Unattainable (25 page)

Not that he’d ever wanted the attention
of a female, but Ellie choosing him over his brothers, him over
sleeping alone in a room, following him down the hallway, fucking
shit, he liked it. It felt like power and not at all like the sort
of power he was used to exerting over women. This was different,
softer, it flowed smooth and hot through his veins, improving his
posture and twisting his lips.

Was this what it felt like to have a
woman of your own? A woman that actually welcomed a man’s physical
strength, wanted his protection, would be submissive to only
him.

Stopping in front of his room, Dirty
pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. As he held the door for
her, Ellie slipped past him and into his room. His eyes moved over
her bare shoulders, down the curvy lines of her hourglass figure,
stopping at her ass. It was a juicy-as-fuck ass; it looked soft and
jiggled when she walked, much like her breasts did.

And none of it was off-putting. In
fact, the more he watched her, the more he liked her imperfect
body, her darker skin, and jet-black hair. She looked nothing like
the club whores, those fake blondes with fake tits, their bodies
covered with tattoos and leather.

More importantly, she looked nothing
like his foster mother. She was nothing like his foster mother. She
would never hurt a child. She was kind even when she didn’t have to
be.

“
Dirty?”

Dirty’s eyes traveled up the front of
Ellie’s body, raking over her generous breasts before landing on
her beautiful face.

“
Yeah?”

“
What’s your real name?”
she asked. “I feel so strange calling you Dirty.”

His stomach flipped. No one but Deuce
knew his real name, and no one had called him by his real name
since
her
.

Agitated excitement rose from his gut
to his throat. He wanted to tell her, he wanted her to know, but he
wasn’t sure why he wanted her to know, or what the repercussions of
her knowing would be.

“
Michael,” he said quickly
before he could talk himself out of it.

Ellie’s eyes widened in surprise and
then just as quickly, her lips split into a smile.

“
Michael,” she murmured.
“A great prince of Heaven and the protector against the forces of
evil.”

Dirty stared at her. Did she just liken
him to a motherfucking angel? A protector? Him? She really was
insane. Or maybe that beat-down she’d taken had left her with some
fucking brain damage?

“
Thank you, Michael,” she
continued softly. “For protecting me.”

He swallowed hard. She had no idea who
she was thanking, that the monster she thought he was protecting
her from in fact lived inside of him.

“
Get the fuck off me,” I
whispered, shoving at Cage’s wandering hands. “Everybody is staring
at us.”

Actually, staring probably wasn’t the
right word. Everyone who was currently in the main room was gaping
at us. Or snickering. Bikers, their old ladies, and kids had all
piled in for lockdown and the ones who hadn’t been here when Deuce
and I had gotten into it, had quickly been informed. To make
matters worse, Cage was groping me 24/7.

It was everything I’d always wanted
growing up.

But now, it was embarrassing as all
hell. The only people who didn’t seem to think our sudden coupling
was the best comedy show of the season were Deuce and Eva. Deuce
was ignoring us entirely and Eva was sending warm smiles in our
direction. Smiles that were nearly as embarrassing as all the
laughter.

And then there was Danny. She hadn’t
said one word to me, hadn’t even so much as looked my
way.

ZZ.

She’d heard everything and probably
then some.

Strangely enough, I actually felt
guilty. As much as I couldn’t stand Little Miss Perfect, I’d grown
up with her and the thought of her hating me, really hating me
instead of just being irritated with my usual shitty attitude,
wasn’t sitting well with me.

Although Dirty’s initial appearance at
the club, looking eerily like a Calvin Klein underwear model, and
Ellie—of all people—staying with him, had taken the attention off
Cage and me, Dirty was only making brief visits out of his room,
mostly to the kitchen, so all attention was back on us
again.

