Bo (14 page)

I fell on top of V, completely covering her with my body, pulling her head down beneath my chin.

When no impact drilled into me, I stood up and whipped my head around.

Slade stood in the doorway, the muzzle of his modified Beretta smoking. The body of an ugly grizzly Iron Nails crewmember draped like a dead puppet over a chair behind me. He was even more ugly with nothing but grisly tissue replacing one half of his face. Stealth weapon—that was Slade.

He winked . . . then his eyes peeled open in alarm. His gun arm raised, but he halted midmotion, shooting both his hands into the air.

Too late, I turned back around to V. Billy was there. He’d materialized from a second door that swung wide open behind him. He dragged Veronica’s head back by a tight hold in her snarled red hair, the infamous razor positioned at the top of her forehead.

“DROP THE BLADE, YOU ape-faced fucker.” I snarled.

Billy grinned. Now that I saw his face up close, I almost fucking shuddered. His features were a grotesque mask of tats covering every square inch from his cheeks to his chin to his forehead. Only his pale albino eyes blinked out, eerily pink and, even worse, amused as V struggled.

A droplet of crimson blood slid down the middle of her face from the straight blade digging into her scalp.

“I’m not gettin’ a whole lot of incentive to do that, Marine.” His voice was the rusty, two-packs-a-day-smoker kind. It matched his misaligned yellow teeth when his thin lips parted. “How about you drop yours, and the gun, before I peel her pretty skin from her skull?”

My Beretta and KA-BAR clattered to the floor.

“And the other knife you probably got stashed away.”

Number two hit near my feet.

Billy pulled V off the bed, holding her against his beefy body until her tiptoes brushed the floor, and she fought to find purchase.

My shirt slipped away from her shoulders leaving her in only a tattered dirty bra and panties.

The frail light in the room picked up purple and red bruises on her hips and ribs.

My fury tapped out. I strained forward. “Let. Her. The. Fuck. Go.”

Billy pointed at Slade, and I heard his gun scrape along the floor.

Incoming shouts reverberated. Rapid gunfire ranged closer. The heat all around picked up. I needed to end this and get her the fuck out of here fast.

Unearthly pink eyes crinkling, Billy kissed the top of V’s head. “Why would I do that? She’s the end game. Could be the end of our club if she sends Saul do—”

Slade moved fast. His hidden blade passed to me behind my back, I gripped it. No time to aim, no second chances, I flipped the grip and let rip. At the last moment—Billy midsentence—V banged her head back and punched her heel up behind her to land in his crotch.

Billy’s hold loosened. V ducked from his arms. The knife whistled. It pinned him to the wall right through his eyeball.

That freaky shit wasn’t pink any longer.

The blade gouging his eye socket, his mouth gaped wide with a gurgle. I let fly with another, nailing him through his open mouth to the back of his throat. I sailed one more serrated knife into his gut for good measure, only satisfied when blood pooled in his mouth and dripped down his chin.

With a cry, V ran to me, and I was right there.

“Okay. Okay, babe?” I smoothed a hand down her back, the other cupping her chin.

“I’m . . . I’m . . . ”

“Shock,” Slade said, sliding up beside us.

“No shit.” I hauled my shirt around V again, guiding her arms through the sleeves as she shivered inside the thin material.

I paused only to gently wipe the scrape on her forehead.

“I . . . I . . . know I’m in shock. I’m not stupid.” She huddled against me, shaking, but she still had enough spirit to glare at Slade.

“Atta girl, Doc.” I wrapped her in my arms.

“I like her.” Slade grinned.

“We need to lay—WHOA!” Brodie halted just inside the door. “That is not a pretty pin-up.” He nodded toward Billy who hung impaled from his eye, mouth, and stomach to the wall.

“What he meant to say is we gotta lay some tracks, now.” Boomer waved toward the hallway.

I traced toward the dead man, his cerebral cord severed. “I’m gonna be needing these back.” I retracted the blades.

His body dropped to the floor.

I swiped the knives on my pants, handing one over to Slade.

The other men from Retribution hoofed it down the corridor as we slipped out of the room. Our escape was hairy as hell. Boots pounding behind us. Shots fired toward us, pinging off cement. We returned bullets just as furiously. I held V tucked against me, running with her in my arms. Sparks exploded. Bodies were hit, but still too many gave chase. Coletrane took a slug to his shoulder but after spinning with the impact he gritted his teeth and pressed on, stoic as ever.

