Bound to the Bad Boy

by Molly Ann Wishlade

  So it wasn’t really a bad childhood. They taught you a lot. And being here, with them, was their way of showing you what mattered to them. They weren’t weird, just different from other parents. They taught you values. They just didn’t have the time for things your friends’ mothers and fathers did.

  She wobbled for a moment. The realization washed over her like cleansing rain. They had loved her in their own way. She didn’t have to worry. She had been loved. So they didn’t take her to elaborate restaurants and mother-daughter pedicures. They refused to run her from one sporting or social event to another every evening. And they didn’t push her to try for prom queen.

  But she was loved.

  By them and also by Matt.

  She approached the cabin. In spite of the passing years, it didn’t seem to have altered much. Its thick wooden beams still stood strong and firm. The windows still held their panes of recycled glass and even the small chimney remained in its place.

  It was beautiful.

  But the door hung open.

  Would the weather have destroyed the interior? Had the wind blown thousands of wet leaves into the cozy rooms, battering their eclectic furniture and eroding the few possessions her parents had left behind?

  Or would the wild beasts have taken over and claimed the cabin for themselves? Would she find a nest of beetles beneath the rag rug on the lounge floor and the horsehair sofa housing a family of moths?

  She gasped.

  She froze.

  She trembled.

  What is that?

  ****

  Matt had heard footsteps approaching and he ducked into the cabin to wait. Three days he’d been hanging around, convinced that Megan would soon arrive. He had been about to give up hope and return into town when Moonshine had sent him a text message to say that Megan was on her way. The club had kept her in their sights, making sure that she was safe and letting Matt know her every move.

  They were just looking out for her. It was his duty to take care of her. After Gil Creedy’s appearance at his place, Matt wasn’t taking any chances. Megan needed protecting, even if she didn’t realize it. The club hadn’t buried Creedy, as most of them would have liked and may well have done readily back in his father’s younger days, but they had taught him a lesson he wouldn’t forget in a hurry. Wherever he went, Gil Creedy had tabs kept on him and he knew it. For the last two weeks, Creedy had been camped out in a highway motel. Their sister charter club’s members were watching him and he’d be watched all the way to New Mexico. He sure as hell wasn’t getting past the Night Warriors again.

  No one ever did that twice. He’d been let off this time but a repeat performance might mean he wasn’t so lucky. He might be cleaned up if he tried anything again. Make that would be cleaned up… Matt’s jaw twitched at the finality of the words. It had taken a lot for him to fight giving that order. He’d like nothing better than to hear that the rapist weasel had taken his final breath but he knew that he couldn’t lie to Megan’s face. Not if they could have any chance of salvaging anything between them.

  Despite the fact there were eyes on Creedy, Matt still needed to know that Megan was safe. He had waited for a few days to see if she’d return to the city but she hadn’t. She had hung around. Making his need to see her grow into an almighty ache that sat leaden in his gut and made his movements slow and heavy. Grief shadowed him, threatening to drag him six feet under at any moment and he began to believe that he would welcome the release if something didn’t happen soon.

  Now it had. She had gone to the local outdoors store and picked up some walking boots and a backpack. She was preparing to head up to the cabin. Which meant that it was time for him to get up there too.

  And he had come prepared. Because he needed to give it one last shot. Needed to know if Megan could be his once more. This time for good.

  Chapter Twelve

  Megan crept towards the porch. Her heart thundered and blood whooshed through her ears. There was a light coming from inside the cabin.

  Someone’s in there... Damn it. I wanted to come up here to be alone.

  It would probably be a scientist of some sort come to the old retreat to study the bears’ local habitat, or maybe a tourist who’d wandered off the beaten path. It was quite common for folks to use the cabin, even when her parents had been around. Walkers, nature enthusiasts, you name it––they’d all passed through at some point or another. Highly likely, it was an old friend of her parents’.

