Wanted - Dead or Alive: A Bad Boy Outlaw Romance (10 page)

“
D
exter
?”

I finally pull away and try to take a step back to assess what the hell is going on, but something inside stops me. Despite my current anger at him, I actually want
this. I want to take out all of my frustration in this way. In fact, I couldn’t even begin to imagine a better way.

“Are you trying to push me away?” Dexter says with a smirk, unbuttoning my jeans and pushing a finger inside of me.

I feel my body jerk with shock and pleasure, and instead of continuing my fight against this, I push his hand further down, forcing him to finger-fuck me harder as the pad of his thumb rests on my clit, drawing slow circles. I want more; more from him than I’ve ever gotten from anyone before.

Another finger slips in, then another, and I’m so wet than I can take it. The rage is still there, burning away, but it’s becoming a fiery sort of passion instead. I start to feel Dexter’s throbbing erection pressing against my leg. It’s as if it’s struggling to break free from its material prison, and I desperately want it free. I want his clothes gone now.

All of them.

I gasp loudly, wanting to feel him inside me again. I want him to fuck me again and again, harder and harder, until all of these crazy emotions vanish and there’s nothing left but lust for him.

“No,” I finally reply, just as he pulls away from me. “I want more of you.”

“I bet you do, dirty girl,” Dexter growls, stepping back and pulling his jeans down.

I feel the need to tell him something. I don’t know why this feels like the opportune moment, but it just does. “No, I’m not. I’m not really a dirty girl. I’m normally a good girl—it’s just you that makes me want to be bad.”

“Oh god, baby. You don’t know what those words do to me,” he says, sounding a little breathless at my revelation.

I walk over to him, cupping his face in my hands. “Corrupt me again,” I whisper before kissing him hard.

He responds vigorously, tugging all my clothes off in what feels like a second. Again, I’m naked. Again, I’m exposed. And again, I love it.

“Turn around,” Dexter whispers in my ear. “I want your back to me.”

I happily comply, eager to feel him in whatever angle will give me the most of his length, and he glides his hands over my shoulder blades with one hand while teasingly stroking me between my legs with the other.

I exhale short, sharp breaths. I can’t take any of this for much longer. I need to just
do this
. The emotion swirling around in me is making me insane, and I want to remain in the place that’s making me hot as hell. Any more time and that fiery passion might just start to evolve into something else…

“Stop screwing around, Dex…just fuck me already.”

He lets out a low groan at this request. “Yes, ma’am.”

He crushes his body next to mine, his hot naked skin riling me up even further. Then his cock finally slams into me, and I let out a moan.

“Oh god!” I say, arching my back even more as he slams into me.

The more I respond to Dexter’s hard and fast fucking, the more powerful he becomes, and soon I’m grasping the table in front of me, holding onto it for dear life. If I let my white knuckles slip for even a second, then I’ll fall, and I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want this to end. Goddamn it, I need this so badly, and I need to be bad for him.
Dex.

Soon his fingers work their way around and he begins rubbing on my clit. Oh, god…this just got a hundred times better.

“You’ve fucked me up,” Dexter announces in a gravelly whisper, thrusting even harder. “No one’s ever made me feel the way you do.”

Warmth starts to spread around my torso. The pleasure is already starting to fill me up, and I absolutely cannot have this conversation right now.

“Uh-huh,” I reply, hoping that he gets the hint.

He grabs my hair, tugging my head slightly backwards. “You’re mine. All mine. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I gasp, the orgasm starting to creep up my legs. Any minute now. Any
second.

“You will
not
go off into some other guy’s office without me again, do you understand?”

Why is his sexist, controlling attitude turning me on even more? I feel like I’d do anything for this guy right now, even walk through a burning firepit, as long as he keeps fucking me hard from behind.

“Yes.” It’s crashing through me now. I’m utterly helpless. “Yes, god, Dex…yes!”

“Good,” Dexter says before groaning in pleasure too.

We almost collapse onto the floor in exhaustion, and Dexter wraps his arms around me as we both pant breathlessly. We lie there in silence for a few moments, just quietly recovering. Who knew that angry sex was so good for getting rid of anger?

The fact that this did as much for him as it did for me makes me feel like I’m on top of the world. I love turning Dex on like that, and the fact that I could do it even while we were in the middle of a stupid argument is just amazing.

He finally turns to face me. “I meant what I said, you know.”

It takes me a few seconds to work my way through the blissful haze to what he means.

“I’m yours,” I say, nodding to show that I still agree. I guess this is his very Dex-like way of asking me to be his girlfriend, and I’m more than ready for that. I know exactly how I feel.

“And if we have to go back to the strip club, you’re not going to see Adam alone.”

