CHAPTER 16

Mac

The second Scout ended church, I was out of my seat and through the door. I didn’t give a fuck that the entire club was laughing at me and calling me whipped. Their woman hadn’t been taken out from under their noses the night before. I strode out to the main room and found her smiling and chatting with one of the younger prospects. I couldn’t think of his name, but so long as Zara’s look had no kind of sexual heat in it, I was happy.

“Hey, bunny.”

The prospect raised a brow at Zara.

“Like you said, Jake, nicknames are given, not chosen. And I definitely didn’t pick that one.”

I grinned as I sat down beside her. The lad’s cheeks had reddened with a blush.

“Keep that shit up and you’ll get pinned with Bashful or something, kid.”

Unfortunately for Jake, Bulldog came up behind him at that moment. “I like it. Bash works. We’ll all know it’s really Bashful, but you can hold your head up with a name like Bash.”

Jake stiffened and his eyes went wide as Bulldog slapped him on the back. I couldn’t help but chuckle, even as I apologized.

“Sorry, buddy. Didn’t see Bulldog behind you.”

“No problem. Bash isn’t a bad road name. I’m just not gonna tell anyone how I earned it.” The kid gave me a smirk and the way his eyes lit up at all the attention he was suddenly getting had me relaxing that I hadn’t pissed him off.

“Hey, Scout! Prospect’s earned himself his road name!”

“Yeah?” Scout strolled over, along with several other brothers. Poor kid looked like he was about to pass out. “What’d you land the poor boy with?”

“Bash. Because he’s so bashful with the way he’s fucking blushing and stammering over words all the damn time.”

Scout rolled his eyes with a laugh. “Yeah, he’ll get over doing all that shit in a couple of months and be left with the name to explain for the rest of his days. I like it. We’ll have a few drinks later to celebrate, but for now, all you lazy bastards have jobs to do, so go get to them.”

Zara stiffened beside me. “Oh, shit. What’s the time? I need to get changed and to Marie’s!”

I pulled her against my side and kissed her temple. “Babe, it’s Sunday. You don’t have anywhere you need to be. Relax and finish your coffee. We called Marie last night to tell her not to come over, and to let her know you were missing–”

Scout cut me off. “So naturally the woman was on my phone at the fucking ass-crack of dawn this morning asking about you. She’s going to be here any minute to see you for herself. Since, apparently, my word don’t mean shit.” Zara smiled sweetly up at Scout, which made the man frown. “Just ask me already, darlin’.”

“You intending on letting me work tomorrow?”

“Well, considering Marie threatened to stop serving all Charons if we cost her her best worker…”

That had my girl laughing. “I can totally see her going through with that one.”

Scout shook his head at my woman. “So can I. Hence, you get to go to work tomorrow, when I’d much rather you stay on lockdown here. Mac’ll be your bodyguard while you work. There’ll still be prospects outside the cafe keeping watch, but Mac’ll be inside with you and Marie all day. I’m not taking any chances until we got our hands on Sledge.”

Zara sighed, but thankfully didn’t argue. There was nothing she could do or say that would change the president’s mind. I was actually a little surprised Scout was agreeing for her to leave the clubhouse at all before we had Sledge dealt with. Guess Marie had more of a hold over him that I first thought. Zara finished her coffee, then moved to stand.

“Well, in that case. I’m going to go freshen up before Marie gets here.”

She sauntered across the room and Jake, sorry, Bash’s gaze followed her like a puppy whose master just left him behind. Kid had it bad. Good thing I didn’t pick up any kind of lust or sexual vibes coming off either him or Zara.

“Stop eyeing my woman, boy.”

Still, I needed to let the kid know I wouldn’t stand for him trying anything, just in case I missed something.

The poor kid mumbled something before he took off toward the bar, where he scooted behind it and started wiping down shit that didn’t need to be cleaned.

Scout laughed as he adjusted his bandana. “Quit messing with the poor kid. Like every motherfucker here, he’s well aware of who Zara belongs to. I’m outta here. Got phone calls to make. Don’t you let that woman of yours leave the damn building all day today, okay?”

“That’s the plan, Prez. Let me know what you and Keys find.”

