CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
After my second cocktail, I’m feeling loose, so when Lexie grabs my arm and wants to drag me out to the dancefloor, I let her. I can see the battle in Chains’ eyes whether he should let me go, but I give him a look that hopefully tells him I’ll be okay, and he relents. We’re on the darkened dancefloor, the music’s pumping, and I’m completely in the moment, enjoying myself. I look up to the VIP section and see Chains looking down at us; I give him a little wave and go back to dancing. Safe knowing that he’s watching over me.
It”s then I feel as though I’m being watched. My skin prickles, and feels overheated from the alcohol and dancing as my eyes dart around nervously. Of course, I see nothing, and feel like a fool for even thinking that Caleb is here somehow.
A movement at the edge of the dancefloor catches my eye, and I see a tall lanky guy with blonde hair, his familiar brown eyes staring at me. As I seize Lexie”s arm, his lips curl into a chilling, almost malevolent grin, causing my blood to turn icy.
“We need to get out of here,” I hiss, not taking my eyes off Caleb as he continues to stand there staring back at me. My lips are dry, and I feel as though my world is crashing around me.
Lexie looks back at me with concern etched on her face, completely forgetting the guy she was rubbing up against just minutes ago,
“What’s wrong, Zoe?” She demands, holding onto both of my arms, as I shake.
“Caleb.” Is the only word I’m able to whisper to her, realizing I’m now causing a scene as people around us stare in our direction. Lexie’s eyes dart around the room, and in a brief space of time, I can feel the guys surrounding us.
“Where is he?” She demands. I feel her Shaking me gently, bringing my focus back, which I’d lost for a moment. When I do return, I point in the direction I’d last seen him, but he’s not there anymore.
Strong arms wrap around me from behind, and I melt into Chains, not saying a word, just holding me, as the other men fan out, looking for Caleb. Minutes pass and I’ve finally stopped shaking when the others return.
“Nothing.” Tiny tells Chains.
“Son of a bitch.” He growls, and before I know what’s happening, he’s picking me up, bridal style in his arms, and carrying me out of the club.
This has the power to jolt me back into reality, and I fight him, demanding he put me down. But of course, he doesn’t listen, and by the time he stops to stand in front of the SUV, the others minus Riggs are behind us.
Placing me almost reverently onto the seat in the back, he silently does my seatbelt, his eyes then searching mine.
“He’ll never get near you, little one. I promise you that.” He vows, and I acknowledge his words with a tight smile and a nod. My eyes swimming with unshed tears at his declaration.
The look on his face tells me he doesn’t want to leave me alone, but reluctantly does, slamming the passenger door as he goes to his bike. Sage and Everleigh slide into the front, their eyes catching mine in the rear-view mirror.
“You okay?” Everleigh asks as she starts the engine.
Unable to speak, I just nod; feeling Lexie’s hand envelop mine, and I tighten my hold on hers all the way back to our place.
In just ten minutes, we”re back at the apartment and I”ve returned to my usual self. I feel foolish for getting upset over something that I”m now uncertain about seeing. Maybe I was wrong, and it wasn’t Caleb after all, just my imagination in the hot sweaty club manifesting him.
Before I’m even able to open the door, Chains is there doing it for me, and unbuckling me from my seatbelt. Before everything happened, we were having such a great time tonight, and I was almost certain we’d have done the deed, and I would’ve been so hot for him I would’ve let him, whether at the club or back here. But now everything’s changed, sombre and quiet.
“I really think you should come back to the clubhouse.”
It”s Chains” comment that finally ignites my anger, leading me to confront him in the parking lot of our building. He doesn’t deserve it since he’s been nothing but supportive the entire night. But I can’t seem to help myself.
“No!” I tell him, shaking my head. “It probably wasn’t even him I saw.”
The look on his face tells me he doesn’t believe me, and honestly, I don’t even believe my own words. But I will not be a wuss and hideaway from life forever. I need to stand my ground.
Placing a placating hand on his cheek, I look into his eyes. “Thank you for tonight. I had fun despite everything that happened. Go home, Lexie has great security that you guys set up, and we’ll both be fine.” I tell him.
I hope I sounded convincing, because deep down I wanted either to pack up and go to the clubhouse, or have Chains stay the night. But that bastard wouldn’t run me off. Chains looked as if he wanted to argue, but I could see the moment he changed his mind. Sighing deeply, he says.
“Fine. But if you hear anything, or you just feel unsafe, you call me straight away.”
“I will.” I promise, smiling up at him.
