Retribution: A Motorcycle Club Romance (15 page)

~
FOURTEEN ~

Eva sat in the cool shade of the forest meadow and
absently picked flowers. She could hear Charlie’s and Will’s loud voices from the
open back door of the bar. In her mind, the fight echoed and replayed over and
over, like it was on a broken feedback loop. The whole thing couldn’t have
lasted two minutes, and yet Eva felt ten years older than she had when it
began, and in her head everything played in slow motion.

She could still see Will standing
there, hovering over the unconscious man on the floor, the man he had already
defeated. Among the books she had devoured in her life, Eva had read many from
the great warriors and generals of history, including the fictional ones. She
couldn’t remember a single honorable warrior who brought death to an enemy he
had already defeated. It was a scorched-earth policy, the actions of a man full
of rage, not of a cunning warrior only looking for victory. It was desperate.

Eva knew from the second she saw him
that Will was dangerous, and now she had seen it first-hand on more than one
occasion. He wanted so badly to kill that man—to kill all of them.

But he didn’t
,
said a voice in her head.
He gave injuries that heal. Shallow cuts. Broken
bones.
Eva winced as the sound of that man’s arm cracking days before
echoed in her mind.
Up until that moment, he has gone out of his way not to
kill anybody.

Will, the enigma. The warrior poet.
Eva felt her heart twisting and breaking, trying to wind around the reality of
him. Underneath her confusion was a sincere relief that she hadn’t had to watch
anyone die today—not just her brother, or Will, but anyone. She wasn’t fierce
like the heroines in her books, or like Will himself was. She didn’t want to
watch someone die. And she didn’t want to watch someone kill.

Suddenly the forest wind was chilly
rather than comforting on her skin. Eva picked herself up from the meadow and
brushed off her dress, and then wandered back toward the house, away from the
bar. She scuffled inside slowly and into her room, dropping down heavy on the
edge of the mattress.

A few minutes must have gone by as
she sat there, lost in the quiet, staring at the curtains in the breeze,
because she went from hearing nothing but the leaves rustling in the trees to
hearing the sharp rap of knuckles on the half-open door of her bedroom.

It startled her to find Will standing
in the doorway. She swallowed and gave him a deep once-over, uninterested in
interacting with the growling animal that had pushed her out of the bar. But
something was soft and numb about him.
Which Will is this?

“May I come in?” he said.

Eva didn’t answer. She lowered her
head and stared at the hands fidgeting in her lap. Will waited a few polite
seconds before he stepped inside anyway and sat on the bed next to her.

When his voice came out, it was that
same honey-sweet quiet baritone she loved. “Are you all right?”

Eva rubbed her eyes. “Yes. I’m not
hurt.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

She let out an exasperated huff, a
nervous half-laugh. “Well, then
no,
I’m not all right. I just watched
you kick the shit out of men and almost kill one of them, so…”

“I didn’t want you to see that, Eva.
I asked you—”

“I know, I know. ‘Stay in the office.
Eva, just do what you’re told and everything will work out fine,’ ” she said,
the words spilling out of her mouth before she could stop them. “I’m sick of
hearing that. I’m sick of being a bystander in my own life. And if I had stayed
in the office, you would have blown that guy away, right? So if you ask me,
Will, it’s a damn good thing I didn’t listen to you.”

When she finished, she instantly felt
lighter at getting those words out, yet still nervous as she waited for a
reaction. Will fell quiet for a moment, and the room filled with the sound of
her own nervous breathing and tears.
When did I start crying?

Will reached over and wrapped one of
his hands around both of hers. He squeezed them tightly until her anxious fidgeting
stopped. The warmth of his hands against her skin was so enveloping that Eva
let out a tired little groan under her breath at the sensation. Angry as she
was, she couldn’t stop herself from clinging back, twisting her fingers in his.

“Why did you do that?” she asked in a
teary whisper.

Will leaned until his head rested on
top of hers. He said, “I have to protect you.”

Eva turned and made him look into her
eyes. “You
did
protect me. You have every step. And you haven’t had to
kill anybody yet to do it. There’s no reason to start now.”

“They’ll keep coming, Eva,” he said,
his voice breaking. “They’ll keep coming, and I can’t let you die.” He dropped
his forehead onto hers.

