Chapter 18
As mean as Hades was, it wasn’t often that he became irate. It wasn’t like it took much to get him there, but people tended to tiptoe around him, so for the most part, he was able to keep his emotions under control.
Tonight was not one of those nights as he walked through the crowded club, shoving people out of the way as he looked around for Harley. He was already under a tremendous amount of stress because it seemed like his father wasn’t making good on the deal Hades thrust upon him, the police had locked up two of his riders on some shit they didn’t do, and he’d been missing Harley like hell.
He was in the middle of going on a tirade during church at the underground when his phone alerted him that Harley had been away from Major and Cati’s apartment for more than an hour. This piqued his interest because she hadn’t so much as stepped a toe out of the apartment since she got there. Hades had even shut down all her appointments with her patients. The only time she was to leave was if it was an absolute emergency or one of her clients was in labor, and even then, he planned on having a few of the riders accompany her.
Drew was becoming more unpredictable and irate since he last saw him. He was honestly more touched in the head than Hades, but in a slow kind of way. Drew didn’t use his head at all, and that became clearer to Hades as the days went on. He was sloppy, and the only thing saving him was the fact that everyone knew he had the police in his back pocket.
Unfortunately for Drew, Hades no longer cared who he had on his side. The next time he saw the nigga, he planned to put him to sleep for good. If he had to beat a murder charge by threatening his father again, he would, and he would make it more convincing, too, and if that didn’t work, he would gladly tell his story to anyone who would listen from prison. If he went down, so would Henry Ashford.
He had it all mapped out. Drew was no longer worth the stress he put Hades under, and he was ready to risk it all just to have a chance at some peace.
“What the fuck?” Major growled and then moved past Hades.
When he ran up out of the underworld, Major, Cade, and Lucifer didn’t hesitate to follow. He told them on the elevator that Harley was at some damn club, and after checking his phone, Major quickly confirmed that Cati was with her.
Hades didn’t know what Major saw, but he followed him, nearly knocking a man’s teeth out with his elbow as he pushed through the crowd, and that was when he saw it. He saw Cati hemmed up by a man. Major already had his Glock out, so he easily moved through the men guarding the section. Pussies.
Lucifer didn’t hesitate to jump in as Hades scanned the area. He recognized one of the other women as Harley’s friend, struggling against a man who held her back, and his heart hammered in his chest as his eyes followed their line of sight.
He saw Drew’s back, and he frowned, not understanding what was going on. It looked like he was pressed against a wall and struggling with something… someone . He heard Harley cry out, and everything went black after that.
Hades bypassed the bodies Lucifer and Cade laid out. He bypassed Major choking out the man who previously had Cati hemmed up. His eyes were only for one man. With the strength of the devil himself, Hades lifted Drew by the back of his neck high into the air. When his eyes landed on Harley, who fell to the ground in a trembling heap, his heart did a funny thing. He hadn’t felt an ache like that since his mother died. He felt true, unfiltered pain just before rage slipped back in.
With his muscles flexing and rippling with each movement, he slammed Drew onto the ground head first. Hades knew Drew wouldn’t get up anytime soon. His neck was bent at an odd angle, but Hades still saw him breathing, and that wasn’t satisfying enough. He wouldn’t stop until Drew no longer breathed.
With his size fifteen steel-toe Gucci boots he had custom made, he stomped on Drew’s abdomen, relishing the satisfying crunch. One of Drew’s men ran up on him, but Hades was too quick. With the force of a semi-truck, his fist slammed into the man’s face, causing him to drop like a sack of potatoes.
The sounds of Lucifer shouting for him to stop went in one ear and out the other as he stomped on Drew again, but before he could cause any more harm, he felt a stinging in his back before his body locked up. He didn’t fall though. It would take a lot more than a taser to get Hades Ashford on his knees.
When his body finally unlocked, he slowly turned and noticed the club had been all but emptied. The absence of music finally registered to him as he came face to face with what looked like an entire SWAT team. Hades stared at them as he tugged the prongs of the taser out of his back with a grunt.
“Put your hands up!” one cop shouted.
“Hades!” Harley cried as she stood on shaky legs next to him. He glanced at her and noticed tears running down her pretty face.
He wanted to reach out to her, but he stayed planted in place as he looked back at the cops. “Suck my di?—”
“Leave him!” a commanding voice shouted. “We’re not here for him.” A short man dressed in uniform made his way through the crowd of police and stopped right in front of Hades, who mugged the hell out of him. He didn’t trust the police, and he was ready to curse all of them out, but the short man spoke again before he could. “Hades Ashford?”
“Who the fuck wants to know?” Rage still coursed through Hades. The veins in his neck, arms, and forehead all throbbed, begging to pop out of his dark brown skin.
The man chuckled, which pissed Hades off. Just when he was about to give this little man the same treatment as Drew, the next words spoke stopped him, saving his little life. “I’m the new police chief. Your father sends his regards. We tried to take these men down sooner, but we had to clear house first, and that took a lot of time. A lot of men are behind bars because of you.
