Chapter 15 #2
Rhetta grinned. “If you’re serious, I can get Thane to approve a run to raise some money.”
Kenna raised her glass. “Then it’s settled. We’re doing this.”
Eva pulled a notepad from her back pocket—I swear the woman always had it on her—and began to scribble a plan.
The ice in our drinks clinked together as our idea began to shape into something that could change lives.
We were still deep in conversation when Maisie stepped out of the clubhouse kitchen, carrying a cake filled with candles.
“Who’s that for?”
Rhetta raised a brow. “You forgot Hatchet’s birthday?”
“I guess so. He didn’t mention it when we were hanging out last week, and he’s been so busy with Jessa that we’ve barely talked since she moved in.”
Eva raised a brow. “You guys hung out last week?”
I leveled a look at her. “We’re friends. We share a dog. We hang out sometimes without you guys.”
Kenna bit her lip, and her eyes flicked to mine. “Is there something going on between you two? It’s OK if there is. I just need to be prepared for the fallout. Merrick would lose his shit.”
“We’re just friends,” I promised.
Kenna, Eva, and Rhetta were still talking at the bar when a high-pitched giggle from across the room caught my attention. Hatchet stood near the pool table, one arm braced on the wall, grinning down at some woman I didn’t recognize. She leaned in too close, her hand landing on his chest.
Burning jealousy shot through me. It didn’t matter, though. Hatchet and I weren’t together. I tossed back what was left of my drink, and I set the glass down hard.
Kenna jumped and then tilted her head at me in question.
“I need to grab something from the house,” I said, forcing a tight smile and walking out before she could press.
I sucked in air as I stomped toward the trail back to Merrick’s place. The party would press on for another couple of hours, and I couldn’t handle the idea of watching a sweetbutt with her hands all over Hatchet.
“Merci!”
Hatchet’s voice sliced through the night, but I didn’t break my stride. His steps closed in fast behind me.
“Hope you enjoy your birthday,” I spat over my shoulder.
He lunged, grabbing my arm and spinning me around to face him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I yanked free. “It means you can flirt with whoever you want. You can fuck whoever you want,” I snapped. “We’re just friends, remember?”
His jaw clenched. “That’s what you wanted.”
“Whatever.” I turned to bolt, but he was faster and stronger. His hand clamped my bicep, jerking us chest to chest.
We faced off, our eyes locked in a glare that mirrored the jagged edges of the tension simmering between us—irritation, hunger, and the lies I kept telling myself. That we were just friends. That I was OK with him moving on with someone else.
He tipped my chin up. The rough calluses on his fingertips scraped my skin, and his mouth crashed down on mine. My hands fisted in his cut, yanking him closer. He shoved me back against the massive trunk of an ancient oak. His body pinned me there, every inch of him radiating barely-leashed fury.
Hatchet broke the kiss. His beard scraped against my sensitive skin as he growled into my ear.
“So, let me get this straight. You claim we’re just friends.
You insist we’re done. You tell me to move on.
And the second some woman—who I wasn't even fucking interested in—touches me, you lose your shit?”
“I can’t watch you with someone else,” I admitted.
It didn’t make sense. Everything he’d said was true. But telling him to be with someone else and seeing it play out before my eyes were worlds apart.
“If you’d stuck around five goddamn seconds, you’d have seen me shove her off.” His breath was hot on my neck. “You know why?”
“Why?” My question came out in a breathless whisper as I slid my hands under his shirt.
“Because I can’t get you out of my head. I can’t imagine being with anyone but you, Hellcat. And that’s a fucking problem.”
Because he was a Maverick. Because of his best friend. Because of the stupid fucking code that my dad created to protect the daughters and sisters of the club. But, as the heat built between us, I didn’t care. And from the way he caged me with his arms, neither did he.
“I only agreed to end things because that’s what you wanted,” he murmured. “But are you ready to hear what I fucking want?”
I bit my lip and nodded.
“You, Hellcat. I want you. Like I’ve never wanted anything before. Because from the moment we crossed that line, I fell for you.” His hands gripped my hips so hard I’d have bruises the next morning.
“But—” I started.
He interrupted me before I could continue. “I don’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks about us. We’ll keep it under wraps for as long as you want.”
He peppered kisses down the column of my neck as he continued. “Because, one day, you’re going to be my old lady. One day you’re going to be my goddamn wife.”
My jaw dropped. Hatchet crushed his lips to mine again, swallowing the words I’d tried—and failed—to form. His cock strained against his jeans as he rocked into me. The friction pulled a desperate moan from my throat.
“You’re fucking mine,” I said, gripping his cut. “I don’t want any of those bitches in the clubhouse to touch you ever again.”
Hatchet chuckled roughly against my neck, his beard scratching my sensitive skin. He pulled back and smirked. “OK, doll.”
Something snapped in me. I don’t know if it was the heat of the moment or my dissipating rage, but I hauled back and punched Hatchet in the face. Pain flared in my knuckles on the impact. “Call me doll again, and I’ll break your fucking nose.” I shook my hand, trying to release the radiating ache.
Hatchet rubbed the red bloom beneath his eye. His face lit into a savage grin. “Fuck, I love it when you fight me.”
One massive hand pinned both my wrists above my head against the tree. He kicked my legs open with his boot as his free hand dove between us, snaking into my waistband. His fingers found my clit, and I tipped my head back, gasping as he drew slow and merciless circles against my core.
“Someone might see us,” I rasped, even as my hips bucked against his hand. “We can’t do this here.”
Hatchet pushed me further into the shaded woods. “It’s dark. No one’s coming out, and I don’t give a fuck if they do.”
He unbuckled his belt and let his jeans drop to his ankles.
With one hand, he wrenched my tight shorts and panties down my legs in a brutal tug.
They fell, and I kicked them aside. Hatchet released my wrists and gripped my hips, hoisting me up like I weighed nothing.
I wrapped my legs around him as he sank into me.
The bark bit into my back, but the pain only sharpened the intense pleasure. He thrust hard into me with punishing strokes, seemingly fueled by his annoyance at the hypocrisy of my dismissal of us in the same hour as my jealous rage.
“We’re. Not. Friends,” he grunted, each word punctuated by the snap of his hips against mine.
I whimpered as my orgasm approached, hard and fast as his piercing grazed against my clit.
“You’re everything to me,” Hatchet continued, his possessive gaze on me. “I fucking love you, and it’s about time you admit that you love me, too.”
“I love you,” I whispered as I began to shatter around him.
“Say it again,” Hatchet demanded.
“I love you,” I said, the words ripping from my throat as I came harder than ever before.
He shuddered, burying deep with a guttural groan and spilling into me.
He set me on the ground gently and bent over, reaching for my discarded shorts and panties, and stumbled into a bush with his pants wrapped around his ankles.
“Goddamn it,” he said as he struggled to stand and pull his pants up.
I stifled my laughter and reached out to help steady him.
“So, just friends, huh?” he asked with a smirk.
“Shut up. I hate you,” I said.
He kissed me. “Pretty sure you just said you loved me.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed. “I don’t want to tell Merrick yet. I just want to enjoy us for a while longer.”
“We can wait as long as you want. I’ll follow your lead, Hellcat.”
I clung to him, wrecked and raw. I loved Hatchet. He loved me.
And we were so fucked.