Destroyed

by Jackie Ashenden

  ‘I know what I said.’ I cut her off. ‘I fucking changed my mind. Now, go sit back on that bed like a good girl.’

  Again that blue spark jumped, like she was pissed or maybe disappointed, which I didn’t mind at all, not one bit, then she got to her feet and went slowly back over to the bed once more. She sat down and looked at her hands again, resolutely avoiding my gaze, her shoulders slumping.

  Okay, so it was definitely disappointment. But...why? She hadn’t really wanted to suck my dick, had she? Not after she’d been so goddamn terrified.

  Why are you thinking about this shit? Why the fuck does it matter?

  Both very good questions and ones I didn’t have the answers to.

  Just like I still didn’t know why the hell she was here.

  I was about to give her the hard word yet a-fucking-gain, when someone’s fist connected loudly on the door at my back. ‘Tiger.’ It was Keep, sounding pissed. ‘I need to talk to you. Open the fucking door.’

  At the sound of Keep’s voice, Summer’s chin came up, her gaze getting wide and dark, frightened again.

  Interesting. So given how she hadn’t wanted me to talk to Keep earlier and her reaction to the sound of his voice now, it was obvious that she really didn’t want him to know she was here. Which kind of made sense. She probably knew he’d bundle her up and ship her out the moment he discovered her.

  Keep hammered on the door again, louder this time, and Summer’s gaze came to mine, the desperation in it loud and clear. She really didn’t want me to give her away.

  It was crazy. The first thing I should have done was open the door and let my president inside, show him who was hiding out in my room. Because the club came first and always had done, and she represented trouble for it, no doubt about that.

  Yet for some reason, that look in her eyes made my chest tighten yet again. Been a long, long time since someone had looked at me like that. Not since my little brother had disappeared along with my mom. Looking at me as if I could help them. As if I could save them.

  So when I opened my mouth, it wasn’t ‘Sure, Keep, come in’ that came out. It was ‘Gimme a minute, Prez. I’m kind of busy.’

  Summer let out a small, sharp breath, like she’d been holding it.

  Then Keep said very distinctly, ‘Open the fucking door. I don’t care who you’ve got in there.’

  Shit.

  I couldn’t say no to my president and Summer must have known that, because her face went white, and she went very still. And she kept her gaze on mine, silently pleading.

  So I made a snap decision.

  Pushing myself away from the door, I strode over to the bed and jerked the quilt out from under her. ‘Get in,’ I ordered.

  She blinked rapidly. ‘W-what?’

  ‘You want me to hide you? Then get the fuck in my bed.’

  She hesitated only a second, kicking off her stilettos before crawling into my bed and drawing the covers up to her chin. While she did that, I shrugged off my cut and slung it over the end of the bed, then pulled my T-shirt off.

  ‘Tiger!’ Keep was sounding really pissed now. ‘For fuck’s sake.’

  Summer was watching me with those big eyes getting rounder as I pulled the quilt from her fingers. ‘If you want this to work,’ I said shortly, quietly, ‘then don’t argue and follow my lead, okay?’

  She didn’t speak, only nodded.

  So I got into bed with her, positioning myself over the top of her, covering her with my body. Then I pulled the quilt over us.

  And not before time.

  The door slammed open and there was Keep, standing in the doorway, one of the meanest motherfuckers in the whole MC.

  ‘Sorry, Prez,’ I said lazily, looking around at him. ‘I should have said. The door’s open.’

  He gave me that long, hard president’s stare, taking in the fact that I was in bed and that there was very obviously a woman with me. My elbows were on the pillows on either side of Summer’s head, my upper arms shielding her. Her hair was all over my pillow and she’d turned her face away. There was no way Keep would know who she was, as long as I didn’t move.

  ‘Thought you would have been out in the corridor,’ he said flatly. ‘You’re such a fucking exhibitionist.’

  Summer was trembling a little, her body warm and soft beneath mine, the flower scent of hers wrapping around me like I’d stumbled into a fucking garden. Her legs were spread and I could feel the intense heat of her pussy pressing against the zipper of my jeans, soaking into the denim.

