Chapter 9
Cameron
“Someone slashed my tires,” Tommy told me over the phone. “I tried my dad and Will, but neither of them are answering and I didn’t want to worry my mom.”
It was Wednesday and I knew Grease and Will were meeting with some guys we were thinking of doing gun business with, but I couldn’t tell Tommy that. I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“You sure they were slashed?” I asked stupidly, walking away from the noise of four air compressors going at the same time inside the garage.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he replied irritably. “My fuckin’ car is sittin’ on rims, man!”
“Shit. You at the school?” I asked as I motioned for one of the prospects to grab me the keys for the tow truck we rarely used.
“Yeah, me and Mick were supposed to get Rose from school, but we won’t make it now.”
“Call your mom and tell her—no. Fuck. I’ll call CeeCee and have her pick up Rose when she gets Lily. You call your mom and tell her I needed your help today, so Cec will bring Rose home.”
“Okay. You on your way, though?”
“Yeah, bud. I’ll be there soon.”
I sent a text to my little sister, who still wasn’t talking to me because of the fight we’d had the weekend before, and thankfully got a text back saying she’d grab Rose.
Who the hell would slash the tires of two high school boys?
I clicked into my contacts list again as I started up the truck and nodded at the prospect when he asked if I wanted him to ride along.
“Hello?” Leo answered after a couple rings.
“Hey, man. You still at school?”
“I’m a little busy,” Leo replied smugly as some chick giggled in the background, pissing me off. I thought he wanted my little sister? I didn’t want him anywhere near Cecilia, but if he was playing her, I’d kill him and bury his ass in the woods.
“Pussy’s gonna have to wait,” I snapped as I pulled off the club’s property, the old truck jerking as I switched gears. “Tommy and Mick are in the parking lot of your school with their tires slashed.”
“What the fuck?”
“I’m on my way with the truck, but I want you to go wait with them. Not sure what’s goin’ on, but three of you is better than two.”
“Yup, I’m goin’ now.”
The phone disconnected, so I stuffed it in the front pocket of my jeans.
“Fuckin’ stupid to slash Tommy Hawthorne’s tires. Who the fuck would have the balls to do that?” Price, our youngest prospect, asked from the passenger seat. The kid had graduated the year before, and he knew all about the Hawthorne boys. Even without the weight of their dad’s power in the club, they were a force to be reckoned with.
Leo, Tommy and Mick owned the high school, like the fucking Three Musketeers… only with knives and crowbars instead of swords.
“I don’t know,” I answered Price a few minutes later as I pulled into the parking lot of the high school, seeing Tommy’s Chevy Nova sitting in the middle of the lot.
I climbed out of the cab as I reached the boys and whistled between my teeth.
“Yeah, no shit,” Mick mumbled, looking at the car sadly.
“You fuck someone’s girlfriend?” I asked Tommy bluntly.
“Hell, no. I don’t fuck high school girls.”
“You fuck someone’s wife, then?”
“Uh,” his eyes widened comically before he swallowed hard. “Don’t think so.”
I rolled my eyes and stuck my hand out for his keys. What a fucking idiot.
By the time we got the Nova back to the club, the forecourt was filled with bikes. Grease, Will and Poet sat outside at a picnic table smoking, and all three came to their feet as they caught sight of us.
“What the hell happened?” Grease asked as I climbed out of the cab, Leo and the boys pulling in behind me.
“Someone slashed my fucking tires!” Tommy shouted, hopping out of Leo’s car.
“You got any idea who it was?” Will asked as he climbed on the flatbed to get a closer look. “Shit, they weren’t messin’ around.”
“No shit,” I agreed.
Poet and Grease shared a look.
“Leo can you take my sons home?” Grease asked.
“Sure.”
“What? Why?” Tommy asked as Mick crossed his arms over his chest. “I need to fix my car.”
“You ain’t fixin’ nothin’ tonight,” Grease answered flatly. “Those tires are fucked and we don’t have anything in the shop to replace them.”
“This is bullshit!” Tommy’s hands went to his hair and pulled it tight as he glanced wide-eyed at his car.
“Thomas,” Grease warned, cutting off Tommy’s ranting instantly.
“Let’s go,” Mick mumbled, pulling at his brother’s arm. “We’ll see you at home, Dad.”
The boys climbed back into Leo’s car and took off, leaving Grease, Poet, Will and I standing in a half-circle, staring at the mangled tires of the Nova.
“The fuck?” Grease mumbled.
“Who the fuck are these guys?” I asked in frustration. “And why the fuck would they slash a kid’s tires?”
“Don’t know that it’s the same—” Will began to say.
“No coincidences,” Poet cut him off, shaking his head as he started toward the front door of the club.
“We’re runnin’ in fuckin’ circles here,” Grease said, his voice laced with frustration. “None of this shit makes any sense.”
