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CHAPTER ELEVEN

DAKOTA

Bullet’s lips touch mine, and he kisses me. Every single thought escapes my body. I don’t even recall what we’re talking about because there is only him. His tongue slips inside of me, tasting my mouth, my tongue, my whole freaking body, it feels like.

His hands slide down my sides, then reach around and grip the globes of my ass before he picks me up. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I groan at the feel of his length pressing against me from beneath his jeans.

I want that again.

Brain vanishes—body takes over. And for whatever reason, I don’t care that he was an absolute asshole to me.

I want him.

Now.

He walks me over to the bed and slowly sinks down to his knees, setting my ass on the edge. His mouth only shifts away from mine when I’m fully seated on the mattress. He breaks the kiss and slides his hands to the waist of my shorts. His eyes find mine, and wordlessly, he begins to shift my shorts off.

Lifting my hips, I help him because I know what he feels like when he’s touching me and inside of me. I want that. My stupid, betraying body needs it right now. Needs him. I need the way he makes me feel. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, and I can’t wait.

Once my shorts are off and lying somewhere on the floor, he reaches for the backs of my knees, gently gripping them before he guides them over his shoulders. I stare at him, wide-eyed and slightly confused but excited about whatever is coming my way.

Then it happens.

He leans forward, and his mouth is on my center. His tongue swirls my clit, and then his lips wrap around it, and he sucks. My eyes slide closed as my head falls backward, and my hips lift, silently begging for more.

I want more.

So much more.

Lifting my arms, I reach forward and slide my fingers through his short, dark hair, gripping him where I can and holding on for dear life. And I have to hold on because it’s as if something breaks between us, like a rubber band snaps or something.

Bullet stops gently sucking and licking me. And his mouth becomes wild, feral perfection. Arching my back, I press my center closer to his mouth, wishing we could actually melt together, consume one another, and become one instead of two bodies.

I feel him grunt against my center as his tongue slips inside of me. He fucks me with that tongue, and I swear I see stars. They actually burst in front of my closed eyelids as he continues to eat me like a starving man.

I’m not sure if this is the way it always is, but I don’t want anything to change because this feels amazing. Out of this world amazing. Lifting my hips over and over, I can’t stop the way my body moves against his tongue, against his teeth. It’s everything and not enough all at the same time.

Then it happens.

I come.

It rolls throughout my entire body like a freight train. It feels as if it’s taking over my soul and consuming everything. My muscles tighten from my head to my toes. My entire body freezes, but he doesn’t stop. He continues lapping at me, my clit so sensitive that my body practically jumps off the bed every single time.

Then he’s gone. He releases my legs from his shoulders, and my whole body falls backward, my eyes still closed as I attempt to catch my breath. But that sensation doesn’t last long. Before I realize what’s happening, I feel him slide inside of me with a single thrust.

His hands grip the backs of my thighs as he pushes them toward the mattress, and that’s when my eyes pop open. Gripping his biceps, I look into his eyes as he hovers above me. His jaw is set hard, clenched, as he looks down at me.

“You’re mine, Dakota,” he oddly announces.

I start to ask him not only what that means but also why he’s saying it, but the words don’t come out because he continues, and when he does, my lips shut mainly out of a mixture of confusion and excitement.

I should not be excited.

Not in the slightest.

But he’s moving inside of me, and my body takes over my brain the moment he enters a room, apparently, so I go with it and allow my body and soul to take over my whole brain. It’s as if everything inside of my head turns to complete mush.

Bullet lowers his head, and his lips touch mine, but he doesn’t deepen the kiss. He also continues to roll his hips, my breath hitching with each thrust. I climb higher and higher, my body ready to come again. Even though it’s sensitive and sore, I want to get there with him inside of me.

“You are fucking mine, Dakota. Your body, your cunt, all of you belongs to me. You don’t get it yet, but you’re going to understand what that means. You’ll hate me over it, but I don’t give a fuck. You belong to me.”

And with those words, his mouth slams against mine, his tongue fills me, and he fucks me hard. I come. He comes. We come. I don’t know who is first, who is last, who is hardest. I don’t know a fucking thing.

Not a damn thing.

BULLET

Dakota falls asleep beside me. As much as I want to sleep, I can’t. I’m not sure what exactly is bothering me, but there is something that just doesn’t seem right. I understand now how Shade was never able to find her. Living in that commune, her birth certificate being in a file folder, and her mother keeping her there, it all makes sense.

Except for the fact that her mother painted Shade as a monster. How could she ever say that about him and then take her to a true monster? And I know that bitch had to have known what he was doing. There is no way that he runs a whole operation while keeping all the women there completely and totally oblivious.

Then, something hits me.

Briana.

I’ve heard Dakota talk about her, and I can’t help but wonder what she knows about the cult leader. Slipping out of the bed, I grab my jeans from the floor and the phone from the nightstand that I know belongs to Dakota.

The phone I already know doesn’t have a code to get into. I watched her do something on it before she went to sleep, and she didn’t even have to unlock it, which I don’t understand how she doesn’t have her shit locked down.

Except I know.

She’s naive, beyond naive, and she’s lucky to have found me because I’m not going to let that shit fly anymore. Even if I’m glad her shit isn’t locked down right now so I can find her friend and give her a call.

