by Levine, Nina
My need for his cock intensified when his hands roamed my body a moment later. The unlocked door was all but forgotten as I desperately undid his jeans and reached inside them for his cock.
He stopped what he was doing and chuckled. “You want some dick, darlin’?”
“You have no idea, bossman. Now, please tell me, for the love of God, that you have a condom.” I was going to scream if he didn’t. And I’d possibly hurt him in some way.
His grin spread right across his face as he reached into his back pocket. When he pulled a condom from his wallet, I motioned for him to hurry up and put it on. “Why the hurry?” he asked, taking his sweet time.
I took hold of his chin. “There’s gonna be hell to pay if you don’t hurry up and get that condom on and fuck me.”
The grin on his face grew. Not that I would have thought it possible, but it did.
“What are you grinning at?” I demanded, feeling all kinds of desperate for him to speed this along.
As he slid the condom on, he kissed me and then said, “I’m grinning because I’m thinking that if you can be this demanding for my cock after only knowing me a week, I’m fucking excited to think about how demanding you’ll be after a few years.”
I reached for his ass to pull him closer in an effort to get him inside me. Circling my arms around him, I lifted myself into his hold as I said, “And what makes you think I’ll still be demanding anything from you in a few years?”
He gripped my hair and yanked my head back as he thrust inside of me. Licking a line from my throat up to my mouth, he rasped, “You will be. There’s no way you’ll ever be able to go without this cock again.”
I closed my eyes as he fucked me, and I thought about the truth in that statement. I’d never experienced love at first sight or instant lust in my life. Not until Devil. I’d only had to have one taste to know I wanted to drown in him. I came for the second time as that knowledge sank in.
Devil had wrapped himself around me after only one week, and I didn’t ever want to escape.
Devil
“How’s Jen?” King asked me early Tuesday morning when he phoned to check in.
“I’ve just left your place. She seems good today. Better than the last couple of days.” She’d perked up a lot since I’d started checking in on her last Friday.
“She still sick?”
“Yeah, that morning sickness is really knocking her around. Nothing seems to be helping too much.” She’d been so sick yesterday that I’d googled for suggestions to ease it, but nothing much came up in the results that she hadn’t already tried.
“I’m hoping we’ll be finished up here in the next day or so. We’re heading out to Warwick today and will check in that area for Shannon. Scott got a lead for us out there.” He paused for a moment before asking, “How’s Hyde? Is his head in the game?”
Fuck, Hyde had been off the grid most of the time since King left on Friday. He’d shown his face for an hour or so yesterday, but that was it. I didn’t want to burden King while he was away, but he’d made it clear he wanted to know this kind of shit. “I’ve hardly seen him, King, so I can’t really answer that. I’ve left a message for him to make sure he’s at the drop this afternoon, but I’m yet to hear back.” We had a shipment of coke coming in at four, and I needed Hyde with me for it. The motherfuckers who supplied us had grown increasingly hostile lately. Fuck knew what I’d do if he didn’t show.
“Fuck,” King muttered. “I’ll call him, too. Let me know if you don’t hear back from him in the next hour or so.”
After we ended the call, I placed my phone on the counter of the bar where I sat in the clubhouse and found Kree watching me with concern. “What?” I asked her. She’d grown into a good friend the past few months, and I often ran shit by her because she always came up with good suggestions.
She leant her hip against the counter. “Is Hyde okay?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Why?”
“He doesn’t seem okay to me. Working in the bar, I hear a lot of whispers. And it seems to me that you’re all frustrated with him, but it also seems that no one has checked on him.”
“Fuck, Kree, you know what Hyde’s like. He doesn’t let anyone in. I’ve tried to talk with him a few times, but he either shuts down or loses his shit with me. There’re only so many times someone can be told to fuck off before they do. What do you expect me to do if he’s not interested in sharing whatever is on his mind?”
“Ask again. And again. Devil, friends don’t give up on each other. Eventually he’ll confide in someone, but only if he knows you care.”
I sat and contemplated what she said while she poured drinks for some of the guys. She was right. But, Hyde could be a prick. Knowing that, though, told me I was the club member who would have to try harder to get through to him. Fuck knew, none of the others would have the patience.
* * *
“Since when did you start smoking again?” I asked Hyde while we waited for the drop that afternoon. Thank fuck he’d turned up. Not that he’d bothered to reply to my message or King’s.
He glared at me. “None of your fucking business.”
Hyde had quit smoking two years earlier. He’d always been a heavy smoker, so it had stunned all of us when he’d just up and quit one day. After the way he stopped cold turkey, I’d never expected him to take it back up.
“Why the fuck are you such an asshole, Hyde? I don’t get it. We’re your brothers, just trying to look out for you, and you treat us like absolute fucking shit some days.” None of us knew much about his past, and that seemed to be the way he preferred it. I’d never pushed to know more, because I believed everyone had a right to privacy, but maybe knowing more about him would help me understand why he was the way he was.
