“Go away, Cash. Please, just go away.”
Cash remained still. “I can’t, Rachel.” Slowly, despite the dog’s growl, he moved toward her, kneeling down in front of her then brushing her damp hair away from her cheek.
“I’m sorry that I’m an ass. I thought it would be easier for you to deal with if you saw it like it was.”
“Ripping a band-aid off?” she asked sarcastically.
Cash winced. “Yeah. I’m not going to lie and pretend I don’t like the life I lead, or that I live it because I’m fucked-up. I’m not. I like to fuck, and I like to fuck a lot. I like sex, the raunchier the better. I could have hidden it from you, pretended that part of my life never happened, but the truth would have eventually come out.”
Rachel buried her face back in the dog’s fur.
His hand slid to the back of her neck, lifting her face to his. “I haven’t fucked another woman since you saw me with Bliss.”
Her suspicious gaze didn’t shy away from his.
“It’s the truth. I haven’t really wanted anyone since I was with you at your house. I wasn’t ready to accept that you got under my skin, though. I like to say that your brothers are slow. The truth is, I was slow in admitting that it was more than just sex with you, Rachel. I didn’t plan on falling in love with you. I didn’t care if you wore a trench coat tonight, only that you were there, with me.”
“Go back.” She moved away from his touch. “I couldn’t ever do the things I saw there tonight. I wouldn’t want to.”
“I didn’t show you so that you would participate; I showed you because I didn’t want any secrets between us. I like the Friday parties, but if you don’t want to go, that’s cool.” Cash tried to make her see she had all the choices.
She raised her face from the neck of her dog. “Do Lily and Beth and the others?”
He wanted to respect their privacy, but he needed to tell Rachel the truth. “Yes. They found the part that they enjoy and leave the part they don’t alone. Tell the truth, Rachel. Be honest to both of us. Did you find the whole thing upsetting? There wasn’t one thing you found arousing?”
“No.”
Cash took hope that she sounded unsure. It was her first experience with their lifestyle. None of his brothers’ wives had taken it any better when they had found out.
“That’s okay,” he assured her, moving closer to her side and placing his arm around her shoulders. She still clung to her dog, but she sank against him, letting him hold her. He sat holding her quietly, letting her absorb everything she had learned.
“I don’t know,” her voice was quiet in the darkness, “if I can get over the fact you’ve had sex with all my friends.”
“I haven’t had sex with any of your friends,” he denied. “Cheryl isn’t your friend. I haven’t fucked Lily, Beth, Diamond, or Winter.”
“Willa?” He caught a faint trace of amusement in her voice.
“Nope.”
“Melody Ward?”
“Who?”
“My best friend in high school.”
“Her, I fucked, but she doesn’t count,” Cash stated, refusing to let her pull away.
“Why in the hell doesn’t she count? She was my best friend!”
“Because I didn’t know I was going to be courting with you then! I’ve fucked around, okay?” Cash said, frustrated, raking his hands through his long hair. “If I knew I was going to be with you, then I could have done things differently, but back then, she was just another girl.”
“You don’t remember her?”
“No!”
She looked at him suspiciously. “Does it count if you don’t remember them?”
Cash thought she was talking to herself and kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t touching that question with a ten-foot pole.
She must have answered it for herself because she laid her head on his shoulder. While the dog gave him an unhappy look, he brushed his mouth over her still-damp cheeks, smiling to himself. They sat there quietly in the dark, holding hands with the dog lying beside them.
After a while, a shadow moved from behind a tree not too far from them, heading toward Rachel’s home. Cash recognized Tate as he left them in the darkness. He wondered how long he had been listening and why he hadn’t tried to keep him from Rachel when it had been plainly obvious she had been running from him.
“How are we going to get back?” Rachel asked sleepily.
Cash pulled out his cell phone. “Rider, sorry to interrupt, but could you pick us up at the bottom of the Porters’ driveway?” He hung up when Rider said he would be there in ten minutes.
