Rough & Rugged (Notorious Devils Book 3) (9 page)

“W
hat is your
deal
?” Willa asks as she follows me out of the bank on Thursday evening.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie.

I know exactly what she’s talking about.

I’ve been ignoring her for the past three days. I’ve also been so pre-occupied with Johnny and whatever it is we have going on that I’ve been unable to concentrate on anything. I’ve even been making stupid little mistakes at work over and over again.

I haven’t heard a thing from him since he left on Monday night. Not that I expected to hear anything really, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t
want
to hear anything.
I feel so stupid.
He could be screwing a new girl every night and I’d never even know. Maybe that’s why he’s pursuing me, because I’m almost an hour away and would never know what he did when I wasn’t around.

“You’re on a different planet and you’re not yourself,” she comments as she follows beside me.

Typically, after Willa does something like she did last weekend, I would be cool toward her for a few days; but by now, we’d be back to besties. I’m tired of it all, though. I don’t want to be back to besties with her. She’s toxic.

“I’ve got stuff going on. I’m fine.”

“Oh, I see now,” she mutters. I look over to her with confusion. “That’s what’s got you all crazy in the head,” she says, jerking her head toward my apartment.

I look up and feel my eyes widen and my face heat at the same time. Johnny is leaning against the wall next to my front door. He’s wearing low slung, perfectly fit jeans with holes in the knees and thighs, and a tight black shirt with his motorcycle vest. He’s also got a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I can see the embers and the smoke rising in the night sky.

“Johnny,” I breathe.

“He’s going to eat you alive,” Willa says beside me.

“He already has,” I blush.

“Fuck, Hattie. He’s not a boy our age. He’s a
man,
and he’s not just any man, he’s a rough man. I’m all for having a good time, but a guy like him, he’s dangerous. I really don’t think you should be alone with him,” she murmurs, trying not to let her voice carry.

“I’ve been alone with him before. He’s fine,” I shrug.

“I’m not trying to be a bitch or anything, but maybe you should call Andy. I’m serious. He’s bad news. I mean, Robbie hangs with them sometimes, but even he’s not man enough to attempt to be a brother in their club,” Willa advises.

“I’ll be fine,” I murmur, taking a step toward my staircase and away from Willa.

“Think about this. You’re not the kind of girl he’s used to,” Willa urges, wrapping her hand around my bicep.

“That’s okay. He’s not the kind of guy
I’m
used to,” I say, refusing to look away from Johnny’s dark gaze.

“He’s going to use you and then toss you to the side,” she whispers.

I finally turn to her and cock my head to the side in confusion.

“Why are you all of a sudden so worried about me?” I ask. She opens her mouth then closes it tightly, grinding her teeth together for a minute before she decides to speak.

“You’re not like me. When you like a guy, when you’re with a guy, he’s the only one for you. I don’t think you could handle being cheated on. You wouldn’t play around like me. You gonna fuck another girl when he asks you to, Hattie? Because he will ask you to. The girl I was with is one of their whores. That guy up there is going to fuck whatever girl spreads her legs for him, probably a few at the same time,” she grins.

“So you’re saying that you’re better for him than me?” I ask.

“Well,
yeah
. You don’t know what you’re getting into. I think I should stay with you,” she snorts.

Immediately, I feel my hackles rise. I want to scratch her eyes out for even thinking about Johnny like that.

Then I realize that to some extent, she’s right. I remember the two naked girls that were in his room when he carried me in there. He definitely could and probably
does
get whatever girl at their parties that he wants.

Plus, Willa would be the exact girl I could picture him with. She’s rougher and sluttier than I am. She’s experienced in ways that I’m not.

Part of me wants to tell her to go for it.

If Johnny wants her, then by all means, she can
take him
. The other part of me wants to pull her hair and go full on girl-fight mode in the parking lot. My passive side wins out, but I don’t say anything. I shake her arm off of me and walk up the stairs to my door.

Willa follows right behind me. I don’t know what she’s thinking, or what she’s going to try. At this point, I don’t really care, either. I’m tired of her, I’m tired of her drama, and I’m just plain
tired
from my own worries about Johnny.

“Hey, princess,” he murmurs as I get closer to him.

