12. Natty
TWELVE
NATTY
AGE NINETEEN
The warm air blew through the farmer’s market, rustling the small canopy I’d sewn for Sasha’s cart. Each week there was a line formed in front of our little spot, customers waiting to buy her fresh produce, eggs, herbs and even honey.
I had finally started accepting a wage from her because she could easily afford it. Every week she’d completely sell out of everything she’d brought that day, and often had to even turn people away. It was a sweltering day in June when we heard the rumble of engines coming down the main road.
With Silas gone again, this time I had no idea what he was doing with his father; he was just gone again and every time he returned to me, he was a little more jaded and shattered. I felt like he was slowly slipping away from me, but I had no idea how to stop it. I’d even asked Sasha if she could talk to him about stopping his visits, or whatever the fuck they were, but she only hummed, listening but never agreeing.
“My son’s business is his own. I won’t interfere with what he’s trying to do.” That was the answer she’d give me, and while I completely bristled at her lack of help, I did understand it.
The group of bikers making their way toward us all slowed as they turned into the small park where our cart, along with several others, was set up. People were milling about, but had frozen at the fast approach of at least fifteen Death Raiders.
My stomach clenched tightly as I watched them all park and joke while they slid off their seats. Dirk, the president, was the first bike in line, next to him was his vice president, and then down the line it went with his captains. My back felt exposed in the spaghetti strap dress I wore, without my property patch. Sasha had removed hers as well because of how hot the cart would get.
She quickly dug hers out from under the counter and slipped it on with shaky fingers. I hadn’t brought mine with me and felt mortified and naked without it.
“Go into the back, Natty,” Sasha ordered harshly, under her breath. Dirk and his men made their way toward the cart, but there was still a line of customers waiting to be helped.
Hesitating, I walked closer and muttered, “I can help. I’ll just keep my head down and keep assisting while Dirk talks to you. He’s here for you.”
Her hard gaze was pure ice as she snapped back, “Get in the back.”
I did as she said, scurrying through the curtain that covered our crates and extra inventory and took a seat against the wall. The heat nearly suffocated me, but I just endured it, waiting until Sasha told me it was safe to come out.
There was a crack in the curtain allowing me to watch the front, so I was able to track Dirk as he cut the long line of customers Sasha had, effectively ruining her image and reputation with them. My insides bristled with the need to go out and apologize to them. They’d been waiting in the heat all this time, only to be found at the mercy of the Death Raiders.
Several customers already walked away, giving a long glance at the leather cuts and glancing over at the bikes. Sasha had never once broadcasted her affiliation to the club, but now there was a good chance she’d have no returning customers thanks to it.
“Close up. Want you back at the club, we have some shit going down today.”
Sasha smiled up at him, but I could see the lingering tension in her face. The forced smile, the radiating anger. “What stuff? Should I be worried?”
Dirk pulled her forward by the front of her tank and kissed her hard. “No, baby, not worried, but I need my playthings where I can find them. Which reminds me.” Dirk looked over Sasha’s shoulder as if he were looking for something…or someone.
“Where’s that pretty assistant of yours?”
My breathing stopped, my head jerked up, and my fingers shook. Sasha started toying with Dirk’s cut, leaning over the counter to kiss him, but he pushed her back.
“You always fuckin’ do this. You think I don’t know what you’re doing? Where the fuck is she?” He pushed hard at Sasha’s shoulders until she was falling back a step.
Sasha’s fingers trembled as she pushed some of her hair back. “Not here. Bitch left me stranded today.”
Shit. Should I run? What if they saw me from the back?
Dirk gave one last glance around the cart, before taking a step back.
“Pack it up, get back to the club. I wanna fuck you before I have to deal with this shit tonight.”
Sasha nodded, but didn’t let out a breath until Dirk walked away. She hung up her closed sign, which was a fancy piece of wood I had crafted for her and attached twine to. It dangled over the counter, while the few remaining customers groaned in protest. Sasha took a crate, walked out to the line and began handing out what she had left for free to everyone who was still in her line.