They grasped each other’s hands as if
some unseen force would otherwise pull them apart. Eva felt an inexplicable and
overwhelming rush of emotion crash into her as the sensation of Will’s touch
pulsed against her stimulated skin.

“I don’t want
you
to die,” she
said. “You’re running headfirst into battle with no armor, Will, don’t you see
that? I know we just met, but I
know
this isn’t you. I know you’re a
smarter warrior than this… this suicidal berserker that you are now.”

Will surprised her by giving her an
enormous grin. “Of course you know what a berserker is.” He pulled one of his
hands up to run through her hair and caress the side of her face. His touch
made her feel electric, alive, and Eva nuzzled the side of her face into his
palm. “Because you’re an incredible fucking woman that has no business
understanding my world.”

Eva met his eyes, firm and sure. “If
I haven’t shown you this already, Will, let me tell you again: you don’t get to
control me. Not what I know, not what I understand, and not what I do.”

The tension between them quickly
shifted to the most heated, sexual charge Eva had ever experienced. Will stared
at her face, at her lips, hands clutching the side of her head as if he was
trying to stop himself. But the fire built in his eyes and in a heartbeat his
lips were against hers, devouring them hungrily.

Eva threw herself into his embrace,
wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and pulling him as close as she could
get him. She moaned into his mouth as Will put his arms around her waist and
pulled her even closer, lifting her up off the bed and into his arms. He held
her hard against his lap for a few seconds as their tongues continued to wage
their own battle for dominance, but then he threw her back onto the bed and
crawled on top, both their legs dangling off the short end of the mattress.

Eva melted under the feel of his soft
lips and the scratch of the scruff on his chin as he ran his mouth up and down
her neck, across her collarbone, and down the small part of her chest that was exposed
by the square-cut dress she wore. Her fingers slid through his hair, tightening
their grip as one of his own grasped at her breast. His name escaped her lips
softly and repeatedly as she felt his other one slide along her body until it passed
the edge of her dress to land on the bare skin of her thigh. It didn’t pause
for a moment before it dove right under the soft fabric until his palm landed
straight against her panty covered pussy. His name turned into a moan of
pleasure as his hand began to rub against her intensely.

Twisting under his expert touch, her
mouth opened happily to suck in a finger he pressed against her lips. She
smiled at the sound of his own groan when he felt her tongue swirl around his
finger. As last time, nothing she did could take his focus away from what he
was doing between his legs, though. He kept up his pressure with the other hand
until she came, hard and screaming, wetness soaking the panties under his hand.
Only once she came down from her bliss did Will gently strip the damp fabric
from her legs, bending to take a few laps with his tongue before standing to
undress himself.

Will pulled her to her feet with
courtesy and told her to hold still while he ran a soft hand up her back,
feeling for the zipper on her dress. He drew it down slowly, letting the fabric
fall around her arms and off her like melted frosting. She stood before him
fully exposed, and Will let out a soft sound of appreciation at the sight.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he
said in a throaty whisper. He kissed her, lips swollen and red, just like her
own. His strong hand held her jaw as they made out like teenagers, pressing his
warm, naked flesh against hers. His pulsing erection slid between them and made
her ache to be filled.

“I want you,” she whispered as he bit
at the skin on her neck.

Will bit harder. “Tell me again.”

“I want you inside me
now
,”
she said. “Please.”

Will covered her mouth with his own
in a firm kiss, and then dipped her back down on the bed with careful arms,
sliding her up and against him until she lay comfortably across the mattress. He
bucked his hips against her as his legs slid between hers, positioning himself
at her hot entrance. She knew he didn’t slip a condom on this time, but she
didn’t care. The thought of feeling the bare skin of his cock slide into her,
and the eruption of heat that would fill her at the end, only added to her
excitement.

He pressed the head of his cock
against her as his eyes shone down from above. “Tell me.”

“Fuck me, Will.”

He pushed inside of her in response,
but only just. Eva writhed and tried to pull him further with her own hips, but
he wouldn’t budge. Instead, he dipped his head to catch her lower lip into his
mouth and sucked on it before repeating himself. “Tell me again.”

