Devil's Girl: Dust Bowl Devils MC (19 page)

But Viper wouldn’t know that.

I approached with my hands up. “She comes to me like the whore she is,” Viper said, a sick sneer on his face. “Who am I to stop her?”

Bill made a grab for my arm as I passed, but I wrenched away.

Then he saw what I had tucked into the back of my jeans and let me go.

“Give it to me now,” I said to Viper. I extended my arm.

“In the car.”

“No. I need it.” I dropped my eyes in supplication. “Please.”

“Can’t resist when you ask so nice.”

He tucked his gun away and reached inside his pocket. When his eyes were down, I pulled mine out and pressed it against his head.

Time slowed. Viper stretched his arms out, showing empty hands. “Let’s not do anything crazy now, sugar.”

Crazy didn’t begin to describe it. I grabbed his hair with my other hand, just as gunshots went off around us. The Eagle’s turned on Viper’s men and fired. Brand shouted, “No! Stop!” but no one listened.
What the fuck…
Viper took advantage of my distraction. He surged forward and knocked me onto my back. My gun went clattering away across the asphalt.

Theo jumped on his back in an instant. Fists flew; bones cracked. I wanted to scream.

The Eagles were ducking behind their bikes and firing at the cars. The Devils scattered. I couldn’t see who ran where - someone was down. Someone took shelter in my room and fired from behind the door. Someone was amongst the cars in the parking lot. I cast my eyes about for my gun. My heart stuttered when I spotted it just a few yards away.
Move!
I ran for it. Theo shouted in pain, but I forced myself to focus on getting my hands around that gun. I was almost on it when a pair of arms surrounded my waist and swung me around off my feet. I flew. The wind blew out of me when I slammed against the ground.
No no no, oh God…
I shielded my face, expecting Viper’s fist or bullet or worse.

Then Theo was there, hovering over me, shielding me from Viper and the vicious laugh that poured from his mouth as he raised his gun. If only I’d gotten to mine in time, if only I was stronger, faster.
He’s going to kill Theo. He’s going to drag me out of here and back to his hell.
Theo met my eyes. Fury bubbled in them, but sadness, too.
Everything happened too fast.

We both flinched when the shot rang out, but then Theo turned, grimacing, but unharmed. Viper’s face was a twisted mask of shock as he dropped bonelessly to the ground, his forehead pierced by a bullet that left behind a gaping red hole. I looked behind us.
Bill.

“You were supposed to stay in the room,” he grunted.

“You planned this.” The gunfight had silenced. Theo started to get up, to move in on him, but I held him back with a hand against his chest.

Someone else called out to him, “Bill! You son of a bitch!” One of the cars was pulling away. The other’s gunmen were on the ground. Brand staggered over, bleeding from somewhere beneath his black cut.

“He needed to die, Brand. Negotiating with him would have gotten us nowhere. We’ll find your daughter.”

Sirens sounded in the distance. “Time to go,” Theo said, pulling me to my feet.

Gunner was down with a bullet in his thigh. “He needs the hospital,” I said as Bill stood over him, thinking. Anchor joined us, looking grim but uninjured. Brand’s own men were on their feet as well.

“That’s thanks to me,” Gunner said, indicating the group as they revved their bikes and prepared to leave. “They can’t aim worth shit.” He wagged a finger at Anchor. “Neither can you.”

“Fuck you,” the older man said with a grin. “So what do you want to do? Hospital?”

“No. It came clean out the other side.” He winced as he tried to stand. “Find me someone who’ll stitch it up quietly.”

“Go straight to our clubhouse,” Bill called to the Eagles, “Ride all night. We’ll sort this out, Brand. We’ll find her.”

Brand nodded unhappily. “Go with them,” Bill told Anchor. “Keep an eye on Brand.”

We clumsily loaded Gunner’s bike into the back of the truck and the man himself into the passenger seat. He wrapped his wound using a hotel bedsheet while I drove, following Bill and Theo back onto the highway. The dead, we left behind. I resisted the temptation to spit on Viper’s corpse. I settled for kicking him the nuts, and bringing my heel down on his pocket with a satisfying crunch.

I couldn’t believe it was over. I didn’t know how to feel. I just felt numb.

Bill eventually found a vet that was willing to see Gunner. A friend of a friend who was happy to stitch up the occasional criminal, low life, or biker - for a price. He sent Theo and I on, giving us the same instructions - drive through the night. Meet us at the clubhouse.

Fuck that.

This drive was a much more somber one. I became weary as the adrenaline wore off. I couldn’t shake the images from my mind - Viper, dropping to the ground with a hole in his head. Theo, shielding me against the guns, ready to take a bullet in his back. Ready to die in his attempt to save me.

You didn’t do that for somebody you didn’t care about. You didn’t do that for someone you intended to leave behind.

He signaled and pulled over to the side of the highway as the sun went down. I rolled down my window as he walked back. “You’re weaving,” he said. “Want to stop to eat?”

“Want to stop to sleep,” I said.
And talk.

He nodded. Bill could just wait. He didn’t need us there, anyway. He’d left us in the dark about his setup; he could figure out the resolution without us, too.

We stopped at a fast food joint before finding a clean motel. I was more exhausted than I thought - almost too tired to eat. When we finally got to our room, I flopped across one of the two beds with a sigh.

"Gonna take a shower. You good?" I waved him on, happy to just close my eyes for a few minutes.

