CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Starlet
I managed to keep down two bowls of cereal, watch a movie with Angel and Juanita, and take a shower by myself without going crazy from worry over Brick. Now it’s eleven PM and he’s still not back yet. The rest of the compound is eerily quiet—all the old ladies and kids are asleep. Looking out the only window in Brick’s room, I can see a couple of the brothers who are on watch duty. One of them is carrying an AK47, a definite sign of how dangerous this situation has become.
I sigh and let the curtain fall back into place.
There’s so much to be thankful for. First and foremost, Brick. I can’t believe he claimed me. Regretfully, I can’t remember that moment. Does he truly love me, or did he do it out of guilt and obligation? Not that it really matters, I belong to him now, with or without mutual feelings. I can live with it, but can he? Will he resent me sixth months from now? What about three years from now? What if he meets another woman and falls in love with her? I fist my hands at my sides, wishing I could turn off my overactive imagination.
Having already tried to fall asleep a couple of times, it’s useless to try again.
I quietly open the bedroom door and gaze down the hallway. Juanita is asleep in the room across the way and I don’t want to wake her—she’s been through enough. Her boyfriend is staying at her house until she gets back. I shake my head at the web of sorrow and trouble my life has created.
Placing blame on my father would be the easy way out. But somehow, after sitting here alone for a couple of hours, I’ve had a chance to glean through my memories. I should have stood up for myself a long time ago. The first time Sammy made me transport drugs over the border. The first time I watched him beat another member’s old lady. So many lost opportunities to protect myself and others. Which makes me a coward.
Just as I’m about to step out, I hear the rumble of multiple bikes outside. I close my eyes, Brick is back. I shut the door and run to the bathroom to check myself in the mirror. Do I still look terrible, like I haven’t slept in weeks?
Surprisingly, no. My coloring has returned and my green eyes are bright and aware, just like my body. Aware that the man I love is just a few feet away. Chills spiral up my spine, raising gooseflesh on my arms. What’s wrong with me?
Heavy footsteps sound in the hallway and I turn the light off in the bathroom, frozen in the doorway. This is the moment I’ve waited for—my one chance at a new life. Not that I ever imagined it would include another biker. But it does.
The door to the bedroom opens…
“Starlet?”
I stare, stunned silent.
“Starlet?” he calls again, stepping deeper inside the room.
He finally sees me and opens up his arms.
Without hesitation, I run to him, and he scoops me up. “Jesus, sweetheart.”
I hold on for dear life, praying he’s real. “Brick—I-I…”
He pulls back. “Shhh. Right now, all I want to do is feel you in my arms.” He tugs me back against his chest. I’m thankful he won’t see the tears trailing down my cheeks.
After what seems like forever, he slips out of my embrace and sits on the edge of the bed, ready to take his boots off. I kneel in front of him, doing the honors. I owe him so much—and this is a demonstration of pure love and respect. He starts to say something, perhaps to stop me.
“Let me do this, please.”
“Okay.”
Once his shoes are off, I guide him back on the mattress, then unbuckle his belt and unzip his jeans. With a little help, I strip him down to his boxers. He sits up again, and I remove his cut, folding it in half and placing it on top of the dresser. Brick removes his own T-shirt. I’m standing a couple of feet away, and our gazes lock, my heart about to explode with emotion.
“I’m so grateful, Brick. So very grateful and equally sorry.”
“Sorry for what, sweetheart?”
“For putting you in danger, for forcing you to make a choice between me and your patch. I understand if you want to change your mind. If you don’t want an old lady.”
He sighs and places his palms on his knees. “Do you think so little of me, baby?”
“Of course not!” Why would he ever think that? “You were caught up in the moment, overwhelmed by emotions. I know you care.”
“I care, huh?” He rises to his full height and I feel so small, so insignificant. “Is that what you think, Starlet? All you can come up with?” He closes the distance between us but doesn’t crowd me or touch me, though I want him to.
“I don’t understand, Brick?”
“Austin. Say it, Starlet. Say my name.”
I avoid his beautiful eyes, knowing guilt is what motivated him to claim me. “Austin,” I whisper.
“Say it again,” he growls.
“Austin.”
“Fuck!” Brick sweeps me off my feet and carries me to the bed. He arranges me on my back, then straddles me, his intense stare warming me from head to toe. “I wasn’t caught up in anything but my deepest feelings for you, Starlet. Pure love, how proud I am to own your heart. No guilt, no pity. Just deep love, baby. The kind a man is willing to die for.”