“I don’t want to anyway,” I reply, grinning brightly. “I don’t ever want to be anywhere without you again.”

We lie there for a while, just enjoying being with each other. In this moment, it’s all we need.

Reality can damn well stay away for a while.

I
’m feeling
strong and confident; my usual arrogant self as we strut through the doors of the strip club. We must look like a bit of an odd bunch—a bouncer, a pregnant stripper, the girl who auditioned this morning and a wanted man— rushing through the doors, but I don’t give a shit. Let everyone stare if that’s what they want to do.

If this is the route we have to take to get rid of this whole fucking mess, then we may as well get it done. The sooner it’s all over with, the better.

“Do we…?” I start to ask how we’re going to get access to Adam this time, but Nicolette is already on it.

She pushes past everyone standing in her way and opens the door Willa behind vanished only a few hours ago. It seems like she’s really the type of person who doesn’t mess about.

Willa grips my hand tightly, taking the words I spoke before seriously. She’s mine and she knows that now. I don’t think she’d do anything to mess that up. Then again, neither would I.

By the time the rest of us reach Adam’s office, Nicolette is already inside talking to him. I can tell from her voice that she’s crying.

“…it’s all a big mess, we just don’t know what to do.”

“Okay, don’t worry, Nic. I’ll sort it. You know I look after my girls.”

Adam’s face is unexpectedly sincere. Maybe we really can trust him.

“Sorry to drag you into this, boss,” Lucas says, joining the conversation. “And I understand if you have to fire me now. Obviously I love my job, and I don’t want to lose it, but if you’re worried…”

“No.” Adam interrupts firmly. “I need you here, Lucas. I know why you did what you did and I also know you didn’t intend to do that. No, losing you from my business is not the solution here. I’ll think of one.”

“Thank you,” Nicolette says, her voice barely above a whisper.

I glance down to Willa, who’s smiling at me too. She thinks this is all over now, and that Adam can magically make it all go away. But there’s a gnawing sensation inside of me, telling me that it isn’t quite that simple.

There’s got to be a catch.

“So…Dexter, is it?” Adam’s focus turns to me. I stand to attention, puffing my chest out. I need this guy to know that I’m a force to be reckoned with. I want him to be afraid of me. I won’t be fucked about, not be someone like him.

“Yep,” I snap out, emphasizing the
p
.

“The mysterious man who’s been blamed for the murder.”

I nod, not sure where he’s going with all of this.

He stands, moving out from behind his desk. There’s a light shining behind his eyes that suggests he has an idea. Why do I feel as if I’m not going to like this?

“Really,
you
are the one who has the most to lose from all of this.”

“I guess you could say that, yeah,” I reply, stiffly. “Unless Lucas turns himself in.”

“Yes. You’re the one that the police are after. If they catch you, they’ll lock you away no questions asked. I’m sure there’s enough evidence to convict you, even if you are innocent. After all, they wouldn’t have launched a nationwide manhunt for you if not. It’s never a good idea to release incorrect information to the media…”

“All right, I get what you’re saying,” I say. “Get to the point, for fuck sake!”

He grins, knowing that he has me exactly where he wants me.

“I don’t owe
you
anything. However, I do want to protect Lucas and Nicolette. I’d even like to look after sweet little Willa.”

Rage bubbles in the pit of my stomach. I know he’s doing this to antagonize me, and I’d love to be completely unmoved by his attempt, but I can’t help being rattled. This is all complete bullshit. I never committed the fucking crime—Lucas did—yet I’m still paying for it somehow.

And I feel like Adam’s about to take his jealousy out on me. First, he couldn’t get Nicolette, he lost Lucas, and now, Willa’s off limits too.

“So…” Adam moves his body much closer to mine, trying to intimidate me. “I’m going to need something from you, if you want me to help you out of your predicament.”

I don’t respond. I remain still and silent. He doesn’t need an answer right now. He knows I have no choice, because I wouldn’t be here otherwise.

Then his eyes flick suggestively towards Willa and I completely lose my shit.

“What the fuck?” I say, yanking my hand from hers and balling it into a fist. If I have to pound this guy into the ground to show him what a fucking crazy idea that is, I will. I don’t even give a shit if I have to go to jail because of it.

“How fucking dare you. As if you think I’d even consider that option. You really are a smarmy little bastard, aren’t you?”

But just as I raise my fist up, the red mist beginning to descend, he shocks me by booming out with laughter.

“Oh, Dexter.” He shakes his head in amusement. If I wasn’t so confused right now, I’d be beating on him hard.

“You’re hilarious. No, of course I don’t want Willa. You think I can’t get my own girls? Plus, I respect that she’s yours. I don’t want to steal.”

