Bound: Minutemen MC (13 page)

Stephan stared at him in silence for what felt like an eternity. The expression on the man’s face was unreadable. Finally, he nodded, short and sharp. “Fine,” he said. “I guess it really is time to put a stop to this. I’ll let the others know.”

Dirk felt a rush of relief and adrenaline course through him. “So it’s decided then,” he said. “We’re preparing for war.”

Stephan grinned at him, dimples carved deep in his cheeks. “Isn’t that what we do best?”

Dirk laughed, a humorless, cold sound. “It really is.”

Chapter 19: Of Bondage

Three days later, Camilla was still reeling with the news she heard in Dirk’s kitchen. She could not believe it had happened, that anyone would be ruthless enough to go after children. And she couldn’t believe that it had happened because of her. But it
had
happened, and she was the primary cause. She still couldn’t figure out why Dirk did not just hand her over to the Tar Mongols and put a stop to it. Was he really right? Would it not really put a stop to the violence if the Minutemen delivered her to Herman Ruiz?

Camilla used to think of herself as an expert reporter, someone who was smart enough to read between the lines and evaluate a situation, if not at a glance, at the very least correctly. The past few weeks with Dirk and the Minutemen had showed her that she wasn’t as smart as she thought. Everything that happened was a new twist that she had not seen coming, and she couldn’t for the life of her figure out these people’s motivation. She could hardly read Dirk, who had more colors than a chameleon, and as for Stephan Walker, the man was a complete mystery.

According to Dirk, the Minutemen were getting ready for war. The men were coming and going from the house, and it was no longer—or rarely—just the two of them. Plans were being discussed. Arrangements were being made. War was indeed coming. Camilla could smell it in the air, past the cigarette smoke and the coffee and the beer.

But she had made a decision of her own. She had decided that she would be gone before more violence broke out. It was just a matter of how, and that, too, became clear to her soon enough.

Dirk’s mood had become considerably and understandably darker as the days passed. He was tense with the burden of the dead and strung tight with the anticipation of the final battle that was to come. He was focused and sharp, but he was also emotionally exhausted. Camilla knew him well enough that she could at least read all of that on his face and in his body language. If those weren’t telltale signs enough, his behavior in the bedroom sure as hell was another giveaway.

There had always been a kind of softness—even to Dirk’s most urgent touches, but now that gentleness was gone. He was never violent or abusive, but he was rough now, rougher than he had ever been, as if their sexual encounters were his only way to exorcise the demons that were rearing their ugly heads within him. And coming to think of it, their ongoing sex sessions were probably the only way he had of letting everything out, the only way he had to make the locked-up energy within himself erupt before the battle.

Camilla would have been lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying this new side of him. He was raw and powerful and demanding, and she found herself even more unable or unwilling to resist him than she had been before.

There was something about Dirk that drove her wild. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but there just was. Perhaps it was the explosive sexual energy that seemed to fill him to the brim. Perhaps it was the perfection of his muscles, the way they flexed when he moved like the most perfectly oiled machine. Perhaps it was the way he kissed, fiery hot and like there was no tomorrow—which in Dirk’s world, there probably wasn’t. Perhaps it was the way he took her, eager and unapologetic. Hell, it was just the whole package, and Camilla thought she would have been crazy to refuse him.

Besides, this renewed dark urgency in him could be just what she needed to make her escape. Dirk was already on the verge of exhaustion; all he needed was one little push. And Camilla knew exactly how to do it.

She watched, as his eyes widened when she led him to his bedroom and he took in the strips of silky ribbons tied to the bed’s headboard.

Dirk turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised quizzically. “What’s this?”

Camilla shrugged and gave him a smirk. “I thought we would spice things up a little. Are you scared?”

Dirk emitted a low growl at the back of his throat. “Never.”

Before she could reply, he swept her up in his powerful arms and took her to the bed, dumping her unceremoniously onto the mattress. It didn’t take them long to strip each other of their clothes, and next thing she knew, he was leaving hot trails of kisses down her neck and then all over her naked body.

Camilla moaned, and she almost lost herself in the moment before she remembered that
she
would be the one in charge tonight.

“No,” she said, and she pushed him firmly away. She grinned at his confused look. “I’m the boss this time around.”

To her surprise, Dirk didn’t argue. He did, however, look incredibly lost.
Who would have thought?
And here she had come to believe that no situation could faze him. She supposed that, for a man who was used to holding the power in his hands, being at the mercy of somebody else would be a completely new experience.

“Lie down,” she instructed, and Dirk did.

Camilla felt a shiver run down her spine. There was something electric about having a man like Dirk surrendering his power over to her. She had never thought she would see the day, and she had the feeling she had better keep quiet about this with anyone else.

