Bash, Volume II (9 page)

Angelica

Over the coming days I began to realize the logistical issues around my working a normal daytime office schedule while Bash basically worked evenings. He met me at my apartment a few minutes after five, and we went out to eat, went back to my apartment for sex, and then he left to handle club business. I gave him a key, and he’d come back around one or two in the morning. He woke up with me, and some mornings we had intense sex instead of running — other mornings, we had quickie sex and then ran. I’m sure he went to the clubhouse and went back to sleep when I went to work.

Monday evening, he once again struck me with the belt over my clothes before we had sex, and then he
took
me, fucked me hard and fast and without mercy. It was
glorious
, but I wasn’t sure where it was headed.

The next morning over breakfast, I told him, “The belt. We need to talk about it.”

“Yeah. I need to get you used to it, but it isn’t always going to be over your clothes, and it’ll eventually be more than one strike.”

“I understand it’s your wolf’s way of taking back control, part of reclaiming me after Dawg and I are, umm, intimate? But, will there be other times you’ll want to do it?”

“Yeah, Princess.” His eyes were serious, and a little dark. “It isn’t punishment for being with him, more of an assertion you’re mine — a way to remind us
both
how much you belong to me. I’ll also use it for consequences, though, if you do something I’ve told you not to, or something you should know will make me angry or worried. We’ll talk about it ahead of time, and you’ll agree to it before I do it, though — I won’t just throw you down and beat you.”

“And if I don’t agree to it?”

“Then it becomes a relationship issue, and we’ll need to do a lot more talking. Maybe there’s something I don’t understand, and you don’t deserve consequences. Or, maybe you don’t understand why your actions are such a big deal. You already know if you break certain club rules, the consequences are very public and usually out of my hands.”

It was no secret I’d seen the club sluts spanked with a variety of things in the clubhouse over the years, and I understood they were being punished for not following the rules. I didn’t expect to ever do anything stupid as far as the MC went, so I wasn’t worried about a public belting.

However, I
did
want to talk about the possibilities of playing with the belt for fun, so I nodded, met his gaze, and asked, “And if I just want to play around? Get spanked when it isn’t a consequence?”

His smile was almost feral as he said, “When you’re ready to move to that, I’ll be more than happy to make your ass red with my hand, Princess. Want to see if I can get you off with just a spankin’ and a butt plug, and nothing else.”

Blood shot to my clit and my heart skipped a beat. My pheromones kicked into overdrive as well, and I smelled Bash’s arousal in response to mine. He groaned as he said, “No time to throw you down and fuck you before you go to work and we have, what, ten hours before I can fuck you through the wall?”

“You can’t say stuff like that right before it’s time for me to leave for work, Bash.
Fuck
!”

* * * *

When I got off work, Bash insisted we eat before falling into bed, asserting I’d need my energy. As promised, when we were finished eating, he came damned close to fucking me through the wall, and I’m pretty sure
all
of our neighbors now knew his name.

He left to handle whatever club business needed his attention, and I read engineering articles related to my current project.

When Bash crawled into my bed well after midnight, I was apparently in the middle of a fun sex dream, and he inserted himself into it in real life — the benefits of smelling my arousal and knowing where my body was, I suppose.

At any rate, a mouth on my pussy in my dream turned into fingers sinking into me in real life, his name on my lips as my eyes opened.

“Fuck, Bash, want you. Don’t make me wait,” I breathed as my legs spread and my hips pushed towards his hand.

His fingers pulled out of my pussy, and one of them touched the outside of my asshole. “I think making you wait sounds like loads of fun,” he murmured into my ear, caressing it with his breath.

A whimper escaped my throat as he pressed a slick finger into my ass, breaching the tight muscles as he said, “Relax for me, Princess. Let me in. Tell me how wrong it feels, how much you want me to own you
everywhere
, how you want to let me inside, where you haven’t let anyone in before.”

Despite how wrong it felt, I relaxed and pushed my ass towards him, accepting the finger even as I moaned in protest.

