CRASH: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Outlaw Series) (28 page)

“Yeah, what?”

Cole pointed with one finger off the cut glass of bourbon he held in his
hand. “Wolf at the top of the stairs.”

Red Dog followed where he pointed. “Shit. Those two at it again?”

“He can’t stay away from her. Wish he’d quit jerking her around. I like
Crystal, and all he’s gonna do is end up running her off.”

Dog shook his head. He’d always had a soft spot for Crystal. They teased
each other back and forth on a daily basis, but she was a real sweetheart and
like a sister to him. “She could have any brother in this place. More than one
has wanted to make her his ol’ lady. Why she lets him treat her like filler,
like his goddamn fuck toy, I can’t understand.”

 
“He always comes back to her,
though, doesn’t he?”

“Yep. Cause she lets him. She needs to wise up.”

“She will. One of these days she will.”

“Wait. You said, shows. What other show?”

Cole grinned, wondering when he’d finally catch that. He nodded toward
Crash’s table in the corner.

Dog craned to look. “Damn. What’d I miss?”

Cole just chuckled and got up, heading toward the table.

Crash cuddled close to Shannon, his arms around her tight, his mouth at
her ear. “You with me, darlin’?” His warm body kept her wrapped in a blanket of
contentment. Decadent sensuality melted through her veins as he enfolded her in
the safety of his arms.

“Um-hmm.”

Crash’s arm relaxed around her ribcage. “Beautiful, Princess. So fucking
gorgeous.

“Fuck, that look on her face is sexy.” Cole walked up, his deep voice
conveying his approval. “You two look good together.”

It was like he had dumped a bucket of ice water on her. Oh, God. What
had she just done? In a crowded room. Yes, it was dark, and she was practically
hidden from the room by Crash and the table, but…still. What was wrong with
her? If anyone saw what had just happened, the fact that she’d allowed a man to
touch her in public like that, the way she’d responded…

My God, she’d acted like a slut. Horror flooded her system. Her hands
were shaking. What had she done? She pushed away, moving out from the table.

“Shannon?” Crash reached for her. “Baby…”

Cole stepped up, his big, masculine body blocking her way to the door.
“Easy, darlin’. I didn’t mean anything.”

She shook her head. “Move. Please. I…I just want to go to the restroom…please.”

“Let her be, Cole,” Crash warned, sliding from his barstool. “I don’t
want to give her a reason to say I forced her. It’s my fault. I lost my fucking
head.” Cole stepped out of the way, but Crash reached out and grabbed her arm,
contradicting what he’d just said to Cole. “Can we talk? Please.”

After a moment, the panic feeling left her, and she nodded. “I think I
need some air.”

With
a kiss to the top of her head, he quietly requested,
“Come on, baby. I
want to show you something.” He took her by the hand and pulled her along to a
door at the back of the room that she hadn’t noticed before. It led down a
darkened hallway that was lit only by the glowing exit signs on the doors at
either end.
They’d
only gone a few feet down the hall, when he suddenly hooked her around the
waist and pushed her up against the wall.

She
looked up.
Crash stood there, overwhelming the space, blocking her way, boxing her
in.
“What are you
doing?” she gasped a little breathlessly

“We’re
alone, and its dark, Shannon. Nobody’s gonna see us here.”

“Crash…”

“You
were doing fine back there.” He nodded toward the door they’d just come
through. “Totally in the moment and enjoying my touch. Don’t overthink it.
Nobody saw, Princess, I promise.”

She
looked away, not meeting his eyes.

“What?
Tell me?” he pressed.

“It
was
fine. And then it wasn’t. Then I
suddenly felt like a slut.”

The
corner of his mouth pulled up. “Baby, you are so far from a slut it’s not even
funny. I don’t think that. Nobody out there thinks that. If anything, they
probably think the complete opposite, that you’re reserved and inhibited, well,
at least until you walked through the door in that getup looking like the very
definition of sin.” His eyes slid over her outfit. He blew out a breath. “Last
thing I want to do is scare you, Shannon. But, goddamn, the way you look has
had my dick hard since you came through the door tonight and…” He broke off,
taking a deep breath, his hand coming up, his palm cupping her face, his thumb
stroking. And it calmed her, settled her, and took away all the fears that had
overwhelmed her a moment ago at the table. She turned into his touch.

They had spent most of the party glued to each other. Just being near
Crash grounded her. He had a way of taking away all her anxiety with just a touch.
It didn’t matter what was going on around them; she felt calmer when he was
next to her. Hearing him laughing and joking with his brothers, the whole time
his hand on her waist, had soothed her.

“And?”
She needed him to finish his thought. She wanted to know what he’d been about
to say.

“And I’m a man, baby, not a boy. When I get a beautiful woman alone in
the dark I do something with her. I told you I was hungry for a taste of you.”
His thumb swept over her lips. “You gonna give me a taste?”

Did he think that was all she dated? Boys? Did he think she had no
experience with real men? To be honest she had no experience with men like him,
to be sure. But she’d used her skills as a woman on more than one man. She knew
how to charm them into doing what she wanted, only none of the usual tricks
seemed to work on Crash. She’d thought he was immune to her appeal. But now, he
had a look of sexual tension on his face, and it suddenly pleased her to
finally know that she was affecting him as much as he’d affected her. His
touch, his constant hands on her had kept her on edge all night. It was what
had made the orgasm he’d just given her so sharp and intense. It was only fair
he felt some of the same sexual torture she had felt.