She ran an appraising gaze over the considerable long display of Dirk’s naked body—all six foot five of him—and she leaned down to capture his mouth in a passionate kiss. While their lips were locked and their tongues swirled around each other, Camilla reached out and grabbed a silk ribbon. She took Dirk’s right wrist with her other hand, and she pulled away to tie the knot.

He watched her with a mixture of curiosity and mistrust. It was all too clear he couldn’t quite decide whether he was more turned on or wary.

“Relax,” she said. “I’m not going to rob you.”

Dirk snorted. “I should like to see you try.”

Camilla arched an eyebrow in surprise as yet one more glimpse of his literary culture shined through. She kissed him again and then went back to focus on the remaining ribbons. She tied both his wrists together over his head, careful to tie the silk ribbons firmly enough that he couldn’t easily break free, and yet gently enough that she wasn’t cutting off the circulation in his arms.

“You seem to know your way around this,” Dirk said, eyeing her carefully.

Camilla smirked. “You have no idea.”

And he didn’t, really. This was indeed not the first time Camilla did this. She didn’t do it often, but she did enjoy her dose of consensual BDSM from time to time. She hadn’t often found partners who were into it, but it had happened a couple of times, and it had been spectacular. Somehow, she felt like this time with Dirk would be even better.

As she settled down onto Dirk’s lap, straddling him with her naked thighs, Camilla was hit with a sudden, almost overwhelming wave of power. She had not considered this aspect of her little plan. She had not considered how empowering this would feel. For the first time in weeks, she was the one in control. She was no longer helpless. She was going to dictate the rules, and he was going to follow them. Once again, she shivered with anticipation and renewed confidence.

Locking eyes with Dirk, Camilla began to run her fingertips all over his body, teasing him with feather-like touches that soon had his breathing become labored from anticipation of what might come next. She dragged her fingertips over his hipbones and down the dimples between his crotch and thighs, smirking when he gasped as the sensitive nerves there responded to her touch.

“You want me?” she murmured huskily.

He swallowed visibly. “Fuck, yeah. I want you, Camilla.”

I want you, too,
Camilla thought, her own body on fire with desire. But she didn’t say it. Not this time.

She leaned down and let her mouth join in on the fun, guiding her lips and tongue on a thorough exploration of Dirk’s mile-long body. A thin layer of perspiration had begun to form on his naked skin, and she savored the salty taste of it.

When she got to his crotch, she let her tongue run along the shaft of his already rock-hard cock. He moaned. Camilla smirked.

“Hold on,” she murmured against the hot skin of his penis, and then she pulled back.

Dirk looked at her like she had just betrayed him in some horrible way. She laughed.

“Impatient, are we?” she said.

“For fuck’s sake, Camilla,” he growled.

Camilla shivered. There was something about the hoarse sound his throat made when he growled in the back of it that always got to her and shot straight to her loins.

Wordlessly, she reached over and pulled one more ribbon out from underneath the mattress.

Dirk watched her quizzically. “What’s that for?” he asked.

Camilla’s evil grin widened. “Your eyes, of course.”

“Oh, hell, no.”

“Oh, hell,
yes
,” she said, and she kissed him again. She tugged a little on his bottom lip as she pulled back. “I’m not going to hurt you,” she promised, because she felt like it needed to be said, even though the notion of her ever being able to hurt a man like Dirk Coleman was just ridiculous.

Dirk, however, did not laugh. Instead, he nodded solemnly, as if he needed to hear that.

Camilla tied the ribbon around his head. “Now you know how I felt when I had that hood over my head,” she said once she was done.

Dirk shivered visibly. “Don’t remind me. That was hot.”

Camilla snorted. “I beg to differ.
This
, however…” she said, and she leaned down to suck a mark into the side of his neck to emphasize her point, “…
this
is hot.”

Dirk moaned in pleasure. “You’re driving me mad,” he mumbled once he found his voice again.

Camilla smirked, pleased. “I should hope so.”

She kissed him all over again, and then, when she knew he was least expecting it, she took his cock in her mouth. Dirk gasped in surprise, and then he moaned long and deep in the back of his throat when Camilla began to run her mouth up and down the length of his shaft, letting her tongue also come into play.

In all of their sexual encounters, oral sex was something they had not put on the table. She wasn’t sure where this was coming from, but it sure felt good to suck him. Giving a blow job to a man had always made her feel powerful, but this was different. This was an all-consuming kind of powerful. The Minutemen’s vice president was naked and bound underneath her, and his cock was in her mouth. It couldn’t get anymore empowering than this.

Dirk moaned and writhed underneath her, and his ecstasy was almost enough to bring Camilla an orgasm of her own. She brought him close to the edge of release, and then, just as he was about to succumb, she pulled back.

He groaned in protest, and she covered his lips with her own to silence him. If he was displeased at tasting himself on her mouth, he didn’t show it or say it.

