Chapter 22
Kaleb ran a hand through his hair and blew out a steady stream of air. Damn, he needed to catch his breath before heading into round two. And he would. He was far from done with Suzi. Not that what just happened wasn’t hot as hell, but he wanted to take his time and enjoy her … make love to her. The animal had certainly come out at her suggestion to skip the foreplay. Not that he minded. Hell no, he had been so fucking horny that he thought he might just split his jeans as he stood in the doorway and watched her remove each article of clothing, leaving her in white lace.
Now? He wanted to watch her face as he brought her to another orgasm. Her suggestion at putting a light on, definitely worked for him, even though he could see well enough in the dark. The fact she didn’t seem to mind the way his face changed from its human form certainly pleased him. Hell, in truth, Suzi seemed turned on by his vampire side … and that he really liked. Most donors seemed unable to look him in the eyes once the change begun, as though they desired his human side and only tolerated his true nature. Not Suzi. Anytime she spotted the change in him, he could smell her desire rising. A smile came to his lips. Yeah, he really liked that.
Kaleb reached over and switched on the bedside table lamp, the soft glow filling the room. “Better?”
Her smile reached her eyes. “Better.”
He had put that grin in place, which charmed him more than he’d care to admit. Never had he seen anything more beautiful than when his little piccolo diavolo beamed at him. Damn, it cut straight to his heart. First order of business though, he needed to confess. She had to know he would never be so cruel as to toss her necklace carelessly along the side of the road. Time to stop trying to piss her off just to hold her at bay. He’d much prefer to have her sated, and lying naked in his bed.
“I have something of yours,” he said, drawing her attention from tracing the tribal art on his arm with her forefinger.
She looked up at him. “What’s that?”
Kaleb eased her to the mattress and rolled to his side, opened the drawer of the bedside table and withdrew the leather cord. “I believe this belongs to you. I never threw it along the road as I said.”
Suzi gasped. “You lied? Why?”
He tightened his hold on her, tucking her firmly against him, not wanting her to dash off because of his mean-heartedness. “Honestly? I didn’t want you to have it. I couldn’t stomach the thought of any one of the Sons having their mouth on you, to feed or otherwise.”
“What changed your mind?”
“You need to be the one to make that decision. I don’t own you, piccolo diavolo. That choice needs to be yours.”
Suzi slipped the necklace from his hand and dangled it above her before fisting it and looking back at him. “I don’t want to feed any of your brothers, Kaleb. Only you.”
“Seriously?” he said with a smile. “Does that mean you’re back to being my personal donor?”
Why the fact she chose to only feed him didn’t really matter, but it thrilled him nonetheless. Kaleb looked at the ceiling, more content than he had been in years. And although he accepted the fact that he enjoyed having her in his bed and his life, there still lay so much between them. Too much hate darkened their past. If he were going to keep her in his life, then he needed to come to terms with what happened … even if the pain of it killed him. It was time to let old hurts go.
“Can I ask you a question?” he asked.
“Sure.” Suzi hooked the necklace around her nape, the vial falling back to the hollow of her throat before giving him her full attention. “I have no secrets, Kaleb. I never have. You just never bothered to ask the right questions.”
Kaleb thought about what she said. He hadn’t bothered to question her at all and had only been too quick to accuse. “Ion … why didn’t you mourn his passing?”
Suzi sat up beside him, brought her knees to her chest and hugged them. “If we’re going to go there, then you need to know the truth, Kaleb. I’ll no longer lie or hold back anything from you. You have to promise me you won’t now accuse me of being untruthful and realize I have no reason to be. Deal?”
He nodded, too confused by her statement to comment anyway.
“I loved Ion. And Ion truly loved me. I know that. I also know that he told you he wanted to take me as his mate.”
Kaleb’s heart panged at the reminder, but he remained silent. What the fuck could he say? He couldn’t blame his nephew for wanting her.
Suzi swallowed before continuing. “It was never that kind of love, Kaleb. I never chose Ion over you. You were too busy parading women in front of me and breaking my heart that Ion became my rock. He was there for me when you weren’t.”
“I’m sorry … I never meant—”
“You did, Kaleb. You made it clear you didn’t want one woman. Or for that matter ever wanted to mate. And honestly, I couldn’t even fault you for that. Not when there were always so many women throwing themselves at you and vying for your attention. Ion kept me sane, treated me like I mattered.”
Kaleb growled, but said nothing in his defense. He had been an ass.
“As a friend, Kaleb. He never loved me the way you’re thinking. And I never had that kind of love for him either.”
“But you slept with him.”
“I won’t sit here and say that I’ve been celibate. I wasn’t going to wait around for you to come to your senses. You were usually too busy to notice me anyway. But no, to answer your question, I never slept with Ion.”
