CUT (New Adult Dark Romance) (11 page)

They’ll keep me safe…
I thought to myself, pressing my arm back down on the gun I had tucked away.

I’ll keep myself safe.

No matter how much I kept telling myself that, I couldn’t stop thinking about the blades in my bag. Why had I taken them? What the hell was wrong with me?

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"For a minute there I thought maybe you ran off with my girl," Black shouted over the roaring engine as we rolled into the warehouse. Acre gave me another pat on the leg as I swung open the big door and hopped out, landing on my feet. "Looks like you travel light…” Black continued, nodding at my pair of small bags.

"I… Um… It’s fine,” I replied, smiling as best I could. Part of me wanted to run to him, to break down and tell him everything I'd seen in the apartment. The other half of me just wanted to be held…

I felt embarrassed and lost, my cheeks flushing red as Black stared at the small bag. Thankfully, Acre broke the silence. “Crazy bastard pissed on her clothes like some kind of animal. We grabbed what we could, but she’s gonna need to stock up if you’re keeping her here.”

“I’m sorry sweetheart,” Black said, closing the gap between us. His hand came down lightly on my cheek, the toughened fingertips sliding under my chin and drawing it up, forcing me to look him in the eye. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“You promise?”

I held my breath as his head came down to mine, capturing my upper lip between his. My hands wrapped around his chest, my body falling into his embrace. By the time the world came back into focus, a few lewd hoots and whistles were coming from the long bar at the far side of the room.

“What was that for?”

“Can’t help it sweetheart… Your lips make a little pink heart that drives me crazy,”

“Kiss me again.”

"Anything for my lady," Black replied, pulling me in harder this time, our tongues fencing between needful lips as the warmth of his chest drew into me as if I were drawing the life straight out of him.

"Now, what say we go get you some clothes?"

"Just you and me?"

Black smiled, grabbing my bag from Acre and pulling me by the hand. "Yes Kattlyn, just you and me."

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I guess the last thing I expected in the middle of this crazy day was to go on a shopping date with the leader of the Rampant, but here I was sipping on a margarita in a little Mexican restaurant near the outlet malls. The drive up had been beautiful, climbing into the mountains east of San Diego in Black’s long and low Jaguar. It was almost like flying without a care in the world.

“Would you care for another?”

I looked up lazily at the waitress, then back down to the oversized margarita glass. “Yes, please,” I replied, smiling widely.

Black had left me alone for a moment. He’d been at my side all afternoon helping me pick things to wear. I’d even done a little modeling for him in one of the dressing rooms. For once, I felt comfortable in my own skin. When Black looked at me, he wasn’t looking at the scars...

My body flushed red as I shifted my thighs. Black had been particularly fond of a skirt I tried on and in his haste to demonstrate his sudden interest, he destroyed my panties and left them in tatters on the floor… The skirt was still on, he told me to wear it out, but Black wouldn’t let me put anything on underneath.

He’s dangerous.

My thoughts were filled as much with fear as they were with desire. Black, the ultimate bad boy, a cage fighter, leader of the Rampant… He held a phone to his ear standing in a quiet corner and I could see the tension as he spoke quietly to someone on the other end of the line. Something important was happening. Still, Black hung up, pressed the phone back into his pocket, and returned to the table smiling.

“Is everything ok?” I asked as he sat back down.

“It’s fine Kattlyn, just business.”

I wasn’t sure of Black’s sincerity; something had certainly seemed to be a problem when he took that call. He’d been on damage control all afternoon, sending off text messages and making phone calls in between our little shopping trip. To anyone outside our little world, they might have seen a pretty blond and her big tattooed boyfriend having a little fun. Little did they know the things Black was involved in, the things he was capable of… Then it hit me…

Business…

Black hadn’t taken me out to spend time with
me
, he’d taken me out to be away from whatever the club was doing today… I was some kind of alibi!

“Did you mean it?” I asked. Black stared at me, cocking his head to the side with a puzzled look on his face. He started to open his mouth to respond, but I cut him off with a whisper. “You said you want to make the Rampant legit… Did you mean it?”