He holds his hand to his chest in a mock offended gesture, as if I’m supposed to believe that a connected guy like him isn’t a fan of theft.

“No, what I want is
you
,” he continues.

“Huh?” Oh god, this guy isn’t hitting on me, is he? That really would be fucked up.

“I want you to work for me.”

Thank fuck for that.

“Like Lucas does? As a bouncer?”

I consider that option for a moment. Working as a strip club bouncer to save myself from going to jail. No, that option seems too good to be true.

“Yes…sort of. I think the details of this should be discussed in private, don’t you?”

The way he looks at me gives me choice but to nod in agreement. Clearly the work he wants me to do isn’t for the ears of the others.

“No, I…” Willa starts, but I shoot her a look to silence her. I know that I’m being a hypocrite—after all, I insisted that she couldn’t see Adam alone, but this is about more than that. This affects all of us.

Nicolette was the one who got involved with Ryan in the first place. I’m the one who decided that it was a good idea to beat the shit out of him, which made the cops believe I killed him, and Lucas is the one who accidentally killed him. We’re all involved. Willa isn’t. She’s only in this out of association. I’ve already put her in enough danger, and if there’s something that I can do to protect her, I will.

After all, she’s innocent.

“Just wait outside. This will only take a few seconds,” I say. Then I kiss her lightly on the top of her head, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair before ushering her towards the door.

“Thank you, Adam. I really appreciate it,” I hear Nicolette saying. She pauses for a second, looking thoughtful. “Just…be nice, okay?”

Adam laughs. “Of course. Am I ever anything else?” The look Nicolette gives him just makes him laugh some more. “I’ll see you soon. Look after yourself.”

As soon as the door slams behind the three of them, Adam turns to face me.

“Right,” he says, grinning brightly as if he’s just won the lottery. “Let’s get down to business…”

I
cannot sit still
, and I don’t know how the hell Nicolette and Lucas are so damn calm. They’re so relaxed, casually sipping their drinks as if they have no troubles in the world. Don’t they realize that their lives are hanging in the balance here too?

“Will you just sit still, Willa?” Nicolette hisses at me. “We’re not supposed to be looking guilty.”

“Oh yeah, because we
totally
fit in here!” I say, indicating to our bizarre surroundings. “Just two chicks—one of them up the duff—watching a strip show with a bouncer. Completely normal.”

“If you weren’t acting so crazy, you’d see that it’s not so strange!”

I try to calm my racing heart down.
Chill out,
I think, but it gets me nowhere. Whatever Nicolette says, I don’t think I’m overreacting at all.

“What’s Adam doing in there?” I finally ask. “Why couldn’t we just stay? I can’t stand this.”

“Adam knows what he’s doing. He’s just about the only person in the damn world that could get us out of this. You need to trust him. Trust me, at least! Plus, Dex is a grown-ass man. He can look after himself. You need to stop worrying; you’re going to give yourself a heart attack.”

I shoot my sister a nasty look. Most of the worrying that I’ve been doing over the past few months has been over her. She has no real right to tell me how to feel now, especially seeing as it was
her
boyfriend who inadvertently got Dex into this mess.

I can’t tear my eyes away from the door as I wait impatiently for Dexter to show his face. I’ll be able to tell right away how bad things are.

“I’m just scared, that’s all,” I mutter, almost under my breath.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Nicolette asks, seemingly eyeing me in a new light. “I mean, I already guessed that he was more than just a friend. But it runs deeper than that. Do you love
him?”

“Love him? Of course not. I haven’t known him for long enough to
love
him.” I’m arguing so ferociously that it’s almost as if I’m trying to convince myself. “He’s great, but…”

Before I get to continue that sentence, he finally swaggers back into sight.

“Dex!” I cry, jumping from my seat. I don’t even care that people are probably staring. None of them matter to me. Only he does.

I grab him and pull him closer to me, as if I’m about to kiss him. Only I don’t, I whisper in his ear instead. “Is everything all right?” I ask.

He nods mutely.

“What did you have to do?”

He looks deep into my eyes, as if he’s searching for an answer there. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is it’s a done deal now. You’re safe.”

He pauses for a second. “We’re all safe,” he says, almost as an afterthought.

“But what…?” I try asking again, but he’s already walking away.

“Shall we go?” he asks Nicolette and Lucas. They nod, and all three of them start to walk towards the door, leaving me wallowing in my pool of confusion.

Why the hell is he being so secretive?

I’ll have to find out later. I’ll make him tell me, and I won’t let it rest until he does.

