Black (Thor Book 1)

by Mia Malone

  “I knew he would,” I cut in. “He told me before I left. I slept with someone too.”

  “Yeah?”

  She grinned and wiggled her brows.

  “Had to fake a goddamned orgasm but I had his dick in me, so it was bad, but it was sex,” I shared and took a big bite out of my pretty awesome swiss on rye.

  “Shit,” she breathed out. “I hate when that happens.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “So why are you mad?”

  Why was I mad, really?

  “I don’t know anymore,” I confessed.

  “He didn’t think you were a slut or a whore, Cas,” she said. “My guess?” she added and went on to share what her guess was, which was fine because I didn’t understand him and really wanted to know. “The guys around here are pretty easy. They are who they are, and they don’t play games. Most of them are annoying as hell which is why I live my life in a fucking whirlwind of blissful lonesomeness, but I gotta give it to them. They don’t play games. So, Black?” She watched me until I nodded slowly. “He gets pissed off easily and since he does, he probably didn’t think at all. Also, he was probably mostly shocked like shit at first, but since then he’s been frustrated and horny which is not a good combo for any man, and especially not for someone like Black.”

  “Horny?”

  “Honey, if you weren’t so busy keeping your eyes on anything but him, you’d see what everyone else sees. Hell, the boys have been laughing about it since you got here.”

  “What?”

  “The man’s crotch enters every room fifteen seconds before he does.”

  “What?” I repeated and blinked furiously.

  “He must be jacking off like a madman.”

  “Ronnie,” I squealed and promptly dropped my sandwich.

  She grinned while I tried to wipe mustard stains off my white tee.

  “Just saying.”

  “Oh, God,” I mumbled.

  “Yeah, walk past his house in the evening, and you might hear just that.”

  Our eyes met, and I choked back a giggle.

  “What do you mean, especially for someone like Black?”

  “Black is a lot more like his old man than I think he realizes. Look at them together, Cas, and you’ll see it.”

  She had a point, and I had seen it already, so I nodded and murmured, “Okay.”

  She touched my shoulder briefly and waited until I looked at her.

  “When I said that he’s like his old man, did you get what I mean?” She must have seen my confusion, so she went on, “You know who Roddy is. What he is.”

  Oh. President of Thor MC. Was Black next in line?

  “I’m not entirely sure I have it in me to be... I don’t even know what it’s called. Old lady?”

  Her face softened, and she nodded.

  “Yeah. And it’s damned ridiculous that you don’t know that you do.”

  “Really?”

  “Honey, I hide my soft underneath a sharp tongue and an attitude. You’re the other way around. You look soft, and you have that cutesy smile going, but underneath? I don’t know your history but there is one, and it forged your backbone into a spine of fucking steel. I see it, and so does Gee.”

  I swallowed and didn’t know what to say because in a way she was right. No one had seen that part of me before, or if they’d seen it, they hadn’t told me.

  “Does Black...”

  I trailed off and shrugged. It didn’t matter, did it?

  “Black is an idiot with a dick,” Ronnie stated decisively. “He doesn’t see it yet, but he will.”

  She looked away, and something about the way she held herself made me realize that I wasn’t the only one carrying around a pile of baggage.

  “Ronnie... One of these days, if we drink a lot of booze, and I share my history? Will you share yours?”

  “Yeah,” she said quietly.

  There was a guarded look in her eyes, and I decided that talking about our pasts would have to wait.

  “Black is an idiot with a dick?” I asked.

  “A big one if rumors are true.”

  I pressed my lips together to stop myself from gossiping about Black’s goddamned penis. We were adults and should know better. Ronnie saw right through me, though, and humor bled into her eyes.

  “I shouldn’t –” I started but exhaled over weak laughter. “Jesus, Ronnie. The rumors are really, really true, damn it.”

  ***

  I was on my way to change into a clean tee when I remembered Ronnie’s words about walking by Black’s cabin. With a grin, I turned right and took the detour around the house at the end. The bench we’d made love on was there, and I looked at it for a few seconds.

  We’d have a talk that night. Did that mean he wanted a repeat of what we’d done there, on that bench? I sighed and decided that yeah. He probably wanted it, and I also couldn’t pretend anymore.

  I wanted it too. I made myself come each evening, thinking about that night. About how he looked and how he moved. How he’d sounded.

  So, yeah. I wanted it too, and if I could get it, I wouldn’t say no.

  Then I walked around the corner and froze.

  He stood right there, leaning his hip on the kitchen counter. His chest was bare and the fantastic tattoos on full display, but that wasn’t why I stared. His jeans were unbuttoned and pushed down slightly, and he held his cock in a firm grip, moving his hand up and down in a steady rhythm.

  God, he was hot. He slid his hand over his flat belly, up over his chest and, was that a ring in his nipple? Then he started pumping his hand faster and leaned his head backward. I couldn’t hear him, but when I let my gaze glide up to his face, I saw his throat move and wondered if he was moaning. His mouth was relaxed, but he kept stroking himself, and his face hardened in a way I knew meant he was getting close.