Once she was back, and her crates were mostly empty, she began storing what was left.
Sasha’s movements were hurried, as panic filtered into every single gesture. It wasn’t until the Death Raiders left that I finally emerged to help her.
She spoke low but swift. “I need you to stay out of sight. Especially tonight. I have no idea what he’s planning, but I want you safe. Do you have a hiding place, somewhere only Silas knows?”
I shook my head. “Just his room…or the pond, but other people know about the pond; some people have started fishing there.”
“When we get in the Jeep, braid your hair back. Put on a hat and wear sunglasses. We need to hide as much of you as we can. I’ll pull around the back end of the club. You’ll have to walk back to the house, that way no one sees you from the club.”
Panic surged forward in my chest. I wanted Silas.
I nodded, packing crates and salvaging the eggs and produce that would wilt from the heat.
There was another rumble of a bike engine that had my hands freezing and Sasha’s head snapping up. Another Death Raider was slowly making his way toward our cart, but this time he stopped near the back and when I realized who it was, I dropped what I was holding and sprinted out the back.
Silas lowered his kickstand and unclasped his helmet right as I made it to him. His arms opened and he pulled me into his lap, and then his lips were on mine. His hand moved into my hair, over my ear and then he smiled against my lips.
We broke apart with heaving breaths. “What’s wrong?”
I tucked back a loose hair of his and searched his face for any bruises. He always had bruises when he came back.
“Just missed you.”
Sasha chose that moment to come out through the back, her arms crossed over her chest.
“That’s not it. Dirk is planning something, asked me to close early and get back to the club. She needs to ride back with you, and you need to make sure no one sees her. Then once she’s safe in the house, you need to get to the club.”
Silas was trying to work it out, I could tell by the way his dark brows dipped and his eyes narrowed on his mother. He wouldn’t ask here though; he’d get me on his bike and we’d be off.
“She done here?”
I was about to protest but Sasha nodded. “Yeah, I’m heading out too.”
He grabbed his helmet and slid it over my head, clasping it under my chin.
“What about you, you need to protect that beautiful brain of yours. It’s my favorite thing about you, my dark and brooding prince.”
He smirked, just like he always did, then he adjusted me in his lap, so I was straddling his hips, my chest molded to his chest, his lips at my ear.
“Anything happens to you, Caelum, and my brain won’t matter. Nor my heart, or anything else that allows me to breathe. It’s you or it’s nothing, my love.”
I kissed him, slow and with filthy promises of what was to come later that night, and once we broke apart, I wrapped my arms around his neck while he started his bike. The way we rode was illegal, but nothing Silas did obeyed the laws of this land, so me riding in his lap was nothing. I remained tucked to his chest as we rode down the road. A short distance to the club, but since we were cutting through the back, we had to go slower.
Silas placed his cut over my shoulders and held my hand as we walked back to the house, cutting through the garden. The sun was starting to set, the heat still as thick as ever. Last summer, Silas had found a way to buy air conditioning for the house, so I could keep the windows locked without overheating.
The moment we stepped inside, the cool air hit me, and I sighed with relief while peeling off layers.
“What are you doing?” Silas asked, tracking every move that I made. I wasn’t normally this brazen or bold in his mother’s house. She’d been here less and less, and I’d gotten used to being alone. My dress fell to the floor in the middle of the living room, leaving me in a bra and thong.
Bending my arms to unclasp my bra, I smirked at him.
“I’m showering. Wanna join?”
He shifted on his feet, glancing at the windows briefly. The shades were open, but none of the members ever walked over here, or bothered with this old house.
He was taking too long to answer, so I let the bra drop and lightly traced a line up my stomach and over my nipples.
“I’m supposed to head over there…I don’t want to make anyone come looking for me, which would bring them here.”