  This wasn’t a mistake. At all.

  Christ, what the hell else was I supposed to do? There’d been nowhere else for her to hide. Pretending she was some chick I’d brought in to fuck had been the only option.

  I forced myself to ignore the feel of her beneath me and said, ‘Yeah, well, today I thought I’d be really kinky and try for some privacy.’ I shifted my hips, like I was halfway up inside her already and wanted to keep going. ‘Speaking of, you got something serious to ask me? ’Cause as you can see, there’s something else I’d much rather be doing.’

  Keep grunted, his blue eyes cold. ‘Got word that Campbell Grant’s daughter has gone missing and he wanted me to keep an eye out for her.’

  I could feel Summer go rigid under me and I didn’t need to see her face to know that the thought of being discovered scared her. Of course it made me want to know why, because although I didn’t know much about the police chief, I knew plenty about his asshole son, Summer’s brother. Justin Grant was the ex of Cat Livingston, my friend Smoke’s old lady. He’d been violent towards her and some shit had gone down that had included Smoke teaching the prick a lesson.

  I didn’t like the thought of Summer being exposed to that kind of crap, and if the son had been like that, what about the father? Sure, I’d never known what it was like to have a dad since I’d grown up without one, but I knew what had happened with Smoke’s old man and Smoke had told me about Cat’s.

  Seemed like fathers in general were assholes.

  ‘Yeah, I haven’t seen her.’ I looked down at the woman lying very still under me. She had her face still turned away, her hair covering her cheek.

  Was it her father she was scared of? Was that why she’d come down here? But why here? There were plenty of other less dangerous places to hide than a biker clubhouse. What about friends? Other family?

  ‘Maybe you should start looking,’ Keep said. ‘Once you’ve finished, obviously.’

  I didn’t look at my president, as I was too busy frowning down at Summer. ‘Yeah, okay. Might take a while, though.’

  ‘This is more important than your dick, Tiger,’ Keep growled. ‘The chief’s still pissed about that fucker Justin so we’ve got some ground to make up. Be good if one of the Knights could locate her and bring her in. If she hasn’t simply run away, of course.’

  Summer did that freezing-in-place thing again. And I wanted to grip her chin and turn her head to face me, look into her eyes to make sure she was okay. But I didn’t want to risk Keep seeing her, so all I said was ‘Gotcha, Prez. I’ll finish up here and then I’m on it.’ Quite literally in fact, but he wasn’t to know that.

  Keep didn’t say another word, but I heard the door slam shut and then silence.

  Summer remained still and that was actually starting to become something of a problem. Because my brain kept on wanting to concentrate on that heat between her legs and it was starting to get me hard.

  No, scratch ‘starting to.’ I’d been hard even before getting into bed with her.

  Which makes getting into bed with her a pretty fucking dumb idea, don’t you think? Especially when you shouldn’t even be touching her.

  Yeah, okay, maybe it was. But I wasn’t a goddamn teenage boy. I was the one in control, not my fucking cock. Which meant I should have been throwing back the quilt and getting off her, putti
ng some distance between us.

  Yet I didn’t move. I stayed right where I was. I was bracing myself on my elbows so I wasn’t actually lying on her, but her tits were almost brushing my chest. I couldn’t see much of them since she was wearing a loose hoodie, but they seemed high and rounded, a nice handful.

  And now you’re staring at her tits? What the fuck is wrong with you?

  It was an excellent point and yet I still couldn’t seem to make myself get off her. And what was more, I was beginning to think that this was actually a great time to make her tell me what the hell she was doing here.

  ‘Summer,’ I said quietly. ‘He’s gone.’

  A quiver ran the entire length of her body. I could damn well feel it. Then, slowly, she turned her head, giving me a quick glance from beneath her lashes, like she was afraid to look at me. But there was a flush of pink on her cheekbones, a pretty good indication to me that she wasn’t scared. Or at least not as scared as she had been.

