Chapter 8 Gracie Mae
Gracie Mae
As soon as Oak and Snake came back from club business they immediately begun Church. Each member of Vipers MC followed in after the other.
But Church had ended hours ago. And unlike all the other men who returned to their Old Ladies, even Slater who stuck around to be with everyone, it was the one I wanted to see the most who didn’t return.
And I have to admit it bruised my heart more than I should’ve let it.
Here I am, in the middle of the night still feeling the ache of it.
Restlessly I turn on my other side of the queen sized bed. I have never been in a bed that is bigger than a twin before I started spending the nights here. Sometimes all the space feels overwhelming. No matter the space I have I always wake up curled in a fetal position in the middle of the bed.
Turning over to my other side I try to find a better position to fall asleep but my overly active mind keeps me awake.
Sighing, I give up completely and decide to grab a little snack.
Since most of everyone has left and the ones who are here are probably asleep at this hour I forgo putting on more clothes.
My steps are light and airy as I travel out of the guest room that has been designated purely for me and into the main area of the club house.
I know Rosa keeps some snacks behind the bar and right about now I’m really craving some chips and chocolate.
The main area is dimly lit with the lights on low. A continuous feed of the cameras play on the flat screen television. Making a quick glance I see that it’s a quiet night.
Continuing my quest I go behind the bar all the way to the right hand side. There’s black sleek cabinets with silver knobs that are the heads of vipers. And in those cabinets hold my treasure.
The only problem? I don’t know if I can even reach the damn cabinets on my tippy toes.
The ever continuous struggle of being short.
Determined and up for the challenge I stretch as far as I can. The tips of my toes are planted on the floor as my arm is stretched the furthest it can go. My fingers are literally less than an inch away from the knob. Leaning further I groan, my muscles being stretched to the max.
Come on! All I want is some delicious snacks. Is that too much to ask?
Grunting, I try one more time to reach the too damn high cabinets.
And again I come up frustratingly short.
“Need help?” The velvet voice with a thin layer of a rasp caresses my entire body. I try to hold back the shiver that wants to pass down my spine but I can’t. I can feel my pulse begin to thump wildly. The air sparking with electricity.
I look over my shoulder and my eyes go wide as my jaw drops slightly. My heart hammers against my chest. Heat rises to my cheeks and spreads like wild fire throughout my body.
I have always said that Oak is a gorgeous man, one that the gods would envy but seeing him half naked?
Holy fucking hell there isn’t anyone who could come close to the sheer beauty of him.
His bare chest covered in tattoos is on glorious display. My eyes follow each muscle and my tongue wants to trace each hard line, starting from his collarbone all the way down to the delicious v that rests above his low grey sweatpants.
I greedily take him in. Admiring his arms, covered in tattoos like the rest of his upper body.
I never thought I would be the type of girl who got turned on by the sight of biceps yet here I am.
But then again I think it’s just him. Because even the sight of his veins that pultrude on his forearms has me getting all hot and bothered.
Is arm porn considered a thing because I think that’s what’s happening to me right now.
Then my eyes return to those sweatpants hung low on his hips.
God, doesn’t every man know that it’s every woman’s weakness?
Then because I can’t help myself I allow my eyes to my follow down the happy trail of hair that the rest of is hidden beneath. And because I can’t stop I eye the bulge that lies thick and impressively large under the fabric.
Holy hell.
My cheeks feel as if they are on fire.
I should feel embarrassed by the way I am openly checking him out but I don’t because I notice him doing the same.
His eyes are filled with an insatiable hunger and a desire so heady that it causes my knees to go weak.
The way Oak’s eyes roam over my body appreciatively is how every woman dreams of being looked at by the person they want.
But as his eyes land on my legs and travel upward to stop hungrily on my ass only then do I realize the position I’m in and the clothes, or lack thereof, that I’m wearing.
My oversized sleep shirt that hits mid-thigh has risen and shows the barest hint of my ass as I’m still in an outstretched position.
As I lower myself back down the shirt lands back to its rightful place. And although men have seen me in far less and fewer men have seen all that I have to give it’s Oak’s blatant gaze of desire that has me feeling bare.
And it’s as electrifying as it is terrifying.
But I gladly welcome it.
“What was that?” I ask completely dazed.
The familiar hint of amusement that I have missed terribly lights his eyes.
He moves towards me with purposeful strides. I’m struck by how his muscles move as he walks. An act so mundane yet I’m hypnotized as his abs contract. My hands are begging me to touch each rigid line.
The electricity that’s between us sparks. So much so that I’m afraid the both of us will go up in flames.
When he stops right besides me, the side of his body presses against mine, I bite back a moan.
He looks down at me, heat in his gaze, a smirk playing at his lips. “Do you need help?” God, his voice calls to me. Pulling heat in my lower stomach and causing my thighs to clench to suppress the throbbing between my legs.
I lick my lips and his eyes follow. “Um. . .yeah. That would be nice.”
His eyes linger on my lips for a second longer before he places his hand on my lower back. The spark that has been hanging in the air zaps as he touches me. Then as if that isn’t enough he moves to where the front of his body presses against the back of mine.
Holy fucking hell.
I’m going to go up in flames.
My hands tighten to fists in front of me. My breaths come in short and shallow.
