I hated how offended and disgusted he’d looked by the thought of having me for his old lady.
I hated how he wouldn’t look at me now, and when he was forced to his gaze was empty and cold.
I hated how much I desperately wanted him to touch me, and yet he was like a ghost, his touch invisible.
But mostly, I hated how I didn’t know this man at all. Not like I’d known the dark angel he’d been when he’d taken me. When I couldn’t see his face and he’d had me tied to his bed and completely at his mercy. I’d seen less of him then and yet I’d had a connection with that man. I’d felt like I knew him. He’d made me stronger and brought out a side of me that I thought had died. But this man in front of me was a stranger, and it hurt. God, did it hurt.
I was pathetic and he was an asshole.
We were going to make a great couple.
I laughed abruptly and everyone’s gazes fell to me. I realized I must have already been on the way to getting drunk. I didn’t normally drink. Being the daughter of the Razuuk Benite meant I always had to keep my wits about me. But right then it felt good, so I didn’t care.
Fighter pulled out a joint from behind his ear and lit it, blowing a thick plume of smoke into the air between us. Somewhere in between the flames of the fire pit and the smoke from his joint, his dark eyes found mine, connecting with my soul in a way that no other person ever had before. Not even Scratch. I felt a tug in my chest, but it was torn away like an old Band-Aid when Fighter looked away from me.
“Battle should be back before morning. Apparently he got caught up in Atlanta visiting some of Quinn’s friends,” Gauge said, taking a long swig from the bottle of whiskey.
Fighter took another drag of his joint and downed the rest of his beer. “Sooner he’s back where he belongs, the better.”
“Agreed,” Gauge said. “Sooner this club gets back to normal, the better.”
Rider raised his glass of whiskey at that, and Gauge and Fighter did the same. “Hear fucking hear.”
“I’m gonna hit the road. Got a long day tomorrow.” Fighter and Rider looked up at Gauge as he stood and he shrugged. “What? Can’t a man go grab some sleep without people looking surprised?”
“No,” Rider laughed. “Not you, anyway.”
“Fuck you,” Gauge replied with a smirk. “I can be a good boy and go get an early night if I want to.”
“I’ll come with you,” Fighter grunted, standing up, the joint hanging between his lips. “Shit’s too quiet around here for me anyhow.”
I pouted and looked away from him. Asshole.
Rider slid Charlie off his knee and stood up. “You two heading to the Pit?” he asked, averting his gaze from Charlie’s scathing look. “I heard some of the Reverend’s boys had been spotted in there one or two times. You keepin’ an eye on that shit?”
“Yeah, we’ve got it under control. Think they’re fuckin’ smart, heading into our territory like we wouldn’t notice. Offering the girls twenty percent on top of what we pay. Lost two girls already.”
“Thought their club closed down,” Fighter said.
“Reopened under a different name. They’re closing in again, thinkin’ that they’re protected when they ain’t got shit.” Gauge looked angry and Rider nodded.
“They’ll get theirs.”
Charlie sat down next to me, downing the last of her drink.
“What’s the Pit?” I asked her.
“Strip club,” she replied, sounding annoyed. She poured herself another mojito as she glared at the men. “Bunch of sluts and cunts work there, always trying to get their fake-ass nails into our men.”
“Rider wouldn’t look at anyone else. Not the way he looks at you,” I soothed, and she offered me a smile and patted my knee.
It was true though. I’d never seen a couple so in love and so perfect for each other. They were the yin to each other’s yang and I couldn’t help but be a little envious.
“The thing is with men,” Charlie continued, her gaze still on Rider, “is that they can think with one brain at a time. Unfortunately, when their little brains are in charge, everything else goes to shit.”
“Little brain?” I asked, and she waggled her little finger, making me laugh loudly.
Rider, Gauge, and Fighter all turned to stare as I snorted out another laugh. Charlie handed me a mojito and we clinked our glasses together and laughed again.