“
Please
fuck me, Will. I need
your cock inside me so badly,” she begged, far too gone to disobey.

Will sighed with a smile and then
answered with one firm thrust. His entire cock slid into her, and Eva wrapped
her legs around his waist as she cried out in pure satisfaction. From the
sounds of his dirty talk, Eva expected Will to give her another hard fuck, but
he surprised her instead with his slow, deep thrusts. He took the time to inch
his cock out of her nearly all the way before he pushed back in with firm
pressure, not fast but hard, building them both to an intense orgasm. Will
watched her face as he hovered over her, planting little kisses all along her
jaw and neck, ending back over her lips. Her pale skin lit up underneath the
insistence of his touch.

She was getting close, grasping at
him and drawing her nails against his back as he smothered her with another
kiss. She was almost breathless when he finally moved his lips again, and not
just from the kiss. “I’m going to come.”

Will kept his face next to hers as he
pumped a little faster, but still with that same deliberate thrust, all the way
out, then back in. Eva’s feet curled around his waist, helping to drive him
even deeper into her core. His mouth hovered over hers, both breathless and
panting, lips swollen.

“Come for me, Eva,” said Will. He
tangled a hand in her hair and used it to leverage his thrust, pushing deeper
than ever. Eva screamed in pleasure at the feeling of his cock driving into
her, but it was his tongue licking along the edges of her neck that sent her
over the edge. She came hard on his cock, wave after wave of rapture rippling
through her body. It was so strong, she almost didn’t notice Will reach his own
hot finale. He pushed deep inside her pussy with a finally powerful thrust and
held himself there as he came, holding her face hard against his as he filled
her insides with the heat of his own essence.

“Eva,” he rasped.

She nuzzled up against his face.
“Will.”

He gave her lips a peck and flashed
his incredible half-grin. “I’m coming back in here tonight after your brother
goes to bed, and I dare you to stop me.”

~
FIFTEEN ~

The following afternoon, Will poured himself a
double-shot of whiskey, drank it down, then poured another.
Bartender perk,
he told himself. Charlie had asked him to stay and watch things so he could run
into town on some errand, but he had not specified that Will was not allowed
near the whiskey during the job. The place was empty, anyway.

Will was still riding the battle high
from the day before, feeling stronger and better than he had felt in months.
Hell, in
years
. Even though he had felt shitty at first when Eva stopped
him from using lethal force, she had eased that wound endlessly with her eager
hands and passionate kisses. Will felt virile, invincible around her, like he
really was the prince in some fairytale come to save her. It made him ache for
her when she wasn’t in the room.

Luckily, that didn’t happen very
often. As if she heard his thoughts, Eva appeared from the back, wearing a
beautiful, short, yellow sundress. Like it always did, the sight of the pale
skin of her bare legs was enough to harden his cock almost instantly. Any other
woman would have to strip down to nothing to get Will as aroused as Eva did in
her normal wear. She was like a music box that only he held the key to, the
touch and sight of her a special secret he felt lucky to have. That power
turned him on more than a roomful of the hottest strippers.

Eva stood there, grinning at him with
a goofy, self-effacing smile. She was watching him stare. “What’s gotten into
you?” she asked.

He returned a half-grin of his own
and let his gaze roam casually over her body before he sauntered forward to
slide an arm around her waist. “I think the better question is, what can I get
into you?”

Eva turned red, but her eyes and
mouth said she was hungry. “You’re lucky there’s no one around to hear you talk
so dirty.”

“I’m also lucky they’re not around to
see me acting so dirty,” he responded as he leaned forward to steal a wet kiss.
His other hand ran shamelessly up her right thigh, under her dress, caressing
her ass with greedy touches. The little moan that came out of her mouth made his
cock pulse, and he pulled her body against him so that she could feel what she
did to him.

“Will…” she said in a breathless
protest. Her eyelids fluttered and her chest rose with heavy breaths. “Someone
could walk in…”

Will brought his hand up and held her
face as he kissed her deeply, his tongue probing her mouth. She melted into the
kiss and leaned back into him. He only finally pulled away from her mouth so
that he could plant small kisses on the rest of her face and caress her swollen
lips with his thumb.