“Why not? He was a good-looking man.”
Another smile graced her face as though the mention of his nephew brought back good memories for her. “Ion was handsome. But he wasn’t you.”
“Me?”
Suzi laughed uneasily. “You can be pretty thick-headed at times, Hawk. It’s always been you. No man could ever live up to the damn pedestal I tried to keep you on. Even if you did fall off the thing more times than I care to count. But I did try to move on. I even propositioned your brother once.”
“Kane?” his voice raised. “I’ll kill him if he so much as touched you.”
“Down, boy.” She smiled, doubtlessly pleased by his show of jealousy. “He turned me down. At the time, I looked at it as just another failure. But in reality, it wasn’t Kane I wanted. I wanted to hurt you. I thought I could use Kane to do that. My plan backfired. He didn’t want me either.”
“Oh, I wanted you, sweetheart. Don’t mistake that.” Kaleb reached out, wrapped his hand about her calf, then ran it along the smooth flesh, just wanting to touch her. “So you used Ion to hurt me as well?”
“No, not Ion. It was the other way around, Kaleb. Ion used me.”
His brow furrowed.
“Ion helped me through a tough time. I was dying inside watching you with all your women. I could barely stand it.” Suzi drew her lower lip between her teeth, as though studying his reaction before continuing on. “He showed me how to survive without you and love myself because of the strong man he was. Ion lived with a dark secret, knowing his father, uncle, and all the Sons might very well turn their backs on him if they knew. And yet, he couldn’t change that part of his life, nor did he want to. In truth, Ion needed me as a cover, which was his reason for wanting to take me as his mate. Because I understood him, knew who he was inside and out, and loved him anyway.”
Part of Kaleb wasn’t sure he wanted to Suzi to continue. “What could be so fucking bad that Ion would feel the need to hide it from Kane or mw?”
Tears welled in her eyes and slipped down her face. “Kaleb … Ion was gay. He had a boyfriend, significant other, who he loved with all of his heart.”
Shock tore through Kaleb, making him dumbstruck. Not that Ion being gay would have made him love his nephew any less, just that Ion had hid it so well.
“When you told me Ion had died, I was numb. All I could think about was breaking the news to his lover, the one person Ion couldn’t live without. The real person he wanted as a mate … not me. I couldn’t break Ion’s confidence, especially in his death. I had to let you believe what you would because I couldn’t allow your memory of him to be tarnished. I lived with his secret to protect you and Kane. It was never my secret to tell.”
Suzi placed a hand over her trembling lips as she tried to hold back her sorrow. Her shoulders shook and tears wet her cheeks. Oh, for fuck’s sake! He really had been an ass. Kaleb sat and gathered Suzi into his arms, smoothing his hand down her back as her tears continued to fall, wetting his chest. How the hell had he been so blind? He had made Suzi suffer his anger and wrath for ten long years when she had deserved none of it.
In truth, he had been so fucking jealous of Ion. He had wanted to be the kind of man his nephew had been, and offer Suzi the one thing he never thought he’d offer to anyone … to be his mate. Even now he wasn’t sure he could be that man for her. His heart broke in two at the sound of her sobs, to know that she carried this grief and Ion’s secret for far too many years. Damn his nephew for being a coward and not trusting him or his father, and instead laying all that guilt on a young, innocent woman. No one should’ve had to carry his secret in life, let alone death. He should have manned up and trusted in his family that they would have loved him regardless.
Kaleb gripped her shoulders and sat her back from him. She used the heels of her palms to wipe away the wetness, her lower lip quivering adorably. Leaning down, he kissed her gently, not one of passion, but one of adoration. If he were honest, then yes, he loved this woman who had shown nothing but bravado and courage over the past ten years. The one person who had put her prejudiced aside to come see if he were indeed all right after nearly being beheaded. And he had accused her of being a cold-hearted bitch. What a selfish bastard he had been. He didn’t deserve this woman in his arms. His heart swelled and he knew how his twin must have felt when given the choice to save Cara’s life.
“I am so sorry, piccolo diavolo. You deserved better … you certainly didn’t deserve my wrath.”
“No.” She smiled through her tears. “I didn’t. And I wanted to hate you for it, only I couldn’t.”
“Thank the good Lord you didn’t,” he whispered, before covering her mouth once more and following her down to the mattress.
His dick hardened, needing to be inside her again. But this time, he’d make love to her and show her what his lips could not yet say. Maybe it was time to start thinking about a lifetime with her. Because suddenly an eternity without her scared the hell out of him.
