Chapter 7
Chapter seven
Gatling
When Kelsie wiggled underneath me, her pussy clenched around my cock with a suffocating grip. I gritted my teeth, refusing to blow my load too early.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had sex. Three years ago? Four? Shit, it might be eight years by now. I didn’t have the charisma for hooking up, and my resting bitch face sent most women running for the hills.
And I didn’t fall in love. Ever.
Most of the time, my right hand in the shower was enough of a relief. My entire life had been one long stretch of survival mode. When the fuck would I have time to let down my guard, relax, and have decent sex?
Kelsie cupped the back of my head, clinging to me as she mouthed at my jawline. Goosebumps rippled down my back and I shuddered, pulsing my hips with short, shallow thrusts.
“Call me sunshine again,” she breathed.
I gripped her waist, sinking my fingers into her soft flesh. Bringing my mouth to her ear, I pulled out and thrust in again, filling her deep. Kelsie flung her head back with a gasp, arching against my chest.
“My fucking gorgeous sunshine,” I growled. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve imagined having you like this?”
Kelsie let out a wrecked little sound. I shoved the hoodie up, exposing those heavy tits that I’d wanted to taste for years. Her skin was creamy smooth in the faint moonlight. Dipping my head, I closed my lips around her nipple and sucked.
She swore, writhing harder beneath me. Pushing her hips up to meet mine on every stroke.
I knew it was wrong. I knew I had no right to touch her, taste her, to feel the silky heat of her pussy wrapped around my cock. She was everything good and pure and light, while I was rotten to the core, poison.
Kelsie’s walls fluttered, wavering on the edge of her orgasm. Hooking my hands behind her knees, I guided her thighs around my waist. With long, deep strokes, I lost myself in her. The way she held me. The sweet little noises she made. Her warmth. Her softness.
I licked and nipped at her skin, overcome with something that I’d never felt with anything else.
The raw need to claim. To mark. To make her mine.
It wasn’t possible to satisfy my all-consuming hunger for her. Not in one night. Hell, I wouldn’t even be able to do it in an entire lifetime if I was given that privilege. But I wanted that perfect pussy of hers to remember every ridge and vein when I was finished.
“Come on, sunshine, you’re close. I can feel it,” I murmured, kissing her tits, her neck, her mouth. I would never be able to look her in the eye again after this, knowing what she tasted like. “Fuck yourself on my cock. Show me that you want this just as much as I do.”
Kelsie sank down and circled her hips, grinding hard. I cupped her ass in my palms, tilting her body at just the right angle.
“Ryker, yes,” she gasped. “Oh my God—”
Her pussy sucked my cock deeper with a satisfying, slick sound.
At last, my brain felt like it was wiped clean. No memories, no flashbacks, no replaying the events of the past that I couldn’t escape.
It was just Kelsie.
I slipped a hand between our bodies, teasing at her clit. Kelsie fell apart, her fingernails biting into my back with a delicious burn. When her pussy locked tight, squeezing the hell out of my cock, I couldn’t hold on any longer.
My balls drew up tight, and I exploded, pulsing inside her.
After it was over, I slumped against Kelsie and started to pull out. But she gripped my ass, holding me in place.
“Stay,” she whispered. “Please. I like…I like the way you feel.”
How could I say no?
Easing my weight down on top of her, I caged Kelsie in with my body and kissed her slowly, lingering.
I couldn’t give her more than tonight. A few hours at the most. But for now, when it was just the two of us in the dark, I would give her anything she asked of me.
Eventually, Kelsie began to doze. I retrieved a warm, damp washcloth from the bathroom, cleaning her up. Then I nestled her naked body in my arms with less than four hours until sunrise.
In the morning, it was going to hurt like a bitch to let her go.
But I couldn’t offer Kelsie the life she deserved. And Noah…
Noah would kill me.
He’d worked so hard to raise Kelsie on his own. To provide for her. To keep her safe. If he saw her fall in love with someone like me—a recluse, with nothing but a shitty cabin to my name, associating with a herd of outlaw bikers—it would be a hard hit for him to take.
I couldn’t do that to my best friend.
And Kelsie needed a man who was capable of providing for her, capable of raising a family alongside her.
I didn’t know the first thing about being a husband, let alone a father.
Back home in West Virginia, I had a big family—six brothers and sisters, four uncles, seven aunts, and countless cousins. But the Bridges were sharp-tongued people, with fiery tempers. Gossip was rampant. Backstabbing was so commonplace that no one batted an eye.
It was every man for himself.
That’s why I spent so much time in the woods. There was no one to smile in your face and call you brother or son while they beat you around the head and shoulders with a fire poker, claiming, I’m doing this because I love you.
I closed my eyes and sighed, kissing Kelsie’s bare shoulder.
There was nothing good about me. If Kelsie tied herself to me in marriage, I would only hurt her, bring her down.
I couldn’t dim my sweet sunshine like that.
At the first blush of dawn, I reluctantly slipped out of bed, showered, and got dressed. Kelsie could sleep for another hour at the most, if she was lucky. Then I would drop her off at Noah's place, and he would take her out of town for a few weeks.
