Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC

by Kiki Leach

  "What'd the fuck she have to say about him?"

  "Erm." Why bother re-striking that iron? I thought. "Not a lot. I only mentioned the Wolf thing because I know how you feel about him and I know that you're already aware and skeptical of him given how he's run the club in the past, but... maybe you should be even more so now. Especially since you're having to work with other clubs and charters to deal with Ricky."

  He sucked in a deep breath and pinched his lips while taking in what I had said. "He's been paranoid as fuck ever since I got back from New York," he told me. "Blue's mentioned that shit twice already and I saw it during the party we had with the Dragons that night. Motherfucker kept starin' me down after I went off on Tiny, but I couldn't figure out what the fuck it was about and wasn't in any kinda goddamn mood to ask." He stopped. "I know he can be full of shit, but what the fuck could he be operatin' behind the scenes that not a single motherfucker is aware of? Tiny might still be tryin' to crawl up his ass, but if it jeopardized the club, even that motherfucker wouldn't stand for that shit."

  I shrugged. "I don't know." I leaned back and rested my hands on the counter. "Is there any way that you could take over the club for yourself? Move it out from underneath him and start running things the way that you want?"

  "Yeah, doll, sure. I've thought about it from the first moment he patched me in, but that shit's not my kinda reality."

  "Why not?"

  "'Cause he'll die before he lets another motherfucker take over that goddamn gavel or sit in his chair. Shit, even now he'd try to fight me for it and I'm not talkin' about with just his fuckin' words or even his goddamn fists." He narrowed his eyes. "Besides, I didn't think this was the kinda life you wanted us to have. If I were to ever become Prez, we'd be in this shit 'til the fuckin' end."

  "I know," I told him. "It's not the kind of life that I would ever want to live for myself. Not the kind of life that I would ever want Avery to grow up in, but... This is who you are, Jacob. And me trying to take that away from you doesn’t' exactly scream 'love' to me."

  "Me wantin' to get out 'cause it'd make you happy is."

  "It is," I said. "But you being miserable and someday resenting me for that isn't. I'm happy with you. I'm happy being with you, I'm happy living with you. I'm happy on your bike or at your side, and... I feel like I can do anything. I can be anyone, I can go anywhere and I know that you'd be fine with it."

  "Not too fuckin' fine if--"

  "If you weren't there with me, I know that. But you would be, everywhere with me, always. The point I'm trying to make is that I don't need anything else in this life to make me whole except for my child, and you."

  "I don't need any goddamn thing except for you, Avery, Madison--"

  "And your club. The life you had before doesn't have to be the life you have now, with us. When I asked if all you wanted was booze and bitches and bikes and whatever else, I didn't mean that I wanted you to give up the one thing that managed to save you from yourself."

  "That'd be you, doll."

  "I'm part of it, I know." I stepped forward and reached out for his hand. "Part of being in love with somebody is yes, making a promise you can keep. But it's also about making sacrifices for yourself and for the ones that you love. It's also about commitment." I curled his fingers inside his palm and pressed his fist against my mouth. "And I'm completely, and fully, and utterly committed to you and this and to us and this life that we have together, Jacob 'River' Hawkins. I know that it won't be easy and I know that we might drive each other absolutely crazy at times but... I think the end result just might be worth it."

  "Shit," he said. "I think I just fell a little bit deeper in love with your sexy ass right then and fuckin' there."

  "Really?" I opened his hand and slid it up inside my shirt, beneath my bra and around my breast. "Then show me," I told him.

  "Fuck, baby."

  "Please do."

  He dropped his hands around my thighs and picked me up from the floor to carry me off into his bedroom. And for the next few hours, until the sun went down and the moon shone high up in the crystal, clear blue sky, that's exactly what he did.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  After fixing as much of the food as we could at the house, Jolene, River and I arrived at the club well before any of the other women or brothers had shown up, to help get everything set up as much as we could. Though River seemed to be more interested in taking me in the back while his mother set things up out front alone.

  After dragging me back into one of the open bedrooms and closing the door, he pinned himself against me so hard that I could barely move, let alone breathe, and shoved his knee between my legs.

