Page 17

Pippa

I couldn’t look at him without a thousand wild butterflies swirling in my belly. He leaned back in a chair, smoking a cigarette. His T-shirt clung to the hard muscles of his chest. Loose jeans rode low on his hips. Slices of skin peeked through the cuts and rips.

Our gazes collided, and a rare smile curled his lips. My cheeks warmed with a blush.

“Bitch, I know you’re hiding something from me?” Hana leaned into me. “What happened?”

I’d quit fighting my feelings. “I realized how much I need him.”

Tingles chased over my flesh remembering his hands on my thighs as he fucked me against the wall. Dozer had been driven by a hunger that left me breathless. I hadn’t lied when I said I was his. He owned my heart.

Blade checked his watch, then nodded toward Rogue and Dozer. They didn’t have to say anything. They were going after Quinn.

Fear slipped along my spine. Dozer stood, and his gaze narrowed on me.

“What’s going on?” Hana asked.

I couldn’t catch my breath to speak. I was scared, scared of what they would do to Quinn. Not because I cared about the piece of shit, but because I didn’t want anything to happen to them.

Not just Dozer, but Blade and Rogue. I didn’t want them to get into trouble for me.

I thought of Dozer’s words. Trouble finds me .

Dozer stalked closer to me. I swallowed the extra spit in my mouth. A quiet danger simmered just below the surface with him. I wasn’t sure how much scratching it would take to unleash the rage he kept stored deep inside.

I worried Quinn was going to find out.

“Be careful,” I whispered.

“I’ll be back soon. This will all be over.” He cupped my cheek and kissed my lips.

He followed Blade. I rushed over to Rogue and hesitantly touched his arm. Words lodged in my throat. He was too big, too intimidating.

“Don’t worry, Pipsqueak. I’ve got Dozer’s back.”

I smiled. “My brother calls me Pipsqueak.” So did Coop, and he was just like a brother.

“Then it’s a good nickname.”

“Stay here.” He looked over my shoulder to Romeo. “You’ll be safe.”

He strode from the room, but I followed him to the door. I watched as they mounted their bikes. The engines rumbled as they drove out of the church parking lot.

Romeo wrapped his arm over my collarbone in the familiar way. I leaned my back against his chest, needing the warmth and comfort of his friendship.

“We need to talk,” I said .

Romeo kissed my head. “It’s okay, Pip. He needs to settle this.”

“I know, but there’s more.” I turned in his arms. “Can we go somewhere private?”

Romeo held my hand and led me to the back of the MC, to his room. He plopped onto his bed and grabbed his tin from the nightstand.

I sat on the end of the bed.

“What really happened today?” he asked as he rolled a blunt.

“I froze, Romeo. He could have done anything to me. I wouldn’t have stopped him. If Dozer hadn’t been there, who knows?”

“You know that whatever happens to Anatomy, he fucking deserves it.”

I lowered my head and plucked a piece of lint from the blanket on Romeo’s bed. “I trust Dozer.”

He tilted his head and sparked the joint then handed it to me. Our fingers touched but without the flash of heat I got from Dozer. More issues I needed to talk to Romeo about. I was getting there. I sucked in a few puffs and handed it back.

Holding the joint, he reclined on his back and stared at the ceiling. I did the same. A warm, comfortable silence lingered between us as we passed the joint back and forth. Romeo had the best weed. A smooth, mellow intoxication flowed through me, feeling like I melted into the bed.

“I told him I loved him,” I blurted out.

Romeo laughed and turned his head toward me. “He couldn’t have been surprised.”

I smiled. “Maybe. I was surprised when he told me he loved me. ”

“Fuck, serious shit from Dozer.” He blew a thin stream of smoke from his pursed lips. Then he handed the joint to me. “You saying you’re not going to invite me over to Netflix and chill anymore?”

The ember glowed as I drew in a long pull. The thought of ending my relationship with Romeo had my tummy twisted into knots. “I can’t hurt him.”

Romeo leaned up on his elbow. “We’re good. I told you, we’re friends. I like being around you.”

I rolled toward him and pillowed my hands under my cheek. “I care about you, too.”

