Rico’s Way

by Joy Blood

  "Easy, Ree. We'll get there. I have to take my time. Can’t go too crazy on you with my baby in here." I caress her stomach, then let my hands drift lower to grip her ass into my palms, squeezing.

  "You won’t hurt him," she pants.

  "Still going slow. Have to savor you," I grunt as another spasm ripples through her, and she clamps down. "Fucking amazing.” Shifting, I grasp her hips in my hands and lift her slightly to get a better angle and speed up my pace, rotating my hips and driving her mad.

  "Damn it, Reek!" she yells. "Oh!" She stiffens and comes, clenching the blanket under her. I keep up my pace until she bows her back.

  "One more? Give me one more. Fuck." I get as close to her as I can, melding my mouth to hers once again and kissing the hell out of her as my orgasm hits me full force. I fill her with my cum and keep pumping until the flutters of her pussy stop and I feel as if I’m about to collapse. I let myself fall to her side, my cock slipping from her as I do. Immediately, I want back inside.

  We lay there for a while before she breaks the silence. "I still don’t know who the father is," she starts, but I don’t want to hear it. Rolling to my side, I drag my hand along her stomach and press my lips to hers.

  "Still don’t care," I say as I pull back.

  "But, Rico..."

  "No. I said I don’t care. Mean it. If it turns out..." I take a deep breath, "if it turns out he’s Premo's, I won’t get in the way of that. But you're mine, Ree. Remember that. Mine."

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ari

  There’s that word again. Mine. He’s said it so many times in the span of only a few minutes, my head starts to spin. I figured out Rico was what I wanted after my interaction with Premo, I was just too chicken to come home and face it. Now, I have no choice, but I’m ready. "So, you what? Want me to be your…oh god, I can’t even say it." He barks out a laugh.

  "My old lady? Yeah. You're my old lady, Ree. Like it or not, you are." He pulls me closer. "Ready to go again?"

  "What?" I gasp as he brings me over him to straddle his waist.

  "Ride my cock," he instructs as he reaches down to grip his dick. He’s already hard, needing to get back inside me. "Lift up." I do as he says and rise just enough on my knees for him to place the head of his shaft at my entrance.

  * * *

  "What did I interrupt last night?" I ask as I sit on the countertop while Rico makes us both breakfast. Last night. After “riding his cock,” I fell asleep, only to be woken by him between my legs, again claiming he needed to make up for lost time.

  "Nothing. Just a misunderstanding." He waves off the fact that there was a half-naked woman in his kitchen last night.

  "Didn’t look like it to me." I chuckle, raising a brow at him.

  "She came over and tried to fuck me. I was trying to get her out of my house when you walked in."

  "I see. So, you haven’t been screwing her?" Suddenly, the situation doesn’t seem as funny as it did only seconds ago now that the thought of him being with someone else sinks in. It’s not fair that it bothers me, but it does. His back is to me, but I catch his head shake, allowing me to release the breath I had been holding.

  "Nope. Not even a little bit. Haven’t fucked anyone since..." he pauses and turns to me, pointing at my stomach with the spatula, "not since we were together." He turns back around to finish what he was doing.

  "Oh," is all I can say. He hasn’t been with anyone, but I was. "I saw you with Cira," I admit. The clang of the pan on the stove rings in my ears before he turns back around.

  "What? I was never with her after what happened between us," his brows knit together.

  "You were in the bar. I saw her topless—"

  "So, you ran." He fills in the blank. "That’s why you..." his voice trails off, and he drags both of his hands down his face in frustration. "All right. What’s done is done. Shit’s over. This is us now, yeah?"

  I nod. "Yeah. This is us," I repeat, a genuine smile growing on my face at the promise of being on the same page with this man.

  "Good. Now, let’s eat. We’ve got some shopping to do today." I perk up at the word, but backtrack when I remember it also came with the word “we.” Rico, shopping?

  "Shopping?"

  "Yeah. The baby is going to need some shit. I only have a crib."

  I gape at him. "You bought a crib?"

