HAVING AN IN-house nurse came in handy when accidents happened. Creena checked out Jay as best she could without having any equipment on hand and advised Angel to take her to the hospital just in case.
As they were leaving, I stopped Jay. “I’m sorry.” I rung my hands together in front of me. “I have no idea what came over him.” But I definitely had a feeling.
Jay hugged me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “It’s not your fault. I just wish you two could be civil but …”
“What?”
“Maybe you both need some time apart,” she suggested when Angel came up to us.
“Angel,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
He grabbed Jay’s hand, kissed her knuckles, and dropped their joined fingers between them. “I don’t suggest bringing Dale around here for a while.”
I nodded.
Before Jay could add anything, Angel wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her outside.
My chest constricted over their words. Two people said we needed time apart. But would it really do any good?
“Max?” Meeka stood beside me. “You okay?”
“No,” a sob escaped me. “Not at fucking all.”
***
(Dale)
I hit Angel and lived to tell about it.
Bruises were already forming on my knuckles. I flexed and un-flexed my knuckles, the sharp pain jabbed me right in the gut. What was I doing? I fought my brother. A man who had been my mentor for most of my adult life. If it hadn’t been for him taking a chance on me, I’d probably be dead somewhere or in fucking jail. And my way of thanking him was by hitting him instead.
Stretching my legs out in front of me before bringing them back up to my chest, I massaged the impending headache piercing through my skull.
I had been sitting outside Max’s gallery for the past hour. Not exactly sure where else to go, I ended up there before I even knew what I was doing. I didn’t want to go home. Even though I couldn’t remember everything that had happened back at my apartment, I could smell the other women on my sheets. I washed them, threw fucking cologne on them, but it did shit all for the smell. So, I threw them in the trash and lit a match.
“Dale?”
My head snapped up.
Max stood a few feet away, keys in hand. “What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t want to go home,” I grumbled, slowly pushing to my feet. The protest in my muscles reminded me what I had done only a couple hours before.
“How’s the hand?” she asked, stepping around me to unlock the door.
I shrugged. I deserved the pain. I embraced it. It made me feel alive.
Max let out a muttered curse. “All right, come with me.”
I followed her into the building until we reached her office. She went right to a mini-fridge sitting in the corner of the room and pulled out a tray of ice. “Sit,” she demanded, pointing to the stool beside the easel.
She wrapped some of the ice cubes in a cloth before kicking the door to the fridge closed and came toward me. “Give me your hand.”
Every inch of me wanted to pull away from her. After accidentally shoving Jay, I didn’t deserve her kindness.
Max grabbed my hand. Her small fingers wrapped around mine, holding the ice against the back of my knuckles. “What’s this?” she asked, rubbing her thumb over the black soot on my wrist. “What did you do?”
“Coby told me about the women. I don’t remember. I wish I could remember. So, I lit my sheets on fire,” I told her, lifting my shoulders. “They didn’t smell like you.”
“Oh.” She crinkled her nose. “You caused a lot of problems back at the club, Dale.”
I grunted. “No fucking shit.”
“Why?”
“I … Fuck … I saw Angel rub Jay’s stomach and I lost it. I can’t explain it but it forced this rage inside of me. It’s not their fault. It’s no one’s fault but my own. But it’s not fair. Not to you. You should be having a baby. My baby. But instead, I fucked up and took that away from you.” All the words leaving my mouth stripped me bare until I was exposed and vulnerable. That was it. It was the truth. And I vomited my feelings all over her.
“That’s not all of it, though,” she whispered. “is it?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“You want to talk. I’m listening. So, talk.”
Scrubbing a hand up and down my face, I took a deep breath. And another. I blamed Angel. He should have protected me. He should have protected all of us.
“Dale?” Max placed a hand on my shoulder, her beautiful brown eyes staring back at me but they were void of emotion.
No trust.
No love.
Nothing.
What the fuck were we doing?
***
(Max)
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, dropping my hand from his.
“Will you ever forgive me? Will you ever trust me again?” he asked, his voice rough.
“I … I want to. I’m confused and my feelings are jumbled. But I want to forgive you. I want to trust you.” I sat on the stool across from him, gazing up at the canvas that held a hint of scenery. It was the cemetery where our daughter was buried. But no one would know unless they had actually visited the place.
“I’m trying to be patient,” he muttered.
“Are you?” I asked, staring at the image in front of me. “Just because you’re ready doesn’t mean I am. You also just tried to beat the shit out of your brother and you pushed his fiancée.”
“That was an accident. You know that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And Angel is not my brother. Never was. Never will be.”
“You don’t mean that. I know the military code is a strong one. It doesn’t matter if you’re blood. You’re still brothers and sisters. You’re family.” I gaped at him when he didn’t respond. “Angel will come around. He’ll—”
“I don’t give a fuck,” Dale snapped, shoving to his feet and knocked the stool over.
“What’s going on with you?”
With each step he took, he was becoming unglued. The rage rolled off him in waves. I was like the prey being stalked by the hungry predator.
