Chapter 19
MANNIX
I couldn’t concentrate. The spreadsheet in front of me meant nothing. Instead of seeing the costs for the month and salaries paid, all I could think about was that kiss. Fuck me. Never had a kiss made me so hard. With each moan from Rainn’s mouth, each tentative swipe of her tongue against mine, it was like a dance for her and me because we knew each other so well. She knew what I liked, and in turn, I knew exactly how to turn my lady on.
Rainn was very adventurous in bed, and at times, we indulged in kink, a bit of bondage now and then, and a couple of times we had taken part in threesomes. But Rainn mostly liked to be led in the bedroom. No one would ever know from her outward appearance and her bad-arse attitude that she was very submissive. She loved it when I told her what she needed because I did know. I knew every inch of her body, what every moan meant, how to touch her just in the right place. I knew Rainn better than I knew myself, so that whole thing in the bedroom pissed me off more than I cared to admit.
Never, ever had she shied from my touch—fucking never. Her body was meant for my hands. She damn near purred every time I got anywhere near her, so when she pushed me away and hid from me, I had to leave. It wasn’t the time to start shit with her, and it would’ve been exactly that, a shitstorm.
Another thing Rainn and I shared, other than explosive sex, was explosive tempers. We didn’t argue very often, but when we did, that woman was stubborn as fuck, and backing down just wasn’t in her nature. Nor was it in mine. Both of us wanted to win.
Well, she wouldn’t be winning this one. I gave her the time she needed when she took off without a word—with my babies inside her—then even more time since bringing her back. Three weeks, but now I was done. She could have gotten a bit more time had she not pulled that shit this morning. I’d already decided she was mine, and I had decided to tell her. Then she went and pissed me off. I loved her body, and my babies inside just made it even sexier. Once again, I had to adjust my dick in my pants. Just the thought of having my mouth on those luscious tits—
“Brother, you got a minute?” Deck came into my office halting any thought of rubbing out a quick one.
“Sure, what’s up?” I smirked at my own joke, but Deck probably didn’t want to know what that was.
The SAA sat down in one of the chairs across from my desk.
“I need some explosive work done at one of the construction sites. Boulders riddle the land about ten feet under. Interested?”
I didn’t even need to think about it.
“Hell, yes, I am. That is exactly what I need,” I said, happy to have a moment free from thinking about Rainn.
“Great. There is still some sorting out of paperwork and permits, but we should be good to go in about two weeks. The explosive expert the client wants to use is a complete wanker. Apparently, they are relatives of some kind, but I told them I want one of my own guys working with them. I want you to take point on this, Mannix. There is something dodgy as fuck about this whole thing,” Deck told me.
Instantly, I tossed every other problem I was having aside. Deck Johnston was not the kind of man to create drama. He was methodical and level-headed, and if he was concerned about these guys, then that was definitely reason enough for me to sit up and listen.
“What’s going on, Deck?”
“I can’t be definite, but after speaking with this so-called expert, I couldn’t shake the feeling I knew him.”
I could see this had Deck twitchy, and with everything that had happened to him and Charlotte, he was more alert than usual.
“Okay. So you have heard of him in the construction world, then?”
Deck immediately shook his head.
“No, not like that. I know his voice from somewhere. I just can’t place it, no matter how hard I try. He was almost talking down to me, not like ‘I’m the expert and you’re not’ kind of a way. More like ‘I hate your fucking guts and want to kill you’ kind of a way.”
What the fuck?
“Seriously, brother? That was the vibe you got from him?” I knew my SAA, and there was something else troubling him. “Deck, what is it?”
“It’s the same feeling I get whenever that fucktard Rogue calls us to gloat over one of his attempts at the women.”
The quietly spoken words sent a shiver through me. No fucking way.
Leaning forward in my chair, I pressed my hands to the desk. Every nerve in my body grew tense, and my back went rigid. “You think it was Rogue using his own voice?”