I’d explained in church Zara’s theory about how, whoever had helped Sledge would most likely still be with him, and therefore missing. It was a great theory, except for the fact all our guys were accounted for. Maverick and his crew had taken the other two Iron Hammers we were holding, Trip and Chuck, with them earlier this morning. Maverick had agreed that I had the right to finish Sledge off, while they’d take care of the others for all the shit the Iron Hammers had done to their club. They’d left before Sledge went missing, so Scout was going to call Maverick to see if they were missing anyone. Because Maverick’s crew had brought a couple prospects with them–prospects that should have been out of the front last night guarding bikes when Zara had been taken, yet they hadn’t been there. If they had been, they would have ended up dead like our own prospects.

Keys was going over the video footage from last night through to this morning to see if the cameras had caught anything. Apparently, Keys had put hidden cameras in places no one knew about. And because he wanted to keep it that way, he’d put layers of security on the access to the feeds. It was going to take him a little time to get into the right files to download them. Not to mention the time it was going to take to scan each camera’s feed. Paranoid fucker was paying for his issues today.

After Scout left and the others headed out, I decided to head up and see how Zara was doing. Finding her freshly showered and dressed in only a lacy bra and panties had all my blood rushing to my cock.

“Fuck me, bunny. You are so beautiful.”

Even with all the bruises on her, she was still sexy as fuck. Tossing my cut and shirt on the end of the bed I came up behind her as she stood in front of a chair that she’d set her now-open suitcase on. Pressing my chest against her back I reached around her to slip my palms inside her bra. I grinned when her nipples instantly formed hard little points. With a shuddering sigh she leaned back against me, her head on my shoulder. I looked down her front, lifting her tits out of her bra so I could see as I tugged on her nipples. With a groan she started wriggling her ass against my rock-hard cock.

“Mac.”

Her breathy whisper pushed me over the edge. I had to take her, be inside her.

“Lean forward and grip the back of the chair.”

Like the good girl she was, she leaned over and wrapped her fingers over the top of the chair. I ran my palms down her spine, unclipping her bra on my way down. I wanted her to feel the sway of her tits with each of my thrusts. Taking a step back, I leaned down to take a bite of her lush ass.

She squealed and pushed up onto her tip-toes, making me chuckle. She really was sexy as fuck. Hooking a thumb into each side of her panties, I pulled them down and loved how she automatically lifted each foot to free herself from the scrap of lace.

Slipping my own foot between hers, I tapped her legs wider apart.

“You wet for me, bunny?”

“Uh huh.”

With a grin, I undid my belt and jeans, pulling a condom from the pocket before I shoved the material down to my knees. I was too keyed up to be fucked stripping them all the way off. I gloved up and, gripping her hips so she couldn’t move, I slid my cock in deep on one thrust. Fuck. Every single time was like heaven with Zara. I kept my gaze on where were joined, loving how her body sucked me back in on each thrust. After a minute, I couldn’t stand the burn any longer and sped up, pounding into her. With a groan, she slapped one hand against the wall to keep herself steady.

I reached around and wrapped a palm over each of her tits, giving them a squeeze before moving to tug on her nipples. A tremor ran through her body, letting me know how much she liked what I was doing, so I pinched her nipples again and gave them another tug, which earned me a groan and her pussy clenching down on my cock like a vise. Nice. I kept up the tit torture until I felt my balls tighten up, ready to blow. Releasing her nipples, I set one hand back on her hip, and the other found her clit and started working that hard little nub as I pounded harder and faster into her.

She came crying out my name as her body convulsed beneath me. The ripples of her channel against my cock had me going cross-eyed as I came inside her. Somehow, I managed to pull her back up against me before she crumpled to the floor. In the aftermath of coming so hard, I felt raw. Like she’d striped me bare. As my mouth ran off before my brain could filter my words, I was grateful she wouldn’t be able to respond.

“Fuck me, Zara. You fry my brain, woman. Fucking love you, babe. I want you to be my old lady, to wear my property patch. I know you’re not ready yet, but one day soon, you will be and the moment you are. I’m claiming you. For good. You hear me? You’re fucking mine, Zara. All fucking mine.”

Zara

Damn the man! He was using my weakness against me. Whispering the sweetest words while he knew I couldn’t respond. Then when I could, he made sure he had me on the move, not allowing me a chance to respond. I swore that one of these days, I’d tie him up and maybe even gag him so I could say a few things to him while he couldn’t respond. See how he liked it.

Of course, I couldn’t be too mad, considering he did confess to loving me, along with basically proposing to me. Sort of. At least, that’s what I understood an old lady to be–a biker’s wife.