  Or…

  Her stomach clenched and a chill ran through her lower body. Since the incident at Matt’s place she had been abnormally edgy. Creedy had scared her and she wasn’t sure what had happened to him. What if he lay in wait in the cabin, preparing to pounce when she entered?

  Don’t be foolish. The Night Warriors probably dealt with him and besides, why on earth would he think to come here?

  She took a deep breath. She unhooked her arms from her backpack and laid it against the stoop. Then she stepped gingerly onto the porch and peered through the doorway.

  The cabin was illuminated with dozens of candles. They flickered on every surface, bathing the living space in a warm golden glow. The place smelt fresh and inviting, a mixture of wood and spice. She guessed that the latter fragrance came from some of the candles.

  The pine table was laid for two and a bottle of white wine sat at the side of the placemats. Beads of condensation trickled down its surface. It hadn’t long been removed from the fridge. She licked her lips. After such a long walk, the wine looked delicious. Then she remembered herself.

  What was she doing? A modern-day Goldilocks—albeit with red hair—sneaking into a cabin in the woods, and eyeing up the drink? Well, it was her parents’ cabin and whomever the wine belonged to surely wouldn’t mind her presence.

  But the table is laid for two.

  Heavy feet on worn floorboards alerted her to movement in the larger bedroom. She glanced at the door that shut the lounge area off from the bedrooms and small bathroom.

  It couldn’t be. Could it?

  As the door swung wide, she gasped.

  Matt…

  ****

  “Hey, gorgeous.” He filled the doorway with his pure, alpha presence. Strong, defined and sure of himself. Of what he was and what he could do.

  Megan’s mouth dried up completely and she gaped at him, her stomach turning somersaults. She wanted to run towards him, to throw herself into his arms and bury her face in his chest but she couldn’t move. She was fixed to the spot. Frozen.

  What was he doing here? Why?

  But it’s so good to see him…

  “I hope you don’t mind me coming here, Megan.”

  He tucked his thumbs into his black jean pockets and she stared at the way his chest muscles rippled beneath his tight black t-shirt. His shoulders were so broad. His neck, so thick and masculine. Her depths clenched with desire and she subconsciously pushed out her breasts.

  See me. Want me. Need me.

  He tilted his head to one side. “Are…you sure you’re okay, sweetheart? You don’t seem too happy to see me. I just…I just wanted to see you again. Here. Remember how we used to come here, Megan? All the good times we had.” He gazed at her with his warm brown eyes and a thousand memories fluttered through her mind. Naked, tangled limbs. Hot, bruised mouths. Muffled sighs. Sweet, warm cider to quench the thirst evoked by their teenaged passion.

  “Yes. I remember.”

  He moved towards her, crossing the small space in three of his long legged strides.

  His fresh pine scent washed over her, lifting her like refreshing summer rain and she breathed him in, her heart quickening at his proximity. She tilted her head and feasted upon his gorgeous visage.

  “Matt? What are you doing here?”

  “You are disappointed.” His face clouded and Megan’s heart sank.

  “No. No.” She shook her head. “Not disappointed. Just…surprised. I mean…it’s good to see you again but…” She lifted her hands t
hen let them fall to her sides. “But what are we doing here? Together? Again?”

  Matt searched her face and she felt heat flood her cheeks at the intensity in his gaze. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt him. She loved him. Damn it. She really did. But she’d made up her mind to let go. Now. To move on. It just wasn’t easy when he was staring at her with a power that made her whole body blaze with desire. With love. With tenderness.

  “I knew you’d come here before you returned to the city and I had to see you…one last time. I need to make sure that you know exactly what happened…that I wasn’t responsible for Mr. Riley’s death. Why I haven’t explained all of this before. I just need you to know, Megan. Even if you’re still intent on going, after I’ve explained. Please give me that?”

  Megan chewed her lip. She had never been able to deny him anything. As her lover and her friend, he had an incredible hold on her. As her Dom, he held her attention and reached down into her soul. And now, here he was, vulnerable and exposed, asking her for the opportunity to clear the air. To try to make things better between them, even to rebuild their relationship.

