Chapter 10 Carter #2
Either the mortician and officers here are dumb, or lying to my face to make their jobs easier.
When the mortician starts wheeling my mother away, I have no other option but to follow the officer. Next thing I know, I find myself in the back seat of the police officer’s car watching the city fly by through the window.
When we arrive outside of my apartment block, the officer steps out of the car to help me out. I refuse his assistance—bad idea. If he wasn’t standing in front of me, I’d have fallen flat on my face.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Carter. Take it easy. You might want to start thinking about funeral arrangements. There’s a bit of a backlog at the moment.”
Of course there fucking is. Las Vegas is called Sin City for a reason.
I step into the elevator and space out watching my pale reflection in the mirror.
Did somebody do this to get to me?
Did she really have an MI?
How can it be that my world has been tipped upside down all before sunrise?
It’s a tough walk along the corridor into my apartment. When I get there, I head to my desk by default. The chair is designed for its sitter to practice good ergonomics, but I hunch up and make no effort to straighten my spine.
What’s the point in practicing good posture when the only person I love is now dead?
Again, by default, I wiggle my mouse and log in to my desktop. It feels like an out-of-body experience as I watch my fingers move robotically over the keys with a mind of their own.
The screen lights up and displays big numbers that no longer feel big.
And that’s because they were never big to begin with—just intangible digits that were never going to save anyone.
“Carter?” Carmen says, jostling me back to the present.
“It doesn’t matter what happened.”
Vex and Skipper share a look.
I find myself watching Carmen.
The boys are right. What the fuck am I doing? This isn’t a game. Carmen might have insanely good looks and bedroom skills, but this is Venom Vultures. I joined this club for a reason, and it was to do damage.
We can’t afford to bring Carmen into this.
Last night was heaven on earth, but it ends here.
“I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“What?”
“Bringing you back here. Again. I just wanted to…I don’t know.” I push off from the bar and close the gap between us. “I should take you back before the fleets wrap up and start heading home for the day.”
Carmen narrows her emerald-green eyes. They sparkle in the light more than I’d like them to. “Why do we keep bumping into each other?” she asks.
“Beats me.”
“What if it’s unfinished business?”
“We don’t have unfinished business.”
In the corner of my eye, I see Skipper raise his eyebrow.
Fucking asshole.
Carmen hops off the barstool and approaches me, extending her gaze to Skipper and Vex. “I didn’t ride out all of this way for an apology, and to have my hair ruined…”
I press my feet into the ground, anchoring myself.
I can’t repeat last night.
I can’t feel that good again.
Indulgence is dangerous. Look what happened the first time I flew too close to the sun—I got burned. The scars are enough to last a lifetime.
If I get burned again, I’ll probably be reuniting with my mother in the afterlife.
And I can’t afford to die yet. The world needs to pay for what it did to my mother.
But death looks sweet when I’m being tempted by a busty woman who knows how to open wide for multiple men.
She took Vex and Skipper so well.
And she took me even better.
Three years ago, she ruined sex for me. And yesterday, she changed the game forever.
When I next look back at Carmen, I realize that I should start preparing my own grave. And quick. Because there’s no way I’m having sex with her again and coming out of the other side unscathed.
“What’s wrong?” Carmen removes her jacket and tosses it aside, making a start on removing her T-shirt. “Are you scared? I thought motorcyclists weren’t supposed to be scared.”
Vex looks at me as if to read where my head’s at. After working in the police force for years, he knows that the sweetest things in life have potential to turn sour.
What do I lose if things go wrong?
My self-control?
My life?
Carmen’s?
“You need to stop,” I grit out.
A hand disappears under her T-shirt. “Why?”
I force my eyes up and watch her face. “Because this is a bad idea.”
“It’s just sex, isn’t it? What’s bad about that?”
The aftermath is going to be lethal. I can’t afford to entertain women right now. My focus is on the club, on restoring justice and not taking things too seriously.
When feelings get involved, things get complicated. This is why I stay in the shallow end of the pool when it comes to all things girls and dating. Once you’re out of your depth, there’s no turning back.
But things are starting to look sweet.
Especially when Carmen removes her top and caresses one of her soft breasts.
I speak for all three of us when I say that we’re all drooling like a bunch of starved canines.
Even though we ate less than a day ago.
“Carmen—”
“What’s the problem?” she says teasingly.
Skipper is the first to pounce.
I’m glad one of us doesn’t have a problem. But I’m also pissed that he thinks he can have her all to himself. He nuzzles his head between her breasts and glides his palms over the tops of them, fingers catching two razor-sharp nipples.
The sound that falls out of her mouth has me weak at the knees.
I’m about to bend the knee but manage to stabilize myself, using the bar to keep myself balanced. But not even that can save me.
Impulse tears me away from the bar, and I’m on her in a heartbeat, fighting Skipper off. But he’s strong and unwilling to let go.
Desperate to taste her, I pinch her chin and capture her in a kiss. Sparks fly, my body filling with a totally new kind of warmth as our lips lock.
Her tongue is in my mouth, desperately brushing against mine.
Moans ripple out of her.
It’s not possible to be this hard. To be so hungry for a woman that I’m willing to risk my life for it.
But can I be blamed, when her tongue tastes like sugar and feels like silk?
Our mouths merge into one sloppy mess of pleasure.
And that’s when I pull away.
I step back and pray that my balls will still be intact after this.
“What are you doing?” Vex asks.
Since Vex is the only one who hasn’t given in to temptation, I direct my order at him. “I need you to take her back home.”
“We were just getting started,” Skipper protests.
I catch Carmen’s unbelievably beautiful green eyes and hope that my face looks threatening enough. “All of this is way too dangerous. Venom Vultures is no place for a girl.”