“This shit’s going up in flames.”

“What?” I hollered back.

“I brought my BFF, C4,” Walker replied.

“Fuck. We don’t need to kill them—”

Walker’s teeth gleamed as another burst of gunfire rattled around us.

Hunched over and crouched together, we crossed the tarmac, gunning for the opening in the fence line.

We’d barely breached the safety outside when Walker hit the kill-switch. “Bombs away, fuckers!”

One of the outbuildings went bright white, glowing orange, then mushroom cloud. The explosion rumbled the earth, shattered the ears, and provided the necessary distraction for us to get safely away. I just hoped it hadn’t torn through all the enemy MC crew, making them no more than red mist to be found at daylight.

“Hey, I didn’t kill anyone.” Walker calmly replaited his braid. “Just made a little bonfire to divert the natives.”

“Out of their illegal weapons cache.” Hunter bumped his fist.

The gunfire had stilled, but I needed total closure. For V’s sake.

“I’m not done here,” I said.

“How much more done do you need to be, man?” Cole spoke up. His shoulder pumped blood, staining his shirt with dark rings.

“You”—I pointed to the wounded soldier—“Slade, and Boomer, take Veronica. You’re on fire watch.”

“Fire watch?” Cole asked.

“Guard duty.” Slade snapped a fast salute then accepted V from my arms.

“I’ll be right back, babe. Gonna make sure you’re safe.”

Her features twisted, her face ghost-pale. “Don’t go. Don’t leave me.”

I caressed her cheek, brushing her hair off her brow. “They’ll take good care of you. You’re okay now.”

I watched Slade carry her off to a nearby slope, the others following after.

The rest of us worked back through the fence. Inside, the remaining Iron Nails members looked hollow, lost,
angry as fuck all.

Standing front and center as Brodie, Tail, Handsome, Hunter, Walker, and Tuck formed my back up, I eased my Beretta down. “Your Prez is dead. Your
daddy
, Saul, is going down. Your club is killed. You really wanna be next?”

The hot red-blue fire lit upon tattooed and twisted features. The Iron Nails men let their weapons drop one by one.

“That’s a good choice.” I smiled, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “I should fucking rip your throats out, but I won’t. Lucky for you, I don’t get high off death anymore.” I fingered the Beretta before tucking it away at my back. “You stay off South Carolina and Santa Fe turf. Consider this an injunction. You are on the RICO, ATF, and Fed watch list . . . and now you’re on mine. Make one move to
ever
locate Veronica again, and it will be your bodies going up in flame.”

I’d take them at their words, AKA nods of ascent.

“You rocked the peace talks,” Walker mentioned, his Glock still raised at the possible threats as we hit the fence line.

“Baby! Queen! Lady! Cleopatra!” Tucker whistled through his fingers.

“What th
e
—
?” Hunter asked.

“The fucking dogs.” Brodie crossed his arms over his chest.

“He already named them?” I turned my head to look at the oily-skinned black beasts.

“They’re all chick dogs? No wonder they’re so vicious,” Handsome muttered.

Four badass Dobies shunted across the last blazing remains of the Iron Nails MC compound, wriggled through the bent fence, and leaped onto Tuck, tongues lapping, eyes rolling.

“What the hell you gonna do with the mutts?” Hunter worked his hands through his hair.

“Take ’em back to Chucktown. They’re goddamn cute.”

“Now I see why you’ve never been married. Weird taste in women.” Tail cleaned the blood trails off his blade with a swipe on his jeans.

“Actually, I was married in ’73. Fine year. Fine lady. We just happened to truck our separate ways after a piece.” Tuck tied the dogs together with loose leashes of rope.

Meeting back up with Slade, Coletrane, and Boomer a few yards away, I gently gathered Veronica from Slade.

“Let’s move out.” I held a shuddering woman in my arms—
my woman
—and I needed to get her someplace safe and clean to make sure she hadn’t been irreparably harmed.

“She okay?” Cole asked.

“I was kidnapped. Not deafened. I can still hear you. And someone should take a look at your shoulder.” V snarked back.

“Sounds like she’s okay.” Brodie forced a little lightness into the situation.

We trekked back to our vehicles as fast as we could. Luckily Iron Nails was in the farthest reaches of the no man’s land so no sirens sounded just yet, but it wouldn’t be long.

The farther we went, the closer V clung to me, the more sleepy she became.

