BETH
Rafe stood in the doorway of my bedroom as I slid the backing onto my earring. “What?” I looked down at my outfit. A simple black cotton dress. The only dress I owned. “Not good enough?”
“Fuck, baby, better than good.”
“Rafe, we are about to go to a funeral,” I reminded him. I’d seen that look in his eye enough times to know what it meant. He was hungry. And not for food.
“That old lady picked up Madison already.” He took a step into the room.
“Mrs. Olsen,” I corrected him, and moved further away from him. “We don’t have time.”
“Are you telling me no?” His eyebrows shot up, and his lips thinned. “How do you think I respond to you trying to deny me that sweet ass of yours?”
“You’re going to try and spank me because I said no?” I laughed, but he didn’t find it funny at all. Before I could maneuver around him, his hands were on my hips and he spun me around. His large hand pushed on my back until I was face down over my bed, my ass high in the air. He flipped the hem of my dress up and exposed my ass to him.
Not sure I wanted to fight him or not, I tried to look over my shoulder at him. He was intently gazing at my backside, while his fingers ran under the elastic of my panties. “I don’t like these.” With both hands he pulled them until they were scrunched up between my cheeks and ripped them.
“Rafe!” I gasped, and tried to get up but one hard swat to my ass had me back in position.
“I’ll buy you new ones that match the bra I’m going to buy.” I could hear the levity in his voice and no longer worried that he was going to spank me. So, when his hand landed harshly on the bottom curve of my ass, I yelped in surprise. “Fuck, your ass looks so hot when it’s pink.” He continued to reign down swats to my bare ass, spreading them out all around until my entire backside was warm.
I wiggled beneath his hand but didn’t fight to get away. The burn melted into my body, spreading like a wildfire until every nerve ending was lit with a new energy. I slid my legs apart more, and arched my back to stick my ass out further toward him. I needed him. In the most carnal ways, I needed his cock to be buried inside of me, to release some of the pressure building there.
One of his hands snaked into my hair, twisting it around his fist. “That’s it, give me your ass.” His slap landed harder. “Spread your legs apart, I want to see that wet pussy.” Moving my feet a few steps wider, I felt his fingers dip into my sex. I groaned and tried to press my forehead into the bed, but he yanked my hair back until I was looking up at the ceiling. No matter what the moment, the man had to be in full control, and I was coming to love it. It was as if my body fed off of his dominance.
The next slap landed right on the crevice of my ass cheeks, brushing against my pussy. I jumped a bit, but he held on to me firmly as he delivered another right in the same spot. “Rafe!”
“Take it, Beth. Your pussy is drenched, you fucking love it as much as I do.” He swatted me twice more, right in the same spot. My pussy began to tingle from the slaps but I couldn’t deny that my clit wanted more attention, too.
“Please. I need you, Rafe. Please.” I reached back and tried to grab his shirt, to pull him toward me, but he slapped my hand out of the way.
“Hands behind you. Fold them on your back.”
The positioning was a bit uncomfortable. My scalp burned beneath his fist, and my shoulders were tense as I folded my hands at the small of my back like he said. “That’s a good girl.” Just as he finished his sentence, two fingers sunk into me and I cried out with relief. It wasn’t enough, not nearly as full as when his cock was inside of me, but it was enough to take a little of the edge off my need.
I pushed back against his hand, needing him to go faster, to push harder. Frustrated that he hadn’t even started to unzip his pants, I groaned. “Rafe, please! I need you!”
He laughed. His fingers were gone in the next second and he pulled me backward. I slid off the bed and onto my knees, somehow managing to keep my hands behind me. He released my hair to unbuckle his belt, and unzip his black jeans.
“Is this what you wanted?” His hand wrapped around the base of his thick cock and stroked it a few times. A small bead of moisture pooled at the tip and without thinking I leaned forward and licked it off, grinning up at him. “Open your mouth.” He growled. I parted my lips slightly. Two could play his game. “Wider.” His hand was back in my air and he tugged on it. Apparently only one could play. My lips widened and he thrust his cock into my mouth until it touched the back of my throat, making me gag.
I hadn’t been ready, but he seemed pleased with the result. “Fuck. Relax your throat.” He pulled out and I closed my mouth to swallow. “Open your mouth, don’t you close it again or you can forget about coming tonight.”
If he hadn’t shoved his cock right back into my mouth I would have argued with him, but his cock filled my mouth and pressed against my throat. I relaxed as best I could and took him deeper, running my tongue along the underside of his dick. He tasted like salt, and strength. If strength had a taste, it was him.
