Beast (A Righteous Outlaws Novel #4) (The Righteous Outlaws) (17 page)

“Come for me again,” he said, moving his hand down the curve of my side, and stopping right on my center. His thumb once again began to circle my clit, setting off a series of moans. “Come on, darlin’.”

“Only if you come with me,” I said, resting my forehead against his, and running my fingers down the hard lines of his jaw.

He nodded against me, as he grabbed my thighs and rocked me back and forth on his cock. I relaxed my back, taking him even deeper, and cried out when he thrust all the way inside me.

“Look at me,” he demanded through heavy breaths.

I forced my eyes to focus on his as we both rocked against each other, both racing for the edge, ready to explode. The sound of skin smacking skin echoed through the room as we quickened the pace.

“Oh, God!” I cried out. “I’m going to come.”

“Wait for me,” he growled, picking up the speed even more, slamming into me with deep, hard strokes.

I stared into his eyes, trying to hold onto the little control I had left, trying to wait for him. My moans became louder as he pushed me farther and farther to the edge. “I can’t,” I breathed.

“Let go, darlin’,” he said, and it was my undoing. I came hard and fast, my body jerking with the intensity as he fell over the edge with me.

“You’re beautiful when you come,” he said, placing a tender kiss to my nose.

“Only when I come?”

“It’s a different kind of beautiful, knowing that I did that to you. Made you look that way.”

We lay back on the bed and, after he disposed of the condom, he pulled me into the crook of his arms. I rested my head on his chest and looked up at him. “Where does that come from?”

“What are you talking about?”

I realized I started the conversation in my head, and he needed more context. “When you call me darlin’, you suddenly have this accent. I want to say it’s Southern. So, I’m just curious where it comes from.”

“I was a born and bred Texas boy,” he said, in a complete southern accent that was incredibly sexy.

“Really?! You mean to tell me I bedded myself a cowboy?” I imagined Beast in a pair of tight jeans that accentuated his cute ass, and a flannel shirt that pulled tight across his muscles… a cowboy hat and some big belt buckle.

“That cowboy has been dead for a very long time.”

I was learning more and more about Beast every night when we “accidentally” met and went for jogs, and when we spent the rest of our nights in bed together. But there were times like this when it became abundantly clear that there was still so much I didn’t know about him. “Why? Was Texas that bad?”

“Must you always have to start with the questions?”

It was no secret that he didn’t like the game of twenty questions that I tended to always fall into, but, without it, how would I have learned anything about him? If he could just understand that I was interested in him. He fascinated me and, as someone I was growing to care about, I just wanted to know everything there was to know about him. Even if that meant talking about a past he’d rather forget.

“I just want to know about the guy I’m sleeping with. I don’t think that’s asking too much. Do you?” I figured going with the truth was my best bet. Maybe he’d understand that I wasn’t interrogating him. I was just generally interested.

“Texas wasn’t bad. But, after everything that happened, I couldn’t stay.”

“Is that when you dropped the accent?”

“No. I dropped that my first year in the Marines, so people would stop calling me farm boy.”

“Awe, farm boy?” I poked his sides, but it didn’t even faze him. “Isn’t that cute!”

“No.”

I put my fingers up, and held them just shy of connecting. “It is just a little.”

“No.”

“Then we can agree to disagree. So, why didn’t you like them calling you that? You seem like the type that wouldn’t give a shit about what others thought.”

“Back then, I was a little vain.”

“You?” I sat up, looking down at him and laughing. “Now
that
I find hard to believe.”

“Good because I’m not that guy anymore. You’re right. I don’t give a shit about what others think. But, back then, I felt like I had something to prove, and I didn’t think I’d be taken serious with that nickname. I looked at my accent as a weakness. People could identify me easily just by saying the southern kid. I didn’t want to be able to be picked out of a crowd just because I talked differently than the other guys. Not that I ever was in a situation that made me realize that, but I was thinking ahead. Thinking about any weaknesses that could get me in trouble. I felt like my accent was one of them, so I got rid of it.”