I stepped forward, until I was directly in front of him, feeling my heart burst with tiny sparks. “Okay. I’ll see you later then.”
I pulled his hand up and kissed along his knuckles. He’d gotten new ink along a few of them. It seemed each and every time I saw him, he had more and more added to his skin. I loved them, and more than that, each time he got back I’d make a game of tracing the new ones with my mouth.
“Fuck it, if they come looking, I’ll remove their ability to see.”
The hand I was holding moved into my hair as he pulled me into him, his lips landed on mine, demanding and desperate.
Moving with his mouth, our tongues met, hot and ready as we both moaned. My fingers dug under his shirt, skirting layer after layer of muscle as I moved up his torso. We broke apart only long enough for his shirt to be pulled up over his head and then his mouth was on mine again.
We moved backward as Silas pulled me, his hands on my hips and mine were up around his neck. Our kissing turned urgent as we made our way into the kitchen. He muttered something filthy against my mouth, and then I was being yanked up, my ass roughly settled on the surface of the island.
Silas settled between my spread legs while keeping his mouth secured to mine, until his hands moved to my hips again. He traced the fabric of my thong while smiling against my lips.
“I’d like to ruin this.” He snapped the strap at my hip.
I returned the smile, my mouth still desperate for him. Spreading my legs farther, I pulled away and said, “I think you already did…”
His eyes dropped to the apex of my thighs with a feral gleam. I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist, so I leaned back on my elbows so he had a better view of my heavy breasts, puckered nipples and thong.
His mouth came down over my belly button, his tongue paving a path down to the top of my mound. He let loose a moan as soon as he encountered the fabric covering me.
“Hold very still, Caelum.” He pressed a gentle kiss right over my covered center, which was soaked completely through. His smile and appreciative groan went straight through me.
I couldn’t see his hands, or where they’d disappeared to until suddenly a knife was produced. It was more like a hunting knife with a serrated edge, broad tip and the handle was black, with the grim reaper’s scythe etched into it.
My mouth parted as the cool metal touched my thigh. Perhaps it’d been just too many weeks without his touch, but seeing the hunger light up his eyes as he stared at my center had me ravenous.
I wanted to move, shift and push into the tip to feel him draw something out of me. I’d always loved the way he fucked me, with ruthless abandon and complete and utter worship, but adding in this element of danger had me craving more.
“You’re shaking,” he rasped, slowly dragging the tip of the knife along my thigh, until it was gliding right at the edge of my thong. “I know it’s not from fear, Caelum…no this is something much worse. You think you want me to push against this perfect skin, draw blood and swipe it up with my tongue?”
A moan erupted from my chest as I dared to lift my hips the smallest bit.
With a hiss, his free hand held my opposite hip in place. “You’ve missed me.”
“More than you fucking realize,” I choked out; a gasp caught in my chest as desire writhed low in my belly.
His tongue clicked as the blade cut through the fabric at my hips as easily as warm butter. Silas gently pulled the black fabric away, exposing my slick pussy to the cool air of the room.
“You know I’d rather use this knife to carve out my own heart than mark a single piece of you. So you’ll have to stash that little fantasy away because I’ll never be able to take the look of blood on your skin. Not while there’s a heart beating in my chest and air expanding in my lungs.”
Now that I knew he wasn’t going to use that knife against my skin, I lifted my hips in a silent plea for him to fuck me.
“I will, however, let you play with my knife.” His voice dropped into a husky promise as he flipped the knife, the blade pointing at the ceiling as the butt of his handle was used to gently pry my pussy lips apart.
“Oh my god.” My head fell back as Silas used the smooth metal of the handle in the most prolific way.
“I think I might decide to keep this knife after all. It was a gift for you, but seeing it slide against your greedy pussy has me reconsidering.”