“Okay.” He finally relents. Leaning down, he takes my lips in a soft kiss that makes me melt against him. Pulling back, he adds gruffly. “Or I could just stay here for the night?” He looks hopefully down at me with a cheeky grin, and I have to laugh. I want nothing more than to have him here with me, but I don’t think, deep down, that I’m ready for anything to happen between us just yet.
“There’ll be plenty of time for us to spend together.” I tell him, reluctantly pushing him towards his bike.
“Call me, day or night, if you need me.” He reiterates, and I nod, affirming that I heard him as they all get on their respective bikes. Everyone bar Chains leaves, as he sits on his bike waiting for us to enter our apartment before he finally revs his engine and rides off.
Lexie and I enter the apartment together, and I’m bone tired, all I want to do is fall into bed and sleep for a week. I watch Lexie arm the security system, and we silently, in the dark, head to our respective rooms.
I change into a pair of green sleep shorts and matching tank top, and am about to slide into bed, when a loud crash erupts from the living room, causing both Lexie and me to scream as we both come running out of our rooms. Meeting in the hallway, as my heart does a somersault in my chest.
“What the fuck was that?” Lexie screams, also dressed in her pajamas, rubbing her arms with her hands, nervously
The shock of what just occurred has left me breathless and unsettled. My heart racing a mile a minute. We both take in the mess in front of us, and, as usual, Lexie walks into danger first. The girl has no fear. I try to tug her back, but she jerks her arm out of my grasp.
Following behind her, I notice a big hole in the living room window, glass laying all over the floor, and Lexie bending down towards a huge rock laying on the wood floor. At least she’s had the foresight to slip into a pair of slippers while I’m standing there barefoot. Shock written all over my face.
“Son of a bitch.” She grits out when she unfurls a piece of paper from the rock.
“What is it?” I whisper, terror overtaking my arms and legs, as I’m unable to move from the spot between the hallway and the living room.
She hands me the paper, but I take a minute before I finally take it from her fingers. The words written on it make me want to run and hide.
‘DID YOU THINK YOU’D BE ABLE TO HIDE FROM ME FOREVER? I’M COMING FOR WHAT’S MINE.’
My eyes tear over, but I refuse to let them fall as I open my fingers, the paper fluttering silently to the floor. My legs feel like a bowl of jelly, and I drop to the floor like a lead weight, Lexie rushing over to me. But I wasn’t able to hear a thing she was saying to me, feeling as though I were in a long tunnel underwater, nothing was getting through to my brain.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I rock back and forth, my eyes glassing over as I stare off into nothingness. I don’t know how long I’d been unresponsive on the floor, but when I felt powerful arms wrap around me, that musk and amber scent mixed with leather, and carry me outside, placing me gently in the back of a vehicle, I let myself finally relax.
I knew where we were headed, but I didn’t have the energy to fight him. The thought that Caleb was out there, watching and waiting for a chance to strike, drew absolute terror inside me. I’m not strong like the other women of the DCMC, I can’t just bounce back when something bad happens.
I thought I could, but tonight proved just how wrong I was. I must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing I know, I’m being carried through the clubhouse, and into another room, where I’m placed onto a bed.
“You’re safe now, little one. No one will ever hurt you again. I give you my word.” Those were the last words I heard before I dropped off into a deep sleep.
***
I groan and turn on my back as the pounding in my head gets worse. Opening one eye, I look around the room and narrow my gaze when I notice that I’m definitely not in my bedroom back at the house. I know I’m at the clubhouse, but why?
The events of last night assail me, and I wanted to shoot up in bed, but the strong, muscular arm banded around my waist stops me. What the hell? I look down, and see a mussed head of dark hair using my stomach as a pillow, his beard and breaths tickling and scratching my skin. Ink all over his back, the DCMC insignia front and center.
I have the urge to rake my fingers through that hair, but I stop myself when his husky, still sleepy voice sounds. Tightening my hands into fists by my sides.
“Good morning, baby.”
“What am I doing here?” I ask in a whisper.
He lifts his head, his blue eyes looking deep into my soul.
“You don’t remember?”
I nibble my bottom lip and avert my gaze, desperate for an escape.
“Look at me, little one,” he demands. I do, reluctantly.
“He found me.” I tell him on a whimper. My eyes filling with unshed tears.
With an agility belying his size, Chains turns on his back, and has his arms around me within seconds.
“That fucker will never get close to you again. I promise you that.” He tells me angrily.
“I need a shower and my clothes.” I tell him, attempting to get out from under him. It’s been so long since he and I have been together, I really don’t know what to make of his sudden change of heart.
