Page 21

Pippa

It had been two weeks. That day still lived in my mind with a crippling ferociousness. My bruises had healed, but I ached. My heart still hurt.

Willow stitched my body back together, told me I was a survivor, that nothing that happened was my fault. I wouldn’t say I was taking the blame, but I couldn’t shed the filth that seemed to linger in my thoughts.

I didn’t want to think about Quinn, about the horrible things he’d done. But he’d changed me, and he’d changed the two men I cared most about.

At least I didn’t have to worry about pregnancy or an STD. I’d had my period, and Gabi’s boss had acquired Quinn’s medical records as part of the deep dive they’d done into his life. His physical and blood work showed he was healthy. Too bad they hadn’t checked his fucking mental health. I still finished the prescriptions Willow had gotten for me.

I stared into Dozer’s face as he slept next to me on our new bed. Our bed, in our house. We agreed to pay Gabi rent. Dozer moved in, but I was pretty sure Romeo had, too. Not technically. He still had his room at the MC, but he hadn’t slept there since we came back to the house .

He slept in the spare room, but he didn’t come to my bed. I didn’t have to tell him that part of our relationship was over. I couldn’t stand anyone’s touch except Dozer’s. But even he wasn’t touching me. Not the way I needed. He could hold me, kiss me, but I hungered for him.

I wanted his to be the last hands that had caressed my skin, the only man touching me intimately and claiming me. I wanted his whiskey and cigarette breath on my lips and the dark and dangerous way he spread my thighs and fucked me.

I wanted him to chase the demons from my mind.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” he whispered into the darkness.

I curled into his chest. His skin was warm with his scent. “I can’t sleep.”

His arms banded around me. “I’m sorry, baby. Do you want to catch a ride and see if it will help you sleep?”

“No.” I ran my hand over his hip. I wanted him to cover me, to feel the weight of him against me, to cradle his hips between my thighs. I wanted him to surround me the way he always had, a seductive shadow to blanket me.

He covered my hand, slipped it off his body, and wedged it intimately between us.

Feeling rejected, I pulled away from him, sat up and tucked my knees close to my chest. “We need to talk.”

He leaned up on his elbow and brushed my hair over my shoulder. “You just have to put what happened out of your mind. ”

I spun toward him. “I’m not thinking of him. I’m thinking about us.” I dropped my gaze. “About how you see me. You don’t touch me, and you don’t let me touch you.”

“Not because I don’t want to.” He sat up. “It’s only been two weeks. I’m giving you time.” He raked his hand over his shaved head. “Fuck. I’m not a monster.”

“Dozer,” I whispered. “When I’m in your arms, he’s not in my head. He’s in yours.”

“I know, but not in the way you’re thinking. I’m trying not to remind you of what he did to you.” He growled, slid his legs from the bed, and stood.

My breath caught. I’d worried he wasn’t attracted to me, that he didn’t want me anymore. But his cock, hard and thick, tented the front of the soft cotton pants.

With a roll of his neck, he loosened the tension in his broad shoulders. I wanted my fingers on the ridges of his abdominals, to trace the ink disappearing beneath the low riding waistband of the cotton pjs.

I wanted my mouth on his flesh because I was starving for a taste of him. I crawled across the bed, positioned on my knees, and gripped his hips. “Talk to me.”

He rested his hand on my shoulder. I stilled as his knuckles raked across my collarbone. “Do you really want to know what I think about?”

I swallowed as his fingers wrapped around my neck. “Yes,” I said on a breath.

“Would it scare you to know that I want to hold you down and split your thighs, shoved my cock so deep that I fuck him out of your head? ”

My breathing grew shallow. His strong fingers sent a shiver over me, a delicious tingle tightening my nipples. “I’m not scared of you. You won’t hurt me.”

“Yeah, I would. I have, and I will again.”

“I’ve hurt you, too. That’s what happens when you love hard.” I kissed his belly.

“I can’t stand the thought of anyone touching you.” His fingers tunneled into my hair. “Pippa, I’ve told you, I’m wired wrong. After everything you’ve been through, I want to mark you as mine.” Tears wet his eyes. “Then I get scared that you’ll see him in me. I’m possessive, jealous, and violent.”

Those words hit me hard. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Dozer. You’re nothing like him.”

Oh god, how could he think that? I kissed him, forcing my way into his mouth. I sucked his tongue, ran my fingers over the slope of his shoulders, and rubbed my pussy against the hard edge of his cock.

He groaned and kissed me back, swirling his tongue into my mouth. “Willow said to wait three weeks.”

“I can’t wait another week, another day, another hour. I need you, Dozer. I need your hands on me…in me.”

With a gentle touch over my quivering belly, he traced the elastic of my panties, then slipped his fingers inside.

I moaned as his palm cupped my pussy, and the blunt tip of his finger slid through my soaked folds.