“But it slips back every now and again.”

He nodded. “Not often, but it does.”

“I like it,” I said, placing a kiss to his chest.

“Why?”

“Because it’s part of who you are. You might have left your past behind you, but your past is what shaped you to be the guy you are today and, if you want me to let you in on a little secret…” I glanced at him, his eyebrow arching. “I kind of like who you are.”

He traced circles on my bare back. “I’m a cop’s worse nightmare.”

“Maybe so, but just because I might not agree with everything you do, that doesn’t make me like you any less.”

“It should.”

“It doesn’t.”

“We’ll never be able to be seen together. People will talk. It’ll put your job in jeopardy.”

“Too late for that,” I said, and Beast’s eyes cut to mine. “Had a run in with a few of the townspeople today. Apparently, one of your neighbors saw us together. An old lady, mid-sixties, salt and pepper hair, red glasses.”

“Dammit. I should have been smarter.”

“It would’ve come out eventually. Better sooner than later, right? Besides, I handled it. I think. Reed is a little pissed, but understandably so. He just lost his uncle to a car bomb. Willie’s wife was there, too, and Kent from the jewelry store.”

“That fucking bastard. I can’t stand him.”

“He has a chip on his shoulder, but I hit him with facts. Now, it’s up to him whether he believes them or not.”

His hand stilled on my back and he put it behind his head, looking up at the ceiling like he was lost in thought. Silence spread through the room, except for Beauty, who just started scratching at the door. Normally, he would jump up and let her in but, this time, he just lay there staring up.

“What the fuck are we doing?” he finally asked, running a hand over his face.

“Talking.”

“No, I mean this.” He motioned his hands between us. “I don’t want to let you go, but we haven’t even taken this beyond the bedroom, and you’re already getting harassed.”

“I’m a big girl. I can handle myself, and I hate that I have to keep reminding you of that.”

“I never said you couldn’t.” He raised his voice, and then pushed out of the bed. He went to the door and opened it, letting Beauty into the room. She ran to the side of the bed, jumping up and down, but never having enough clearance to make it on the bed. I bent down and picked her up.

Beast paced the length of the room. I didn’t bother saying anything. He was working something out in his head, and I could see the tension in his shoulders, the anger brewing just below the surface. It was better to let him deal with it on his own than to start pushing buttons.

Finally, after a few minutes, he stopped. That dark intense stare pinned me in place. “The club is my life.”

“I know that.”

“I’ll never leave it.”

“I figured as much, and I would never ask you to.”

“Good,” he said, sitting down on the bed. Beauty ran over to him, and flopped on her back beside him. “One of my brothers did, and I wasn’t happy about it. I thought he was a fucking asshole for letting a girl influence him enough to leave the brothers who were there for him, who had protected him. I didn’t understand it. It was what he wanted, though, and I could see it so clearly in his eyes. I didn’t have to understand to know it was important to him. But now…” he turned to me, resting his hand on my cheek and running his thumb across the apple of my cheek. “I get it. I would never leave the club, ever. But, for you, I just might.”

Tears pricked my eyes at his words. His declaration carried more impact than a simple “I love you” ever could. His club, his brothers, the few things he cherished in life… he would possibly leave behind if I asked him too. I would never. I could never take him away from the only life he felt like he belonged in, after everything he had been through. I would never make him choose between a life that accepted him and a life he could have. He had been through enough, and he deserved whatever he chose.

I placed my hand on top of his, lacing my fingers through his much larger ones. “The club is who you are. And, like I said, I like who you are. I wouldn’t want you to change, and I would never ask you to. The only thing I ask of you is to always come home. To never leave me alone in this world because, until I met you, I didn’t realize how alone I actually was. We might be on two opposite ends of the spectrum, but when I’m with you that loneliness, that feeling of never really belonging that sits beneath the surface, disappears. I’m a little broken, I know that, but you are too, and I feel like our broken pieces fit together to make us whole again.”

