Leave a Trail (40 page)

He walked her to the bed and pushed her down. His eyes locked on her, he stripped, barely taking the time to lay his kutte on the dresser. She removed her underwear while he did so. When they were naked together, he dropped heavily on top of her, his mouth seeking hers with the same savagery. His hands moved roughly over her skin as if he needed to feel all of her, to etch impressions of her into his fingerprints.

She pulled the band from his ponytail so that the silk of his long hair would slide coolly over her body. It left soothing trails where his rough hands had been. He released her mouth and tucked his face against her neck, grunting as his body flexed and rocked against hers, every inch of him hard and demanding. His intense need made her own need nearly unmanageable. She wanted him inside her, deep and forceful, but he seemed not ready, despite the impossibly hard rod digging into her belly. He seemed to need this grapple first, grunting against her neck, his hands and mouth clutching, his legs tangling with hers.

Then his hand went between her legs and he buried his fingers in her. Their feral writhing had made her dripping wet and desperately ready, and she arched backward with a squeal, feeling right on the precipice immediately. Then he added another finger—God, it felt like all of them were inside her—and curled them sharply upward, pushing firmly against the most tender spot of her body.

She couldn’t help it. The orgasm ran her down like a runaway truck. She felt herself flood over his hand, and she had a fraction of a thought to be almost embarrassed by how much wet her body had released, and then he flexed his fingers again, and she screamed. Loud and long, over and over, her body coming off the bed with enough force to dislodge him from atop her.

When she was able to relax on the mattress again, but before she had regained her senses, Badger pushed into her, and she felt him so intensely that she turned right around and started on another orgasm. He was so hot, so hard and silkysoft at the same time, so rough and so gentle. She loved that he would be the only man she’d ever feel the way she felt him now. So much. She felt him so much.

Her senses cleared, and she froze.

“Badge—condom. Do you have a condom on?”

He answered without slowing his frantic thrusts. “I’ll pull out, babe,” he gasped. “I’ll pull out. I need this. I need to feel you. Just you. Fuck, you feel so awesome.”

The thrill of fear she felt at what they were doing only brought her more quickly higher, and she didn’t stop him. Instead, she wrapped her legs around his hips and moved with him, and against him, until their bodies were slamming together. When she came the second time, she was able to stay quiet, biting down on his shoulder and clutching his back, but the experience was no less intense. In some ways, it was the most intense she’d ever felt. With her legs and arms and mouth, she clasped him to her as tightly as she could.

And then he went completely still. “Babe, let me go. I…let me go. Now.”

She didn’t. She knew she should. But instead of unlinking her ankles and letting him pull out of her, to release on the sheet, her muscles constricted and held him more firmly than she’d known that she could.

“Adri—“ She flexed her hips, bringing him deep, and he groaned in defeat. “Oh, oh, fuck. Fuck. Oh, God.” He tensed and spasmed.

She felt him. She felt him come inside her. She felt it. She loved it. She’d just done something insanely reckless. And she loved it.

When he finally relaxed, he tried to pull out again, but she wasn’t ready. She held him to her, in her.

He raised his head and propped himself on an elbow. “What did we just do, Adrienne?”

“I don’t know. Maybe nothing. I just…I couldn’t let you go.”

Damp tendrils of her hair were plastered to her face, over her eyes. She tried to shake them loose but failed. Badger brushed them back for her. “Is that something you want?”

She thought of Millie and Joey, and Loki, and Gia and Bo. Of the family she was now a part of. Shannon and Show, who had been a kind of sidelined parents as long as she’d known them but now were the only ones she had. She thought of the way the women had helped Shannon earlier. They way they always helped each other. She thought of the pull she felt, deep inside her, when she held the twins. The way their very scent made her heart cramp.

She thought of the way she loved the man inside her right now.

“Yeah. It is. Yeah. What…what do you want?”

He brought his other arm up so that he could rest on both elbows. Looming over her, his hair sheltering them from everything but each other, he smiled. “I would love for you to have our kid. Kids. As many as you want. A whole football team, if you want. But let us get through this next thing. When I come home from that, let’s do it right.”

“What do you mean? What’s right?”