“I’m wet for you.” I nipped his ear, then kissed along his jaw. “You’re mine.” This time, I sucked on the tender flesh of his neck, hard, with a bite and growl. I marked him, bruising his neck with my kisses.

Dozer hovered over me, kissing me as he pushed me back on the bed. He hooked a thumb in my panties and tugged them down my legs.

I jerked my oversized T-shirt over my head. Lying naked on my back, on the bed, with my knees bent, I spread my thighs.

Dozer stripped out of his pants and climbed onto the bed. His touch was so gentle, so gentle he took my breath, stole my heart, and seeped into my soul.

He braced on outstretched arms, holding his weight as he lowered his head and sipped my lips.

I rested my hands on his hips and rolled my pelvis, relishing the feel of his flesh against mine. Any fear that simmered in the darkest part of my consciousness melted into nothingness, dissolving in the warmth of this man’s body crushing to mine.

“Make me yours, Dozer. Only yours.”

Then he was there, sliding into me, stretching me, filling me, making my body his. Only his.

Long leisurely strokes of his tongue with mine matched the slow and lingering rhythm of his cock, grinding deep into me and gliding out.

My back arched and my eyes closed as he consumed me.

“Look at me, Pip.”

I was drowning in the pained look in his eyes. I worried the same uncertainty reflected in mine. Fear licked at the corner of my mind, fear that I wouldn’t be able to forget, fear that the demon had ruined me…that I wouldn’t be able to come .

I gripped his ass, my fingers digging into him, urging him deeper, aching for more as he moved inside me. I leaned up and bit his lip, provoking his possessiveness.

“Fuck me, Dozer. Fuck me because I’m yours. Make me come. Please, make me come.”

He roared, grabbed my thighs, spread me wide, and hammered into me. I moaned, writhing on the bed as he reared back and watched his cock, slick with my cream, thrust in and out of my body.

He felt so good. “Oh god.” I gasped as my core clenched. Tears filled my eyes as my body triumphed at the dark pleasure he rained over me. I moaned as I came in a heady explosion of waves, spasms, curses, and cream.

“Fuck.” Dozer grunted, slammed hard, and came. The first hot pulses bathed my channel, then he reared back, fisted his cock, and finished, painting my belly and breasts with hot, thick ropes of cum.

I ran my fingers through his cream, smearing his scent into my flesh. I stared into his eyes and licked my fingers, desperate for his taste on my tongue.

With a heavy sigh, he collapsed onto me, his inked chest crushing my breasts. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his mouth found mine.

He kissed me, a slow drugging possession.

“You’re fucking beautiful,” he whispered, sliding his lips along my neck. He latched onto me where my neck met my shoulder and sucked. Hard. He nipped and kissed his way across my chest.

His mouth closed over my breast. Firm suction pulled the nipple into his mouth, his teeth grazing the edge .

I whimpered, and he bit me, then laved the sting with wet, velvety swipes of his tongue.

My clit tingled, pressure and warmth pooling low in my belly.

He sucked my breast the way he did my neck, leaving a trail of marks along my flesh. More kisses trailed across my belly.

With each kiss, each hard suck, he left a map of his travels over my body.

My breathing grew shallow as he pressed his lips to my pelvis. My pulse fluttered in my chest.

I waited. My chest constricted. His breath puffed against my wet folds. Shivers chased along my spine, and my nipples ached.

The sheet crumbled in my fist, and my body tensed with bated breath. I could barely speak words, desperate to have his mouth on me, to chase the last ghost from our bed. I wasn’t fine, wasn’t fucking insecure, numb, or empty. I was hopelessly lost in my love for this man.

I cried out as he finally licked me.

A soft growl rolled from him as he swirled his tongue inside me. “Fuck, you taste like me, baby.”

He lapped my folds and sucked my clit. His tongue was everywhere, tasting, devouring my pussy. He gripped my thighs, and his tongue delved into me, teasing my opening, and flicking into my hot aching center, still wet with my cum and his.

My orgasm erupted without warning. One moment I was being pulled along on a fluid current of delicious sensations, my mind and body both rushing toward release and falling into the warm rapturous waters of pleasure. Then the harsh blinding rapids crashed over me.

I gasped for breath, but body tight, and my core clenching in an unrelenting release. “Dozer,” I cried his name as my fingers knotted in the sheets and my hips bucked against his mouth.

He didn’t relent, continuing to lash at my folds until the final spasm ebbed and the tension flowed from my muscles, relaxing back into the bed.

Then he was there, gathering me into his muscular arms with his warm body surrounding me.

I’d had two choices, to jump or be shoved. I’d jumped because I loved him. And when I fell, he was there to catch me. I knew he’d never let me fall alone because he loved me.

Dozer

Pippa’s arms wrapped around my waist as I twisted back on the throttle and sped down the highway. We had church tonight, but I promised her a long ride on the bike first.

