CHAPTER 15

Mac

I silently cursed when she whimpered as I took her mouth, but she wouldn’t let me pull back. Her hands wrapped around my head to hold me to her. I ran my tongue over her lower lip and when she opened, I thrust it into her mouth, fucking it like I wanted to do to her pussy.

When she lifted a leg up over my hip, I lost my damn mind. Releasing her from the kiss, I gripped her ass and lifted her up as I spun to press her against the wall. She wrapped her lean legs around my waist as I thrust forward, driving my cock deep inside her slick heat.

“Fuck, you feel so good.”

I took her mouth again as I set a brutal pace. All the emotions that had been running wild inside me over the past twelve hours came to the surface and mixed into a storm that needed to be released. Dropping my head down, I nuzzled against the side of her face as I reached a hand around her hip to tease her clit. She clenched around my cock and had me groaning as I thrust in deep again.

“Mac! Stop. Fuck. Condom.”

Despite the fact that the last thing I wanted to do was stop, I stilled my movements, shocked at myself. I’d never taken a woman bare before, no wonder she felt so fucking good.

“I’m clean. I’ve never not used a condom.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not on birth control and I’m not ready to be mother so you need to wrap it up.”

With a growl, I lifted her off me and set her on her feet. I flicked the taps off before I scooped her up and strode out of the bathroom. She laughed when I tossed her on the mattress but I didn’t see the funny side. I wanted back inside my woman. Pretty sure I set some kind of record with how fast I gloved up.

“Roll over, bunny. Want you on all fours, right here.”

Cheeky minx took her time, rolling her hips as she crawled over to me. She was dripping water all over the bed but I didn’t give a fuck. When she got close enough for me to grab, I did just that, shifting her into position so I could slide in deep.

Groaning, I leaned forward, covering her back with my chest as I slid in and out of her tight pussy. I sucked on her shoulder, hard enough to leave another mark for the world to see. Unable to keep up the slow pace for long, I straightened up, and, gripping her hips, began to pound into her, needing to brand her mine in as many ways as I could.

Slipping one hand around her front, I lifted her back so she was kneeling in front of me. She wrapped her hands behind my neck as she threw her head back against my shoulder with a moan. The position had her tits pressed up and out, and unable to resist, I twisted the tight peaks until her pussy clamped down on me as she whimpered. Her body moved with mine, pushing back as I thrust deep inside her. I didn’t want it to end but knew it had to. Dropping one hand from her breast down to tease her clit, I sped up my pace until she shuddered and screamed my name as she came. The rippling of her pussy over my cock took me with her and I wrapped my arms around her waist, holding her tight against me so she wouldn’t fall as my cock jerked my release inside her heat.

Once I was able, I laid us both down on the bed. Pulling free of her body, I quickly dealt with the condom and tossed it in the trash can near the bed. Then I moved so I lay on my side next to her. She was on her back, watching me with a small little smile that let me know she was one satisfied, well-loved woman. It was a nice fucking boost to a man’s ego, a smile like that.

“You wanna rest some more?”

She shook her head. “I’ve taken my meds, so I’m going to be awake for hours now.”

I ran my palms over her body, loving how her silky skin felt under my hands. Her nipples puckered up as I stroked over her tits. I leaned down and took one in my mouth, suckling it deep until, with a gasp, she arched up off the mattress.

A pounding on the door had me jerking off her and leaping from the bed, ready to kill whoever was on the other side.

“Whoa. For such a big man, you sure are fast.”

“Don’t move.” Tugging on my gym shorts, I went to the door, opening it a crack. “What the fuck happened now?”

Scout was standing in the hallway with a thunderous look on his face. “Sledge is gone. You know anything about that?”

I frowned. “Why? Wait, you think I’d go set the bastard loose so I could go after him, or something? Scout, I don’t work like that. I’ve been with Zara all morning. Check the damn cameras if you don’t believe me.”

Scout adjusted his bandana. “I don’t need to check the fucking cameras. I believe you. But I had to ask. Get your shit together and meet me downstairs.”

“What about Zara? I’m not leaving her alone again.”

Scout didn’t look happy with my statement, but I was serious. After last night, I was not letting her be alone today. Especially if Sledge was back on the loose.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake! Bring her downstairs. We’ll have all the women locked down in the main room with all the prospects watching them. She can’t come in with you, brother. You know she can’t, so don’t ask.”

Knowing that was as good as I was going to get, I told him we’d be down in five minutes. Closing the door, I silently cursed. So much for a leisurely morning enjoying my woman.

“Sledge got free?”

The fear in her voice had me wincing. “Yeah, looks like it. Don’t worry, bunny, we’ll catch him. He’s got nothing fucking left down in Galveston. No support system. He won’t last long before we find him. Now, we need to get downstairs. I got church.”

