Beyond Shame (4 page)

Too close. Too intimate. "So let it lie, Declan," she urged, using his given name. "And apologize, for fuck's sake."

He moved fast, jerking her around to crash against the wall, her hands pinned next to her head. "Watch the sharp side of your tongue, Lex," he rumbled, voice low and dangerous. He loomed over her, his heat its own oppressive weight.

No room to move, breathe, nothing but
him
, everywhere. "Why don't
you
watch my tongue?" She started to slide down the wall. When she was halfway to her knees, he released her hands, sinking his fingers into her hair instead.

Hard didn't begin to describe him now. His erection jutted against his fly, jumping when she smoothed her palm over its length. "Do you want my mouth?"

Dallas growled and tightened his grip on her hair, skating the line between arousal and real pain. "Am I breathing?"

"Don't know." She hummed as she opened his pants and wrapped her fist around his dick. "You've got a strong pulse, though."

His head fell back as he pushed against her hand with another of those hungry, rough noises. "You going to teach your little stray how to do this? If she can get half as good as you at sucking dick, maybe she
will
get marked."

Noelle would wind up marked anyway, just as soon as she learned to let go a little. "I thought men liked the wide-eyed innocence."

"Men think they like wide-eyed innocence until someone like you swallows their cock down like she can't get enough of it." He forced her head back at a rough angle. "Or did you see something I didn't, clever girl?"

"Like Jasper showing off his protective side?" Lex teased her tongue over her lower lip. "Watch them together. You'll see."

"All the girls throw themselves on Mr. Hero. He lets them bounce on him for a little while, and then he bounces them right back off." A rock of Dallas's hips bumped the head of his cock against her mouth. "Goddamn, Lex. Fucking blow me already."

One quick lick, followed by a slower one, over and over in succession until his shaft gleamed wet enough to slide between her lips. Not too much pressure, not at first.

"Never enough," he growled, slapping one palm against the wall. His entire body shook with restrained hunger, but he didn't thrust against her mouth. Not yet.

Instead, he demanded with words. "Harder, Lex."

She complied, but only for a moment. Then she pulled away and stroked him with her hand.

"Tease." Pressing one thumb against her lips, he smiled slowly. "I think I changed my mind. I
am
saving my strength for tonight. I want a hell of a show."

Lex took a deep breath to ease the sharp pang of disappointment. "Maybe I won't bother."

"Oh, you'll bother." He stepped away and tucked his cock back into his pants. "I'll know you're really pissed if all I get to do is watch."

"Or I won't show at all." Even as she spoke, she knew the words for a lie. She'd go, all right, just to make him watch another man spend the night face down in her lap.

"We'll see. Up, Lexie love."

She rose, hunger still twisting in her belly. "Have fun trying not to walk funny."

Dallas gripped her chin and kissed her hard and fast, nothing but growls and teeth and gone a moment later. "The girl can stay as long as you keep an eye on her. Bring her around to Rachel. See if she's waitress material."

Rachel wasn't even waitress material. She should have been the one tinkering under the hood of that car outside, because God knew she was better at it than most of the men, including Dallas. "And the party?"

His smile was positively wicked. "Let's leave that to Jasper."

Lex held his gaze as she traced her index finger over the corner of her mouth and licked her fingertip. "Yes, sir."

Chapter Three

Bren slid into the back seat, but he left the door open and one foot on the ground. He never shut himself into a car until they were ready to roll. "We leaving now?"

"Waiting for Flash," Jasper muttered.

"Aw, shit. Did we check to see if he had his hand in Amira's pants? 'Cause that'll take all day."

Flash jerked open the front passenger door. "That's why I have a woman and you don't."

"Something you never let anyone forget," Bren drawled.

The third man folded his immense body into the front seat and grinned, looking entirely self-satisfied. "Marking that girl was the smartest move I ever made. You think the women are hot
before
they get the ink around their throats? You have no fucking idea."

Flash's satisfaction was a tangible thing, filling the scant space left in the car. Jasper started the engine. "Where's this place supposed to be?"