“Yeah, Mannix, I fucking do.”
If that were the case, and it was Rogue, then we needed to increase the security at the compound. The club was full of pregnant women now. Charlotte, Stella, Mia, and now Rainn.
“We need to tell Booth ASAP. Pres is walking a tightrope where this guy is concerned. Since Stella was taken, she has barely left his sight.”
I was with Booth that horrible night when we found her beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die in an abandoned car park late at night. I would never forget the torment on my mate’s face when he saw the damage those bastards had inflicted on his woman. It was certainly a night I wished I could forget. I didn’t share my own torment that I’d started dreaming the same thing might happen to Rainn. Then she disappeared, and my whole fucking world tore apart. A-fucking-gain.
“Yeah, I know. Not a conversation I am looking forward to having, let me tell you,” he said with a less than happy smirk as he pushed himself out of the chair. “You coming?”
I looked at the mountain of receipts in front of me that I still needed to check off. Oh, fuck it. I would pay Vegas to go through them for me.
“Yep, I would much rather face Booth’s wrath than this nightmare on my desk. Just let me take care of this, and I will be right with ya, brother,” I said, holding up my black eye patch. I liked to wear it more than the prosthesis because it was easier to deal with and more comfortable. Plus, Shiloh got a kick out of my patch, and the added bonus was Rainn did, too. Rainn called me her sexy pirate when Shiloh wasn’t around since the princess parroted everything she heard.
Deck nodded and turned to give me some privacy when his phone started to ring.
“Yo, you’ve got Deck.”
I grinned. He always answered like that. Even in our army days, he would answer the radio in the same way.
“She better fucking not be.” Deck paused as he listened. “Seb, you get the prospects and any hangers-on away from that fucking door right now.”
Okay, that wasn’t good. The only time Deck got growly like that was when Charlotte and the flock got together and cau— Oh, fuck. What had they done now?
“Move your arse, Mannix. Your woman has my woman, and the other ladies lap dancing,” Deck shouted, already halfway down the hallway on a mission.
Deck was a mite territorial when it came to Teach, and if they were getting lessons from Rainn in the art of the lap dance, well, there might also be some skin showing. Deck didn’t like anyone looking at his sweetness clothed, so without clothes, there could be bloodshed.
Quickly taking care of my patch, I followed him out of Body and Souls. If Rainn was dancing, then it was a good sign my lady was finding her way back. Hopefully, back to me, too.
———
“I swear to God, Deck, I didn’t want to do it. They made me. You know how they are. They get all teary eyed and the next thing I know, I’m knee-deep in shit,” Squid begged.
Yep, he begged. Of course, anyone would when faced with being in a chokehold from the Wounded Souls’ SAA, which was what was happening.
Deck and I had arrived back at the compound in record time and found Squid sitting on a kitchen chair in the middle of the dance room. Well, he was sitting but not of his own free will. Charlotte had duct taped his hands to the arms of the chair. It had been fucking hilarious, too. That was until Deck saw his new bride grinding away, her perfect baby bump peeking out from beneath a barely-there tank top, skin-tight legging looking things clinging to
her legs.
“Did you touch her?”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. Deck’s possessiveness had reached legendary status with that question. As if any of the men of the Wounded Souls would dare to touch Teach.
“No, brother, I fucking promise. She taped my hands to the fucking chair,” Squid said, forcing the words past Deck’s arm around his throat. Deck had Squid pulled up with the chair attached to him by the tape, making it hard for the prospect to do anything other than crouch.
“Uh, brother, he is an alarming shade of red. You might want to let up a bit,” I suggested as I watched the prospect’s eyes start to roll to the back of his head. “I think he is gonna pass out.”
“Deck, honey, let Squid go. I asked him to help us. We taped his hands and his thingy down. He was just doing what we asked,” Charlotte said, coming up beside her husband and putting her hand on his arm, silently encouraging him not to kill Squid.