“I like you,” she said. “There’s not many people I do like, but I like you.”
I smiled, feeling something weirdly like pride fill my chest. “Thanks. I like you too.”
“Watch this,” she said with a wink, putting her glass down at her feet. She grabbed the hem of her top and pulled it a little lower and flipped her hair over one shoulder
She sat up, spreading her long legs wide and placing a hand on either knee. She was wearing a short leather skirt that clung to her curves, but now it had risen up higher on her thighs. She sat upright, leaning forward so that her breasts popped at the top of her low-cut top.
Rider glanced over, his eyes going wide when he saw her. Gauge was still talking to him, oblivious to Charlie’s seduction, and I grinned, loving the effect she could have on her man. Rider was nodding at whatever Gauge was saying, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off his woman and there was no denying the hard-on in his jeans. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and dragged his hand down his short beard.
I chuckled, wishing I had that sort of power over Fighter, if only to show him what he was missing out on. If he wanted to be a dick and be his free and single self, that was fine, but he needed to know that he was losing out on something good with me. I needed to channel my inner Charlie, I decided.
I put my drink down and pulled the hem of my top so that my cleavage was on show and then I stood up, teetering on my high heels. Charlie smirked as I turned around and bent to pick my drink back up, making sure to bend real low so my ass would be seen at the bottom of the denim cutoffs I had borrowed from Charlie. I stood up, glancing over my shoulder to look at Fighter, happy as a pig in shit when I saw him staring right at me, his nostrils flaring in such a way that told me he was happy with what he saw.
I took a sip of my drink and then bent back over to put it back down. When I stood back up, I felt his strong arms wrapping around my waist, his body so close to mine I could feel his hard cock in his jeans. I leaned into his touch and looked up at him.
“What are you doin?” he growled next to my ear.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I replied innocently.
“Cut the shit, Penny. You’re making a show of yourself.”
“I’m not doing anything. You’re the one making a show, Fighter.” I ground back against him, wondering where the hell I got off being so brazen with him. That wasn’t me. And yet there I was, grinding back on him like a hooker needing to pay rent. And worse, I liked it.
He breathed heavily against my neck, making my stomach flip. His hands on my waist gripped me tighter, and when I tried to pull away he pulled me closer against him, nipping at my throat with his teeth. I looked back at him, his dark eyes burning into me so much that I felt like I was on fire.
“You can’t walk around like this, Penny,” he grumbled against my neck.
“Why? You don’t want me. You don’t like what you see, right? So what does it matter who else looks?”
I felt him growing harder against me and I pushed back, ignoring the wolf whistle that no doubt came from Gauge. Fuck him. I didn’t care who was watching. All that mattered in that moment was me and Fighter.
His fingers dug painfully into me and he nipped my skin, making me wince. “I don’t like people looking at you.”
“Why?”
And why did I care?
Because I was drunk?
Because I was high?
Or because I actually did like him?
“Because you’re mine,” he growled, his face buried in my neck, his tongue licking up towards my ear lobe and making me shiver.
>
“I’m no ones,” I sighed, my hand reaching up to touch his face.
“You’re mine,” he snapped, his hand coming up to grip my jaw painfully.
My knees went weak, not in fear, but in desire. Desire for this brutal man and his rough touch that sent chills through my body. I opened my eyes and looked out of the corner of my eyes at him. Half his face was covered in shadow and I gasped.
“There you are,” I murmured with another sigh.
I should have stopped it. I’d gotten what I’d wanted. I knew then that I could turn him on, that I wasn’t a disgusting thing that he didn’t want. But I couldn’t stop.
His large hands splayed across my belly and my core tightened, tingling at his proximity. I closed my eyes as he ground himself into me, his hand going lower to cup my pussy through my cutoffs. Charlie had stood up and gone to Rider, and I don’t know if it was the mixture of alcohol or Fighter himself, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care that other people were there, watching us. Gauge was probably jacking off to it. But I didn’t care. All I cared about was having his dirty hands on my body.
