by Lexie Davis
After slipping his hands underneath her shirt, he pulled back briefly to push it over her head. She shoved at him, doing her best to get her hands on his jeans. Ella eyes closed, and she dropped her head back, his mouth finding a sensitive spot on her neck that halted her actions. He nibbled and licked along her pulse point before scooping her into his arms and standing.
He sat her on her feet and kissed her lips. “Whoever undresses first calls the shots.”
He chuckled as she gave it an honest effort, but her damn skinny jeans stuck to her legs. He stood before her completely nude while she still struggled to get one leg out.
“No fair.” She fell back on the couch, losing her balance. “I need help.”
He laughed and tugged on her waistband, peeling the rest of her jeans off. Leaning in to kiss her, he hooked his fingers into her panties and tugged them off next. When she was nude, he glided his tongue inside her mouth, taking his time to taste her and enjoy every second of the seduction. She gripped his arms when her knees threatened to give under her weight. They did fast fucking a lot, but Ryker wanted to take his time. Appreciate her as much as she’d relished that fucking ice cream cone.
He backed her up to the kitchen table and lifted her so that her bare behind sat on the cold wooden top. Desire filled her eyes. Ryker pushed her legs apart and stepped between them to stroke her slick folds. Ella gasped as she fell back to her elbows, spreading her legs wider.
“You’re so goddamn beautiful.”
She dropped her head back as he inserted his finger. Ryker squeezed her breast with one hand while he leaned forward to suck her nipple into his mouth. He stroked, nibbled, and licked her, taking his time to enjoy every sensation. The desire overwhelmed him. Consumed him. A hot rush of fire coursed through his veins, and he lifted his head to stare into her eyes. There was nothing he wanted more in life than to finally make her his. He didn’t know the rules, and he didn’t care about them. Ella was it for him, and there would never be anyone different to take her place.
“Will you marry me?” The harsh rasp in his voice sounded foreign to his own ears. He withdrew his hand and propped himself up above her, his cock prodding her wet folds. “I need you in my life. I want you by my side.”
She kissed him, tightening her legs around him. Her heels dug into his ass, forcing his cock into her welcoming body. She was fucking home to him. She was it. There would never be anything else that was better than Ella, and even with all the bullshit they went through, he wanted no one but her by his side to weather the storm.
He filled her in one slick move while they kissed, eating at each other’s mouths like their life depended on one another. Some days he felt like he was drowning. He knew he had been before she’d stepped into his world. He knew better than to drag her into the mix, but Ryker couldn’t help but reach out and beg for her to save him.
Hips pumping, he rocked into her, completely enveloped. She made him want to be a better person. He’d gotten clean. He believed with his entire being that she’d help keep him stay off the drugs too. Cravings didn’t happen like they had a few months ago. He had a sporadic one every now and then, but Ella was always there and he simply chose to focus on her.
The wooden table squeaked with their movements. Ella clung to him as much as he clung to her. Ryker lifted her into his arms, never stopping their kiss, to carry her into the bedroom. She was what mattered to him. Her. He poised over her, linking their fingers above her head as he continued to thrust into her. She gasped and arched, her mouth falling open as a soft cry left her lips. He loved her more than anything in the world.
“I love you,” he whispered against her mouth. Emotions came from nowhere as he buried his face against her neck. He’d never known love until Ella. She was love to him.
He stiffened above her and came with a soft grunt of pleasure. He looped his arms around her and kept her close, afraid that if he opened his eyes she’d disappear forever. Many days he saw her like that. His fantasy. His dream. His father had fucked with his head too much, making him think that life outside the club wasn’t worth living. That people outside the club weren’t worth having.
Ella had proved him wrong on both counts. He moved away from her and lay there, contemplating the bullshit running through his mind. She deserved far more than he could ever give her. More than he ever dreamed about.
For a while, they were silent and wrapped in each other. So much ran through Ryker’s mind. He liked spending time alone with Ella. He liked that she talked him into getting out of the city for a few days.
“You look lost in thought.”
Ryker rubbed a hand over his face. “I need to tell you something.”
Ella rolled to her side. “Okay.”
He swallowed hard. If she was going to be his wife, then she deserved to know his history. All of his past. He sat up, not quite looking at her.
He struggled with whether or not he should tell her, and ultimately decided to. “I was fucked up on drugs, and we had club business in New Orleans about three years ago. Beth was new to the club but not the life. My father arranged for us to be together.”
“Okay.” Her confusion was evident.
“We fucked nonstop for three days.” He propped his chin on his hand. “And she got pregnant.”
“What?”
He glanced over at her. She sat up, staring at him with wide eyes. Ryker licked his lips. “It was part of my father’s plan. The future of the club. He wanted me to take the baby and raise it on my own. Groom him as the next leader of the Roaming Devils.”
She blinked. “Where is the baby?”
“She miscarried.” He cleared his throat. “I told my father that I wasn’t going to do it. I had no intention of having kids and I didn’t want them. I don’t know what happened, but Beth miscarried after that. We never talked about it again. We never will either.”