“You’re wrong. He has to have some support, how else did he break free? Someone here had to have helped him. Think about it. And last night, there is no way Em could have killed those prospects, come got me, then what? Broke her own neck? And she was just a damn kid. No way was she behind the plan to take me. She had help. Someone else here betrayed me, and the club.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. Zara was right. And I felt so fucking stupid for not seeing it earlier.

“Quickly, get dressed. I need to you tell that to Scout before we start. You can’t be in church with us and Scout wants the prospects guarding you. But it might be one of them fucking us over.”

She stood and pulled on a pair of jeans as she continued to speak. “Think about it, Mac. It’s only been, what? A few hours since we got back, Sledge couldn’t have been gone long. Whoever helped him will most likely still be with him. I highly doubt they’re here. Are Donna and Rose still here? I could hang with them while you do your church thing.”

I could see she was nervous, and I didn’t think she fully believed what she was saying. I suspected she was trying to put me at ease, more than anything else. I shook my head as I rested my hands on my hips. “One day, you need to tell me how you came to be stuck working as a waitress. Why didn’t you go to college? You’ve clearly got the smarts to do whatever you wanted.”

Pain flared in her expression before she turned away. I winced as she headed into the bathroom. Fuck, I hadn’t meant to hurt her.

“Zara? Bunny, that was meant to be a compliment. I’m sorry if it brought up shit for you. That wasn’t my intention.”

I followed her and found her brushing her hair with way more force than necessary.

“Don’t worry about it. You didn’t know.”

“I still don’t know!” Taking the brush from her hands, I put it on the bench before wrapping my arms around her waist. “I want to know everything about you, Zara. Your past is what made you who you are today. That makes it important. I intend to keep you in my life for a very, very long time. I also intend to learn all your secrets, babe.”

“Mac, we don’t have time for me to tell you my entire life history. I thought Scout wanted you down there yesterday?”

“He does. But I’ve got five fucking minutes for my woman. Especially since I’ve got a feeling it’s relevant. Give me the basics, and we’ll discuss it more, later.”

She actually growled at me. It was completely fucking adorable. I kissed the top of her head as she continued to glare at me in the mirror.

“Fine! In my final year of school my mom got diagnosed with cancer. Instead of going off to college, I stayed home to help care for her while my dad worked himself to the bone to pay for all the treatments. She went into remission, but I still stayed. By then I had a waitressing job and had all but forgotten about my childhood career dreams. Then, three years ago I came home from the movies one night to discover both my parents murdered in our family room. The reason that is relevant, is because it was a fucking Iron Hammer prospect who killed them.”

My blood ran cold. That was more than relevant. “Why? What did your parents do to bring the club’s wrath down on them?”

She blinked up at me blankly. Fuck. She didn’t know. Maybe hadn’t even considered it.

Zara

“It was a robbery gone wrong. That’s what the police said.”

My mind was suddenly in overdrive. Was there more to it than that?

“I get you don’t know much about how MCs work, but you know some. Think about it, Zara. You said you had to stay home while your dad worked his ass off. That tells me your family wasn’t rich.”

I shook my head. “We never had much and after Mom got sick, we had even less. We got by, always had food on the table but there wasn’t any fancy jewelry or expensive technology lying around the house. I figured that was why they got shot, because they didn’t have anything to give.”

And I’d known nothing about motorcycle clubs back then, but Mac was right. I knew a little now, enough to know they were all about dealing out retribution.

“I doubt they even looked at your parents’ belongings, babe. We need to tell Scout. It might be why the club had such a hard-on for you after the cafe shooting. Because that shit about you talking to the cops shouldn’t have caused them to put a fucking ten grand bounty on your head. Not when you didn’t follow up with it.”

My body trembled as everything about my parents’ deaths came back to me. I tried to look for things I’d missed, but I couldn’t focus enough to think clearly. When I would have crumbled, Mac swung me up against his chest. Fucking cataplexy!

“It’ll be okay, bunny. I’ve got you and the club has my back. We’ll keep you safe. And when we get our hands on Sledge, we’ll fucking make that bastard tell us what really went on with your folks. If that’s what you want.”

Did I want that? It would give me some closure. Now I knew it wasn’t as simple as I’d always believed, I found myself wanting to know. Of course, until this attack passed, I couldn’t verbalize anything so I simply enjoyed being pressed against Mac’s warm chest as he carried me down the stairs and into the lower level of the Charon’s club house. I idly wondered what those who I could hear murmuring around us thought of Mac carrying what looked like an unconscious woman. I probably should get Scout to make a public announcement, or something, about my conditions to everyone. It would save on time and me having to explain shit over and over.

With a sharp intake of breath, I flexed my fingers against Mac’s cut as I gained control of my muscles. Blinking my eyes open, I found myself lowering with Mac as he sat, keeping me on his lap even though he had to know I was now awake. Several men were sitting around us, all watching me with intense stares.

“Mac, you know the rules. No bitches in church.”

I winced at being called a bitch, and apparently Mac didn’t like it any more than I did if his growl and the way his body tensed beneath me were any indication.

