Tickety Tock, page 23
A few minutes later, Stumpy and Cash return through the door, with Metalhead wearing an I told you so look behind them.
“Fucking burned body out in a clearing. Lightning-struck tree must have fallen on him. He’s barely recognisable but no reason to doubt it’s Raven’s brother.” Stumpy pauses and gives his opinion. “Reckon they’re all spooked, and a perfectly normal storm shocked them.”
Toad grins as though he thought that all along. Dwarf grinds his teeth but takes my cue and keeps quiet.
“Okay, so Jack’s gone. Now what the fuck was that about a gold mine? Something else you’ve all been hallucinating about?”
Dwarf sucks in air but pulls me close and ignores the insult. “Have to admit we didn’t quite get to the bottom of it, but Jack seemed to believe there was gold underneath the cabin. That’s why he so desperately wanted it.”
In my head, I run back over exactly what Jack had said. “He mentioned a partner,” I remind him. “Should we be worried about someone else turning up?”
Dwarf glances at me, shakes his head, then looks at his brothers.
“I’d put good money on who it is,” Cloud says. “That Bland fucker wouldn’t have helped him for nothing.”
That statement goes right over my head. “Who’s Bland?”
Dwarf whispers, “The guy who had the know-how to set up the explosives.”
Toad raises his chin in acknowledgment to Cloud, then focuses on me. “What’s the likelihood of there being a gold mine here? You ever heard anything about it?”
I answer him honestly. “I was as shocked to hear about it as you were yourself. I haven’t even heard any rumours. Of course, when I left, I was only a kid, and Grandaddy might have discovered something after I went. But I doubt it. If he’d found anything of the sort, he’d have investigated it.” That’s the kind of man that he was.
“He had a stroke,” Dwarf reminds me. “Maybe finding out he was a potential millionaire caused it.”
If so, I feel devastated for the man who’s proved he loved me so much. Grandaddy would have been so excited, how cruel it would have been to have that chance snatched from him.
Toad is quiet for a moment and then pinches the bridge of his nose. Eventually he turns to me, looking and sounding serious. “This change things, Raven? You having second thoughts about selling the cabin? Now you know there could be more to it?”
None at all. To my mind, it changes nothing. “I made an agreement,” I respond. “If there’s gold here, how would I know how to excavate it?”
Toad looks at me astutely. “How about this? We pay what we’ve already agreed, then if anything comes of there being a gold mine here, we’ll give you a percentage.”
That sounds more than fair, and far more than I expected. Grinning, I nod my head, showing his compromise is more than reasonable.
“Hey, Prez. We’re buying the cabin along with a corpse. What are we going to do about Jack?” Raider seems to be thinking of practicalities.
Addressing myself to him, I say the first thing that comes into my head. “I’ll report finding his body to the cops. It’s obvious it was a freak accident.”
Toad grimaces. “The cabin’s surrounded by motorcycle tracks. Personally, I’d like to keep the authorities out of it.”
I know they’re buying the cabin through a shell company of sorts, so can understand why they’d not want to be associated with it. The cops knowing they’re here doesn’t gel with them having a place off the grid.
“We could bury him in the forest. Who the fuck’s going to come looking for him here?” Dwarf suggests.
“Bland?” Cloud counters.
Raider shrugs. “We can deal with one man. But the question is what does Raven want to do? It’s her kin we’re talking about.”
If involving the authorities is not what they want, it doesn’t much matter to me. “Kin who wanted to rape and kill me and did nothing but make my life a misery.” I can’t summon up an ounce of pity for my brother, however awful that makes me. “There’s no other family to mourn his death. He’s not worth a gravestone.”
Toad understands my thoughts and raises his chin. “Dwarf. Why don’t you take Raven back to the clubhouse? Some of us will stay here and deal with the cleanup.”
Dwarf starts to say yes, then looks my way. “Give me a moment, Prez?” At Toad’s nod, he wraps a hand around my arm and leads me outside.