Stiffly getting to his feet, he helped Rachel up.
“Go home, Sampson. Go!” The dog trotted off toward the Porters’ home.
“Whose dog is it?” Cash asked.
Rachel sighed. “It’s technically Tate’s dog.”
Cash hid his relief. He didn’t dislike dogs; he just thought they should be dog-size, not horse-size.
Rider was waiting for them at the bottom of the driveway.
“Where to?” Rider asked.
Cash let Rachel decide. “The clubhouse.”
As Rider pulled out, driving back to the clubhouse, Cash squeezed Rachel’s hand in his. He had been afraid she would want to go back to Mag’s. He’d wanted her to make the decision to spend the night with him and was relieved when she did.
When they arrived back at the clubhouse, Cash pulled her upstairs to his room before she could become upset again. Closing the door behind them, he started tugging off her clothes.
“Cash, slow down.”
He didn’t slow down; instead, he tore off his clothes before pushing her down on the bed. Wedging himself between her thighs, he took her pussy in one hard stroke.
“Cash!”
Now that he was in her, he slowed down, lowering his mouth to give her his. She stared up at him with heat and a trace of uncertainty. It was the indecision he planned to fuck out of her. By morning, she wouldn’t be able to sneak out of his bed because she was going to be too tired.
“Are you always going to run off when you get mad?” Cash brushed his mouth against one of her nipples.
“Probably. I hate fighting.”
Cash laughed so hard Rachel hit his chest.
“What’s so funny?”
“You don’t know yourself at all, do you?”
“Better than you do,” she smarted off. “If you don’t shut up, I’m not staying.” She rolled over in a huff.
She was here, but she wasn’t. Rachel was still keeping a part of herself away from him, and it was pissing him off. He rolled her back over to face him. Her hands clutched his shoulders as he lifted her hips so his cock was notched at the opening of her tight pussy.
Taking her hands in one of his, he pulled them over her head, stretching her taut underneath him, under his control.
His mouth moved to her ear. “You want my cock?”
“Yes…” she moaned.
“Where do you want it?”
Rachel moaned arching her hips, but Cash kept himself from sliding in her moist warmth.
“Where do you want it?” He gritted his teeth, expertly rubbing her clit.
“Inside me.”
“Say it. Say, Cash, I want your cock in my pussy.” His fingers left her clit, going to her nipple and wiping her juices on the tight bud before lowering his mouth to taste her.
He felt her become wetter against his cock at his crude words. His little vixen was going to learn hard and fast that she was his woman, and the days of her walking away from him were over.
“I want your cock in my pussy.”
Cash let the head of his cock slid inside of her before stopping.
His tongue licked her lips. “This is going to be rough this time. I’m going to give it to you the way I like to take it.”
“Oh…”
Cash pounded his cock inside of her until he was balls deep. He had always consciously gone easy on her, aware of her tenderness and
newness at being in an intimate relationship; however, the only way he was going to tame his vixen was to give her something she wasn’t going to forget when she sneaked out of his bed despite his best attempts to keep her there. Every time she would move, the aching awareness between her thighs would bring him to her mind. He was going to become her addiction, as she had become his.
He fucked her harder, sucking her nipple harder to torment her. He played with her body until she called his name out over and over. In the past, he had always preferred women to be silent when he had sex with them. Her whimpers of arousal almost made him come, but he controlled his climax with an iron will.
“You are mine and no one else’s. Stay away from Scorpion, Patrick, and Charles.”
He still saw the light of battle in her eyes, but this time, he also saw the beginning of her capitulation.
“All right!” she gasped as he sucked her other nipple into his mouth.
It was enough for tonight.
Sliding his hand down, he slid a finger between the fleshy lips, brushing across her clit, giving the stimulation she needed.
“Cash!” When she screamed his name as she came, he let his own control go, pumping inside her until his own release stormed her body.