He rested his forehead against mine, his hand wrapping around my neck and holding me tight.

“I never expected this,” I said. “But, believe me when I say I wouldn’t change a thing. So, I don’t give two shits about what people think. They can think whatever the hell they want because it doesn’t matter. All that matters is this.” I kissed his nose, his cheek and then his lips. “Us. Fuck everyone else.”

His lips crashed to mine, and everything I had just poured out in words, he returned in the intensity of his kiss.

Beauty jumped in between us, licking both our faces, and I pulled away laughing.

“Damn dog,” Beast muttered.

I picked Beauty up, and held her in my arms. “How can you be mad at this face?” I asked. “She’s so darn cute.”

“Both my girls are,” Beast said, and my heart damn near exploded.

A
ubree’s idea to
try and appease the town was to set up a small street fair complete with a sidewalk sale for the businesses. It was also her way of bringing people back to Main Street since the bombing. Her business had been suffering, but I had a feeling the bombing was just the beginning of her problem. She was getting married to the president of the club, who most people thought had a link to the bombing. My guess was, they weren’t avoiding the area, they were just avoiding her store.

But, being Aubree, she refused to accept that. She was the most positive person I had ever met, and it still cracked me up that someone like that brought Cash to his knees. But they worked and, somehow, she found her way into his blackened heart and turned him into the guy I was looking at now.

He had his arm around Aubree, pulling her close and kissing her head while they spoke to Kade and Sienna. DC was yanking Sienna’s arm, and trying to take off toward the cotton candy vendor. My brothers, who I once thought were fools for letting some chick into their hearts, I now looked at with envy.

It had been so long since I thought about sharing my life with someone. About letting someone in, after everything I went through. But, then Ryan walked into my life like a goddamned firework on the fourth of July, so powerful and bright ready to set the sky on fire. She did the unimaginable. She brought me out of the shadows. She shone light into the dark crevices of my mind.

Annie was dead, and maybe it was my fault, or maybe it wasn’t. It didn’t matter. What mattered was, I didn’t die that day even if I should have. I also survived the Humvee bombing when I probably shouldn’t have. There were so many other instances where I could have just as easily lost my life, between shootouts with Montamos and run-ins with Gordita’s Army, but I still managed to cheat death. I was still here. Somehow, still standing despite all that shit that tried to take me down.

I had been through hell and back, and it made me wonder if I had some bigger purpose on this earth. Not that I liked to be all philosophical and shit, because I was far from being a believer in that crap. But there was one thing that I was starting to realize. Everything happened for a reason, so I couldn’t help questioning whether all of that shit from my past happened in order to bring me here to this moment. To this point in my life where I had found someone that I felt an overwhelming connection with and, oddly enough, she felt the same about me. What I did know for certain, though, was that tonight I would go home and Ryan would be in my bed with me. Tucked in my arms and digging her nails into my back, as I made love to her over and over again.

Love.
Where the fuck did that even come from? It seemed ridiculous. I didn’t do love. It was filled with heartache and disaster, but I didn’t really believe that anymore. Not when I looked across the street, and saw my brothers completely enamored with their old ladies. They were happy as pigs in shit, and they deserved that happiness. Hell, they fucking worked for it. So, why couldn’t it be my turn?

I glanced down the street, taking in everything Aubree had made happen: crowds of people, food carts and tables upon tables of vendors. The rest of my brothers were handing out free bottles of water, and helping where they could. It was a strange sight, but one that made me smile. Phil walked around with his old lady and their hoard of dogs.

None of us thought this scheme of Aubree’s would work, but it was. We fit in with this crowd, and we belonged here just as much as they did. It also didn’t hurt that every vendor had to agree to give ten percent of its profit to the town to be divided up between the schools, parks, library and police department. Criminals or not, the town couldn’t deny that we didn’t care about it or the people.