Her fingers floated over my abdomen, slipped under my fitted T-shirt, and her nails scraped along my flesh. I slowed the bike and took the next turn off, then dropped my hand onto her flank.

“You’re killing me,” I said but wasn’t sure she could hear me over the roar of the bike and the whir of the wind. By the time I pulled into the parking lot, both me and my cock had decided giving up my room at the MC was a mistake because I wanted inside her…now .

Once I backed the bike into the row, I pivoted on the seat, cupped her face, and pulled her in for a kiss.

Hana stood at the metal oil drum with Rogue and Sully. When she saw Pippa, she hurried over.

“About time. Bitch, where have you been?”

I held the bike steady as she climbed off. “Dozer took me for a ride.” There was a hint of humor to her words, but her smile never quite made it to her mouth. She handed me her helmet, and I stored it along with mine on the handlebars.

I curled my fingers around her nape and covered her mouth with mine. She whimpered as she gripped my cut and kissed me back.

“I’m going to talk to Rogue. You can stay out here with me.”

“I’m going in with Hana. The girls are waiting for me.” She pressed her lips to mine once more, and then she was whisked away by the five-foot badass, wearing her cut with her Property of Blade patch on the back. Pippa was getting hers tonight, although I wasn’t sure if she was up for wearing it.

She glanced over her shoulder to me before taking that denim covered ass into the MC. Muted music drifted into the lot. I stopped at the oil drum.

“Your old lady looks good,” Rogue said, watching Pippa enter the MC. He stood next to Sully with a cigarette wedged between his fingers and exhaling a curl of smoke from his nostrils.

“Are you trying to get me back in the basement?” I asked and shoved a cigarette between my lips. “Because her ass is mine. ”

Rogue laughed. “Just making sure you haven’t grown a pussy.”

I still had a semi from having Pippa on the back of my bike with her arms around me. “Not since the last time I checked.”

“Can’t stop a man from looking,” Sully said with a laugh.

“Yeah, you’re right. Rogue, we should head inside. I haven’t seen enough of Jazzy lately.”

Rogue coughed, and Sully grimaced, pointing his finger at me. “Fuck,” he said on a sigh. “I can’t make excuses for her. She’s my daughter.”

I slapped Rogue on the back. “We never look, right?”

He tossed his cigarette into the fire. “Leave me out of this one.”

“Dozer,” Romeo called from the door.

I nodded to the guys and headed into the MC.

“Is she okay?” I asked quietly.

“She’s fucking amazing. The girls are doing shots.”

The MC was busy. Blade and Vance sat at a table with Pike and Rook. The girls picked up the shots from the table. Pippa’s gaze connected with mine as she tipped hers to her lips and drank. Then Levi grabbed her hand and dragged her into the middle of the room to dance.

“Levi brought her boyfriend?” I glanced around the room. “Not sure everyone is going to be happy with college jocks as hang-arounds.”

“I fucking hate it, but it’s a special occasion.” Romeo wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we approached the bar. “Seems like yesterday we were all sitting in the playhouse, wondering how the fuck we moved forward as a club without Vance, and tonight, he’s going to sew on his patch again.”

Romeo ordered us a double shot of Jack. We slammed both, then brought our beers to the table.

Because I wanted to be able to watch Pippa, I sat next to Vance and leaned back in my chair. She twirled on the dance floor, shimmying her hips, and flipping her hair to the beat of the music.

Romeo pulled up a chair beside me.

Levi wrapped her arm around my girl. Jazzy and Gabi sang along with the song, and Hana tipped a beer to her lips as she tried to wedge herself in front of Levi. Pippa’s head fell back as she laughed.

Best fucking sound in the world. Her gaze locked with mine, and I smiled at her. Fuck, but I loved her.

Romeo leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You still want to watch her.”

Yeah, some things would never change. I did want to watch her. I wanted to watch her laugh and smile. But I wanted to be the only one to make her come apart. I’d made her want things she shouldn’t, and she’d become my addiction. Just as I’d become hers.

Because of her, I’d figured out a lot about myself in the last couple of weeks. I understood what brotherhood meant. When I needed them, my Heller brothers were at my side. Fuck the consequences. I’d be there for them the same way.

They gave me back Pippa. I couldn’t look at her without my heart taking a jolt. Fierce was another F- word to add to my list. I had a fierce fucking girlfriend. She was a fighter, another F-word.

Fuck, but I needed her. Her touch was gravity, a force I couldn’t explain, but that kept me grounded. Staring into her eyes was like staring into the sun, blinding me, warming me, my reason for living. And her kiss, having her beneath me, being inside her was my salvation.

Feeling my stare, she turned to me and smiled. My jaw ticked as I clenched my teeth. My soul was black, but she’d found me in the dark. Now every day with this girl was another day to fall in love because she was mine.

And I was hers.