My hands remained behind my back as he used my mouth as his little fuck toy. Tears spilled from the sides of my eyes when he held me close to the base of his cock, taking almost all of him down my throat. Then he pulled all the way out, fisting his cock. “Suck off your spit,” he ordered, and I went about cleaning off all my saliva. I couldn’t explain it but the more animalistic he became the more my pussy clenched and begged for him to fill me.
I dragged my tongue over the head of his cock, lapping up the moisture there and sucking hard on the side of his shaft. He groaned again and pulled away, pressing his cock to my lips. I moved my eyes to look up at him without moving my head. He was grinning down at me, the creases in his cheek were easy to see when he smiled so widely. I was making him happy, and that thought, that I was on my knees and making my man happy, nearly had me coming without even his fucking touch.
“Up and over the bed, Beth. I’m going to pound you so hard you’ll forget your fucking name.” He pulled on my hair until I stood, still keeping my hands behind me. “But you’ll never forget who owns you.” He pushed me on the bed firmly. His hands were gone, and I heard him digging around his jeans pocket and ripping open a condom. “Don’t want to ruin your pretty dress.” He laughed as he rolled the rubber over his long shaft.
He didn’t get a chance to ease into me, because as soon as I felt the head of his cock press against my opening, I pushed back until he was completely inside of me. I sighed with relief.
“Greedy little thing tonight, aren’t you?” He gave my hip a slap before reaching up to my hands and gripping them in one hand. “Don’t want to disappoint.” And with that he began to do exactly as he promised. He pounded into me like a beast. Our flesh slapped together as he rammed into me over and over again.
Needing more, I lifted one leg until my knee rested on the bed. He growled with the new tightness of my pussy gripping him and I cried out from the intense sensation of him filling me. My wrists hurt under his grip, but it didn’t compare to the immense pleasure of his hardness pushing into me over and over again.
The pressure in my belly increased until I was going burst, there would be no holding it back. “Now. Rafe. Now.” I screamed and he let go of my hair to reach under me, swirling his finger around my aching clit. It was exactly the thing I needed to catapult me into oblivion.
As the waves of my orgasm smashed into me, he rode me even harder, growling as he found his release. My shoulders felt every little tug he put on my hands as he pumped into me again before stilling as he unloaded his release.
My breath wouldn’t catch up to my body as I lay on the bed, my face pressed against the covers and starting at the headboard. Would I ever get used to the amount of energy it took when he fucked me?
His fingers slowly unraveled from around my wrists and he moved them to my sides. I pressed my palms against the bed, wincing at the soreness of my shoulders with the new range of motion. “Steady.” He leaned forward and rubbed my shoulders. “Okay.” He let me go and pulled free from me, turning to the trash can to take care of the used condom.
When I stood up I glanced at the mess that was my hair in the mirror. And what little makeup I had put on was running down my face. His arms were wrapped around me before I even saw him moving and he held me to his chest. His breathing calmed and I listened to his heart beating in his chest. He seemed to need me, need our closeness at that moment. I didn’t interrupt him; it felt too good to let go yet. And a part of me knew eventually I would have to let him go.
“I need to get cleaned up if we are going to the wake,” I whispered against his leathers.
“Just a little mascara. I don’t like all that outliner shit.”
I pushed away from him, laughing. “It’s eyeliner, not outliner.” He gave my ass another slap and pointed at my dresser where a bunch of my makeup was sprawled out.
“Whatever the fuck you call it. I don’t like it.”
“I had it on before.” I shrugged.
“I know, but you’re too pretty to hide behind all that goop.” He picked up my eyeliner and tucked in his back pocket and walked out of the room. “We leave in five minutes.” I rolled my eyes at his retreating back. Did he think I would sneak some of it on when he wasn’t looking? “Eye rolls will earn you a taste of my belt.”
I shook my head and laughed. As much as that man threatened, I knew he’d never really hurt me. Not truly and never if he could prevent it. He was my protector.
The only trouble was, because of him, I needed a lot of protecting.
***
I still hadn’t ridden on Rafe’s bike with him yet. I thought we would have taken his bike to the viewing since it was for a biker, but he took one look at my dress and pointed to my car. My car that I had yet to drive.
When we pulled into the parking lot of the funeral home, at least three dozen men and women stood outside the front doors. Most in leather kuttes, others in full jackets, but all marked in some way belonging to the club. Stepping out of the car, I smoothed down the skirt of my dress and slung my purse over my shoulder. Rafe walked out the car and gripped my hand.