Through the crowd, I spotted Ryan as if I was physically drawn to her. She was with her mother, a tiny woman with dark hair that walked with purpose. They were heading toward the parking lot when my eyes spotted a figure walking away from Ryan’s car.

Something in my gut didn’t sit right, and I watched as the figure got into a car I had seen before. A car I would fucking know anywhere. The only question was, what the fuck was Matias doing here, and why the fuck was he by Ryan’s car?

Suddenly, the answer smacked into me, knocking the wind right the fuck out of me. The last time he was here, he planted a bomb. There were people everywhere, and one explosion could cause a shit ton of harm, if not death.

My body reacted before my mind caught up. I ran across the parking lot, screaming to Ryan, praying to God or whoever was up there, to not let her get anywhere near that car. I dodged people who looked at me like I was fucking crazy, but I didn’t care. I needed to get to her. I needed to save her before she met the same fate as Annie.

I couldn’t go through that again. Not when I just found her.

“Beast?” Cash called out after me, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. Every second counted, and I needed to get to Ryan before she got to her car.

“Ryan!” I screamed across the crowd, but I felt like my voice was getting swallowed up in the rest of the voices floating through the air.

Goddamn it! Move faster, you piece of shit!

Each slap of my foot on the pavement didn’t seem like enough. My world slowed and all I could see was mangled metal engulfed in flames, flying past me. I could feel myself slipping into the dark hole, but if I let those memories overtake me I would lose Ryan.

So I focused on her retreating frame and screamed her name again, willing her to hear me.

Goddamn it! “Ryan!” Her dark hair spun as she turned toward my voice. She searched the crowd for me as her mother kept walking. “Stop her!” I yelled pointing to her mom just as Ryan caught my eyes. “Don’t let her get in the car!” I yelled, and Ryan leapt toward her mother, knocking her to the ground just before her hand touched the handle.

I ran the rest of the way, coming to a halt right beside them.

“Ryan! What are you doing?” her mother asked, as Ryan helped her up from the ground.

“Matias was just here,” I said, and the realization crossed through Ryan’s eyes.

“Do you think?”

“I saw him at your car. You need to get your mother and the rest of the town far away from here.”

Cash and Kade jogged up to my side.

“What’s going on?” Cash asked.

I dropped to the ground and looked under Ryan’s car, scanning it inch by inch, when I spotted it. I hoped I was wrong. I hoped that I was being fucking paranoid, but I wasn’t. I had dealt with bombs in the Marines, and this one was more complicated than just a simple car bomb that killed Willie.

I ducked out from beneath the car and got to my feet, running a hand through my hair.

“Is there a bomb?” Kade asked.

I nodded.

“A bomb!” Ryan’s mother cried out.

“Mom, shush,” Ryan said, probably thinking exactly what I was thinking. The last thing we needed was to cause a stampede of scared and panicking people.

“Can you dismantle it?” Kade asked.

“No,” Ryan said, coming between us. “No way. I’ll call it in. We’ll get a bomb squad down here.”

“We don’t have time for that,” I said.

“Why not?” Ryan asked.

“The bomb is on a timer. We have less than fifteen minutes. You need to get out of here, get your mother to safety, and call your Dad for back up to get the people to safety as quick as possible.”

“I’ll let my dad do it. I’m not leaving you.”

Cash and Kade looked between us, as they realized Ryan was more to me than just Stanson’s daughter.

“It’s not up for debate, and the more time you stand here arguing with me, the less time I have to stop this thing. I can’t let more innocent people die. Not on my watch. I won’t.”

“Ryan, what’s happening?” her mom asked.

“Go,” I said to Ryan, meeting her eyes and standing my ground. If this thing was going to go off, I was the only one I wanted it to take out.

Ryan let out a loud breath, and then wrapped her arm around her mother, assuring her everything would be okay. When she was on her way, I turned to Cash and Kade.

“You guys need to go help. Make sure the girls and DC are as far away as possible. Get the other guys to help clear the street. Find Hudson, and tell him to start searching every security camera in this area. To make sure there is nothing else planted anywhere.”