He leads me to the fence and leans back against it, his arms crossed over his muscular chest. Standing in front of him, I mimic his pose.
“You want to come to the clubhouse, or go back home?” His tone gives me no suggestion of what answer he’d prefer.
I walked out on him a little more than a week ago yet had done nothing to stay in touch. Is he asking because it’s what Toad instructed, but not what he wants?
Before Jack had turned up, I’d been coming to accept I knew I’d made a mistake walking out on him and not giving us a chance. When Jack had stolen me away, it had solidified things in my head.
Dwarf had gotten under the barriers I’d set up to protect myself. If I hadn’t been knocked back with spectres of my father and brother, I might have been more inclined to stay.
Am I being offered a second chance? Or this time, will it be Dwarf that walks away?
I risk a glance at him, noting he’s staring out into the forest, and not watching me. Is it because he’s dreading my answer? And what’s the right one, anyway?
Remembering how he’d turned up at the cabin at such an opportune time, I ask, “Why did you come here today?” It seems a coincidence that they arrived to save me from being raped at just the right time. If they hadn’t turned up, I have no doubt by now I’d be dead. The thought makes me shiver.
I don’t know what I expect him to say. After the other inexplicable events of today, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d acted on a premonition. But maybe the club just wanted to check on the investment they were about to make, and serendipity came into play.
“Natalie,” Dwarf answers, without turning to look at me. “She heard you say Jack was there, got worried when you didn’t answer your phone, found you weren’t in your apartment, and tracked down the club.” He shrugs. “I take it you’ve been talking about me.”
Natalie. Bless her for looking out for me. I realise there’ll be nothing I can do that will show the immensity of my gratitude to her. I suck in air, realising how close I’d come to facing the worst thing a woman can face, and one, for me, that sadly was all too familiar.
“It was just a thought Jack might bring you here,” Dwarf continues. His next intake of breath causes his body to shudder. “Raven, seeing you like that, hurt…” He trembles again.
“Natalie thinks I’m a fool,” I tell him.
“For?”
Knowing my heart’s going to be broken if he doesn’t take this the right way, I take a leap. “For letting Jack scare me away.”
“From your inheritance?” he asks in an emotionless tone.
“From you,” I correct.
“From me?” His head turns slightly.
Is that hope in his voice? Hardly daring to breathe, I admit, “My experience with men isn’t great, Dwarf. I found my feelings for you so intense after only a couple of days it unnerved me. Then finding Jack was behind everything that happened…”
Suddenly he moves. His hands are on my shoulders, bringing me around to face him. “You didn’t contact me.”
“I didn’t know what to say.” My own vulnerability must show in my face and my voice isn’t as strong as I want it to be. “I’d left you without a decent explanation, thought you might have been glad to have me out of your way.”
Dwarf looks up to the skies and then back down again. “I’ve never connected with a woman like I did you, Raven. It fuckin’ killed me when you walked away.” He sounds fierce as though wondering how I could ever doubt it.
“You didn’t contact me.” I throw his words back at him.
His eyes darken. “Raven, all my life women have used me to get close to my brothers. Each time I found a woman I liked, one of them managed to steal her away.” His finger finds my lips to stop me from interrupting. “Not my brothers’ fault, just mine for not understanding they were using me to find a better option.”
“You are the better option.” My statement is as fierce as his. Dwarf’s brothers are great, but there’s not one that would tempt me.
His eyes open, his nostrils flare, and for a moment he just stares, then he cries out, “Then why the fuck are we wasting time?” His arms come around me, crushing me to him, and his lips crash down on mine.
I grab at him like a drowning man catches on to a lifeline. My fingers curl into his t-shirt, holding so tightly, never wanting him to get away. When his tongue seeks entry, I open my mouth.
I’ve never been kissed this way, never been devoured as if he needs me more than he needs oxygen to breathe. Unfortunately, the pressure hurts the bruise on my jaw where Jack had hit me.
