Ash was beat. They’d stood outside that clubhouse in Oakland for what seemed like hours, listening to Ogre deny they had anything to do with Tex’s beating, or that he had any ideas who might be behind it. Wolf didn’t seem to believe him. At the very least, the boss thought that Ogre knew who might be behind it. Ogre was trying to insist they were set up, but he couldn’t give them any ideas as to why or by whom.

After they left the Impalers club they’d spent hours on the streets talking to everyone from gang-bangers to prostitutes to homeless people, trying to get a lead on who might be out to get the club. No one seemed to like them and by the end of the day they had about a thousand suspects...but nothing very viable. Whoever had done this to Tex wasn’t just looking to get at Ogre and his club, it was also a personal attack on the Westside Skulls...and they had to find the common denominator.

The men had gotten back to Fresno at almost midnight and while some of them went belly up to the bar in the great room, Ash was headed upstairs to his own room to pass out. He’d just hit the bottom step when Sledge came out of the office and stopped him. “Hey, man, Mack’s here.”

“What the fuck? Here as in California?”

“No, man, here as in at the club. Blair had the girls make a room up for her. She’s asleep...I guess...in the green room.”

Ash came back down off the stairs. “What the hell is she doing here? Who let her in?”

“I did,” he said. “Ash, Charlie ran away, and she’s been missing since last night.”

Ash felt the color drain out of his face. “Mack thinks she came out here?”

“She doesn’t know. But she does know that Allison told the police you were probably harboring her, and the Fresno PD will undoubtedly be knocking on our door as soon as she becomes an official missing person. I have to tell Wolf, but I wanted you to know what was going on first.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, that’s how I feel about it too. I’ll go talk to Wolf now. You might want to talk to Mack.” Ash already had his phone out. He was going to try Charlie first. Maybe she’d answer for him. He thanked Sledge and headed upstairs as he pressed in Charlie’s number. He was almost to the top step when it rang once and went straight to voicemail. The robotic voice told him the mailbox was full and suddenly he had a very sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew how teenagers felt about their phones, he’d witnessed his little sister with it glued to her hand. When it rained, it fucking poured. He stood there for a second, looking toward the green door at the end of the hall. He didn’t want to deal with Mack tonight...but he didn’t really have a choice.

Ash didn’t knock softly. He lifted his fist and banged it against the wooden door. He heard the sound of Mack’s feet hitting the floor and then a few seconds later, the door was pulled open. His body felt like it was instantly dehydrated. His mouth was drier than the Sahara Desert and nothing seemed to be moving through his veins. Mack was dressed in a long t-shirt that covered everything except for the bottoms of her thighs, and her knees and calves. But it hugged her curves nicely and even in the dim light, he could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath it. Her light brown hair was disheveled, like she’d been asleep, or—in his perverted mind—she’d just had sex. Her pretty eyes were bloodshot and there were dark rings underneath them...but even in spite of that she looked sexy as hell. He had to work up enough moisture in his mouth to be able to speak. When he did he said:

“What the hell is going on, Mack?” She took a step back and opened the door wider, so he could step inside. The first thing he noticed about the room he’d been in hundreds of times was that it now smelled like Mack. She’d always had a smell all her own. While the other girls at school smelled like whatever designer perfume was in that week, Mack smelled like something that floated in softly on the wind and caught you off guard. Every time Ash got a whiff of freshly bloomed flowers when he was out riding his bike...he thought of her.

She closed the door and said, “Charlie ran away.”

“I heard. What’s being done to find her?”

Mack sat on the bed and folded her legs under her. Ash wondered if she knew how sexy she looked. He wondered if she was trying to entice him. He almost laughed at his own ridiculous thoughts. Women fixed themselves up when they were trying to seduce a man. Mack looked like she’d been to hell and back recently...and he couldn’t figure out why she was still completely turning him on. “She and Allison got in a fight. Allison wouldn’t tell me what about except to say it had to do with money. She says Charlie stole whatever cash was in your dad’s safe in the study.”