  Part of her wanted to sing like a bird freed from a cage. If she let him, she could stay here in Cherub, be his lover, his sub, even his wife. She wouldn’t have to return to her barren existence in the city with only the cockroaches in the walls for company. But if she stayed…she would be saying yes to all that Matt and his club stood for. Could she really do that? Was it what she wanted?

  “What’s worrying you, Megan?”

  She frowned. “What?”

  “Your face keeps contorting as if someone has your feet in a fire. You look pained. What is it about me that’s worrying you?”

  She dropped her eyes to the floor, tracing the lines in the wooden boards, wishing that the ground could open and swallow her up. Then she wouldn’t have to think about all of this. It was exhausting. Draining.

  That was the problem. Her new life was easy because it was so dull. Life with Matt had never been tedious. It had been fiery, passionate and downright frightening at times but at least she had been alive. Really alive.

  She reached out to Matt and caught hold of his t-shirt then pulled him towards her. She pressed her body against the length of his and rose onto her toes to kiss him. He resisted at first, frowning in confusion but she felt him harden as she persisted and suddenly she was flying through the air in his strong arms as he carried her through to the bedroom.

  ****

  Megan laughed as Matt threw her onto the bed and began removing her clothes. She tried to help him but their fingers kept getting tangled, so she just threw her hands above her head and let him carry on. When she was naked, he stripped off his jeans and t-shirt. Megan pushed up onto her elbows to see him better.

  He was perfection personified. His muscular tattooed chest heaved as he took quick, deep breaths. His eyes were flames of passion. His lips red with heat.

  She reached for him, encircling his large erection with her left hand and pulled him towards her.

  He made no move to stop her as he hovered above her. It was clear. They were Matt and Megan now. Not Dom and sub. This union would be about them, their mutual desire, their need to be as close as two human beings can be.

  She massaged him with one hand, running the other one over his chest. She tweaked the slight bud of his male nipple and he gasped. Then she did the same to the other one. He climbed over her, resting his huge thighs either side of her hips. His balls hung down, brushing her pussy and she lifted her bottom, eager to feel his sack against her sex.

  She continued rubbing his cock, using one hand to move from root to tip, the other to circle his base. As she quickened her touch, he moved with her, fucking her hand, her handsome face contorted with pleasure. Each time she reached the tiny slit at the end of his erection, she bumped it with her clit, building her own pleasure as well as his.

  Suddenly, he opened his eyes. He grabbed her hands and stilled their movement.

  He shook his head. “No. I want to come in you.”

  Megan’s heart swelled and her stomach flipped. She longed to have him buried deep inside her. To feel his balls smacking her ass as he drove deep into her.

  He leant over and lifted his jeans from the floor then pulled out his wallet. Megan watched him roll a condom onto his cock before tossing his jeans aside again.

  Then he paused. He stared deep into her eyes and her face and body were flooded with heat. Her heart beat out his name and she was consumed by her feelings for him. She knew, for certain, that she wanted Matt to make love to her. But she also knew, with sudden clarity, that she wanted him back in her life for good. The thought of losing him, not being with him, not kissing him or holding him ever again was unbearable.

  Tears stung and she blinked to clear them away. Matt stroked his thumb across her cheek as one hot bead of moisture escaped. She could see that he felt the same. His gaze was full of emotion. The small muscle in his jaw twitched as he gazed at her. He loved her and she knew it. She loved him right back.

  She opened her legs and he laid between them, resting his forearms either side of her head. He lowered onto her gently until their bodies connected from their feet to their chests. His erection prodded her pussy and she lifted her hips to open her labia for him.