The man's smugness melted away, replaced by brisk, businesslike seriousness. "Over by the border with Five, just outside the second perimeter. I think they took over an abandoned church."

"Are they stupid or desperate?"

"Probably both."

Both
was dangerous. Jas pointed the car toward their destination. "Our orders from Dallas are to tear it down. Standard shit. This is their warning. If they rebuild, we tear
them
down."

"Standard shit," Bren agreed.

"Violence and mayhem." Flash grinned. "I hope someone takes a swing at me."

Jas unbent enough to smile. "And ruin that pretty face?"

"Didn't say I'd let them hit me." Flash clenched his fists. "I'm itching to deal a little damage. Property, people... Whatever gets in my way."

Bren leaned over the back of the front seat. "Save it for the cage. Pick up some extra money."

"Why, you going to climb in there with me?"

"Hell, no. But there's never any shortage of dumbasses who will."

"Chicken." Flash muttered the word, but there wasn't much heat behind it. He played for keeps in the cage and didn't relish facing off against the few men he actually liked. "So what's the deal with the new girl? Amira says she's like a baby deer in the woods."

Jas shifted gears as the car pulled free of the more congested, debris-scattered streets and gained speed. "Something like that." A woman desperate to find a place and a little bit of safety was more like it.

"I hope she takes to waiting tables. Maybe then Amira'll quit bitching that Rachel's got too much on her shoulders. She's pissed I won't let her work, but fuck if she's gonna haul trays around when she's pregnant with my kid."

"She could do something less physically taxing," Jasper pointed out.

"I don't want her around outsiders, either."

No, Flash wouldn't rest easy having her exposed to unknown dangers. "Amira's sharp. Dallas could probably use her help with paperwork. Keeping the books."

Flash grunted and glanced at Bren. "No smartass comments from you?"

"What? He's right." Bren shrugged. "Only questionable thing the woman's ever done is place her bets on a monster like you."

"Monsters always get the girls," Flash said, his haughty arrogance returning. "We're the ones who can keep them safe."

Safe.
Jas swallowed a growl. Amira wanted a damn sight more from Flash than that, and she got it—even if the man barely seemed to realize it. She always watched him with a mix of adoration and indulgence, and none of it had to do with his macho posturing.

As usual, Flash was oblivious. "Up here." He pointed to an intersection where rundown buildings sagged alongside burned-out warehouses.

Jas slowed the car and took a turn around the block. "Remember what I said, both of you. No blood."

"And if they hit first?"

"Then you do what you've got to do."

Bren checked his sidearm as Jas parked in a shadowed spot in the alley. "We've got it—no excessive force."

"No excessive force." Jasper jerked open his door.

Flash popped the car's trunk and pulled out a sledgehammer before falling in behind him as they headed for the side door of the warehouse. "Is kicking the door in excessive?"

"Come on, man." Bren stretched his neck and grinned. "Jasper's polite. He'd rather knock."

Flash tightened his grip on his makeshift weapon with an answering expression of mirth. "Good. That'll make the surprise bigger when I rip the place up. Go on, lover boy. Knock."

"You both talk too much." Jas shouldered through the door and watched as the men surrounding the copper monstrosity in the center of the room scattered. "Nice still, boys."

The leader cursed and dove for a gun, swinging it up to point at Jasper's forehead as chaos erupted behind him. "We're on the border between sectors," he snapped. "This isn't O'Kane territory."

Bren swore and reached into his jacket, but Jas held up a hand as he stared down the barrel of the gun. There had been a time when the sight had scared him, a time when that tiny little black space inside the muzzle had expanded to encompass the world, and he'd been so sure it could swallow him whole.

It still could. Jasper wondered idly where the fear had gone, then forced his thoughts back to the task at hand. "It's possible you don't understand what a non-compete clause is. I've come to explain it to you."

The gun barrel wavered. "What the fuck sort of fucking bullshit is this?"

"It's an opportunity," Jas said evenly. "A chance to start over someplace else."

The blond man hesitated, his gaze leaping to Bren and Flash and back. "We can't move our operation."

"Yes, you can." Jasper gripped the man's wrist and twisted until the barrel of the gun pointed toward the exposed steel rafters above. "Once we're done, you won't be operational anymore. Easy enough to move then."