I laced my fingers behind my neck and circled the car as I tried in vain to find some reason why, out of every vehicle of every member of the club, Tommy’s would be targeted. It was flashy, yeah, because of the body style and the engine, but at first glance, it looked like a junker. The boys had covered it in primer, but they hadn’t saved up enough money to paint it yet, so it was a flat grey. The back window was spider webbed and there was a black sticker in the lower right hand side that said “Ilusive”—some sort of snowboarding company the boys bought gear from.
While it was running, it was a beast. But sitting in the middle of a high school parking lot? It looked like a mangy old dog.
“How did the meet go?” I asked after a few minutes.
“Fine. Guy seemed interested.”
“Nothing decided yet?”
“Draggin’ his feet, I think.”
“Huh.” I glanced at the car again. “Ask my dad,” I said finally.
“What?” Will asked, his head popping up from where he’d been staring at the ground.
“Ask Casper.”
“Ask him what?” Grease was looking at me like I had two heads.
“For a pattern.” I waved my arm toward the tow truck. “Tell him to think about it all. Everything that’s happened in the past two months, even the shit that doesn’t seem like it’s connected. There’s a pattern—there has to be.”
“And you think he can find it? Then why hasn’t he already?” Grease asked as I started backing away. “Where you goin’?”
“He’s a genius,” I replied seriously as I came to a stop. “Maybe he hasn’t added everything in, or hell, I don’t know. Maybe the shit today will clear it all up.”
I turned and continued to walk over to my bike. “Goin’ home.”
* * *
“Where are you?” I snapped into the phone, standing in the middle of Trix’s silent apartment.
“I stayed late with some people at the library,” she whispered back.
“Jesus Christ, Bellatrix.”
“What? What’s the problem now?”
“Are you fucking with me right now?” I asked, lifting a hand to the back of my neck as I tried to get my racing heart under control. “You said you’d be home after class, I get here and you’re gone.”
“This is getting ridiculous,” she replied, her words clipped. “I don’t fucking answer to you, Cameron.”
My hand tightened so hard on my phone that I heard the cover crack. There were so many things I wanted to say to that, but I knew they would get me nowhere. She needed to get the fuck back to the apartment—then I would deal with her bullshit. “Come home.”
“I’ll be back when I’m done.”
Jesus.
It was so stupid. They’d fucked with Tommy’s car, such an asinine thing to do. But that was the thing about people who didn’t make any fucking sense—you never knew where they were going to aim next. We had no idea who they were or what their endgame was, and Trix was out doing whatever the fuck she wanted while I was literally sweating about her being the next target.
“Now, Bea. Don’t make me come get your ass,” I warned.
I heard her sharply inhaled breath and I knew right then that I was going to be even more pissed off by the time the night was over.
“Fuck off,” she spit before the line went dead.
Looks like I was headed to the university.
Twenty minutes later, I parked my bike next to her car outside the Knight Library. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and glanced around. The hair on the back of my neck was sticking straight up as I texted Trix.
Outside.
Less than five minutes later, a very pissed off Trix was stomping out the doors of the library.
“Get in the fucking car,” I ordered as she came close, reaching behind me in a nervous gesture to make sure my piece was still tucked into my belt.
“I’m studying,” she argued, situating her backpack strap higher on her shoulder. “I’ll be home later.” Her voice was even, but the look in her eyes was a giant ‘fuck you.’
“Bellatrix, I swear to God,” I grit out between my teeth, “if you don’t get in the motherfucking car right now…”
She must have seen something in my expression, or maybe what little sense of self-preservation she had left finally kicked in, because suddenly she was unlocking her car and climbing inside.
My stomach was one giant knot as I followed her home, keeping one eye on my rear view. There was nothing.
By the time we’d finally pulled up and parked in front of her building, my hands were shaking.
“Get the fuck inside,” I ordered. The sense of being watched no longer scraped at my skin like a thousand little razors, but my anger continued to rise until I wanted to smash something.
I followed her up the stairs to the second floor, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t even glance at her ass.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she yelled as she threw her bag across the room. “I’m not your kid. You don’t get to fucking dictate to me.”
I didn’t answer her as I closed the front door and flipped the deadbolt.
I couldn’t.
I knew if I opened my mouth when I was feeling so out of control, I’d hurt her. I’d say something that I couldn’t take back.
I ignored her as I grabbed a beer out of the fridge and popped the top, and I didn’t even glance at her as I made my way to the spare bedroom and closed the door behind me.
Carefully setting my beer on the bedside table, I sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled off my boots. My cut came off next, and then I pulled my piece out of my waistband and set it beside me on the bed.
I didn’t move again except to lift the beer to my lips and set it gently back on the table over and over again until Trix quietly entered the room.