  "River," I moaned. I tried like hell to give him a stern look, but it didn’t last when he drew his hand down my chest, between my breasts and against my stomach, then shifted it down between my legs and wrapped his fingers around the inside of my thigh. I yelped and threw my hands over his shoulders and latched onto his shirt as the sensation of his fingers burned against my skin.

  "What?" he grunted. He brushed the back of his hand directly against my sex and stroked his finger against my shorts, all while keeping his eyes locked on mine. He rolled his tongue across his lips and smirked, attempting to entice me even further, though God knows it wasn't as if he needed to do much work in revving me up. "What, baby?" he said again. "What?"

  "You know what the hell it is that you're doing to me, Jacob Hawkins," I said. “And you’re not playing fair--”

  "I don’t play fair when it comes to you, babe," he replied. "And shit if I don't love it when you call my name like that."

  "Like what?"

  "Like you fuckin'..." He brushed his hand against my sex again, forcing me to rock against him. "Like you fuckin' need me, babe."

  "I always need you, but River... Ahhh.” I shifted against him as he tried sliding his fingers past my shorts and I dropped back even further against the door. "River..." My entire body tensed as his fingers traveled closer and closer to my sex; the muscles in my stomach clinched as I felt his cock press against me and I imagined it fulfilling me again. "I..." I became breathless to the point that I could hardly hear myself speak. "I can't leave your mother out there like that--"

  "Wolf's on his way, babe." He bent forward and rubbed the tip of his nose against mine, knowing that it had quickly become one of my ultimate weaknesses as of late. "He can help her get shit set up before the girls get here." He snickered and slipped one finger past my panties, and drew it back and forth directly against my sex. "Ain't like we're havin' a goddamn picnic or some shit around here," he breathed. I rocked against him and moved my hands up his neck and into his hair. He held his face over mine and exhaled directly between my lips. The taste of his breath on my tongue was absolutely, devastatingly intoxicating, more so than usual. "All she's gotta do is take the beer outta the goddamn cases and set 'em up."

  "But..."

  "Shh..." He kissed me hard and deep, then slow and soft just like he knew I loved, and while stroking my tongue with the tip of his own, reached down for my shorts with his other hand and forcefully, almost angrily yanked them down to the floor, along with my panties. I stepped out of my shoes as he did the same, and he stared down between my legs with a lust I knew all too well, then looked back into my eyes. "Jesus, baby, I can see and fuckin' feel you already wantin' me inside you."

  "Always," I cried out. "But River--" He slinked his hands around my waist, then dropped them down to my behind and squeezed hard enough to leave his prints on my skin. I knew that he was still so determined to prove how much I was his, even though he didn't have to. But something about his obsession, his possessiveness of me made me want him even more than I already had. "I don't think we should be doing this here," I muttered between breaths. “In the clubhouse and in this room.”

  "Baby," he mumbled against my mouth. "You know a single taste of you is never enough for a hungry motherfucker like me. Once I have a little of you, I just can't fuckin' stop."
r />   "I gave you so much of me already--"

  "Shit still wasn't enough, doll. It'll never be enough, like I told you before. I need it all the goddamn time, need you all the goddamn time. There'll never be a fuckin' time when I won't want it from you, won't need it. Won't fuckin' crave it from you, baby. I fuckin' crave you." He pulled back from me and licked my lips; literally slid his tongue up and down against them, and God, I was helpless to him now. So terribly and unbelievably helpless to him. My heart started beating so fast that even breathing evenly couldn't seem to control it. And my sex was so wet and heavy for him that keeping my legs pressed together only seemed to enhance what he was doing to me and my body.

  He tilted my head back and dropped his face down to my neck. And he sank his teeth into me harder than he ever had before, forcing me to dig my nails into him, forcing my body to jerk against his. "I just wanna fuck you like you're mine, babe. Forever and goddamn always."

  "I am yours," I told him. "Always."

  "Fuck. Say that shit to me again, baby. Say that shit and never fuckin' stop."

  "I'm yours," I told him again. "...I'm yours, I'm yours."