“Kade, go. I’ll stay,” Cash said.

“No fucking way,” I argued. “You’re getting married in a few weeks, and I’m not going to be responsible for you not making that walk down the aisle.

“What about you?” Cash asked.

“Don’t worry about me. Now, go,” I said, pulling out my pocketknife, and getting back down on the ground.

“Be safe, brother,” Cash said, before he and Kade took off running.

I made note of the countdown, and the nine minutes that were left for me to stop this from detonating and destroying this half of Main Street. A sudden rush of flashbacks assaulted my mind, fogging my vision.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to push away the visions of mangled metal and flames. A bloody faced Riggs pushed to the front of my mind. I silently begged him to help me get through this. To let me pick the right wire to cut. To let me have the life that he lost when he slammed into that pole.

He faded away, and I took a deep breath focusing on the task, reminding myself that, if I died, I would never see Ryan again, and that wasn’t a fucking option. Not today, it wasn’t.

Sweat formed on my brow, and I swiped it away. I tried to remember everything I learned in that training class so many years ago. There was a red, a yellow and a green wire. I pulled them apart and figured out where each wire led. If Matias, or one of his men, made this bomb, they weren’t following any rulebook. The color meant shit, which meant I had to figure out what each wire did.

The timer ticked down, as I followed the red wire up and around.

Fire exploded around me in hot bursts, but I needed to stay focused. I needed to bring myself to find my brothers. Make sure they were okay. We made a promise when we boarded a plane to the warzone that we wouldn’t leave anybody behind, and I would honor that promise. If I could just get my eyes to stop burning and the pain in my leg to stop throbbing…

All my energy was knocked out of me as my body had hit the ground after being thrown into the air. I channeled every last bit of energy I could muster, and forced my eyes open. I rolled over, trying to gain control of the situation. The pain in my leg was unbearable, but adrenaline took over, and I didn’t feel it anymore.

My body was intact, but where were my brothers? Blood, fire and debris littered the ground around me, and I could barely see through the smoke.

I shook my head, knocking the thoughts away, and making myself stay in the present. I brought my forearm to my face, wiping away the sweat that was dripping down into my eyes and burning them.

The sounds of the crowds were fading, and I hoped it was because Ryan and my brothers were able to get them away, and not because I was about to get lost in another memory. I fought the overwhelming thoughts assaulting me, refusing to let the past take away my future.

“If this wire goes here and this one goes here,” I mumbled to myself.

The timer ticked down to four minutes, and I cursed myself for looking. Panic caused you to make stupid decisions, deadly decisions, and I couldn’t let that happen. No. I needed to stay completely focused. Completely zoned into disarming this thing.

I pulled the yellow wire away from the rest and, just as I was about to see where it ended, my vision blurred bringing me back to a darkened movie theater.

Gunshots rang out and, for a moment, I wondered if I was having a flashback to the war, but then my eyes locked on the gunman, standing at the front of the theater. His shadow was illuminated by the big screen behind him.

I went to dive on Annie, to protect her, to keep her safe. She was bent over in her chair, and I dragged her down to the ground. I took her face in my hands, turning her to look at me to make sure she was safe, but her eyes that were always so full of life were dull. Blood dripped down her face, and I followed the streak to the hole in her head.

“No!” I growled fighting my way out of the dark abyss. “Focus goddamn it!”

The scene in front of me cleared, a minute left on the clock. I gave my full attention to the yellow wire and decided quickly that it wasn’t the right one. I went back to the red and green. Red could either mean stop, or it could mean explosion. My gut told me the green wire wasn’t the right one and, after a life of regrets, I knew to never ignore your gut.

I took the red wire in my hand, just as I heard the sound of sirens in the distance. Twenty seconds was left, and, whether I cut the right wire or not, this car was about to explode.

I bent the wire, and brought my knife to the middle, pulling hard. I closed my eyes, seeing Ryan’s face, and prayed for the best.