Page 29

TICK TOCK

D arkness bled in from every side. I was stranded in the middle of an open field, the wind cutting sharp like a blade through my shirt. Trees twisted in the distance, and beneath my boots was a bed of damp earth. I looked down and realized I was standing at the foot of an unmarked grave, the soil still fresh. My stomach twisted when I saw it, that instinct crawling up the back of my throat like bile.

A whisper rode in on the breeze, soft and broken. “Don’t die on me…”I spun around at the sound of it.

Natalia.

She stood just beyond the grave, barefoot and glowing, eyes rimmed with tears. Her hair whipped behind her in the wind, that sweet voice calling me closer. I ran to her, feet slipping in the mud, lungs burning. She didn't move, only stared with those knowing eyes, her dress slipping from her shoulders like she wanted me to see her break.

When I reached her, my hands went to her waist, and she came apart like she’d been waiting for me to put her back together.

Her lips met mine, soft and desperate, and then we were on the ground, the moss biting into my back as she straddled me. She whispered again, “Don’t die, Tick…Don't leave me."

I slid my hands up her thighs, under her dress, finding her soaked and aching.

"God,I missed you, kitten."

She reached between us, her hands fumbling with my zipper. I groaned as she slid my hard cock out. We both moaned as she ground her pussy on it, breathless on it and dripping it with her juices.

"Fuck me, daddy. I need you."

I entered her in one hard thrust, my teeth gritting at the sheer pleasure as my cock slid into her tightness. She gasped my name, her head falling back as her nails bit into my shoulders. She rode me slow, her hips rolling, our bodies tangled under the gray sky, rain beginning to fall like all those tears I'd never allowed myself to shed for all these years. The soft material of the nightgown became wet and clung to her tits. The sight made my cock jerk inside her

“Please,” she moaned. “Don’t leave me again.”

I gripped her hips, thrusting up harder, losing myself in the heat and the ache and the damn desperation. I was close, so fucking close, and her pussy clenched around me like she wanted to keep me there forever.

Then everything went black.

I woke up with a choked grunt, my cock hard and twitching under the thin hospital sheet, my body screaming in pain.

“Fuck,” I groaned, gritting my teeth.

My right arm was raised in a damn sling above my head, the shoulder bandaged tight. My side felt like it had been kicked by a horse and dragged behind a truck.

I shifted slightly, adjusting myself with a wince.

“Jesus Christ! Don't tell me my dick got shot at too," I muttered.

A quiet snore pulled my attention to the side. Knuckles sat slumped in a chair in the corner, a half-empty can of soda balanced on his lap.

Riddick was in another chair, his boots kicked up on the end of the hospital bed, arms crossed like he had nothing better to do.

I was about to call out for someone when the door opened.Jameson strolled in, that deep penetrating scowl on his face. He held that familiar air of command his father had. The kind that brought comfort to those he protected, and fear to those who didn't know him.

He smirked, or at least it was an attempt at smirking. “You look like shit.”

“You always this charming when your brothers are half-dead?” I grunted.

Jameson stepped closer, eyes scanning the monitors, before his gaze dropped to the bulge I hadn’t managed to adjust fully. His brow arched.

“Well, damn. You happy or just happy to see me?”

I shot him a middle finger. “Fuck off.”

He chuckled and walked back to the door. “I’ll go get the doc. Try not to jerk off while I’m gone.”

Knuckles stirred and rubbed at his eyes. “You’re awake,” he said, voice gravelly.

“No thanks to you bastards.”

“Yeah, well, you're welcome. Took three of us to drag your heavy ass out of there.” He leaned forward. “That woman I told you about? From the roadside? She’s a nurse here.”

I froze. “What?”

“Yeah. Helped stitch you up. Pretty damn good at it too. I tried finding her after your surgery, but she dipped. Real quiet.”

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry.

“She, okay?”

Knuckles frowned. “Seemed a little… shaken. Like she’d seen a ghost.”

Before I could say more, Jameson came back in, this time with Dr. Hensley.

The doc glanced over the chart, not meeting my eyes. He had to ge a seedy shit to work with the likes of our men.

"When the hell can I get out of here?" I grunted, hating hospitals and everything that came along with them.

“If you can keep your ass in that bed for the next twenty-four hours, I’ll run the final tests, get you outta here. I don’t want your biker circus roaming my halls.”

“Understood,” Jameson said.

“You sticking him with the bill?” Riddick asked, grinning.

“Damn right,” Hensley muttered and walked out.

Jameson leaned on the end of the bed. “Doc said you were lucky. Bullet missed the artery, but you bled out enough to scare the hell out of Knuckles.”

“Pussy,” I muttered.

“Keep talking, invalid,” Knuckles snapped back.

“Should’ve let you bleed,” Riddick added.

Jameson grunted. “It’s your fault, you know.”

I lifted a brow. “How’s that?”

“You let yourself get shot. Don’t do that shit again.”

“Duly noted,” I said, settling back as the pain pulsed harder.

I stared up at the ceiling, the dream still vivid. Sadness filled my chest knowing that would only ever be a dream. Natalia was dead, that unmarked grave was all there was left of her, and I had to live with that. It was my punishment for the blood I'd shed.