Stunned, I blink my eyes, fighting more damnable tears.
“Nothing to say for once?”
I shake my head.
He gives me a crooked grin, revealing the boyishness I adore. “I loved you the night we met, Starlet. Before we checked into the hotel. Something about your crazy hair color and those cowboy boots. The way you talk and move that perfect ass. I love you. Can you live with that?”
I latch onto his arm, then cup his face, loving his stubbled cheek. I’m so happy—so incredibly overjoyed I want to scream. “I can live with it.” I should have never doubted him.
“Good.” He lifts my arms above my head, then lowers his forehead to mine. “I want you, baby. All of you this time.”
As he slides down my body, removing my panties, I close my eyes and wait for the feel of his tongue and fingers between my legs. Our connection is so potent, so strong, so real. I spread my legs and he kisses me between the thighs before he moves upward again, staring down at me. “Time to lose the top.”
I lift myself up and he removes the T-shirt. We’re both naked now, skin-to-skin, heart-to-heart. There’s no more barriers, no more pride and stubbornness preventing us from being together. We’re our own worst enemies, really. Not Silver. Not the Devil’s Crusaders. Just our tortured pasts. But the similar histories we share, that pain and unbearable suffering we experienced as kids, brought us here, to this very moment in time. This is our only chance to take what fate has offered us, a new beginning. I should know, I read it in my tarot cards a hundred times—prayed for it every night.
Our tongues meet in a tangled frenzy—hunger driving us both. His strong hands lift and squeeze my breasts together, his thumbs circling over my aching nipples. I arch into him, my core throbbing with need. “Austin…” I squeak out his proper name, something that seems to turn him on whenever we make love.
He caresses my face, positioning his erection at my opening. “You’re mine, Starlet. Forever. I killed for you, baby. And I’ll do it again to keep you safe, to keep you here with me.”
With one furious thrust he fills me. I shatter beneath him, my long fingernails raking down his broad back, leaving claiming marks on his skin. Pumping his hips mercilessly, I orgasm in record time. He smiles against my lips and then pulls out of me.
“Wait!” I yell out, wanting him to share the pleasure, wanting him to cum inside me.
Instead of satisfying himself, Brick buries his face in my pussy, sinking his thumb and tongue inside me, seeking a second orgasm. I writhe against his face, grabbing a fistful of the sheet, struggling to hold on to what control I have left. My whole body is in sensory overload, my nerve endings on fire. “Brick, please…”
He doesn’t stop, but increases the pressure on my clit, sucking harder, moving his thick thumb in and out faster.
Please…
I explode, breathless and wanting more.
Brick sighs in satisfaction, then flips me over. The man can have whatever he wants, can do whatever he wants to me. Instinctively, I go up on all fours, bracing one palm against the headboard, another on the mattress. The first slap to my ass is soft and warms my cheek, the second is harder.
“Say my name, Starlet.”
“Austin.”
“Tell me what you want,” he demands hoarsely.
“Fuck me, please.” He runs a teasing finger up the crack of my ass, and I squirm impatiently, wanting more of him.
“You’re a greedy little thing, Starlet Vega.”
“It’s your fault.”
“Is it?”
I look over my shoulder. “Sure is.”
He chuckles, then gives me what I’ve been begging for, taking the edge off my endless hunger by filling me again. The sweet friction from his cock rubbing against my clit as he thrusts in and out of me makes me dizzy.
That faraway pulsing starts again, slowly building, the heat radiating up from my belly and spreading to my arms. I can’t believe it… “Brick.” I’m going to cum again.
Without needing to explain further, he reaches between my legs and teases my clit as he pumps his hips faster and harder.
“Starlet … what the fuck?” He leans over me, locking his arm around my waist as his body convulses.
We peak together—my energy sapped, my mind close to shutting down from sheer exhaustion. Seconds later, Brick pulls out of me and I collapse on the bed, face down. He crawls next to me, lying on his side, tracing the contour of my back with his fingertips. “Sleep, baby,” he says. “I’ll wake you up in a few hours. I want more.”
His words make my insides tingle with need again—though I wonder how it’s physically possible. I’m actually sore, but don’t care. I give him a sleepy smile. “Thank you for loving me, Brick.” I close my eyes, finally content, able to sleep without fear.