“Oh. So, if someone came in before we got up, it wouldn’t do for them to see one of us sleeping on the couch.”
He smiled broadly. “Now you’ve got it.”
She sighed. “You’re so full of shit. That’s the biggest ruse ever to get me to sleep with you, but I’m going to go out on a limb. Mainly because it was kind of nice before.”
“Good. Now that that’s settled, finish gettin’ dressed and we’ll go grab a bite to eat. Apparently, they’re havin’ a small party downstairs, which always means good food, and I’m starvin’.”
The party was in full swing when they arrived. Lucy was surprised at how tame it was. Sure there were women hanging on to the men, but everyone was dressed and halfway sober. For now. The parties she’d been to with Black Reign had been much less subdued. Well, the night was young. It would probably get going soon enough.
Vicious led her to a long table where a huge spread of burgers, hotdogs, and all the trimmings was laid out. A big man with a booming laugh and a vest labeled “Carnage” on the back manned the grill. He caught sight of them and waved them over.
“Whatcha got there, brother? Nice little bit of beautiful.” Carnage eyed Lucy up and down. It seemed more curious than insulting, but Vicious shoved her farther behind him. Just a little.
“Her name’s Lucrecia. Goes by Lucy, and she’s very off limits.”
A huge smile split Carnage’s face. “Off limits means only until I charm her away from you.” He turned his attention to Lucy and winked. “Welcome, little miss. Don’t give it to this guy. Any babies he makes would look like him, and no one wants that.”
Lucy was surprised to find herself grinning. “Good to know someone’s watching out for me. Thanks for the tip.”
Vicious scowled and snagged her hand. “Come on. Let’s find Thorn and introduce you properly.”
“Wait. Thorn? The guy who walked in on me?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry. He won’t bite too hard.”
“Do we have to?” It was adorable the way she bit her lower lip, but he didn’t want her distressed.
“Yes. You’re a guest in his house. Man rightly likes to know who’s sleeping under his roof.”
“Why do you have to be so fucking reasonable?” She muttered her question but followed him without him having to force her.
Thorn was standing with a group of other Salvation’s Bane members. He had one foot on the bench of a picnic table, beer in hand. They were laughing at something one of the prospects had said when Vicious approached them.
“Thorn.” He greeted the other man with a firm handshake.
“Glad you could join us, brother. I see you brought the young lady with you.” Thorn turned his cold blue eyes Lucy’s way. She had to force herself not to shift behind Vicious. Like he’d be any help. He was the one who’d brought her to the man in the first place. She was surprised when a low, rumbling growl came from Vicious. Thorn raised an eyebrow and glanced his way but said nothing.
Vicious cleared his throat. “This is Lucrecia. I’d like her to stay here until we locate her sister.” If that was Vicious’s idea of asking, it was likely to get her thrown out on her ear. But then, MCs seemed to have a different set of social rules.
“Lucrecia.” Thorn extended a hand to her. “You’re welcome, of course. Make sure Vicious explains the rules to you, follow them, and you should be fine.”
“I -- rules?” She sounded like a little mouse and hated it. One thing she’d learned during her time with Black Reign was that she had to be strong to survive. This first meeting would set the tone for her entire stay.
“Gotta have ‘em.”
She squared her shoulders and met his gaze boldly. “Every place does. I can earn my keep and do my part of the chores. I don’t expect a free ride.”
Thorn raised his eyebrows and glanced sharply at Vicious. “We can always use another hand with the cooking and cleaning.” When Vicious took a step forward, pushing her behind him slightly, Lucy stiffened and moved away from him.
“Look, I’m not going to be a club whore. But I’m a damned good cook, and my cleaning skills are better than what you’ve obviously got going on currently.” She made her expression as hard as she could. “This place was a pig sty a couple of weeks ago.”
With a soft chuckle Thorn raised his beer in salute to her. “I take it that was you cleaning up after us. Girls were trying to take the credit, but we all knew better. They’re all a little spoiled.”
