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Chapter Sixteen

Honey Medicine

M ara hated feeling stuck but she had no protection if she decided to leave the apartment. She hated to live in a sense of perceived fear too. Not to mention being alone like this reminded her… she was alone. So much of her old life, just gone. Vanished. Wiped off the face of the earth because of Fitz.

Before getting tangled up with Fitz… life was just fun. She managed a strip club and a diner. Working two important jobs, living a nocturnal life, always busy. It was actually the diner where she met Fitz, ironically enough. She had seen him and the others in the strip club many times. That’s where she learned how to navigate the outlaw lifestyle. Very rarely did those guys get out of line at the strip club. The diner was a different story.

In fact, the first time Fitz asked her out, it was right after he put some guy through the front window. To her, Fitz was this epic monster of sex. And by the time she realized who he was, her ass had his initials and she was marrying him. Confessing a love she never truly felt, speaking vows that were just words on paper.

The first time she met Darrow though…

“Fuck,” Mara whispered to herself.

She found herself going through her phone, stopping at a name she promised herself she would delete about fifty times.

“Macy,” Mara whispered and her eyes instantly filled with tears.

Macy’s stage name was Honeysuckle. She had creamy skin that never tanned but could get sunburned from a lightbulb. Strawberry blonde hair, Caribbean blue eyes, and a sweet smile that even made Mara’s heart race. The only person Mara ever trusted. Someone she considered not just a friend or even a best friend, but someone who was like a sister to her.

In fact, Mara almost lost her job one night when some business guy got handsy with Macy and forced a finger between her legs. Macy slapped the guy and the guy slapped her back, leaving a horrible red handprint on Macy’s face for two days. Instead of having security kick the guy out, Mara grabbed a letter opener and put it through the man’s hand, literally going through the man’s hand and into the wooden arm of a chair, leaving him attached. It took a lot of apologizing and a favor from SOFRAW to get Mara out of that jam.

She kept her job and the guy who slapped Macy was barred from the strip club for life. Then the worst possible thing happened between Mara and Macy.

Fitz got between them.

Mara caught the flu and was in bed for three days straight. During that time, Fitz decided it was a great opportunity to try and fuck Macy. The deecees at the clubhouse weren’t doing the trick. Fitz wanted something different and something wild. So he went to Macy’s studio apartment and worked his way inside, then tried to work his way inside her.

That wasn’t the worst of it. The worst of it came when Macy showed up to talk to Mara about it. Mara remembered the way Macy’s face looked. Shocked. Scared. Mascara running down her cheeks from crying. She was completely disheveled and spun a story of how Fitz forced himself onto her. And if she hadn’t kneed him in the balls and locked herself in the bathroom…

Mara didn’t believe Macy. Her own best friend. No matter how much Macy cried and swore, Mara just refused to believe it. Even if in her heart she knew it were true. Once the lifestyle got into your veins it was like a deadly drug. And since a guy like Fitz was the one injecting that lifestyle, Mara just slipped more and more.

Mara quit working at the strip club. Quit the diner. She gave up everything to be solely Fitz’s inked-up old lady. And that was what sent her down the path of wine and pills.

Her only enjoyment in life was going to the clubhouse to call Maggie a whore. And to wait and see if Darrow was there. Those precious few seconds of staring into Darrow’s eyes…

Mara popped the lid off the bottle of Xanax and put the bottle to her mouth. She threw her head back and felt a few of the pills touch her tongue. Instantly, she shook her head and spit the pills into the kitchen sink. She ran water onto them, watching as they dissolved.

“No,” she said.

She had no idea why she rejected the Xanax. Two or three would not have killed her. Not even close. She spun around and thought about Macy again. She missed her best friend. She needed her best friend. Instead of calling Macy, Mara sent a text message.

Hey.

Mara regretted the message as soon as she sent it. But it was too late. She could either down the entire bottle of Xanax and be done with Fitz, Darrow, SOFRAW , and all the lies…

… or she could wait and see if her best friend would actually text her back.

There was no bloody handshakes or bloody hugs. No shots of whiskey. No blow jobs from deecees . Not even a lap dance from Maggie. Linc went into the clubhouse to find Nova. When she saw Linc’s face, she didn’t even flinch. The life had settled in on her so much. She didn’t speak a word as she walked to the bathroom to get a wet towel and stood in front of Linc as he sat on the corner of his bed.

Linc touched Nova’s hips and eventually began to undress her. Kiss her. Pull her on top of him. Grab her ass and keep pulling her, right up until her cunt hovered over Linc’s mouth. Her sweet honey was his medicine. His addiction. One stroke of his tongue sent Nova headfirst into a world of pure blissful outlaw heaven…

All the while Darrow throttled his motorcycle at a red light waiting for it to turn green. He wasn’t ashamed to admit how fucking much his face hurt. Linc was a tough guy. A brutal outlaw. That’s why he wore the VP patch, and rightfully so. Bottom line was that tensions were out of control within the club. Nobody would openly admit it but everyone looked at one another, wondering who else was a rat.

