Cade
Sitting on the couch next to me, Vanessa looked like something out of a dream. She was wearing this little pink cardigan embroidered with flowers, butterflies, and bees, with a blouse underneath and some baggy jeans that concealed the killer figure I somehow knew she had. She wasn’t like any other woman I’d ever seen. All of the girls who hung around with the Prophets, well, they were fun. But they were all the same: fishnet, leather, tattoos, too many holes pierced in their faces. Those kinds of girls were fast. Yeah, I’d fucked a lot of girls like that. But after a while, they were all the same. It was a contest of trying to prove themselves to me, which I hated.
Vanessa wasn’t like that. Her fresh face was free of makeup and she looked young, fresh, like she was still a teenager. She stared at me with a mix of wonder and fascination and fear, like she’d never seen someone like me.
Well, she probably hadn’t.
Vanessa launched into talking about how she’d always wanted to be a doctor and I zoned out, staring at her face. The way her light blue eyes lit up as she was talking about her passions captivated me. She was intriguing. I knew that she’d probably never been in this situation before. And normally, I wouldn’t have wanted to put in the effort. Even though the typical girls hanging around our clubhouse weren’t my usual type, at least they were easy. Vanessa was going to be the opposite of easy. The more she talked, the more work I realized I was going to have to do. She had potential, though. That innocence, that giggle. I had a feeling that if I managed to get her to let her guard down, she’d be one of the best lays that I’d ever had.
“So,” I said, leaning in and grinning at her. “You take any anatomy classes in college?”
Vanessa’s cheeks went redder than I thought humanly possible. “I have,” she said. She smiled at me and I felt a hot wave of lust break over my body. I have to have her. I need her. I need to make her mine.
“And?” I raised my eyebrows. “See anything you like?”
Vanessa licked her lips. “Nothing as good as the real thing,” she said in a soft voice, looking down at the floor. Wow. She’s naughtier than I thought!
“Nice,” I cracked. “Well, babe, I could show you a few things not in the books.” I rolled up my sleeves and pointed at some of the artwork inked into my skin. “Ever seen this shit before?”
Vanessa laughed. “I’ve seen tattoos,” she told me. “I’m not that sheltered.” She paused, as if she were going to say something else and changed her mind halfway through.
“What is it?” I winked at her. “You can tell me. Believe it or not, I’m great with keeping secrets.”
Vanessa shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she said. I could see that she was starting to blush again. “Really.”
“Now you have to tell me,” I teased. “Keeping a man in suspense like that,” I added, shaking my head. “You’re a tease.”
Vanessa licked her lips. “Nothing,” she said again. “Just that…well, my parents would kill me if they knew I was here.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. The way she talked, hell, even the way she sat, was killing me. She was so prim and proper. I wanted to pick her up and throw her over my shoulder. Carry her upstairs and throw her down on the bed. Or against the wall, or in a chair, or from behind, just standing up. I shook my head. I knew I had to stop thinking like that; no good was going to come from me wanting to fuck Vanessa within an inch of her life. I had to wait for her to give me a sign. I had to know that she wanted it as much as I did.
“Oh yeah?” I glanced around the room. The rest of the Bleeding Prophets were either high, smoking, or deep in conversation with the girls. In a few cases, deep in more than conversation. In the corner, a girl was on her knees, sucking off one of my fellow Prophets. I grinned. “I can’t imagine your parents would find anything objectionable about this party,” I told Vanessa as earnestly as I could. “Hell, we haven’t even broken out the big guns yet.”
Vanessa’s eyes went wide. “I think they’d have quite a few comments to make,” she said shyly. Her gaze darted around the room. “That girl is wearing white and it’s after Labor Day,” she cracked.
I burst out laughing. When I looked at Vanessa, her eyes were twinkling. “You’re funny,” I told her. “I like that.”
Vanessa grinned. She looked much more confident than she had when I’d first met her in the other room. She looked almost like a different woman. If you were to strip off that cardigan and jeans, hell, she’d even almost look like some of the girls who normally hung out here. But even though she was starting to let loose, I could sense restraint lurking under her skin. She wasn’t the kind of girl to cut back more than once every decade or so.
“Don’t beat yourself up about this,” I said, waving my arm around in the air. “You know, we’re not really that dangerous. We tend to keep shit pretty low key around here. The cops know they don’t have anything to worry about.”
Vanessa relaxed, a tenth of an inch. She nodded, staring deeply into my eyes. Her face was hypnotizing. She had high cheekbones and unplucked eyebrows, pink lips that had probably never worn lipstick the deep shade of red that I was accustomed to seeing.
“Okay,” she said nervously. When I put my hand on her knee, I expected her to jump and bat me away. But she didn’t. She squirmed, just a little bit, then settled back against the couch. She didn’t take her eyes away from me.
This is it. Make your fuckin’ move, don’t puss out. You’re a man, not a little boy. Show her that!