“C’mon, Zara. Get that pretty ass of yours moving. Don’t want Marie mad–she’ll take it out on Scout, who’ll take it out on all of us.”

With a chuckle, I finished putting my hair up. I twisted to see each side of my bruised jaw. I thought about putting on some makeup but decided against it. Everyone here had already seen it and Marie would be able to see through any attempt I made to cover up anyhow. Easier to just let her see all my battle wounds now.

“What’s the deal between Scout and Marie?”

“No idea, babe. You’ll have to ask Marie, because Scout sure as shit won’t be telling us anything.” He paused for a second. “If you do find out anything, you’ll tell me won’t you?”

That made me laugh.

“Sure, babe. I’ll totally share any juicy gossip I hear with you.”

When I came out of the bathroom he was waiting for me. “Woman, are you laughing at your man?”

I went up to him, and pushing up on my toes, I pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Maybe.”

With a growl, he wrapped his hands in my hair and moved me so he could cover my lips with his. A shiver ran over me as I melted into my man. His kisses were lethal. So good. I closed my eyes and let all my thoughts float away as he deepened the kiss, his tongue dancing with mine.

When the kiss ended, I snuggled in against his soft t-shirt. With a contented sigh, I burrowed under his cut to get to his warmth. I could stay here forever, with his arms wrapped around me, holding me close against him. Keeping me safe.

“You know, you could try saying what you did earlier when I can actually respond to it. I mean, it’s a bit rude to ask questions when a person can’t answer.”

Mac’s arms tightened and his heart rate picked up speed beneath my ear.

“I don’t want to rush you, bunny. I can be patient.”

I ran my palms up and down his strong back beneath his cut, loving how his muscles moved under my touch, even as I wanted to shake him for being such an idiot.

“I don’t need a long time to know what’s in my heart, Mac. I’ve never felt like this before, never experienced the instant connection we have. I love you, and I can’t imagine anything that would change how I feel about you.”

He was silent for a moment, and I tried to pull away, afraid I’d pushed him too hard and ruined my chance at a future with him. Tears pricked my eyes as I struggled to get free from his embrace.

“Zara, stop it. Stop fighting me.”

A small sob slipped free as I stilled. He was so much stronger than me. I wasn’t going anywhere until he set me free. His arms released me but before I could get away from him, his hands ran up my arms until he had my face between his palms. He, thankfully, kept the contact light enough it didn’t hurt the bruising as I stubbornly refused to meet his gaze. Instead, I focused on the patches on his cut, while willing my stinging eyes to not let the tears fall.

“Zara, look at me.”

“I am.”

Yeah, even I knew I sounded like a grumpy toddler and wasn’t surprised when a growl rumbled from his chest.

“I need your eyes on mine.” He waited a heartbeat. “Now, bunny.”

With a sigh, and wince, I forced my gaze to lift to his, dreading what I’d see in his ice-blue irises.

When our gazes did meet, a lump formed in my throat. His eyes blazed with intensity.

“Just because I need a second to process something you say, doesn’t mean I’m rejecting you, sweetheart.” He paused and scrutinized my face as he swiped his thumbs gently under my eyes. Guess I hadn’t been very successful at stopping my tears from escaping.

He leaned down and pressed the most gentle, reverent kiss I’d ever received against my temple. “Zara, will you be mine? Wear my property patch and be my old lady?”

With a grin, I smoothed my palms up his chest until I could wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m already yours, Mac. Always will be. So, yeah, I’ll wear your patch.” I frowned as I thought of something. “Um, does this mean I get to wear a cut too? Or is the patch a tattoo? Because Silk has already tried to talk me into getting one, and I’m not sold on the idea.”

He barked out a laugh loud enough it echoed for a second. “If you want to get ink for me, you’re welcome to go for it. You’ve seen the cuts Silk and the other old ladies wear? On the back it has ‘Property of’ on the top rocker, then the name of their old man on the bottom one. They have another smaller patch on the front that says the same thing. I’ll have to order yours, and I’m not sure how long it’ll take. But I’ll see Scout about it this morning. I want my mark on you as soon as I can.”

I rolled my eyes. “Babe, I’m pretty sure your caveman antics have already made it perfectly clear to everyone in the club that I’m yours. Only yours.”

He grunted. “I’d like to make sure they all know.”

With a chuckle I nuzzled back in against his chest. His strong arms wrapped around me again and I took a deep breath and smiled at how good this felt.

Mac had claimed me.

I was his, he was mine.