Stupid fucking lockdown. Stupid
motherfucking lockdown. Not only was I trapped here but I was
trapped here without my own clothing, forced to wear Kami’s, the
only other woman here who was as thin as I was. The skinny jeans
weren’t so bad, despite them being tighter than I liked, but the
nearly sheer camisole, a silly and shimmering purple, was
repulsive. I was literally counting down the minutes until the
washing machine was freed up and I could put my own clothing back
on.

And it was only Monday. I had two more
days to endure. Maybe longer if whatever Deuce had going down on
Wednesday didn’t go according to plan.

To make matters worse, my mother
refused to leave Deuce and Eva’s room and Jase was practically
camped out in the hall, hoping that she’d eventually come out.
Hawk, thankfully, was keeping his distance, staying quiet and
keeping Christopher busy. I had to give him credit for that; my
poor mother wouldn’t stand an emotional chance if both of them came
at her at once.

Speaking of emotional chances, I was
still trying to figure out how to bring up the matter of her memory
without upsetting her further.

As usual, the Hell’s Horsemen Montana
Chapter was one big fat hot mess.

“
I don’t give a fuck,”
Cage growled, slapping my hands down as he used his body to push me
backward. My back hit the bar counter and Cage’s arms came down
around me, locking me in place.

“
I’m hungry,” he said, his
voice low as his face dipped into the crook of my neck.

“
I’m not a kitchen,” I
hissed, even as my eyelids fluttered from whatever his tongue was
doing behind my ear.

“
No?” he asked, laughing
softly as his teeth grazed my neck. “So, all that pussy I been
eatin’? That wasn’t you grindin’ my face like you were diggin’ for
gold?”

Loud laughter erupted to my left and my
cheeks heated with mortification. Cage, however, was completely
oblivious or just didn’t care one way or the other.

“
Please, Cage,” I begged,
shoving at him again. “Please, not in front of
everyone.”

Cage lifted his head and pulled himself
to his full height, towering over me. “I want ’em all to know,” he
whispered. “That you ain’t with Z. That you’re fuckin’
mine.”

Mine. His.

God, he was killing me. Slowly. I was a
mere bystander to my own death, unable to move, only able to watch
all the time knowing exactly what was coming.

“
Gimme those lips,
Teacup,” he whispered, bowing his head, pressing his mouth to mine.
His tongue slid past my lips, his hand came up, and his fingers
slid through my hair. Before I knew what I was doing, I was up on
my tiptoes, wrapping my arms around his neck, kissing him back with
equal eagerness, forgetting where we were, forgetting that we were
far from alone.

Out of all the men I’d been with, not
one of my sexual experiences had been quite like this. Where I just
couldn’t seem to stop myself, to say no—no matter what Cage was
demanding of me, I still wanted more and more and more.

It was so good. So sexually satisfying
and yet I still couldn’t keep my shit together around him. I had to
have more.

His right hand slid up my back, under
my borrowed shirt, and up my side, landing on my breast. My eyes
went wide. Enough was enough.

“
Stop it!” I yelled,
shoving at him with all my strength, managing to at least dislodge
his grip on my breast.

Shaking with laughter, Cage raised both
his hands in the air, palms forward. “Calm down,” he
said.

“
Yeah, Tegen, calm the
fuck down. It ain’t like we all ain’t seen Cage with his pants
around his ankles a million fuckin’ times before.”

I turned to Anger, whose evil smirk
only worsened as I glared at him.

“
What?” he asked,
shrugging. “You ain’t the first bitch he’d be havin’ on top of that
bar. Ain’t the second, third, tenth, or forty-fifth
either.”

My glare swung toward Cage.

No longer laughing, Cage let out an
irritated growl. “Thanks a lot, fucker,” he shot in Anger’s
direction. “It’s gonna take a fuckin’ crowbar to pry those legs
back open now.”

My jaw dropped.

“
What the fuck!” I
shrieked. “What is wrong with you?”

Shoving past him, I ran from the room,
hurt and humiliated. Again. God, he just kept doing it. And I kept
letting him. Pissing me off, soothing the hurt with a few words,
pissing me off again, embarrassing me, and then kissing away the
sting.

