6. Dre
My eyes cracked open the following morning, and I slowly turned my head to see Mercy sleeping naked and peacefully beside me in my bed. Her face was relaxed, her breathing steady, and her nipples were hard as diamonds under my gaze. For a moment, I just watched her, feeling a surge of lust and protectiveness wash over me. Thoughts of the night before danced in my head—her riding my dick under the stars in the back of my truck, the sweet serenade of her moans as she swallowed my nut.
Although I didn’t want to admit it to myself or otherwise, Mercy had my nose wide open. If I was in the business of trying to give my heart away, hold hands, and whatever else lovey-dovey shit niggas did when Cupid shot them in the ass, I’d want it to be someone like Mercy. She had a smile that could give a thug butterflies, and the type of bark that made my dick throb.
I liked being with her. Better yet, I liked who I was when I was around her.
I don’t want anyone to even look at her. She’s mine to protect.
I felt confused, protective, and something deeper than I was ready to put a name on. I’d never felt this way about another woman before, and it scared the fuck out of me. I was used to being in control of my emotions, being able to turn them on and off with the flick of a switch, and falling in love with a gorgeous spitfire like Mercy was about as far out of control as I could get.
My relationships with women had always been complicated. I didn’t kiss them. I didn’t love them. And I damn sure didn’t trust them. All I did was fuck them.
My trust issues were shaped early by the abandonment of my mother when I was a toddler. The only thing she left behind were a few pictures of us and a deep-rooted feeling of neglect and mistrust.
My father was strict with me growing up, demanding that I go the extra mile. Maybe he was tougher on me because I didn’t have that nurturing maternal figure. I didn’t know. But he always made sure that if I didn’t know anything else, I knew the values of loyalty, something she knew nothing about.
I hated the fact that my mother chose to ditch her family and build a new life with another nigga and raise a new kid like she hadn’t left one behind. It was a bitter fuckin’ pill to swallow. So, I kept my guard up, fearing that any female I let in would eventually leave me, just like that bitch did.
Everything changed when I saw Mercy. I felt like a sucker for catching feelings for her so fuckin’ quickly, but I couldn’t deny the connection I felt with her. My internal mental struggles only added to my protectiveness over her and the difficulty I had in telling her how I felt. I wanted to keep her safe from the dangers of my dark world, but doing so meant leaning into the vulnerability that came with giving her my already broken heart.
Gently, I reached out and stroked her long, wavy hair that shielded her right eye, my fingers brushing through the ebony strands. She stirred slightly but didn't wake up. My heart sprinted up to my throat.
I’ll keep my girl safe, come hell or high water.
As I watched her sleep, I thought about the past few days—the arguments, the moments of connection, and our first kiss, and fucking under the stars. I knew we had a long road ahead, but I was willing to face whatever came our way. For her—only her.
I froze when Mercy stirred again. Her eyes fluttered open. She yawned and sat up, stretching her arms before realizing her supple breasts were exposed. I quickly looked away, feeling a mix of emotions, although I’d already seen her naked and buried my dick inside her.
“Good morning,” she greeted with a lazy smile.
“Wassup. You must be hungry. I’ll go out and bring back some food.”
I stood up, ready to leave the room, but Mercy’s sweet voice stopped me. “The only thing I’m hungry for is more of you.”
I swung my head. “That’s not what you said last night.”
“I reserve the right to change my mind.”
“You were the one who said one night, one time. I’m just trying to keep that same energy.”
She scoffed. “Why are you acting different since we fucked?” she asked, pulling the covers over herself to cover her body.
I hesitated with my back still turned to her. I took a deep breath, trying to find the right words, before I finally turned to face her, my expression conflicted.
“Because you’re too fuckin’ innocent for this world, and I don’t want to taint you.”
Mercy’s eyes widened in surprise and frustration.
“Taint me? I thought we talked about this last night, Dre. I’m not some fragile flower. I want more of this, especially with you. It doesn’t have to be anything more than sex if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It’s not.”
“Then why are you pushing me away? I don’t understand.”
