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Rachel

I looked at Dante, so fierce and angry, and I almost regretted my decision to shoot him and leave him.

But I had done what I thought was best. Even if it hurt us both…

I hadn’t entered into this lightly. I had tried for weeks to get him to listen to me, and he was too pig-headed to even try and see things from my point of view.

And now he was looking at me with all the hatred in the world. I could barely stand it. I craved the excitement of our fights, but I didn’t crave this look. This withering, shit look.

That shit fucking hurt.

What’s the difference between pleasure and pain, when he’s both my dream and my nightmare?

“Rachel—” Vienna tried to warn, but I silenced him with a hollow laugh.

“Nah, you don’t get to play the peacemaker anymore, vice president. You clearly had his back, or else you wouldn’t have followed him here. Let him do his worst,” I hissed, turning my eyes back to Dante. “It won’t be anything he hasn’t done before.”

“Oh, believe me,” Dante laughed, stalking closer to me, limping ever so slightly. “There’s plenty I could have done, but I’ve chosen not to act on those thoughts out of respect for you. Tonight,” he hissed, seizing my jaw in his giant hand and forced me to look up at him. “You lost my respect.”

“I guess I should be flattered. You haven’t lost my respect, because you can’t lose something you never had.”

He laughed down at me. “Rachel… When are you going to realise we all know how full of shit you are? Oh, you’re stubborn enough to never say the words out loud, but just because they’re never uttered, doesn’t mean we can’t see the truth.

And the truth is, I’m under your skin much more than you will ever admit.

Which is why you’ve been clinging to me ever si nce I stole you from that Godawful family you were living with. ”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy. I realise you’re in front of your little friends, so you need to do your best at being the big, bad, nasty biker.

Do you want them all to know you were nearly crying earlier?

Do you want them to know you were begging me not to leave?

” I snarled at him, refusing to let him intimidate me.

I had danced this dance one time too many to feel anything other than disdain for him.

“You think I haven’t told them already? Unlike you, I’m not afraid of emotion. As I said, they see more than you think. For example, they know how much control—”

“Stop right there,” I laughed. “If you’re about to go on some testosterone filled tangent about the control you have over me, I’d stop whilst you still have a shred of fucking dignity left. We both know you have no control over me.”

“I can think of one place I’ve always had control,” he smirked.

“And there we are. Sex. You’re good at one thing, I’ll give you that. But that’s the only control you ever had. You never controlled here,” I tapped my temples. “My mind belonged to me. And you couldn’t stand that I wouldn’t let you in.”

“Do you know what?” He sighed. “You’re right.

That’s all I wanted. I wanted you to let me in.

I can handle the crazy. I can handle the nightmare.

I can handle the worst you have to offer.

All you had to do was let me in. I love you, Rachel.

Fuck, I love you,” he looked away from me, his eyes flashing with anger.

“You've no idea what I would have done for you.

I never pretended to be perfect, but I loved you in the only way I knew how, and I never asked for anything in return.

I never asked you to feel the way I felt.

To love me in return. All I asked was that you tried to be happy with me.

I loved you and you fucking ruined it all.

Remember that when I tear your life apart.

You could have had everything, and now you'll have nothing”

“I never had anything, anyway,” I said, ignoring the pang of hurt in my chest. This was all going so wrong, so quickly. All because he wasn’t willing to listen. “All I had was a man who put his stupid friends, and his ridiculous club before me.”

“Ahh, there she is. Rachel and her nasty tongue. You're a vicious little bitch. ”

I went up on my tiptoes to whisper against his lips. “That would have more impact if you weren’t such a misogynistic bastard. Why do you like it so much?”

And that’s all it took.

As always, the inferno that was always simmering away between us came roaring to life the minute our lips made contact.

Almost as though he couldn’t stop himself, Dante crashed his lips onto mine with an agonised groan. His fingers left my jaw and sank into my hair, grabbing it in painful handfuls. I welcomed the pain, pressing myself closer to him, oblivious to the fact that his friends were still in the room.

I was oblivious to everything. All I saw was him. He had become the centre of my universe, my gravity, and I found it hard to see past him. Even when I knew it was a mistake. Even when I knew that we shouldn’t be doing this. I was his.

Always.

But, as per usual, Dante was there to remind me why I could never fully let my guard down.

Why I could never fully give in to these feelings and allow him to become my entire reason for living.

Because whilst I was oblivious to the world, he was all too aware.

He knew his surroundings at all times, and today was no different.

Whilst I was feeling my resolve weakening, he was strengthening his hate against me. Whilst I was melting into the kiss that breathed life back into me, he was plotting and scheming.

The second he felt my surrender, he pulled back and hissed against my lips, “I warned you before to curb that vicious tongue of yours. Let’s see if this does the fucking trick.”

He stripped my clothes from me faster than ever before. And I let it happen. I didn’t fight him. I didn’t plead for mercy. I didn’t do a single thing. Because I had learnt the hard way what it meant to fight in these situations.