He took a long drag on his smoke as he stared into the distance. We were waiting outside an abandoned warehouse that we used as one of our drop-off points. Thunder rumbled overhead, and the clouds darkened, threatening for the sky to open and dump rain on us. Hyde’s features darkened, too, as he contemplated my question.
Finally, he looked at me and said, “You ever done something that altered your entire life, Devil? Something that also impacted other people’s lives, too. In a bad way, I mean.”
I thought about that for a moment. The answer wasn’t one I wanted to think about too much. “I’ve done bad shit that’s affected other people’s lives. And it affected me, too, but I wouldn’t say it altered my life entirely. Why?”
“I have.”
“And?” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.
He finished his smoke and stubbed it out before glancing back up at me. “And… I think maybe I fucked up more than I thought I did.”
Kree was so fucking right. Hyde needed us. As I tried to figure out how to word what I wanted to say, the guys we were waiting for showed up, and the moment was lost.
I watched as Hyde stalked their way, his body tense, and I hoped like hell this drop went okay. His unpredictable nature concerned me, so I hurried to catch up to him.
Rolland had brought three guys with him today instead of the one he usually showed up with. We’d agreed a year ago when we started working together that we’d both only ever bring one person with us to these drops.
“What’s going on?” I asked him when we met in the middle. I jerked my chin towards the men he’d brought. “What happened to the deal we had?”
His shifty eyes moved between Hyde and me. He knew us both because King always switched up who he brought with him. “Got shit to discuss with you boys today and didn’t wanna take a chance that the information I’m about to share would get me killed.”
“Fuck,” Hyde said. “Start talking and let’s see how this shakes out.”
Sweat rolled down Rolland’s face, and I figured it wasn’t just because of the heat. A large thunderclap overhead caused him to jump. “Fuck,” he muttered. “This shit ain’t all on me, so you just keep that in mind, yeah?”
I stepped forward. “Whe
n Hyde tells you to start talking, he doesn’t mean to start talking shit. Spit it the fuck out!”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “Okay, so the deal for me to only supply Storm… it has to end.” As he said that, the three men with him all pulled their guns and trained them on us. “As of today, I’ll be supplying you and one other guy. And like I said, this ain’t my preferred decision. I owe someone.”
Hyde’s lips pulled up into a snarl. “Who else are you supplying?”
“He’s a new player in town. I doubt you know him.”
Hyde grasped Rolland’s shirt, ignoring that two guns were instantly trained on him. “I didn’t fucking ask if I know him, motherfucker. I asked you for his name.”
The biggest guy that Rolland had brought with him pressed his gun to Hyde’s head. “I suggest you back the fuck away, asshole. I’m under strict instructions to shoot if you threaten any of us today.”
Hyde ignored him and continued to stare at Rolland. “I’m waiting!” he barked.
“Rolland,” I started, but the big guy turned his gun on me, causing me to stop.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Rolland muttered. “You’re gonna find out anyway. I owe loyalty to no fucker. His name is Wesley Marx.” He paused for a moment before saying, “Now, can we get this shit done so we can all leave?”
The last thing I wanted to do was carry on as if nothing had happened. Wesley Marx cutting in on our territory was a big fucking deal, and King would probably hunt him down and threaten to slit his throat if he didn’t stop. But with three guns on us, Hyde and I didn’t have much choice but to carry on.
As we watched Rolland leave after we’d completed the drop, I said to Hyde, “This is gonna get messy.”
He glanced at me and nodded. “I’ll look into who Wesley Marx is and you let King know about all this.”
“You don’t want to let King know?” He was the VP after all.
“No, you do it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You wanna finish that story you were telling me earlier?” Whatever it was, I felt like it must tie in with the shit going down between him and King.
His eyes turned hard. “No. And don’t bring that shit up again.” With that, he turned and stalked to the van we’d brought to the drop. And I wondered if that would be my only chance to get Hyde to open up.
* * *
Just after five thirty, I pulled up outside Hailee’s work. When I dropped her at home that morning after she stayed the night at my place again, I’d told her I’d pick her up. She was a stubborn woman and argued with me, sprouting some bullshit about being capable of walking. I’d given her a good five minutes in which to argue with me, and then I’d told her how this would go. She’d argued for another five minutes before finally giving in. I figured that was ten minutes well spent, because I planned to pick her up every day from here on out.
“You’re late,” she said, walking my way. She’d been perched on the low brick wall outside her work, waiting for me.
I remained on my bike and passed her a helmet. “How long you been waiting, darlin’?”
“Maybe like five to ten minutes. Somewhere in that range.”
I grinned. “Bullshit. I just did the block trying to find somewhere to park. You weren’t waiting out here then.”
She poked her tongue at me, a cheeky smile pushing its way through. “I’ve gotta keep you on your toes somehow. Start as you wish to go on, and all.”
I reached for her waist and pulled her close before she had a chance to put the helmet on. “For the record, I’m on my toes. But I do like your style.”
“Good to hear,” she said as she hopped on the bike behind me.
Reaching back for her, I grabbed her thighs and slid her along the bike towards me. “You’re too far away. I need that sweet pussy against my ass.”