“Stole? She put it like that? Dad left everything to Charlie. That’s her money.”

Mack nodded. “I know, but yes, that’s how Allison put it. She only called me because she wanted me to call you and see if she was here. I told her that I knew you wouldn’t just take Charlie in without letting anyone know, but that just pissed her off more. She called the cops and they did a report and put the word out that she was a runaway and ‘at risk,’ but when Allison insisted they reach out to the police here, the detective told her they’d have to wait a couple of days to see if she came home first. If not, then he’d get her info into the missing persons database and contact the Fresno PD.”

“And you came all the way out here to tell me this? Why?”

“I got your number from the lawyer and I was going to call you...but telling you your sister was missing was bad enough; I also had to tell you Allison was accusing you of things, and she was going to send the police out...I just felt like I owed it to you to tell you to your face.”

“Hmm, that’s new.”

“Oh, fucking knock it off!” Ash was surprised when she yelled at him and it made him a little angry too. She just acted like he was supposed to forget everything and forgive her.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” she said, standing up. She was five feet nothing without her shoes, and Ash was over six feet tall. But Mack got close enough to him that her smell was almost overwhelming and with her chest pushed out and an angry look on her face she said, “I said, knock it the fuck off. Quit being such a pussy and get over it. It was five fucking years ago and I didn’t come here for more of your abuse. I came here to help you find your sister.”

“Did you really just call me a pussy?”

“Yeah, I did. I’m sick of this, Ash. You have no idea what I had to put up with for not showing up at that wedding. You have no idea what I’ve been through. So, I’d thank you to keep your feeling sorry for yourself to yourself. I’m done feeling guilty. I’ve apologized and if you can’t forgive me and move on...then I guess it’s just your own fucking prob...” Ash stopped her, with a kiss. It was an angry kiss and she returned it in kind. The entire time he was kissing her his mind was reeling. He didn’t know if he was pissed as hell, or turned on. She’d just called him a pussy. If she’d been a man, he would have knocked her the fuck out for that. Any other woman, he would have walked away, and kept walking. But it was Mackenzie and her verbal abuse had turned him on. Maybe he was so horny he’d just lost his damned mind. He suddenly realized what he was doing and pushed her away. She was gasping for air and he could see the same lust on her face that he knew was on his.

“I don’t forgive you,” he said, not sure if he wanted to convince her, or himself. “But don’t you ever fucking call me a pussy. You have no idea what I’ve done with my life.”

“You’re right,” she said, in a raspy, sexy voice. “And you have no idea what I’ve done with mine. I think it’s probably time for you to...” She started to turn her back to him and on impulse he reached out and took her arm in his hand. She let out a little startled cry and he let go of her.

“Fuck...I’m sorry.” He didn’t know what the hell was wrong with him. He turned toward the door of the room and when his hand was on the handle she said:

“You don’t like me anymore, I get that. But if you want to fuck me tonight, Ash...I’m all in. I could use a stress release.”

In shock, he turned and looked at her. “Seriously?”

“Why not? I’m sure you have no-strings-attached sex all the time, right? Why not with me?” This offer seemed so unlike Mack to him...but did he really even know her any longer? Maybe he never really knew her. Maybe she’d left him because the sex wasn’t satisfying...and she’d found someone who could quell that beast inside of her, the one that seemed to be looking out at him now from behind her sexy blue eyes. He knew he was wasting his time fighting this. He wanted her, and she was offering herself to him...maybe he’d show her what she was missing. Without saying a word, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her snugly up against him, causing her to let out a big gasp of air. But she didn’t pull back or resist. Her hands slid up his arms to his shoulders and he felt her grasp onto him. He’d wanted to feel that for so fucking long that he had to fight a whirlwind of emotions that raced through him. He was going to fuck her...that was it, no feelings, no emotions, no broken hearts, no strings.

