Witness (7 page)

Fuck it.

Serenity anchored her left arm around his neck and tilted his face up to hers with her other hand, ignoring the throb in her shoulder. He stabbed his cock inside her with deep, measured thrusts, the material of his jeans chafing her inner thighs. The impact of his body slamming against hers made her heart ricochet in her chest, but she loved it.

When Dash met her eyes, the storm clouds she saw there threatened to break her, but didn’t. He looked so torn—hot as all hell, his nostrils flared, his eyes blazing, his lips parted as he panted with exertion, but torn all the same. As though she was the one with the power, the one who had him to the wall.

Watching him as he fucked her—the adult who had taken the place of her childhood friend—had her unwinding on a different level. Serenity bit back a moan and tilted her lips to his, triumphing at one measured claim of control.

That was it, it seemed. The simple act of drawing his mouth to hers, of taking him in a kiss as his dick pistoned in and out of her pussy, as he slammed her against the wall. Serenity half-expected him to fight or pull away, but Dash did neither. Instead, he melted into her, giving her everything she wanted and then some. His tongue entangled with hers, underscoring his own desperation. He pulled at her mouth like she was his drug and he was fresh off the wagon. All the while, he pushed and pushed and pushed with his cock, until she had no choice but to push back. Until it felt, every time he slid away from her, that he was taking a part of herself—one she needed locked tight inside.

The sensation of his lips against hers stoked the inner fire, the one that would send her over the edge. The intimacy of sharing his kiss while her pussy battled him was something she would never have anticipated. Their frantic coupling wasn’t them—it was amazing, but it wasn’t them. This, kissing him, tasting him, this was.

Darts of pleasure tore across her skin and began to grow.

Finally, Dash broke away from her mouth and rested his brow against hers. His pace was brutal, but she welcomed it. Wanted it. The hard cadence of his thrusts, the slap of his hips against her, the small murmurs that rumbled through his throat.

“So good,” he whispered, the words soft under the carnal sound of their bodies coming together, but she heard him all the same. “Rennie…” Dash lifted his head. “Have you touched yourself?”

The question penetrated the fog surrounding her head with something just barely resembling coherency. “What?”

“Fingered yourself. Thinking of me.”

Serenity nodded. “Yes.”

“You. Wanted. This.” He punctuated each word with deep, hard drives, nudging areas within her she hadn’t known existed. Either he was larger than her past lovers, none of them had known what they were doing, or both. She’d bet both. “You wanted
me.
”

“Yes.”

“Would you…have let me…fuck you then?”

Serenity would have agreed to anything at that point, but that didn’t make her answer any less truthful. “Oh yes,” she moaned, never breaking eye contact. “I wanted you to fuck me then. That’s why, Dash…why…oh…”

Dash’s expression darkened, his cock growing harder inside her, and she knew he was close. Hell, she was too. She needed to feel him lose himself, throw him off kilter as she’d been thrown off. This might be the last honest moment they had together, and she didn’t want it squandered.

“Touch me,” she pleaded softly. “My clit. I need to come.
Please.
”

She thought he might make her beg more, but he didn’t. Instead, he slipped two fingers into his mouth, then wheedled them between them. The second she felt him there, massaging her, working her, hitting her in time with his thrusts, she tightened and fell apart. White-hot, blistering pleasure tore through her body, exploding in a thousand glorious fragments in a thousand glorious directions. Her pussy convulsed then she was milking him, clenching hard around his cock as he moaned her name and joined her over that magnificent edge. It lasted forever, but forever wasn’t long enough. Dash continued pumping even after there was nothing more for her to give, even after her wobbly, numb legs tried to unwind from his waist. Until she felt him relax fully, and sigh his completion.

The silence that followed was the loudest she’d ever heard. Granted, it wasn’t true silence. Dash heaved hard, shaky breaths in time with the thunderous pounding of her heart. Serenity’s head rushed and her ears rang. She slowly became aware of several things—like the fact that she was covered in a slick sheen of sweat, that her foot had fallen asleep, that her shoulder hurt like a son of a bitch, and that Dash’s softening penis was still locked inside her pussy. She felt hot and sticky all over, and didn’t quite trust her legs with her weight.