“That’s it, Princess. Want your ass, want to sink my cock into it. I’ll go in skinny at first, but eventually I’ll make myself so big around you’ll worry I’ll split you open.” He pulled his finger nearly all the way out, added a second finger, and pressed them in slow so I could get used to the size. The surrounding muscles burned, and I reached my hand back in an effort to push his fingers out.

“I’ll stop a second, but I’m not coming out. Relax and get used to me, Princess. You’re going to take two fingers all the way, and then I’m going to fuck you to orgasm with those two fingers. I’ll get you a small plug to use while I’m on my trip, and when I get back you’re going to take my cock. Relax for me, Princess. Let me invade your ass with my fingers.” His voice lowered a few octaves as he practically growled, “Tell me how much you want me to own
all
of you.”

His fingers moved again, and I gasped and squirmed as my ass opened to let him in. His other hand pressed around my outer lips, indirectly massaging my clit as the fingers in my ass moved out and back in, out and back in. “God, yes.
Fuck
, Bash. Why did I not do this before? Shit, I’m gonna come. I’m gonna…
please
, help me, I need—”

“I know what you need. You’ll come when I’m ready for you to and not before. Someday soon, Dawg will fuck your ass while I take that sweet, sweet pussy. But not until we both know your ass is
mine
.” He worked me another minute, then another, and finally gave my clit what it needed as he ordered, “
Now
, Princess. Let me feel that ass tighten around my fingers while you come.”

The room faded around us until I was only aware of his voice, his fingers, my asshole, my clit, and the movement of my muscles as wave after wave of bliss undulated through my body.

I was still orgasming when his cock slid into my pussy, his fingers still in my ass, and I didn’t care about the seemingly impossible logistics, I only wanted more, and more, and
more
. Somehow, I ended up on top of him facing his feet while he held me up, fingers in my ass, hand on my hip, cock in my pussy, pounding me from below.

He moved me through several positions, and at last pulled his fingers from my bottom after another orgasm, but he didn’t stop fucking me. When we both finally came together, growling and screaming, fighting for oxygen, we were on our sides, facing each other, with Bash holding my top leg up in the air as he pressed into me and met my gaze, giving me all of himself and hiding nothing.

Something shifted, a metaphysical
click
I’d never felt before, and in that moment I knew there was no turning back. This was more than a mere claiming. Without telling me, without saying a word, I knew he was going to give me as much of
him
as he was capable of.

I hoped I was strong enough to take all of him. Bash was a force to be reckoned with. I’d always known it, and now, that force was in my bed, focused entirely on me.

Bash

I hated to leave town. The timing sucked, but this was the week we’d made arrangements to explain to the human prospects what they’d need to do in order to get their patches, and
change
them, if they agreed. We took on very few humans and always did so in batches, so we could turn them to wolves in small groups when the time came.

We’d worked a deal with Gavin this time, the second most powerful vampire in the territory. When we gave the prospects the choice, if they didn’t want to become wolves then Gavin would make them forget they’d ever had a choice.

I’d originally intended to bite one of the prospects, but I’d let Duke and Brain know someone else would need to do it, because I didn’t have time to deal with a new wolf right now. They understood, but still wanted me along on the trip to help. We only allowed humans who didn’t already have jobs or families to become prospects. They’d have to leave civilization for months, possibly a year or longer, while they gained control of their wolf.

The Atlanta pack rented one of their cabins to us, with a cage in the basement strong enough to hold a new wolf. There was a divider we could use to separate the existing cell into two smaller cages, plus we’d brought two cages with us. We had four prospects, but I had a feeling at least one wouldn’t want to become a wolf.

This cabin held bad memories for Gonzo and Brain, and I wondered why Duke had brought them both. He’d left Dawg home, which I appreciated, as he’d be able to keep an eye on Angelica, but the tension between Brain and Gonzo was palpable.

They were standing near the front porch, staring each other down, when Duke told them, “Take it to the backyard, and don’t come back until you get it worked out.”

“Don’t know anything else I can do to make it right, Brain,” Gonzo said, his voice soft.

“I know, and I thought I’d be okay, but I’m not sure I can go downstairs and hold it together.”