  He comes up between my legs and places a kiss on my lips. "Yes." He lifts me from the countertop and places my feet on the floor. "Now, eat," he orders. I do as he says, sitting down at the table in front of the window. He places a plate in front of me. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. I start eating, taking big gulps of orange juice while he sits down across from me.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “I have a feeling you will anyway,” he says around a mouthful of egg.

  “What happened to your back?” He stops mid-chew, looking at me in surprise.

  “You don’t know?”

  “No, not really. I know Ellie was involved somehow.” He nods in confirmation.

  “Yeah. Do you want the long or short version?” I glance down at my half-eaten plate of food.

  “Long please.”

  “All right then. Well, Vin and I grew up together, you know that?” I shake my head in the negative. I didn’t know that part. “We did. My mom and his old man worked for The Dean. It wasn’t long before the both of us started working for him too. Then, Vin fell in love with The Dean’s stepdaughter, who had also caught the eye of Avil, The Dean’s son. I assume you know about that fucker?”

  “Yes. I do. Not much, but I know the gist.”

  “Well, I helped get Vin and the girl out of the life and away from the Cantrell family. Worked, but Avil found ‘em. Killed her, and fucked up V.”

  “All the scars on his face,” I say. “Avil did it.”

  “Yep, Avil did it,” he echoes. “Thought he killed him too. Vin healed up and went searching for the fucker, but found Ellie instead—knocked up and being held prisoner by Avil. Vin took her, but Avil got her back. That’s when V contacted me. Asked if I would help get her out since I still worked for the Cantrells.”

  “They didn’t know of your involvement in helping Vin?”

  “Nah. Too smart for the fuckers. I was only a grunt. They didn’t know shit about my computer skills.” He winks at me, a cocky smirk on his face. “Anyway, my luck ran out, and I found myself strung up in their damn torture chamber. Beat the fuck out of me for days and made sure my hands resembled hamburger meat. It wasn’t until I got cut down and was being brought to Vin that I got the hard hit to my back.” The grimace on my face must show because he reaches across the table to clamp down on my hand. “I’m good now, girl.” I nod and let him continue. “Vin picked me up, got me to the hospital, and they fixed me up. Only, they did a shit job. No one caught the break in my back, and it healed wrong. I sued the shit out of the hospital and doctor.”

  “That’s why you—”

  “Yeah, kind of a rich motherfucker.” He chuckles.

  “I’m sorry I tried to talk you out of the surgery. I was just scared something bad would happen. I’m glad it didn’t.”

  “Me too, Ree.” He releases a long breath and lets my hand go after a squeeze, “Finish up, girl.” I smile, and we eat the rest of our breakfast in comfortable silence.

  "I need a shower and some clothes," I say when I’m done. "My things are out in my car."

  "Got some of your stuff here from the clubhouse. All that shit you had in the shower," he grumbles.

  "You have my sugar scrub?" I ask with excitement. "I couldn’t find any of it in the stores there. It’s amazing."

  "Good thing I kept it. It’s in the shower."

  "Thank you!" I squeal, a little too excited about the sugar scrub. He stands from the table, not hiding the laugh that rumbles from his chest. He takes our plates to the sink before coming back and extending his hand. Watching him move so easily around the kitchen makes my heart squeeze with gui
lt over not being here to help him through the healing process. It also makes me happy to see him no longer in such pain. It was so selfish of me to tell him he shouldn’t go through with the surgery. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” His eyes flash to mine, the happy moment gone.

  “What’s done is done,” he declares, shaking his head. “Besides, being in that bed for as long as I was, you might have killed my irritable ass.” His small joke is enough for me to crack a smile. "Come on." He holds out his hand, which I take, and he leads me to the bathroom. He turns on the water, starts stripping off his clothes, and tosses them into the basket in the corner. I do the same and step into the hot spray.

  "This shower is huge. I don’t remember it looking like this."