And she waited for the rest to come. The realization. The disgust. The horror that she’d been so easily conquered by someone she didn’t know anymore. That she’d allowed the romanticism of her past to cloud her judgment of her present. The part of her that knew Dash wasn’t a good man, and had been ordered to kill her.

Only that part remained suspiciously quiet, cowed by the other part—the one that wanted to throw herself at him and beg for something she couldn’t name.

How long they stayed like that, tangled together and recovering, she didn’t know. It seemed like forever, but was likely no more than a minute or two. Finally, Dash set her to rights and helped her readjust her skirt. Then he disposed of the condom and tucked himself back inside his jeans. The movement was enough to remind her she hadn’t yet glimpsed what the man was packing, but she wasn’t fast enough to satisfy her curiosity.

That didn’t matter. Her curiosity was otherwise engaged. Namely, Dash was staring at her, his expression unreadable.

What did he see? Did she want to know?

At last, he said, “We need to leave.”

Serenity blinked. The words made no sense. “What?”

“We need to leave. Now. Right now.” Dash shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “That’s what I came in here for, to get you. I think, anyway. I don’t know. It all just came out. I saw you, and…I couldn’t keep it in anymore.”

“What are you talking about? You’re letting me go?”

“No. Yes. I’m going with you.
We’re
leaving. What happens next…”

“Dash, you’re not making any sense.”

“There’s no time for making sense. Just trust me now.” He paused then looked at her as though he realized how stupid the words were. And before she could consider them or begin to form a reply, Dash cupped her cheeks and kissed her, hard but sweet. It wasn’t a long kiss, but one full of promise and…something else she couldn’t name. Something real. “Trust me,” he whispered again. “I’ll earn it. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

Serenity’s heart flipped. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you. I will. But we need to leave. Now. I’m sorry…” He paused, then frowned and shook his head. “No. Not sorry for what just happened, but I got carried away.”

A nervous laugh jittered through her lips. “I think we both did.”

“Will you come with me, Rennie? I’ll take you anywhere.”

There was only one possible answer, of course, but she heard everything he didn’t say. This wasn’t about staying as an alternative, rather the option to go
with him.
To place her trust in someone who had done everything he could to dismantle it. She’d be a damned fool to accept.

So she was a damned fool. There were worse things. And she did trust him. He wouldn’t hurt her. She didn’t need proof of that.

At last, the light in Dash’s eyes looked familiar. At last he looked like the Dash she knew.

What the hell had changed?

Now wasn’t the time.

“Yes,” Serenity answered. “Let’s get out of here.”

Dash smiled, then. A true, wide, relieved smile. He kissed her again, rough and swift, then led her into the hallway.

Chapter Five

In the turmoil between what was past and what was to come, the uncertainty of his convictions and the heavy weight of each choice he’d made, Dash found solace in the fact that nothing could take the road from him. And with Rennie pressed tight against him, her arms wrapped around his middle, her scent drowning him, he could pretend that he wasn’t doing the very thing he’d sworn he’d never do.

Loyalty was more than lip-service within Lucifer’s Legion. It was sacred, not just expected but demanded. The club existed on a higher plane, one few could identify, let alone understand. As though the organization itself was a living thing. That metaphor was invoked frequently, and while the words lost power with repetition, the meaning remained strong.

Though part of him felt lost, the rest of him, surprisingly, was at peace with his decision. Everything that had occurred up until now had been a test, he knew. The phone call from Gunner had confirmed it, and though it upset everything Dash had valued in this world, it cleared the path of doubt.

A part of him had known all the while. Yes, Gunner had ordered others to carry out unpleasant business, and Dash had done nothing to stop, or even necessarily disagreed. Butch, Hunter, Sawyer, Pete and Jax were Gunner’s most trusted confidants, along with Dash, and likewise, their dedication showed in the lengths they were willing to go for the sake of Lucifer’s Legion. Dash had never been asked to take a life. That was one of the seductive things about Gunner—he respected one’s personal boundaries. Matters of life and death were approached much like everything else—as propositions that would either help or hinder the club. Clinical and bloodless, even when matters were personal. Within the justification of his oath, Dash could see the rationalization behind every decision. He understood. He had even thought he agreed.