“Marry me.” He dropped his head and brushed his beard over her cheek. Her eyes fluttered shut at the sweet thrill of it. “Marry me, Adrienne. Marry me.”

Her throat bound with sudden happiness, she couldn’t speak. So she nodded.

“Say the word, babe.”

She swallowed and made it happen. “Yes. I love you. Yes.”

He kissed her breathless. When he next raised his head, panting as much as she was and fully hard inside her again, he pulled out. She whined, disappointed, and tried to pull him back.

He shook his head. “Condoms until I get back.”

“What if it already happened?”

“I guess I better make sure I come back. But I’m still putting a condom on now.”

~oOo~

The whole Horde family had breakfast together in the Hall. Three girls cooked and served. Lilli seemed to be supervising, but not with much enthusiasm. She looked even more upset than the night before. In fact, she looked furious.

Isaac followed Lilli with his eyes wherever she went. He looked deeply unhappy. He had a bruise and cut on his right cheek Adrienne didn’t remember him having the night before. Lilli was favoring her left hand.

Tasha, too, was preoccupied and cross, and Adrienne saw her brush Len’s touch away twice. So the meal was awkward and quiet, and Adrienne was confused. The men had come home whole last night. Shouldn’t everyone be happy this morning? She was, and now she felt guilty for it. She and Badger had fallen asleep after their second round, and they’d barely gotten up in time to make it to breakfast. They hadn’t talked. She was feeling like she’d missed something important.

After breakfast, the Horde went into the Keep. The Prospects and Nolan took the pups outside. Lilli said something to Cory and then went alone down the hallway to Isaac’s office, leaving Gia and Bo in the Hall. The club girls cleaned up the leavings of the meal. Tasha left the clubhouse altogether, without a bodyguard. Adrienne wondered if she should say something to her or anyone, but decided that Tasha was a fully grown woman who could go where she pleased.

Shannon was sitting on one of the couches, a sleeping twin in each arm. Adrienne went and sat at her side.

“I’m confused. I’m missing something. What happened?”

“Badge didn’t talk to you?”

Adrienne blushed. “No. We, um…we didn’t talk much last night.” Except for getting engaged, that was.

Shannon smiled. “I heard that part.”

“Oh, God.” Adrienne put her face in her hands.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Ade. I think there was a lot of that going around last night. All that worry and tension. All that loss we almost had. You need to be close after that.”

“Something bad happened, didn’t it? Even though they came home okay.”

Shannon sighed. “There’s a thing with the Horde. The men decide what their women can know. Nobody interferes in that. So there’s not much I can tell you. I think Badger will fill you in, though. It’s not something he can keep from you for long.”

“I don’t think he’d mind you telling me. I mean, you’re my mother.”

Shannon turned sharply at that, her brow furrowed. Blushing again, Adrienne dropped her eyes. “I mean, the position’s open. But I should—never mind.”

“No, Ade. I’d love for you to think of me like that. If you want. But I don’t want to step on your memory of your mom.”

“You’re not. You couldn’t. But she’s not with me, and I lost everything she was a part of. I feel like I need one, you know? I don’t think I could call you anything but Shannon—that’s just how I know you. But…I’d like it if…if it’s okay.”

Shannon’s eyes sparkled. “Yes. It’s wonderful. But, honey, I can’t tell you club business, even so. It disrespects Badge. Do you understand?”

She did. She understood. As curious as she was, in a way it made her love this family even more.

But she and Badger were going to need to talk.

~oOo~

The Horde had been locked in the Keep for about thirty minutes when the doors slammed open and Isaac stalked out, pulling his kutte and shirt off as he stormed down the side hallway. Show followed right after him, doing the same thing, his face turbulent with anger.

“Oh, Lord. Oh, no. Here—take Joey, would you?”

She did, and her sleeping baby brother stirred and resettled in her arms. “What’s going on? Can I ask that?”

“If you’d like to see how these men settle their disagreements, follow me.” Shannon stood, and Adrienne followed. Everybody was going down the side hallway. They turned at the end and went into a room through two double doors and some plastic strip sheeting.

There was a boxing ring in the room. Isaac and Show had both stripped bare to the waist and were taking off their boots and socks.