  Heat pooled in my belly and slid down to between my legs, and I felt how I was getting wet. I should leave. I really should because it wasn’t okay to stand there and watch what should be a private moment, but I couldn’t make myself move. The pulse beat heavily in my ears, and I wished I could put a hand on my pussy to relieve some of the pressure that had started to build.

  Then Black tilted his head further back and faced the ceiling, opened his mouth as if he was groaning loudly, and while I watched, he came, shaking a little as he emptied himself.

  It was one of the hottest thing I’d seen in my life, and a shiver like a small orgasm rushed through my core. He relaxed slowly and suddenly turned his head toward the window, so I stepped back quietly.

  When I was in my own cabin, I tore off my dirty tee but looked at the bed.

  Hell, yes, I thought. If Black could do it in the middle of the day, then so could I.

  It lasted less than a minute. I was so turned on that a few flicks with my fingers had me moaning, and then I arched my back while pleasure rushed over me.

  Chapter Nine

  Suds

  Cassandra

  I was in the Lodge, trying to focus on sorting through bills that were paid and bills that weren’t. Gee had a system which was not working for me, and that system was to put everything in a pile, pay whenever anyone reminded her, and on a monthly basis hand the whole thing in a plastic bag to some lady called Brenda who apparently was an accountant.

  In front of me, there were now several piles, and I reached for a set of binders where I’d put the papers, sorted by the date they were due. The Lodge was small and relaxed, and I had plenty of time to work my way through shit like that. When I left, Gee wouldn’t have to spend more than a few hours each day to keep things running, I thought.

  “Hey, Cas. I’m heading home, okay?”

  I glanced at my watch and raised a brow at the nineteen-year-old girl who had popped her head into the small office behind the equally small reception area.

  “You’re done already?”

  “Sure,” she said casually.

  Too casually.

  Marisha was supposed to
clean the rooms, and she did, although not in a way anyone could actually call cleaning. It was more like walking through them to register that they existed, and possibly adding some toilet paper if it was needed. And only if it was absolutely needed, it seemed. I had been called over to give an annoyed guest with a towel around his waist a couple of rolls a few evenings earlier.

  “Right,” I said and moved toward the door. “Let’s go and take a quick peek, shall we.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  She knew why. We had gone through how I wanted the rooms to be cleaned, and I wasn’t a maniac about it, but I did expect them to be... well, fucking clean.

  “You know why,” I said calmly.

  “Fuck it,” she muttered, and I straightened.

  “What was that?”

  “You don’t have to be such a bitch,” she said, right to my face.

  “I’m your boss, so I can be anything I like,” I retorted. “I am also not being a bitch, Marisha. I just expect you to do your job, and if you can’t then don’t bother coming here at all.”

  “I’ll talk to Gee,” she snapped.

  “You do that,” I snapped right back. “She’s on her front porch, having coffee with Roddy, so you go right on over and talk to her.”

  She stared at me, and I raised a brow.

  “Fuck you,” she spat out, turned and walked away.

  I sighed, and walked upstairs to take a quick tour of the rooms, and sure enough. She’d vacuumed, probably, but not much else. There were yellow goddamned stains on the floor in one of the bathrooms, and no towels in another.

  My mood was not good when I got back downstairs, and I mumbled a few curses while I tried to open the door to the laundry room where we kept the cleaning supplies. It stuck like it always did, and I cursed again, and slightly louder.

  “Here, I’ll get it,” Black said, and yanked the door open. “What’s the problem?”

  The last time I’d seen him, he’d been coming all over his stomach, and I felt a blush creep up my cheeks but hid it by walking away to start filling a bucket. I should have waited until the water was warmer, but the goddamned floor would have to be cleaned with what I got.

  “Marisha walked off her shift.”

  “Huh.”

  Huh? That was his only comment to one of their employees leaving the Lodge in a lurch?

  “I’m gonna need to replace her, so if you know of someone then let me know,” I said and reached for a pair of plastic gloves and whatever else I might need.

  “Ah, shit. She’ll be here tomorrow. Mom will talk to her.”

  “Nope.”

  I pushed past him and had to give him a shove when I did.

  It felt good.

  “She doesn’t have an easy life, Cas.”

  “Don’t give a shit.”

  “Her dad left them when she was six. She has four siblings and a mom that can’t hold down a job. She needs the paycheck.”

  This was not news to me. Marisha had shared the details of her life with me, and I got it. I really did. She still needed to do the actual job to get that paycheck.

  “Still don’t give a shit,” I said, which sounded more callous than I’d intended, but I also didn’t give a damn about his opinion at that stage.

  “Cassandra for fuck’s sake. Someone like you won’t understand, but life isn’t always so easy.”

  “Life isn’t always so easy?” I echoed slowly, raised my brows and glared at him. “Someone like me?”

  “Yeah, Cas. A preppy college girl, soft and sweet with a brilliant daughter who got into fucking Brown. You wouldn’t understand that life is damned hard for some people.”

  I stared at him and felt like crying.

  He still didn’t get who I was.

  A small voice at the back of my mind shared that he wouldn’t get who I was because I hadn’t told him who I was, but I ignored it and scowled instead. Then I moved down the hall.

  “Where are you going?” he barked and moved around me to block my way.

