Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
B ELLE
It was hard to leave my uncle behind and return to the clubhouse. So when I receive a summons from Beast via the prospect, it makes me feel a little…prickly.
I’m grateful that my uncle is getting the medical care he needs, and I will do my duty and marry the bike gangster as I’m expected.
But I won’t be summoned.
I might have to be here. But I won’t be a pushover.
I know I’m playing with fire. Beast has made it clear that there are consequences for disobeying him, but right now I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ready for a fight.
Instead of waiting around for Beast to storm into the clubhouse to yell at me for ignoring his summons, I decide to take a walk in the beautiful garden between the clubhouse and the chapel.
It’s where he finds me when he stalks past on the way to rattle the walls of the clubhouse.
“What did I say about saying no to me?” he growls.
“You told me the last person lost their tongue.” I sharpen my gaze on his. “But after this morning, I didn’t think you would want me to lose mine.”
His expression darkens. “I don’t know where you think you are, but you are not in control here. You do as I say.”
“And if you want to talk to me, then you come and talk to me. But I will not be summoned like I’m at your beck and call.”
“You are at my beck and call,” he growls.
Still rattled after seeing my uncle so sick, when Beast summoned me via the prospect, it rubbed up against my last nerve.
“That doesn’t make for an even playing field.”
He takes a menacing step closer and with a low rumble says, “Who said anything about an even playing field? There is only one way this works—I say jump and you ask how high.”
“Like hell,” I say, holding my hand out to him like I’m handing him a phone. “It’s the 1950s, they want their chauvinism and misogyny back.”
His eyes flare.
And mine flare right back.
“I expect you to be more obedient,” he says, gritting his teeth.
“And I expect you to be less of a demanding jerk.”
“Need I remind you of what is at stake here?”
My eyes narrow on him. “How could I forget?”
“Then you will start behaving?—”
Like hell.
I storm away from him because I’m frustrated. I know it doesn’t solve anything. But it does stop me from murdering my seven-foot bike gangster fiancé for being an inconsiderate jerkface.
I head deeper into the garden. In another life—the one where I’m not broke and kidnapped—I would be a botanist. Or a garden designer. Someone who works with plants every day. I love them. I like to think it’s something that was passed on to me by my mother or father. But Uncle Maurice says neither of them were interested in gardening.
I wish I knew more about them. Who they were. What they were like. Did they have hobbies?
I spent a lot of my childhood trying not to think about them. Because I couldn’t remember a thing about them and it made me feel guilty.
Strangely enough, being here makes me feel close to them, and I can’t understand why. It’s probably because my life has been flipped on its ass and it makes me long for the comfort of family.
Something I’ve craved for as long as I can remember.
“I don’t appreciate you being such a pain in the ass,” Beast says, catching up to me in two strides of his giant legs.
“And I don’t appreciate being treated with disrespect.” I swing around to face him. I may have decided to be a better fake queen, but that doesn’t mean I am going to let him boss me about. “Is this what it will be like when we are married? You bossing me around like a caveman? Why don’t you just hit me over the head and drag me into your cave.”
He grits his teeth. “Don’t think it isn’t tempting.”
I hate that he has the upper hand. That I am indeed at his beck and call. But while that might be true, I will not go down without a fight. I don’t mean physically, I could never match his brute strength. No, I will have to use my wits if I am to get the ball in my court somehow.
I cross my arms. “Why did you summon me, anyway?”
“We need to discuss some matters.”
“Does it involve you letting me go?”
He gives me a pointed look. “No.”
“Then I’m sorry, but I am currently too busy to talk.”
I try walking away again but his thundering voice stops me. “Don’t take another step, or so help me God, little one.”
The power in his voice sends a trail of goosebumps across my skin.
Despite hating him, I do as I’m told.
“I don’t know if I made myself clear yesterday, but the two of us convincing the high council of this club that this union is real is the only thing keeping your uncle alive.”
My jaw tightens. “How could I forget.”
“Then you can see my dilemma when I send the prospect to fetch my fiancé and she all but tells me to go fuck myself.”
“I’m pleased I got my point across.”
“Are you trying to irritate me to death?”
I perk up. “Is that an option?”
He looks like he’s going to blow a fuse. “Why can’t you do something I tell you to do, just for once?”
“Perhaps if you asked politely.”
“Not going to happen,” he grits out.
“Then you’d better do something to help ease your stress levels, bike gangster,” I say turning away from him.
He grabs my wrist and swings me around to face him. “You’re going to be my wife.”
“That’s right, I will be your wife. Ever heard the phrase happy wife, happy life ? You’d do well to remember it.”