Duke sighed, looked back and forth between the two of them, and finally said, “Yeah, you can. Hug it out, fight it out, talk it out… don’t fuckin’ care, but we need to have a one-to-one ratio. If one doesn’t want to
change
, Brain goes home. Two don’t want to, Bash goes home as well.”

“Not terribly happy with
you
, either, Duke,” Brain said, his eyes still on Gonzo.

Duke sighed again. “Yeah, I know, but you can’t avoid this place the rest of your life. It’s past time we dealt with it and moved on.”

“Fuck, Brain,” I said, frustrated and guilty, and pissed all over again because I felt guilty — but I’d done everything I could to make up for the part I’d played. “Dawg’s forgiven Harmony, and she’s forgiven us. It was bad shit, but it’s behind us.” I sighed and looked at my watch, then the sky. We were close to sunset and Gavin was supposed to be here within thirty minutes of the sun dipping below the horizon. I walked around everyone to climb the steps as I said, “Prospects, inside with me while they figure their shit out.”

For now, there was only one large cell in the basement, and I walked them down and ordered them into it. Two of the men balked, and I reminded them, “Patching in means you trust your brothers with your life. You either trust me and walk in, or you get on your bike and drive away from us for good.”

They all went in and I locked the cell door. When Gavin arrived, he’d put a marker in their memories before Duke
changed
to wolf to show them what we are. The ones who couldn’t deal with it would have their memories of seeing Duke’s
change
wiped, and we’d send them on their way. Depending on who it was, they’d likely leave with a “friend of” patch, and they’d retain whatever job we’d already been paying them to do.

Angelica

I checked my texts as I walked through the TVA building on my way out, and saw one from Dawg.

Got a taste for fish tonight. Want to hit The Boathouse with me?

Bash had made it clear he’d asked Dawg to keep an eye on me, but I didn’t know if dinner out was included. As if he read my mind, he texted again.

Bash knows I’m asking. He’s good. We’re good.

Fish sounded good, but I wasn’t sure about something so close to a date with Dawg. I paid attention to my surroundings as I walked across the parking lot, and once I was in my car I looked at my phone a few seconds before calling him.

“You sure this is a good idea?” I asked when he answered.

“We both gotta eat, no need in either of us doing it alone. You on your bike, me on mine, and when we’re done maybe we can take off and drive a little. Do Kings Road to Booker T, sit on the pier and talk? Lot of the guys knew you as a kid, so I kinda feel like I’m behind the curve. Bash is important to me, and you’re his woman.”

“I’m gonna text him, let him know our plans.”

“Good. Like to hear you’re bein’ upfront with him. I’ll meet you at your place.”

I let him go and texted Bash.

Dawg wants me to eat dinner at The Boathouse with him, then go for a ride on our bikes, maybe stop and talk.

I put my phone in the passenger seat beside my purse and drove home. I loved my car, but I was seriously beginning to consider buying something else for everyday travel. The MG
should
probably be treated more like a museum piece. I made a mental note to ask Duke if I could park it in the RTMC garage, should I buy myself something else.

My phone beeped for an incoming text, then beeped again. And again. I waited until I was sitting at a red light to read the texts.

Have fun

I trust him with my life and you with my heart

It’s all good Princess

I stared at my phone, and jumped a little when the cars started moving around me. I put the phone back in my seat, and worked the clutch and gas to take off.

Dawg was waiting in my parking lot when I arrived. He opened my door as I shut off the engine, and must have noticed something
off
as I got out of the car.

“You okay, Girly?”

I shook my head and showed him my phone. “He admitted he’s given me his heart.”

“Yeah?” He wasn’t questioning that Bash had admitted it, but that I found it surprising.

“Bad-ass bikers don’t admit shit like that until they
have
to. Giving it to me, and then admitting he has… those things aren’t supposed to happen back to back.
It’s too soon
.”

His forehead wrinkled and his brows narrowed. “You aren’t playing around with him, are you? Tell me you aren’t just fucking with him, Angelica.”

“No! He just caught me off guard. Things are going faster than I’d expected.”

“What had you expected?”

I shook my head, unsure of how to answer. “My helmet’s inside. I’ll grab it and be right back.”