“I warned you not to catch feelings.” He smiled and wiped the wetness from my cheek. He pulled me into his chest. “I think you’re a badass biker girl.”

He held me for a moment. Then I pushed to sitting. “You know, there is this girl in my statistics class.”

“Nah.” He jumped from the bed and held out his hand to stop me from talking before I could offer to set him up.

“Wait.” I followed him out of the room. “I was going to say—” I was going to say she was cute, but the thought turned sour in my stomach.

He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me flush to his side. “If it’s not going to be you, then you don’t get a say in who I’m fucking.”

Was my relationship with Romeo really over? I stumbled in my steps. My thoughts had only gone as far as not sleeping with him. But we wouldn’t spend as much time together. I’d be with Dozer.

“We’ll always be friends, won’t we?” I loved Romeo, but I was hopelessly in love with Dozer. I had to believe that was all that mattered .

“Yeah, you’re a Heller now. Property of the club.”

I snorted. “No tattoos for me.”

The door to the chapel slammed open. Dozer stormed across the room. I don’t think he even saw me as he headed for the back hall with Rogue on his heels.

Jazzy followed Rogue, and Hana rushed to Blade. “What happened?”

He wrapped an arm around Hana. “He’s wound too tight. He needs to work it out. They’re going to the basement.”

“To fight?” I asked.

Blade nodded. I turned to run after him, but Romeo grabbed me. “Not happening,” he said. “He doesn’t need another mommy.”

“No, you didn’t see him after the last time with Bullet. He’ll get hurt.”

Rogue was freaking huge.

“I thought you understood your boyfriend,” Romeo said. “Dozer needs to fight. It’s how he works shit out.”

“Pippa, tonight fucked with his head,” Blade said.

“What did he do? Oh god, did he kill Quinn?” I covered my mouth with trembling fingers.

“No, he wasn’t there. We went into the house. Pippa, we need to find your professor. You need to sit down and listen to me.”

I sat in a chair. Romeo held my hand.

“He had provocative pictures of you. We accessed his laptop computer. He has your class schedule. Photos from your house. There were pictures of all of us, especially of you and Romeo. He’s been following you for a while.”

“This is enough to call the police,” I said.

Blade’s gaze shifted to Romeo. I glanced over my shoulder. Romeo’s jaw clenched.

“He’s not there, and it looks like he left in a hurry,” Blade continued. “Maybe Dozer scared him off. We took the laptop, but until we know more, you need to stay here.”

“I will. I’ll stay here, but what about Dozer? He’s down there fighting because of me. Rogue could kill him.”

Romeo kissed my temple. “Nah, Rogue will let him work all that shit out of his head. Dozer will take a few punches to feel better. He’s a fighter, baby. You gotta let him fight.”

I pried myself away from Romeo.

“If you go downstairs, don’t interfere.” Romeo pinched my chin and lifted my face. “You want to love him, you gotta accept him as he is. This is what Dozer does. You’re never going to fix him. He won’t want you down there.”

Yes, he would, for the same reason he’d come to me after his fight with Bullet. He’d risked getting close, risked feeling emotions he kept buried in the dark shadows of his soul.

Ignoring Romeo’s concerns, I made my way to the basement. He didn’t follow me.

Dozer and Rogue had stripped out of their cuts and shirts. Sweat glistened on their flesh.

I gasped. Blood trickled along the side of Dozer’s face. His knuckles bled, and his chest rose and fell with labored breaths. He wiped sweat from his brow.

“Don’t pussy out now,” Rogue said and slammed his fist into Dozer’s face. Blood squirted from Dozer’s nose and flowed down his face.

Dozer’s knuckles cracked on Rogue, snapping his jaw, clanking his teeth together.

Rogue grunted. He was a monster of a man. Tattoos covered every inch of his broad chest and corded back. Unholy muscles carved his form from the slope of his shoulder to the trim cut of his waist.

Dozer threw another punch, ramming his fist into the grooved ladder of Rogue’s ribs. Rogue grunted and returned the punch, slamming his fist into Dozer’s gut.