“I would like to meet with you and your motorcycle club soon to talk about some good we can do around the city. I understand you all have been innocent, and I would like to help turn the stigma of you and your men around, if you will allow me.”
The man stuck his hand out to Hades, who stared down at it like it was covered in shit. He took a step closer to the man, not caring that his men had several guns pointed in his direction. “The only thing you and your minions can do for me is leave me the fuck alone.” Hades glanced at Harley, whose pants were torn and noticed the bruising on her neck. “Add attempted rape to this nigga’s wrap sheet.”
With that, Hades kicked Drew one last time, smiling at the crunch that resonated through the space, before he turned to Harley and gently lifted her into his arms. She gladly wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him, and his heart swelled.
Without looking back, he walked past the cops and toward the entrance of the now deserted club, leaving the police to clean up the mess he had just made in that small section.
“You’re getting better on the motorcycle, Tink,” Hades commented, his voice gentler than normal as he brushed her hair away from her face. They had just gotten into his room after they showered together, silently taking each other in. His words were the first to be spoken between them in three weeks as he placed her on his bed. He just felt the need to say something, and he noticed how relaxed she seemed on the back of his bike earlier, so he decided to comment on it. Tears clouded her eyes as he peered down at her, unsure of what else to say or how to make her feel better at the moment. “Don’t start that crying shit again, man. I don’t do good with people crying. You want me to get Eris? Or should I call Cati or your friends?”
He took a step away, moving toward the door in search of someone better fit for this moment. He didn’t know how to comfort a woman, especially not after what she had been through, but her small hand gripping his wrist stopped him.
“No, please. I just want you.” Her raspy voice always did something to him. He no longer understood his reasoning for leaving her alone for the past three weeks. Fear. It was no longer big enough to keep him away from her. If she wanted him at that moment, she could have him.
To get comfortable, Hades slipped his clothes off, leaving his blue boxer briefs on. To his surprise, Harley slipped her clothes off as well, but she didn’t leave a stitch of clothing on. Before climbing on the bed, Hades peered down at her. “I’m going to get you a T-shirt. I can’t control myself with you looking like that.”
He’d never had to practice that amount of respect for a woman before. If a woman was naked in front of him, she knew what was up, but of course, Harley had him feeling differently. He wasn’t on that tonight with her. Not after what happened.
For the second time, her hand reached out and grabbed his arm before he could walk away. “Wait, no.” She looked up at him, still with tears in her eyes, before whispering, “You don’t have to control yourself.”
Hades groaned as his already hardening dick sprang to complete attention. He ran a hand down his face slowly as he tried to gather himself. Finally, he pressed both his fists into the bed, leaning down so he was in her face. “Not tonight, Tink. Not after what happened.”
A tear slipped out of her eye. “He didn’t… I mean, he tried, but he didn’t actually touch me like that. He didn’t rape?—”
“I know.” His words came out harsher than he meant, but he didn’t want her to keep talking. Not about that. Rage crept back in at the thought, and he didn’t want to lose control with her. “I know, baby, but you’re fucked up behind that shit. I can tell. You haven’t stopped shaking, and I can’t get the image of him on you like that out of my head.”
She squeezed his arm. “Then put a new image in your head.”
Slowly, she leaned back and spread her legs so her pussy was front and center. Hades swallowed the lump in his throat as he watched her play with her pussy. He didn’t understand how she could think about sex at a time like this, but his reserve was hanging on by a thread. “I missed you so much, Hades.”
“Harley…”
Her real name slipped from his lips, causing her to pause before she reached out for him. With a sigh, he climbed onto the bed and made himself comfortable between her legs, the thin fabric of his briefs the only barrier.
He chose not to speak for once. It had been a very long time since he cared about saying something wrong, but at this moment, he did. He also worried that the next words he would say might be a bit too vulgar for the moment. He wanted her in the worst way, but for once, he was willing to let someone else lead.
Seeing her afraid like that with Drew, and understanding that had he gotten there any later, something even worse would have happened, had him on edge. It made him realize that he didn’t want to push Harley away. In fact, he wanted to go back to locking her in his house and keeping her to himself. He wanted to make sure nothing like this would ever happen again because she was the last person who deserved it.
It seemed like she was doing her best to find her words as she rubbed circles around his bicep and stared at the soft hair on his chest. “I was scared tonight.”
“I know?—”
“Let me get this out, Hades.” She looked into his eyes, emotion swimming in her own. “I was scared. I’ve never seen Drew like that before, and he really was close to violating me in front of all those people… but all I could think about was you . Where I went wrong with you, why you pushed me away, and if I would ever see you again. And then you were there. When I saw you, Hades, I promised myself I wouldn’t let you push me away again. I told myself that I would tell you how I feel.”
Hades’s heart felt like it wanted to jump out of his chest and into hers. “How do you feel, Tink?”