“What thingy?” Deck asked with caution as he dropped Squid and the chair back to the floor with a thud. He still held his arm around his throat, letting only a little pressure off.
Charlotte started to squirm, her bottom lip going between her teeth.
Oh, shit. This was going to be good.
“You know, his thingy,” she said again as her hands waved nervously to the region of the prospects waist.
I looked to see what the hell she was on about. On Squid’s black fatigue pants was a mess of grey duct tape, fashioned into a crude version of a sport’s cup meant to protect a man’s cock. A laugh erupted from me. Oh, my fucking good God. These women were seriously a breed amongst themselves.
Deck released his captive just enough so he could see what Charlotte was on about. His eyes bugged when he figured out what they had done and why. He turned and stared at his wife, disbelief on his face.
“You made him a dick cup out of duct tape?”
“Yes.”
“For what reason, exactly.” With his eyes closed and his free hand pinching his nose, I was sure Deck was praying for patience.
“We needed a lap. Everyone here has a belly, and Vegas is with Darth and Shiloh. So we asked Squid to help,” Charlotte said slowly, that bottom lip of hers getting a real work-out.
“And…”
“And we didn’t want him getting aroused because we knew none of our guys would like that. So we took care of it so he couldn’t. It was my idea, honey,” she added, a proud smile gracing her face. “Rainn helped with the shaping of it. You know how good Rainn is with her hands, well, not that way with her hands, although you do know how good she is because you once—”
“Sweetness.” The growled endearment was something we heard a lot at the compound. “Let’s get you to our room for a rest. I need to talk to Booth about something important. After that, we will discuss your punishment for even thinking about Squid’s dick,” Deck said as he picked up his wife and left the room, leaving Mia to explain the how and the why.
“Rainn said it was just like papier-mâché, but because Squid packs such a huge package, we used the whole roll. Rainn said it was very impressive,” Mia added, making a bad situation worse.
I eyed my woman, who was leaning up against one of the dancing poles. Her long, glorious hair was up in a high ponytail with loose wisps, wet from sweating, clinging to her neck, and her face was flushed from the vigorous work-out. She was wearing just my shirt with a pair of fishnet stockings, and on her feet were a pair of sexy-as-fuck heels. She was grinning as she listened to Mia spew her word vomit.
She looked fucking stunning.
“Impressive was it, Lady? You been causing trouble again?”
My knees just about buckled when Rainn turned to me, and her face erupted into a full megawatt smile.
Fuck me. She was beautiful. The woman had a natural beauty about her. She had to wear make-up for her performances, and yeah, she mostly wore it every day, too, but just a little, toned down from her stage face. But here and now in this room? Her face was bare of any of that gunky crap, and her skin glowed. That beautiful smile had been gone for a long time now, and it was my fault because of all the crap from my past, and everything Alannah had done. Rainn knew it all. She knew about my trust issues, not handling the loss of my children well for years, and because of those issues, she kept her pregnancy from me because she knew how I would react.
And she was dead on. I did the wrong thing, and she paid the price. She carried the burden, was forced to keep her friends at arm’s length instead of sharing her joy, and worst of all, I wiped the smile from her face and the happiness from her heart.
Fuck, I wasn’t just a dickhead—I was an arsehole.
“Come on, Beast. You know you wouldn’t have me any other way,” she said cheekily with a wink and an air kiss.
And you know what? She was right. I wanted Rainn as she was. Moody temper, sweet nature, sassy, and anything else she decided to throw at me in the future just as long as she was with me. Striding over, I reached her quickly, and I didn’t stop until I was flush against her, wedging her between the pole and me. Her belly made it a little difficult, but it was comforting and right that our children were somehow part of this moment.
I wrapped my arms around Rainn’s back, resting them just above her bum, and laced my fingers. I could tell from her wide eyes that I had managed to shock her. Good, I wanted her off kilter just a bit. Fuck, she had me chasing my tail for the last month, but that was over. We were going to be parents, to twins, and my kids were going to know that their parents loved each other.
