Chapter 13 #3
Charlie barely had time to laugh before Reeze turned her onto her stomach and pulled her hips upwards until she was on all fours on the bed.
The headboard slammed hard against the wall when he took her from behind, without warning and without hesitation, and her cries mixed with his deep, almost animalistic groans as every thrust made the mattress creak and sent another vibration through the wall.
“Let them hear you,” he growled against her ear, catching a fistful of her hair and pulling her head back so that he could reach her neck.
His hips struck hard and rhythmically against her, relentless enough to tear another cry from her when he drove deeper.
His fingers dug into her hips, his mouth and teeth moved over her skin, and the room filled with the sounds of them together: her curses, his name on her lips and his voice becoming rougher and hoarser with every thrust.
She lost track of how many times she came.
Each orgasm seemed to tear through her harder than the one before until eventually her arms gave way and she collapsed with her cheek pressed into the pillow, trembling, drenched in sweat and completely spent.
Reeze came down over her a moment later, heavy and breathless, and for several seconds neither of them did anything except try to breathe.
Then Charlie started laughing.
Reeze laughed against her mouth, and somewhere between the sweat, the pounding of her heart and the sounds of the clubhouse carrying on beyond the walls, she realised she no longer gave a damn who might have heard them.
She had no idea how much time had passed when three hard knocks against the door made Reeze lift his head from the pillow and swear.
“Come in.”
The door opened almost immediately and Billy stuck his head inside.
“Sorry.”
He didn’t sound even remotely sorry.
“Problem?” Reeze asked.
“If you’re still in here, yeah.”
Billy grimaced. “Need you down in the workshop.”
Reeze pushed himself upright. “Right now?”
“Preferably five minutes ago.”
Charlie saw the change in him immediately. One second he had been relaxed beside her; the next, he was already mentally halfway to whatever problem needed sorting out.
“I’m coming.”
Billy nodded towards Charlie. “Sorry for ruining the evening.”
“You’re not forgiven,” Reeze muttered.
Billy disappeared again, leaving the door slightly ajar. Reeze swore under his breath while searching the floor for his T-shirt, and Charlie couldn’t help smiling. Apparently it didn’t matter whether it was a broken bike, a fight or something else entirely. When the club needed him, he went.
“I won’t be long,” he said as he pulled the shirt over his head.
“Mm.”
He gave her a sceptical look. “That didn’t sound very convincing.”
“I’m still trying to work out how you people function.”
“So are we.”
Charlie laughed and he bent down to kiss her.
“Try not to miss me too much.”
“No promises.”
“Wise.”
Then he was gone.
Charlie pulled the covers over her legs and sank deeper into the pillows.
Through the wall she could still hear the music and the muffled voices from the clubhouse.
Someone laughed farther down the corridor and another door slammed, but the sounds didn’t bother her any more.
If anything, there was something strangely reassuring about knowing people were moving around her, that life was continuing on the other side of the walls and that, for once, she didn’t have to remain constantly alert.
She had just reached for the glass on the bedside table when her phone vibrated.
The short buzz made her stomach contract so quickly that she stopped halfway through the movement. The phone lay face down beside the bed and she stared at it for several seconds without moving. It was irrational and she knew that, but her body had already reacted before her thoughts had caught up.
Finally, she picked it up.
Withheld number.
Her heart began beating faster as she opened the message.
So. You think you can hide among bikers now? You think they’ll protect you? I see you, Charlie. Always. Say hello to your new friend.
She read it once.
Then again.
Nothing around her changed. The music still came through the walls, someone shouted something out in the yard and laughter travelled along the corridor, yet suddenly it felt as though the air in the room had become thinner.
Dennis.
He hadn’t found her physically. Not yet. But he knew where she was.
Charlie drew her knees up against her chest and stared at the screen as her fingers tightened around the phone. Suddenly the distance between them didn’t feel very great at all.
The noise level in the garage was already far too high when Reeze walked in.
A table lay on its side, several beer bottles had hit the floor and two men were being held apart while they still tried to get at each other over the shoulders of those standing between them.
One had blood running from his nose and the other had an eye that was already beginning to swell.
“Let me fucking go!”
“Come here, then!”
“Shut the fuck up, both of you!” Rollo roared.
At least that silenced one of them.
Reeze stopped in the middle of the chaos and looked around. Billy was leaning against a workbench with a beer in his hand, Mark had a firm grip on one of the brawlers, and Jocke looked as though he was seriously considering banging the other man’s head against the wall.
“Well?” Reeze demanded.
Billy grinned.
“Hello.”
“What the fuck did you drag me down here for?”
“Because you’re Master at Arms.”