“You are an evil, evil woman,” Dirk gasped when he could find his breath again.

Camilla laughed. “Honey, you have
no
idea.”

Chapter 20: The Ties that Bind

To say that Camilla had surprised him would be the understatement of the century. Dirk had even surprised himself by not hesitating to jump on this new, scorching hot adventure with her. He didn’t know what had possessed him. There was something about Camilla that he just found irresistible. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had given himself up like this to anyone, perhaps he never fully had, and yet, he had almost no trouble surrendering to her. Her fire was just too passionate, too thrilling to resist.

To feel Camilla’s touch on him without being able to see her or touch her himself was an experience that put all of his senses on fire. It was the most erotic thing he had ever experienced. And when she took his cock into his mouth, Dirk almost screamed. It was unexpected and sensual, and there was just
something
about the way her lips moved along his shaft and about the way her tongue tantalized him oh-so-expertly that just made him want to tip over the edge and never, ever come back from it.

“I really want to see you now,” he said after she had pulled away from him and left him begging and wanting for more. “And touch you, too.”

She made a tut-tut sound with her tongue. “Patience, now.”

Dirk growled low in the back of his throat. “I thought you knew by now, I am
not
a patient man.”

She chuckled evilly.

Whereas he was usually all about control, Dirk soon realized that not knowing what was going to happen next actually enticed him. He usually didn’t like unpredictable things, but he found that he loved not having any clue as to what Camilla’s next move was going to be.

Her hands came to stroke his erection then, and all coherent thought left his mind for one fleeting, white-hot moment. Boy, but she was something else! Next thing Dirk knew, she was mounting him. She eased his cock inside of her, and she settled on top of him. There was something about her guiding him in that drove him absolutely insane with ecstasy.

Camilla set up a rhythm that was completely new to him. Ever since Eleanor, Dirk had sex fast and hard, even with Camilla. He had forgotten about the sensual slowness of sex. Now Camilla was reminding him of it, taking him in with long, languid strokes of her hips that drove him wild. Dirk moaned in surprise and unexpected pleasure. It scared him, that slowness, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted it to stop. He tugged instinctively at the silky restraints. He wanted to touch her, to reach out for her.

“Shhh,” Camilla said, and she leaned down and captured his mouth in yet one more kiss.

This kiss was different, too. It was slow. It was sensual. It was intimate.

Dirk’s eyes flew open underneath the blindfold. Intimacy was something he made a point to stay away from. He couldn’t afford it. He didn’t want it. He bucked his hips upwards in an impatient gesture that he hoped would set Camilla into a frenzy and bring her back to her passionate, frantic self.

Thankfully, it worked. Camilla cried out in surprise, but she soon took the hint. A few moments later, the rhythm was back to the one they both had learned so well—erratic and fevered and eager. Dirk heaved a sigh of relief that went unnoticed, and then he relaxed and let himself enjoy that wild, unexpected blind ride.

Not being able to see Camilla heightened every single sensation that her touch and movements gave him. His skin felt like it was on fire from sensory overload, and to his surprise, he found that he wouldn’t have it any other way. It was intense and all-consuming, and he simply couldn’t get enough.

However, the fact that his senses and sensations were so heightened also meant that he found himself hovering on the edge much sooner than he usually would. Climax was approaching at breakneck speed, and Dirk wasn’t sure whether he really wanted to give in to it—because surrendering to his pleasure also meant that pleasure would end soon. He wasn’t sure he was ready to let that happen just yet.

He clenched his jaw and gritted his teeth, and he tried to hold on. But Camilla’s sexuality was a tornado, a tsunami that Dirk Coleman was completely powerless against. For the first time in a very long time, he was truly and effectively at the mercy of somebody else, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He came with a hoarse cry, arching up against the sweet restraints that kept him tied to the headboard of his bed. He felt Camilla clench down on him even tighter as she, too, succumbed to her own pleasure. They rode each other’s wave as their climaxes took over. Finally, they both lay still and spent, and immeasurably satisfied.

Camilla moved first, easing Dirk’s now limp cock out of her and slipping off the condom she had applied at some point during their wild ride. A few moments later, she finally removed the blindfold. Dirk blinked owlishly, even in the dim light cast by the bed lamp. When his eyes finally adjusted, he focused on Camilla looking down at him,  satisfied.

“Well?” she said, as she undid the other ties again. “What’d you think?”

Dirk grunted and sat up gingerly. “What do
you
think I thought?”

Her grin got wider. “Seems to me like you rather enjoyed it.”

Dirk couldn’t help but grin back. “I rather did.”

In fact, it was the best sex he had ever had in his life, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. As it turned out, it was also the most exhausting sex. Ten minutes later, Dirk was falling asleep, lulled by the best afterglow he had ever experienced.

