Page 19

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

CONAN

Regulator turns to Midas and asks him, “Is it wrong that this is making me hard?”

“Fuck you, Reg,” I snap, my dominant nature taking over. “She’s mine, you don’t get hard when it comes to her or talk about her in any sexual manner whatsofuckingever or I’ll cut your damn dick off and feed it to you. Clear?”

“Crystal,” he answers, leaning back, his hands casually going down and covering his jewels.

“That’s what I thought,” I huff out, still irritated with him and his idiotic remark, but there’s something more important going on with my woman and that needs my attention instead of that of my brother and his foot in mouth disease.

They know how possessive I can be so I don’t understand why he’d run his mouth in front of me.

Damn moron.

In the past, we’ve teased one another about bed partners or women we’re dating, and they aren’t used to me getting riled up over it, but this is Demi we’re talking about, she’s different.

She’s mine, and only mine, I don’t want them thinking about her with anything but respect and sisterly devotion.

End of story.

I usually have nerves of steel, but the closer Demi gets to those pieces of shit, the more my hands begin to shake. “Demi,” I say, my tone full of warning. “I know they're incapacitated and all that shit, but please take a step back.”

“Awe, Xavier, you ruin all my fun,” she pouts, her bottom lip poking out.

“Demi,” I caution once again. “Step back.” Then thinking I better use my manners so that she doesn’t take my tone and twist it into something more sinister, I grind out, “Please.”

“Well, I guess since you said please,” she snarks. “Nah, I changed my mind.” She moves forward and lets her hands fly, she gets three blows in using the synchronized jabs she uses in the arena after she’s done playing with her opponent.

“Holy shit,” Kodiak murmurs, both pride and fear inserted in his words. It’s not every day you see a woman like mine let loose and pound into a man. “She’s a badass.”

“I’ve been telling you she is,” Luna mumbles around a bite of her second chocolate bar. “I’ve seen her take some bitch to the ground with one hand tucked behind her back to make it a fair fight.”

“I’ve seen her take down a man twice her size in the cage without breaking a sweat,” I brag. “I always bet on her when I went to her matches because she’s a sure thing.”

“That’s what he said,” Luna teases between bites.

When the guys begin to chuckle she sends them a gleaming smile. There’s something about making others laugh that makes her radiant. We just go with it, and sometimes, we laugh at her jokes even if they aren’t all that funny.

“Holy!” Midas barks, his eyes bugging out. “Shit! Remind me not to get on her bad side. Ever.”

I turn back to the scene taking place before me and wince.

Demi is straddling the two recliners, both of her feet dug into David and Joey’s nuts.

She’s shimmying her hips, dancing to the beat in her head as she wrenches her lower ankles, digging them in further, and if they could speak, they’d shout. Fuck knows I would.

Then as if she read my mind, she answers my question about what tune is in her head when she begins singing, “Come on, babbbbyyy… let’s do the twist. Ow!” Her head tosses back as she howls out the last part, and her hands are raised high, flailing through the air.

“I want to be her when I grow up,” Luna announces. “I’d have never thought of that song while mashing their balls into dust.”

“You’re perfect the way you are, Luna Moon,” Kodiak states. “Let Demi be in charge of releasing all the crazy, huh?”

“Did you just call my sister crazy, Kodiak?” Luna asks, shoving the entirety of what’s left of the candy bar into her mouth so she can plant her hands on her hips and shoot lasers at him through her narrowed lids.

“I said nothing of the sort,” he contends.

Clearing my throat, I say, “Actually–”

Marcum snaps his fingers in my face stopping me. Then he turns to Luna and says, “I didn’t mean it the way you took it and don’t call me Kodiak, woman!”

“Hey, Xavier,” I hear my name called by Demi.

“Yeah, Demoness?” I call back.

“Watch this,” she suggests. I watch with rapture as she uses Joey’s head to steady herself before lifting her right knee, gripping David’s hair by the roots and slamming it down on her knee.

“That’s the second time I’ve heard the cartilage snap in his nose,” Risk advises.

“She must really hate his nose,” Luna surmises, before hollering, “Rip it off, Demi! It’s so big it takes up his entire face! It’s as ugly and fat as he is!”

“Jesus, fuck, Moon,” Marcum says, looking at her with a befuddled look, unlike any he’s ever given her. Her vicious streak has his brain addled and like mush.

“What? You can take the girl out of the city but you can’t take the city out of the girl,” she excuses. “I’ve seen some shit.”

“Probably all from Demi,” Marcum murmurs underneath his breath. “I’m not sure if she’s a bad influence on you or not.”

“I’m not a goody two-shoes, Marcum,” she berates him. “I do bad shit too.”

“I’m sure you do, Luna,” Marcum snorts.

“What? You don’t believe me?” She looks ready to brawl so I slowly begin to move out of harm's way, these pregnancy hormones are unpredictable.