Doubling over, he flinched in pain, but he didn’t drop. He roared up and swung a right and then left at Rogue, plowing his fists into Rogue’s torso. Rogue absorbed the impact. Then he reached out with his huge arms, pulled Dozer against his chest, and hugged him close.

The need to fight seemed to drain from Dozer.

“You good?” he asked Dozer.

“Getting there.”

Rogue chuckled and rubbed Dozer’s shaved head.

With the fight over, the room emptied. Guys went up to get drinks at the altar. Rogue winked at me as he headed upstairs. I couldn’t help smiling at the way he checked out Jazzy’s ass as she walked in front of him.

She was determined to make sure Rogue found trouble with her .

My chest vibrated with a drugging combination of fear and arousal. He was beautifully broken. Blood oozed from a cut on his lip. His tongue swiped across it.

He backed me against the wall. My mouth watered. I dizzied, drinking in the scent of him—a trifecta of sweat, cigarettes, and sin. He was dark and dirty, and he was mine.

“Are you going to clean me up again?” He wiped blood from beneath his nose and mouth, and then he ran his nose along my face and lower to kiss my neck.

Running my fingers over his sweat-slicked flesh, I pulled him closer. “I like you dirty.”

I licked my way into his mouth. The salty tang of sweat blended with the copper warmth of his blood, and the velvet heat of his mouth.

I felt my heart pound in my head, my chest, and sink deep in the pulsing of my clit. Dozer braced his hands on the wall beside me. As I tugged on the snap of his jeans, I tasted my way across his pectorals.

He was hard with muscles tight with tension and rippling from the spike of adrenaline and the release of endorphins. Shivers broke along his flesh, tightening the dips and grooves of his six-pack. I nipped his ribs, kissing and licking lower.

Once on my knees, I stared up at his ruggedly bruised and bloodied face. His eyes darkened as he combed his fingers through my hair, creating a tangle in his fist.

“I’m not fragile, Dozer. You won’t break me.” The metal whir of his zipper cut through the silence in the room. Peeling the fly open, I curled my fingers around his thick, smooth length.

His cock was as gloriously proportioned as the man with swollen veins running the shaft and leaking pearly fluid from the blunt, rounded head. The soft velvety textured pillowed on my tongue with the first lick of the bitter and salty pre-cum from the slit.

I wrapped my lips around the head.

“Fuck.” His hips jerked, and his jeans sagged onto his hips.

I hummed, breathing through my nose as I glided my lips down the length and swirled my tongue over the smooth, pulsing underside.

With my fingers around the base, I fisted and sucked his dick.

His low possessive growl curled my toes. I pumped my fist, squeezing him as I kept him wet and slick. Spit trickled from the corner of my lips as his fist tightened in my hair, and he thrust into my mouth.

The powerful need in him struggled to surface. Tension strained his forearms, the veins swelling with blood as he held tight to the reins of his control.

With a whimper, I surrendered to him. I wanted him to use me, to fuck my face with the raw desperation that simmered inside him, always ready to boil over.

I slid my other hand into my panties and fingered my clit as I sucked him, licked him, and drove him toward release.

With a guttural moan, he tensed, and his cock became even harder. I relaxed my throat and swallowed. Hot jets of cum coated my tongue. I twisted my fist on his shaft as my fingers swirled faster over my clit.

I gasped, racing toward release. Dozer ripped from my mouth, tugged up his jeans, dropped to the ground, and claimed my lips, kissing me with tongue, teeth, and breath as I rode my orgasm.

As the last flutters left me, I smiled against his lips. “I love you,” I whispered. “Only you.” I wanted him to know he was everything I needed. “I’m yours…only yours,” I said again.

His gaze focused on me. “What about Romeo?”

I licked my lips. “I ended it. You’re the one I want touching me.”

He pulled me closer until I was on his lap with my knees at his hips. “Fuck, I can’t believe you’re mine.”

“I am.” I wrapped around him like a koala. Then my stomach grumbled. A loud rolling rumble because I hadn’t eaten in a while. I smiled. “I think you need to feed me something besides your dick.”

He laughed…a loud freaking laugh. Everything inside me melted into a twisted gooey, swirling ball of happiness.