Leaning against me I can feel his cock through his sweatpants digging against my back.
This time it takes everything within me to suppress the whimper that wants to pass through my lips.
As he opens the cabinet filled with snacks he asks me in a voice that’s husky, “What would you like?”
And my mind has gone and went down the gutter. Filled with dirty thoughts and salacious acts. Especially when I feel his cock hardening against me.
I’m about to blurt out ‘you’ but instead I reply breathlessly, “Anything that’s good and sweet.”
He gives a soft chuckle that rumbles from his chest. “Oh, I can give you something good but it isn’t going to be sweet.”
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
I can feel the heat pull between my legs and the thin cotton panties I have dampen with desire.
I try to stay still but my hips move on their own accord. Moving restlessly against him.
A deep satisfied moan filled with pleasure comes from him.
And somehow just from the sound I become wetter.
His hands, large and rough then grasp my hips. They place me still but bring me harder against him. “You think you would like that?” His voice is low and carnal. Filled with dark fantasies and wicked intentions. And I am right there with him. Wanting to explore each and every one.
“Yes,” I moan.
He squeezes my hips. The bite of his fingers digging deliciously in my skin. “That’s the problem, Grace,” he begins gruffly. The way he says my name drives me to an uncertain level of insane. He then continues, “you’ll like whatever I have to give when we both know you deserve more.”
“Oak.” His name is a plea on my lips. A plea for him to move his hands. A plea for him to bring me closer. A plea to feel his lips on mine.
“And something sweet is not what I can give you.”
“And what if I’m not in the mood for something sweet?”
I hear his sharp inhale of breath. His fingers digging deeper in my skin. And I know it will leave bruises but they will be ones I’ll cherish. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
I dare to say boldly, “Then show me.”
There’s a beat of silence and then movement happens behind me. He’s no longer pressed against me, his hands no longer gripping my hips. And I already mourn the loss of his touch.
Before I can let out a whimper of protest he cages me in against the counter. His lips are by my ear, his hot breath sending shivers down my spine. “If I show you then I won’t be able to stop,” he warns me, his lips brushing against my ear with each word.
He’s giving me a warning that I have no intention on heeding.
“What if I don’t want you to?”
His nose skims down the side of my neck and stops when he meets the curve. “You will. Want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I’ll only ruin you,” he whispers against my skin.
Ruin me for other men, yes but I know that’s not what he’s referring to. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“No?” He keeps his lips barely pressed against my skin.
“No because I know you.”
“And what is it that you know, Grace? What is it that makes you think I won’t ruin you?”
“Because I can’t think of a better man than you, Oak. You would never ruin someone you care for.”
He inhales deeply. “You make me want to give in,” he confesses on a breath. “But I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because believe it or not by not pursuing this I am protecting you.” He then presses a tender kiss to the curve of my neck. My knees go weak.
Then my body feels the ache of him when he steps away putting a healthy distance between us.
I turn, leaning my back against the countertop as I stare up at him.
A beautiful tortured man is what I see before me. A man who came home but never stopped fighting a war. He can fool everyone else but he can’t fool me.
“And you’re wrong,” he says lowly.
“About what?”
“I have ruined those I’ve cared for. And I don’t want that to happen to you.”
My heartstrings pull. Compelled to comfort him, to be nearer to him I close the distance he created.
I lay my open palm gently on his chest right on top of his heart. “I trust you.”
His eyes slice open with vulnerability and pain. “You shouldn’t.”
“Then if you won’t allow me to trust you I have faith in you. And you can’t take that away from me.”
“Grace,” he says my name and it both sounds like a prayer and his damnation to Hell.
I keep my palm on his chest and I take another step closer. The bare tips of our toes touching one another’s. “You can fight this all you want but soon you won’t be able to.”
He swallows, the muscle in his jaw straining. His chest tight. “Why do you think I avoided you? Not because I wanted to. Because I knew if I got closer to you I wouldn’t be able to keep my damn hands off of you.”
My heart beats like a fucking sledgehammer. Pounding against my chest so hard that I’m afraid it just might burst out right into his hands.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
He delicately wraps his fingers around my wrist and pulls my hand off him. “Believe me, Grace, it is.”
“So what are you going to do, Oak?” I begin to ask him, not able to hide my hurt and anger. “Are you going to avoid me for the rest of your life? How is that fair to me?”
“No,” he sighs defeatedly. “I’ve already lost that battle.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I’ll no longer avoid you. I’m saying that I’ll be there for you whenever you need me. But you can’t need me in that way, Grace. As a friend, yes but as anything more, no.”
And then the sledgehammer beats down on my heart.
Crushing it with every word he says. If I was a lesser woman I would believe what he said.
If I was a different type of woman I would walk away.
But I’m not. I’m the one who wears her heart on her sleeve.
The one who cares. Who sticks around even if she isn’t wanted.
But I can’t believe what he said was the truth.
Because his eyes that tell me a different story. They tell me they need me just as much as I need him.
“I hope you have all of your armor and your deadliest weapons because I’m going to fight the hardest I ever have.”
“You’re going to end up hurt, Grace. You’re prepared to fight a war that’s already lost. And for what?”
“For you, Oak.”
He gives me one final warning. “Don’t do this.”
“Oh, big guy, this war just started.”