Rage (20 page)

“What do you mean, Bones?”

“Said some guy came to them, asked them to take the hit.  He was hanging out, listening to his boss and this dude, this skinny older dude with a pot belly and a skull tattoo that had a snake.”

“He might’ve seen him at the fight.”

“It still doesn’t prove he killed him,” Thrash argued, fighting the obvious conclusion.

“No, but he didn’t want us to know who did.  And this kid, he was pissin’ himself.  I don’t think he was lying.”

“Sean was sniffing around, told me, but I never let on.  Thought someone in the club might’ve betrayed your father all those years ago.  It was just ‘too convenient’.” Mick turned to Layla, and started talking.  “I thought it was bullshit.  Told him to drop it, not to snoop around.  Questions like that, no matter what way they get answered, they end up coming to bite you in the ass.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Layla asked.

“Or me,” I added.

“It was over a year ago.  He said he’d drop it.  That he hadn’t really done much snooping.  I never heard about it again.  Thought it was just a drunken idea, you know? The kind of scheme he’d hatch after a few too many beers and a lack of women around.” Mick shrugged.  “When he died, I’d forgotten all about it, it was such a small conversation.  I didn’t- I wanted to stay blissful unaware, I think.”

“We all did.” Thrash spoke up and I knew instantly that he was right.

Shit had been pointing to betrayal in the club for a long time.

Layla

I couldn’t believe this.  What was happening? I shook my head, my fingers trembling as I realized what this meant.

Bones may have killed my whole family, and he was running the damn club.

Cullen must’ve noticed, because he reached for me and pulled me directly onto his lap, his arms wrapped around my waist.

His warmth was a welcome distraction, one that I leaned into instead of shying away from.  His touch was just the thing I needed, and I let him envelop me in his arms hold me to him.

“Baby girl, you need to calm down.  We’ll get this taken care of.” He looked up at me, but I wasn’t so sure.

“How are we even going to do that?” I asked.

“I mean, Jesus fucking Christ, Cullen.  Someone killed my father, someone killed my mother, and someone killed my brother.  Now you tell me that it might have been someone under our own roof?”

Bones.

“Yes.  That is exactly what I am saying.  But I am going to make sure nothing happens to you, babe.”

“You say that, you tell me all that shit, but it doesn’t change the fact that everyone I love is gone and there is nothing I can do about it.  Hell, even just being in this town is putting me at risk.”

Yet, they convinced me to stay here, telling me it was the safest place for me.

Cullen flinched, then turned back toward the men.  I knew he was going to come back to it though, knew I couldn’t get out of it that easily.

“Factions been building for a while, don’t tell me yinz haven’t noticed.  Look at this whole damn ordeal with the fucking suppliers.  Got people who agreed and people who didn’t.” Thrash filled in all the blanks I had with that statement. 

This shit had been going on, and they all just let it.  No one questioned Sean’s death.  No one thought there could be rot on the inside.

“Gotta make some calls.” Uncle Mick stood and turned toward us.  “I’m going home, makin’ my calls.  Don’t worry now, Lala.  If I have to, I’ll send Aunt Donna over.”

“No, I’ll be fine.” I waved him off.  I just needed a good fuck and a stiff drink.

“Rage, don’t do anything stupid.  Just wait until I get some contacts together.”

“Do anything stupid?” I asked.

“Ain’t it clear, baby girl?” Thrash said, sarcastically.  I blushed.  “We gotta take back our club and kick that piece of shit out.  Even just lying about who killed Sean goes against everything we stand for.”

“Thrash, which prospects do you think will be of use?” Cullen asked, ignoring the exchange.

“At least Twigs.  Maybe Bull.  Crow will support us, if you’re looking for members too.”

“Get at them, see if we can round them up.”

“We’re in the middle of the war, and you’re going to start another?”

“Ain’t like we got a choice.” And with that Thrash got up and left the house too, not far behind my uncle.

“You’ll have to cut your deal short with Strike.  Only had a week left anyways.  He knows it’s coming.  Gotta keep you safe.”

Keep me safe? That was the last thing I felt.  All this shit going on around me, and I fucking walked into it.

Cullen grabbed ahold of my chin and looked me in the eyes.  “You hear me, baby girl?”

“I hear you.  I’ll talk to Strike tomorrow, let him know.”

“No, I’ll call him tonight.  Right after I’m done fucking the hell out of you.  You got some tension that I need to relieve.”