I watch as he throws his cigarette on the ground and grinds the embers out with the heel of his boot.

“Hey,” I say with little to no enthusiasm. Each step I take, I think more and more that he and Willa probably
would
be perfect for each other.

“Hey, I’m Willa,” she says, dropping her voice and making it sound husky and sexy.

Johnny doesn’t say anything in response to her. Instead, he takes a step toward me and wraps his arm around my waist before he pulls me into his chest. I crash against his body, steadying myself with my hands on his torso before I look up into his eyes.

“Hey, princess,” he repeats before he brushes his lips against mine.

“Johnny,” I mutter, unable to look away from his eyes. He’s captured me.

I hear Willa huff behind me and I imagine she’s doing her best pouting—something she thinks is adorable; something that I think is obnoxious.

“Your girl is having issues back there,” Johnny whispers as his hand slides down to cup my ass before he lets me go.

“Maybe we can all have dinner together?” Willa asks, puffing her chest out a bit. She doesn’t need to; her breasts are plenty big enough all on their own.

“You the friend that ditched Hattie at the clubhouse?” Johnny asks from behind me.

“Not on purpose. We were just separated.” She coos her lie and it almost sounds convincing; that is, if you didn’t know her and her habits.

“Yeah, and you ain’t here poutin’ your lips, pushin’ your tits out lookin’ to try and get a piece of your girl’s man,” he laughs. My eyes widen at his words and I turn around immediately to face him.

“
My man
?” I ask.

“Here a day early, babe. Couldn’t wait another minute to see you. Seems you’ve worked your way under my skin,” he mutters against my ear as he wraps his hands around my waist, resting them on my lower back.

“Or your dick just wants some pussy that isn’t diseased from your brothers,” Willa pipes up. My entire face turns bright red and I spin around in his arms to face her, shocked by her words.

“Jealous, bitch?” Johnny asks through a smile.

“What?
Me
jealous of
Hattie
? A girl who has the body of a prepubescent boy?
Fuck, no
. I can get whatever man I want. She hasn’t been laid since that last boyfriend she had about a year ago. I’m not sure she isn’t a lesbian,” she laughs. A mixture of anger and embarrassment bubbles through my body.

“Get the fuck out of here, you dumb whore,” Johnny growls.

“No. Hattie, do you want me to leave?” she asks, as if I’m going to tell her to stay and kick Johnny out after she insulted me—to my face.

“Yes, I do,” I murmur.

“Seriously? You’re going to choose some guy you don’t even know over your best friend?” she squawks.

“I’m not choosing anybody over anybody. You just insulted me,
to my face
. I don’t care who’s standing behind me, I’d still ask you to leave,” I say, finally speaking up for myself where Willa is concerned.

“I always joke about your small tits, that’s nothing new. Why are you acting like it’s a big deal?” she has the audacity to ask me.

I open my mouth to respond but Johnny gets there first—and when he does, I can’t help but cringe at the way he talks to her.

“Because you’re a no good, piece of shit
whore
. You’d ditch your friend in a place she don’t belong to get assaulted.
Fuck
, you’d ditch her with no ride home and an hour away from her place, twice. You’d also fuck her man, or at least try, just because. You’re selfish and have low self-esteem, so get your no good ass outta here.”

“You have to be fucking kidding me?” she asks, looking from Johnny to me with her mouth wide open.

“Don’t look at Hattie. You don’t fuckin’ know her. Get your skank ass the fuck out of her sight, and mine,” he grunts.

Without another word to Willa, or about her, Johnny moves, wrapping his arm around my neck as he guides me away from her and toward my front door. Then he slips my purse from my hand and roots around for my keys before opening my front door.

Once we’re inside, he locks the door behind me and just looks down at me before he tosses my purse onto the little table in my entryway.

“My dad always said men aren’t supposed to go through women’s purses, that he was scared of what was inside of them,” I mumble. I’m in shock of what’s just transpired, and the fact that I’ve just lost my friend.

The relationship was toxic and should have been over a decade ago. Nevertheless, I wasn’t prepared for the way it happened, with Johnny at my back,
taking
my back and standing up for me that way. I shake my head, trying to understand it all, including his announcement of being my
man
.