“You okay?” I asked him when I felt his tight grip.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” He nodded, but didn’t look at me. I walked beside him, feeling the tension increase in his body as we stepped closer to the crowd. My stomach twitched. It was the first time I would be in public on Rafe’s arm. Not only that, but it was for a wake. One of his friends had been killed. No, strike that. Two of his friends had been killed. And someone had tried to scare the shit out of us by blowing out my window.
Any one of those things was reason enough to turn and run away from Rafe and his life, but instead, I increased my hold on his hand and straightened my spine. No one would intimidate me with Rafe near me. I wouldn’t lie to myself and think I was tougher than the women we passed on the way to the front doors, they looked like they could chew me up and spit me out without breaking a sweat, but I wouldn’t allow anyone to keep me from holding my head up high. For now, Rafe was mine, and I was his. For now.
I heard the sniffling of grieving women as we moved closer to the salon. The strong aroma of roses filled the hallway and became stronger as we came to the room. One man, a white-blond-haired man stepped up to Rafe, clasping him on the shoulder and shaking his hand. I pulled back, stepping behind him as the two embraced over the loss of their friend.
Rafe’s expression was filled with more irritation than grief when he turned to look for me, reaching back to take my hand again. He pulled me forward. “This is my girl, Beth.” I supposed I should have been happy that he didn’t refer to me as his old lady—I hated that term. “Beth, this is prez, Gray.”
I tried to let go of his hand to shake Gray’s, but he intensified his hold on me. Gray seemed to notice the little struggle as he scanned where our hands were joined. He dropped his hand to his side and gave Rafe a nod.
“Nice to see you with an old lady finally.” He didn’t speak to me; hell other than the small attempt to accept a greeting, he barely paid me any attention.
I wanted to clarify to him that I was no one’s old or new lady, but Rafe squeezed my hand. A clear indication to keep quiet. It was very clear to me that if I was going to mouth off to Rafe, doing so in front of his club wouldn’t be the wisest place. All his threats about taking his belt to me seemed a little more plausible surrounded by so many large men. Every one of them looked completely in control of the room, and the women at their sides.
“Stephanie show up?” Rafe asked. I’d heard him mention her before, Jason’s wife. I looked around the room, avoiding the open casket placed in the front of it. I hated funerals.
“Not yet. Doubt she will. She won’t’ take my calls and I tried to stop by her house to give her Jason’s pay, but she wouldn’t open the door. Her sister finally came out and took it. She asked if I could just deposit the money for her from now on. Like I’m some errand boy.”
“I’ll handle it,” Rafe said with a tight voice. “I’ll stop by there and get the information and make the deposits each month.”
“If she can’t stomach looking at me, I’m not sure she should profit from the club.” Gray folded his arms over his chest, puffing it out a little.
Rafe wouldn’t be intimidated though. “She’s the president’s widow. She’ll get his pay until she remarries.” I’d heard his low voice, I’d heard it when he was angry, but never did I hear it with such vengeance weaved through it. Gray must have noticed it, too. His eyes widened and he dropped his hands to his sides.
“Of course she will, but some respect would be nice.”
“Has the club found her husband’s murderer yet?” Rafe narrowed his eyes. “And here lies another of our brothers. Has the club started looking into his death yet?” The accusation seemed pretty plain, even to me, and I worried that Rafe was starting something that would make more enemies. I wanted to tug on his arm, to whisper in his ear, but I could feel the eyes on us and knew if I interfered, it would only make things worse. And I didn’t want to turn Rafe’s anger on me.
“Let’s get through the funeral, then we’ll set everything straight. Get the club right again, the way it should be. The way it should have been for a long time.” Gray’s words didn’t sound any less menacing than Rafe’s but they held more warning than I would have expected at a wake.
Rafe didn’t respond, he only nodded and pulled me along to move further into the room. “Rafe, can I stay back here?” I whispered once we were standing in line to make our way up to the casket. The last funeral I had been to was for my mother, and I had no desire to relieve that event in memory or reality.
He looked down at me with heavy concern. “Are you okay?” he asked as we moved further up in line. I took a deep breath and looked around the room. Too many eyes were on me. If I backed out of line, would they take that as an insult?
Deciding they probably would, and after the little conversation Rafe had with Gray, he didn’t need any more attention drawn to him. “Yeah. No, yeah. I’m fine. Never mind.” I swallowed as we stepped up again and were the next to go up.
When we made our way up to the casket I promised myself I wouldn’t look. There was no need to, I hadn’t known the guy. But of course my curiosity got the better of me, and I glanced down at the young man lying peacefully before us. They had dressed him in his leathers, several patches were laid over his chest, as well as other small mementoes probably from his closer friends. Rafe pulled out a patch from his back pocket, a round black felt piece with the club’s emblem sewn into it with Revenge Will be Mine embroidered along the edge. I was beginning to wonder what Rafe would do when he didn’t have so much to avenge. Would he go back to living a normal life? What the hell was normal for a guy like him?