Stepping out into the fresh air in the open hallway, I look around the parking lot. There is the rental car and my bike. Nobody else is here, and they won’t be until the weekend when people come in from the city to spend some time in the mountains of North Carolina.

But right now, it’s quiet as fuck, just the way I like it. Closing the hotel room door behind me, I touch the contacts icon on the phone and frown when I notice that there is only one contact saved.

Just Briana.

Nobody else.

I already know from Piggy’s research that she had a job in an office before she started working from home. She’s also not a virgin and wasn’t one before we fucked, so I know she must have had some kind of relationship with a man before. I am finding it hard to believe that she only knows one person.

Instead of staring at the single name on the phone, I touch the name and hold her phone to my ear as it rings, and I wait for this woman to pick up. I have no fucking clue who she is or what she knows about me, and since I was an asshole to Dakota, I would just take a wild guess and assume she knows I was a dick to her friend.

“Are you okay?” the voice on the other end of the phone asks as the greeting.

“Briana, this is Bullet, Dakota’s friend,” I say.

There is a moment of silence. Then there is a grunt. “You aren’t her friend. Where is she?” she snaps.

Yup. Dakota told her. “She’s asleep. I got something I need to talk to you about.”

I’m met with more silence. Then, finally, she speaks. “Go ahead,” she mutters. “What do you want to know? When you’re done, you better wake her up because I’m going to talk to her and make sure she’s okay.”

This woman is a friend. She’s ballsy, too. I like her already. Like, really like her. “The head of your cult, what do you know about him?”

Briana snorts. “I know some things.”

I really do like how she is giving me nothing and everything all at once, so I continue because I do not have a goddamn thing to hide. If I’m going to get Briana to trust me even a fucking sliver, which I need in order to get her on my side, I can’t.

And normally, I would give zero fucks, but I have a feeling if Briana tells Dakota to walk out the door and go back to Oregon, that’s exactly what she’ll do. So I need this bitch on my side in order to make my plan become a reality because I want Dakota for myself. The princess by birthright should most definitely be with the new king.

“We did some research on the Willamette Haven commune when Dakota showed up. Seems he’s got a little side business that is not so much peace, love, and light,” I say.

“He does indeed,” she murmurs.

“So you know about the girls?” I ask. “Does that mean you were one?”

Silence.

Again.

I’m okay with the silence. In fact, right now, I welcome it while she processes what the fuck I just asked. She sucks in an audible breath, then lets it out slowly before she speaks.

“I was,” she whispers, almost as if saying it quietly will make it less true.

Whatever the fuck she needs, she can take. Because I have no doubt that just thinking about that part of her life retraumatized her. I’m no psychologist or anything, far from it, but I can’t imagine the trauma she suffered.

Pinching my eyes closed, I dip my chin before I let out a grunt. “I’m sorry to hear that, babe.”

“Don’t be. I got the hell out of there, and I’m grateful because most did not.”

“You safe where you’re at right now?” I ask.

“What aren’t you telling me, Bullet?” she asks.

I’m not sure what I’m not telling her because it’s just a sensation. At the same time, I don’t know what I’m feeling or even what I’m saying, but I have a feeling that this is bigger than we imagined. So much goddamn bigger, it’s nestled deep in my gut. Something is going on here, and we’re on the threshold of uncovering it. I’m just not sure what the fuck it is.

“I’m not sure,” I confess. “But a group of us are coming to Oregon and Willamette Haven. We’re on a mission to get some questions answered. Can we talk with you about it when we get there?”

Silence again, and I realize that’s just how she processes things. I don’t push her. I have the time to wait for her to sort shit out inside of her head. I have all the fucking time she needs. It’s not like she has much of a choice, really. I’m giving her the words to choose, but I’m showing up to see her and ask questions no matter what she says.

Then I hear her clear her throat before she speaks. “What kind of group are you?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper, and if I had to guess, I would assume she’s been crying.

“A kind of group that’s mostly not good, except when we hear about something happening to women and children, but especially children.”

“You’re going to save them,” she states. It’s not a question, but I answer her anyway.

“We’re going to sure as fuck try, babe.”

“Then I’ll meet with you and tell you anything and everything you want to know.”

It’s my turn to be silent for a moment. There is movement at the front office, and I watch as a brother pulls up on his bike. It’s Lightning, and I know what he’s about to go and do, which is the front desk girl.

“Sounds good, Briana. I’ll let you know when we’ll be arriving. But know that this is going to get messy.”

“Good,” she states. “I think that is what it needs to be before anything will change.” Then she ends the call

My lips curve up into a grin. Turning around, I make my way back into the hotel room, and after I lock the door behind me, I move a chair up against the door and shove the top beneath the knob. I push my jeans down my legs and step out of them, then place the phone on the nightstand before I crawl back into bed.

Dakota sighs and rolls over to face me, hitching her leg over my thigh, and that is how I fall asleep, willingly, for the first time ever, with a woman.

The only other times I’ve slept with a woman in the same bed, I passed out drunk, high, or both with a clubwhore. But believe it or fucking not, I am stone-cold sober right now.

And even if I’m only admitting it to myself—I like it.