W
e race
along on the back of Dexter’s bike with the others following in the car. We’re heading back to Lucas and Nicolette’s place for the night. They have a spare room, and after the chaotic few days—few months really—that I’ve had, a decent rest with the knowledge that my sister is alive sounds like heaven.

As we fly around the corner towards the blocks of apartments, the first thing I spot is a police car.

“Holy shit,” I mutter. “That’s not here for us, is it?”

Did Adam rat us out? Would he do that? Maybe that’s why Dexter wouldn’t tell me anything. But then again, this is a shady part of the city. Surely they could be here for anyone.

So why am I so sure that things are about to go to shit?

“Are you okay?” Dexter asks. It’s then that I realize I’m shaking like a leaf. The terror is blasting through me, causing my breaths to come out funny. I cling to him tighter, not wanting to lose him. Not now.

“Don’t panic,” he mutters, not sounding quite as confident as I would like.

He pulls over and parks a short distance away, as if he’s trying to decide what to do. I don’t move off the bike. I want to stay with him if he’s going to do a runner. I don’t want to be left behind.

Wherever he goes, I go too.

“Let’s just wait for your sister,” he finally says. “We can’t get in without her.”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“No,” he says, far too sharply to be the truth.

“Do you think Adam would…?”

“No.”

I fall into silence, praying that Nicolette is going to have all of the answers.

“Act natural, they’re coming over,” Dexter suddenly says. This gives us no choice but to dismount the bike and pull off our helmets. We’d look too strange just sitting there.

“Mr. Hart?” one of the officers asks. I drink in his appearance; the man who’s about to strip my life of Dex. The one who’s about to take away the only safety blanket I have. He has sharp, beady eyes and the pudgy stomach of a man who loves junk food and hates exercise. I want to hate him with a burning passion, but I’m far too numb inside. I just watch him instead, feeling absolutely nothing.

“Yes,” Dex replies, resignation on his tongue.

“I’m Officer Sout, and this is Officer Alexander,” the cop says.

They shake hands, and I start to wonder what the hell is going on. Shouldn’t they be pinning him to the ground and handcuffing him, or pointing a gun our way?

The officer continues. “We heard that you might be staying here. Is it all right to come inside? We have a few things to discuss with you?”

This really doesn’t seem at all like the arrest I was expecting at all. Is this standard procedure? Where are the handcuffs, the police dogs, the ‘
you have the right to remain silent’
? Does that only happen on TV?

“Of course,” Dexter replies, seemingly unfazed. “But the home belongs to Willa’s sister so we’ll have to wait for them to return. They shouldn’t be too long.”

“Right.” Officer Sout seems awkward now. “Well, we’ll just wait for them to get here, I suppose.”

I watch them walk back to their squad car until they’re finally out of earshot.

“What the hell is going on? Are they arresting you or not?” I ask.

“Nope,” Dexter replies. “Or I’d be in the back of that car by now.”

“Well, what then?” I tug on his arm, desperate to have his full attention.

“We’ll have to just find out, I guess,” he replies, much to my frustration.

Luckily, my sister and Lucas finally make their appearance a few seconds later. At the sight of the cop car, Nicolette stares at me, but I can only shrug helplessly as a reply. I really don’t know enough about what’s happening to communicate verbally, let alone telepathically.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Dex says, tugging on my arm and making me follow him.

A
s soon as
we’re all sitting in the small front room, awkwardly holding cups of tea and coffee, Officer Sout begins.

“First off, I’d like to apologize on behalf of the city’s police department. You were our primary suspect because you were the last person seen with the victim, engaged in a physical altercation. We had an eyewitness to that.”

Ugh
. He’s trying to defend their error. What kind of bullshit apology is this? Dex has been on the run for months, and all he’s getting is ‘
oh, sorry, we thought we were right about you’.

“Some new evidence has come to light that Mr. Ryan Wheeler’s death was nothing more than a tragic accident.”

We all wait for him to elaborate, but he says nothing. He looks uncomfortable; he can’t even make eye contact with anyone. This is too weird for words.

“What…?” I start to ask, glancing around the room for confirmation that I’m doing the right thing. “What do you mean, an accident?”

“I’m afraid I cannot divulge details,” he replies sharply, before rapidly stumbling onto the next topic. “Now, as for you Mr. Hart, we will issue a statement to the media, declaring your innocence. I hope this resolves things for you.”

“Wait…” I start to speak out again, but Dexter talks over me.

“Thank you, Officer.”

Thank you?
Why the hell is he thanking this guy? He should be going nuts. He should be demanding that they explain to him how they could have fucked up so badly. He should say that he’ll still be demonized by people who believe that there’s no smoke without fire. He should…

I suddenly realize something, and I force myself to seal my lips tightly shut.

This is all part of Adam’s plan…