I considered what I’d anticipated as we drove the two miles to The Boathouse in rush hour traffic. I’d expected Bash to stay emotionally distant, to hold part of himself back. I’d expected that I wouldn’t have to give him all of me, because he wouldn’t give me all of him.

The revelation floored me and I felt embarrassed, even though I hadn’t consciously thought it through.

Bash was giving me all of himself.
He’d given me his heart and I’d given most of mine to him, but realized I was still holding enough back so I wouldn’t be devastated should he go cold on me.

Dawg and I parked our bikes in the same parking space, and walked in side-by-side, comfortably in step without touching each other. We were seated at a small two-person table with an awesome view of the Tennessee River, and we looked over the menu before we started talking.

“How’d you get your nickname?” I asked, once we’d given the waiter our orders.

He shook his head and shrugged. “I fuck a lot, even for a biker. Was seen in the tabloids with a supermodel for a while, then some pictures made it online of me in bed with three supermodels in New York during some big fashion week thing. I was still a hangaround at the time, wasn’t a prospect yet. I guess I’m one of the few who got a nickname before gettin’ their first patch.” He shrugged again. “I know how to get women into my bed, and I do it without making promises of tomorrow or the next day.”

“And lucky for you, werewolves can’t pick up diseases.”

“Damned straight on that one,” he said with a smile before he took a long drink of his beer. I watched his throat work a few seconds, then looked out at the river. We were talking, getting to know each other with
words
tonight. No hanky-panky.

“I thought I was being wild a few times,” I said as I looked back to him, “going out and picking someone up, fucking him without giving him my real name. I didn’t do it much, but sometimes I just needed the physical release. Plus, I was so
good
on campus. The perfect student. I sometimes
needed
to cut loose and be bad — experience life and decadence and sensation.”

“You had to get away from your dad’s influence to figure out who you are, didn’t you?”

I considered his statement a few minutes, which was exactly on the bulls-eye, and yet he hadn’t known me before I went away. “I’ve been around the MC all my life, so I know bikers come in all flavors, and most of you are pretty smart or you wouldn’t have been given a patch. Still, it’s unusual for one of you to be so intuitive.”

He shrugged, not the least bit self-conscious. “It’s my gift, I suppose, just knowing what makes people tick.”

“One you abuse without shame to get women into bed.”

He smirked. “Guilty as charged, though a bed isn’t entirely necessary.”

“I guess I should thank you for using your gift to make me comfortable with you — both in bed and out. This should be awkward, but it isn’t.”

“With you, there’s a promise of tomorrow, but it isn’t
my
promise. Bash hasn’t given his heart to a woman since before he was sent away from home. He only gave it to you because you were a kid, and you were part of the MC, so you understood him, and yet it wasn’t romantic. He didn’t fall for you, he tripped into you without realizing it — you as a person, not you as a potential girlfriend. But now that you’re back, and you’re a woman? He didn’t stand a chance, but I was shocked to hell and back when he didn’t try to fight it. So, now you’re his, he’s yours, and I’m honored I can get to know his girl better than the other brothers.”

“What about you? What would it take for you to give your heart to someone?”

“I give my heart to most everyone I fuck, Girly, and then I take it back when I’m done with them.” He said it as if it were so obvious, I should’ve known without him telling me.

“I don’t think so, Dawg. I think you open up to them, and get them to open up to you, so you can figure them out and make them happy while they’re with you, but you aren’t handing them your heart — you’re just showing them a piece of it. Someday, you and I will finish this conversation, but not until you’ve actually, fully given your heart to someone. You can’t argue it now, because I don’t think you’ve done it, and you don’t know the difference.”

“What about you? Have you given your heart to my boy?”

I didn’t want to answer the question so I changed the subject. “Bash promised to teach me how to lie without giving it away.”

His look went dark, but his voice stayed soft, gentle. “You haven’t given him your heart?”

I sighed and looked down a few seconds before looking back up to admit, “Not all of it. If I give him all of it, I’ll be devastated if I lose him. For now, at least, I need to hold onto enough so I can stay sane if he walks away, or if something happens to him.”

“He’s a wolf, and he’s Bash. Nothing’s gonna happen to him.”