But Rennie had changed everything, because that decision hadn’t been clinical or bloodless. He knew now without a doubt that he’d been wrong, and Gunner had known exactly what he was doing. He’d manipulated the pieces together and pulled the trigger. Or rather, assumed the trigger was pulled, as he wasn’t a man who asked for something twice. Furthermore, Dash had never given him reason to doubt his loyalty. Not once.

Not until now.

Not much had passed between him and Rennie since they’d left the clubhouse. Dash had quickly thrown together a duffel bag of toiletries, though they’d need more soon. He’d also dug out a worn leather jacket that Pete had outgrown the year before—too much red meat—as well as a pair of jeans untold sizes too large for her. She hadn’t balked as he might have expected. Instead, she seemed to understand the getup was necessary, if not only to conceal her identity, then to keep her warm when they took to the road. Her skirt, sexy as it was, wasn’t practical.

Dash wasn’t certain if Rennie kept herself from asking questions by force of will or her own distraction. Honestly, he hadn’t meant to lose control when he had, but he couldn’t say he regretted it. Being inside her, feeling her cunt hug his cock while he tasted her kisses, was the best realization of every fantasy he’d ever entertained. He hoped the pink cloud of acceptance didn’t fade before he had the chance to explore her as he really wanted—with her spread out beneath him. Or over him. Or on her hands and knees. Or just her knees. He wanted it all with her, always had. He’d been inside her, but he hadn’t gotten to taste her, play with her, make her body sing the way he knew he could. And he knew it might never happen, because she was too damn good for him, and what they’d already shared was typically the most a good girl liked to slum. At least, a good girl entangled with a bad boy like him.

But God, he hoped she stayed. Rennie had been the one saving grace in his life before. If anyone could lead him out of the darkness, it was her.

Dash’s original intentions had been to get as far from Joplin as possible, but with distance and time on his side, he found his urgency waning. They rode for an hour, maybe ninety minutes, before he decided to turn off the highway and get a room for the night. The road ahead remained cast in shadows, and there was a lot to discuss.

Though he didn’t know if he’d be able to get to the talking part before throwing her on the bed.

Rennie went through the motions with him, even pasting on a weak smile for the benefit of the motel clerk. She followed him to their room and didn’t say anything as he fumbled with the lock. Damn key cards never seemed to work properly. After a few tension-filled moments, Rennie took pity on him and commandeered the key card, flipped it, then unlocked the door without issue.

Dash’s cheeks burned in possibly the first blush he’d endured since high school. “Thanks.”

Rennie grinned at him, one of her enigmatic sexy-as-hell grins, and at once he was at a loss for words. She was so goddamned beautiful, and she was with him.

For the moment. Because he’d kidnapped her. Because she didn’t have a choice.

Dash cleared his throat and ushered for her to precede him inside. She did, and once the door was closed and they were truly alone again, he forced himself to abandon the train of thought his mind had been so desperate to take. The bed lurked in his peripheral vision, and his cock, still humming with the memory of her pussy tight and wet and perfect around him, stirred.

But those thoughts would have to wait, possibly forever.

“Did you know you were a suspect?”

That did it. The light, however minute, in Rennie’s eyes was instantly extinguished. “In what?”

“Wilcox and Luanne.”

She blinked. “A suspect? Like, a murder suspect?”

He nodded, though he didn’t need an answer. Her reaction spoke volumes.

“I can’t be. That’s…” Rennie looked away, her perfect mouth working into a frown, her eyes wide and searching. “They asked me questions. In the beginning, they had me go through it a few times, but they never indicated I was anything other than a witness. Not even a person of interest, I don’t think.” She paused then raised her gaze to him. “I can’t be a suspect. That’s insane.”

“I know.” Dash swallowed. “The murder weapon was found in your car, Rennie.”

“What?”

“The gun that killed Wilcox and Luanne. Gunner’s pistol.” He released a deep breath and flexed his hands, doing his best to warn off the surge of temper that had threatened to consume him earlier. “That’s why Gunner told me to ram your car. He knew it’d be searched.”