“Christ. That was one close call with the flash bang, Walker. I think you singed my pubes.” Hunter
hunted
down the front of his pants to make sure everything was still intact presumably.

“Probably should stop going commando then.” Walker riffed.

“So I guess the FBI just got their mission accomplished wake-up call,” Slade glanced at me.

“Hey. Sometimes you gotta send in the troops to get a job done right the Marine way.” I shifted V closer to me as we reached the cavalcade of motorcycles and my Hummer.

“Gimme a minute?” I asked.

Exhausted and defenseless, Veronica rolled her head against my shoulder. She didn’t need to worry anymore. I’d be her defender.

The guys backed off, turned their backs, and formed a semicircle barricade around us. I blocked her from further view with my body as I set her feet on the ground.

“Bo?” Her eyes blinked open.

“
Shh
. Just gonna get you dressed. Then you can go back to sleep. I got you.” I’d come prepared, a pair of her loose yoga pants and panties, a sweatshirt at the ready.

A tear slipped down her cheek.

“Hey.
Hey.
” I kissed the teardrop away. “I’m gonna take care of you.”

She sniffled, nodding. “I don’t like feeling helpless.”

“One thing you aren’t is helpless. But I’m honored to take care of you, Veronica. If you’ll let me?”

I bent down to guide her feet into the clean panties—quickly tucking away the ones she’d been left in—and stretchy black pants. I added a pair of socks and her boots.

“You okay?” I held both her hands in mine.

“A little bit better.”

I pulled off the shirt I’d thrust over her earlier, and rolled the sweatshirt over her head and down to her waist. I brought her against me as the tension melted from her body.

“We’re ready to roll, guys.” I helped V into the passenger seat and shut the door.

When I turned around, Tucker
and
the Christly mutts gave me five pairs of puppy dog eyes. I glared at Tuck. His mustache twitched hopefully.

Fuck me.

All I wanted to do was get V safe, but no.

Welcome to the zoo.

I opened the back door, and Tucker rounded the Dobermans inside. In a low tone, he said some cooing incantation that had them grumble-yawning into sleek black-and-tan contentment.

As I slammed the door behind them, I growled. “You better hope those yappers keep their teeth muzzled.” 

I settled next to V, ignoring the slobber monkeys in the back seat. My arm caged around her, I pulled her to me as we started driving away.

Holding on.

I never wanted to let go of her again.

AT THE HOTEL THE guys and I had checked into earlier, I tossed Tuck the keys to the H1 when he said he needed to get the canines settled in at a nice little pet motel he knew about. I honestly didn’t give a shit if he turned my truck into a pet palace at that point. All I wanted was V to be okay.

I carried her to the elevators, the men patting me on the back, and grasping her hand.

I turned to find Slade. “Thank you.”

“Hey.” He flicked the usual toothpick from his mouth. “I figure you got a sweet deal here. Aside from the death threats, ball and chain, and—you know—Walker.”

After bumping fists with him, I looked over the others. They saluted me one by one.

“No words necessary, boss.” Boomer thumped on his chest.

“Just go take care of your old lady,” Brodie added.

I didn’t let V go until I found our room, keyed us in, closed
and
barred the door, and laid her on the bed.

“I’ll go start a bath.” I started for the other room.

She bolted upright. “Don’t leave me alone!”

“Okay. I’ll just hold you.” I curled around her on the bed. “Too much? Too close?”

“Closer.” Her eyes cranked shut and she was stiff in my arms.

“Are you cold?”

“No.” But her teeth chattered.

I wrangled the quilt over us.

“I want your skin.” She shivered all over.

“V, I don’t think—”

“Please, Bo. I need to feel something other than that tape and his breath and his hands.”

Fuck.

I wished I could go back and stab Billy in both eyes. I skimmed off my clothes then spooned against her. My mind worked at a rapid fire rate detailing every one of her responses and each slowing respiration. My body? It responded to the closeness of hers.

I felt bad about getting aroused right now.
I moved my hips back.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s okay because it’s you.” Her hand clasped my thigh, drawing me closer.

I exhaled with a whoosh. “V, I saw the bruises. Do I need to take you to a doctor?”

She shook her head.

“Did that motherfucker or any of the others violate you?”

“No. I wasn’t raped. I was left naked, cold, hungry. Billy slapped me, roughed me up. Nobody else came near me. No one used me. But it was always an option, always a threat to make me shut up and cooperate.” She turned in my arms, burying her head under my chin. “I can’t believe you found me. You came after me after I broke up with you . . . I didn’t think I’d survive!”