Why is Chains pursuing me suddenly? Why the sudden interest? When I was with Caleb, he didn’t even want to know me. In fact, he’d showed me just how much I didn’t mean to him, by shoving the club girls in my face whenever I would visit Lexie.
My mouth opened, and the words spewed out before I could stop them.
“Why now?” I whisper, unable to look him in the eyes. Focusing somewhere past his left shoulder. From the corner of my eye, I could see he was grinning, and I wanted to slap that look off his face.
“Because now I can show you that you’ve always been mine,” he tells me with utter certainty in his voice.
I roll my eyes. “Right. Until another girl comes along.” I grit through my teeth. With a strength I didn’t think I possessed, I push Chains off me, and run to the bathroom, cursing when I see no lock on the door. Damn him.
Now that I’ve closed myself in the bathroom, I have to take that shower, and just hope he doesn’t barge in. Who the hell am I kidding, I’m almost hoping he does.
Shaking those thoughts from my mind, I strip last night’s sleep shorts and tank top from my body. At least I can be thankful for small mercies that he left me clothed when he placed me in his bed at the clubhouse last night.
I turn on the water to just under steaming, and step under the spray, almost immediately feeling the tension leave my body. I’m so ensconced in the task at hand that I don’t notice the door to the bathroom opening, and only when the glass door of the shower slides open do I react by bringing my arms up to cover my breasts and pussy.
Chains is standing there, his gaze smouldering. I open my mouth, intending to tell him to get out. Until I lower my gaze down his beautiful naked body, and notice a piercing at the tip of his cock. The words get caught in my throat, and my mouth dries up. My tongue peeks out involuntarily to wet my dry lips.
“It’s called an Apadravya.” he tells me, his voice smoky, knowing what my eyes have seen as his own eyes take me in, coming to rest I realize too late on the ugly scar on my stomach. Without another word, he steps into the cubicle with me, backing me up against the wall. I swallow nervously, and let him take the soap from my shaky hands.
“You didn’t have it when we were together all those years ago.” My voice comes out unsteady, “Or the tattoos.” I tack on, in the same tone of voice.
“I got it when I was in the Marines.” he speaks without looking at me, and for some unfathomable reason, he lathers up my body, and I let him. Running the soap over my breasts, he watches as the tips become hard points, but he doesn’t touch them, even though I’m fighting my body’s reaction to what he’s doing. I want to yell at him to put his mouth on me. But I remain silent, watching what he’s going to do.
Once he rinses the top half of me off, he kneels in front of me, and I can’t help the gasp of shock when he leans forward, and places his lips on the scar on my stomach. For a reason I can’t fathom, hot, stinging tears course down my cheeks, mingling with the running water.
Still silent, his eyes zero in on my pussy, and instinctively, I try to close my legs, but he doesn’t let me. Grabbing my thighs with both of his hands, widening my stance.
“Are you wet for me, little one?” He rumbles through his chest, and I can feel an automatic gush of moisture coat my pussy and slip past my inner thighs. He notices, and smiles a satisfied smile. “Oh yes, you definitely are.”
It”s in that instant when he leans forward and breathes in the scent of my pussy. “You smell like Ambrosia.” he says. His tongue coming out to lick my pussy lips from back to front.
“Shit.” I cry out in a whimper as my legs quiver, barely holding me up.
“Hold on to me,” he instructs, whilst not removing his mouth from my pussy, the vibration going a long way in bringing me closer to my release.
I grab a hold of his strong shoulders, his skin is tanned, the dark ink sexy as all hell. I lick my lips and lean back, resting my head on the tiled wall behind me, as he lifts my leg and places it over his shoulder for better access to me.
Once I’m opened up like a peach, he dives in once more, his hands cupping the globes of my ass, squeezing tightly as he goes to town on my clit, using his tongue and teeth to bring me pleasure like I’ve never known.
And suddenly, I’m right on the precipice before falling over on a scream, my head moving from side to side, my eyes closed.
“Open those pretty green eyes for me. I want to see you fall apart,” he instructs. I do as he asks, my pelvis pressing into his face as my body lets go. It’s then I notice he’s got his massive cock in his free hand, and is jerking it furiously, his eyes never leaving mine as he stands, and suddenly he’s coming on a loud roar, strings of white pearls coating my lower stomach and pussy.
Without thought, I reach out, wrapping my small hand around him, unable to enclose it completely, and lower myself to my knees. I open my mouth and suck and lick him until he’s all clean, enjoying the taste of him in my mouth.
“Such a good girl.” He groans, quickly washing us both off before he picks me up, together with a towel, and we return to the bedroom.
On the bed, together we lay there for a while; wrapped in his arms, I fall into a blissful sleep.