  "The way you say that shit to me. Fuck. My cock'll never know another goddamn name but yours, Mia. From now until the very fuckin' end, babe."

  Now until the very fucking end.

  He lowered his hands around my thighs and effortlessly lifted me from the floor. As I wrapped my legs around him, he brought his mouth down to my chest and drew his tongue back and forth across my skin. And then he carried me over to the bed and laid me flat on my back, all while holding himself against me. "I hate makin' this shit quick with you," he said.

  "Then don't." I hooked my legs around his waist and watched with eager anticipation as he unbuckled his pants and dropped them down to the floor. When I saw the bulge in his briefs, I giggled. Even though it had been just mere hours since our last time together, it seemed as if I couldn't get enough of having him, just like he never seemed to get enough of having me.

  When he finally relieved himself of his briefs and jeans, he removed his shirt, then lifted my shirt up and over my head and dropped down on top of me. While staring down into my eyes, he brushed my hair back into my head and smiled deeply. "Jesus Christ," he said.

  I hooked my arms around his neck and dipped my body further beneath his to feel him. God, I just needed to feel all of him, as much as I could for as long as I could. Forever.

  "What is it?"

  "I love you almost too goddamn much," he told me. "Never thought I would... Never even fuckin' thought I could after all the shit I've ever done; the kinda goddamn man I am--"

  "It's not entirely possible to love somebody too much, is it?"

  "Yeah it is, babe. Yeah the fuck it is, and that's some shit I didn't fuckin' know 'til you. Shit I'll never know after you just like shit I never knew before you came back to me." He brought his other hand down to his cock and stroked it a few times before sliding it inside of me with such tremendous ease. I hooked my ankles around his back and he groaned loudly once he settled himself and pumped into me a few times before stopping. "I'm gonna show you just how fuckin' much you mean to me, babe. Every fuckin' day of every goddamn week, on top of every motherfuckin' hour, I'm gonna show it."

  "Do you think you'll still have the energy to keep up with yourself?"

  "Darlin', I'll never not have energy for you, or us, and sure as fuck not this. I'll always have enough energy for this."

  Slowly, he stroked in and out of me, and as I closed my eyes and tightened my grip around him, I prepared my body for the onslaught of explosions this moment between us was bound to bring.

  ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

  After leaving Mia high and feeling more than completely satisfied, River left the bedroom to allow her some time to get dressed and fix her hair, and returned to the front of the club where he found Blue yakking away with a few of the Dragons and their old ladies who had finally shown up hours before. Just as he was headed over to meet with them for himself, he was instantly stopped by the cracking voice of his mother, who had apparently been in competition with Wolf to see who could scream the goddamn loudest between the two of them for the last half hour or so.

  "Shit." He grabbed his head and massaged his temples as he felt another goddamn headache coming on and he knew that this time, he wouldn’t have the relief he wanted in getting rid of it.

  Blue walked over with a beer in his hand and bobbed his head. "'Sup, brother. Where the fuck you been?" Moments later, Mia emerged from the back and anxiously waved at him as he focused his eyes on her. River turned to smirk and wink at her, and watched until she met with Miranda and Candy on the other side of the room. When he turned back to a smiling Blue, he soured. "Fuckin', shit, asshole. You lucky son of a goddamn bitch." Blue threw his hand into his arm and laughed. "Now that you've finally had this bitch, you can't seem to get enough of that sweet fuckin' pussy, yeah? Shit must taste like a goddamn pound of how gold would feel inside the palm of your fuckin’ hand.”

  River dragged his hand down his mouth and to his chest and nodded. "Yeah."

  Blue noticed the flippant and dismissive tone in his voice and curiously lifted his brow. "Are you gettin' modest as fuck on me now, brother? The shit's so goddamn good you can't even speak about it anymore? Or are you just afraid that whatever the fuck comes out now will leave your tongue all twisted up in knots--?"

  "What the fuck is my mother in there screamin' at Wolf about, asshole?" he asked, forcing his best friend to change the subject.