When I wince, he pulls away, pain in his own eyes as he places his hand against my cheek so gently.
“So fuckin’ sorry. I got carried away.”
Waving off his apology, I tell him, “When I’m healed, you can do that every minute of every day.”
He grins at me, the expression transforming his face, again making me wonder why any woman could prefer someone else. Leaning into me, he places a gentler kiss on the undamaged side of my face, then tells me quietly, “I think I got the answer to the question. Clubhouse it is. But before we go, I want Scalpel to check you over.”
I can feel his hard cock pressing against me, and how my own body is responding to his. So, releasing his shirt, I use my hands to cup his face. “I’ll go anywhere with you, Dwarf. As long as it ends up with me in your bed. And if you need to, you can get Scalpel to give me the all clear.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dwarf
We only delayed long enough for Scalpel to reassure me that while bruised, she’s got no serious injuries, and for me to give her the spare t-shirt out of my saddlebag to replace the one Jack had torn. Then we wait another moment for Raven to call her friend Natalie and reassure her she was alright. Raven was ebullient in her thanks for the alarm having been raised. With promises to tell Natalie everything all in good time, she ends the call and passes my phone back.
She’s never been on a bike before, and while I was worried about the bruises that must be giving her pain, she dismisses them and shows me she’s game. After a few instructions, she soon gets the hang of it. It feels a little unnatural having to compensate for someone riding pillion, but with her breasts fetched up tight against my back, and her pussy against my ass, I soon realise and appreciate the pros that come along with it.
Only her. It would always only ever be her. Now I understand how Toad so quickly fell in love with the woman he hadn’t expected to develop feelings for. When you find the right one, time’s of no consequence. I’m never going to let her go. I don’t give a damn my life is here, and hers is in California, the practicalities will sort themselves out. It’s being together that’s important.
While desperate to get her back to the clubhouse, I take extra care, appreciating this is her first ride, and I don’t want to scare her. If I have my way, she’ll be riding up behind me for the rest of my life. I’ve waited so long for a woman to see me and no other, and now I’ve found her, I’m not going to let her go.
I know my brothers won’t be far behind me, but today, I’m enjoying this time, just me and my woman on the road. My cock’s already throbbing in anticipation of having her under me again. And this time, doing it properly. The only things going bump tonight will be my headboard against the wall.
For the first time since I made my home with the Wicked Warriors MC, I wish I didn’t live in the clubhouse. All I can offer is little more than a frat house room. Raven deserves to be treated like a princess and not be subjected to the knowing leer of the prospect as we walk in.
Slightly ashamed, I walk her upstairs, but when we step through my door, her eyes are on me, and not on the furnishings.
“I’m a… I’m just going to use the bathroom.” Her tone suggests reluctance for the necessary delay.
I turn her in that direction and risk a gentle pat to her ass. “Go freshen up,” I tell her, knowing I’ll be using the facilities after her.
While she’s gone, I open the bedside table and make sure I’ve got a box of condoms stored there. Hoping she’ll not think I’m presumptuous, I leave it on the top, opening it up and taking a foil-wrapped package out to speed up proceedings.
I hear the toilet flush, then water in the sink running. Feeling awkward, I hover at the end of the bed, then turn away and look out the window, trying not to look like I’ve been anxiously waiting. Nerves hit me. Only thinking of myself, I’d brought her straight up to my room for one reason, with no offer of hospitality nor having a discussion.
Is this what she wants?
I’m a confident man, but I don’t want to blow this. While I’m still wondering how I can rectify the situation, I feel her arms come around me, her chin resting on my shoulder.
“We fit perfectly,” she murmurs. As I turn around, my arms reciprocating her gesture, she grins and continues, “I don’t get a neck ache when I kiss you.”
“You’re perfect for me,” I tell her, realising expectation is making me breathless. I can’t resist pushing my cock against her. “And we already know we fit.”