I lifted my head to watch as he used the tip, bobbing up and down in the air as he adjusted and moved the end along my slit. I was soaked, near combusting, as the harsh edge hit my clit. Warm fingers held the handle firmly in place while Silas hovered above me.
“Show me how desperate you are, beautiful. Can you come from simply fucking this knife?”
Another deep moan left my chest as I began to shake. The sounds in the room were obnoxious as I moved my hips with abandon, fucking the butt end of his knife with recklessness. Wetness seeped down my ass and onto the counter as Silas watched me lose myself to the sensation of this thick object being used to get me off.
My breathing increased, heat crawling up my neck and face, not from shame but exertion.
“Silas,” I gasped, locking eyes with him.
He smirked down at the scene, and I knew how crude it must look. The tip of his serrated edge was sticking up in the air while the handle of his lethal knife remained in my cunt. Soaked and slippery from my arousal. I could also feel those firm fingers begin dipping farther into my pussy, while the metal remained against my clit.
It was too much.
“Fuck. Shit.” I shuddered as I came against the knife. My entire body felt wired and primed for him to take more, provide more. It was a powerful orgasm, but I’d had better from him. I needed him.
“I need you.”
He slowly pulled the knife up, and while maintaining eye contact with me, his pink tongue came out, licking every inch of the handle clean.
“So fucking sweet.”
This man would be the end of me. I lie there watching as a familiar jealousy overcame him and he tossed the knife to the side, and then gripped my hips in a vicious hold.
I was lifted, my pussy pulled closer while he descended and began devouring me. My legs were up over his shoulders, my back barely on the counter as he feasted, lapping at all the remaining arousal. He moaned so deep it reverberated against my clit, making me gasp in response.
His tongue divided my puffy lips, sinking deep into my center. It was all-consuming, further soaking me and prepping me for the stretch of his thick cock that would be coming after. I loved it and writhed against him. He’d be greedy enough to wrench another orgasm out of me, and I had a feeling that was his plan as his tongue slowly swirled over my clit.
It felt so good, my heels dug into his shoulders. I was mumbling something incoherent. I didn’t want another orgasm unless it was on his cock, so I tried to resist, but it only encouraged him to use that tongue slower, and languidly draw out my pleasure until I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
I screamed, and then I was being lowered while still moaning my second wave of complete bliss when Silas pushed three fingers deep into me, moving them rapidly.
Wetness suddenly squirted out of me, and Silas groaned his pleasure.
I hadn’t done that except for one other time when we were in the shower. He groaned deeply while pulling me off the counter. I must have missed when he lowered his jeans and boxers because he was naked against me as he carried me to one of the kitchen chairs.
He sat down and pulled me into his lap. I was still breathing hard, while he lined himself up with my center. My hands were on his shoulders, and then he was filling me with his fat, deliciously long cock.
“Silas.” It was a prayer, as I begged him for more. I’d already come twice, squirted, and now I was a filthy creature, desperate for him to fuck me raw.
His lips found mine as he moved under me, rotating his hips up, but the movement had my head falling back.
“Forgot what it’s like for you. Such a tight fucking fit, and all mine,” he rasped, his face tucking into my neck as I rolled my hips against him.
The wood of the chair creaked as I began taking control, fucking him as hard and as earnestly as I desired. Our eyes locked, until he picked up one of my breasts, and with slow movements, he licked my nipple.
It had me clenching around him. “More.”
He complied with a smile, moving to my other breast. Lapping slowly while I held onto the back of the chair and fucked him as hard as I could. His mother could still come in at any moment; we both knew this, but we were too far gone to care. She usually gave us a wide berth after Silas got back from a trip because we were insatiable for each other.
Still tucked into his small room on that twin bed, not caring at all that we’d once shared the space as kids. Now when we hit the bed, our clothes were shed, our mouths fused, and he was quick to slide his cock inside me.
“I need to fuck you harder,” Silas muttered into my neck, while picking me up.
I was deposited on the table, on my back. He liked to fuck me like this because he liked watching my tits bounce.