It was dark when I woke. Theo was asleep on top of the covers on the other bed in nothing but his briefs. The light of the television washed over his muscular form. The sight made my breath catch.
Shower. Cool down, clean up. Stop staring!
I tip-toed into the bathroom.

I stood under the hot water and reminded myself,
Viper's gone. Viper's gone
. The whole day still seemed so unreal.
I'm here with Theo and the threat is gone. It's just us, now.

And he's gonna want to leave.

I dressed only in a t-shirt and undies, figuring on going right to sleep. But instead I stood frozen between the two beds. We'd been sleeping together since he'd pulled me from the van - nonsexually, for the most part - but now that everything was over, now that he wouldn't need to protect me anymore, would he want to keep his distance?

"You're doing that thing again," he said. I jumped. I didn't know he was awake.

"What thing?"

"Where you stare at me so I can't sleep." He reached out a hand. "Come here." I let him draw me onto the bed next to him, stretched out close at his side but not quite touching. Unable to resist, I lightly traced the skull tattoo on his chest with a fingertip. His skin felt so smooth and warm, I had to fight the impulse to taste it.

But why? Why fight it? We're alive and together and should be grateful.

I leaned in and kissed the skull. He tensed. "Ivy..."

My cheeks burned, with embarrassment and with anger. "Let me guess. You don't want to hurt me."

"That's right." He smoothed my hair away from my neck and traced the shell of my ear with his thumb. It was like his hands acted on their own. Like he was at war with himself.

"The danger's gone," I said. "Bill's got some explaining to do, the bastard, but it's over, Theo."

He shook his head. "
I'm
a danger. When I say I don't want to hurt you, I mean it literally, too." He sat up and leaned back against the headboard.

Gears clicked into place in my head. I propped myself up on my elbow. "You mean the sex stuff?" He looked away.
Bingo
. "Like when you spanked me? Did you forget how into it I was?" He shook his head. "So what's the problem?"

"I try to contain it but it comes out." He spoke in mumbles, like he didn't want anyone to hear. "There was a girl. Long time ago. I tried to hold back, for her. But I scared her anyway. The way she looked at me..."

I wanted to push his buttons right then. That dominating part of him that I'd seen, that he was so ashamed of - I wanted it.
There's got to be a way to convince him.
I let my hand rest on his thigh. "I'm not afraid of you. After what you did, I could never be afraid of you." I toyed with the elastic hem of his briefs. My mouth watered at the sight of the soft bulge below. I wanted to bring it to life any way I could.

"That's a lot of trust," he said, "To let me... take charge like that."

"Let you dominate me, you mean? Theo, there's nothing in the world I want more." I sat up and took his face in my hands. He looked shocked.
That girl must have really done a number on him.
"I loved how it made me feel. It shut off all the noise in my brain, and you know there's a lot more noise, now. It's like a goddamn warzone in here."

His hands surrounded my waist. My entire body rejoiced at the contact. I let my hands trail down his chest, back to his waistband. "Please," I whispered.

His eyes darkened. He answered by tilting my head to the side and brushing my hair out of the way; he peppered my neck with feather-light kisses. "You'll tell me if I'm too rough."

"I will," I said, though the idea of "too rough" for me was amusing. I plunged my hand inside his pants and found the object of my hunger. The velvety skin was furnace hot against my palm, and it twitched at my touch, lengthening and hardening as he groaned against my neck. My body throbbed with lust as our conversation put all sorts of ideas in my head. Most would have to be saved for later, but one in particular stood out. I leaned back and bit my lip. “Would you like it if I called you Sir?”

His cock answered before his mouth could, twinging and swelling to full attention beneath my light strokes. He looked surprised. “God, more than anything. Do it.”

“Yessir,” I smirked.

His fingers dug into my jaw as he tilted my head back. “With a little more respect.”

“Yes, sir.” Heat flared in my belly. He ran a thumb over my bottom lip as if examining it.

“You talk too much. Why don’t you show me what that mouth can do when it isn’t busy yapping.”

I stroked his length slowly. “Yes, sir.” I scooted further down the bed positioned myself between his legs. The sight of his cock in my hand sent another wave of arousal coursing through me. He was so big and so thick, it was almost concerning. I wanted to learn every vein, every bump and ridge. With a quick smile sent his way, I kissed the tip and flicked my tongue across the spongy mushroom head. He sighed with pleasure when I closed my lips around him.

I had every intention of taking my time until I found myself so wrapped up in him - his smell, his taste, all so very masculine and just
him.
It was just what I needed. I sucked him down as deep as I could, bathing his cock with my tongue. I bobbed with long, slow motions. What I couldn’t take with my mouth, I held in my hand and stroked, my saliva dripping and coating him down to his base.

When I felt his hand on my hair and his hips thrust subtly, an electric thrill ran through me. I loved this - his heat and his hardness, the soft sounds of pleasure he couldn’t hold back - I loved that I could do this for him.

I created suction around his shaft and quickened my pace. His hips bucked again and he groaned, then said, “Stop.”
No, not yet…
He yanked my head up by my hair. “I said stop.”

“I’m sorry. Sir. You tasted so good.”

He got up and stood next to the bed. I felt cold as he moved away. “Undress. Then get on your hands and knees.” I moved quickly, flinging my panties in one direction and my t-shirt in the other before getting into position on the mattress. Every nerve was at attention, awaiting his touch. “I love having you on display for me like this,” he said as his eyes roved my body.