  “Did you not listen? Marisha walked off her shift, so I have a bathroom to clean.”

  His brows went up in surprise, and I tried in vain to push past him.

  “You’re not cleaning it.”

  “I will.”

  “You’re not here to clean fucking bathrooms, Cas. You are here to manage shit.”

  “I’m managing shit, and right now, I’ll manage shit by getting the goddamned room cleaned. Not the first time I wipe down a bathroom floor.”

  “You are not doing it,” he stated decisively and took a firm hold of the bucket.

  “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

  “Cas.”

  I growled and tugged at the handle. Water splashed out over the floor, and I knew I’d have to wipe that up too.

  “Swear to God, Black,” I snarled. “I’ve just had it. Let go of the bucket, or I’ll toss it in your face.”

  “You are not cleaning that room.”

  I tore the bucket out of his hand, took a step back and emptied it in one big splash right in his face.

  For a stunned second, we stared at each other, and he opened his mouth to say something but closed it again.

  “Well shit,” I said sourly. “Now I have to fill it up again.”

  Then I marched back to the laundry room, hoping that he’d be gone when I returned.

  ***

  Black

  He stared at her back as she walked into the laundry room and slammed the door shut.

  “Jesus,” he muttered and wiped off his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

  “She threw water in your face,” a voice said.

  It was full of laughter, and Black closed his eyes.

  Of all the times for that moron to walk in.

  Then he turned and looked straight into blue eyes so pale they were almost white. The same eyes his mother had, and his sister.

  “Ice,” he grunted. “Didn’t know you were back.”

  “She threw a whole bucket of suds over your head,” his goddamned twin brother elaborated, and then he laughed right in his face.

  “Yeah,” Black muttered and shook some water out of his hair.

  “You gonna do her?”

  Yeah, he was gonna do her at the earliest available opportunity. If she’d give him five minutes to explain about shit, they could get right to it.

  “Why?” Black asked.

  “I hear that quite a few of the boys are waiting for you to make your mind up.”

  The hell? His mind was made up, and she might not know it, but so was Cassandra’s for that matter.

  “They can do whoever they want but not this one.”

  “Huh.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Black asked and narrowed his eyes.

  “So, go get her,” Ice said with a shrug. “Heard about her and don’t know what you’re waiting for.”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “You’re a decent cook. Ask her to dinner, pour her some wine, get to the point where you have your hand in her panties. Not complicated.”

  Black almost laughed at the way Ice had simplified the whole mess.

  “Trust me, it’s complicated,” Black stated, and their eyes met.

  “Oh, shit,” Ice said quietly. “I didn’t get that –”

  Cas opened the door with a hard shove, and walked out with a bucket full of water, looking only marginally less pissed off. They turned toward her, and her eyes widened.

  “Well shit,” she said sourly. “Now there’s two of you.”

  “Yup,” Ice said with a grin.

  “You’re Ice.”

  “And you’re Cassandra. I talked to Sissy, she said to say hi and share that if you keep ghosting her, then she’ll come up here and screech at you.”

  Cas raised a brow, and muttered, “I’ll call her.”

  Black cleared his throat, and her eyes were finally on him and not on his damned brother.

  “I guess I should apologize, but I don’t f
eel like it,” she said.

  Black leaned forward slightly and murmured, “As punishment, you need to give me a big...” when his mouth was by her cheek, he finished in a hoarse whisper, “Towel.”

  Her eyes flew to his, and there was suddenly laughter in them, so he grinned back at her.

  “Jesus, Einar, the crap I end up doing around you,” she said with a sigh.

  “You’re still going to clean that room?”

  Cas reached behind the reception desk and pulled out a towel which she handed him.

  “Of course.”

  “Okay. We’ll have dinner at my place tonight.”

  “Wh –”

  “See you at seven.”

  He was about to leave before she could voice the firm protest he suspected was right at the tip of her tongue, but she surprised him.

  “I can’t do that. I’m having dinner with your parents.”

  “They can eat without you,” Black countered.

  “Yeah, except I’m cooking so they can’t,” she said, but added, “You could join us.”

  Her eyes widened slightly, and Black almost laughed when he realized that she’d probably surprised herself with that invitation.

  “Sure,” he said.

  Having a cozy family dinner was not what he wanted, but he’d take what he got, and she didn’t know it, but they’d have dessert at his place. Without his damned parents. Hopefully also without clothes.

  “Am I also invited?” Ice asked smoothly.

  Cas turned to look at him.

  “What’s your real name?” she asked.

  “Petter,” Ice said. Then the moron smiled what Black knew was his brother’s get into women’s panties-grin, and added, “And I’m very good at petting all kinds of things.”

  Ice had done that just to mess with him, and he followed up with a stupid wink, so Black sighed and rolled his eyes.

  “Does that sleazy line actually work?” Cas asked coolly.

  “Wh –”

  “Oh well, I guess it got you a lot of really skanky pussy over the years.”

  “Huh?”

  Ice stared at her, and not even a gun to his head could have stopped the laughter Black barked out.

  “We’ll eat early,” Cas added and moved toward the stairs. “Six o’clock. Don’t be late.”