He slammed home, and I watched as every thick inch somehow made its way back inside me. Slick and veiny, his cock was perfect. I lifted my hips as he pulled out and drove in again, harder this time.
I jolted in place, my tits indeed bouncing as he nearly growled in appreciation. This was what I loved. When he lost himself to his lust, his carnal side, and for all his talk of ensuring I never got hurt, he didn’t seem to realize how hard he held me, or how firm he thrust his engorged cock into me. I loved it. Even as the table wobbled under us, and I shuddered with another orgasm. My fucking third in a goddamn row.
I was panting like I hadn’t had water in ages while he cursed and lifted my leg to get a deeper angle.
“So fucking deep. You grip me so well.”
I loved how he talked when he lost all sense.
He drove harder, which made the table slam against the wall with a thud and then another as he pulled out and filled me once more.
“Want to make you my fucking wife, and do this every day for the rest of my life.”
I was still coming down from my high when I processed what he’d said, but it hit like gold infusing my limbs. I couldn’t speak, I could barely even breathe as he finally came with a shout and shaking limbs.
Once he finally pulled out, he watched as his release began dripping out of me. He stared transfixed, just like he always did.
Sometimes he’d use it as a way to mark me. Or he’d pull it out and let me lick it from his fingers. Once he just spread my legs and instantly hardened again, shoving himself back into me until he came again.
I didn’t care what he did as long as he continued to do it with me, but this time my mind was drawn to what he’d said.
We both needed to catch our breath as we came back down from the high. He helped me off the table and turned to find a rag for the mess I’d made when he’d made me squirt.
I watched as his back shifted with all that muscle, and then I just blurted.
“Did you mean it?”
He stopped mid wipe, slowly standing, still naked and sweaty. His longer hair fell across his forehead and my fingers shifted to push it back.
“Mean what?”
For some reason I was nervous saying it, but I swallowed and said, “Making me your wife.”
He stepped forward; his mouth parted right as a hard knock landed against the front door.
Instinctively, I covered my breasts with my arms, but I was in the kitchen, out of sight of anyone who would be on the porch.
Silas narrowed his focus on me, standing close enough to hold my hip.
“Go take your shower, baby. I’ll stay until you’re out and I know you’re safe.”
I knew better than to draw this out; he had to get back to the club.
With a dip of my head, I moved toward the hall, but before I’d entered the bathroom, Silas called at my back.
“I’ve wanted to make you my wife since I was seven years old. Whenever you’re ready to carry my last name, you’re welcome to have it.”
I paused, smiling back at him. The knock came again from the front door and before I could reply, he was turning around to pull on his clothes. I dipped into the bathroom and shut the door while hope blossomed in my chest.
Hours slipped by while I remained huddled in Sasha’s closet. It had the wardrobe she and Silas would hide in all those years ago. It was big enough for me to lie down in when I took out all her guns and ammo.
Half an hour after my shower, I heard the first signs that something might be off. More members than normal were pulling in, drinking, yelling and getting worked up. There were too many, and if any of them decided to check out who was in the house, there would be no hope for me. So, I’d taken my phone, my sandwich and two bottles of water with me and pulled the wardrobe doors shut.
Sometime after that it sounded as though the entire sky had fallen on us as the rumble of even more engines rattled the windows and the very foundation of the house. There were shouts and a few gun shots. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew it wasn’t good. My fingers trembled as my nerves tangled into a ball of anxiety in the pit of my stomach.
I’d texted Silas, but he hadn’t even seen the message. Same with Sasha.
At some point I fell asleep and when I woke, it was still dark outside, but Silas had finally texted me.
Silas: Where are you?
I shot back a text explaining the wardrobe and within minutes he was knocking against the door.
Sliding out from behind the space, I let him pull me into his arms and carry me back to our room. Sasha was sitting at the kitchen table smoking a cigarette, which was something she never did unless she was scared.
