Chapter 3
SOMETHIN’ BOUT A WOMAN
PIERCE
I’m going to kill him if he takes another step closer to her.
I watch Chopper close in on Lexi, but she’s too into the music or too deep in the bottle to notice his approach.
Silas was keeping an eye on her until he and Harlow disappeared about five minutes ago.
Since then, every single brother who isn’t distracted by their old lady has had her in their sights.
My knuckles crack again inside my tight fist. But it’s the only thing keeping me from busting this empty glass over Chopper’s head when I catch his fingers wrap around her tiny waist. Her body freezes mid-hip-sway, and I see red.
That’s enough of that.
My long legs eat up the distance before Lexi can shake off his hold. I shove him hard, the copious amounts of liquor in his system giving me the upper hand, because he actually stumbles away from us.
“What the?” Lexi’s shrill voice hits my ear.
I bend over and throw her petite frame over my shoulder, while she shrieks at me. I immediately clamp a hand over her too fucking short skirt so no one gets a free show.
“Put me down, you asshole!” she screams.
“You heard the lady, put her down.” Chopper steps up to me, but he must see something come across my face, because he backs down and throws his hands up in surrender. “Pussy must be as good as those tits look, then?”
I close the mere inches between us, all while Lexi pounds incessantly against my back, and stare him down. “Shut your fucking mouth, man. You might be my brother, but I won’t hesitate to lay you out.”
“Fuck, I was just joking. She ain’t worth it when there’s plenty more willing.”
“Great, go find one of them,” I bark and head down the hall toward my room.
“Stop ignoring meeee! Put me down. What the fuuuck is wrong with you?” Her words slur.
Her feet join in on her efforts just as we make it down the hall.
Thankfully, I’m no longer tucked away in the basement, after everything with Branson.
I shake the thought away. It’s easier that way.
If I don’t think about it, don’t let it creep in, I don’t have to feel the guilt take hold and the pain seize up my entire being.
I hitch her back upright and drop her unceremoniously onto my mattress. Her face is bright red, no doubt from a mixture of the alcohol, the heat from the main room, and being upside down during her little tantrum.
She starts up again, scrambling to her feet and trying to push past me for the door, but she sways unsteadily on her feet. Her familiar scent mixed with the potent whiskey she’s been chugging all night like water wafts up my nose when I step in her way.
“You’re not going back out there. Sit your ass down.”
“Who do you think you are? You don’t get to tell me what to do, Pierce. And you certainly don’t get to squirrel me away to…” Her eyes cast around the small room with nothing more than the essentials and an attached bathroom. “Wherever the fuck we are. Now move so I can leave.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I fall back into the closed door and stare her down.
“Not gonna happen, Princess. So, why don’t you walk your hammered ass over to my bed, take your boots off, crawl in, and get comfy?
That way you can sleep off the vat of liquor you’ve somehow managed to down in the last hour. ”
A mischievous gleam sparks in her blue eyes, and the possibility of getting out of here anytime soon flushes down the drain.
“You been watching me, Pierce?” she asks, stepping into my chest, and looking up at me under those thick dark lashes.
“Everyone was watching you.” I try to hide the displeasure in my tone, but the statement comes out as a low growl anyway.
“And that’s a problem because?” she asks, while tracing a dainty finger across my chest.
“Don’t start with me, Lexi.”
“Seems like you’re the one starting something. Dragging me back here like you have some fucking claim. Hate to break it to you, but I haven’t been yours in a really… long… time.”
There it is: that vicious, sharp tongue she only uses when she feels her control slipping. She hasn’t changed, but I’m not the same little pussy whipped teenager she remembers. She can’t push me around at her whim anymore, but I love watching her try.
My hands grip tight around her hips, and my thumbs rest against her protruding hip bones.
She’s too thin. Just another flashing neon sign pointing out how she’s really doing.
These last few weeks, I’ve watched her wander through life like a zombie.
Work. Home. Work. Home. The girl goes nowhere else.
Even her groceries are delivered. I wonder if Harlow finally noticed, and that’s why she’s here tonight.