I let him strip me, and I let him push me to my knees. I didn’t stop him as he put his foot on the small of my back and knocked me forward until I was on all fours. I didn’t stop him when he positioned himself behind me. And I didn’t stop him when I felt him line up his cock with my entrance.

I had been here before .

Memories assaulted me of Alex doing this exact thing to me. Of taking me in front of his friends to teach me a lesson.

The difference between then and now, is I wasn’t a starved, manipulated teenager, and I wasn’t at the mercy of psychotic men.

I also wasn’t ashamed of sex, of my body, or of anyone seeing me having a good time.

Which is why, when Dante pushed his cock inside me with one deep thrust, I happily let out a moan of pleasure. When he started moving within me, I met the eyes of the three men watching and rocked back against Dante, meeting him thrust for thrust.

“Enjoying yourself?” Dante hissed, grabbing a fistful of my hair and pulling my head back until my neck felt like it was going to snap.

“Is this all you’ve got in you?” I snapped right back, raising myself to my knees and sat on his thighs, bouncing on his cock, taking control. “Do you think I give a fuck that they’re watching?”

“Look at them,” he laughed, snatching my chin and turning my head back to the men.

“They couldn’t give a fuck if you’re enjoying yourself or not.

They think you’re worthless, Rachel. The only reason they’ve put up with you is because I commanded it.

This is all you’re good for, and you know it.

I know it. Hell, even dumbass Alex and Ben knew it.

When I’m done with you, I’ll throw you to the rest of the bikers and you can join the ranks of being a club whore. ”

“You’re so full of shit,” I laughed, deliberately tensing my pussy around his cock, taking great satisfaction in his strangled moan of pleasure.

“Do you think your threats have any weight to them when I see how fucking full of bullshit they are?” I bounced on his cock faster, making sure I continued to tense and release my pussy muscles in the way I knew he loved.

Dante threw me off him and pushed me back onto all fours and entered me again, this time not bothering to take it steady.

He grabbed my hips and picked up his speed to a punishing pace, his cock hitting against my cervix, filling me completely.

I welcomed the pain, and moaned even louder, loving the reaction I got from him. He meant to punish, and the more I enjoyed it, the angrier he got .

He fucked me harder still, delivering a painful slap to my ass, one that meant to inflict nothing but pain, and I loved it still. I groaned and begged him to do it again, always challenging him, always defying him.

What the fuck is wrong with you? What woman likes being degraded like this?

Me.

That type of woman.

Because whilst Dante meant to degrade, I was in complete control so long as I didn’t feel degraded. So long as I found pleasure in his sick games, I would always be the winner. And there was nothing he could do to take that away from me.

And if that made me messed up, so be it.

It might not make sense to everyone, but not everyone was me. They hadn’t lived my life, or been through the things I had.

“I know what you’re doing,” Dante growled, leaning over so his words were hissed in my ear.

“You’re not as strong as you think you are.

This is proof of that,” he said, sinking his teeth into the tattoo on my shoulder.

“This is all the proof you need for people to see how weak you are. I own you Rachel, you wear my fucking brand like cattle. Play your games of pretend all you want, you wear your mark of ownership like the pathetic bitch you are.”

I didn’t rise to his words. I didn’t give him a reaction.

I did what he expected of me. I continued to thrust against him.

I continued to tense my pussy around him.

I worked with his cues, listening for the moment his breathing picked up.

For the second his body tensed. And I primed myself for my finishing move.

I moaned his name in the breathy way he loved, and I turned my head to look at him, locking eyes with him. He dug his fingers into my hips and picked up his speed.

And that’s when I pulled away, rolling out from underneath him and crouched on the floor at his side, taking great satisfaction in seeing his cum fly onto the carpet, and the agonised groan of frustration leave him as I denied his orgasm at the very last second, leaving him no choice but to finish himself off.

“I’ve told you many times to go fuck yourself,” I half hissed, half laughed.

“And now all your friends get to watch you do exactly that. Remember whilst you finish yourself off in your hand that I fucking won this round. You might think I’m pathetic, but look at you right now.

You actually are pathetic. Sex is the only control you ever had over me, and you know how to work my body to your advantage.

But that’s it. And as I’ve just proven, my mind always wins in the end, and my mind is something you’ll never own. ”

I stood up then, not caring about my nudity. “Take a good look,” I hissed at his friends. “Because you’re as pathetic as he is. The entire fucking club is beyond redemption, and I despise the fucking lot of you.”

The door slammed behind me, making me flinch. I hadn’t even heard Dante get up. I smiled smugly, his actions giving me further proof that I had won.

What is it you think you’ve won, Rachel? Because none of this was necessary. All of this was entirely avoidable. In one evening, you’ve destroyed weeks’ worth of building. And for what? To say you’re a winner? You’re just as pathetic as he is.

The pang of pain in my heart would have to wait until a later time. I couldn’t afford to give into the hurt. Because I was right. This was all avoidable. And because we were stubborn, everything we had built was now destroyed.