I hated him, but I wanted his touch.
Needed his rough hands on me like I needed air in my lungs.
“Fighter,” I murmured as he ground his palm against me.
His chest rumbled, his cock grinding against my ass, his hand still rubbing at me.
“Need you,” I panted. And I hated that I’d said that. That I’d let him know how I felt. “I need your touch.”
I opened my eyes, staring into his face, the shadows of the late evening covering most of his features and I groaned, my thoughts traveling back to our time together in that house. Waking to find his body on mine in the middle of the night. His hands dragging orgasms from me.
“It’s just like old times,” I said with a moan.
“What did you say?” he growled, his hand going still.
“It’s like old times…back at the house,” I mumbled, sensing his anger. “What? What’s wrong?”
He pulled away from me abruptly and scowled.
I turned to face him with a scowl of my own. “What’s wrong?”
He dragged a hand down his face, his look hard and commanding. “We’re done here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped, anger seizing my emotions. “We’re done? Just because you said so? That’s all you’re going to give me?”
He raised his chin and stared down at me impassively. I was almost shaking with anger and embarrassment. I reached out to slap him but he grabbed my hand and stopped me and I let out a growl of annoyance as I heard Gauge give a deep rumble of laughter.
“Trouble in paradise already, brother?” he chuckled.
“Calm the fuck down, Penny,” Fighter commanded me, his gaze never leaving mine.
I was going to kill him!
Oh my god, I was going to kill him!
I pulled my hand from his grasp and reached back to slap him again. He grabbed my hand again, and when I stamped my foot in anger, he smirked.
“Temper temper,” he drolled.
“I hate you!” I glared at him.
“That’s not what your pussy says,” he replied arrogantly.
I stared at him open-mouthed in shock. “Who are you?” I gasped. “Really? Who the fuck are you? Because whoever this man is,” I said, gesturing up and down him, attentively aware that everyone was still watching us, “is a piece of shit scared to do what needs to be done.” I turned from him and started to walk away.
“The fuck you just say to me?” he yelled, but I kept on walking away from him, anger burning in my veins. “Penny, get your ass back over here and answer me!”
“Fuck off! I’m not your prisoner now. You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do,” I yelled back.
“Oh, my bad, I forgot you didn’t want me sucking on that cunt of yours.”
I threw him an angry glare. “You’re a dick!”
“Or deep throating me and letting me cum down your throat. Forgot you didn’t actually want that.”
“I hate you!” I yelled, my hands on my hips.
“The fuck I care what you think of me?” he retorted arrogantly.
I shook my head. “Stay away from me.”
“Gonna be difficult, seeing as I’m your old man, Penny.”
“I’d rather die than belong to you,” I bit out.
“Dead is exactly where you’ll end up.”
“Then I’ll see you in hell!”
“It’s fun, you’ll enjoy it. Full of cunts like you that like to tease grown men.”
Black rage swarmed me and I gasped as I tried to catch my breath. “You’re a fucking bastard.”
I continued to storm away, ignoring him when he shouted for me to stop. Ignoring him when he told me to get my ass back over there. I ignored everything he said and kept on walking, because I didn’t want him to see my angry tears.
“You speak to your mother with that mouth of yours?” he drolled behind me.
My heart clenched in my chest at his words and I spun to glare at him. “At least I have a real family. One made of blood and bone, not bikers and brotherhood. Because you don’t have anyone who really knows you, do you, Fighter? Poor little boy that doesn’t have a mommy or daddy.” I clenched my teeth together feeling sick at my own words.
“I’ll kill you myself,” he snarled, and I believed him too.
I turned and ran, and then felt, rather than saw him coming after me, and I started to run, slapping at his hands as he grabbed for me. He grabbed me round the waist and swung me round, and somewhere in the background I heard Rider and Charlie calling his name and telling him to leave me be, but he kept on coming, his ridiculously big hands grabbing at me.