“Believe me. I noticed. They’d’ve been kicked out at Black Reign. That club doesn’t tolerate the club girls not pulling their weight.” She was trying to be hard, but she was terribly afraid, despite Vicious’s assurance, they’d still want her to dance. Though she loved dancing, she really didn’t want the same setup she had with Black Reign. It was bad enough Vicious wanted her to do it for him.
OK. That wasn’t entirely accurate. She was good with dancing for Vicious. Suspected she was more than good with it. Could she actually be looking forward to it?
Fuck.
Thorn chuckled. “Yeah. This is gonna be interesting.”
“Thorn.” Vicious found her hand and she let him. “We already talked about this.”
“I’m well aware.” He brought his gaze back to Lucy. “We’ll try you cooking. Your responsibility will be the kitchen. You need help, you tell Vicious and he gets you help. Otherwise, the other girls will be responsible for the rest of the clubhouse. If it turns out you can’t cook to our liking, we’ll shift duties around. And, little girl…” Thorn took a step toward her, his expression amused as he leaned down to put his face in front of hers. “No one here whores unless they want to. Some girls like the excitement and the money. Others prefer to stick to one man at a time. Get me?” He waited until she nodded her understanding. “Good. Now.” He waved his hand at the party starting to get wound up around them “Get to know everyone. Have a good time. We don’t usually do breakfast, but people start wandering to the kitchen for lunch around eleven. That work for you?”
All she could do was nod. Did he intimidate her? Hell, yes, he did. All of a sudden, she realized how tightly she was gripping Vicious’s hand and realized that, on some level, she trusted the big man.
Well, shit.
Chapter Five
As club parties went, this turned out to be about the norm. The music was a touch different, but Lucy could deal. Seemed like a few of their club girls decided a healthy dose of industrial metal or something close was in the works. Five Finger Death Punch, God Module, Megaherz, and Rammstein blasted loud enough it was hard to talk over top of it. Which was fine with her. She was observing. It was how she’d survive in this new place.
So far, she was seeing the usual hierarchy of MC society. The men all deferred to Thorn, the president, and the women seemed to be ranked either by how long they’d been with the club or the bed of the man they were currently sharing. None of these men had ol’ ladies so no one woman could claim dominance over everyone else. There were a few who tried, but it was a struggle. And yes, the women seemed to actually be more aggressive than the men. Which was awesome.
Not.
The men seemed to indulge the women more than Black Reign ever did, but they were still the dominants and had the last say in the event of an argument. Lucy thought there might be a problem with the music selection, but the local favorite, God Module, won everyone over. Thorn, however, made it clear that if the women wanted to keep their music, they had to make it worth their while. Naturally, the clothes came off soon after.
While most of the women welcomed Lucy, if a bit coolly, the ones vying for dominance were standoffish. Not that she cared. She was here until Salvation’s Bane found her sister, then she was gone, something she made very clear to the women. Last thing she wanted was for them to think she was trying to put her nose in their pack. Once word got around, more women approached her, all bearing liquor of some kind. Beer, but mostly whisky. Just great.
“I don’t suppose you’d u
nderstand if I told you anything harder than beer didn’t agree with me, would you?”
The blonde bombshell dressed in leather pants and a leather tank that pushed her boobs nearly to her chin laughed. It was obvious this was Lucy’s first test. “Nonsense! You’re a big girl.” She looked Lucy up and down with a superior air. “Drink up… Lucy.” The women with her tittered, as if Lucy’s name was the height of hilarity. This was the part she hated. She didn’t like having to prove her worth or her fortitude. She just wanted to… be.
With a sigh, she accepted the shot from the blonde -- Claws, apparently because she had two-inch-long pointed nails that looked sharp as daggers. Definitely not a woman Lucy wanted to get in a scuffle with. Meeting the woman’s eye as she braced herself for the burn of the whisky, Lucy downed it. Thankfully, she was able to keep her face carefully blank. The women laughed, a couple scowling as they handed money over. Obviously there had been bets placed.