As if to punctuate the point, Flash hefted the sledgehammer and swung it through a crate of bottles. Everything shattered, wood and glass alike, crashing to the ground.

Blondie cursed and tried to free his gun hand. "Fuck, you can't do that."

Jasper gestured Bren forward to check the tanks. "First warning's your only warning. Next time, Flash tosses that sledge through your face."

"Tanks are clear," Bren declared. "Looks like they're between batches."

Two of the men started forward when Flash lifted his weapon again. A snarl and bared teeth had them scrambling back, and Flash demolished their remaining supplies in an orgy of gratuitous destruction, the very recklessness of it its own message. O'Kane didn't need to steal supplies from competitors. O'Kane would just wipe them off the map.

Jas didn't release his grip on the leader's wrist, even when the man kept fidgeting. Instead, he spoke calmly. "You're going to let us walk out of here with no trouble and go set up shop someplace else. You're going to do it because nothing here is worth dying for. Yes?"

The leader rolled his eyes toward his men, who looked torn between rage and disgust. He could let Jasper walk away, but he wouldn't be leading anyone.

He knew it, too. Bravado and bluff filled his eyes. "There're more of us than there are of you."

"Yes, that's true."

He twisted fast, thrusting his free hand behind his back. Another gun. Jasper jerked the man's arm with a snap. "Don't."

The second gun spilled from nerveless fingers as Flash stomped across the floor, scattering splintered wood, glass shards, and cheap liquor across the cement. "Boss?"

"Back to the car. They've learned their lesson." He squeezed a little harder, and the bones in the leader's wrist ground together. "Haven't they?"

"Yes," came the pained, shaky whisper. "We're gone."

He released him and stepped back. "Don't forget—Dallas O'Kane doesn't do second chances."

No one tried to stop them as they left. No one said a damn word.

Back in the car, Flash heaved a sigh. "So much for a fight. What a bunch of limp-dick cowards."

Cowardice or intelligence, Jasper didn't really care what had motivated them. "Would you rather fight, Flash? All it takes for someone to get the jump on you is a split second, and Amira could be raising that kid alone."

"She'll never be alone," Flash shot back, "not while she's an O'Kane." He shifted on the seat with a growl. "Are you telling me you don't miss it, even a little? Having to
fight
to protect our territory instead of showing up and watching them all piss themselves?"

"Of course I miss it," Jasper muttered. If he didn't, he wouldn't spend so much time in the brawling ring and the cage. "But this is what we were fighting for. Enough recognition and respect to not have to spend all our time cracking heads to get the point across."

Bren spoke from the back seat. "He's saying you should get your ya-yas out some other way, 'cause this is the new standard operating procedure."

"Fuckin' hell." Flash grumbled for a few minutes more before subsiding with a sigh and switching back to his favorite topic. "The cage is better anyway. Amira gets fucking wild watching. You two don't know what you're missing."

Bren kicked the seat. "But you're gonna tell us—at length, whether we want you to or not."

How would Noelle react to the violence of the cage fights? Amira knew how members of the gang blew off steam and settled scores amongst themselves. Noelle, on the other hand, was used to pacifism. Civility.

And look where it got her,
a voice growled deep inside him.
Drugged and helpless, waiting to die.

Flash was still running his mouth. "Since when do you not like the dirty details? Or am I supposed to shut up 'cause the bleeding heart over here's got his panties in a twist? Honestly, Jas, why
are
you in such a fucking foul mood?"

"Because I have to deal with you. Isn't that enough?"

"Nah, I'm a laugh a minute."

Jasper didn't fight his grin. "Your face is."

"Least it's not my dick. Poor Bren."

Bren snorted. "Amira seems to like it okay."

Flash lunged, driving his hip into Jasper's arm as he swung at Bren between the seats.

Jasper swore and jerked the wheel to correct their course, but the left front bumper clipped an already-dented garbage can. "This is one of Dallas's new cars. He just got it running the way he wants it."

"Fucker." Flash settled on his seat. "I'll punch you when we're back home."