Why was I such a dumbass when it came
to him?

When I’d finally been able to sit down
and think about everything that had happened, all in such a short
period of time, all of it felt so off. Like this wasn’t my reality
but instead a fling during a summer vacation, something I couldn’t
take home with me, something that would leave me with only
memories.

What was going to happen come
Wednesday? Would Cage come to see me in San Francisco? Would I
start making regular visits home again? A weekend here and there?
Holidays? Would I stay with Cage instead of my mother from now
on?

And what were we exactly? He’d said he
wanted me on the back of his bike, that I was “his,” but had never
elaborated.

As it was, any time I tried to bring
this up with Cage, he wasn’t even trying to listen to me, just
groping, kissing, and fucking me incessantly.

“
Tegen!”

I stopped midrun and took a deep
breath, not really sure what to expect, before turning around to
face Danny.

Standing about ten feet away from me,
Danny gave me a small smile. “I thought maybe you’d want some
clothing,” she said and pointed to her room. “That wasn’t imported
from a high-end designer in France.”

I blew out a breath of relief. No
confrontation. I couldn’t handle any more confrontations. I was an
emotional train wreck every time I came home and this time, oh God,
this time was so much worse. Both good and bad. A confusing mess,
both ugly and beautiful, and one I could no longer deny.

“
But first,” she said as I
began heading toward her. I stopped walking.
Here it
comes
.

“
What?”

“
Is he okay?” she
whispered, glancing over her shoulder. “Is he happy?”

I stared at her, watched her shift
uncomfortably, unable to meet my eyes. She did care about ZZ, that
much was obvious.

“
He’s okay,” I said. “But
happy? No, he’s far from happy.”

She nodded listlessly as if I’d given
her the answer she’d expected. Taking a deep breath, she again
gestured toward her room. “Clothes?”

“
Hell yes,” I muttered.
“Hell fucking yes.”

• • •

Shaking out his fist, Cage glared down
to where Anger lay sprawled out on the floor with a bloody nose and
a split lip. “Don’t fuck with me,” he growled. “Don’t you ever fuck
with my shit again.”

Anger turned his head to one side and
spit out a tooth along with a mouthful of blood. “Fuck you,” he
said, coughing. “Since when is Tegen your shit? Been soundin’ to me
like the bitch jumped beds, which makes her nothin’ but club
ass.”

Cage could feel the black veil of rage
begin to take hold. It always started out with a slight tremble,
growing and growing, until it was a full-body rumble from deep
within, one he couldn’t contain, one that left him waking up in the
midst of a full-on brawl and not quite sure how he’d gotten
there.

“
Not seein’ why you’re
givin’ a shit, brother,” Anger continued as he pushed himself up
into a sitting position. “The bitch ain’t even all that
hot.”

The next thing Cage remembered was
yelling. Yelling and screaming and his arms being wrenched behind
his back, his feet flying out from under him as he was dragged
backward across the room.

Eva appeared in his line of sight,
peering worriedly at him. “Cage!” she yelled, snapping her fingers
in front of his face. “Cage!”

Confused, he blinked up at his
stepmother.

“
Calm the fuck down!” she
demanded.

He calmed right the fuck down. Eva was
damned pissed. And pregnant. The last time Eva was pissed and
pregnant she’d nearly lost Ivy and almost died in the process.
Glancing over toward the bar, he found Anger slumped against it,
holding a beer to the side of his face, giving him the stink
eye.

What the fuck ever.

Whoever was holding him suddenly yanked
him upward and onto his feet, then shoved him not so lightly off to
the side. Cage turned to glare and found Hawk glaring back at
him.

“
I’ll knock you out,
brother,” Hawk boomed. “This club is packed solid with women and
children and if you’re gonna be actin’ straight-up crazy, I will
knock you the fuck out.”