Chapter 49
CHAPTER 49
B ELLE
It all happens so fast. One second we’re standing there, the next bullets are flying.
It’s crazy, but the first thing I think of is how much it sounds like firecrackers. The next thing I’m aware of is Beast clutching his shoulder.
He’s been shot.
Panic explodes in my chest.
I try to stop him from falling. But trying to support Beast’s body is like a toy car trying to tow a real one. Impossible . I start to panic even more. I’m too small and he’s too big. He collapses onto the wet road.
It starts to rain as I drop to my knees beside him and pull the phone out of my jeans pocket. “Who should I call?”
“No one. We can’t hang around. We’re too exposed out here. We’ve got to get out of here.”
I look at the Harley. It’s a beast of a machine and I’d never be able to hold it up. I’ve also never driven one before. I’d kill us both.
“I’m okay.” He hisses in a rough breath. “I just need a minute.”
“You’re badly wounded.”
“It’s nothing more than a nick.”
“I should call someone?—"
“Belle, I can get us home.”
He hauls himself to his feet and manages to swing his leg over the body of the motorcycle and start the engine. With a rumble the machine comes alive.
I climb on behind him and we take off.
Ten minutes later, relief hits me when I see the clubhouse in the distance through the fog. “We’re almost home.”
Beast steers the bike along the long driveway and pulls to a stop near the stairs leading up to the front porch. He pushes down the kick stand with his big boot and climbs off. I try to help him, but the moment he’s free of the motorcycle he collapses.
“Help us! Please, we need help!” I cry out. His shirt is drenched with blood. He’s lost a lot during the ride home. “Please, someone!”
Almost immediately the big front doors groan open, and Viking, a prospect, and Ryder appear.
“What the hell happened?” Ryder asks as they descend the porch steps.
“Go get Priest,” Viking tells the prospect, who hastily disappears back inside.
“Do you need a hospital?” Viking asks.
“I’m fine,” Beast growls. “Just get me inside.”
Viking and Ryder sling his bulky arms around their shoulders and carry him into the clubhouse.
“Why are the lights out?” He groans.
“Blackout. They don’t expect it to come back on for a few hours.”
“What about the generator?”
“Lightning strike. Sticky, Balls, and Lars are trying to fix it now.”
They drag him into the bar and ease him onto a chair. “Where the fuck is Priest?” Viking growls. Then, tipping his head back, he yells in a big baritone voice that rattles the walls, “Priest, get in here now.”
Only moments later, Priest appears carrying his medical kit.
He takes one look at Beast on the chair, bleeding all over the floor, and blows out a breath.
“Get his cut and shirt off,” he tells Viking and Ryder.
I feel helpless as I watch. “What can I do?”
Priest says, “Stay right where you are, sweetheart. He’s going to need something nice to focus on if I’ve got to pluck out any bullets.”
Once Viking and Ryder get him out of his shirt and cut, the damage to Beast’s body is evident. A bullet wound to his left shoulder.
“Looks like the bullet went through tissue, not bone, so this should be easy,” Priest says.
“For fucking who?” Beast growls.
Priest pulls morphine into a syringe. “You should buy a lottery ticket, my friend. Two inches lower and it would’ve been lights out.” He jabs the needle into Beast’s skin. “This should do the trick.”
I wait for the opiate to take effect and for Beast to become relaxed and medicated. But Beast barely reacts.
Ryder hands him the bottle of whisky and Beast downs two large mouthfuls, his teeth gnashing together as the whisky burns through his chest. His beautiful lips glisten in the flickering glow of the candle as Priest gets to work and removes the bullet from his shoulder.
“Can’t you give him more pain relief?” I plead to Priest, as the pain registers on Beast’s face.
“Honey, I’ve given him enough to knock out a horse. Any more and it’d kill him.”
“I’m fine,” Beast groans. “Just get the fuck on with it.”
It takes a couple of minutes, but Priest finally gets the bullet out of Beast’s shoulder and drops it into a jar.
“You can put it with the others,” Priest says.
I raise an eyebrow. “Others?”
“He’s the president. It comes with the job.” He hands me the jar. “Come on, we’ll help get him up to your room.”
Candlelight flickers against the shadows in the room. His bed is soft and warm.
Settled into the pillows, he looks at me and I feel a warm sensation bloom in my chest. His eyes are beautiful, his lashes long and dark, and I realize I could spend the night looking into them. Lust throbs between my legs. When I lick my lips, his eyes follow my tongue.
I touch his arm, and his lips part, and I ache to kiss them. Desire flickers in his eyes, and his fists tighten on his thighs.
I ache to feel his lips on mine.
He grimaces as pain sweeps through his expression.
“I wish you’d let me take you to the hospital,” I say softly.
“I have everything I need right here,” he says as he takes my face in his giant hands and presses his warm mouth to mine.
Instinctively, my lips part and I groan as his tongue sweeps in, tasting me.
He moans and the sound is like catnip to my arousal. I drink in his kiss, every glide of his lips, every velvety touch of his tongue drenching my panties.
He pulls me onto him and the front of my panties brush the hard form of his ginormous cock, and I almost cry out at the sensation against my aching clit. I whimper into his kiss.
“Little one,” he groans desperately. “I want this more than you could know…but not like this.”
He winces, and I brush my lips to his. “I know, you need to rest. And I’m going to be right here next to you. If you need anything, tell me. Let me take care of you.”
He half growls, half groans, and the deep rumble sends lust blasting through me. But I slide off him and settle into the warmth beside him. I feel him relax and before I realize, I slip into a warm and contented sleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night, I awaken. Beast is asleep beside me. He’s lying on his back, his naked body heavy with sleep.
Light from the full moon floods his room.
I sit up and allow my gaze to move over him. His naked body is magnificent. All golden and smooth, and so damn masculine I can almost taste it.
I drink him in, my eyes sliding down his broad shoulders and down the thick muscles of his chest.
Down lower to the diamond-cut abs that lift softly with every sleepy breath he takes.
Down to the sexy V God gave men to tantalize both women and men.
His cock rests thick and heavy against his powerful thighs. My eyes linger.
I ache to touch it.
To put it in my mouth.
To feel it between my legs.
I lick my lips and wonder how it would feel as it grows in my mouth.
My body throbs because I know what it feels like when he’s inside me and I need to touch him.
I want to bend my head and take it in my mouth. Suckle the broad head and glide my tongue down the thick length of him.
I want to taste the salty cream of his precum, then the warmth of his cum as he pumps it down my throat.
But none of that will happen tonight.
He needs his rest.
His peace.
I lie back down so we’re face to face. His eyes are closed. His beautiful, full lips slightly parted. His mane of hair spread across the pillow. When I pull his heavy, muscular arm around me and snuggle into his warmth, he moans gently and pulls me in closer to his strong body, and I bury my face into his broad chest.
I close my eyes, aware of a new sensation singing in my blood.
Beast doesn’t need me to fuck him.
He needs to know I care.