He knew what she was going to say before she said it, but he needed to hear it.
Silence filled the space between them for a moment before she found her confidence. “I love you, Hades.” She sniffled as she wiped her tears before continuing. “I don’t know how it happened. We’ve known each other for such a short amount of time, but tonight made it crystal clear for me. I’ve never loved a man before, but I know I love you, and that scares me. I… I don’t feel worthy of something so good. I think that’s why I put up with Drew for so long because nothing about our relationship felt good, and that felt comfortable for me.”
Hades clenched his jaw as he moved her silky black hair back, admiring her beauty. “Nothing about me is good. I’m as bad as they come, Tink. I think you’re still just feeding into those bad habits of thinking you don’t deserve anything good, and you deserve better than that. So much better. You deserve better than me.”
The words leaving his mouth left him feeling hallow, but he realized he cared about Harley enough to not be selfish with her. He had to let her know that he wasn’t good for her. She should run far away from him. He wasn’t sure how far he would truly let her get, but the fact that he was willing to give her a head start said a lot.
She shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”
He grunted. “You should.”
“No, Hades, I shouldn’t, and that’s your problem. You can so easily point out that I deserve better than what I think, but you can’t see that you’re not this evil being your father made you out to be. He was the evil one, baby. He was the problem. You never were. Your mother never thought you were evil, right?” Hades looked away from her, glaring at the wall. She gripped his beard and tugged, forcing him to look back at her. “Right?”
“No.” His words came out harsh, almost accusatory, as if he blamed her for making him think about his mother and what she thought of him.
“And I don’t either. You’re a bully, and you’re mean as hell, but you are not evil. You are a product of your childhood, but you have a lot of good in you. It shows in the way you take care of the people around you. You deserve to be loved, Hades.”
Tears clouded his vision. Harley had the means to pull emotion out of him, which made him really uncomfortable, but he also had the sense that she wasn’t going to let up on him. Not anymore, and especially not right now, so he looked back at her and allowed a tear to fall. It splashed onto her cheek, mixing with her own tears. “And so do you.” He leaned down and kissed her tenderly. “And you are.”
Her eyes widened, their hearts beating in sync. “Hades…”
“I love you, Harley.”
Her arms wrapped around his neck as she pulled him closer, allowing their lips to press together as they hungrily explored each other’s mouths. Eventually, her hands traveled down to his briefs, and she tried to push them down, but Hades pulled back.
“I’m only going to ask you this once because I only have about five seconds left of control before I take it there with you. Are you sure you want this dick tonight, Harley?”
“Yes,” she breathed out. Hades tugged his briefs off, and before Harley could prepare herself for him, he pushed himself into her. “Ah! Hades!”
The feel of her nails scratching his back felt good to him as he pushed himself all the way into her, allowing her just a second to adjust before he pulled out to his tip and delivered a long, hard stroke to her. “I promise to make love to you later, Tink. I ain’t never made love before, but I have some shit I need to let out on this pussy, okay? Tonight was a lot for me, and I need to let some of that shit go. Can you handle that?”
“Yes, baby.”
Her small breaths and love faces had him slow his strokes as she looked into her eyes, trying to hold his nut in. “You take this dick so well. This your dick, huh?”
Her mouth formed the shape of an O as he talked to her while digging in her guts, making sure he left his mark because he would be visiting her juicy walls often.
“Y-yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“This is my dick.”
“That’s right, baby. Cum on your dick. Let me see that pretty cum face you make.” He stroked hard, making sure to hit her clit with every stroke. His pace picked up when he felt her short legs trying to lock around his middle. He knew she was close.
“I’m cumming,” she breathed out before her teeth clamped down on his shoulder.
“Fuck, Tink. Who told you to have this good ass pussy? God damn.” As soon as her pussy unclenched from his dick, he pulled out and turned them so she was on top. “Bounce on this dick, Harley. Make me cum, and don’t let up until I do.”
She smirked as he cupped her pretty ass titties, pinching each of her nipples. Her leaking pussy made a mess on his middle as she slid down on him. He had to move his hands to her waist in surprise because his little Tink did just as he told her. She got on her tiptoes and bounced on his dick hard and fast, moving up and down and round and round.
Hades tried gripping her waist to slow her down. He didn’t think she would pull a nut out of him so soon, but she was on a mission.
“Hades, I’m cumming again,” she finally said, slowing her strokes slightly as she rode the wave.
“Open your eyes. Look at me, baby.” When she did, he said, “You’re mine now, you hear me? We’re locked in until death. I’m not running from you anymore, and you aren’t going anywhere either.”
Her only response was her body shuddering against him, which caused him to finally release his nut too. He didn’t think twice about emptying his seed inside her because he wanted to lock her down in every way possible. She already had his ring. Now all he had to do was put a baby in her and make their union legal by marrying her.
So much had changed in a single night, but Hades knew this night was his true beginning to his life, because on this night, he solidified his forever.