He had every intention of keeping her by any means. Fair or foul, his little vixen was going to find herself trapped.
* * *
Rachel sneaked cautiously down the hallway. She really didn’t want to be confronted with another pair having sex. She had to work hard to keep the erotic images she had participated in herself that night from entering her mind.
She went down the steps quietly, she saw the club room was almost empty. Going to the front door, she was about to open it when she glanced back and saw Dean sitting on a large chair with his back to the door.
Cheryl approached him, sitting down on the arm of the chair and leaning over to glide her hand across his chest toward his thigh. She almost went out the door, not wanting to see her former pastor engage in sex with Cheryl.
Dean’s words had her pausing with her hand on the door.
“Stop, Cheryl. I’m going to save you the effort and tell you now: you won’t be getting my vote.”
“But… why? I can make you come.” Her suggestive voice lowered as her mouth bent toward his neck.
“No, you can’t.” Dean took Cheryl’s hands in his, moving them away from his body. “I’m not attracted to you, Cheryl. You’re not here for the men or sex. Payback against Jared isn’t going to be a good enough reason for me to believe you want to belong to The Last Riders.”
“I do, and I can prove it.” Cheryl slid off the arm of the chair, kneeling before Dean.
His casual air disappeared in a flash at her refusal to listen to him.
“I’m trying to be nice without having your ass thrown out of this club. I told you no.”
Rachel had never seen the expression on Dean’s face that she saw on his profile now. Goose bumps rose on her arms and even Cheryl’s blatant behavior died and fear replaced it when she saw his face.
She hastily rose to her feet, but she wasn’t fast enough to escape Dean’s hand that reached out. He grabbed her by the back of her neck, forcing her back to her knees in front of him.
“I’m not your pastor anymore, but I’m going to give you some guidance. When I say no, I mean No! Now, you can fuck any brother you want here—I don’t give a shit—but stay away from me. You got me?”
Frantically, Cheryl nodded her head. Dean released her and she shakily got to her feet before running to the front door where Rachel was frozen in place.
Rachel barely managed to open it before Cheryl flew through it. Rachel’s eyes met Dean’s before she went out the door behind her. Rachel followed Cheryl through the front door and down the dark steps, hoping that neither of them fell. Cheryl made it to her car and was opening the door when she saw Rachel.
“You saw?” she asked tearfully.
Rachel had been about to pass her without a word but stopped. “It was kinda hard to miss.”
“Did it make you happy?” Cheryl’s caustic question had Rachel wanting to smack her.
“I would have been a hell of a lot happier if that had been Cash’s answer, but it wasn’t, was it?”
Cheryl’s bravado disappeared.
“No, it wasn’t. I’m sorry, Rachel.” Cheryl ran her hand through her tumbled hair.
Rachel unwillingly felt the turmoil she was going through. Sometimes, her gift wasn’t a gift. She didn’t want to feel sorry for her.
“Cheryl, it was only last year that you were asking Dean’s spiritual guidance on why you weren’t getting pregnant. He probably felt wrong in taking advantage of your breakup.”
“Why are you trying to make me feel better? If Cash offered me another turn at him, I wouldn’t turn him down.”
At least she’s honest, Rachel thought.
“Not many would turn him down,” Rachel acknowledged. “Is that what you want for yourself, Cheryl? To be just another woman to those men?”
“Why not? That’s all I was to Jared.” Cheryl leaned against the side of her car, tears sliding down her cheeks.
“I don’t think so, Cheryl. He married you. He had affairs, but he always came home to you. He may have been an idiot, but to him, you were special.”
She wiped the tears away from her cheeks, staring at her hopefully. “You think so?”
“Yes, I do.”
“He’s pretty mad at me. He’s fighting the divorce,” Cheryl admitted.
“Make him pay for cheating on you, just don’t lose yourself in the process.”
Cheryl nodded her head before getting into her car.
“Need a ride?”