  Fuck, she was so hot, though. That little pussy of hers felt like a fire burning through my zipper and if I wasn’t much mistaken—and I seldom was—I thought I’d caught a hint of musk threading through her sweet, flowery scent.

  Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not a good idea, dumb fuck.

  Of course it wasn’t a good idea. It was a fucking terrible idea. Yet I still wasn’t moving, staying there braced on my elbows with my cock pressed hard between her legs.

  She made a restless movement and her hands came up, long, pale fingers pressing against my chest. Then, like my body was a stove she’d accidentally burned herself on, she jerked them away again. ‘T-Tiger...’ she muttered thickly, still avoiding my gaze. ‘I th-think you should...uh...move.’

  I don’t know what it was about hearing my name in her mouth. Plenty of women called me by it and yet I’d never once felt it go straight to my cock the way it did right now. Maybe it was her voice, all soft and husky and uncertain, and that goddamn stutter on the T. Like she was afraid to say it.

  The club girls didn’t say my name like that. They didn’t avoid my gaze, jerk their hands away from my bare skin and blush like a fucking rose. And when they did look at me, it wasn’t with fear or excitement or any shit like that. Sure, they wanted me, but they didn’t much care who got them off. One cock was as good as another as far as they were concerned.

  It had never bothered me before.

  It had never bothered me before that one cock was as good as another for them. As long as everyone came, I was fine with it. And as for civilians, well, I didn’t mess around with them, because I wasn’t up for anything more complicated than fucking.

  But Summer, she was lying there all pink and flushed, and avoiding my gaze. And it wasn’t because she didn’t want me. Because if she hadn’t, she’d be shoving me like she’d shoved Crash, and there was definitely no shoving going on.

  Yeah, I knew when a woman was into me and this little girl was into me. Not Crash. Not some other brother. Me.

  And I didn’t just like that.

  I fucking loved it.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ I murmured, staying right where I was, because I was an asshole. ‘And how exactly do you want me to move, baby girl?’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Summer

  I COULDN’T THINK. I could barely even breathe.

  I’d always been proud of my brain since it was about the only thing about me that made me special. But right now, with Tiger lying right on top of me, it was like I’d lost several thousand brain cells and the stupid thing was refusing to work.

  He was just so...hot. And...big. And he was everywhere, his bare chest right in front of me, his wide shoulders blocking out the rest of the room, his long, lean, muscular body pressed the whole length of mine.

  And his gaze looking down at me, drowning me in gold.

  I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I didn’t know what to do with my entire self.

  It had happened so fast. One minute I was feeling half disappointed, half relieved that he’d pulled me up off my knees, and maybe a little angry at myself, too, since I hadn’t managed to distract him, which meant that now he was going to make me tell him my real reason for being here. Then the next minute there had been a knocking at the door and I’d heard Keep’s voice.

  I’d thought Tiger would turn me in.

  But he hadn’t. He’d come across to the bed and told me to get in, and since I hadn’t exactly had a lot of choice, I’d kicked off my shoes and done so. The next thing I knew, he’d ripped off his T-shirt and had climbed in, too, lying on top of me, bracing himself on his elbows so he wasn’t resting his whole weight on me.

  I’d never been in bed with anyone before, let alone the man who’d been lurking in my head ever since I was seventeen. The man who was now half-naked, his hard, sculpted chest and powerful shoulders on show. And somehow it didn’t matter that he wasn’t resting entirely on me, I felt flattened by him anyway. By the sheer intensity of his physical presence. By his closeness. By the heat of his body and the scent of his bare skin.

  My brain shut down then, simply unable to function with Tiger being so near. And then Keep was in the room and finally I realised why Tiger had told me to get into bed and why he was lying on top of me.

  He was hiding me from Keep.

  The thought was brief and bright and then it disappeared, and I forgot completely that Keep was even in the room. Because somehow my skirt had got rucked up around my waist, my bare thighs brushing against the denim of Tiger’s jeans. His hips were resting between my legs, forcing them apart, and there was something big and thick and hard pressing against the front of my panties.

