I LIE IN RHYS’S arms, allowing my heart to come to terms with what just happened. I’ve fucked him enough times to know what just happened was something way more than that. It felt as if he were making love to me—sweet, lustful, unconditional love. It’s strange because part of me is right there with him, while the other is scared as hell. I need to get over that, but how when your man has the reputation of screwing lots of other women?
I’m not that experienced, but I don’t think I’m bad in bed. Rhys seems satisfied enough. What scares me is not being enough for him. What if he needs more than what I can give him?
His actions as of late show me every moment that he’s thinking of no one but me. I need to go with that and hope that he takes care with me.
“You’re thinking awfully hard there,” he grumbles low as he strokes my hair while I lie on his chest, listening to the rise and fall of his breaths. Each puff helps to sooth my wayward thoughts.
“A lot to think about,” I tell him. It’s probably not the best time to get into some deep conversation when we’re both completely sated and in our own little worlds.
“Talk to me.” I close my eyes briefly at his command.
“Is this real, Rhys? I want this to be real.” I speak with every bit of honesty, pain, and uncertainty pouring from each syllable.
He shifts us so our eyes are level, and he’s holding me tightly to the couch so I don’t fall. I wrap my arms around him and hold on. His eyes dance, making all the tough, scary lines of his face soften. I’m certain not many people get to see this side of Rhys, and I’m ecstatic to be one of them.
“It’s about as real as it gets,” he says as his eyes tell me he’s in this the same way I am. “It can’t get any closer, Sprite.”
I kiss him with every bit of emotion I’m feeling, and he deepens it. My heart flutters and twists in my chest. I feel it. It’s smacking me in the face. Rhys is mine.
“RHYS, I NEED to get a job, and this is perfect,” I tell him, my hand cocked on my hip and foot pointing out, going all bitch on him.
“I don’t want you working there.” He crosses his arms over his chest and widens his stance. It’s scary, but I’m not backing down. I’ve been looking for a job around here for the past week, and there is nothing. I refuse to mooch off my mother. I have to support myself.
“Princess upped security, and I’ll be working behind the curtain. They’ll have to get through bouncers to get back to me,” I try to reason with him.
When Princess offered me the job, at first I didn’t think she was serious. Yeah, I helped out there once, but I thought she was just being nice. As time went on, however, she started pursing me harder, and I finally said yes.
“I don’t give a shit. Remember what happened?”
Do I ever.
“Yes, and it won’t happen again,” I retort. “I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Princess wants me to style the girls’ hair before they go on stage, but on top of that, she wants me to color and cut each of them once a month. She is also offering me almost three times as much money as my other job, and it’s shorter hours. I’d only be there for their initial dance, and then I’m gone.
“Fuck!” he growls, swiping his hands through his hair in frustration. “I should just paddle your ass.”
“Rhys, it’s a job. I’ll hardly be there, and she’s paying me a shit load. You’ve gotta give this to me.” I move closer to him and grab the front of his shirt. Some of the starch comes out of his spine as he sucks in a breath.
“I can’t be there to keep those fuckers in line. You have to carry a gun.”
While I should be shocked and mortified at this request, I’m not. Over this past week, I learned that everyone in the club carries, including Princess, Blaze, and Casey, whom I met briefly.
“Only if you teach me.” I don’t have the first clue what to do with a gun, let alone how to load and fire it. Yeah, no clue. I’m fine with learning, though.
“Fine,” he growls, pulling me into him. His hand comes to the top of my head, and he kisses me on my temple. “If any of those fuckers touch a hair on your head, I’ll fucking kill them.”
At that, I smile. I’ve grown to like his overprotective side … to a point. He tries to get more and more, but I still have a spine, and I’ve made sure he knows that. A prime example is this current conversation.
“Okay, babe,” I tell him, burying my face in his neck and inhaling. I love being this close to him. I just can’t get enough.
“And I’m fucking talking to Princess. I want someone on you the whole time. I don’t give a shit if I have to put a prospect on you for when I can’t be there. I fucking will.”
I hold onto him more tightly.
“I CANNOT BELIEVE you hooked up with Rhys,” Casey says from the seat next to me while we converse in the clubhouse. “And look at him.”
My eyes cut to him. He stands with his legs apart, the corded muscles of his arms crossed while a beer dangles from his fingers. His face is hard as he listens to whatever Dagger, Cruz, and GT have to say.
“What?” I ask, not seeing anything truly wrong. He looks pissed, but when does he not?
“No, look at the couch.” She points over as a club momma eyes Rhys up and down, not taking her stare off him for a moment. She wets her lips as she rises from the seat. My heart picks up as the woman saunters over to him, her hips swaying way too much to be considered normal. I want to get up and stop whatever is going to happen. My gut tells me to sit and watch, while my heart tells me I should guard it.
