Chapter 16 Everly
EVERLY
I reached up and pulled Grave’s pants down so I could get to the wound on his leg.
It was still bleeding. Seeping through his jeans.
And I was worried it was deeper than a small first aid kit could help with.
He was silent as I slid his pants to his ankles, and the small puncture wound in his leg finally came into view.
I reached into the first aid kit and pulled out a few alcohol wipes.
I began dabbing at his skin as he sat there, his eyes fixated onto me.
I cleaned up the blood around the wound before I swiped it over the small gash, and a grunt left Grave’s lips.
My hand came down onto his twitching thigh to steady his movements, then I began to clean it up as best as I could.
“Hold still,” I said
“It stings.”
“You’re a big boy. You can handle it. Just take a deep breath.”
He grunted again and I shook my head. I discarded the bloodied alcohol wipe and reached for another one, then offered my hand to him.
It took several wipes to get the stuff of his own hand, but I eventually cleaned him up.
I took out some gauze and dabbed at his puncture wound as the bleeding slowly stopped.
Then I took out two butterfly band-aids and closed it shut.
“How does that feel?” I asked.
“Fine,” Grave said. “Now we need to get you out of here.”
“Can you hold on a second?” I asked.
My eyes whipped up to his and I saw him clench his jaw.
“What happened here, Everly?”
I reached for some gauze and some tape to put around his massive thigh in case the band aids came off.
“A lot of psychological warfare,” I said.
“That doesn’t tell me a damn thing.”
“What do you want me to say, Grave? You left and I was vulnerable. What did you expect to happen?”
“Tell me what happened,” he said.
I sighed as I pressed the gauze into his thigh. A groan left Grave’s lips as I taped it down, wrapping the sticky stuff around the back of his leg. I tossed everything back into the first aid kit and closed it all up, then handed him two pain pills.
“Do you need some water?” I asked
He threw them back and swallowed, then hooked his eyes back with mine.
“Why are all the windows busted?”
“Because whoever came after me busted them,” I said.
“Why?” he asked.
“They were toying with me, Grave. I got a phone call-”
I swallowed as I stood to my feet. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to relieve it. I simply wanted to keep moving. To keep pressing forward.
“Everly.”
Grave’s hand came down onto my shoulder and I jumped. I was shaking as the first aid kit fell from my hands. It hit the floor and splattered everywhere as tears ran down my cheeks. Grave’s eyes were wild as I backed into the wall, pressing my palms against the cool wooden walls.
It was Grave.
Just Grave.
Only Grave.
“Everly,” he said lowly as his hand came up to cup my cheek. “What did they do to you?”
I felt my jaw trembling as I closed my eyes.
“I got a phone call from an unknown number,” I said. “And I thought it was you.”
“What did they say?” he asked.
I could feel him stepping closer to me, his body heat radiating against me.
“The voice said to let you know that Diesel put me at risk.”
His silence frightened me, and I opened my eyes to see what was happening.
“Did this voice give you a name?” he asked.
“No. He didn’t. But I knew he was with them. He kept mentioning how Rex was loyal, which was something I never would be.”
“What else did he say?”
“He said…”
I closed my eyes as a tear wafted down my cheek.
“It’s okay,” Grave said as he caught my tear on his thumb. “It’s only me.”
He wrapped me up in his arms and I clung to him, digging my hands into his thick muscles.
“He was banging his fist against the door and telling me how easy it was to get to me. He walked around the house and was crashing in windows and banging on the side of the cabin, Grave. He… he kicked down the door and walked all the way to the bathroom. He was… he was right there. I could see his shadow underneath the door.”
I was shivering in his arms as he planted kiss after kiss into the crook of my neck.
“He said I betrayed my brother. He made me promise-”
Grave picked me up and took me back into my bedroom.
“What did he make you promise?” he asked.
Grave sat on the edge of the bed as my legs straddled him.
“I don’t want to hurt-”
“You’re not hurting me,” he said as he cupped my cheek. “What did that man make you promise?”