“This isn’t going to work,” she said, her voice shaky. “I’m an adult, Cam. I make my own choices. I want to be with you, but I’m not going to let you boss me around.”
I lifted the beer to my lips and emptied it, wishing I’d thought to bring another.
“I’m sorry I didn’t text you to let you know I’d be late. You’re usually not home until after six, so I—”
“Came home after I towed Tommy’s Nova to the shop.” I cut her off. “Someone slashed all four tires.”
“What? Why would someone do that? Did he sleep with someone’s girlfriend?”
I chuckled humorously as she echoed my words from earlier.
“That’s the question of the hour,” I answered flatly. “Why the fuck would someone run Mack off the road? Why would someone slash Tommy’s tires? Why the fuck are we getting nothin’ when we put feelers out all over the state?”
“Wait, you think it’s all connected? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t, does it?” I looked up to find her changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top. “Doesn’t make any sense to fuck with the Hawthorne boys. They might be young, but Mick is fuckin’ big. Wouldn’t make sense for someone to rough you up comin’ out of the college library after dark, either. Wouldn’t make sense for someone to rape you. Wouldn’t make sense for someone to take you. Granddaughter of the Aces VP? It’d be a fuckin’ death sentence, but there’s no fuckin’ logic with this shit.”
“Cam,” she said softly, walking further into the room.
“Don’t come near me, Bellatrix,” I warned, tilting my head to the side as I watched her. “Pissed as fuck with you right now.”
“You wouldn’t hurt me,” she argued.
“More than one way to hurt a person.”
“And you wouldn’t do any of them. You love me.”
“I do,” I agreed, my voice still hard.
She stepped forward again.
“Can’t be easy tonight,” I said quietly as she reached me.
The moment her eyes went wide and she began to nod her agreement, I was all over her. I fisted her hair in my hands, ripping out the rubber band she’d used to pull it back. I pressed my mouth to hers, forcing my tongue between her lips as her body sagged toward mine—but it wasn’t enough.
I needed more. I needed to taste her skin, feel it gripped between my teeth and grow wet from my tongue.
I yanked her tank top over her head, watching her tits bounce with the movement for just a second before I was tearing her shorts and underwear down her legs.
“Slow down,” she whispered, her hands coming up to run over my shaved head.
I shoved her backward hard enough for her to take a step back.
“Go,” I barked.
There was no way I could slow down. No way for me to calm the way my hands shook and my heart raced. If she couldn’t take what I was giving, she needed to leave. I didn’t want to scare her, but there was no way for me to be gentle. She was right in saying that I’d never hurt her, but I was so close to the edge that if she wasn’t with me, things would go bad fast.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she announced stubbornly, her thumbs fisted inside her hands.
I stood from the bed, but even my size didn’t seem to intimidate her.
“Fuckin’ leave,” I rasped, pulling off my shirt. “Got nothin’ for you tonight.”
Her chin lifted as she held my eyes defiantly, then without even glancing at my chest she reached up and traced the “B” there with one fingertip. “Mine,” she whispered.
My head rocked back in confusion, and that was all it took for her to find her opening. She shoved at my belly, pushing me back onto the bed, and the moment my ass met the mattress, she was kissing me roughly, her nails biting into my shoulders.
“You gonna take me how I want it?” I asked her, sliding my hand between us to find her already growing wet. I thrust two fingers inside her without any preparation and her back bowed as she cried out. “Answer me.”
“Yes,” she said seriously, dropping her chin so she could meet my eyes.
My free hand went to my belt buckle and from the corner of my eye, I saw Trix pick up my pistol from the bed. “You gonna shoot me?” I asked, half serious.
“Not tonight,” she replied, setting the gun next to my empty beer on the table. “Ask me tomorrow.”
I thrust my fingers up hard inside her, relishing the sound she made as she rocked toward me. I finally got my belt undone and tore open my pants, lifting up a bit so I could push them to my thighs as I slid my fingers out of Trix.
“Knees,” I ordered, gesturing to the floor in front of me. My chest was rising and falling heavily with each breath, and I wondered for a minute if she’d refuse me. It didn’t matter if she did. I was getting inside her somehow, and if she wanted me in her cunt instead, I was happy to oblige.
She sucked me in as far as she could go on the first pass, and I swear I saw fucking stars. She wasn’t kidding around. There was no tentativeness to her movements, no hesitation or shyness as her tongue rubbed hard beneath the head of my cock.
“Good girl,” I moaned, making her eyes shoot to mine as she glared at me. She was weird about that shit. I usually watched what I said, but in that moment, I didn’t give a fuck. She was a good girl. Such a good—fuck! She slid her teeth along the underside of my dick and instinct almost had me knocking her head from her shoulders.
I fisted a hand in her hair and pulled her off me as she panted, her lips rosy and swollen.