A strong surge of emotions coursed through me, my protective nature clashing with my growing feelings for her.I wanted to tell her the truth, but every time I thought about opening my mouth and letting the words come out, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I wasn’t a vulnerable nigga. Feelings weren’t my thing, but fucking was.
I sucked my teeth. “You’re being stubborn as hell right now.”
“How? Because I’m telling you I’m capable of taking care of myself? That I don’t need you to protect me from everything?”
I sucked my teeth in frustration. The more she argued with me, the more I found myself holding back from doing the one thing I’d been wanting to do since I’d turned her mouth into a daycare the night before—dig that waterpark of a pussy out again.
“You know what, fuck this shit. On your knees,” I barked, stepping forward as I undid my belt. “Since you don’t wanna fuckin’ listen.”
One look in her eyes, and I knew her pussy was clenching in excitement. Still, she chose to defy me. “Excuse me?”
“You fuckin’ heard me, Mercy.”
“And if I don’t? What are you gonna do, Dre? Punish me?”
“You goddamn right I am.”
Mercy lowered her eyes only to look up through her long lashes before one side of her mouth lifted in a smirk. “Good.”
I smirked back, leaning against the dresser with the belt in my hands. “Get on your knees.”
She obliged, and I rewarded her with slight praise. “Good girl. Now bend forward and stick that ass in the fuckin’ air. Five for disobedience, if you talk back, it’s ten. Do you fuckin’ understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I stepped closer, the leather of the belt making a loud 'swish' sound as it left my hand. I stood behind her, a hulking figure against her petite frame. Her nipples grew hard in anticipation.
“One,” I said, and then there was a loud crack as the belt connected with her plump ass cheeks.
She gasped, feeling the sting where it connected. “Ouch! That hurt, Dre,” Mercy cried out, immediately regretting talking back as pain shot through her.
“Two,” I counted, not hesitating to follow up with another smack, this one even harder than the first. “Three.”
“Four,” she counted for me as another sharp slap echoed through the room.
I sent one more down, hard, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out.
“Now,” I growled in her ear. “Spread your legs, and put your hands behind your back,” I commanded and she did as told, her breath coming in short gasps as my warm hands skated down her spine. I smacked her ass again for good measure before pushing my erection deep inside of her from behind, filling her tight ass pussy completely.
“Fuck,” I grunted, beginning a slow rhythm that had her hips bucking off the bed, desperate for release even though she was already wet and eager for me. Mercy moaned loudly as I took her hard and fast, tilting her hips up for deeper penetration whenever I allowed it.
The room began to spin around us. It was as though I was floating on a cloud with each thrust bringing me higher and higher. The sound of skin slapping against skin echoed through the room. Her body was tight and shaking with the signs of an incoming orgasm.
I grabbed her neck, squeezing until just before she couldn’t breathe, making her eyes roll back into her head. My grip on her neck tightened as I leaned forward for a deep kiss, my tongue forcing its way into her mouth and battling with hers before biting down on her bottom lip.
Then, without warning, I pulled out before burying my face between her sticky thighs. Mercy’s eyes rolled back into her head at the feeling—different from my dick but equally as pleasurable. I lapped at her throbbing clit like a starved man at a feast, sucking hard enough to make her see stars while my fingers danced inside of her, searching for that sweet spot that would send her soaring into orbit.
“Oh God,” she cried out, arching off the bed as another wave of pleasure crashed over her. “Please... don't stop.”
Her voice came out broken and needy, begging me for release even though I knew it wasn’t time yet. And then I did something even more wicked, I bit down gently on her inner thigh, a punishment for running her fuckin’ mouth so much. She moaned, and I knew I’d delivered the perfect blend of sting and pleasure.
Mercy exploded on my tongue, screaming out my name as wave after wave of orgasmic bliss washed over her. I lapped at her sweet nectar before coming up, my beard glistening with her cum. I couldn’t help but grin.
“Good girl, let’s see if we can go for number two. Turn around, ass in the air.”
Mercy scrambled to obey, getting on her knees and arching her back just the way I liked. How’d she know?
Anticipation coursed through me as my hard length pressed against her entrance, teasingly brushing against her opening but never quite penetrating.
“Please, Dre,” she whined, “I need you deep inside me.”