When Darrow arrived home, he shut the door, locked it, and went into the kitchen to pour himself a tall glass of whiskey. He naturally skipped the glass and just drank from the bottle. The day warranted it. The goddamn life warranted it.

“Darrow? You could let me know that you’re…”

Darrow turned to find Mara standing with a lamp in her hand, ready to use it as a weapon.

Yeah, babe, I could have told you I was on my way home, but I didn’t , Darrow thought.

Mara’s jaw dropped when she saw Darrow’s face. She dropped the lamp too.

“Darrow,” she said. “Holy fuck. What happened…”

As she approached, Darrow stuck his hand out and shook his head.

“Don’t do that, babe,” he said. “Don’t show your real feelings for your husband. Not right now.”

“What?”

“I see it in your eyes. You think this is from Fitz, huh? You know if I get my hands on him I’m going to kill him.”

“You know what, Darrow? Fuck you. You show up, beaten and bloody and I’m asking a question. Making sure you’re okay. Seeing if I can do anything. You think I give a fuck about Fitz? I hope when you guys find him, you cut his fucking head off. Chop him up. Feed him to animals or something. I don’t give a fuck. I was worried about you, Darrow. Concerned about you. You know what? I hope you lost whatever fight you were in.”

Mara turned and Darrow grabbed her by the hair and pulled. She let out a yell but stumbled back—unable to fight against Darrow’s intense strength—colliding with Darrow’s body. His other hand reached around and touched her throat.

“Don’t ever fucking question who I fight and when, babe. Everything happening right now is because of you. If you really need to know that badly, Mara, Linc and I had to settle some stuff. That’s all.”

Mara’s heart slammed in her chest. She knew this was all her fault. She knew Linc saw right through her and she knew that Darrow put himself on the line to protect her. Basically going against the club.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just saw your face and…”

“Nothing is going to kill me, Mara,” Darrow growled. “I’m going to protect you.”

Darrow then spun Mara around and grabbed the back of her neck. He slammed his mouth down on hers, kissing her with the kind of aggression only an outlaw could provide. When Darrow pulled away, there was blood on Mara’s face. And mouth. His blood.

Darrow stroked his thumb across Mara’s bottom lip, wiping away the blood, but Mara quickly moved for his thumb, sucking the blood off it. Mara reached up for Darrow’s face, touching the throbbing cuts. Darrow’s hands dropped and slid into Mara’s pants. He cupped her ass and lifted her, and instead of walking across the entire apartment, he stopped at the dining room table.

Placing her down, his hands grabbed at her pants. And her panties. He tore them down her legs and off her body, thirsting for her. Hunger rolling in his soul. He pushed Mara back on the table and then placed his hands at her inner thighs, spreading her legs. Her cunt glistened. Wet and delicious.

Darrow didn’t know both he and Linc chose the same kind of medicine for themselves. Darrow’s right hand moved up Mara’s leg, grazing her cunt for a second. He then moved his hand to her throat again, holding tighter this time. He dropped down and pressed his mouth against Mara’s cunt. Rubbing his nose against her pearled clit, growling in his throat as he did. Devouring her sweet scent. Coating his mouth with her honey.

His tongue darted forward. Inside her. Feeling her throbbing sheath. Darrow licked up and latched his mouth against her succulent cunt. Licking hard, suckling against her clit until she screamed his name. Darrow pulled away with a wet kiss sound and went for more. And more. And more.

Mara’s body shivered with need. She somehow managed to reach back and up with her right hand, twisting the clasp of her bra. Using the same hand she lifted her shirt up and over her head, forcing Darrow’s hand off her throat for a second. She pulled at her bra and threw it to the floor.

Her right hand grabbed her right breast and she squeezed hard. Darrow’s grip on her throat tightened. She clawed at her own breast. And Darrow’s tongue took her to the edge of climax. Her hips jumped as she felt herself starting to come. That’s when Darrow pulled away and stood up, leaving her lower half bouncing, throbbing, her own cum pouring from her body.

Mara looked down and saw the blood between her legs. Smeared with her own wetness. Blood from Darrow’s face. Darrow’s wounds from the fight with the VP of SOFRAW . She looked at Darrow’s face and reached for him once again. Fingers touching…

Darrow stood up, his hand still gripped at her throat. With his other hand, he opened his jeans and pulled his cock free. A voice in Mara’s head reminded her that she and Darrow agreed to stop fucking.

Like that’s going to ever happen, Mara thought to herself.

A moment later, Darrow pressed his huge size between her legs and thrust into her. She cried out and felt her body instantly begin to come once more. Darrow felt Mara’s cunt literally squeezing against his cock and he sucked in a breath and growled deep in his chest. He fucked Mara so hard on the dining room table, it ended up in the living room.

And then he carried her to his bed to keep fucking.