Chapter 41 #2
Keegan takes another step closer to me, lowering his voice so I’m forced to listen…
“Deep down, you know you couldn’t make it work with her.
You couldn’t keep her happy. You know you’re beneath her.
You’re fixated on an unavailable woman because you don’t truly want this.
” He raises his left hand in my face, and my gaze shifts to the wedding band on his finger.
“You don’t actually want to win her. You want to satiate a fantasy or two.
She’s a conquest to you . Not an end game. ”
My hands curl into fists at my side, and the muscle in my jaw ticks as my now seething glare slides back to his. I swallow down the Molotov cocktail of emotions erupting to the surface all at once.
The corner of Keegan’s mouth tugs into a sly, crooked grin.
“ How’d I do?” Keegan taunts. “The chink in your armor is unworthiness … And if you actually ever did manage to steal her from me, admit this… You’d think less of her.
She’d topple right off that pedestal in your fucked-up mind.
You’re pursuing an unavailable woman because you’re broken.
And a piece of shit , Legion. A shallow, unworthy , villainous piece of shit. Analyze that , prick.”
“Well, you’ve certainly given me a lot of thought.”
Keegan chuckles without humor. “Oh, you haven’t had enough? Alright, try this on for size… She doesn’t even see you as a man , Legion. Let that sink in. To her, you’re just a broken child. A lost boy. She pities you. Now you tell me, Legend... How does that make you feel? ”
R age continues to boil my blood, and I can feel a vein throbbing in my corded neck. The constant, deafening swoosh-swoosh-swoosh in my ears drowns out even the roar of the motorcycle as he takes off, leaving me to stew over his hate-inducing words.
She doesn’t even see you as a man…
Is that so, you self-righteous prick?
The heated blood in my veins turns cold as the thought of those words falling from her lips tears through my mind. I’d taken that as his personal assessment, but… Has she actually voiced that to him?
The darkness within tauntingly laughs… ‘ She pities you … You’re unworthy of her love… Just a broken little boy… She thinks you’re pathetic! You’re her puppet!’
Well, then… I’ll simply have to rectify this unfortunate turn of events. I’m more than willing to facilitate the correction of her skewed assessment of me. Far more capable than he is of delivering everything her conflicted heart desires…
I scan his shop, and when my gaze lands on the calendar pinned to a corkboard above his workbench, a wicked grin returns to pull at the corners of my mouth. There are opportunities everywhere. One only has to be willing to reach out and grab them. To take advantage…
The darkness within wraps its claws around the throat of what remains of my conscience.
I will tear down that pedestal and fuck her in the ruins…
Snatching my phone from the inner pocket of my cut, I bring up a number I haven’t called in years.
“Hello,” a thick Irish accent answers.
“I assume you’re stateside?”
“I am.”
“I need you in Myrtle Beach in three days. I hope you haven’t retired yet.”
“Not yet, but I’m not keen on fighting Keegan again if that’s what you’re angling at.”
“ Would twenty grand convince you otherwise?”
“Dunno… Thirty might .”
I’d have paid fifty. “Done.”
“Same place as the last time?”
“Yes.”
“Am I taking a dive?”
“Of course not. Give it all you’ve got.”
“Alright then. You know where to meet me with the cash.”
“Indeed.”
I hang up the phone and shove it back in my pocket, feigning hard for a fucking cigarette as I storm back to the clubhouse.
Villainous … I’ll fucking show you villainous…
T he motel stinks of mildew and dirty secrets. Once upon a time, I’d have felt right at home in a place that charges by the hour and gives you a discount for cash and keeping your complaints to yourself.
I kick the door shut behind me and toss my duffel bag on the foot of the bed before cracking a window, just enough to breathe. Then I remove my Sig Sauer and pack of smokes from my cut and place them on the nightstand. It looks familiar, and only takes me a second to remember.
I laugh once, dry and hollow, and strip out of my cut.
After fishing my zippo and the joint I procured from another pocket, I toss the leather onto the bed as well.
This is the same fucking room I came to the night she married him.
The night I fucked a whore in a cheap wedding dress and imagined it was her.
I light up the joint and crash down on the bed.
The old, worn mattress creaks beneath me as I reach over to the side table and switch on the radio to a local classic rock station.