I chuckled darkly. “I will be,” I promised, pulling back before slamming into her with a groan. This time it was different—rawer, rougher, harder. My nails bit into her hips and I began to pound into her without mercy, grunting with each thrust as I knocked the bottom out of her pussy.
“Is this what you wanted? Huh? Is this what the fuck your ass was whining for?” I growled.
She moaned. “Yes! Yes! Don’t stop!”
I heard the headboard repeatedly hitting the wall in front of us with each impact as Mercy’s sweet lips formed an ‘o’ of shock. Her eyes rolled back into her head again as another orgasm crashed over her.
My hand twisted around her hair, yanking her head back as the curve of my dick hit her G-spot again and again. “Cum for me again, baby girl, and I’ll give you anything you want.”
With a whimpering cry, Mercy’s next climax began to build once more. My grip on her hair tightened, my rhythm relentless as I continued to pound into her pussy, eager to send her careening over the edge. She clawed at the sheets beneath her, desperate for something to hold on to as the waves of ecstasy crashed over her.
“Yes!” she screamed. “Oh God, yes!” Mercy’s back arched even further as her next orgasm tore through her body like a California wildfire, more intense than the first. Her body twitched as her core contracted around my thick length.
“Fuck!” I growled, my body tense and shaking as I spilled my seed inside her moments later.
As her cries faded, Mercy collapsed onto the bed, boneless and spent. I withdrew from her and pulled up my jeans.
“If you don’t want my protection, fine. You’re without it,” I growled before leaving the room, hearing the door slam behind me.
I sat in my truck, seething and gripping the steering wheel so tight I thought I’d break it in two. I was more pissed off with myself than anything. I couldn’t tell Mercy how I felt about her to her face. It felt too soon, too damn intense. Given how quickly everything unfolded between us, I worried she’d think it was weird.Frustrated, I decided to swallow my feelings and sit on them in the meantime, thoughts drifting to my time away from her.
The three days I was gone hadn’t been in vain. I’d been handling business and ensuring I lived up to my club name and raised pure Hell when it came to Mercy’s high school English teacher and principal.
As soon as I found out about what happened to Mercy, I put one of the prospects who specialized in tech and computer shit on researching their names. Within hours, he found a digital yearbook online to get their names, then cross-referenced them with DMV records to find their addresses.
I wasted no time running down on them one at a time, starting with the principal. He was supposed to be her protector, the one she went to for help at school when something went wrong. Instead, he’d chosen to side with a pedophile. I didn’t fuck with that.
I sat in the back seat of his car watching him kiss his doting wife goodbye at the doorway at seven-thirty in the morning. He turned on his heels, certain he’d have the same day he’d always have. Until he met me. As soon as his ass hit the cloth driver’s seat, his eyes met my grimaced reflection in his rearview mirror. My gloved hands were around his throat before his bitch ass had a chance to scream.
Snap.
With one quick twist, his neck was broken and he was dead.
One down, one to go.
I saved Mr. Hubertson, the English teacher, for last. I let him get through the entire school day, wanted to make him feel that nothing in his sick, perverted little life was out of order. Until that fuckin’ bell rang. Then, his ass was mine.
I waited until he walked out to his car after school and confronted him in the parking lot. He tried to run from me when I asked him if he liked touching lil girls more than he liked teaching mothafuckas how to read. I slammed him back on the pavement, head-first of course. He didn’t move much after that. I pulled out my Glock, wrapped my gun around his hand, and put it up to his head before pulling the trigger and watching his brains splatter. I hopped on the back of my bike and peeled off.
I had the blood of two more men on my hands for Mercy, but if that meant she never had to worry about them hurting anyone ever again, I’d do it again.
My thoughts stirred with the buzz of my cell phone in my pocket. I fished it out and looked at the screen to see a blocked number. My eyes shifted from left to right before I pressed accept and pressed the phone tightly to my ear.
“Speak.”
“I have the footage you asked for,” Rex, my inside man with the Outlaws, informed me. “When can you meet?”
“Give me a location, and I’m on my way.”
“I’ll text you. Meet me in twenty.”
