed as tightly against me as she possibly can, even though it feels like she can’t get close enough.
It’s different. Something’s different.
She was warming up slowly, but now she’s red-hot fire to my touch. She’s kissing me because she wants to; not because she’s giving in. Her fingers dig in like she’s the aggressor now, and a small smile barely curves my lips at the heat in her kiss.
She’s already a little bit in love with me. Or maybe she’s more in love with me than she realizes. Or maybe she doesn’t want me to know...
Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I can feel—
A grunt slips through my lips, abruptly breaking the kiss, when Kara goes insane and punches the hell out of my side, aiming just under my ribs for maximum pain. My breath heaves out, and I drop her leg as I double over to gasp for air.
“The next time you go in with guns blazing like you’re an invincible immortal, remember that you’re still fucking human, Rush,” she says with a really emotional tone that has my eyebrows hitting my hairline.
I glance over, feeling a sense of horror, when I see the tears streaming down her reddened eyes, while she chokes back a sob and rocks from foot to foot, shaking out her hand as she glares at me.
“If you loved me like you think you do, you wouldn’t be so careless and reckless with your own life, you dick,” she goes on, angrily batting the tears away from her eyes as the shower continues to pound her back.
Now I feel like I’m the one who’s supposed to apologize.
Instead, I reach forward and grab her at the waist, effectively tossing her over my shoulder, and struggling a little with the slippery girl in my arms as she beats at my back.
“What the hell are you doing?” she snaps as I start walking her out of the bathroom.
“Taking you to fuck you out of your hysterics before I read into things and think you’re already in love with me. That could be dangerous, since I’m prepared to drag you to Vegas, slap a ring on your finger, and call you mine before I even officially kidnap you,” I quip, slapping a hand against her bare ass.
The pop cracks around the otherwise silent room, and she makes a startled sound as I smirk and drop her to the bed.
“You’re such an ass—”
Her rant cuts out when I come down on top of her, kissing her into silence on the atrocious, lumpy bed. Lightning and thunder crash
outside, sending a shock of light throughout the room in ominous intervals.
The entire house quakes with one particularly obnoxious rumble of thunder, and I kiss Kara harder when she moans against my lips, her fingers digging into my hair with an almost painful grip.
When her heels press into my ass, prompting me to do more than tease her, I pin her hands above her head and slowly ease inside her, drawing it out.
“You’re such an ass,” she whispers against my lips, though this time it’s said with less anger and more exasperation.
Even through my smile, I kiss her harder to shut her up. Mostly because her insults are just a show of affection, and if she keeps on, I really will drag her off to Vegas. Now.
A groan escapes me, because I’m so worked up that just pushing inside her has my balls tightening and warning me this might be over before she even starts enjoying herself.
Her breath hitches when I slide a hand between us, knowing exactly how to speed her along with me.
Her nails cut into my hand that’s still holding hers together, keeping her at my mercy.
The way I like her.
The way she likes to be.
She makes a cry as her body bucks, trying to get away from too much stimulation at once, as I work her like I own her. Because I do. Whether she likes that fact or not.
My lips trail down her cheek, as I savor each sound and uncontrollable squirm she gives me, while chasing my own release.
“You’ll never get away from me again, Kara,” I whisper against her ear, my thrusts getting rougher as I squeeze her hands in my grip. “I’m all grown up now. Trust me when I say—”
“Stop threatening me until we’re finished with sex,” she groans, her legs wrapping around my hips as her lips hungrily seek and find mine again.
I lose hold of her hands, and her nails bite into my back as she uses her newfound freedom to immediately drag me even closer.
She’s my drug, and right now, she’s trying to consume me because I’m her drug as well.
She’s definitely falling hard and fast, and by the time we’re out of here, she’ll be mine indefinitely.
The storm starts to rage outside, hail pelting the glass next to us as thunder rolls and lightning crashes. The wind groans and whistles against the house, making it hard to savor all her little sounds that keep getting drowned out.