He had no intention of raising a child on his own. His father had given him a decent life, but it hadn’t been a good life. He’d seen things, knew things before he was truly ready. He didn’t want his kid to grow up in that madness.
So he’d told Beth to get out of it. To leave the club and raise the kid on her own. But she hadn’t wanted that. She had wanted to have his baby. She had wanted to be his bitch. Ryker rubbed his eyes. He didn’t know what had happened afterward and had never bothered to ask. All he knew was she wasn’t pregnant anymore and he really couldn’t say he was disappointed. It had been a trap that his father had set, and he knew the rules of the game, a game he didn’t want to play.
“So that’s why she wanted you. To secure her future with the club.”
“She wasn’t in love with me. She wanted the life.”
Ryker turned toward Ella. She had gotten up and went over to her bag for clothing. He watched as she dressed and tried to gauge her mood. She didn’t like talking about Beth, and he could only imagine what she thought about the woman being the potential mother of his child.
“You hold me at a different level than you do everyone else. It’s caused tension between me and your friends, between us.” She moved toward him, lying beside him. “When I was in the club and you were looking at me, for once, I felt like I really fit in. Like I really belonged with you.”
Ella did belong with him. Letting her into that life was a very bad idea though. “You don’t need that to fit in.”
“Why don’t you want me to be in that part of your life?”
“Because it corrupts people, Ella. You’re so fucking good. Innocent. Naïve, even.” He stared up at the ceiling. “You don’t need that in your life.”
“You’re not corrupted.”
“I am. You just keep me from sinking into the darkness.”
She wrapped her arms around him. “You’ve got a good heart. Don’t sell yourself short.”
He kissed her arm. “You’re still not going to be part of the club.”
“Fine,” she relented. “Just don’t treat me different in front of your friends.” She
kissed his neck. “You’re so lovable and cuddly.”
“I’ve been trapped in here with you for too long.” He turned to look at her with a smile on his face. “There is nothing cuddly about me.”
“No?” Her teeth scraped along his ear lobe. “You offered to hold me that first night we got together. I was down to fuck, and you just wrapped your arms around me while we lay in my bed. That was pretty damn cuddly, I think.”
“I plead the fifth.”
She laughed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Ella hugged him, and he loved the way she felt.
He pulled her on top of him and smoothed his hands down her back to cup her bare ass. “Look at me.”
Ella sat back on his thighs.
“You don’t ever have to be something you’re not to get my attention. I mean it. I love you exactly how you are, and I want you just the way you are. I’ve told you before that you’re not like those women. You never will be. Inviting you into that life is just asking for trouble, Ella. I don’t want it for you, and I don’t want it for me.”
She pressed her forehead against his. “It’s because of my dad, right?”
He pulled her hair back. “Among other things.”
“So shaking my ass and working the pole for you is out of the question?”
“Honey, you can do whatever the fuck you want. I’m not going to say no.”
She nodded. “I’ll hold you to that.”
He laughed and rolled her to her stomach, smacking her ass. He loved her. There was no denying it. He scraped his teeth along her fleshy cheek.
“No spanking me.” She shielded her ass with her hands as he smacked her bottom. “You’re the one that needs a spanking!”
“You’re so damn right about that one.” He laughed and fell back against the mattress as she dominated him, rubbing her body against his while she tried to smack his ass. He gripped her arms and pulled her down to kiss her. She made him smile. And as long as a smile stayed on her face, he was okay with whatever it was she wanted to do.
Chapter Eight
The glamorous life of a doctor was not what the movies projected. After a wonderful time away with Ryker, Ella started work at seven Sunday night. She ended up doing a double shift and working that Monday morning too with patients filling the ER, battling a horrible case of a stomach virus. She prepared herself to get puked on. Two hours into her shift, it happened: the splatter of an unidentified person’s vomit coated her back. The aroma wasn’t pleasant as she tried not to move too much. She didn’t dare turn around as the splatters continued, thankfully coating the floor instead of her.
“Oh, Dr. Hawkins.” One of the nurses in front of her cringed.
Ella blew out a breath. It was in her hair. It coated her scrubs and made them cling to her back. She felt it running down her legs and drip into her shoes. “Can we get this patient a trash can? And maybe a room? Can someone please get me something to clean myself up with?”
Ella had a strong stomach, but the domino effect vomiting caused nearly rippled through the ER. She’d been dealing with a bad case of patients having the stomach bug, and it was highly contagious and easy to transmit. Loraine handed her some paper towels and tried to help her clean up the mess the best they could. Her ass was wet from the event, and she didn’t want to think about how gross it was. Once she’d cleaned it up, she made her way to the doctor’s locker room. A hot shower with heavy-duty antiseptic soap sounded like it would be the best part of her day.
She stripped the soiled garments off and turned the shower on. Her reflexes were pretty good and she’d learned how to dodge most things, but someone coming up behind her and vomiting was a first.