“Good. Join the party. It’ll move to the beach soon. Bonfire is almost ready.”
Great. A bonfire with a bunch of bikers. What could go wrong?
While the clubhouse was in a relatively urban area, there was enough space around them for the party not to bother neighbors too much. The beach was adjacent to the property and looked to have been sectioned off, letting visitors know they weren’t welcome. Right.
By the time she’d finished her third beer and fifth shot of whisky, Lucy knew she was done. If she did more, she’d lose any sense she had.
“You good?” The rumbly voice next to her ear wouldn’t have nearly such a sexual effect on her had she not been two-thirds drunk. She was positive.
“Never better.” She smiled brightly over her shoulder at him.
God, the man was devastating. That dark beard and the tattoo creeping up his neck gave him just enough bad-boy appearance to remind her of what he was, but, also, just enough bad-boy appearance to make her wet.
“You too drunk to go to the beach?” His grin was at once sexy and infuriating, his hands settling on her hips. Normally, she’d have rebuffed him, but she really liked his hands on her. Wanted more of it.
“You asking the other girls that same question?” Lucy did her best to look stern. “‘Cause if you’re not, you best not treat me any differently.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, now you don’t want to be treated different? Wasn’t that long ago you were telling Thorn what you would and wouldn’t do. Don’t remember any of the other club girls doin’ that.”
“Ain’t a club girl,” she said, uncomfortably aware her words were slurring slightly. Maybe he didn’t notice. “I won’t be here that long so I was just making it clear that I will not be a club whore.”
“Look, I’m not your babysitter. I just see the way you’re interacting with everyone, having a good time, and I don’t want you to get in over your head. It’s because I know you don’t want to fuck anyone to earn your keep that I’m asking. You go to the bonfire, you’ll get caught up in this like everyone else. I guarantee, you’ll end up on your back. The girls here have all set their boundaries with the men. You ain’t.”
“You telling me they’d take advantage of a drunk woman?”
He winced slightly, but shook his head. “Not intentionally. The women here get drunk on purpose.” He shrugged. “Claim it makes aggressive sex more fun and relaxes them for anal sex.”
Lucy jumped out of his grasp, backing away from him. No way she could prevent the blush creeping up her neck. The big grin on his face said he’d gotten exactly the reaction from her he wanted. “Motherfucker,” she grumbled. His booming laughter followed her as she joined a group of women headed to the beach.
* * *
Was goading a woman ever so much fun? He just knew he’d get her back up with that drunk comment, but couldn’t help himself. He was paying for it now. Kind of. She was off, having a good time with the club girls -- currently dumping the liquor down her, probably hoping she’d do something embarrassing -- and she was definitely getting drunk. Well, drunker.
The girls were in a feisty mood, considering the music choice. Hard, screamy, and loud, it was going full blast just like at the clubhouse. The guys mostly sat back and watched the show as the women danced and enticed. It didn’t take long for the clothing to fall off, either.
Vicious kept a close eye on Lucy. So far, she’d resisted attempts from the men and women to remove her top, but he could tell it wouldn’t be long. All around her, women danced. It was almost as surreal a sight as Vicious had ever seen. She looked like some innocent maiden entering a pagan ritual, like a sacrifice. Or perhaps Alice in the rabbit hole. The breeze off the ocean increased, whipping her hair around her in a frenzy. OK, now she looked like a pagan.
The music was pounding, a driving hard metal that just beat into a person. The club girls were all around the bonfire in various stages of undress. Bodies gyrated in violent jerks all around Lucy. She just moved in the flow within the large circle. Her gaze seemed focused on the women around her. She didn’t dance so much as just move with them, like she was feeling out the situation, yet in some kind of alcohol-induced trance. With every rotation around the fire, she moved with the music a little more, her body adapting to the harsher rhythms. Before long, she was dancing with abandon, moving with the other women, yet apart.