For a split moment, I envisioned seeing Rafe lying in the casket, similar patches thrown about his body and Madison standing to the side crying her little eyes out. My heart sank straight to my toes, and I shook the image from my mind.
I stepped away from the coffin, walking around the few people crowded there and headed for the back of the room. No one seemed to mind my walking away, as they continued their conversations. When I looked back Rafe was only a few steps behind me, but was stopped a few times to talk with people.
“Hey.” A woman stepped next to me as I walked out of the salon and into the hall. “You’re Rafe’s old lady, right? Bess, or Beth?”
“Beth.” I nodded and tried to give a polite smile. The woman didn’t look much older than me. Her hair was dried out from years of bleaching it, and her skin looked like she’d baked in the sun a few too many times.
She gave me a gentle smile and pointed to a couch against the wall. “I’m Sue Ellen. He’ll be stuck talking with those guys for a while. Sit with me while I wait. My guy’s in there now.”
“Oh. You didn’t go in?”
“Nah, these things freak me out.” She tugged her leather skirt down as she sat next to me on the flat cushioned couch. Well, hell. I needed to get Rafe to write down what the rules were for these people. My muscles ached from holding myself so stiff around them, trying not to make the wrong move or make him look silly because of my ignorance.
I noticed she wore a black vest over her navy blue blouse with similar patches to what Rafe had. “Are you in the club, too?”
She laughed and shook her head. “No. Women aren’t allowed in their little boy club. These patches match Silver’s. He’s my husband.”
“So you’re his—”
“Old lady. Yeah.” She nodded and waved at two women who walked past us, giving me an odd look. “Don’t worry about them. The club whores aren’t all that happy Rafe is settling down. I think they all thought they’d be the one to get him to settle down.” She pointed to a red-haired girl wearing a skin tight black denim jacket over her leather dress. “That’s Candy, she’s been trying to get Rafe back in her bed since last summer. But Rafe doesn’t go back to the girls who chase him. Hell, I’m not sure he’s fucked any of them more than once.”
“More than once? But he’s been with all of them?” I shouldn’t have asked. I knew he had to have had plenty of girlfriends before me. The man just oozed sex, and there was no way he knew so much about a woman’s body without having been around one once or twice, but all of them?
“You’ve never been with a biker guy before.” Sue Ellen's smile fell. “It’s different than other kinds of relationships. I mean, I’m sure he’s already asserted the whole I’m the man thing.” She deepened her tone to make her point. “But it’s not just that. Some of them, well most of them, they don’t keep their dicks in their pants that well.”
“Your husband, he sleeps with the girls at the club?” I looked toward a small group of girls she had waved to and suddenly I felt like launching myself at them.
“Oh, fuck no. If one of those tramps gets their hands on him, it will be the last thing ever do. Him, too. No, I put that brick in place when we put down the foundation. I’d let him be lord of the castle, but there was only going to be one lady he took to bed.” She pointed at herself.
“But they aren’t all like that,” I muttered, finding Rafe in the crowd of people talking seriously with another member, and casting nasty glares over at Gray still standing in the doorway. So not only did I have to worry about a stray bullet taking him away from me, I had to compete with the women in his club vying for his attention.
“Hey. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get you worried. Look, Rafe has never claimed anyone as his before. He’s marked you, when he walked in here holding your hand like that, he marked you for everyone to know you were taken. And that’s never happened with him before; he wouldn’t have done that if he was still looking to sink his dick into anything else.” She laid a hand on my shoulder, trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t going to work.
How could I ignore so many signs pointing in the get the hell away from him direction? “It’s okay. I’m fine.” I shot her a smile.
“Hey, Sue Ellen.” Rafe’s voice pulled me from my stare fest at the three women huddled in the corner of the hallway. They must have heard him, too. They all turned to stare at him.
Sue Ellen stood up from the couch, tugging her skirt down again and gave him a hug. “How you doing, Rafe?”
“Doing fine. I see you met my girl.” He gave me a quizzical look, but I only looked away. I tried not to get angry at him for being such a manwhore but since most of the single women in the room were still staring, and practically drooling on themselves, it was getting harder by the minute.
“Yeah, sweet thing you have here.” Sue Ellen smiled down at me. I tried to grin back and be polite, but the room was suddenly stuffy and I wanted out of there.
“Have you seen Stephanie recently?” He glanced at me again, but focused on her.