“What happened?” I asked Silas quietly, as he shut and locked the door.
He moved to the windows and checked those too, then pulled all the bedding off the mattress and laid it on the floor. I watched him with a quirked brow.
“What’s going on?”
His voice was all gravel as worry threaded each word. “We’re sleeping down here tonight. Not risking gun fire.”
I lay down next to him, curling into his chest as he began stroking my hair.
“Dirk had someone kidnapped tonight. The daughter of Simon Stone. ”
The word Stone caught my attention. “Stone Riders?”
He hummed a yes, still staring at the ceiling, so I waited for him to continue.
“Her father came to broker a deal for her, but before he showed up, her boyfriend snuck in and rescued her.”
It slowly registered then the seriousness of what had actually happened. Dirk had abducted someone…a girl.
“How old is she?” My voice was thick with emotion as fear began forming and taking a new shape in my chest. Of what Dirk was capable of.
“Eighteen, I think…close to our age…Mom and me, we helped get her out but Dirk found out we were involved.”
Dread was a solid block of cement in my gut as I began to process what this meant.
“He’ll punish her,” I mused nearly in shock.
If he wanted to punish Sasha then it meant she no longer stood favorably in his eyes. Which meant she could no longer protect me from him.
“I need to leave tomorrow morning. Dirk sent out a group of men to look for something, but I have a bad feeling he’s trying to find someone to traffic. I need to stop the raid and make sure no one gets hurt.”
Utter defiance and worry warred in my heart as I knew that was the right thing for him to do, but a feral desperation had me begging him to stay.
“Please don’t leave, Silas. If your mom might be in trouble then I think you need to stay.”
“She knows how to take care of herself. She’ll just lie low. If she goes anywhere, you need to go with her. I won’t be gone more than a few days.”
I sat up, glaring down at him as tremors worked their way into my fingers and hands. I didn’t want to tell him about Dirk’s interest in me. I knew Sasha would hate me if I did and I owed her too much. She’d sacrificed herself and her own happiness to keep him occupied, so Dirk didn’t look at me. I wouldn’t betray her by telling her son that I might be in danger.
Glancing away a stubborn tear welled in my eye, falling down the tip of my nose .
Silas wiped it with his thumb and pulled me back down.
“I’ll be back before you know it, I promise.”
I knew he would, he always came back, but this time I feared what might happen while he was gone and without Sasha there to protect me, what might unfold while he was away.
“Make me your wife before you leave again,” I said quickly.
Silas’s gaze snapped to mine, narrowing.
“What?”
“Make me your wife…you said you wanted to, if you’re leaving tomorrow then make me your wife tonight.”
He started shaking his head, but I stood and started looking for a sundress to pull on.
“Natty, it’s midnight, how are we supposed to?—”
I turned back, my expression firm as I found a pair of boots, “Lance was ordained last summer for his mother’s wedding. He can do it.”
Silas was up, blocking me from the window. I guess in case there was random gunfire.
“Rings?”
I held up my palm. “Give me a tattoo.”
He was shaking his head, his jaw working back and forth, but I was determined. If he was leaving me here, and I knew Dirk would come for me, whatever happened to me would be done as Silas Silva’s wife.
“You’re only nineteen…”
I shrugged, pulling on a sweater. “You’re twenty.”
“We’re young, baby…we have our whole lives?—”
I stepped up and cut him off with a kiss, pulling his hand to my chest, forcing his palm to cover my heart. “I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but whatever it is, I want to face it as your wife.”
His lips found mine and he laughed.
“We need a license and to apply for shit…it takes time. I’ll marry you, Caelum but let’s do it right.”
Grabbing his hand, I pulled him out of the room and toward the back door. “Tonight, Silas. Marry me tonight.”
Silas followed me into the starry night, and with my hand firmly in his, I knew I could face whatever was coming next simply because I’d face it as his wife.