She scrubbed her body liberally with the soap, trying to get the smell off her skin while killing germs in the process. Her phone rang as she turned the water off. She grabbed a white scratchy hospital towel and wrapped it around her.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Ella.” It was her father.
She frowned. “Hey. What’s wrong?”
She squeezed the water from her hair and sat down on one of the nearby benches in the bathroom.
“I don’t want to scare you, but a threat came in today about one of the guys Guns and Gangs is watching. He threatened to harm someone at the hospital. He knows me, and I have reason to believe that he’d go after you. I just want you to be safe.”
She swallowed. “What does this guy look like?”
“I’ll text a picture to you. If you see him, call the cops. Call me. Call Ryker even. He’s dangerous. Deadly. Please stay away from him.”
“Okay. I will.” She sat there a minute. “Dad, I miss you. Can we have dinner or something? We don’t have to talk about anything. I just miss being around you.”
“I don’t know, Ella. I’ve been working late a lot. We’ll see.”
“Yeah. Okay. I love you.”
The line was silent, and she thought he’d hung up. For a moment, she sat there simply staring at the shower stall.
“I love you too, Ella. Please stay safe.”
He disconnected, and she let out a breath of relief. Maybe things were changing between them. She dressed in a fresh pair of scrubs and headed back to the ER. She saw policemen hanging around outside and figured her father had sent them there for added protection. The hospital was big, and there were plenty of hiding spots, but hopefully she wouldn’t have to mess with another criminal in her ER.
“Dr. Hawkins, room thirteen specifically requested to see you.”
Ella groaned. Special requests were not an ER doctor’s preference. She treated her patients from most life-threatening to least. When special requests got involved, it screwed up the system. Or it was a junkie looking for pills.
She opened the door. “Hello, I’m Dr. Hawkins.”
The man sitting on the gurney held his arm tight to his body. Ella took him in, noting that the baseball cap he wore covered the majority of his face. He didn’t look up at her when she spoke to him and didn’t seem like he really cared if she helped him.
“What is your name?” she asked as she looked over the nurse’s preliminary report.
“Alex.” His voice was low. Almost inaudible.
“Okay, Alex. You have a hurt arm?”
He nodded.
Ella stared at him. The black sweater seemed odd for that time of year. Atlanta was rarely cold. He’d also called her by name. She didn’t know him. He didn’t look like anyone she’d treated before either. The warning her father gave her rang in her head, and she slipped her phone out to look at her text messages. The picture he’d sent her was for a dark-haired man with a scar on his left cheek. She glanced over at Alex and noticed the scar before anything else.
Her heart sped up. Quickly texting her father, she dropped her phone back in her pocket and turned. “Well, Alex, let me go get the X-ray machine and we’ll see what’s wrong your arm, okay?”
“No.” He stood from the gurney and grabbed Ella’s arm. “You’re going to walk out of here with me and not attract any attention.”
He pulled a gun out from beneath his supposedly hurt arm and pressed it against Ella’s side. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Okay. We’ll walk out of here.”
She opened the door and led the way out. The police officers had gathered around the triage desk, and before Ella could call to them, Alex grabbed her, dragging her the opposite direction. She walked ahead of him, following his directions to get them out of the hospital. Her phone buzzed her pocket, and it was undoubtedly her father trying to call her.
“Go down that hall.”
Ella turned. The guy didn’t look all that big. She glanced over at him, trying to size him up. If she went for the gun, he could shoot her. If she left with him, he could shoot her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the shiny handgun.
“Can I at least ask how you know me?” Ella kept walking, doing her best to keep her mind off the deadly weapon pointed at her side. “I’m fairly certain
I don’t know you, but my nurse said that you requested me specifically. Have I treated you before?”
“No.”
She turned down another hallway at his bidding and saw an exit up ahead. There was no way she could leave the hospital with him. Her stomach lurched at the thought of being dragged into some kind of gun war.
She stood there feeling the effects of treating a stomach bug all day as she retched all over the floor. Apparently, she’d caught the damn thing too.
“You fucking bitch!” Alex’s hand swung at her, and Ella backed up just enough to get out of his way.
She made a run for it, trying her best to get to the exit before he caught up with her. Her phone was in her pocket and she grabbed it, pushing her father’s number while she ran. He answered almost immediately.
“He’s here. He’s chasing me.” Ella ran out the door and to the right, heading back to the ER.
“Where are you? I’m in the south parking lot by the ER exit.”
“I’m running toward the ER from the west parking structure. He forced me to take a walk with him when he saw the police.”
A gunshot sounded from behind her, and Ella shrieked.
“Are you okay?” her father asked, his voice full of panic. “Ella?”
“Yes.” Her stomach threatened to lurch again, and she groaned. “I think I caught the damn stomach bug filling up the ER. I feel horrible.”
“I’m coming your way. What are you close to?”
She glanced around at all the cars. “Nothing.”
A shot sounded again. Ella blew out a breath and kept running, trying her best to keep cars between her and his bullets.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
“No.” Ella stopped, staring at the fence on the far side of the parking garage. “No, no, no.”
“What?”