“No. I tried to call her a few times, but her mother just tells me she’s sleeping or she’s busy. I knew she didn’t love the club, but I didn’t think she’d cut us out like this. She’s been friends with a bunch of us for a long time.”
“Yeah. I’m going to head over there now, see how she’s doing. I tried to give her space but it’s been long enough, she needs to peek her head back out into the world.”
I listened to Rafe but all I could see were the women still gawking at him and a few of them giving me dirty looks.
“Sounds good. Thanks.” He gestured for me to join him, so I stood up taking my place beside him. I heard more murmuring coming from behind me but tried to ignore it.
Rafe must have heard it, too, because he craned his neck to see where it was coming from. “Let’s go.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and gave me a squeeze.
“Bye, Sue Ellen, it was nice meeting you.” I managed to get the words out before Rafe dragged me away. She waved at me and smirked at his animal manners. “Stop doing that.” I tried to chastise him quietly, but his grip hardened on my waist and I shut my mouth.
As we made our way down the steps and back toward the parking lot, I heard a few whispered words of “slut” and “ho bag” being uttered. I stopped walking and tried to turn around, but he kept me going, keeping me trapped in his arm. “Ignore them. They are looking to piss you off, don’t let them.”
I glared over my shoulder at the small group of women who had followed us out of the funeral home. “You want me to let them insult me like that?” I hissed at him as he unlocked my door.
“No, I want you to get in the car and let me deal with them.” He pulled the door open and nodded to the seat.
I pursed my lips together hard, fighting not to really lay into him. He probably just wanted to let them know not to worry. He’d be back at the club house soon and they could have all they wanted of him and his cock. Deciding to just ignore him and the tramps, I took my seat and pulled the door closed myself, making sure he saw me glare up at him.
I watched him through the window walking over to the little harem. They were all smiles and hair tossing until he started talking. Then the pouting lips showed up, and the hand on the hips started. When he walked back to the car he looked calm, as though nothing had just transpired.
“Did you tell them you’d be available later tonight?” I snapped at him when he shut his door.
He looked at me with surprise. Maybe he thought I wouldn’t notice or didn’t know what a whore he himself was. “Jealous? I thought you were done with me as soon as you didn’t need me to protect you anymore.”
I didn’t look out my window as we passed the entrance of the funeral home, but I knew those girls were glaring me down. They wanted what I had. “I am,” I said, more to remind myself of my decision than him.
He turned the radio on. “Then don’t worry about what I said to those girls.”
“Fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared out the window.
We drove in silence the rest of the way. He turned down a side street that was lit up brightly with street lights. The houses were twice the size of anything on my block, and the lawns were all well maintained. Not a single one had a dirt patch anywhere.
When he pulled into the driveway of a two-story house, I flipped off the radio. “Where are we?”
“Jason’s house. Well, his wife’s house now.” He shifted into park and leaned back in his seat. “I haven’t been here since the funeral.”
Looking at him, I could see the pain he was trying so hard to stuff down inside of him and hide. I reached over the gear shift and took his hand. When he looked at me, I gave a little smile. “I’m jealous of those girls,” I confessed, trying to take his mind off his grief. “Sue Ellen told me you’ve slept with all of them, every one of them.”
“Sue Ellen is a gossip.” His thumb rubbed the inside of my palm. “Silver would bust her ass if he knew she was saying stuff like that.”
“So it’s not true?”
“I didn’t say that. I said she shouldn’t be telling you about it.” Reminding myself I was trying to make him feel better, and not start a fight I took a calming breath. He let go of my hand and rested it on my shoulder. “I’ve never claimed a girl before. I used them for the same thing they used me for. But I claimed you.”
“I won’t let you cheat on me.” I felt tears start to build in my eyes and fought them off best I could. “I don’t share well with others.”
He laughed. “That’s good, because neither do I.” His lips brushed across mine. “But I thought you said you were tossing my ass aside after all this is over.”
I had said that. Not less than twenty minutes ago I said it, but I didn’t mean it. Not anymore. I knew what a risk it was being with him, but I also knew he’d rather die keeping us safe than put us in the front line of fire.
“Isn’t your friend’s wife going to be upset that we just stopped by?” I wasn’t ready to voice what my heart felt.
“Beth.” He waited until my eyes met his before he continued. “When this is over, I’m not walking out. I’m not leaving, and I think you don’t want me to either. I think you’re jealous about those girls because you care more than you want to. You’re afraid I’m going to hurt you, that I’m going to abandon you like that asshole of an ex did.” He framed my face with his hands, his dark eyes staring into my eyes with a fierceness I hadn’t seen from him before. “I will never walk away from you.”
I didn’t know what to say, how to respond. Thankfully, he did. He kissed me.