“Not much scares me, princess, least of all your purse. What could be in it?
Tampons
?” he snorts.

“Well, yeah, they could,” I say turning pink.

“The fact that
that
makes you blush is one of the main reasons I’m here,” he murmurs, taking a step closer to me, wrapping his hands around my cheeks.

“What do you mean?” I ask as I wrap my own hands around his wrists.

I inhale his scent—cigarettes, motor oil, and leather—as I look into his eyes. He looks so serious, so hardened, and so gorgeous.

“You’re embarrassed of tampons, you’re too fuckin’ nice to that bitch you should have scraped off years ago, and you’re right here lookin’ up at me like I’m something special and not some piece of shit like you should be. That’s why I’m here, princess. That’s why I ain’t been able to get your sweet, innocent face out of my head for days. That’s why I couldn’t wait another twenty-four hours to see you.”

I open my mouth to say something, to reply to his gruff but sweet words, but I don’t get the chance. His mouth is on mine and his tongue invades me all at the same time.

I moan when his hands leave my face and twist in my hair to tilt my head back even further, taking the kiss even deeper. He’s consuming me, and I wonder if I’ll even survive him.

“I came here to feed you before I did anything else,” he murmurs against my lips once he breaks the kiss.

“Feed me?” I ask in confusion.

“Take you out,” he murmurs as his lips find my neck. He begins kissing behind my ear.

“Like on a date?” I ask in surprise.

“I guess, yeah,” he mutters.

“I… I didn’t take you for the dating kind of guy.” I sigh as his tongue snakes out and licks the shell of my ear.

“I’m not; but you deserve better than me, so I’m gonna give you the best I can be,” he whispers before he nips my earlobe.

“We don’t know each other, not really, so how can you say that I deserve better than you?” I breathe.

“Because
I
know me,” he says taking a step back. “I know you work in a bank, you wear cute as shit little skirts and tops to work. I carry a gun and knives, and I’m not afraid to use them, as you know. You blush at just about everything, it’s cute as fuck, but it also means you ain’t lived a hard life. You don’t need a hard life; you deserve a good, clean man at your back. I can’t give you that, I’ll never be able to give you that, but I can give you the best version of me that I know how to give.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think I deserve. Just give me you,” I say, looking into his eyes as I watch them darken.

“We ain’t making it to dinner. I’ll order takeout later,” he murmurs before he picks me up and carries me to my bedroom.

I feel Johnny stumble and then grunt, as he trips over something. Then, he sets me down and bursts out laughing as he takes a look at my room. I’m completely embarrassed. I was going to pick up tonight.

My floor is a mess, a mixture of clean and dirty clothes and shoes litter the small space. My bed is also unmade and my hot pink sheets are now on full display. My face heats with embarrassment at the sight.

“Here I thought you were some kind of neat freak,” he chuckles before he turns to me.

“Well, I clean once a week, but I’m kind of messy when it comes to my clothes,” I admit.

“Well, I hate cleaning, and I’m a fuckin’ pig. So this, it’s nothin’, and it don’t bother me one bit. Now get over here,” he murmurs as he walks over to my bed and sits down.

I follow behind him, slowly, cautiously. Then I walk between his spread thighs.

“You on birth control?” he asks as he wraps his hands around my hips.

“The shot. I went on it when I turned eighteen,” I say. “I haven’t been with anyone since I got on it, though.”

“I’ve fucked without a condom a couple of times, but I’ve been tested since the last time, which was over ten fuckin’ years ago. Those bitches at the clubhouse are tricky, always trying to trap brothers with babies and shit. I always wrap it up,” he says. His words make me cringe. He’s probably been with so many women it would make my head spin. “Plus, I get to the doctor once a year for a check-up and get tested; just had my physical four months ago.”

“Okay,” I say.

“You gonna be my princess?” he asks, looking up at me.

“Can you tell me what that means to you, what it looks like to you?” I ask.

“Means you’re my woman. You’re
mine
and nobody else,” he shrugs.

“And you?”

“You asking me if I’m going to be fucking any whores?” he asks with a grin.

I don’t answer. Instead, I just watch him. I stare and wait for his response. I have a feeling if he’s ever been exclusive, it was a good long while ago.