Black chuckled, “Sweetheart, my father spent more time in prison than he did at home. He got us all into guns, and drugs. Fuck, for awhile there that warehouse we call home was a goddamned meth lab.”

My eyes shot left and right, Black wasn’t trying to be quiet, but far as I could tell nobody was paying attention. He reached across the table, putting a finger on my chin and pushing it toward the side until I was looking at him again.

“I don’t want to live like that Kattlyn. I’m not my father. The club has property up and down the west coast. We’ve already set up a couple businesses…”

“You mean like that brothel in the back of the club?”

“That’s a massage parlor.”

“Specializing in
deep
, deep tissue massage, right?”

Black laughed, his eyes sparkling in the late afternoon light as it streamed in a nearby window. “I said we’re going legit, but the guys still need a little excitement. We’re opening up two strip clubs in LA and a few more massage parlors. Pussy pays the bills, and brothers don’t end up with their names on the back of a jacket.”

“That’s what you call legit?”

“Honey, if you want a good boy that can wear the white gloves maybe you should go find yourself a bad accountant.”

I let out a little laugh, admiring Black’s curled smile and the way the lines creased his face. It was something I didn’t see enough, and hoped I’d see more. Still, a little voice was eating away at my mind. If Black was getting the club into women…….

“And how about you Black? You going to be busy getting a little excitement too?”

My eyes were welling up, thinking back to Jude and the way he used poor Mina. Black’s face went hard as stone.

“Never. I’m a one woman kind of man.”

“Then where is your woman?” I asked, immediately regretting the question. “I mean, why weren’t you already taken?”

Black pushed a hand into a pocket of his cut, pulling free a thin chain and laying it on the table. Hung from the chain was a thick gold ring. “She died three years ago,” he said, his voice heavy.

A cold silence fell, the kind of moment that made you want to crawl into a dark place and curl up into a ball. I’d touched a nerve and I knew it. Black had never looked so broken……

“I’m sorry…” I whispered.

Black’s hand slipped up my cheek, fingertips running along the bottom of my jaw toward my ear. “Don’t be sorry. We’re all living on borrowed time sweetheart. She lived her life fast and hard. I admired her for that. I loved her for that.”

“How did she…” I began to ask, voice Blacking as tears started to run down my cheek. Black wiped them free, sweeping a thumb over the cool wet line.

“Cancer. What a joke, right? No cause for it. Sometimes it’s just a person’s time, no matter how healthy they’re living.”

I didn’t reply, but I didn’t have to. My eyes watered, staring at Black with my heart aching.

“Sweetheart, not a day goes by that I don’t miss her, but she made me stronger. She made me better. She would want me to be happy.”

“And what would make you happy, Marcus Black?”

“Was hoping you’d help me out with that one.”

“Tell me why we’re here and not at the clubhouse. What’s going on Black?” I asked, making it clear I understood what this little shopping trip was really about.

“There are things you’d be better off not knowing.”

Maybe he was right. Maybe I didn’t want to know. I could see a hint of pain still floating around in his dark eyes. I’d hurt him today. I’d made him think of things he wanted to leave buried.

We sat silently as I stared at the big full margarita the waitress had finally brought by. The happy buzz of alcohol was gone. I closed my eyes, barely able to contain my emotion. All this time I’d been so focused on my own messed up past that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Maybe I was broken, but so was Black. Two broken souls, lost and drifting. I didn’t wait any longer, I leaned toward him.

The gentle touch of lips on my own sent a shiver clean down my spine. Part of me expected it to hurt, like my body might reject this… Instead, a warm feeling rolled over me from my toes on up. I dove passionately into the kiss, Black’s hands running through my hair and down my back as our mouths danced and pressed together. The moment lingered for an eternity, my body lifting from the seat as Marcus lifted me into him. My emotions were overwhelmed by passion as my feet left the floor, a guttural moan vibrating my tongue before my eyes flashed open.

Dark Blue…

I stared into his eyes as our lips parted, the sounds of the world crashing back into existence.

“We can go home now, Kattlyn?”

“Only if you promise to kiss me again…”

“I plan on doing more than kissing.”

My hand swept down his body, across his thigh, resting on the hard object of my desire that was swelling and straining down the left leg of his jeans.

“So do I,” I replied.