Sage

Crack! The first slap of the leather crosses her creamy skin just below her pitiful excuse for shorts, leaving bright red in its wake. I don’t put my whole strength behind the blow, but still, I make them sting. “Count them,” I growl when she doesn’t start, not knowing why I instructed such a thing. I wait for her to shout out, “One!” before slamming the second down. It lands in the same place as the last, and she does as instructed.

“Two!” Her voice is already wavering.

“Your shit little attitude is going to get you into trouble.” Smack!

“Three…” She’s quieter this time. I deliver the next one, and the next, stopping when she calls out, “Five!” Her heart rate has picked up, much like mine, but for different reasons…I think—until she starts to rub her legs together and I smell how aroused she is. 

I couldn’t get this hard the other night with Bex, but now, with the twenty-year-old daughter of my best friend who’s in a coma—my dick is rivaling steel. Brook shifts just enough to glance back at me. Her face is flushed and she doesn’t have tears in her eyes like I expected. Instead, she’s staring back at me with a fire I stupidly ignited by whipping her tight little ass with my belt.

“More.” Her voice is a small, needy whisper, and it makes my cock surge. I’m still. Can’t fucking move while she looks up at me with those pleading eyes. Fuck me hard and spank me even harder, they say. “Please, Sage. Spank me.” My hand, of its own volition, raises again, still clutching the belt in my grip. Before I come down, my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. Instantly, I’m up and away from her.

I check it quick to see it’s Rock, then step outside to answer. “Pres.”

“No easy way to say this, brother. We lost Gin five minutes ago.”

“The fuck?” A cold fist punches me directly in the gut, and I damn near can’t hear the words Rock says next from the pulse pounding in my ears.

“He went into cardiac arrest just minutes ago and they couldn’t resuscitate. He’s gone, Sage.” He pauses for a moment. “I need to get Ellie down here to tend to Grace. She’s going ballistic. You good, brother?” I nod, then realize he’s going to need words.

“Yeah. I’ll let Brook know.” With that, the call ends, and I’m left standing on the deck in the cooling night air. I never once thought about the possibility of Gin not pulling through this. He is the toughest out of all of us—the only Rider who survived the shootout. They charred off part of his face for fuck’s sake. Now, he’s fucking gone, all while I was getting off on beating his daughter’s ass. Goddamn, I’m going to hell. I wouldn’t be surprised if his first stop would be to haunt my ass.

I turn back to the door, but find myself not wanting to go in. I know she’ll be there looking at me with all kinds of questions and even more of her shitty attitude. I need to, though. This is why she’s here, isn’t it? For her dad. “Fuck.” I scrub at my chin before gripping my hand around the doorknob. I step in slowly to see her standing there staring at me, eyes already red-rimmed. Shit.

“He’s gone, isn’t he?”

I nod.

“I guess…” She sniffs and wipes away a stray tear. “How’s Grace?” she chokes out.

“Ellie is headed to the hospital to take care of her. She’s not good.”

She nods. “Good. That’s good.” I take a step closer, but she backs away, holding out her hand for me to stop as she shakes her head.

“Brook.” I try to sooth her, but her breathing starts to pick up.

“I didn’t—oh god…” Her breaths come faster and faster as she clutches a hand to her chest. I hurry over to her side as she drops to the sofa and push her head between her legs, trying to get her to calm herself. “He didn’t…”

“Shhh. Calm down, kid. Breathe,” I tell her, still holding her down until her breaths starts to even out. She’s still crying, but at least she can breathe without struggle.

“I shouldn’t have left!” she wails, tears streaming down her face. “He said if I left I wasn’t welcome back.” More tears.

“He was a hard ass, that’s for sure. I know he loved you, though, Brook. Even after you left.”

She lets out a hard, forced laugh. “Oh, yeah, I bet. I bet he was happy to see me leave.”

“Then tell me why the hell he would have Rico keep tabs on you and give him daily updates? How do you think it was so easy for me to find you? He knew right where you were.” She might be shocked, but doesn’t let on. “It took me, Jake, and Rico to hold him back when he found out where you were working. He was bound and determined to go down there and haul your ass home. Grace was the one who wouldn’t let him. Said you would come home when you were ready.”

“I wasn’t ready, and I took too long.” She shakes her head. “What fucking bullshit!” she yells, getting up from the couch and stomping to her bag where she pulls out a phone.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m calling a cab. I’m going back. I can’t stay here. He’s gone now, there’s no reason to…” I’m on her quick, taking her phone away and tossing it into the wall, not caring if it smashes into a million pieces. “What the hell!” Her anger now directed toward me, she comes my way full force, slapping my chest, and I let her. She’s grieving, and we all have our own way of doing so. My way will be drowning myself in a bottle of bourbon as soon as I leave this fucking guest house. “Why did you bring me here!” she yells, collapsing onto my chest, her tears soaking though my shirt under my cut. She grips the leather in her hands and pulls, breathing hard and fast. “Why?”

“‘Cause you needed to be here.”