“She ain’t a bitch and she has information you all need to hear.”

I didn’t want to cause trouble for Mac, nor did I want to rehash my parents’ murders again. “Mac can tell you. I can go wait out in the main room for ya’ll to finish.”

“I’d prefer hear what you have to say first-hand, Zara. But then I am going to need you to head out to the main room.”

At Scout’s clear order, I sighed as I banged my head lightly against Mac’s shoulder. “Fine. Mac seems to think that my parents’ murders three years ago might be connected to why the Iron Hammers want me so badly now…”

I went on to explain about how they’d died and who’d done it.

“Yeah, no way was it that fucking simple, and I’ll put money on the fact that prospect that went down for it didn’t pull the fucking trigger.”

Scout glared at the man who’d spoken and he shut up fast.

“Okay, we’ve heard enough. Thanks, Zara. Can you go wait out in the bar? Do not, for any reason, leave the building. Understand?”

“Trust me, after last night, I’m not going anywhere.”

Mac rose with me and escorted me out, giving the poor prospects out in the bar area death threats before he delivered a hard, fast kiss to my lips, then disappeared back into the meeting room. Not feeling like socializing, I made my way to a table against the rear wall and threw myself against the booth seat. With my back against the wall, I could see the whole room and anyone that came to or went from the space. That seemed like a good thing after the last twenty-four hours. I stiffened when a young guy approached me.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“Um, a bottle of water would be great.” Because it would be sealed and I’d know it wasn’t fucking drugged. Gah, I hated not being able to trust anyone.

“No offense, but you kinda look like you could use something stronger. No one here will hurt you. Mac was serious about skinning us alive if something happened to you.”

Relived that Mac had made it safe here for me, I smiled. “Guess you can take a man out of the Marines, but you can’t take the Marine out of the man, huh?”

“Something like that, and that man of yours does love his knives.”

“It’s a little early in the morning for me to be tossing back hard liquor, but if there’s coffee available, I’d love one.”

“Sure thing. How do you take it?”

“White with one, thanks.”

With a smile, the young guy swaggered off toward the hallway that led to the kitchen. Seemed like a nice enough kid. Gah, was I really that old that I was referring to twenty-year-old men as kids? I shook my head and began chewing on my thumbnail as more important thoughts ran through my mind. If my folks had somehow gotten mixed up with the Iron Hammers, surely I would have noticed something. Wouldn’t I? I frowned as I thought back to before the attack. Dad had kept working long hours right up until his death. Why hadn’t I questioned that? And if he continued to work all those years, why didn’t they have more money? Surely Mom’s medical bills hadn’t been that much.

My imagination took off with the possibilities of what my dad had been doing all those nights and when the prospect approached me with a coffee I was grateful for the distraction.

“Thank you so much. What’s your name?”

I felt guilty for not already knowing it.

“It’s Jake, ma’am. I don’t have a road name yet.”

I gave him a smile when he blushed. “So how does that work? The road name thing. Do you pick your own?”

His face lit up and all traces of his blush vanished. “Oh, no. It’s given to you, you can’t chose your own.”

“I thought only the military did that.”

“Well, considering motorcycle clubs were originally created by vets returning from war, it makes sense there are some similarities between the two. Especially considering how many current brothers are either active duty or retired.”

That had me eying him from head to foot. He didn’t have the look of a man who’d served, but really, what did I know? “How about you?”

“Oh, no. I haven’t served. My pops did though. He was a Charon right up until he passed away a few years ago. He served with Scout, actually.”

A gasp slipped out before I could catch it. “You lost him young.”

“Um. Yeah, he didn’t fare as well as Scout and came back with some health issues that never healed up. Eventually he lost his battle. Sucks, but hey–that’s life, right? Shit happens.”

My gut told me it was mental illness that had taken Jake’s father and clearly the young man was still affected by the loss. It left me wanting to make him feel better.

“I lost both my parents three years ago. Murdered in our home. So I know all about what grief can do to a person.”

Jake frowned down at the floor for a minute, looking tense.

“Just ask me whatever it is, Jake. I’m pretty open.” And really, after telling the boy about my parents, what the hell could he be nervous about asking me?

“When Mac brought you down, you looked like you were out for the count. He didn’t hurt you did he?”

I smiled up at him. Such a sweet boy, he’d make some girl very happy in the future.

“Mac has never hurt me, Jake. When I found my parents, it triggered a couple of things in my head. I now suffer from narcolepsy and cataplexy.” He gave me such a blank look, I chuckled. “Narcolepsy means I’m always tired, and if I don’t take my meds, it’s hard to do anything but sleep all the time. Cataplexy affects my muscles and leaves me paralyzed for short periods of time. When it happens I can still hear and feel, I just can’t move and my eyes normally close so I look like I’m asleep.”

His posture relaxed and he smiled at me. “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

Lifting my coffee for a drink, I looked Jake in the eye. “You have no idea how much ‘not fun’ it can be.”