“They’re going to
fight
?”

Shannon rolled her eyes. Badger came up to them then, and he put his hand on Adrienne’s lower back, a possessive gesture she loved a lot. “You sure you want to see this, babe? It gets pretty rough.”

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Alright. I have to go over there. If you need to leave, do. It’s okay.” He kissed her cheek and trotted over to the ring.

Isaac threw his rings to the floor. Show did the same and dropped his beanie, too, staring back at Isaac. And then they both climbed into the ring. Len called Isaac to one corner; Badger called Show to the opposite. Len and Isaac were talking with evident heat; then Len swung himself into the ring and went to the center, his eyes on Show. “No rounds. Fight to knockout or tap out.” Show stared and then nodded curtly. Len went back to Isaac’s corner.

Shannon sighed. “God. They must be really pissed.”

“What does that all mean?”

“They’re going to fight until one of them can’t anymore. Basically, they’re about to beat the crap out of each other.”

“Without gloves or anything? But they’re old! And Isaac’s all bruised already.” He was—he had several large, dark bruises on his belly and ribs.

“Yes. They’re being testosterone-addled idiots. But there’s no one here who could tell them that and make them hear it.” She looked around. “Kellen—where’s Lilli?”

“In Isaac’s office. I told her, but I don’t think she’s coming out.”

Shannon nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

A bell sounded, and Isaac and Show met each other in the middle of the ring.

They were impressive specimens of maleness, really. As much as she loved Badger’s lean muscularity, there was something dazzling about the two giant men in the ring now. Adrienne knew what it was like to be hugged by Show, entirely surrounded and sheltered by his huge body. Isaac was even bigger. And they were both massed with sculpted muscle—Show’s chest hairless except for a line up his rock-hard belly, Isaac’s covered lightly with dark hair that narrowed to a similar trail. Isaac had the full complement of ridges over his torso—six-pack, scallops on his sides, everything. Muscles rippled over Show’s torso, too, though his body was a bit meatier and thus his contours were fewer. Their arms bulged enormously. As they moved—dancing around each other, throwing punches, dodging and connecting—their muscles flexed and rolled. The sweat of their exertions began to make them glisten, and then they looked almost unreal.

Adrienne realized she was standing there with her mouth open. It was probably deeply weird to be staring in such amazement at two men old enough to be her father, especially when one of them basically was, but they were amazing.

They weren’t all beautiful, though. Show’s back, as she’d known, was a shock of scars. And Isaac’s, too. While Show’s looked almost intentionally organized into a crude pattern, though, Isaac’s were more random—uneven blotches of dark, raised skin, and pale, straight lines that were obviously left from surgeries. They had scars on their fronts and their arms, and their faces, too. Kind of everywhere. And lots of ink.

Once Adrienne had processed the magnificence of their bodies, she understood how serious the fight really was—those rolling, flexing muscles were impelling fists forward and doing real damage. There was blood on the mat. The crunching sound of fist meeting unyielding flesh and the animal echo of their grunts were louder than she’d realized.

“Are they really trying to hurt each other? I don’t understand.”

“I don’t, either.” Shannon’s answer was tight with worry. “This is bad. I wish Len would stop it.”

But Len didn’t. Nobody did. Show got Isaac on the ropes twice. Isaac brought Show to his knees once. But they kept fighting. After several minutes, they were leaving huge, bloody footprints and smears on the mat; they’d stepped through the widening spatters of blood. The air was growing dense with the smell of sweat, blood, and testosterone. But they kept going.

Finally, Isaac came off his third time on the ropes with a heavy punch to Show’s belly and another under his chin that rocked his head back, and Show went down with a thud that shook the concrete room. Isaac leaned over him and roared.

Shannon gasped and took a couple of steps forward. Adrienne followed. Show did not get up. Len swung into the ring and went to his knees at Show’s head. He counted to ten.

Isaac dropped immediately to his knees. And then he fell over completely. Both men lay motionless. Len went to Isaac. Badger went to Show.

The room was silent except for Len and Badger’s exhortations for the fighters to get up. Len looked up. “Tash! Tash! Where’s Tasha?!”