I kissed him.  His passion was obvious, but no matter how compelling his touch, it couldn’t erase the worries swirling through my head.  Bones wanted me to stay.  He insisted on it.

Was I just a lamb being led to the slaughter?

Chapter 14

Layla

“You need to get it all out, Lala.  If you don’t, you’ll put us all in danger.” He pulled me close to him and kissed my neck, holding me tight in his lap.  “I’m not kiddin’, baby girl.  You are one fine-ass woman, but your stress is going to get me killed.  I need to fuck it out of you.”

“This might be the last chance we get.” Shit was about to go down, and I knew that.  It was dangerous as hell.

“Baby girl, don’t think like that.  Not for one moment.  I’ll take care of everything, you’ll see.  Now you take off that pretty little dress you’re wearing.  I want to see all of you, and as gorgeous as it is, it’s getting in my way.”

So I slipped the dress off my shoulders and then unzipped it, but his hands where there, pushing it down my body this time.  Whenever I revealed myself to him I felt bold.  Beautiful.  Like my body was perfect the exact way it was.

“Fuck, Lala.  You are so damn hot.  A part of me wishes you never came back, so you’d be safe.  But I’d be lying if I said it was all of me.  I’m fucking lucky as hell you even looked at me twice.” He stood there examining me, taking me in.  I knew exactly what he meant, because I felt the same way when he kissed me.  “I want you, baby girl, make no doubt about that.  I’d kill anyone who got in my way.”

He was perfect, even if he was dark, even if he had his demons.

“So sexy, Layla,” he murmured, kissing down my skin.  “So, very beautiful.”

I released my bra’s clip and slowly pulled my bra off, revealing my breasts as they tumbled out of the cups, a small bounce before his eyes.  It was a silly thing to do, and I blushed, but at the same time he made me feel so amazing, and so alive.

In all this danger and chaos I needed to feel this way.  I needed his body.  Without him, I was nothing.

My curvy body usually left me feeling self-conscious, but not with him there, watching me.  He gave me a new-found confidence that I didn’t know I had from the very first kiss.

“Are you really going to be able to protect me?” The words slipped out of my mouth before I realized I was saying them.  I was scared, truly scared, and I didn’t like to show it.  His world was dangerous and more foreign to me than I realized.  I still felt like I didn’t belong, and I was afraid of the consequences of this revelation.  I knew the ultimate sacrifice too well. 

“I’ll die trying, Lala.” He hesitated as he moved toward me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into him.  He kissed my throat and then my shoulder.

“I’m not Lala anymore, Cullen.  Haven’t been that girl in a very long time.”

“You’re my girl.  Mine.  That’s all that matters.”

“I am.” I leaned forward and kissed him, all my passion taking hold of me, pushing me, pushing that kiss.  There was nothing that could stop me.  I wanted him.  All of him.  And I wanted him to know exactly how I felt about him.

Cullen picked me up and slung me over his shoulder, his arms around my legs as I reached down and smacked his ass.  I didn’t expect to be whisked up the stairs like a sack of potatoes, but he was up into his room so quickly that I barely had a chance to protest.

He set me down and looked me in the eyes.  “Lay down on that bed and let me taste you, Layla.”

“And what if I say no?” There was no way I was going to do that, but I was just playing with him at this point.  Trying to tease him any way I could.

“I want all of you, and I want it now.”

I crawled out on his bed, wearing nothing but my panties as I waited for him to come to me.  Propping myself up on my elbows I smiled.

“What are you doing?” I asked as he stood there, just watching me.

“Looking over what’s mine.”

“Well, I’d like to do the same, so why don’t you undress?”

He pulled his cut and shirt off quickly, leaving him in his pants, his rippling chest muscles reminding me of exactly how strong he was.  He grinned as he watched my appreciation for his body.

“You like what you see?”

“I think you know that I do.”

But I could tell from the way he spread my thighs and growled out my name that it was something he wanted to hear.  So I took a breath and looked up at him as he looked over me.  “I want you to enjoy me.”

“There is nothing I want more than to look at your body.”

He spread my legs apart and crawled up me looking at me as I lay under him.

“You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  I mean it, Layla.  I’ve wanted you my entire life.  I looked for you in every bar, every fucking strip club, knowing I’d never find you.  I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’ve walked back into my life.”

And in that moment, I felt it.

