Rough & Rugged (Notorious Devils Book 3) (29 page)

Johnny’s eyes hold me captive, unable to speak or even think. They’re dark and focused completely on me, and they’re gentle.

Gone is the hard and harshness I’ve seen, now he’s softened. Something inside of him has shifted or changed. I don’t know what, but I hope he stays like this always.

“You’re so pretty,” he murmurs as his lips brush mine and his hips begin to thrust harder. My back arches as my own hips push up and meet with his.

Pretty
—he’s called me that on more than one occasion, and I wonder if the word has a different meaning to him entirely. I don’t have the capacity to think anything else about it as my body builds higher, climbing toward my release.

“Please,” I whimper.

“Come on my cock, Hattie,” he murmurs as his hand releases my hair and slides between us.

When he touches me, when his thumb presses against my clit, it’s as if he ignites this flame inside of me. I scream as my body tightens and I come. I come all over him, just as he’s asked me to. He groans and slams his hips against mine a few times before he, himself, stills. I feel his release fill my body. He sags on top of me, his face nuzzling my neck, and his hot breath washing over my sweat soaked skin.

“I didn’t kill them,” he murmurs against my neck.

“Hmmm?” I ask as my fingernails run up and down his smooth back.

“Those men. I didn’t kill them. I wanted you to know the truth,” he repeats. I freeze.

“Why are you telling me now?”

“You accept me just as I am—all of me, Hattie. You weren’t happy, but you weren’t a bitch, and you didn’t try to punish me for not doing exactly what you wanted me to. You took me into your body just as you always have, as if nothing had changed. So, I wanted to tell you the truth.”

I had forgotten about them. How I could have forgotten, I don’t know, but I did. No, I know how I forgot. I was drunk off of Johnny, off of the expression in his eyes and the way he owns every piece of me. How he renders me speechless and breathless all at the same time.

My rugged, rough man.

“Thank you,” I whisper. Johnny sighs before he slides out of me and then rolls to his back.

“I want you to believe that I’m noble, that I didn’t kill them just because you asked me not to. But I can’t lie to you,” he states as he stares at the ceiling. “I didn’t have the opportunity to do it first.”

I gasp at his words. Then I turn my head slightly and I see that his gaze is settled on me and its—
challenging
.

“Are you trying to start a fight, now?” I ask.

Johnny doesn’t answer, he sits up and walks over to his nightstand completely naked, then he reaches inside of the drawer and pulls out a cigarette. He lights it as his eyes stay glued to mine. He’s pushing me, pushing my buttons and trying to figure out if I’ll stay at his side or if I’ll be this hidden object he screws in the dark and ignores during the day. He can be sweet and then an asshole with zero notice. It’s part of him, just another piece of him that I have to accept.

I can see it in his eyes; it’s written plain as day on his impassive face. The emotion he had moments ago has been wiped clean from his features, and now he smokes his cigarette and stares at me.

“I was house hunting earlier because you said you wanted to move out of here and into our own place. I want to be at your side Johnny, totally at your side. Not anywhere else,” I say shakily.

“And the fact that I would have killed all three of those fuckers the second I had the chance?” he asks, cocking a brow at me.

I inhale deeply before I rise to my knees on the bed and face him. I’m sure I look a complete mess with my hair matted and my face covered in remnants of his release mixed with my own saliva, but I don’t care. This is a serious conversation and it needs to happen.

Apparently, it needs to happen right now.

“Is anything you do for the club going to affect the way you treat me or care for me?” I ask, looking into his chocolate eyes.

I watch as they flash with something, something unknown, and then he’s right in front of me, and his free hand is wrapped around the side of my neck.

“Do you mean, am I going to turn into some monster and start taking shit out on you?” he asks. His voice is deep, low, and growly.

I don’t answer him. I stare at him—waiting.

“Fucking hell, Hattie. Never. I would never hurt you,” he says. His hand moves and cups my cheek as his thumb brushes across my lips, his eyes focused on mine. “You’re my princess. Mine. I’d never hurt you, baby.”

I don’t even try to stop the tears that fall from my eyes at his words and the sincerity I feel pouring off of him. I wrap one of my hands around his wrist and lift the other to tangle in the back of his hair. Then I lean forward and press my lips to his. He smells like smoke and sex and sweat. It’s delicious.

“I am going to be at your side, Johnny. I was made for you, and you were made for me. I’ve waited three years to have you, and nothing could keep me from standing right next to you. Through hell or happiness, I’ll be at your side, as long as you treat me right,” I murmur against his lips.

“Always. You’ll always be my princess, Hattie,” he rumbles.

His hand moves from my cheek to my lower back as his lips brush mine; then his tongue dives into my mouth and my brain completely shuts down as he kisses me. He doesn’t just kiss, he
invades,
and I welcome every stroke of his warm, full tongue against mine.

“Let’s get cleaned up and then join the living,” Johnny murmurs as he breaks away from my mouth.

He hands me an oversized shirt as he pulls a pair of jeans over his hips, and together we go into the bathroom to shower. We spend too much time washing each other’s bodies, and I giggle as he chuckles every so often.

I feel the heaviness from earlier lifting, and I find that I just plain
like
Johnny. He’s sexy and he makes me feel beautiful; but aside from all of that, I like being near him, being held by him, and laughing with him. I can’t wait to start our future together. What it holds, I don’t know, but I’m excited to explore it all at his side.