He started pacing back and forth, his eyes finding mine every couple of steps he took.
I didn’t know what to say or even how to calm him down. Everything that had happened with Angel was uncalled for. And then with Jay? It was like some fucked up dream.
A chime sounded in the silence of the room. Dale stopped, checked his phone and put it back in his pocket before taking a step behind me. “The baby’s fine.”
A breath I didn’t realize I was holding, left me on a whoosh. Thank God.
Dale pulled the empty stool behind me, pushing my hair off the back of my neck. “I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing. I know I shouldn’t have fought Angel. It’s not his fault. None of this is,” he said, his voice husky. “But right now, I don’t give a shit about anything else. I want you. That’s it. And it’s taking everything in me not to force you to your knees and show you exactly what I want.”
I shivered at his words. “I don’t know if we can make it through this,” I confessed, chewing my bottom lip.
“I know.” Dale picked a clean paintbrush off the rolling cart beside the table. “I don’t care about that, either. I’m so fucking wound up, I just need to feel you.” His mouth moved to my ear. “I need to control you.”
I swallowed hard at the deep rumble of his voice. “What if I say no?” It wouldn’t happen but I needed to know I had some semblance of power in our situation.
“Then I’ll walk away. I’m done fighting.” He kissed the soft spot under my ear. “For now.”
“Take me away, Dale,” I whispered, watching as the brush traveled down my bare arm, leaving a path of goose bumps behind it. The soft bristles sliding over my skin sent a shiver down my back.
Dale pushed the strap of my dress lower until I was able to get my arm free. Repeating his movements with the other strap, his mouth soon found my skin.
My breath caught, my heart hammering against my rib cage but all I could do was sit there. Mesmerized.
The fabric of my dress pooled at my middle, my nipples hardening to sharp peaks as the cool air kissed them.
With the brush in hand, Dale ran the soft bristles over the swollen nubs.
A shot of electricity hit me square in the center. I moaned, digging my fingers into the stool I was sitting on.
But he still didn’t touch me. Only his mouth and the bristles of the paintbrush found my skin. It was intoxicating and highly erotic all at the same time.
Taking a brush in his other hand, he slid it down my spine, all the while focusing on my nipples with the other one.
The dual sensations ignited an unexpected pleasure so deep I couldn’t help but beg for more. As much as I wanted him to touch me, this was what I needed at the moment. To be taken away. To go past the point of normal. To just feel. It was sensory overload, and I couldn’t wait to combust in his arms.
For the first time in my life, I was the canvas, and Dale was the artist. My hands had caused many images to come to life just by the stroke of a brush and now he was doing the same to me.
He lightly tapped my hip, indicating for me to stand.
I did and, much to my surprise, he lowered my dress to my ankles until I was able to step out of the fabric.
A soft groan escaped him when he saw that I wasn’t wearing any panties. After our moment at the clubhouse, I had taken them off. I wasn’t sure if subconsciously I thought he would show up. Either way, all I focused on was making us both disappear.
“Sit,” he commanded, his voice hoarse.
I kicked the fabric aside and sat back on the stool.
Dale pulled me back against him, wrapping a hand around my throat and continued brushing the bristles down my center.
His gaze remained on my face, watching me, waiting for me to fall apart in his arms.
The brush traveled from my jaw, down the side of my neck, over each nipple, and stopped just before reaching the spot between my legs.
Spreading my knees, I gripped my thighs, digging my nails into my own flesh.
His hot breath fanned my face, his heart beat thumping against my back. It picked up speed with each stroke of the brush.
“Dale,” I whispered, needing his body inside mine. I forgot everything. All the shit we had been through.
The pain. The heartache.
The undying want for each other took hold, forcing me to succumb to the submission I was inclined to give him.
He pulled me further back against him until I was sitting on his lap.
Hooking my legs over his, I opened myself to him. “Please.”
With the tip of the brush, he pushed it between my folds, grazing it ever-so-gently over my aching clit.
I arched against him at the unexpected sensation. The bristles, although soft, rubbed at the hard nub until I cried out in frustration. They weren’t hard enough. I needed his calloused fingers instead. His thick length. The scratchy feeling of his stubble. Him.
“What do you want from me, kitten?” he asked, tightening his hold on my throat, and rubbed the bristles harder against my swollen clit. He dipped the brush lower, grazing them over my core. He pushed and pushed until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“All of you,” I panted, rocking back and forth against him. His erection pressed into my lower back. Hard. Throbbing. So damn ready for me I couldn’t help but tease him more. “Please. I can’t take it.”
“You want me inside you?” His mouth closed over my ear lobe, biting down until I whimpered. The unexpected shock of pain slammed right into my center.
“Yes. God, yes.” My fingers dug into his knees.
“Hmm … beg me, Max. Tell me how much you need my dick in that sweet cunt of yours.” He fisted my hair, pulled my head back and thrust the brush inside me.
My eyes popped open, a shockwave of euphoria slamming right into my center. “I’m begging, Dale,” I cried out, pushing back against him. I rubbed my ass into his straining cock, riding the brush between my legs. “Oh, shit. Please.”