Her silent tears turned to loud sobs as her body jerked and her cries cut my heart in two.

“I’ll always be there when you need me, babe.
Always
.” I massaged her back and let her tears roll down my chest. “I don’t deserve you.” I kissed her hair and her shoulders, waiting for the shock and fear—mine and hers—to subside.

When she settled, I hushed, “I’m gonna start the bath for you now. I’ll be right back.”

She didn’t move a muscle.

I hit the hot water, plugged the drain, and drained the bottle of bath oils.

As soon as the tub was topped up, I gathered my sleepy woman in my arms. “Bath time.”

She wrinkled her nose, snuggling closer.

Her clothes discarded, I helped her into the steamy water. She didn’t wince or yelp, but the fact she hadn’t been raped,
only
abducted for twenty-four hours, did not settle my nerves one fucking bit. I was utterly relieved and just this side of losing my shit.

Water sloshed over her body, and her head bent back to rest on the lip of the tub.

“I brought a duffel for you. The one you took to Cheraw.” I kneeled down beside the bath. “Threw in a few more things. I didn’t know what you’d want.”
Or even if she’d be okay . . .
My voice dried up, the close call coming back to haunt me.

“Thank you.” She reached for my hand.

“Can I wash you?” I asked. “Or should I leave you alone?”

“You can wash me.”

I slowly funneled water through her hair, combing out the tangles with my fingers. I lathered the dark red lengths with shampoo, rinsed her then smoothed conditioner on.

My hands faltered at her collarbone
.
“Can I get in with you?”

“What are you waiting for?”

I nudged her forward and slipped behind her. “Can I touch you?” It was so hard not to touch her. “I don’t want to scare you.”

“You’re the least scary man I know.”

“I don’t feel like it sometimes.”

“Know how I know?” Her smile lifted.

“
No.
” A small grin swept across my mouth.

She turned around. Bathwater spilled over the edges. Wet womanly skin and
holy hell
all her curves suddenly jolted against the hard planes of my body, but I couldn’t touch her like that. Not yet. Not now.

“Because of what you just did.” Her slick breasts sloped against my chest.

Oh. Fuck me.

“You came after me. You saved me.” Her head dipping, she licked a path up my neck. “You love me.”

“I—” I gulped. “I do love you.” The forceful realization knocked me right in the chest.

“You can kiss me, Bo.”

My hands clenching the rim of the tub, I cranked my head back, my hips, too. My cock was dangerously hard. I didn’t want her to feel it. “Don’t know if I’ll be able to stop, and I don’t want—”

“Kiss me.”

Veronica won that battle. I thrust my hands into her hair and slanted my mouth to hers.

Just her lips, first ghosting over mine. Then her tongue, coasting into my mouth. She set the tone, and it was slow and sultry, a fiery reacquaintance.
Knowing
. Owning one another with a long wet makeout session as we kept our hands topside and our hips separated. Water waved with every move we made.

It wasn’t about the sex.

Every time we parted, I inhaled her scent and dived back for more. My hands folded over her back, and finally she fell on top of me. Too close to wanting more, I drew back. My cheeks were hot, my lips on fire . . . fucking hell, my earlobes burned bright, too.

Her wet hair clung to her shoulders. Her nipples were copper-penny bright, rasping against my chest.

“I love you, V.”

“I already told you I know.”

I squinted at her. “You want me to make this hard for you?”

She swished her hips down over my erection. “You’re already hard.”

“V . . .” I released her.

Stepping out of the tub, I slaked the water off with my hands before grabbing a towel.

She rose in front of me looking like Venus, perhaps. Some goddamn sexy goddess for sure.

I blinked, trying to stop staring. “I’m sorry. So fucked up. I know you’re in shock, and I shouldn’t—”

Her body rubbed against mine. “And . . . I love you too, Bo. How could you ever doubt that?”

I stumbled back, deliriously happy, one part suspicious. “Are you sure that’s not just the shock talkin’?”

“I’ve been in worse situations.”

We both have.

“Really? I mean the
love you
part?” I asked again.

“Really.”

Aaand
streams of water still dripped off her hot as hell body.