“He told me if I kept silent, I would be safe,” I said breathlessly. “And I agreed because I didn’t know what else to do. He was banging on the bathroom door and I knew I was dead. I knew he was going to kill me, Grave. And then he… he…”
My forehead fell against his as my fingertips grazed along his cheek. My jaw was quivering and tears were flooding my cheeks. Grave’s hands were massaging my back, trying to get me to settle down as he rocked me in his lap.
“What happened next?” he asked.
I rose my water gaze to his and drew in a deep breath.
“He said ‘I hope you keep your word this time. Because not even Grave can stop a bullet’. And then he left.”
I sobbed against Grave and he pressed kisses to my cheeks. To my neck. To my hairline. He cradled me close as he leaned back against the bed and my body curled deeply into his. I clung to him as deeply as I could, his hands running up and down my back.
“It’s okay, Everly. I’m here. And I’m fine. They won’t touch me, and they sure as hell won’t touch you. I’m going to get you out of town. Somewhere where no one will know where you are.”
“Don’t leave me. Please. Don’t… don’t do that again.”
“I’m not,” he said as he kissed my ear. “I’m not leaving your side again. As much as I want to kill that fucker right now, he’s right. Diesel calling me in left you vulnerable, and that’s not happening again. I’m in charge of this now. I’m in charge of you now. Where you go, I go.”
“So, you’re coming with me?”
I rose up and planted my hands onto his chest. My eyes hooked with his as his hands slid down my form. I felt him grab my hips and electricity shot up my spine.
The way this man affected me… it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before.
“Yes,” Grave said. “I’m coming with you.”
Before I could think, my lips fell to his. I could feel his cock rising to life against my thigh and it made me shiver. I needed him. I needed to feel his strength and protection against my body. I didn’t want to wait another second to feel as close to him as I had become.
I slid from his body and shoved my pants down my legs, then reached and pulled his cock from beyond his boxers.
I climbed back on top of him and stroked my wet pussy folds along his length.
The groans that fell from his lips made my heart slam against my chest. I grabbed his dick and filled myself with it, sinking down onto him as my sweater fell loosely against my body.
My hands dug into his chest as he fisted my ass, rocking me closer into his pelvis as his cock pulsed against my walls.
I bounced. I rocked. I shivered and I shook.
My clit was raked against his tightly-wound curls as his hands moved me up and down his groin.
I sat up and ran my hands through my hair, cupping my clothed tits and riding his arousal-slicked cock.
My juices were pouring down his dick and coating his balls, making a mess on the bed below us.
And the soft scent of wood permeated underneath the bedroom door.
Before I knew it, I was gathered in Grave’s arms and pressed against the wall.
He slammed his cock into me as our lips crashed together.
I moaned and wiggled, wrapping my legs around his thick waist. My hands grabbed at his shoulders and locked around his neck as our teeth clattered together.
I couldn't get enough of him. Couldn't taste enough of him.
He pounded into my hips and jolted me up the wall, his hand fisted into the tresses of my hair.
My lips were swollen as he pulled away, and I felt him beginning to nibble on my neck.
Rake his teeth against my pulse point.
Fill my body with his growing cock.
“Grave. Yes. Fuck me, just like that. Don’t stop.”
“I’m sorry,” Grave said. “I’m not leaving you again.”
“Fuck me.”
“Oh yes.”
“Harder, Grave.”
“Yes!”
“Harder! Harder! Yes! Grave… oh shit!”
My head slammed back into the wall as my pussy came around his cock.
Spraying him with juices as my body shook against his chiseled form.
His hands grabbed my ass and he pulled my hips to him, fucking his thick dick as his balls smacked my ass.
I fell heavily against the wall as he used my body, sending me to heights I could’ve never imagined.
Stars burst behind my eyes and fire was raging in my chest, and soon I was thrown over the edge again as his cock exploded inside of me.
I was breathless. Motionless. Shaking around his cock.
My legs went limp and his arms were physically holding me up as his body pressed me into the wall.