Leaning back against the headboard, I pull a long drag and listen to Steven Tyler taunt me with the lyrics of Full Circle…
My eyes snap open at the sound of a knock on my hotel room door. Grabbing my gun off the night table, I make my way silently to the peephole.
My heart beats faster as I tuck the gun into my waistband and immediately unlock the door to swing it open.
“Vanna? What are you doing here?”
She takes a determined step forward, and I back up, allowing her into the room with me. She shuts the door behind her. Her penetrating gaze never breaking from my own, though, her dark eyes seem a bit tearful.
“Did you fight with him?” I ask.
She doesn’t answer, only takes another step closer to me, her hand reaching up to touch my face, and my heart races faster, still.
I don’t allow anyone to touch me. Ever. I’ve always recoiled on instinct.
But her touch… I allow her to stroke my jaw.
I’d allow her to do most anything to me.
I lean my face into her palm, relishing the feel of her soft hand, the way her thumb strokes against the tense muscles of my jaw.
Her hand slides down my neck until her fingers are suddenly working at the buttons of my shirt.
“Vanna?”
She shakes her head, her eyes dropping from mine to focus on the task of undoing my shirt.
I grab her hands, preventing her from going any further. “Did you fight with him?”
She wrenches her hands from my grasp to hastily remove her leather jacket, letting it drop to the floor beside her, before grabbing the hem of her shirt. She pulls it up over her head, and the garment lands atop her leather jacket on the floor, as well.
Vanna Keegan is standing before me…practically topless , in a lacy black bra…gazing up at me like I’m something to her…
She reaches up to cup my face in her hands, pulling me down to her, until our lips are almost touching. Like a damn fool, I hesitate, asking once more, “Vanna, did you fight with him?”
This time, she barely nods, pinning her bottom lip between her teeth.
“ Take it out on me…” The whispered plea barely makes it past my lips before hers are crashing against mine.
Her arms encircle my neck, locking me into this kiss as if I weren’t desperate to partake in this fervent exchange myself.
As if I’d ever pull away from her. I wrap my arms around her, crushing her voluptuous body against me, eager to take this as far as I possibly can.
All the nights I’ve dreamed of being with her over the last four years…the erotic fantasies that have played over and over in my mind… They’re about to come true.
Keegan, you fucking fool! Whatever you did to drive her into my waiting arms, I thank you kindly, sir!
The need to feel her skin against mine is overwhelming, but I dare not break this kiss. This willing kiss! One I’ve craved since the first I stole from her in that wine cellar, nearly four long years ago.
Wrapped tightly in my embrace, I back her up toward the bed, silently praying she’ll allow me to take her to it.
When I release her to undo the rest of the buttons of my shirt, she shoves me backwards and I land on the bed before her.
She brings her foot up to the mattress and plants a heeled boot between my thighs.
Unzipping the side before she slips it off her foot, she discards it with a thud on the carpet, then repeats the action with the other.
I watch, enthralled, as she undoes the button of her jeans, then the fly, before slowly pushing them down over the sexy flare of her hips and supple thighs…
her sensual body moving to work them down her shapely legs.
I rip off my shirt, then grab the gun tucked behind my back and toss it over the side of the bed without a care. It clunks heavily upon the carpet as I move to make quick work of discarding the rest of my clothing as well.
She steps out of her jeans as I kick mine off, shedding my boxers along with them.
I watch with adrenaline-pumping anticipation as she reaches behind her back to unclasp her bra.
The straps slide down her arms, and the bra falls to the floor between us.
My mouth waters, and I swallow hard at the sight of her full, perfect breasts.
Reaching out, I grab her by the hips to pull her to me, burying my face in her soft, warm tits.
Her fingers snake up the back of my skull, holding me to her bosom as my fingers dig into the firm flesh of her ass.
These panties need to go, too. Taking a taught nipple into my mouth, I suck and flick her hardened bud with my tongue, while hooking my fingers into the waistband of her panties.
As I rip them down, her fingers curl into my hair, forcing me to meet her heated gaze.
I bite down on her nipple, and her head falls back, her other hand pushing down on my shoulder.
My cock grows harder at her wordless demand to be worshipped.
Oh, how I’ve dreamed of this!
I kiss down her torso, licking and nipping her body until I’m on my knees at her feet, back against the foot of the mattress, mere inches from her pussy.
I’ve wanted this…prayed for this…worked dark magick to manifest this moment… I’m not stopping now!