The hand around her waist came back
around front and swept underneath the skirt of her dress. Will’s fingers probed
until he felt the silkiness of her panties, already wet under his touch. She
gasped when he zeroed in immediately on her clit.

“Do you want me to stop?” he
whispered against her lips.

Eva bucked her hips up to meet his
touch and kissed him hungrily. “No,” she said in a whisper of her own.

Will smiled and kissed her again. He
pulled his hand out from under her dress and turned her around, pressing her
ass against the growing bulge in his jeans. Eva moaned and writhed against him
as he pushed his hands over her body, squeezing her breasts and sucking on her
neck. After a few moments, he roughly pushed her against the bar, leaning her
forward over it.

Dropping to his knees, Will lifted
the back of her dress and exposed her beautiful, pale ass, decked out in pink
lace panties. Eva responded by gyrating her hips ever so slightly under his
touch and gaze, whimpering as he kneaded her ass gently, one finger running
slowly and teasingly along her slit. When he couldn’t wait any longer, Will
carefully peeled her panties down over her ass until they reached her knees.

“Do you have any idea how incredible
you taste?” said Will as he brought his face up to her pussy. His tongue made a
few probing licks against her heated, swollen skin, and Eva writhed like she
had been shocked. He smiled as she turned her head toward the front door, eyes
wide for fear of it swinging open, yet still unwilling to stop him from his
obvious plan. With a delicate touch, he teased her clit under his fingertips
for a few seconds before lowering his mouth over her pussy.

“Oh, fuck,” he heard Eva say as she
pushed her hips back to meet his tongue, driving him deeper into her. Her
sweetness coated Will’s mouth and beard, his hands holding open her lips and
ass to give him complete access to every inch of her. He pushed on her clit as
he licked her and moaned against her lips when her legs began to shake from
pleasure. Will didn’t let up even then, his tongue lashing her folds until a
mighty orgasm overcame Eva. He drank the juices as she came on top of his face,
listening as her hands grasping at the bar for support and her soft voice
groaned his name.

A few more licks along her sensitive
pussy and then he stood, bending over her to grab her head and forced her to
lean back and meet his deep, passionate kiss. Still breathless from her orgasm,
she returned it desperately. “That’s what you taste like,” he said, when he
finally pulled away. He brought up his fingers and put them to her lips for
good measure. Watching Eva pull them into her mouth and suck hard against them
made his dick so hard it hurt.

Will leaned back enough to unbuckle
his jeans and pull down his boxers. His hard cock sprung free, swollen with
lust. Lifting the folds of Eva’s yellow dress again, he smiled to see her panties
still wrapped around her knees like sexy. pink rope. Her pussy dripped,
waiting, as he rubbed the head of his cock up and down her slit. Eva cried out
as soon as she felt him, pressing back against him and begging for him to give
it to her, this time not even waiting for him to ask.

Will couldn’t stand much more teasing
himself. With the taste of her orgasm still fresh on his tongue, he pushed his
length into her and began to fuck her hard, holding her body against his with
one hand, while the other braced them on the bar. He bucked his hips up to bury
his cock as deep inside Eva as he could, and Eva pushed back against him before
dragging his hand up to cup her swaying breasts. She twisted around to kiss him
then, her tongue lapping at his lips like a hungry dog. He loved the way she
seemed to let go of her inhibitions when they fucked, the way she lost herself
in the touch and passion, completely in the moment and undistracted…

“Will,” she said in a breathy voice.

“Eva,” he said back, pushing hungry
lips into her neck and shoulders.

“Will!” she said again, this time in
a voice that made him open his eyes and listen. Underneath the pulse of his
heart and sound of their bodies came the unmistakable rumbling of approaching
engines pulling into the bar’s parking lot. They were so unusually loud they
could only be motorcycles.

“Someone’s here,” said Eva, eyes wide
with fear even as she remained bent across the bar with him inside of her.

Will groaned in frustration at the
idea of having to separate himself from Eva’s sweet pussy before they were both
done, but the sharp sound of car doors shutting drew away the last of his
lust-haze. He pulled his cock out and moved away from her quickly, fumbling to
do up his pants.

The bar door swung open as both of
them were still quite obviously rearranging their clothes, faces flushed. Eva’s
hair looked like she had been caught in a wind storm. Will glanced over to the
front door and saw Charlie entering, his face dark and angry.