She did as I said and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist. It occurred to me a moment too late that by the time we made it to her place, my dick would be like steel. Not the best way to turn up for dinner with her grandmother.
For the next forty minutes, we weaved in and out of some of the worst Sydney traffic I’d seen in a long time. This meant that when we arrived at Hailee’s home, my prediction had proved correct.
Hailee’s eyes travelled from my crotch to meet my gaze as we stood in her driveway. She didn’t say anything, but the way her lips twitched gave me an idea of her thoughts.
“You’re amused by my pain?” I asked.
She frowned. “It hurts?”
“No, but I’m in pain. One, I really don’t wanna go inside to your grandmother like this. And two, I’m pained that I have to wait to get you under me. I’m all for dinner and talking with Jean, but a man should be able to pick his woman up from work and take her straight home to bed.”
Her face and body softened in a way that caused me to soften. The woman who had told me she wanted to keep me on my toes was all but gone, replaced by a woman who looked at me like I’d made all the bad in her day disappear just by being there.
She swayed a little as she clutched a handful of my shirt. “Your woman? We’ve only known each other for just over a week.”
My eyes searched hers. “You don’t believe that two people can meet and just know they’re meant to be together?”
“I don’t know…. I’ve never put much thought into that. I guess I’ve never met a man who fit that category.” Her words stumbled out in much the same way I figured her thoughts were stumbling all over each other. I’d caught her off guard, and it was a fucking beautiful place to catch her.
From what I knew so far, Hailee wasn’t a closed off person, but when she was open like this, she was even more beautiful than usual.
It all affected me. The way she chewed on her lip, and the way her thoughts caused her to waver between being a little lost and being completely there with me. Also, the way she smiled at me like I really was the only person in the world. And how she gave me her complete attention. She made me feel like whatever I had to say was important enough for her to consider.
Hailee had this kind of gentle yet spirited soul I’d never known in a woman before. Not that I knew her that well yet, but even if she tried to hide from the world, she’d never be able to. Her inner beauty shone just as brightly as her outer beauty.
“You’ve never met a man who fit that category because I’m that man for you.”
She processed that for a beat. “I don’t know that I believe in knowing someone is the person for you straight away. I thought the last guy I was in a long-term relationship with was the one for me. Turned out that after two years of living with him, I didn’t know him at all. And instead of giving me a lifetime of happiness, all he gave me was self-doubt and a fear of falling for the wrong man again.”
Her gaze had drifted to the ground as she spoke, and my gut told me this asshole had fucked her right up. Tilting her chin up, I said, “What did he do to you?”
Her eyes met mine and she swallowed hard. “I don’t really want to talk about this tonight,” she said in a half whisper.
I moved closer to her. “Hailee, what did he do?”
She blinked a few times and her body stilled. I wasn’t convinced she was going to give me what I wanted, but then she opened her mouth and shared a piece of her soul with me. One of the many pieces I’d be fighting to own from here on out. “He started to change just after we’d been together for two years. Like, he’d lose his shit if I came home from work late, or he’d pick a fight with me after dinner and then go out for the entire night, not coming home until the morning and refusing to tell me where he’d been. His moods swung all the time until the point where I didn’t know what to expect from one hour to the next. He would go from him telling me how much he loved me to him belittling me and telling me I didn’t deserve anyone in my life and that I should be lucky he chose to stay with me. It got to the point where I decided we needed a break. I wasn’t sure if I was going to leave him all together, but I did need some time away fro
m him to think straight.” She paused for a moment and took a few deep breaths before continuing. “That day… the day I told him I needed some time away… he beat me so badly I couldn’t go to work for a week.”
“Motherfucker,” I swore. Pulling her into my arms, I kissed her head and said, “Men like that don’t deserve to breathe.”
She clung to me for a while. When she pulled away, she said, “No, they don’t.”
“You left him after that?”
She nodded. “I called my brother for help. I was living in the UK at the time and had no money to fly home. He flew to me, sorted Mickey out and then brought me home. And while I’ll always be grateful for what he did for me, he’s been a pain in my ass ever since. He’s so damn overprotective now when it comes to men I date that he scares most of them off.”
“I like him already. That’s exactly what I’d hope a brother would do for you.”
She raised a brow. “Yeah, you wait until you meet him and then tell me what you think. I bet you’ll agree with me soon enough.”
“Okay, so let’s get one thing clear here. You’re my woman.”
She smiled. “Is that your way of telling me you don’t want me to see anyone else?”
“It is. It’s also my way of telling you that from here on out, I’ll be picking you up from work every day and dropping you off, too.” I placed a finger against her lips when she attempted to argue with me. “And that Sundays are to be reserved for me. I don’t care what we do so long as we do it together.”
Her eyes widened. “Umm, no, that’s not gonna happen, bossman.”
“Which part of that?” I had to work hard not to grin at her reaction. I fucking loved going head-to-head with her.
“All of it.”
“Uh, yeah, it is.”
“No.” She shook her head emphatically. “There’s no way a guy I’ve just met is gonna tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“So you’re saying that after we’ve known each other for some time, you’ll allow it?”