T
his place is a fuckin’ dump.

I look over to Hattie, who is walking around and listening to the real estate agent like she’s actually going to say yes to the piece of shit house she looked at online.

Lockdown was lifted this morning. We don’t know
The
Cartel
or the
Bastards’
next moves, but we also don’t know where the fuck any of them are.

They’re like fuckin’ roaches that live in the walls, never seen by the human eye except when you flip a switch at two in the morning looking for a fuckin’ snack. Then those fuckers scurry around as fast as lightning.

“What do you think?” Hattie asks with wide eyes.

I don’t answer her. I turn my head to the real estate agent and speak directly to her.

“This place is a fuckin shithole. I’m not puttin’ my woman up in here. Find us somewhere decent,” I bark.

“Johnny,” Hattie gasps.

“Well, sir, your budget doesn’t allow for anything
decent
,” the woman smirks.

“You didn’t ask my budget, bitch,” I clip.

Her eyes widen as Hattie groans and lets her forehead fall to my bicep. Sure, I’m bein’ a dick, but ask me if I care? I don’t.

“What is your budget, then?” she asks through slotted eyes.

“Don’t got one,” I shrug.

“
Johnny
,” Hattie hisses.

“Princess, I’m not having you living in a place that’s infested, and this place is. There’s dead mice in the corner. You think those are the only ones?” I murmur. I watch as her eyes widen and she scoots a little closer to me. I almost laugh.

“We have a two bedroom in a nice neighborhood for fifteen hundred a month,” the agent says.

“Show me,” I grunt.

She nods and we follow her outside. Hattie and I load on my bike as she starts her car and we follow her to the house. I almost laugh my ass off; I mean, I get really fuckin’ close when we pull up to the house. It’s like goddamn karma.

“Aren’t you coming?” Hattie asks after she scrambles off of my bike.

“I already know what this place looks like,” I murmur.

I watch as her face falls and sadness washes over her. I take her hand while shaking my head. I don’t want her to think anything bad about it, it’s just that I’ve been in this house more times than I can count.

“This was the house that Kentlee and Fury rented for a few years, that’s how I know exactly what it looks like on the inside,” I say, watching as her body relaxes.

“Okay,” she whispers.

“It’s a good house, princess, you’ll like it.”

As we walk through the house and Hattie looks around, I don’t tell her about all the hell Kentlee went through living here. I don’t tell her how Fury spent the first three years of their relationship in prison, or how Kentlee had to waitress at the
Devils Club
to make ends meet with a baby at home. After he got out and they got their shit straight, they lived here for another couple of years until they bought the house they’re currently in. Those were good years. So maybe—maybe the house isn’t such a bad sign.

“I like it. What do you think?” Hattie asks as she runs her hand over the kitchen countertop.

“You like it, it’s yours, princess,” I murmur.

“It’s fifteen hundred for the deposit and another fifteen hundred for the first month’s rent, all due at the same time,” the realtor interrupts.

I dig in my pocket and pull out my cash. I count out three grand for the bitch and hand it over to her. Her eyes widen as she takes my money and then counts it for herself.

“I’m gonna need a contract to sign and a receipt,” I announce. She straightens and pulls out a piece of paper from her clipboard before walking over to the kitchen counter. I watch as she signs some things and then pushes it over to us.

“I’ll need both your names on there,” she mutters.

“Hattie ain’t financially responsible for the rent, it’s all me,” I say as I fill out the paperwork. I don’t put her down as responsible, putting her down as a resident instead.

Once I sign everything, I hand it back to the agent. She in turn hands me my own copy, plus keys and the receipt.

“Congratulations, Mr. Williams,” she says, giving me a smile. “When the first rolls around, just send your payment to that address on the contract, or you can come by the office if you’re going to continue paying in cash.”

I don’t respond to her and watch her leave. Once the door is closed, I turn to Hattie who is standing in the kitchen looking a little dumbfounded.

“That lady was a fuckin’ bitch,” I mutter.

“Johnny,” she whispers.

I look at her and she has tears forming in her eyes. I don’t know what to do. Hattie is obviously a crier, since she keeps fucking doing it, and I don’t know what to do every time she starts, except maybe fuck her.

“Hattie.”

“This is all for me, for us?” she asks with a trembling lower lip as tears spill down her cheeks.

“Yeah,” I affirm.

“Thank you so much,” she cries out before she launches herself at me.

I only have a second to brace in order to catch her slim body as she wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my shoulders.

“I told you, Hattie. Whatever you want, it’s yours,” I say as I wrap my hands around her tiny little ass to keep her upright.

“I’m going to make you so happy, Johnny,” she whispers before her lips touch mine in a hard kiss.

Doesn’t she know that she already makes me happy?

Everything about her is everything I ever wanted in a woman. She’s sweet and kind, so tiny, and she needs me to protect her. She’s clean, not some drugged out whore, and when she looks at me with her big, green eyes, I fuckin’ melt for her.

I don’t give happiness another thought as my cock presses against my jeans and Hattie’s sweet pussy. I walk us over to the kitchen counter and set her ass down on the edge before I lift my face from hers.

“You already do make me happy, princess,” I murmur as I lift her shirt from her body and unhook her bra, freeing her small,
perfect
tits.

“Wh—what are you doing?” she asks looking at me in shock.