  Blue, realizing that River was in no mood to chit-chat about his woman or her pussy like he might have been earlier in the day, knocked back some of his beer and shrugged. "She's been screamin' at him like that ever since we showed up and even before then, I think. But I guess you wouldn't have been hearin' that shit since your ears were too goddamn busy bein’ muffled by, uh, somethin' else a fuck of a lot more important than that." He grinned.

  "Where's your bitch at, motherfucker?"

  "She's on her way here. And, uh, Riv?"

  He glowered. "What?"

  "Don't get all bent outta shape in bein' too pissed about this shit, but uh, she's bringin' Courtney along with her."

  "Mother fuck.” He rattled his head. "Goddamnit, what the fuck did I say about that shit? This is the last goddamn thing I need right now, asshole."

  "I feel you, Riv, and I heard you when you said that shit. But the bitch is gettin' sick and fuckin' tired of bein' cooped up inside that goddamn motel. And you know when bitches get pissed about shit, they start doin’ and sayin’ shit they shouldn’t, speakin’ outta turn and fuckin’ shit up--"

  "Her fuckin’ shit up where Ricky’s concerned is the least of my goddamn problems right about now, motherfucker. And her bein’ pissed about bein’ cooped up? Fuck that shit. Maybe she shoulda thought about the consequences of that before she decided to make her way out here just to suck my goddamn dick," he murmured. "Or maybe she shoulda thought about that shit the minute she realized we had a goddamn beef with her psychotic ass brother. She doesn't get a goddamn free pass for any of this shit, asshole."

  "I don't think she's lookin' for a free pass on this shit, Riv," said Blue, his tone more serious than usual. "I think she's just... really fuckin' fucked up. And she's tryin' real goddamn hard not to be anymore. That's shit you can't exactly blame her for."

  River lowered his shoulders and exhaled. He glanced over at Mia, who appeared concerned and shook his head. "Shit… No." The last thing he wanted was this bitch coming to make a goddamn scene, but he knew it was probably better to keep her around than risk tossing her out once she showed up, in which the consequences of doing so would be more dire than not. "But since you invited her here--"

  "I ain’t exactly invite her--"

  "I don't give a fuck. She's comin' here with your bitch, is she not?"

  "Yeah," he grumbled.

  "Then you fuckin' deal with her and the shit her bein' here will bring. At the very goddamn le
ast, asshole, make sure she stays the fuck away from Mia and any and all talk regardin' my goddamn cock."

  "Alright."

  "Good. Now I need to go and see what the fuck these two goddamn lunatics could be arguin' about in the kitchen of all fuckin' places."

  Blue took another swig of his beer and backed away from River, who turned and headed down the hall and into the kitchen around the corner.

  When he peeked his head inside and saw Wolf reaching out for his mother's wrists and shoving his face into hers while screaming so goddamn hard and loud that he could see spit flying out of both sides of his mouth, something inside of him snapped like a goddamn limb from a tree and the motherfucker saw nothing but red.

  "HEY!" he called out. Before Wolf could even react, River jumped in between his mother and that old man and shoved him back into the goddamn wall on the opposite side. As Wolf's head bounced against the wall, Jolene reached for her wrists and looked down at the scrapes and bruises left behind by his fingernails and hands. River turned to his mother and scrunched his face.

  "What the fuck is goin' on in here? I can hear you both screamin' like a goddamn pack of wild dogs all the way out in the front of the fuckin' club!" He turned to Wolf. "This is you tryin' to prove solidarity, motherfucker? By gettin' up in my goddamn mother's face and screamin' at her like she's just some kinda bitch you used to fuck?"

  Wolf stood straight and fixed his jacket. He looked over River's head and stared down at Jolene until she turned away. "No," he said.

  "Then what the fuck is your deal, asshole? Who the fuck do you think you are to talk to her or put your goddamn hands on her like that?" He dropped his arms and clinched his fists. "Prez or not, this woman's still my mother, and you'd be takin' me for some kinda goddamn, motherfuckin’ fool if you think I wouldn't beat your ass into the goddamn ground for attemptin' to fuck her up like you were--"

  "I wasn't attemptin' shit, son."

  "Sure in the fuck looked that way to me, old man. And you know, I ain't never been too much a fan of you callin' me son. Sure as fuck not like you own me.”