***

Dirk dreamed that night. In fact, Dirk dreamed every night, and it usually wasn't about anything pleasant. That night, however, he dreamed about Camilla and the way her hips moved as she sat on top of him, straddling him with her thighs. He dreamed about her curves. He dreamed about her dazzling smile and impish grin. He dreamed about her flawless olive skin and long, wavy auburn hair. He dreamed about her green eyes.

Dirk dreamed about Camilla, and for the first time in a long time, sleep and dreams were not his enemy. That is, until the dream changed and switched onto a nightmare. That was more familiar territory for Dirk, but still he woke up drenched in cold sweat and with his heart pounding like war drums in his ears.

He looked around wildly and found that Camilla wasn’t there, and he had to take a deep, shuddering breath and remind himself that all was right, that it had only been a dream, and that she had probably gone to the bathroom or back to her own room. Still, try as he might, Dirk just couldn’t shake the images from the nightmare from his mind. They had been vivid and scary, scarier than the images that usually plagued him, because those were memories and they were done with, whereas this new, terrifying scenario might still happen.

His nightmare had been about Camilla, just as his dreams had. But where the dreams had soothed him, the nightmare brought with it a sense of urgent fear that Dirk just couldn’t push away. He tossed the covers aside and got out of bed. He walked through the silent house and to the kitchen, where he promptly began to rummage in the cabinets to make himself some much-needed coffee. It might be a caffeinated drink, but black coffee brought him comfort. It was a habit he had picked up from Stephan and that he had been unable to break—not that he was looking to do that. After all, like Stephan used to say, what was life without a few vices?

Dirk watched the coffee brew, his gaze getting lost in the transparent glass of the pot. He couldn’t shake it off, the nightmare. The lingering fear. But it also gave him a sense of purpose, a renewed determination to finally triumph over Herman Ruiz and his Tar Mongols once and for all. In his nightmare, Ruiz and a few of his thugs had found his house. They had broken in, blowing the front door off its hinges with their guns, never mind that it was a reinforced door; dreams and nightmares were no territory for the laws of physics. They had taken Camilla, just like they had taken Eleanor, and they had dragged her away kicking and screaming. They had thrown her on the back of one of their bikes, and they had ridden off with her. It was unclear where Dirk was in all of this, and he could only watch, powerless, as his subconscious showed him what he now knew had become one of his biggest fears.

Dirk shook his head, trying to get himself back into the here and now. It was going to be okay. Camilla was sleeping in the guest bedroom, safe. He would not let Herman Ruiz get to her. He would not lose her the way he had lost Eleanor. Dirk did not delude himself with any notion of having Camilla, but he sure as hell was going to do everything in his power to make sure that no woman suffered what Eleanor had. As it always did whenever he thought of his long lost love, a lump squeezed his throat, threatening to choke him. Dirk swallowed it down with expert fierceness. Now was not the time. In fact, it was
never
the time.

There was a rumbling in his ears. He looked over to the coffee pot, and he was surprised to find that the dark liquid had yet to brew. Where was the rumbling coming from then? Was it thunder, perhaps? Was a storm coming? He threw a look out the window and saw that the night sky was clear in the Mojave Desert.

The rumbling grew stronger, and it took Dirk’s emotionally fatigued mind a few moments to catch up. Finally, he recognized it. He would have recognized it anywhere, and he would have recognized it a lot sooner if only it weren’t for the feelings and emotions swirling madly within him.

A bike was roaring outside.

Heart jumping to his throat, Dirk sprung into action. He rushed upstairs, cursing himself for not having brought his gun down to the kitchen with him. He retrieved it quickly and just as hastily pulled on his biker’s boots and his discarded T-shirt. As he ran back down, he made a quick stop by Camilla’s bedroom. It was empty. She wasn’t in her bed.

Outside, the bike continued to roar.

No, no, no, no.

Dirk’s mind was racing as he rushed down the stairs and out of the house. His hand was ready to shoot, but he hesitated as his eyesight adjusted to the moonlit darkness outside. It wasn’t Herman Ruiz. It wasn’t the Tar Mongols. It was Dirk’s own Harley-Davidson that was galloping away in the distance.

Dirk cursed loudly as his somewhat still-fogged mind finally put two-and-two together. He looked down at his chest. His military plates were not there any longer. Neither was the key to the garage.

“God damn it!” he cried out, furious.

He raced around the house to the garage, and he wasn’t surprised to find the door open and his bike gone. Without a moment’s hesitation, Dirk jumped into the awaiting jeep. As he brought the engine to life, he couldn’t stop berating himself. How had he been so mind-numbingly stupid? As Dirk pulled away from his house and into the wilderness of the Mojave Desert, he swore to himself that this was the very last time he ever surrendered to a woman.