“My mom was a wolf, and a drunk driver managed to take her head off without even trying.”

“
Shit
, Angelica. I’m sorry.” It was as if he suddenly understood where I was coming from, and he was giving me permission to not give all of myself to Bash.

I tilted my head and scrutinized his expression, his body language. “Why are you sorry?”

“For not seein’ it sooner. You must’ve been devastated when you lost your mom, and then your best friend, too. You’re always going to worry about losing those who’re close to you. You’ve had to deal with it — your dad’s president of an MC, which isn’t the safest occupation on the planet. Still, I imagine dating the DA would be easier,
safer
, than falling head over heels for a biker.”

Well, yeah, but I was done with this conversation. “Is it safe for me to ask what your skills are? Bash is a kick-ass mechanic, though I don’t think he’s working in the bike shop here, which is a shame. Brain handles the tech stuff. I figured out at a young age, the people most likely to get a patch were the ones with skills the MC needed.”

He looked at me a second, and I was sure he was debating whether he was going to let me change the subject. Finally, he gave me a tiny nod and answered, “I’m officially a bartender.”

Officially
, which meant he had another job he couldn’t broadcast. I sat back and waited. He’d either tell me or he wouldn’t. Asking again wouldn’t change what came next.

He took another drink of beer, a short one this time, thank goodness. “I know Bash leveled with you about some of his responsibilities. I’m good with women, so I occasionally help out in that branch of our enterprises, too. We need a cold-assed bastard to make sure assets are treated as assets, and someone a little more warm and fuzzy to make them want to keep working for us. Truth is, Bash can pull off cold-assed bastard with ease, but he still sees them as people and not just assets.”

I remembered all too well how it felt to feel his cold shoulder. I’d had it the first week or two he’d driven me around. “Oh, he isn’t just pulling off the cold-assed bastard thing, he really is cold to people who aren’t in his inner circle.”

“Yeah. He is. Tell me about your mom and dad. How old were you the first time you saw them fucking?”

“Damn, Dawg. How’d you know?” I asked with a smile.

“I know your dad, and I’ve heard stories about how he was with his ol’lady.”

“I don’t know how old I was, I just know it wasn’t unusual for me to see them foolin’ around. I’d come into the kitchen for breakfast in the morning, and then turn around and go back to my room when I saw Mom bent over the table with Dad behind her, pumping — or Mom sitting on the counter with her legs around him while he went to town on her. I went out into the garage a few times to help him with something, and found them going at it out there, too.” I laughed. “As I got older, I’d stand and watch. If they were going to do it where I could see, and they weren’t embarrassed, why should I be? We had a big blow-up about it, and I didn’t see them fucking out in the open as often afterwards. When I did, my dad would tell me to go do something, and use the tone of voice that let me know it was one of those orders I didn’t want to fuck around with.”

When we finished eating, I followed him around town as he avoided traffic. He trusted me to keep up, didn’t act like he had an inexperienced rider following, and I appreciated it. When we finally made it to the pier on the river outside of town, I was ready to sit and commune with nature.

He sat on a bench, but I sat directly on the pier a few feet in front of him and let my feet dangle. We were high enough there was no danger of my boots touching the water, and I leaned forward on the lowest railing, watching the movement of the ripples below.

“What color is the water?”

Seemed an odd question, but I answered, “Muddy brown, mostly.”

“Tell me it’s hot pink.”

“The water is hot pink.” I smelled the lie coming from my pores, even though he’d told me to say it.

“Now, look at the water under the other side of the pier, and then tell me it’s hot pink.”

The pier was in a Y shape, and a little girl and her grandfather fished on the other end. She wore a hot pink tutu with a white shirt announcing she was a Princess in hot-pink, sparkly letters. The water below reflected the pink, and I said, “The water is hot pink,” and didn’t smell it as a lie.

I spun my head around to look at him as the implications swam through my brain. “So, it’s a matter of sidestepping the truth? Telling a truth that is, and yet isn’t?”

“Sometimes, but it’s usually a lot more complicated. You have to learn the alphabet before you can read words, then you start reading sentences, then stories. What you just did was learn the two sounds the letter
A
usually makes.”