* * *
Blinding white strobes flashed about the club, while rays of red, blue and green lights sliced like a saber sword through the fog-filled room. Ravers gyrated in what appeared to be slow motion from the strobes on the dance floor, most likely high on X. Grayson’s conversation with Draven had ended with allowing the barkeep to sell his stash over the course of the evening and to not peddle another pill or suffer the wrath of the Sons. In truth, due to Cara and Detective Hernandez’s little surprise Q&A the day before, Draven had been more than amendable. The Blood ‘n’ Rave had just gotten out of the pill pushing racket.
With the MC business now behind him, the real party had just begun. The Prodigy blared through the giant speakers hanging from the corners of the large dance floor, the bass drumming against his chest. He lived for this shit. Loud music, wild women and great whiskey. Let Kane and Kaleb fuck up their eternity saddling themselves to one woman. Of course, Kaleb had yet to take Suzi as a mate … but he would. He was as much of a fool as his twin.
Variety was the spice of life.
That Cowper dude knew what the fuck he was talking about when he coined that phrase. Grayson tossed back another shot of Jack, leaned against the polished bar and studied the small group of women dancing just for him. He’d always been popular with the ladies. Not that he was arrogant about it. Hell, no. He didn’t figure he was any different than any of his MC brothers, but the number of women surrounding him at any given time spoke for itself.
The ache in his gums told him he’d need to decide which of them would follow him upstairs to Draven’s private quarters and soon. He didn’t need his vampire self coming to light in front of the women when all of them weren’t wearing donor necklaces. His thirst wasn’t even his biggest issue at the moment, his lust was off the charts, largely due to the curvy redhead dancing at the front of the pack. Damn, but her dark blue, skinny jeans fit her ass like a glove. She was the same redhead Suzi had all but had a conniption fit over and swept her from his embrace and took her home before Grayson could sample a taste. Lucky for him, Kaleb kept Suzi’s ass busy tonight, because the redhead was number one on his list of contenders.
With her fiery red hair, she definitely stood out. Maybe he’d veer from his norm and enjoy a little one-on-one action tonight. He certainly wouldn’t mind spending some time getting to know this one. Not about to waste another minute, he crooked a finger at her, beckoning her forward. She smiled wide and sauntered in his direction, her hips swaying nicely in her tight jeans. He all but swallowed the piece of gum he chewed. Damn, but she was a hot piece of ass. Yeah, he definitely didn’t need any other woman fucking up his chance to get inside this one.
The redhead stopped just shy of touching him, looked up and grabbed the aviator style sunglasses perched on the top of his head, placed them on her cute little nose and smiled.
“What can I do for you?” she asked, just above the loud din of the music.
Her smile told him she knew exactly what she could do for him. He meant to take her up on it.
One of his brows inched upward. “I don’t know, doll. What can you do for me?”
Pushing the glasses up her nose using her middle finger, her grin widened. Damn, if he didn’t take that as a clear invitation. The small gesture hardened his dick as thoroughly as if she had gotten on her knees and licked the sudden ridge lining in his leathers.
“Truth of it? I’ve probably had way too much to drink.” She giggled. “I’m not sure I could answer that question without you thinking poorly of me.”
“Il mio dolce rossa, my sweet red, what’s your name?”
“Tamera.” She leaned in and nipped his chin with her even white teeth. “You can call me Tam.”
“Well, Tam”—he liked the way her nickname felt on his tongue, probably a bit too much—“how about you follow me up those stairs behind the bar so I can spend a little time getting to know you better? It’s far too noisy and crowded down here if you get my meaning.”
She leaned in, her breath fanning his ear. “Do you want to fuck me?”
This time, he did swallow his gum. Damn near choked on it. His dick hardened painfully. If he didn’t get her out of those super tight jeans and straddling his lap pronto, he might wind up not needing her at all.
Grayson leaned down, ran his tongue across the shell of her ear and said, “I do.”
She stepped back, fisted his black tee and pulled him in for a quick, but deep kiss. Her tongue shoved into his mouth and he tasted the sweet liquor she had consumed. Just as quickly, it ended, causing him to growl.
“Good. Because I really want to fuck you.”
Grayson picked Tamera up, and slung her over his shoulder, slapping the ass that was now at his shoulder level, earning him a giggle. Not wasting a moment more of time, he left the pack of women to stare in their direction as he ducked between the curtains and carried her up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Once inside the room, he deposited her back on her feet. Hell, her ballet flats had barely hit the floor before she pulled her dark green top over her head, leaving her standing in front of him in a black lace bra that left nothing to the imagination. Dusky rose colored nipples poked against the material vying for his attention.
Normally, Gypsy had always been the aggressor, but this woman… Wow! She took his breath away and more. He loved her boldness, reveled in it. Less he had to work for. Before he could even compliment her, she kicked off her shoes and pulled down her skinny jeans, stepping out of them. In nothing but a black lace brassiere and matching boyshort panties, her vivid green eyes looked at him expectantly.