Her fingers graze his arm, and I clench my hands. She has her hands on him. Fury, the same as when I saw my mother’s battered up body, hits me hard. It takes everything in me to keep my ass planted in the seat.
“This’ll be good,” Princess says, sitting back in her chair and eyeing the show.
Rhys turns to the woman and lifts his chin, and my heart plummets. Is he inviting her? Is he welcoming her touch? No, he can’t be.
His attention goes back to the conversation, but the woman keeps going. Her hands now go to his shoulders as she leans into him, brushing her fat, fake breasts over his arm. A hand comes to my leg and squeezes hard.
I turn to Princess. “What?” I grit out through my teeth.
“Just wait,” she tells me, but all of my insecurities rise to the surface, making me want to punch something. I could just reach behind my back and pull out the small gun Rhys taught me to shoot a couple of weeks ago. I could blast her right in the head since I have a killer shot.
I shake my head. Listen to me. I sound like a vigilante, like I would really take a life for touching the guy I’m sleeping with. Well, practically living with, considering he’s either at my place or we’re at his every night. I see what he meant with not getting an apartment, but I needed that with my mother.
I breathe out deeply and try to tamp down all the raging thoughts. However, when she stands on her tiptoes and whispers something in his ear, something breaks inside of me. It’s not my heart; it’s my fury.
Princess’s grip tightens on me just as I’m about to rise. I want to ignore it, but her grip is pretty strong, not allowing me to do that.
Rhys has a sour expression on his face as he steps back from the woman. “Get the fuck off me,” he growls loudly enough the whole room can hear. “See that woman?” He points over to me, his eyes meeting mine as a smirk plays on his lips from whatever he sees on my face. He turns back to the woman. “That’s my woman.”
Her eyes flitter to me, and her top lip curls up. “So? You always love to play, and I’m horny,” she whines.
That’s it. The straw has broken the camel’s back. I rise, shrugging off the clamping hand on my leg, my chair falling to the ground I’m so quick. I stalk up to the woman who has her intentions on my man. His eyes find mine, brimming with humor.
I tap the woman on the shoulder, and she turns then sneers when she sees me.
“Back the hell off,” I tell her, getting right up in her face that is covered with way too much makeup than should be allowed.
“I get it. You’re here, and he can’t play.” She rolls her eyes.
Before I think better of it, my arm comes back, and I land a hard right hook to the woman’s cheek. I’ve never been a fighter, but after James and the assholes at X, I got over it.
The woman’s head snaps to the side as her hand comes up to her face just as she falls to her knees on the floor.
“I said back the hell off,” I tell her, standing over her body, her eyes wide.
I know I don’t look like the type to lay a bitch out, but looks can be deceiving. My eyes move up to Rhys who has a full-out smile on his face.
“And you,” I tell him, pointing my finger in his chest. “I told you I wouldn’t put up with that shit.”
I turn to head back toward the table where Casey and Princess have big smiles, but a steel arm comes around my waist and lifts me off the ground. I wiggle from Rhys’s strong hold, but he doesn’t allow me to get away. He says nothing, only walks straight back to his room at the clubhouse amidst all the cheers and whistles behind us.
The door slams, and suddenly, my front is pressed to the door, his hot breath at my ear. “Sprite, that was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”
Briefly, I have the thought, That was the hottest thing you’ve seen? What the hell? But whatever. Instead, I focus on my body coming alive under his touch.
“I’m gonna check your hand … after I fuck you.” He undoes my jeans, and they, along with my underwear, are gone in a flash.
“I’m gonna fuck you so hard every motherfucker in this place will know who you belong to.”
Wetness pools down below, and without him even touching my clit, it quivers in anticipation.
“I’m putting my fucking rag on you, too, so no one mistakes it.”
Excitement like no other spikes through me as the sounds of his zipper and rustle of his jeans dropping echo over our heavy pants.
He lifts my leg, bending it at the knee as the blunt tip of his erection nudges my opening. Without mercy, he slams into me, and I cry out from the invasion, but the burn turns to pleasure in a flash.
I find it hard to breathe as I try to clutch the door, finding nothing but a flat surface. He presses me harder against it. He must have sensed I was slipping as he continues his thrusts.
This isn’t sweet or caring. No, this is hot, hard, and carnal. And I love it.
The pressure burns inside me as his length awakens every nerve, sending me soaring in no time. I scream his name and suck in deep breaths as he continues until he finds his release with a large grunt.
I sag against the door, his arm dropping my leg and wrapping around me to support me. If it weren’t there, I would for sure fall into a tumble on the ground.
He stays inside of me while we catch our breath, the hot tickle of his breath coming through my shirt at my back. Damn, that was hot.