  He slipped in, inch by wonderful inch, and just lay there. Megan pulsed around him. She ached with love as she held him there, squeezing him with her inner muscles, clenching her pussy around him. He kissed her soft and deep, whispering her name then he began to move gently. In and out, round and round. Megan began to soar, carried upon waves of intense, delicious pleasure. She breathed him in, basking in his masculine scent, which reminded her of the forest after a rainstorm. It was both fresh and heady. Stimulating yet earthy.

  He was everything. He always had been. Her bad boy.

  His pace increased and she bit down on her bottom lip. Her body moved with his, in tune, in time. They became one. One being, one heart, one mind.

  Then they came as one. Gasping. Thrusting. Clenching. Pulsing. Throbbing. Powerful explosions that left them both shuddering and holding onto each other as if the room had been struck by an earthquake, as if they would be destroyed if they didn’t hold on with everything that they had.

  ****

  Matt rolled off Megan. He lay on his back and stared at the log beams that made up the ceiling. He had known that once he actually made love to Megan, he would surrender his heart. And now he had. His chest ached with emotion and he swallowed hard to try to dislodge the lump that threatened to choke him.

  Megan had responded to him as she always had. As his lover and as his sub. Whether they were just Megan and Matt, or in their roles as sub and Dom, their sex was fierce, overwhelming, all consuming. Holding back when she had first returned had been his way of maintaining some kind of control over his emotions, but making love to her, burying his cock deep inside her as he gazed into her beautiful green eyes, meant that he had given himself to her. Body, heart and mind.

  He wondered how she was feeling. She was as keen as she had always been…physically. But there was an air of reservation around her when they weren’t fucking, like a plastic poncho which held off the rain. What was she afraid of? Could she ever be as free and happy with him as she had once been?

  The thought of never having her complete surrender again made the lump in his throat swell. Without Megan, life was damn near worthless. He couldn’t fully satisfy his physical urges with other women, let alone his emotional ones. If she didn’t want him now…then he’d just as well give up on love. Get used to existing without feeling because he knew that he might be able to cloak himself in numbness but he would never properly heal.

  He removed the full condom and wrapped it in a tissue from the box on the nightstand, and then turned towards her. Braced himself.

  Megan smiled and it warmed him like the beams of the summer sun.

  “We need to talk.” She toyed with her bottom lip. He held his br
eath. “I mean…really talk.”

  “I know, Matt.” She nodded. “It’s high time.”

  ****

  After they had dressed, they made their way outside and sat on the porch. The late afternoon was warm and still. Megan sat close to Matt, their thighs touching. It comforted her to have him so close. Whatever was said now, they would always have today and a shared past.

  Butterflies fluttered in her stomach and she clenched her hands into fists. But what if they couldn’t find a way forwards? What if this was it? Pain pierced her like a knife, slicing through her chest and making her gasp for breath.

  “What is it?” Matt wrapped a warm arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “You look scared, Megan.”

  She nodded. “I am. Terrified.”

  “Of what? Tell me…now…this is the time. We have to be honest. Our relationship worked because of our honesty…I don’t know exactly where it went wrong.” His face darkened and Megan stroked his cheek gently. It tore her apart to see his pain. His confusion.

  “I loved you so much, Matt. From the first time I saw you in high school. Two years my senior, you walked into Math all dark and brooding and stole my heart away.”

  “You were a real cute seventeen-year-old yourself.” He tweaked her nose. “With your wild red hair and those freckles making your pretty face even sweeter.”

  She frowned. She hated her freckles but Matt had always loved them. And she loved that about him.

  “Dating you was such a new experience. You were, are, so exciting. Being your girlfriend, your lover, your best friend was more than I could ever have hoped for. I was thrilled to be with you. Even though the other kids sniggered at you when you first arrived, they soon changed their minds and you had the entire cheerleading team swooning every time you walked past.”

  He shook his head. “I never gave a damn about that, Megan. Don’t you know that?”

  “I do. But it was still tough. Made me feel insecure that they all longed to see what you had in your trousers. To run their hands along your tattoos.” She gritted her teeth together.