Mack was massaging his shoulders with her fingers, hard, digging them into his flesh. He dipped his head and caught her lips, kissing her hard, biting at them, sucking her tongue as far into his mouth as he could get it. Her mouth was warm and wet and sweet...she tasted so fucking good. Meanwhile his hands began to explore her body. She’d filled out in places, matured, since the last time they’d been together. He let his hands slide down her back and settle on the cheeks of her butt. Through the t-shirt and whatever panties she had on underneath, he could feel the firm but soft flesh. He massaged it through her clothes while they kissed and while he did that, he felt her hands pushing his t-shirt up and beginning to explore the muscles and skin on his back and then around front to his chest. Her touch was like an electric current running from her fingertips straight through his body and settling in his cock. He told himself he was just horny...he’d been horny...this wasn’t about Mack. This was about passion that came from the ugly feelings that lay between them and he was going to fully enjoy it...he deserved it, she owed him at least that much.

She had his shirt up underneath his arms. He stepped back and pulled it off. When his hands went to his belt, he watched her slide the t-shirt she was wearing up and over her head. He thought his mouth was dry before...fuck, she was fucking gorgeous. She had on a pair of black stretchy boy shorts that outlined the lips of her pussy and hugged the tops of her thighs. Her legs were fucking hot...not skinny like some of the girls he fucked, but not an ounce of fat on them either. She definitely worked on her body, and it showed. Above those boy shorts was a flat stomach, almost defined with muscle, and the most delicious-looking set of breasts and nipples he’d ever seen. He hadn’t forgotten them. They were always one of his favorite parts...but to see them in the flesh again took his breath away.

Ash finished taking off his pants, and still wearing his shorts with a huge tent in the front of them, he grabbed her again. He wanted to feel her body pressed into him and when he did, he felt his body convulse of its own free will. Her hard nipples bored into his chest while the rest of her breasts crushed into it. His hands were on her back again, this time sliding down onto the top of the little shorts and then down inside of them. Before long, his hands were gripping onto her full, sweet, sexy, hard ass.

Ash walked her backwards to the bed and when the backs of her knees hit it, he pulled his hands out of her shorts and used them to pull them off her. He pushed them down to her ankles and she stepped out of them. They were wet...he could feel it...and a feeling he’d never had before came over him and he brought them up to his face and inhaled her. He saw her shiver as she watched him and then he felt her hands on his cock, touching him through the fabric of his shorts. She was using her fingers, running them up and down the length of him and pausing on the tip. It felt amazing and for a second he just closed his eyes and let himself feel.

At last, opening his eyes as he realized she was sliding her hand down in his shorts and he just might come already if she touched him, he pushed her back onto the bed and almost dove on top of her, taking one of her nipples into his mouth, attacking it. He sucked it hard. He licked it, pressing down against it with his tongue and letting the passion and the urgency he was feeling flow through him as he did, letting it drive him...like adrenaline almost. He moved over and sucked and licked the other wildly, even nibbling at her nipple and making her moan as her hands went up to his hair and she pulled him in closer, holding his head to her chest in a silent cry for more. He gave her more, getting even rougher as she arched her back up off the bed and her breathing sounded loud and strange, and the noises she was making were sending tingling sensations to every nerve in his body.

Finally, he let his mouth slide down over her belly and land on her mound. He sucked her flesh into his mouth and looked up at her. She was watching him with so much desire in her eyes that the look alone sent him soaring to the edge. He moved his face downward as she opened her thighs and he dove into her pussy. For five years he’d held onto the memories of what she tasted like and how she felt...but those memories and even his fantasies didn’t do any of this justice. She was delicious, and just the way she reacted to him was an incredible fucking turn-on. She whimpered and squirmed and pushed his face down...getting more excited when he used his teeth, when his hands dug into the flesh of her ass as he held her up off the bed and licked and sucked at her clit and that sweet, sweet pussy. His cock was pressed into the bed and he had to rock himself back and forth to somewhat relieve the pressure and the ache there. He was dying to be inside of her...but he wasn’t ready for this to be over...not by a long shot.