“Are you going to let me see the rest of you?” I asked, just a wee bit impatient.

He was muscular and solid, and so very strong.  It was hard not to pull him down to me, to force him to claim me.

“I want you so badly.  Please, take off your clothes.  Touch me.” I was begging him.  Begging for his touch.  I needed it.  “Cullen, please.”

I reached for him, but he pulled back and smiled at me.  He lifted himself off of me and stood tall, looking right in my eyes as he pulled off his pants and his underwear in one swift movement.  Those thick muscular thighs flexed a little as he stayed still, letting me drink it all in.

His beautiful body was all mine, even if just for the moment.  Cullen was muscular and handsome, perfectly tanned, but totally inviting.  He was everything that I wanted.

He was every bit the in charge man he claimed to be.

“Are you trying to torment me?” I was only half joking as I got up on my knees and crawled toward him.  I needed him so badly.

“I’d say you deserve it, the way you walked out on me all those years ago.”

“You could’ve come for me, Cullen.  I wouldn’t have been able to say no to you.  I never could.”

“You have no idea how hard I tried to keep it together, Lala.  I almost did, several times, at least at first.  But I wanted to protect you, wanted to keep you away from all this.  The way you treated me, it was a fucking crime.” He growled out the last words as he pulled me into him.  “You’re mine now, baby girl.  If I have to do everything within my power to make her stay, I will.”

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to me, kissing him deeply as he declared his intentions.

“This might be the last chance we get, Cullen.  Fuck me, fuck me with the rage you have deep down and inside.” I was so bold, it wasn’t like me at all, but then again, when I was around him, I was hardly myself.  Since I’d moved back it was like I was an entirely different person.  “I know that’s how you got your name.  It isn’t just from the way you behave.  It’s from that demon you keep buried, the one you almost never let out.  Almost.  I want the pleasure of it.  The pleasure only you can give me.”

I arched my back into him, moaning as he did it.  It’d been too long, and all of that want, all of that yearning, spilled over as I gripped his shoulders and dug in with my nails.

He was so big and strong inside of me, pressing against the walls of my pussy as he filled me, shoving his cock into me mercilessly.

Cullen thrust slowly, once, then twice, driving me crazy as he prolonged my agony, but I could tell by the look in his face that he knew exactly what he was doing.  That it was all part of his plan. 

When he finally gave in and started pounding into my pussy, he drove me to a place of ecstasy almost immediately.  But I held on.  I wanted to feel his length inside of me, touching me, delving into me.  It was all because I needed to feel him, feel like he wanted me.

I savored every single bit of it, moaning and working against him.  Creating a deeper sensation, until I’d had enough on that position, and I pushed him off, crawling on top of him so that I could ride him.  I was in control now, mounting him, his cock raging and thick as I slid down it, bucking against him, as he filled me totally and completely.

“You want to be in control?” He asked as he grabbed my hips and held me tight on his cock.  “I don’t think you can handle it, Layla.” He let me up and then slammed me down again, sending shock waves through me.

“I just want to ride you.  I want to feel you this way.” I said as he helped move me, faster and faster my gyrations increasing as I held on tight to his chest and used it for leverage.

Fuck.  He was so good.  I was so good.  We were perfect together.

I moaned and pulled him into me, digging my nails into his chest and raking them down; as he arched his back he buried himself further into me, making me moan in return.  I lost control then; the shaking starting as I tried to stay on, his hands, his grip, was the only thing keeping me from tumbling off in my ecstasy.

“Cum for me, my little Lala,” he moaned, begging.  I was at the edge.

“My name is Layla.” I growled at him, but he just grinned, glad to get a rise out of me.

And he threw me right over that cliff, my pleasure taking hold of me while I orgasmed.  Not letting me go until I was cumming and screaming his name, riding him faster than I’d ever ridden before.  My body was thick with sweat as we pushed it to a higher plane of existence, the pleasure taking over.

He was cumming right along with me, his body jerking and shaking as my pussy undulated with his cock in me.  I could feel him inside of me, feel my own pleasure begging for more.  Until we were both done and all I could do was collapse on him.  It was my chance to say goodbye.  To tell him that I loved him.

I loved him.

“Cullen,” I started, but he held a finger to my lips. 

“I know, baby girl.  I know.” He kissed my neck and then whispered into my ear, “I love you too.”

Whatever happened, I could bear it just to know that he loved me.