I paused at the bed and gazed down at Kelsie’s sleeping form. I brushed my knuckles against her cheek. A soft smile touched her lips and she gave a contented hum.
My heart squeezed and I tugged the covers up over her body before leaving the room.
By the time I dropped Kelsie off with Noah, he already had his car packed for a road trip, ready to go. She hugged me briefly, but tightly, and cast a quick smile up at me before turning away. I watched her climb into Noah’s Jeep, feeling like something was breaking inside me.
One night together was supposed to appease that yearning I harbored for her. Like scratching an itch.
Instead, it just made me want her even more.
With Kelsie and Noah out of town for a while, I set my sights on getting rid of this stalker. Heading to the Blackjacks clubhouse, I hoped Credence would have some good news for me about that license plate number I asked him to run for me.
When I arrived, our VP, Blackbeard, and his wife, Leigh, were necking behind the bar. Again. They’d been married for nearly a year by now, and they couldn’t keep their hands off each other for two seconds.
“Just because your abuela wants a grandkid,” I said. “Doesn’t mean you have to do your dirty business here.”
Blackbeard flipped me off. Leigh chuckled and snuggled against Blackbeard’s back.
The clubhouse served as a home away from home for the Blackjacks, but I rarely lingered for long.
I couldn’t help feeling like an intruder, or a spare puzzle piece that didn’t fit quite right.
Even the lifelong bachelors, like Big G, would bring girls around, or flirt with the club bunnies.
Most of these men had families and loved ones of their own.
But I didn’t. The only two people I cared about in this world wouldn’t set foot in a place like this. Noah was wary about the Blackjacks, and rightly so. We got into some shady shit over the years.
And Kelsie…Kelsie didn’t belong here.
I passed Crash who was busy sweeping the floor. Spike sat at the bar—surprisingly without his usual ever-present female company for once. Instead, he amused himself with a bowl of peanuts, flicking the shells onto the floor where Crash had previously cleaned.
Crash glared at him.
“Asshole.”
Spike snickered.
“Watch your language, Prospect. I outrank you.”
I knocked my shoulder against Spike hard enough to dislodge him from his seat.
“And I outrank you. Quit picking on the new kid.”
Crash nodded with gratitude at me. But as soon as my back was turned, he stuck his tongue out in Spike’s direction.
“I saw that,” I said. “Spike, grab a broom. Help the Prospect sweep the place up.”
Spike groaned.
“Great. Now we’re both in trouble, kid.”
“You started it,” Crash mumbled.
I ignored their squabbling, as long as they weren’t at each other’s throats.
As the Sergeant-at-Arms, I was a higher ranking officer than either of them.
But it wasn’t my job to babysit. Ultimately, it was Kingpin’s responsibility to ensure that everyone played nice as the President of the club.
In his absence, Blackbeard was the one who kept the peace and gave the final order to behave ourselves and get along.
Voices emanated from the kitchen and Tex emerged, carrying his little boy, Colby, on his shoulders. Baby Doll followed close on Tex’s heels, fiddling with the straw of a juice box. She passed the juice up to Colby.
“Thank you, Aunt Baby Doll,” he said.
“You’re welcome, little man,” she replied.
“Are you sure you’re okay to watch him for the day?” Tex prompted. “I know it’s a big ask. But our nanny fell through again. Erika doesn’t want to discuss the d-i-v-o-r-c-e in front of Colby.”
I winced. Tex didn’t mention any marriage troubles, but I picked up the signs.
The tense phone calls with his wife. The hostile confrontations in the parking lot when she showed up and chewed him out over God-knows-what.
And the nights that Tex spent here, camped out in one of the back rooms. Hell, he even asked to crash on my couch once or twice.
I wasn’t any good at offering a shoulder to cry on, but Tex seemed to be comforted by Baby Doll’s offer to help out.
“Are you kidding?” Baby Doll said. “I’d love to have him all to myself. We can build a blanket fort in my living room, watch his favorite movies, and maybe we can check out that new place with the bumper cars.”
Colby wiggled with excitement.
“Can I go, Dad?”
Tex laughed.
“Yeah, you can go. Try not to miss me too much while Aunt Baby Doll spoils you rotten.”
Baby Doll stretched out her arms with a grin and made grabby hands at Colby. Tex swept Colby off his shoulders and passed his son into Baby Doll’s waiting embrace. She blew a loud, wet kiss on his cheek.
Something twisted inside my chest.
Damn lucky kid, I thought.
Surrounded by people who loved him, who made him smile and laugh and protected him. Even when his parents were splitting up. His world was about to change, but he would never be left alone to fend for himself.
“Gatling,” Credence called.
At a corner table of the clubhouse, Credence had set up his laptop. Clusters of half-empty coffee mugs next to his elbow indicated he must have pulled an all-nighter to run that truck’s license plate.
“Got something for me?” I replied, striding across the room to his side.
He gestured to the screen, showing a man’s driver’s license.
“I found the owner of the truck.”
I clasped Credence on the shoulder for a job well done.
“Good. Let’s go gut the bastard.”