Luna never used to lose her temper like she has here recently and I make a mental note to grab her a box full of chocolates, as well as a gift card to her favorite retail site to get on her good side.

I want to continue to be one of her favorite people.

Ain’t no way I'm gonna let her put my balls in a vice. Hell to the no I’m not.

Because no matter how hard she goes at me, she’s still family, as well as a woman, and I would never lift a hand to her in any capacity, even if it’s because I’m defending myself from her slapping hands.

I’m not sure what my brother is saying to his old lady, but whatever it is, he’s doing so in a cooing tune. Which I’m tucking into my memory bank so I can tease him about later. That’s what little brothers are for.

“Hey, Demi?”

“Yes, biker man,” she purrs, releasing a one, two hit on Liam’s temple.

“You’re giving Luna a lady boner,” I tell her. “How much longer are you going to play? I’ve been without you for days, and my dick is hurting.”

“Give me five more minutes, Xavier,” she says as she kicks out her right foot and nails Niles in the cheek with the sole of her tennis shoes. “Then you can put these assholes on ice while I take care of your problem.”

“Appreciate it, baby,” I state.

“I’ll always take care of my man,” she promises, bending her knee and smacking Niles with the top of her foot, nailing him directly between the eyes and at the top of the bridge of his nose.

“Bullseye!” I hear Luna cheer.

“Woman! Get off the top of the bar!” Marcum screams, panic laced in his voice. “Jesus fuck you’re going to give me a heart attack. Your balance is off, and you promised me you’d stay behind it, not on top of it!”

My woman giggles when she hears Marcum’s outcry, twisting her head and watching as my brother frantically tries to gently lift Luna by the hips. But seeing as she’s a little rounder in that area, and she’s wiggling like a worm, he’s having issues getting a good grip on her.

I hear the group of my brothers whine and cup their nut sacks.

“Demi!” Hemi yells out her name.

“What’s up, Hemi?” Demi questions, her hands and feet moving like a ninja as she continues her assault on the recliner’s occupants.

“Dump your man and run away with me. Marry me and I’ll treat you like a queen!” Hemi roars.

“The fuck did you just say?” I ask, turning around and charging him. I get a good grip on him, drag him to the floor, and before I know it, we’re trading blows. I don’t know how long we go at it, but before I’m done whooping his ass, I’m dragged away from him.

“Calm down, Xavier,” Marcum orders. “He was only teasing.”

“Is that right? Well, what if he’d given the same proposal to Luna, would you be calming down?”

He sighs, something he seems to be doing a lot of lately, and says, “Point taken, brother, but we have business to conclude and we can’t do that if neither one of you can participate. Unless you want to sit this one out?”

That turns me cold. There’s no way on God’s green earth I’m not going to be a part of taking them out. I’ve been thinking of ways to make this as painful as possible and I’m not going to miss out on putting my imagination to use.

“You wouldn’t,” I dare him.

“I would,” he counters.

“Fine,” I harrumph, twisting on my feet, pointing my finger at Hemi, and predicting, “This isn’t done. That’s a motherfucking fact. Watch your back, brother, because I’m coming for you once this is all said and done.”

“Anywhere and anytime, Conan,” Hemi answers. “I was only playing, but if you can’t take a joke, I can get real with you, brother.”

“All done,” Demi announces, unaware of the tension in the room.

Then she turns to Hemi and says, “You need to stop causing trouble, mister. You know damn good and well I’m happy with my man.

And if he doesn’t teach you a lesson in manners, I will.

” She ends her promise by jabbing her finger in her chest.

“I’d look forward to it, Demi. Anything to get your hands on me,” Hemi replies, which has my shoulders stiffening. I’m ready and willing to teach him the lesson he so desperately needs here and now.

“Enough!” Marcum bellows. “E fucking nuff. You two need to walk away from each other and stop trying to get beneath each other’s skin. Right now!”

“Don’t worry, Marcum, I got him,” Demi states as she grabs my hand and starts pulling me out of the room.

As we pass Hemi by, I spread my fingers into a V and level it with my eyes before sending them his way. “That’s right asshole, I’m going to be keeping my eye on you. That’s a motherfucking check you can take to the bank and cash.”

Hemi grunts, jerking in Rev and Regulator’s arms as he tries to break free from the hold they have on him. He may think he shouldn’t be scared of me, but I’m a loose cannon and it doesn’t take much to light my fire.

“Calm down, Xavier. He was trying to rile you up,” Demi says as we walk out of the clubhouse.

“He succeeded. He’s my brother, Demi, and what he just did could fracture the club. We keep a balance of respect, loyalty, and trust between us. It’s what keeps the brotherhood strong.”

“You’ve gotta stop taking shit so seriously, Xavier. I swear he was just messing with you. He knows he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell getting me. I belong to you, and only you. You’re my man, right?”

“Damn right, I am,” I acknowledge. “And it’s going to stay that way.”