It takes no strength to push her back; she stumbles again, the alcohol like sludge in her veins.
“We can do this the easy way, or if you want to keep up with that smart little mouth, I’ve got a pair of cuffs in my nightstand with your name on ‘em. Now pick.”
She stares up at me, her eyes hooded and glossy red. She needs to lie down and sleep this off, and I need to go back out there and find Silas before he thinks she’s gone off with a brother. The last thing I need is him busting down doors looking for her.
The hot puff of air from her scoff blows across my face. “You know I like it hard, baby.” Her hands fall to my belt buckle and fumble trying to pry it free.
She’s killing me. My cock jerks at her closeness. It’s all too familiar with her touch and how she feels wrapped around it. I could be an old man on my deathbed, and she’d probably still be the last thing to cross my mind.
I snatch her wrists in one hand, while wrapping her back up in a hold, lifting her feet from the ground to inch closer to my nightstand.
The hard way it is.
“I hate to break it to you. But you couldn’t handle me now.”
Her eyes roll, but she’s distracted when I set her down and spin her quickly, wrenching her hands behind her back.
“Bend over.” I lean down to whisper in her ear.
She shivers in my hold and goosebumps bead up across her skin. I reach over, letting my free hand quietly pull the drawer from my nightstand open and pluck the metal cuffs from inside.
“Already tapping out, Princess?”
The dig has just the right effect as she huffs out her irritation, widens her stance, and purposefully thrusts her tight ass into my hard cock while finally doing as I asked.
The flimsy scrap of pink fabric does nothing to cover her round ass from peaking out, and it takes all my strength not to shove it up and take her right here after all these years. If I had a free hand, I’d leave a stinging slap against her creamy skin for the tease.
Instead, I tighten my hold and flip the cuffs close around her wrists awkwardly with one hand. In her inebriated state, it takes her a second to catch on, and that’s all I need to get them tightened. I give her back a gentle shove, and she loses her footing, collapsing face-first into the mattress.
I do her a favor and pick up her feet, twisting her body so she can lie more comfortably until I get back.
“Now, stay there. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Don’t you fucking dare leave me here to run off and get your dick wet, Pierce. I’ll scream bloody murder until someone finds me and lets me out of here.”
I chuckle and reach back into the nightstand.
She readjusts, fighting against her half-subdued state, to roll onto her other side and shoot daggers at me.
Holding up the two slips of fabric, I raise my eyebrow. “You sure you want to do that? I can leave you right there like this, or we can make sure that little threat doesn’t happen. Again, your choice.”
Her chest inflates, air hissing through her nostrils as she sucks in a deep breath in preparation. I’m on her in two seconds. Tying the first piece of fabric around her eyes and the next around her mouth to muffle the screaming she’s absolutely going to let loose.
“Like I said. I’ll be back,” I taunt, and I can’t resist giving her half-exposed ass that stinging slap.
Her frantic bellows start the second my weight lifts from the mattress. She could still get up and try to find her way. But the doors on our rooms also lock from the outside, and turning off the lights as I exit makes her chance of getting out damn near impossible.
No one looks my way when I clear the hall and make it back out into the main room. The party is still roaring with loud music and people lounging on every available surface. It’s barely past midnight, and they’ll be around until they pass out or the booze runs dry.
Scanning the crowd, I don’t see Silas anywhere. He doesn’t have a room here anymore, but there are more than a few nooks and dark corners to hide away in when you’re looking for a sliver of privacy.
Vik leans against the garage door frame, his wife tucked under his arm, talking to Casper.
“Hey man, have you seen Si anywhere? I need to tell him something.”
“Uhh, I think I saw him and his girl head out back. Though with the way he was looking at her, I don’t know that I’d go looking for em.”
That’s what I figured.
“Got it. If you see him, tell him to check his phone. I’ll text him.”
“You got it, man.” Vik nods and turns back to the conversation I interrupted.
I contemplate grabbing another drink while I type out my text to Si, but the knowledge that she’s in my bed keeps my feet moving.
Heads up. I got Lex taken care of. Have a good night with your girl.