Her hands move from my shoulders and go to the bottom of my shirt. “Last time I didn’t get to see you.”
“Hold that thought,” I tell her quickly. “I need a piss.”
She snorts and teases, “So romantic.”
I’m back as fast as I can make it. This time, when she starts to lift my shirt, I raise my arms so she can do it more easily, then help her by reaching back with my hand, grabbing the neck, and ripping it off completely.
With widened eyes, she caresses my muscles and traces the tats. Her touch is both gentle and arousing, and I have to hold myself back to give her a chance to explore. I want to take charge, tear her shirt off, and worship her body in ways I didn’t have time for before.
I notice enticing things about her—the way she’s biting her lips, her tongue appearing then disappearing as she concentrates on her task, the gleam in her eyes as she focuses on tracing her fingers around my nipples. No woman has ever worshipped my body in this way before. I admit I’m enjoying being the recipient, but hell, I want to play too.
My hands twitch as I try to keep them at my sides.
But when she leans forward and takes one of my nipples into her mouth and sucks on it hard, keeping hands off is something I can no longer do.
Growling, I take hold of the t-shirt I’d given to her. It’s not one of my favourites, and hell, I wouldn’t care even if it was, but I wrench it in two.
My violent and unexpected action has her pulling away. Her eyes widen and her lips curve. “I take it you’re impatient.”
“Like fuck I am. I want to touch you.”
She grins, and instead of leaving things up to me, reaches around her back and undoes her bra. As she slips the straps down her arms, her breasts drop free. “Help yourself.”
My voice unintentionally gruff, I respond, “I don’t mind if I do.”
Christ, but her tits are perfect. Plump enough to fit nicely into my hands, the nipples surrounded by dusky pink areolae. Playfully I pinch them between my fingertips, rolling them, loving that she throws back her head and gives a loud sigh.
As though I’m starving, I can’t keep my mouth away. Dipping my head, I take one of the hardened buds between my lips and circle it with my tongue. Her intake of breath and the press of her body against me shows that it’s something she likes. I oblige by paying the same attention to the other side.
“I want more,” she hisses against me.
“Patience,” I murmur, determined to take my time, and that this time the agenda will be all mine.
Nevertheless, I push her back toward my bed, gently encouraging her to lie down, and then going back to toy with her nipples again. Like her, though, I’m becoming impatient. I can smell her arousal and my animal brain seems to take over as I move my lips down her stomach. She flinches and not with pleasure as my hand touches her right side.
Raising my head, I notice the reddened area and the start of a bruise there.
Discerning what I’m looking at, she shakes her head. Her fingers come to my chin and raise it so I can look into her eyes, flinching once again at her bruised face and the damage Jack had done.
“He’s gone,” she states with determination. “But his touch is still here. I need you to take it away for me. Make me forget he was ever there.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. I’m just tender in parts, Dwarf.”
I want to treat her like a piece of precious porcelain, while at the same time fucking her so hard to leave my own mark, one of ownership and a promise I’ll never let anything hurt her ever again.
While I hesitate trying to control my inner beast, her hand pushes between us. She flicks open the button on her shorts, and inches her fingers inside.
With a cheeky grin, she informs me, “If you’re not going to get the job done, I’ll do it myself.”
Growling, I wrench her hand away and pin her with my eyes. “Mine.” My voice leaves no doubt that she, and everything about her, belongs to me now.
As soon as I release my hand, she grabs my denim-covered cock, her fingers firming around it. “Mine,” she retorts, claiming me in return.
I’m certainly not going to argue. As long as she doesn’t want me to cut it off and give it to her as a memento, I’m more than happy it belongs to her and her only. For a moment, I’m blinded by a wave of emotion that my dream of having that special woman at my side has been granted. And not just any woman, Raven. A woman so perfect she should be running a mile, but instead she seems to want me as much as I do her. Overwhelmed, my mouth opens and words come out that I never thought I’d say.