  "Yeah. Had it redone to be a walk-in. Easier after the surgery. Got a bench seat too," he says with a smile, pulling me close. "Let’s put that sugar scrub to good use." He grabs the small tube, takes off the lid, scoops out the citrus smelling wash, and scrubs down my body, making sure to give extra attention to my stomach. When he’s done, he drops to his knees, grabs something else from the small cut-out shelf, and squirts it into his hand. "Put your foot up here. And hold that," he instructs, pointing to the bench and a bar that runs along the length of the shower.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Shavin’ you. You need help, and I’m here to give it." I flush with embarrassment.

  "Oh no, Rico. No, you—"

  "Hush. I’m shaving your pussy, then I’m going to lick it, make you come, then I’m going to fuck you right there on that bench. Because I can, Ree. And because I think you might just need it," he says right before his hand covers my mound with the shaving cream, preparing me for the razor.

  He’s quick about his task and gets me shaved bare in no time. After he rinses me clean, his mouth goes right to me and latches on, sucking my clit, almost making me come instantly. My hands fly to his head to steady myself, and then I’m falling apart. Leaving me panting, he stands up and backs away to sit down on the bench. Then, in one swift move, as if I weigh nothing and don’t have this melon sized stomach, he pulls me astride his lap and pushes inside me with one stroke.

  "Oh, Reek!" I call out as he starts to move rapidly, fucking me, like he promised.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rico

  At the risk of sounding like a sappy, pansy-ass pussy, I’m happy. Fucking happy. I have my woman back in my life and no pain in my back. It’s a good day. She's been here, living in my house for almost two months, and I swear the woman has doubled in size over night, though I would not admit that out loud. With only weeks left to go, she’s stunning, and carrying our child makes her that much more beautiful.

  Walking into the clubhouse, I’m greeted by my brothers as I make my way through the bar to Rock's office. Reaching the door, what sounds like moans fills my ears. "Oh, Rocky," a woman whimpers, and realize it’s Buggs. I damn near walked in on his nooner.

  "They fuckin’ again?" Gin's voice catches me as I start to walk back out to the bar.

  "Yeah." I laugh and shake my head.

  "Think he’s trying to knock her up. They’ve been at it a lot." He chuckles, "What's up?" We walk back to the bar and take a seat to have a beer and pass the time.

  "Got a hit on a name. Think I found who Pres is looking for."

  "No shit?" I nod. We’re quiet for a bit, drinking our beers, then he speaks again. "Siberians are going to be here tonight." I knew they were coming this way on business and crashing here, but I chose not to think about it. Ari knows they’ll be here too, but she also hasn’t said a word about it.

  "Yeah," I grunt my response, then take another gulp, the beer now starting to warm from my palm.

  "How’s that shit going?" The club knows Ari and I are together. I brought her here not two days after she came back and made sure everyone knew. Not that they didn’t know before.

  "It’s going."

  "Man of few words today I see." He takes a long pull from his beer. "Know Pres expects to see you here tonight. Going to be good with that?" I nod, but don’t get to respond further because Rock walks into the bar with a flushed faced Buggs by his side.

  "Reek. Good, you're here. Let’s go to my office," Rock says. He gives Buggs a kiss and smacks her ass before walking back through the door he came from.

  "Guess I've been summoned." I stand from my stool and tip my head to Buggs on my way by. "Afternoon, Buggs." I shoot her a smile as I walk past, making her face heat even more.

  "Come on in. Close the door," Rock instructs. "What do you got?" Straight to business.

  "Got a hit. It took a damn long time, but I tracked down a name. It's fucked, believe me."

  "And?” he prompts. “Shit, don’t keep me waiting here." I almost don’t want to be the messenger here. He may just shoot me for it.

  "Roman. His specialty wasn’t just women. He bought kids and would sell 'em to the highest bidder," I say. I know he probably thought as much, but there’s more. "Turns out they kept a good record of what kid went where. Some type of insurance they had on their buyers."

  "So, who the fuck bought my brother?" Rock barks.

  "No one."

  "So, what? He's dead?" Being dead would probably be a better outcome for this, but it’s not.