I slapped and hit, kicking at him as he tried to control me, but the more he touched me and the more he told me to calm down, the more furious I got, until I was full-on slapping him and beating at his chest, kicking him in his shins hard enough to bruise my own feet. Oh my god, it was like he was made of stone.
He was an unmovable statue, and I rained down hits on him, having no effect. I screamed in his face as he gripped me tighter, and then I kicked out, my foot connecting with his cock. He groaned and loosened his grip on me, finally.
“Fuckk!” he roared, bending over low, his hand still holding on to me.
“Get off me!” I screamed.
He glared up at me. “Fine!” he roared back before shoving me sideways.
I toppled into the cold pool, landing face-first into it. I sank down under my own weight, the water dragging me under as I gasped in shock. I kicked and kicked, making my way to the surface, gasping as my head finally broke free. I sucked air into my lungs, coughing and spluttering as I choked on the water. I looked up, seeing him glaring down at me, a hard snarl on his face. Charlie, Rider, and Gauge were standing together looking shocked.
“Penny—” Fighter said my name as I climbed out of the pool, the soaking wet clothes clinging to my body. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Don’t,” I said with a shake of my head. “Just don’t.”
I looked across at Gauge, Charlie, and Rider, feeling humiliated, angry, and tired of it all. Water dripped from me and my body trembled in the late evening air. I wrapped my arms around myself, not trusting myself to speak. Fighter pulled off his cut, letting it drop to the ground, and then pulled his shirt over his head and held it out to me. I stared at it—at him—with disgust, my gaze rising to meet his.
“I don’t want anything from you ever again,” I said with narrowed eyes before turning and walking away.
~ 27 ~
Penny
In my dreams I was with Scratch, his strong, capable arms wrapped around me, keeping me safe. Protecting me from my daddy, from the world, from myself. I turned to look at him, seeing the two long scars down his face, and I traced them with my finger.
“I’m sorry,” I said, sadness catching at my throat.
He replied in the form of a smile and pul
led me closer. I could smell the familiar scent of him—his sweat, his bike oil, the woody deodorant he wore, his leather cut. Him. Scratch.
He pulled me closer, his arms wrapping around me, and I buried my face against his hard chest. I knew it was a dream. I knew it wasn’t real—could never be real, not anymore, not after what Daddy had done. But I held him as if it were. Remembering his hands on my body, his long fingers tracing my curves and reaching around to cup my ass.
I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “If I could choose anyone, it would have been you.”
“We both know that’s a lie,” he said with a sweet smile. “Sleep now. It’s gonna be all right.”
I placed my head back on his chest and fell back to sleep, feeling safe in his arms and knowing that he was right.
*
I woke with a start, feeling choked on misery and sadness. Morning light spilled in through the window onto the bed where I lay. I rubbed at my eyes and sat up with a frown, confused as to where I was for a second before remembering everything that had happened—the moments that had brought me to this house. To these people. To Fighter.
I thought about Scratch, about my so-called family and friends. The Vipers. My daddy. Would it really be so bad to be with one of those men? Surely it had to be better than being with Fighter. He’d made it clear that he didn’t think of me like that. That he didn’t want me at all. Well, not unless I was chained to his bed and at his mercy. But that wasn’t how I was going to live my life. I wanted more. I deserved more.
Fighter couldn’t give me what I wanted.
We were completely wrong for each other, and spending my life with him would be just as bad as spending it with one of the Vipers. Neither man would be my choice, and that was what this had all been about: choice. My choice.
I slid out of bed, putting on my leather pants and red top. Daddy may have thought I was a slut, but I thought he was an asshole, so I guessed we were even. I was going back—going home. It was my choice. And if it was the only choice I got to make, then so be it. I’d explain to him, make him understand. I’d save up and I’d leave when I was good and ready/. I’d get the hell out of this town and leave this all behind me.
Fighter: The Devil's Highwaymen Nomads #4 Page 18