“Tell me what the fuck you want,” he demanded, pumping the brush in and out of me.
“Fuck me. Fuck me so damn hard I feel you for weeks.” Spots danced in my vision. My heart picked up speed. I gasped for air. I needed him to fuck me but all I could focus on was getting the release I craved. The orgasm suddenly shattered through me, forcing his name to fall from my lips.
“That’s it, baby.” He gripped my throat, kissing my cheek. “How does it feel knowing you just got fucked by your brush?” he groaned. “My dick is hard for you.”
I whimpered, rocking back and forth against him. “Please, Dale,” I whispered. “I need to feel you.”
Releasing me suddenly, he pushed me forward until I was bent over the stool. “You’re going to feel me for the rest of your fucking life, kitten.” Landing a hard swat on my ass, he ran his hand over the spot soon after.
I swallowed hard, gripping the stool in my hands. “Yes. Please.”
Dale massaged and kneaded, spreading me open. “Your pussy is dripping for me.”
My body vibrated, shaking in anticipation for what he would do next.
Suddenly, a sharp pain spread through the cheek of my ass.
I yelped, pushing back against him.
“You like that,” he said, his voice rough as he bit me again.
When we first started sleeping together months ago, he had been dominant but nothing compared to this.
“Please, Dale.”
“What do you want, baby?” he asked, brushing his fingers down my spine. “You want me to fuck you and take away this pain?”
“No.” I smiled to myself. “I want you to fuck me and give me new pain.”
“Woman,” he groaned. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
I pushed back against him, rubbing my ass over the erection he was sporting in his sweat pants.
He fisted my hair, pulled me upright, and wrapped his other arm around my chest. “Say it.”
I swallowed hard, licking my parched lips. “Fuck me. Hard.”
With a quick move, he sheathed himself with a condom and thrust into me.
I gasped, arching against him.
“Ah, now, baby.” He tightened his arm around me. “Trying to get away so soon?” His hips slammed into my ass, his cock fucking me rough.
“Oh, God.” The pain from his size stretching me mixed with the pleasure forced incoherent sounds to leave my lips.
“You see, kitten.” He kissed my neck. “There is no God when it comes to me fucking you.”
I whimpered as his thrusts deepened.
He chuckled, licking his tongue up the side of my face before kissing my cheek. “The devil himself would turn away blushing.”
“Please,” I whispered.
“You want me to fuck this sweet cunt until there’s nothing left?”
“Yes.” I gripped his arm wrapped around me. “I need it.”
“That’s my girl.” He kissed my cheek again before releasing me completely. “Lay on the couch.”
I stood on shaky legs and headed to the couch at the far wall of my office when I was pushed face first onto it.
Dale covered my body with his, his cock sliding back into me. “Can you feel every inch of me?”
I panted, nodding, and spread my legs wider for him.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” he grunted, thrusting hard and deep. Pulling my hands behind my back, he held them tight and leaned back. “I’m going to fuck the shit out of you, kitten.”
Dropping my left foot to the floor, I braced myself and gave him better access to my body.
“That’s right.” He brushed his other hand down my back before landing a hard swat on my ass. “You need this, don’t you?”
“Yes.” I swallowed hard. “Just like you do.”
***
(Dale)
I did. She was right. I needed her so fucking hard, it was unnatural. I wanted to fuck her until my dick became raw. Until every muscle in my body was tight and throbbing.
When we started sleeping together again just over a month ago, it was never like this. This was different. Completely and utterly mind blowing. Dark and dangerous. Just what we both needed.
Holding her wrists tight in my hands, I lifted her from the couch and began thrusting hard and deep. My pelvis slammed against her ass, my cock prolonging the screams leaving her mouth. Her head thrashed from side to side but I wouldn’t let up. I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried to give it to her gently, my body took over.
It was violent and toxic. Our bodies blending together as we both brought ourselves to the point of divine ecstasy. God, she felt good. So fucking good.
“Dale,” she panted. “Please.”
“What do you want, kitten?” I demanded. I needed to hear her say the words.
“Make me come. Make me come so damn hard.”
Pushing her forward, I released her arms and wrapped my body around hers. I needed to feel her break and hold her until she came down from that euphoric high.
“Come for me, baby,” I whispered in her ear. “Come all over my cock.”
She whimpered, holding onto my arm wrapped around her shoulders. “You feel so good,” she whispered.
I grinned, speeding up my hips.
“Dale,” she moaned. “Harder.”
Fuck, she was going to break my dick. Hammering into her with everything I had, I trailed tiny bites along her shoulder blades before sinking my teeth into her shoulder.
She screamed, shaking and trembling beneath me. My name left her lips on a guttural cry, the high-pitched sound piercing into my ears and hitting me straight in the balls.
My cock swelled.
“Fuck, kitten.” I continued biting and licking, kissing and caressing until I jumped over that edge with her. I grunted, my cum pouring deep within her body.
Our releases crashed together, melting as one until we both submitted to the ultimate pleasure.