“Bet,” I replied before ending the call.
My heart somersaulted in my chest. As indifferent as I was about my feelings for Mercy, I still wanted to do everything I could to help her win.
After receiving the flash drive from Rex twenty minutes later, I couldn’t wait to get back to Mercy and present it to her. I knew whatever doubts she had about me would dissipate as soon as she had the drive in her possession. Unable to get her off my mind, I realized I’d made a mistake in telling Mercy she no longer had my protection. I was just talking out the side of my fucking neck. I never meant that shit. I wanted to be with her, and I was a fool for walking away.
My foot tapped the gas a little harder, desperate to get back to her side. I turned down a secluded back road, when I noticed something in my rearview mirror. A group of bikers were following me and closing in fast. My heart rate gunned into overdrive as I recognized the Chicago Outlaws MC patches.
Fuck. Not now.
Before I could react, they surrounded my truck, forcing me to pull over. I quickly hid the drive in my glove compartment. The bikers dismounted, their faces hidden by helmets and masks. My hand instinctively moved to my gun concealed underneath my seat, but it was too late. They yanked open the door and dragged me out, overpowering me in number and muscle.Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and everything started to fade to black.
They roughly threw me into the back seat of my truck, the impact jarring my already aching head. They sped off, the rumble of motorcycles following close behind. I struggled, feeling the vibrations of the road beneath me. Thoughts of escape raced through my head, but there was no evading the hood over my head and the zip ties clasped tightly around my wrists.
“Got him. Good work, Rex. Let’s move,” Cannon announced.
As they sped away, my mind galloped with alarm. I knew the Outlaws had taken me for a reason, and it wouldn’t be a pleasant reunion.
After what felt like a decade, the truck came to a halt. I heard the doors open and the thudding sound of approaching footsteps. They pulled me out of the truck and yanked the hood off my head. Before I could react, what felt like a steel-plated fist connected with my jaw, sending a fresh roll of ache rolling through my body.
I blinked against the lighting as the faces of my captors started to come into focus—members of the Outlaws. Cannon stepped forward. I squirmed, but a punch to my ribs made me double over in pain.
“Thought you could fuck with us and get away with it, mothafucka?”
I glared at him, refusing to show any fear. “You fucked up taking me. My brothers will find out what you did and come for me.”
Cannon barked out a cruel laugh. “And all this time, I thought I was your brother.”
“You could never be a brother to me, nigga,” I spat. “The Savages are my family.”
“By the time they find you, you’ll be in pieces, nigga,” he warned.
I knew the Savages would be looking for me, but I had to hold out until the cavalry arrived. The aches in my ribs and jaw were intense, but I centered my thoughts around my survival, determined not to give the Outlaws the pleasure of seeing me break down, especially not fuckin’ Cannon.
“Y’know, I could make this end right now if you just give me what I want.”
I glared at him, feeling the blood running down my face, and still refusing to show any sign of weakness.
I grunted. “Eat a dick, nigga. I’m not giving you shit.”
Cannon leaned in closer. “Oh, come on. We both know you’re holding onto that pretty lil journalist. What was her name again? Mercy? Tell me where she is, and I’ll let you go.”
My heart was jackhammering at the sound of her name, but my mind was made up. I couldn’t let Mercy fall into his fuckin’ hands.
“You’ll never get her, so you may as well do your fuckin’ worst to me,” I growled, ready to take every blow to protect her.
Cannon’s cruel, twisted smile faded, replaced by an irritated expression.
“You’re willing to suffer for her, nigga? To die for a bitch you barely fuckin’ know?”
I met his gaze, ensuring he saw the grit in my eyes. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”
He scoffed before delivering another punch to my ribs. A stinging throb shot through my body, but I gritted my teeth, refusing to fold.
“You’re a fool, nigga. She’s just some bitch. She ain’t worth all this.”
My mind flashed with pictures of Mercy—her smile, her laughter, the way her body felt wrapped around mine. I knew he was wrong.
“She’s worth everything, nigga.”
Cannon shook his head in disbelief, clearly frustrated by my strength. “We’ll see if you’ll be singing that same tune when you’re coughing up blood,” he growled.