“I want you, Rainn. I want this family with you. I want a life with you, Lady.” My eye never left hers, so she had to see I meant every word. That she was my future, my healing.
“Mannix,” she whispered my name in a plea. Her eyes teared, and I saw the struggle in them.
Fuck. Had I caused too much pain? Had I messed everything up so much that it couldn’t be fixed? No fucking way. I wouldn’t accept anything but victory. Rainn Marcus was mine. She was mine the day she insisted I give her a job at Body and Souls, but I just didn’t know it then. I did now. The greatest gift she could give me other than the two baby girls growing inside of her was the gift of forgiveness and a chance to make it right.
“Baby, take a leap with me. I promise, I am not going to fuck up again and risk losing you forever,” I promised as desperation set in. “Please, Rainn.” My mouth dropped to hers, and our lips pressed together. “You are my best friend, Lady,” I whispered, hearing my own desperation. I didn’t care that we had an audience, nor was I concerned about the smiles that the rest of the flock were sporting. All I cared about was my future family, and if the woman who held my heart was going to stomp on it or not.
Chapter 20
RAINN
I could feel Mannix at my back as I led the way down the hallway to his suite of rooms or should I say our suite since I had been forced to live in his spare room for the last three weeks.
I was nervous. The speech Mannix just made in front of half of his club made me nervous. He said everything I had wanted to hear from the man. Well, almost everything. A few things were still left unsaid. I hadn’t said anything as of yet, but I needed to, just not in front of the other women. Sure, they would find out eventually, but Mannix deserved to hear it first. He still had a ways to go before I would forgive him completely. The hurt from his accusation still ran deep.
Being supportive and kind since the ultrasound didn’t mean anything. He should have believed me. Despite his past, I had never given him any cause not to believe me. Ever.
So if this was going to work out the way Mannix wanted, then he was going to have to listen to me without his hands anywhere on my body because, let’s face it, once I let that happen, his skills as a lover would render me completely useless.
I opened the door and walked inside, straight past the door of my room and into the room Mannix slept in. Why I took him into that particular room and not the sitting room, who knew.
“Rainn?
” Mannix was so close, and heat radiated off him. The effect was like it always was—instant arousal.
Sexual tension ran through my body, and I ached for his touch. Months of being without him had taken its toll on my hunger. I needed to create some space, so I moved to the other side of the large bed, then turned and faced the man I loved.
My God, he was so handsome it physically hurt separating myself from him, not just now but for the last month. Mannix and I had a friendship that meant the world to me, and he understood me better than I did myself. Living without him scared the hell out of me, and the thought of raising these babies alone scared the shit out of me. I wanted to do it with Mannix, as long as our relationship changed. I wasn’t going to pay for another woman’s sins anymore.
“What you said out there”—I pointed my finger to the general direction of the main living area of the compound—“and all the things you have been doing for me since I came back—breakfast in bed, making sure I am fed, that I rest, that my every whim is taken care of—why, Mannix?” Some part of me screamed to shut up and accept his acquiescence. After all, that was what I wanted, wasn’t it? The other part of me, the annoying, noisy part, however, was much more stubborn.
“I said them because I meant them. I did all those things because I like looking after you. I did it because you mean everything to me, Lady.”
God, he sounded so sincere.
“Believing me about you getting me pregnant doesn’t come under ‘meaning the world to you’?” One huge question asked, several to go.
“Jesus, Rainn, I apologised for that. I was a dickhead, which has been well and truly established. I’m trying to make up for it.”
He was frustrated. Good. He was lucky he still had his balls intact. That punch in the eye I gave him back at Jimmy’s was a love tap compared to the pain I really wanted to inflict on him—the handsome, cocky bastard.
“You should have believed me right from the start, Mannix. Yes, at first, we had an open agreement. You could see other people, and so could I, but I never ever gave you any cause to think I would or could ever lie to you.”
His Lady: The Wounded Souls Page 10