“And you would do well to remember who is in charge here.”
I roll my eyes because I don’t think people do that to him. “Now we’re just going around in circles. Why did you summon me, Prince Charming?”
He tries to keep his cool. “Every year the Knights hold a fundraising cookout for the hospital. Tonight’s the night. And you’re to accompany me as my girlfriend.”
“Lucky me,” I grumble.
“The feeling is mutual,” he grumbles back.
“You know what, we’ve never even been on a date. You’ve never asked me for anything. Just told me to stand there and do that.” I shake my wrist free. “Invite me on a date, Beast, and then maybe we can talk.”
“You are not in control here.”
“That’s where you are wrong. You can tell me what to do and blackmail me until the cows come home. But I am in control of how I feel about that and how I react to it.”
“Then you’d better start saving your pennies, little one. Because medical care is expensive.”
I glare at him. “You asshole.”
“That’s right, I am an asshole. But that’s not the worst of what I am. You don’t have any idea of what I am capable of. So start behaving.”
Our gazes connect. Mine blazing with resentment. His dark with wildfire.
I should look away. Give in. But I will die of old age before I let him get the better of me.
“Ask me nicely,” I demand, my eyes narrowed on him. “And I mean very nicely.”
He thinks for a moment and his eyes sharpen in response. “Join me tonight as my date for the fundraiser.”
I cock an eyebrow. “You’ll have to do better than that, I’m afraid.”
“Goddammit, woman,” he mutters.
Because I’m determined to make this as awkward for him as possible, I say, “Ask me properly. Like you would ask me on a date.”
Beast lifts his brows. “I don’t date.”
“But you understand the concept, right?” I lift my chin. “Ask me and make it convincing.”
For a moment he doesn’t move, and I think he’s going to blow up again. But he doesn’t. Instead he takes a step closer so he is standing over me, blocking out the sun and everything around us, so there is only him. Him and the sudden wild pounding of my heart in my ears. His dark gaze slides from my eyes to my lips and slowly back to my eyes. My lips part involuntarily because of the heat I see in his eyes and the carnal desire on his face. He lifts his hand and trails his knuckles down my arm, sending a surge of lust into the deepest part of me.
Beneath his touch, all I can think about is how he kissed me last night on the edge of the bar, and how I desperately want him to kiss me like that again. And how I slid onto his lap in bed this morning and felt the size of his cock rubbing against my clit as we kissed deeply, and the building orgasm I felt growing inside me. The tension is still there. Waiting. Building. Ready .
I swallow thickly, mesmerized by the look on his face and the heat radiating from his powerful body. Suddenly I seem to have lost the upper hand, and I’m powerless to get it back.
I close my eyes. What the fuck is wrong with me?
This is the lunatic who has kept me prisoner while he entertains the notion of marrying me, whether I’m onboard or not.
This proximity to him is a good range to kick him in the balls—not melt like butter into his tremendously muscular body and mentally beg him for kisses… Fuck, stop thinking about it.
But tell that to my hammering heart as he towers over me, and my body that aches to feel his lips on mine.
“Look at me,” he rumbles.
I open my eyes and look up at him.
His lips are mere inches from mine.
I know how they taste.
How they set my body on fire.
And I want to feel them again.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“What you asked me to do.” His words are husky and dripping with dark promise. “You want to know how I would ask you on a date, well, this is it, little one.” His knuckles find my cheek, and they are so infinitely tender as they brush over my skin, and I feel myself being swept away by his touch alone. “This is me asking politely . But if it doesn’t suit, I’m happy to show you how I ask impolitely .”
Oh boy. The way he says it. Like he’s going to throw me over his shoulder again and drag me to dinner.
No, to his bedroom.
To his bed.
God, I can’t breathe.
“Well, little one? Will you join me as my date tonight?”
My body trembles as he brings his lips even closer.
And fuck it. I want this.
I want him to kiss me.
I want to slide onto his lap again, and this time ride the rigid outline of his cock until I come.
Until we both come.
The thought of watching him lose control during his orgasm only fuels my surrender.
I close my eyes again and lift my face to meet his kiss.
But it is a kiss that never comes.
He takes a step back, and my eyes flit open in time to see a hint of a smile spread across his lips. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Spell broken, I take a step back and glare across at him. Asshole .
“Tonight is an important date for the club,” he says, his voice husky. “And you’ll behave, little one. For your uncle’s sake.”
I glare at him. “How could I forget.”
He starts to walk away but calls out over his shoulder. “Be ready by six.”
I narrow my eyes at him and watch him disappear out of view.