“On the bed.” I let go of her hair as she climbed to her feet and laid down on her back in the center of the bed.
“I’m not a dog,” she rasped as I stood, grabbed a condom out of my pocket and let my jeans and boxers fall to the floor.
“Hands and knees, Sweetbea,” I replied.
My hands were still shaking as she positioned herself with her ass facing me. God, I wanted to taste her. I wanted to lick and suck every single inch of her skin. Push and pull at her until I knew for certain that she was okay, that the scenarios I’d had running through my mind that afternoon when I couldn’t find her weren’t real.
But I couldn’t slow myself down, because the only thing I wanted more than the chance to map her body was to be inside her.
I dropped to my knees beside the bed and jerked her backward, giving myself just a moment to take her in before I lost my mind inside her. Her hips arched toward me as I sucked her clit into my mouth. She was wetter than I’d thought, and I groaned as I moved up, sliding my tongue through it as I pressed it inside her.
She clenched against me, and I couldn’t wait any longer.
My trembling hands made condom application a fucking joke, but I got it done.
I stood up and gripped the cheeks of her ass, pulling them apart as I fed my dick into the tight hole that was fucking weeping for me.
Trix made a desperate sound as I moved slowly, then dropped her torso to the bed so she could tilt her hips even higher toward the ceiling. I began to sweat as I gently pushed inside. I wanted to fucking move, but I knew that I needed to get her ready for it. I loved the thought of taking her hard from the very first, but it just wasn’t possible without hurting her.
Her tense body relaxed the way I’d shown her before, and as my balls finally brushed against her, she let out a feminine grunt.
“Hold on,” I warned as I slid back out again.
I slammed back inside without warning, and her head flew back, flipping her hair all over the bed. It was so hot, I could have came right then.
I kept the same pace, sliding out slowly before slamming in over and over, and as she grew wetter, signaling her impending orgasm, I stopped, fully seated inside her.
“You want it?” I asked, sounding like some seventies porn star, but not giving a shit. She’d come into the room that night, flirting with the words that would have taken her away from me. Sure, she’d made some noise about how she couldn’t stay if I was bossing her around, totally passive-aggressive, but I’d known what it was.
It was a fucking test. An ultimatum.
And fuck if I’d play into it.
“Please, baby,” she gasped, rolling her hips against me.
“You gonna leave me?” I asked, digging my fingers into the cheeks of her ass as her hips continued to grind.
“No.”
“No?”
“No, I won’t leave you.”
I pulled out and slid back in, watching a drop of sweat slide down her back.
I wasn’t sure if it was hers or mine.
“I thought somethin’ happened to you,” I said, slowing my rhythm so I could watch my dick disappear inside her. “Came home and you weren’t where you were supposed to be.”
“I’m sorry,” she moaned as she tried to move her hips against me.
She was almost crying in frustration, little sounds of pleasure falling from her lips every time I bottomed out inside her, but I wasn’t giving her enough sensation to come. “I love you,” she finally gasped, making my chest feel so tight that for a moment, I thought I was having a damn heart attack. “I love you.”
Then my panic from earlier came flooding back with a vengeance, and the thought of something happening to her almost brought me to my knees.
Without thought, my hand raised up and landed on her ass with a loud crack.
I didn’t put much force behind it. I’d never hit Trix hard, even on her ass, but the sound was loud.
Trix went completely still beneath me.
I paused for a moment, only for a moment, to see if she’d frozen in surprise.
But that wasn’t surprise.
She was like a fucking statue. I wasn’t even sure she was breathing, she was so still.
“Sweetbea?” I said, pulling out of her gently.
She didn’t acknowledge me or move from the position I’d put her in. I kept a hand on her back as I stepped around the bed to see her face, and my stomach dropped as I took in her expression.
I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.
“Baby?”
Her eyes were squeezed tight and her jaw was clenched as if she was waiting for another blow.
“Hey, hey,” I crooned, “Come here to me, Bea.” I crouched by the side of the bed so I could put my face next to hers.
Her eyes opened and almost immediately filled with tears.
“I didn’t like that,” she whispered, the words shaming me in a way that I would never forget.
“I won’t ever do it again,” I promised, my voice strangled from the fucking knot in my throat. I slid my hand gently up her back so I could sweep her sweaty hair from her face.
She jerked toward me then, wrapping her arms around my shoulders as she pressed her face into my neck. Her fingers dug into my skin as she shuddered, and I swallowed hard as I picked her up and carried her into our room, shutting the spare room door tightly behind me.
All the anger and frustration I’d carried with me that night had vanished the moment I’d noticed something wrong. There wasn’t any room for it alongside the panic that coursed through me as she trembled.
“Did I hurt you?” I asked as I climbed into the sheets, still holding her against my chest.
“No.”
“What was that, Bea?”
“I don’t know,” she answered shakily.