I leaned in, closing my eyes as Vanessa’s face loomed larger and larger in front of me. When I was this close, I could smell her, the faint scent of cinnamon and flowers that seemed to hang close to her skin. She swallowed and I heard the sound travel down her throat, into the hollows of her body. When I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, I realized that she weighed almost nothing. Vanessa’s lips felt like molten hot crushed petals against my own. As I pressed my face close to hers and let my tongue slip between her lips, Vanessa moaned softly. She clung to me fiercely, wrapping her arms around my neck and pressing her lips against mine. She was a soft kisser, like the kind of girl who’d only practiced with her girlfriends. Desire spread through my body with a frantic pulse, rocketing through my limbs and making my cock stiffen in my jeans. Vanessa’s soft body against mine was almost enough to send me over the edge, and I could feel my arousal growing more intense by the second. I slipped my hands down Vanessa’s fuzzy cardigan and between our bodies. Her tits were anchored securely by a bra but when I ran my hand over the front of her chest, she moaned and pressed firmly against mine. My cock twitched and a sharp, white-hot bolt of lust coursed through my body. I need her. Now.
Just as I was about to pull her into my arms and take her upstairs, a loud sound made us jump apart from each other. Vanessa was sitting there staring at me with her lips parted, gleaming and damp with our shared saliva. Her cheeks were pinked with arousal and I could see the rapid pulse beating away in the hollow of her throat.
“Bleeding Prophets!” There was a loud cry and I jumped up from the couch, putting my hand down on the holster of the gun strapped around my waist.
“Shit,” I said, shaking my head. Approaching me were three men—Isaac, Bruno, and Dante. My desire turned quickly to disgust. These weren’t just any men: they were members of Madison’s rival MC, the Demon Catchers. The Catchers were dirty assholes, and they’d never failed to disgust me. From trying to push drugs in our territories to stealing our women, they’d always gotten under my skin. And now they were in the middle of our clubhouse, striding around like the owned the goddamned place.
“Hey, Cade,” Isaac said. He had a nasty smile on his face. Back on the couch, Vanessa was cowering. “Nice of you to invite us to this little party.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a bag of pills. “I brought favors.”
“Get the fuck out of here, asshole,” I hissed under my breath. Drawing myself up to my full height, I took a deep breath and pulled my gun out, spinning it around on a finger. “Or I’ll make sure you won’t be able to walk anywhere for a long time.”
Isaac laughed. “I don’t think so, chief. I think we’re gonna stick around for a little while.”
“Hey,” I said, stepping closer. I was so close I could see the road dust and sweat caked on Isaac’s brow. “Don’t make me fuck with you, asshole.” I held up my gun and aimed it at Isaac’s head. “This is always loaded,” I informed him. “Unless you wanna test that, I suggest you and your Dick Catchers beat a fuckin’ hasty retreat.”
Isaac smirked. We stared at each other for a long time. His short, muscular frame was at least a head shorter than my own, but his brown eyes blazed fury that I’d seen in few individuals over the years. Finally, he jerked his head to the side.
“C’mon,” he muttered to Bruno and Dante. They sneered at me before turning on their heels and following Isaac out of the clubhouse.
When I turned back to Vanessa, her face was bloodless. She wasn’t smiling anymore and she was sitting with her arms crossed over her chest, staring at me.
“Where were we?” I sat back down on the couch and tried to put my arm around her. Immediately, she stiffened and leapt to her feet.
“I need to go,” Vanessa said. Her cheeks burned bright red. “If you see Kimmy, tell her I went home.” She swallowed and stared at me, the fear evident in her face.
“Vanessa, come on, those guys are the assholes, not me,” I said. “I had to get them the fuck away from here. Trust me, you didn’t want those guys hanging around.”
Vanessa bit her lip and stared for a moment before shaking her head, sending her brown hair flying around her face. “No, I’m sorry,” Vanessa said in a shaky voice. Then she turned heel and ran out of the club.
“Shit.” I shook my head and shoved my hands in my pockets as I watched her run out of my sight.
Boulder, one of the other Prophets, walked over to me and gave me a light punch in the shoulder. “I can’t believe those assholes had the nerve to show up here,” he said, shaking his head. “The next time I see those rats, I’m gonna really show them who’s boss.”
“They better not come back here,” I snarled.
Around us, the party was getting back to life. But I couldn’t relax now that Vanessa was gone. Without her, it just looked like the same old shit that I was used to dealing with every day. Without her, there was nothing interesting left the in the goddamn room. I’d dealt with blue balls before; that wasn’t new. But something about Vanessa had intrigued me on a deeper level. I felt like I wanted to know her, inside and out, not just fuck her and get off. That bothered me. It was new. I’d never felt like that before, not about anyone, at least not since I was a kid. And right now was the worst possible time to get involved with anyone, especially someone as standoffish as Vanessa.
“That chick left,” Boulder said. “You knew her?”
I shook my head. “Only met tonight,” I said. “And I have a feeling she’s never gonna come back here. She hightailed it away as soon as she saw me telling the Catchers off.”
Boulder shrugged. “Better not deal with a chick that can’t handle us,” he said. “Come on, man, let’s get a beer.”
I rolled my eyes. Whether or not Vanessa had fit in here, I still wanted her. I remembered the feather-light touch of her lips against mine, her hands on me and the lust began to seep back into my body. I licked my lips. I knew that I had to have her, even if she didn’t come back to the clubhouse. There had to be some way to make her mine.
And whatever it was, I was going to figure it out.