Rogue shifted and I felt his cock press against me.My breath caught as he slowly sank into me.As much as I wanted to close my eyes and lose myself in the moment, I held his gaze.His jaw tightened as he slowly thrust into me, every slide of his cock making me shiver in the best way.
He looked like the type of guy to be all about his own pleasure, to quickly get himself off whether his partner enjoyed themselves or not.But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.Rogue took his time, making sure to build the pleasure slowly.I shivered and lifted my hips, wanting more.He flashed me a grin, and I knew he understood exactly what I wanted.Did he give it to me?Of course not.If anything, he seemed to move even slower, driving me crazy.
“Rogue, please.”
“Dex.Call me Dex when it’s just us.”
“Dex,” I said softly.
“Begging already?”he asked.
“It’s not nice to tease me.”
“Well, we can’t have that.So, why don’t you tell me what you want?”Another slow drag of his cock inside me made my toes curl.
“Harder.Faster.I promise I won’t break.”
He growled and heat flared in his eyes.And then he gave me exactly what I’d asked for.He drove into me with long, hard strokes, and I saw stars.I came, crying out as my climax hit, and it wasn’t long before I felt the heat of his release inside me.My heart pounded and I stared up at him.
When it was over, he didn’t move off me right away.
He stayed where he was and lowered his forehead to mine.Then he eased to my side and brought his arm under my neck.I lay with my cheek on his chest and my palm flat over his heart, and I felt his heartbeat under my hand -- fast at first, then slower, then slower again, until it was steady.
“We didn’t use protection,” I said.
“I’m clean, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
It wasn’t, but that was good to hear.I was thinking more along the lines of what if I ended up pregnant.Clearly, it didn’t bother him if we’d made a baby.My eyes were heavy, and my brain slowed down.And then, sleep pulled me under.
Chapter Nine
Rogue
The smoke was so thick you could taste it on your tongue before you got past the threshold.Two packs’ worth had already been ground out in the chipped glass ashtray at the middle of the table, and another one was burning between Brick’s lips.He was watching the TV with the immovable patience of a man who would not be the first to break.Nobody was breaking.Not yet.
The doors to Church were shut and double-barred from the inside.You could have dropped a hand grenade on the other side of those doors and it would have lost interest before making a dent.Inside, the club was full -- every chair, patched and Prospect, the circle unbroken.The long table was pitted with gouges and ringed with burn marks that told the history of twenty years of bad decisions made on top of it.There were shot glasses, some half-full, some not, marching along the perimeter in ragged formation.
The TV sat at the end of the table, perched on a wall bracket.The volume was up just high enough to cut through the talk and the breathing and the scrape of chair legs against wood.It was tuned to a Nashville news station, and the reporter -- hair the color of raw copper, suit one size too small for his frame -- was leaning in toward the camera with the practiced concern of a man who had never in his life missed a meal.Next to him, on the split screen, James Hale’s face: close-shaved, mouth slightly pursed, every inch of him assembled for maximum credibility.
The reporter said, “Mr.Hale, you’ve described your daughter’s disappearance as a kidnapping.The authorities so far have not used that language --”
“I understand that, Glenn,” Hale said, voice steady, “but I know my daughter.Lennox is a vulnerable young woman in a fragile mental state, and the men responsible for her abduction are manipulating her.They are dangerous criminal elements.They have a history of violence and intimidation, and they are using her for their own ends.”
He had the look of a man who could say the words “dangerous criminal elements” without tasting the lie in them.The table tasted it for him.
“He’s not wrong about the violence,” Silas said, half under his breath.He had a toothpick in the corner of his mouth and was methodically tapping it against the back of his hand.“But he can suck my dick with the rest of that.”
The reporter went on, “There are rumors, Mr.Hale, that your daughter left of her own volition.That she may have even married one of these men --”
“Well, they aren’t exactly wrong,” Shield said.
“What the fuck does that mean?”I demanded.Shield merely winked in response, and I had a feeling he’d pulled the same shit Wire was notorious for with the Dixie Reapers.The asshole had probably hacked into the government and married us without my knowledge.
Hale smiled.It was a smile he’d practiced in the mirror.“That’s exactly the sort of manipulation I’m talking about, Glenn.My daughter never consented to any marriage to one of them.Any documents you’ve seen are fabrications.We have the full support of the authorities -- state and federal -- to bring her home safely.”
“Fucker,” Beast said.He didn’t look away from the screen.Just ground out his cigarette and started rolling another one with one hand while the other reached for his glass.
At the center of the table, next to the overflowing ashtray, sat two stacks of paper.The first was printouts from every social media post about Lennox, flagged in orange highlighter.The second was a sheaf of legal stationery, the top page headlined with Hale’s name and a Memphis law firm in the letterhead.The letter had made the rounds -- every man at the table had read it, and a few had added their own annotations in blue pen.There was a Post-it stuck to the second page:Eat shit.Brick’s handwriting.