Oh, fuck
,
thought Will.
Did I just get caught fucking his little sister?
He looked
away instinctively, eyes landing on Eva.

“Charlie,” she said, with a big,
overcompensating smile. “How was town—” Her words dropped off when two more men
followed him into the bar. A wash of recognition came over her face, causing Will
to turn and look. His stomach hardened to stone.

Jase and Ghost stood there, flanking
Charlie, whose arms were crossed in front of him. He looked like the bullied
kid who had run home and convinced his big brothers to fight for him. Ghost’s
expression seemed much like it always did: alert yet bored, his eyes betraying
little as he looked at Eva and Will. Jase’s face, however, spoke volumes. He
glared at Will with a potent mix of disappointment, anger, and exhaustion.

“Oh, fuck.” This time, Will couldn’t
stop the words from dropping out of his mouth. He felt Eva’s eyes on him but
didn’t turn to meet them.

For a moment, the men on both sides
of the room stood silently, sizing each other up. Will didn’t want to speak
first. He didn’t fully understand how this strange fellowship had come
together, and he didn’t want to give them any information they didn’t already
have. Instead, he waited.

He thought Jase would speak, but
instead it was Charlie who broke the silence. His gaze flickered back and forth
between Will and his sister. “Did we just interrupt what I think we
interrupted?” His voice was deadly quiet.

“Charlie…” said Eva in a calming
tone.

Her brother shook his head and let
out bitter laughter. “No, that’s just about perfect, isn’t it? This
motherfucker comes in here and endangers my family’s livelihood, why shouldn’t
he help himself to my sister, too?”

“She’s a grown woman,” said Will.

“You shut your fucking mouth,” said
Charlie, pointing an angry finger. “I know all about you now, Mr. Knight in Shining
Armor. This little playtime is over for you.”

“No one’s playing,” said Will. “Least
of all, me.”

“Charlie, what is this? Who are these
guys?” said Eva with a hand toward them.

Jase moved into the bar space a few
steps. “We’re friends of Will’s…”

“They’re members of your sweetheart’s
fucking
biker gang
, that’s who they are,” said Charlie, spitting the
words. “That’s why he’s so good at beating the hell out of people. That’s why
he knows what’s going on. He’s a fucking criminal.”

Will’s face went dark. He met
Charlie’s angry eyes. “I protected you.”

“Not according to your buddies here,”
said Charlie. He held up his smart phone to display a picture of Will sitting
at the bar with half a smile on his face. She wasn’t in the picture, but Will
knew he had been talking to Eva when it was taken. “You think I was about to go
along with your insane plan? Instead I took this around town until someone
recognized you. Imagine my surprise when they told me who you were.”

“You should have come to us, Will,”
said Jase. “What the fuck made you think
this
was a good idea? Were you
seriously going to try and storm the cartel with two men—one of whom isn’t even
trained? What did you think you were gonna do?”

“The same thing I should have done
before: slit every last one of their fucking throats,” said Will in a steady,
firm voice.

Ghost let out a sardonic laugh and
scratched at the side of his face. “Will, I love you, bro, but this is just
fucking suicide. This is stupid, and you’re not stupid. You need to listen to
us.”

“No, you fuckers need to listen to
me,” said Will, fury boiling within his veins. He stalked around the bar to
meet them, ignoring the feel of Eva’s questioning gaze on him. “Two years ago,
I couldn’t get either fucking one of you to listen to anything but a violent
answer, and now you both have the balls to stand here and tell me I’m wrong for
fighting? You would rather me try to talk my way out of this mess again and
watch Henry get them killed, watch this place get burned to the ground at my
feet again? I don’t think so. I fucked up before, and it’s not happening again.”

“Two years ago is not what’s
happening right now,” said Jase. “Can you get that through your thick skull?
You’re putting these people at risk, and for what? You can’t bring her back,
Will.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Campbell!”
yelled Will as he took two hard steps and shoved into Jase’s chest with his
own. Jase had height and weight on him, but in that moment Will felt no fear,
no pain, no future, his rage laced with the illusion of invincibility. “This
has
nothing to do
with her.”