That Lucy was a born dancer there was no question. Even with all her clothes on, her movements were more… polished? No. That wasn’t the right word. The music she’d danced to in his room was a world away from the music now, yet she moved like she’d been made specifically for this. If she’d been on a stage with Till Lindermann and the rest of Rammstein, no one would have been able to tell she was the outsider. Even her appearance seemed to change. Before, she’d been this angelic innocent among witches. Now, she was a predator. Eyes glazed as she focused on the fire, she was the most erotic, sensual being he’d ever seen. One with bite. The guitars were a loud buzz in the air, the drums hard and driving into his body. “Mein Teil” blasted at full volume. A song about, of all things, cannibalism. If ever there was a man eater, Lucy looked the part.
It also seemed wrong.
Faster and faster she moved, her body more aggressive yet erotic. The men circling the fire had gone still, leaning forward. The women mostly stepped away as she got wilder and wilder. Every so often, if anyone got close to her -- man or woman -- Lucy snarled and snapped at them, never once breaking her dance.
Somehow, her top ended up around her wrist above her head, twirling around her arm with her movements. Bare breasts as pale as silver glimmered in the firelight. With a cry, she let her top go, flinging it into the fire as she moved.
This was wrong. She was drunk and had expressed her desire not to dance for Salvation’s Bane like she had Black Reign. Vicious knew she might get caught up in the music, like any dancer might, but if she’d been sober, she would never have done this.
He stood, moving toward the fire. All the club girls had moved out of her way, allowing her the space. Some looked more than disgruntled as she stole their thunder, as well as the attention of the men. Others just seemed in awe of her, lusting after her as much as the men. As Vicious approached, two women spotted him. They moved in his direction, but he waved them off with a flick of his hand. One, Ginger, approached him anyway.
“If it’s a wild time you’re looking for, you know it’s not that little mouse, no matter how bad she dances.” Ginger purred, wrapping her arms around Vicious’s neck as she pressed her body against him. Knowing what it felt like to have Lucy in his arms, having another woman mashed so intimately against him was uncomfortable. He only wanted one woman this close to him, and she was currently dancing topless like a woman possessed, completely oblivious to the couple- dozen men and women watching her with rapt attention.
“Not now, Ginger,” he bit out, taking the woman by the waist and setting her away from him. Without another word or even a glance to see if Ginger took the hint, he continued to intercept Lucy.
/> As she twirled her way to him, Vicious felt her sex appeal like a punch to the groin. He nearly doubled over, the pain was so intense. Thankfully, the men of Salvation’s Bane knew the score. Knew not to touch the little princess currently making a display of herself -- otherwise, he had no doubt she’d be part of an orgy the likes of which had never been seen in these parts. Even now, some of the men had women in their laps either riding them or sucking them off. All while they watched the little erotic goddess dance to the fire gods in blatant offering.
She spun toward him, straight into his arms. Graceful as a cat, she wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a vacant smile. “Vicious…” His name whispered on her lips was like a coming home. No woman had ever had this kind of effect on him. Sweat glistened over her skin like a fine sea mist. Her eyes sparkled in her excitement. Obviously, she was in the midst of an alcohol-enhanced adrenaline rush. She saw him. Recognized him. Gave him a warm, welcoming smile as she pulled herself up to him.
Before he realized she was really doing what he thought she was doing, she pressed her lips against his. Instead of a clumsy, drunken meeting, she kissed him with the same grace with which she danced. Her lips fluttered over his lightly before her tongue swept the seam of his, coaxing his own tongue to dance with hers. For several seconds, Vicious was stunned into submission. Her kisses were so fucking sweet. So arousing he knew if she kept it up he’d take her right there in the sand in front of his brothers and anyone else who happened by. Honor be damned.
Honor.
That one thought brought him up short. Vicious was many things, killer among them, but he would never rape a woman. Lucy wanted him in that moment, he had no doubt. But she wasn’t in her right mind, and she’d already told him she wasn’t a whore for the club. If he let her do this, let her strip away his control like she was threatening to do, no matter how unintentional, he’d lose any claim to honor he had left. And Lucy would rightly hate him.
Vicious (Salvation’s Bane 1) Page 5