She watched his eyes drop to her mouth, and then, not waiting for her
answer, he moved in, his whole big muscle-y body was pressing up against her,
pinning her to the wall. His big hands landed on her hips, and he pulled them
flush against his. His mouth came down on hers, his tongue stroking along her
lips until she had no choice but to drop her head back and let him in, and he didn’t
hesitate to take what she offered. As his tongue swooped in, she felt his hands
tighten on her hips holding her anchored to him as his mouth devoured hers. Her
hands slid up his forearms to his muscled biceps to his broad shoulders and
settled there. He finally broke off the kiss, resting his forehead to hers, and
his voice rasped out. “Do you know how badly I want you right now?”

She felt his thumbs brushing over her bare hip bones as he spoke the
words. He leaned back, his eyes dropping to the opening of her halter top, and
she felt her nipples tighten. His hands slid up from her hipbones to the curve
of her small waist. His eyes dropped down to her belly-button piercing, and
Shannon’s eyes went there as well, watching his hands. They were so large, his
thumbs came together on either side of her belly-button. He stroked both thumbs
up and down the smooth flat skin of her belly, and it quivered under his touch.
His eyes still on that sparkling dangling rhinestone, he growled, “That really
flips my switch, darlin’. I’m talkin’ top of the list.”

She slid her hands across his shoulders, up his throat and cupped his
jaw, bringing his eyes to hers. Seeing the need burning in his eyes, she pulled
his mouth down to hers. His mouth opened, and he dove in again, taking what she
gave. But only for a moment, then he was pulling back, hesitating as if he were
torn. And then he was stepping back, taking her hand and turning to continue
down the hall.

“Where are we going?” she asked, as she trailed behind him, trying to
keep up with his longer stride.

“Told you. Got something to show you.”

Crash led her to the end of the hall and through the door.

They entered a dark area. Shannon could make out a few shadowy shapes
and could tell it was a huge room, like
warehouse
size. It must have been another part of the original manufacturing plant that
had once been here. There was just a bit of moonlight coming in from the large
multi-paned factory windows up high on the walls. She could see some kind of
large metal shape in the middle of the room, but couldn’t make out what it was.

She felt Crash pull on her hand and could sense him feeling around on
the wall for a switch. He flipped something, and just a few of the overhead
industrial lights came on, casting a small amount of dim light. With his hand
at the small of her back, he herded her closer to the metal structure. Her eyes
studied it, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. It looked like one of
those round cages they kept tigers in at the circus. The ones they used for
performances. It was circular, about twenty feet across and about ten feet
high. There was a padlock on what looked like the door.

She came to an abrupt halt, not wanting to get any closer, all kinds of
horrors running through her head. She felt Crash come up against her back. His
left arm came around her shoulder, dropping across the front of her chest,
pulling her back against his chest, and his head dipped next to hers. She felt
his mouth at her ear as his right hand settled on her bare hip. “Know what it
is?” he whispered.

She trembled. “A cage?”

He must have felt the tremor run through her, because a moment later he
was reassuring her. “Don’t worry, Princess, it’s not what you’re thinking. We
don’t keep recalcitrant women in there.” He bit her ear lobe and smacked her
ass. “We deal with them the old fashioned way.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s a cage for fighting.”

“You mean, like on TV?”

“Yeah. Like on TV. I built it.”

“You built it?”

“Um hmm. I’m pretty good with metal and a blowtorch.”

 
“It’s nothing like your
sculptures. They’re beautiful.”

“Thanks, Princess. Glad you approve. But this has its own kind of
beauty, I think. Its own symmetry.”

She studied it.

“I’m fighting next week.” His voice rumbled in her ear.

She turned in his arms, twisting to face him. “In there?”

He nodded. “I’m pretty good.”

“You…fight?”

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and grinned. “Yeah, I fight. If
I win, you gonna bestow a gift on me, Princess?”

“You mean like when the knights would joust, and the princess would give
them a hair ribbon or something?”

“I was hoping for something a little hotter than a hair ribbon,” he
admitted with a grin.

“But, you don’t even like me.”

“I’m likin’ you just fine right now.”

She stared up at him wide-eyed, wondering what it was he would want,
what he’d hoped for. She couldn’t stop herself from asking the question. “What
would you want?” she whispered.

He stepped closer, backing her up until she felt the bars against her
back. She stared up into his eyes. They blazed with desire. With his left hand,
he grabbed the bar next to her head, leaning into her. “I know a woman like you
doesn’t give it away. And that’s good. With a lady like you, a man’s gotta earn
it.” He paused, his eyes dropping to her mouth as he lifted his right hand and
ran his thumb over her bottom lip. They parted under his tender touch.

She stared up at him and couldn’t help but slip her tongue out to barely
touch the tip to his thumb. When she did, his eyes dilated and swept back up to
her eyes.

“If I earn it next week, if I win the fight, you gonna give it to me,
Shannon?”

She felt mesmerized by the look in his eyes. He’d kept his distance with
her, for the most part. Up until tonight. She hadn’t even been sure she was his
type. Now he seemed ready to take their strange relationship to another level.
He’d maybe always been ready. Maybe like he said, he wanted to earn it. A man
like him probably didn’t appreciate anything that came too easy, and Crash
probably had easy all the time. Easy he could have. Any day of the week. She
was sure he had a string of women ready and willing to be his for a night, for
an hour.

But her? She apparently was a challenge to him. She liked that. She
liked that he believed she was a prize worth winning. Worth earning. “All right.
One night. You win the fight, I’m yours for the night.”

He grinned huge. “Pretty sure one night’s never gonna be enough with a
woman like you.”

She grinned back, her brows raised and challenged, “First you have to
win.”

“I’ve made a commitment to protect you. That means I’m willing to bleed
for you.” His jaw tightened, but his words were spoken softly as he stroked her
jaw. “Do you trust me?”

She
searched his eyes. She did trust him, more than she’d ever trusted anyone she
suddenly realized. She nodded.