“Thanks.” Her and Cheryl would never be friends, but Rachel might as well get used to tolerating her presence just like the rest of the women at the club. Heaven help her, she knew it wasn’t going to be her last visit to the clubhouse.
Chapter 32
“What’s taking so long?” Mag’s impatience had Rachel hurrying to her side.
“I had to park the car,” she explained.
The whole town must be at the festival; she’d had to park at the end of the parking lot.
She took the handles of Mag’s wheelchair, pushing it along the busy street filled with townspeople and tourists. Rachel didn’t know why anyone would waste the time to come to the annual Arts and Crafts Festival, but it drew a huge crowd every year. She was finally able to make it to the church parking lot, which had been set up with different booths showing the artisans of the area and various foods. She pushed Mag to one of the tables.
“I’ll grab us something to eat.”
“Hurry up; I’m starving,” Mag demanded.
Rachel looked down into her tired eyes, realizing her blustering behavior was because she wasn’t feeling well.
“I’ll be right back,” she promised.
She found a booth, getting Mag a plate and drink before taking it back to her. Rachel wasn’t hungry, so she sat and talked to Mag as she ate, sipping on her iced tea.
“Hi, Rachel!” Rachel waved as Lily, with the rest of The Last Riders following, approached the table.
Cash took a seat next to her, his expression telling her he wasn’t happy with her leaving him during the night again.
“Hi, Lily.” She ignored Cash’s tight-lipped anger to greet her friend.
“You’re not eating?” Lily asked.
“I’m afraid to. There’s enough fatback in those dishes to take down a horse.” Rachel had managed to find a few things for Mag that weren’t swimming in grease.
“I’m starved. I’ll be back in a minute.” Lily left while the bikers remained clustered around the table.
“Exactly when did you sneak out?” Cash asked, breaking his silence.
“Around two. Don’t worry, I didn’t walk home; Cheryl gave me a ride.”
Cash didn’t look any happier with her answer. Rachel shrugged, not letting his injured mascu
line pride ruin her day.
Beth gave her a wink, listening to the conversation.
“You’re not hungry?” Rachel asked her.
“I’m with you. Thank God I’m not pregnant anymore and don’t get the cravings Lily does.”
Rachel watched as Lily went from booth to booth, getting samples of everyone’s food.
“When did Brooke learn to cook beans and greens?” Rachel was surprised she would participate in the festival.
“I have no idea,” Beth said then added, “You going to try it?”
“No, it would be too depressing if she can cook as good as she looks.” No self-respecting country girl could stand for her cooking to be upstaged by a city girl.
Lily came back to the table with a huge plate, sitting down between her and Mag.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Rachel asked Cash.
“Later.” His eyes were on a large group of men, sitting at a nearby table.
“You don’t like them, do you?”
“No.”
“Why? They seem friendly enough.”
“So was Ted Bundy.”
Shocked at the comparison, she saw that the rest of The Last Riders weren’t happy to see Scorpion and his friends. Viper had a frown, and Shade’s eyes had turned deadly. Something was going on that made these men nervous. Rachel was smart enough to realize that if they were worried, she should be also. Furthermore, she didn’t think it was a good thing Cash had compared them to a serial murderer.
“I can’t eat anymore.” Lily pushed her plate away, looking queasy.
“You only ate a biscuit.” Rachel looked down at Lily’s practically untouched plate.
“I guess it’s not agreeing with the baby.” Lily turned green, getting up from the table with Shade’s help. Seconds later, she darted to the nearest restroom inside the church.
“No need wasting food.” Mag reached out, pulling the plate toward her.
Rachel didn’t say anything. Compared to the plate she had fixed her, Lily’s looked like a banquet.
“I heard that things didn’t go well last night,” Beth broached the subject tentatively.
Rachel made a face. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“I was shocked the first time I went, too. I ended up leaving.” Beth’s face was red from embarrassment. “Lily ran back to college.”