She twined her arms around my neck, and I dropped the towel. The next touch of her lips hit me hard. My hands sliding up and down her back, I held her lightly. The kiss was sensuous, slow . . . unbearably hot. Feeling her again, tasting her, having her in my arms, I kept nuzzling her lips. When our tongues met, an electric shock jolted through me. I guided her head back so I could kiss her more deeply.

Making out with her, unhurried and unrushed, was entirely new. I went back for more, easing the pads of my fingertips up her sides and around her shoulders.

When she whimpered in my mouth, I pulled away.

Sweeping the wet hair from her cheeks, I bent my forehead to hers. “I love you, V.”

She smiled sweetly, caressing my face.

Eventually I retrieved the towel and tied it at my hips. I grabbed another one, patting her dry. With a fluffy white robe wrapped around her, I led her back to the bedroom.

“Hungry? Soup and maybe some juice?” I flicked through the menu.

Now that she was back, my body’s needs made themselves known and my stomach grumbled loudly.

“Someone sure sounds hungry.”

“I didn’t eat. Didn’t sleep.” I glanced at her.

She ducked her head. “You had to find me.”

“Yeah. No other option.” My throat thickened.

She took a long breath in and let it out. Her head raised and she offered a watery smile. “Soup, juice, then whiskey to take the edge off.”

While we waited, she dried and brushed her hair until the colorful red lengths crackled and glowed. I checked, double-checked, and then rechecked all possible entryways into the room.

She didn’t comment on my little compulsion, but my lips curled into a small grin when I knocked on my head and said, “Still got some work to do with Doctor Cartwright.”

After we ate and splashed some whiskey down our throats, we lay together in the bed, only one low light on. All I wanted do was look at her until I really believed she was here.

She was safe.

I held her hand between us as we faced each other. “I can’t believe you were on the run all those years.”

“Technically not on the run. In hiding.” She smoothed her hand through my hair. “You know what that’s like.”

I did. But that had been my job. For her it had been a choice between life and death. It seriously shook my shit up. “But who are you now?”

“I’m me. The woman you know. The woman I want to be. The woman you love.” Her fingers traced the lines of my face.

“Is it okay if I still call you V?”

“Yes. It’s what—” She faltered. “What my family always called me. When you said it, when you say it . . .” Tears glimmering in her eyes, she shook her head. “This is who I am.”

I captured her hands, holding them against my lips. “I know everything that happened with the Iron Coffins too.”

She tried to draw her hands away, but I wouldn’t let her. “I never wanted you to know. I did bad things for all the wrong reasons, and I can’t . . . being cut off from my family was a small price to pay, Bo.”

“And I didn’t want you to know all the bad shit about me either. But you do.” I kissed the soft heart of her palm then her wrist as the big robe slid down her arm. “Think that’s why we get each other?”

“Yes.” She pressed forward, gliding one leg between mine.

My nostrils flared. I ducked away from her kiss.

Barely grazing my fingers down the triangle of skin revealed by the parted robe, I pulled my hands away from her. “I want you so much. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.” She flipped open the tie of the robe.

When she sat up, it fell off her shoulders to pool at her hips.

Need for her shook me. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Lightly, I skimmed my fingertips over the crests of her breasts. “Bruises? Nothing broken? I could just hold you.”

Veronica untied the knot in my towel and pushed it away. “I need to feel you. I need you to ground me.”

With a hungry growl, I turned her to her back. Her lips. I could kiss them forever. And I did, until she panted and arched beneath me. Her long legs scissored on the bed. Nibbling down her neck, licking every sensitive spot, I circled my tongue in the dip of her collarbone.

“
Ahhh
,” she moaned.

I smiled against her silky flesh. It had been too long since I’d had her completely. At the peaks of her tits, I couldn’t hold off. Cupping the mounds in my hands, I teased one deeply colored nipple with my tongue while lightly rubbing the other beneath my fingertips.

“I missed this. I missed you,” I murmured.

“Bo . . .
ohh, yes
.”

Her breath left on a hiss when I sucked the first nipple between my lips, flicking it with my tongue.

“I love your tits.” Pushing both breasts together, I laved the crests at the same time.

She shook with each stroke, her hips steadily rocking against mine.

When she reached down to take my erection in hand, I gently knocked her fingers away, whispering, “Just let me worship you. Let me show you how much I love you.”

I meandered down her body with little nips and long wet licks across her belly. I ran my fingers then my tongue through the little patch of fiery red curls. Her knees rose around me, her feet planted on the bed, but I hooked her thighs farther back until her pussy and her ass were right there in my face.