  "The bookkeeper. That was him," I say. His brow furrows, and he sits down hard in his chair. "Not sure why the kid never got sold, or how he ended up working on the books, but he worked his way up the ranks from there. From what I found, he’s alive, but doesn’t go by Steven. He goes by Esteban, or Wraith." It takes a moment for the name to sink in. When it does, realization casts a shadow over his face. I know I did a double take when I read the name. That fucking list that got this club shot up is still plaguing us with bad fucking news. I poured over it, remembering each name in case any of them decided to retaliate on the club for turning it into the FBI. Esteban, or Wraith, was listed as Roman's first in command. The man who took care of anyone and everything that got in Roman’s way. If Wraith came after you, there was no way of knowing it until you were dead.

  "The fuck? Steven Rocardio. My fucking brother is a human trafficking assassin?" His expression drops.

  "Sorry, Pres. Shit, I know how fucked this is. The guy didn’t go down with Roman when the FBI did their sweep of cleaning up the trash. He went underground after shit hit the fan. No one has heard a word from him since."

  "Son of a bitch." He scrubs his short beard and looks back to me. "Don’t say anything about this to anyone. I don’t want it to get to Buggs. Not sure how she'd take it. Damn, this is fucked." I nod in agreement, deciding to leave him alone to process the information.

  "I'll leave you to it." I turn to go, but he stops me.

  "Got guests tonight. You don’t need to stay all night, but make an appearance, show your respect and that there’s is no bad blood between you two," he instructs, the face of my President back into place.

  "Yeah, Pres. I'll be here. Ari too," I confirm and walk out the door, closing it behind me.

  I don’t have a room at the clubhouse anymore. I gave it up when I bought the house. There wasn’t any need to have one anymore, but there’s a small office of sorts where the security cameras are set up. It’s more of a large broom closet glorified as a security room. When I open the door, I find one of the prospects getting his dick sucked off by a blonde kneeling in front of him. "The fuck, man?" I bark. "Find a different room for that shit. Get the fuck out!" The kid scrambles to his feet, nearly losing his pants in the process. "Hurry the fuck up." He fumbles some more, but I stop him when I recognize who the girl is. My hand smacks the middle of his chest, stopping his efforts to leave the room. I look at her, then back to him. "Oh, damn, prospect, you done fucked up," I say, gripping the kid's arm and narrowing my eyes at the girl. "Your dad know where you are Brook?" Her response is an eye-roll.

  “Brook? You said your name was Lynn," the kid says, panic evident in his features.

  "Are you going to tell my daddy on me?" Br
ook says. Sassy little shit. No wonder Gin slams a beer before heading home every day. He’s going home to this.

  "No, but I might take you over my knee myself, kid. Teach you a lesson or two about respect."

  She scoffs at my threat. "Please. You wouldn't dare touch me," she challenges, but I don’t get the chance to follow through with the bluff because Sage appears at the door. It takes him only seconds to realize what’s happening, but there’s a hint of something else as his gaze locks onto Brook. The searing glare narrowed at her makes the teenager shrink back just slightly, but she still holds firm on the defiant stance.

  "The fucking hell is going on here?" Sage growls, looking over at the prospect still clutched in my hand.

  "I didn’t know who she was. I swear," he says, but I know he’s already done for.

  "Get the fuck out of this club. I better not see your face again, you little prick." Sage's words come out harsh, and Brook nearly flinches. The prospect nods and goes running off down the hall before Sage changes his mind and beats him to a bloody pulp like I’m sure he wants to. "You little shit," he rumbles, his words directed at Brook now.

  "I'm old enough to—" Sweeping into the room, he tosses her over his shoulder, cutting her off.

  "The fuck you are," he bites out. She lets out a high-pitched scream, but I do nothing about it. "I’m going to do your dad a favor and spank your ass black and blue before telling him what his daughter was doing with a prospect in the surveillance room..." His voice gets quieter the farther away they get, but I can still hear her shrieking every so often. Thank fuck my and Ari's kid is a boy. I’m not sure I could handle a girl—especially that one. Don’t know how Gin does it.

  Shaking my head, I take a seat and type in my password to log in. I do my usual diagnostics on our security defenses and run a check through the FBI database to see if they’ve gotten a hit on Esteban.