She wasn’t tiny and slender like a lot of the women he slept with. No, this one stood at least five-foot-ten to his six-foot height. She had nice curves, not reed thin like some women. Man, she had a killer body. For the first time he felt rooted to the floor and unsure what the hell to do next. Well, he knew what to do, it’s just that this woman stole all reasonable thought from his lust induced brain.
“You going to stand there all day, handsome? Or you going to come over here and take advantage of what I’m offering up?”
His gaze traveled her long legs, up to the lace covered center, past her belly button, onto her D-cup breasts and landing on her donor necklace. Thank his lucky stars. His vampire self all but begged to be unleashed. Tamera was obviously aware of what he was and his change wouldn’t send her fleeing, nor would he have to hypnotize her into forgetting him. Not that he wanted more than one night. But he damn well wanted her to remember it.
He yanked his black tee over his head and sauntered toward her, her green gaze going to the ridge in his leathers. Had she actually licked her lips? If there were ever a woman his equal, this woman was it in spades. Before he could even so much as revel in the smoothness of her flesh, her hands had gone to his belt buckle and slid the leather free from the pant loops. Grayson chuckled. Hot damn!
“What’s the hurry, il mio dolce rossa? We have all night.”
Tamera leaned in, nipped the fleshy part of his ear, then soothed it with her tongue. “I don’t want the X to wear off.”
Shit! “What the hell did you just say?”
Grayson set her away from him and scowled at her. “How much have you had?”
“Just one pill.”
“You ever take X before?” If he fed from her it could cause her pulse to skyrocket dangerously.
“Only one other time.”
“Let me guess, the night you came back to the clubhouse and Suzi took you home.”
She nodded, her smile going wide. “Let me tell you. That sucked big time. Self-gratification isn’t near as good—”
Grayson gripped her shoulders. “And how much have you had to drink?”
She looked at him queerly. “Just two drinks.”
“What were they?”
“Long Island Iced Teas.”
Double shit! He knew Draven loaded those with shots. Had it not been for her size, she’d likely be flat on her back and comatose right about now. He grabbed her pants from the floor and handed them to her. “Get dressed, il mio dolce rossa.”
“Why?” Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m not about to take advantage of you. I like you … a lot. If you were anyone else…”
She placed her hands on her delectable hips. “I thought you liked your women wild.”
“Is that why you took the X? Because you thought I might prefer it?”
Tamera gritted her teeth. Grayson could tell she was trying to be brave, failing miserably. Finally, she said, “I can’t compete with the gorgeous women draped on your arms. My only way to get your attention was to lower my inhibitions and take what I wanted. Make you think—”
“You’re something you’re not?” he finished for her, his tone rising. “Get dressed, il mio dolce rossa. I’ll take you home.”
She ran her hands up his chest. His muscles screamed for her attention. But here he was, being a dumb ass and turning down what she offered. He had to be a fucking idiot. “Get dressed,” he repeated.
Grayson turned, strode to the sidebar and poured himself two fingers of whiskey. He quickly downed the shots, then poured two more. Just as he turned to see if she had done as he asked, he ran smack dab into her naked form. Instead of doing as he had asked, she instead rid herself of the lacy lingerie. Yep, she was most definitely a natural redhead. His hold on the crystal rocks glass slipped and the tumbler fell to his feet, breaking into large shards.
Tamera knelt quickly to help him pick up the glass, nearly falling over in her drunken and drugged state. Grayson reached out to right her at the same time she meant to steady herself, the glass shard in her hand forgotten, laying his forearm wide open. Blood pooled to the surface from the deep gash and ran down his arm in dark red tracks.
A curse left her lips. “I am so sorry.”
She held his arm up as though inspecting the deepness of the wound. But before he had a chance to tell her not to worry about it, he’d heal before they ever hit the club exit, she leaned down and latched on like a babe to a teat. Grayson gripped a fist full of red hair and pulled her free from his arm, his blood smearing her gorgeous plump lips. Oh, for fuck’s sake. His heart hammered heavily.
“Do you have any idea what the hell you just did?” he damn near roared.
Tears swelled in her eyes. “What’s the big deal? It was just a taste.”
Grayson slapped his forehead with his palm. Fuck me! The silly twit didn’t even know she had just saddled herself to him for all of eternity. He tipped his head back and growled, nearly taking the rafters from the building and no doubt heard above the music played below. How the hell would he ever explain this one to the MC? Tamera’s days as a human were now numbered, as was his bachelor status. She may have just mated herself to Grayson, but he’d be damned before he ever pledged her his fidelity.
Standing, he walked back over to her clothes, and threw them at her. “Get dressed, il mio dolce rossa. Looks like you’re coming with me to the clubhouse … and not for the reason you think. Because, now … you’d be the last person I’d ever want to fuck.”