His legs were quivering and his cock was pumping inside of me, shooting thread after thread of hot cum that marked me as his.
He buried his face into the crook of my neck and my cheek lazily fell to the side of his head.
I was heaving. Gasping for air as Grave peeled me from the wall.
He stumbled back and turned to face the bed. She shoved the comforter, covered with glass off the mattress and then turned to face me. He pulled me down to the bed with me in his arms, and we fell to the mattress tangled in each other’s limbs.
His cock slid from between my legs and I curled into him. I couldn’t get close enough. He was the only person I trusted. The only person I felt safe with. I felt his strong arms blanket my body and pull me close and my head nuzzled up underneath his chin.
“Please don’t leave me,” I said with a whisper.
“If I leave, you leave. It’s that simple. You’re not being let out of my sight again,” Grave said.
“Why did he toy with me like that?”
I rose my face up to meet his eyes and I watched them darken.
“He was right there, Grave. Right outside the bathroom door. Why didn’t he kill me?” I asked.
“Do you really want the answer to that?”
“I want answers to a lot of things. We can start there,” I said.
“Your brother’s part of this. Are you sure you want answers?”
“More than anything.”
His hand began to run itself through my hair as his gaze penetrated mine.
I felt myself growing sick. Whatever it was, I knew it wasn’t going to be good.
The silence was thick between us and I found it hard to breathe.
But when Grave drew in a deep breath and parted his lips, nothing could have prepared me for what he said.
“He probably didn’t kill you because your brother sent him.”
My jaw dropped open and my body went numb.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s how club’s like theirs work. With us, we have a President who calls the shots.
Diesel. He has the last say in how things go down.
But with club’s like The Black Saddles, their positions don’t mean anything.
Everyone gets to call a shot or two, and the more involved the person is in something the more shots they get.
It’s as close to anarchy as most crews can get, and it usually happens when there are two or more hotheads that don’t want to give up their control to someone else. ”
“How does that automatically mean my brother sent someone after me?” I asked.
“With the way your brother acted when he got arrested, it wouldn't shock me. I don’t have any proof other than a hunch and a general understanding of The Black Saddles. But with your recount of what happened the night Blaze died, it seemed as if your brother was calling the shots then. So, I’m assuming he’s calling the shots now.
“So… so you mean to tell me that my little brother. He-... he sent someone to-?”
I felt like I was going to be sick
“It wouldn’t shock me if he sent those guys to your house as well.”
Yep. I was going to be sick.
I rushed from the bed and ran down the hallway.
The smell of smoke was slowly growing within the cabin.
I fell to my knees and threw up in the toilet as tears streamed down my cheeks.
Even if Grave was misinformed, I could tell in his eyes that he believed every word he was saying.
He truly believed my brother was behind everything that was happening.
The shoot-out. Tracking me down. The person who came and scared the shit out of me. Made me promise my silence.
And the shitty thing was? I couldn't poke holes in Grave’s theory.
I felt someone scoop my hair back before a large hand came down onto my back.
I cried into the toilet and spit to try and rid my mouth of the awful taste.
My life was falling apart. I was three weeks into a six-week leave from work and I knew this wasn’t going to be wrapped up anytime soon.
I would lose my job. I would run out of money.
I wouldn’t have a home or a way to eat or provide for myself.
Not as long as I was on the run. Not as long as all of this shit was happening around me.
What was I going to do? Where was I going to go?
What was going to happen to my life?
“I swear to you, Everly. I will get you out of this.”
And I wanted to believe him. Everything inside of me wanted to believe him.
So, I chose to believe him.
I chose to believe Grave even when I didn’t want to.
Because I had no choice. If I kept the promise I made, I would be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.
They would control every step I made with the string they had attached to my life.
But if I ran-- if I trusted Grave and went with him-- I risked a lot.
My life. His life. But if I could outrun this-- if I could get away from this-- I had a chance at living my life again.
And no matter what the risk, that was worth it.
Living my life without fear was worth it.