  And once I’d become conscious of that, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. There was something about the pressure of him right there that made me go hot all over. That made my thighs tremble and my breathing catch. I tried to hold myself rigid, to pull away from where he was touching me, but it was impossible.

  He was everywhere. His heat and his dark, spicy scent and all that smooth tanned skin right in front of me. The fascinating tattoo of all the spirals and circles that was on his upper arm went up and over his shoulder, too, spreading halfway across his broad chest. I had to turn my head away to stop from staring at it, my fingers itching to touch it.

  But not looking at him didn’t do anything to stop the aching awareness of him. The feeling of his long, hot body over mine, pressing down on me, overwhelming me.

  He was still overwhelming me.

  Keep had gone, yet Tiger was still lying on top of me, braced on his elbows on either side of my head, looking down at me. I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter, and I didn’t want to meet his gaze. I didn’t want him to see what he was doing to me, how completely overcome I was about this whole situation.

  God, my fingertips were tingling from where I’d made the mistake of touching his chest just before—his skin had been so hot I felt like he’d scorched me—so I closed them into fists, not sure where to put them except awkwardly down at my sides.

  I knew he’d asked me a question and I was struggling to remember what it was, acutely conscious of the intense heat between my legs where his zipper was pressing against me, making me feel restless and achy and desperate.

  He’d said something about moving, right?

  ‘I don’t want you to move.’ I tried not to look up into his unblinking amber gaze. ‘I just want you to get off me.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’ His voice sounded lazy, a deep rumble I felt echo down the length of my body. ‘Okay, just gimme a second. I’m getting all caught up in the sheet.’

  Then he shifted his hips.

  It was only a slight movement, but somehow it nudged the hard ridge of his zipper over my clit, sending a lightning strike of sensation firing through me, lighting up every single nerve ending I had.

  I tensed, gasping in shock at the unexpectedness
of it.

  Tiger stilled. ‘You okay?’ he asked in that same soft, lazy rumble, sounding completely unconcerned.

  I couldn’t look at him, little pulses of sensation sparking everywhere and my heartbeat—already fast—starting to get frantic.

  I might have been a virgin, but I wasn’t completely ignorant. I mean, I had a vibrator and I knew how to use it, so this feeling wasn’t exactly new. Except that it wasn’t anything like the calm, gentle pleasure I gave myself on occasion. This sensation was brighter, sharper, more vivid. Electric.

  And one I had no control over whatsoever.

  ‘I...uh...’ I tried to catch my breath, tried to hide how much that slight movement of his had affected me. ‘Y-yes. I just...need you to get off me.’ Now. Please, God, right now.

  ‘Impatient, huh? Where’s the fire?’ He shifted again, another roll of his hips over that achingly sensitive spot between my thighs, sending another burst of that intense, brilliant sensation exploding through me.

  I jerked, instinctively looking up at him, as if his gaze was a magnet and I couldn’t resist the pull.

  Gold slammed into me. Bright, flaming gold. Burning me, seeing me. A forest fire and there was nowhere for me to run, nowhere for me to hide.

  I trembled, scared for reasons I couldn’t have described. ‘T-Tiger...’

  ‘Yeah, I know.’ His hands moved, cupping either side of my jaw, the touch of his palms against my skin making me tremble harder. ‘I like the way you say my name. Thought you didn’t remember it.’

  I blinked, trying to breathe. Trying to concentrate on what he was saying and not on the ache that was building between my thighs, right where he was pressing down. But it was so difficult. ‘I...I...just need...’

  ‘Need what, hmm?’ He rolled his hips yet again, another slow, delicious grind that pressed against my clit, making me jerk and shiver like he’d given me an electric shock. ‘You need more of this, maybe?’

  I could feel myself break out into a sweat. My thighs were trembling and I wanted to lift my hips against that tantalising pressure, to chase that incredible friction. But enough of my brain was operating to know that this was a really bad idea. Because letting anyone know how you felt was always a bad idea, especially when you were as lousy at hiding your feelings as I was. Especially when you were somehow in bed with a dangerous biker who’d been in your head for years. Who lingered there like a fascinating equation you could never quite work out the solution to.