Betrayed (Soldiers of Darkness MC Book 2) (15 page)

‘Why didn’t you tell me? Give me some kind of heads-up?’

‘This is something you need to deal with yourself, Izzi. You needed to hear what he said and go with your gut feeling.’ His eyes bore into mine, and I don’t want to be here anymore. ‘Which is…?’

I shake my head and laugh quietly. ‘No. No, you’re not doing this. What he’s just done, that isn’t fair. I didn’t ask him to do that, Sam, to give up everything for something he can’t even have. What the hell is he thinking?’

‘There wasn’t even a part of you that wavered? That thought, maybe, Mack
had
something?’

‘What are you doing?’

‘Trying to get you to be honest with yourself.’

‘I love my husband, OK? And I am tired of having to prove that, to you, to Mack, I’m tired. Whatever Mack’s doing, whatever crazy, stupid plan he thinks he can pull off, I don’t want any part of it. He is putting his life in danger just by telling me what he’s told me, and I can’t…’

‘Be honest, Izzi. With your
self
.’

‘I love Zeb.’ I say the words slowly and carefully, because I feel like nobody’s hearing me. ‘You want me to be honest? I didn’t love him – I didn’t love Zeb. Not in the beginning. Not in the way people are supposed to love their partner on their wedding day. Mack asked if Zeb was a distraction, something to take my mind off
him
, and do you know what? Maybe he was right… no, he
was
right. Then. But now – now I look at Zeb and my stomach flips for him. For
him
. For the man I married, not the man I walked away from.’

‘You could’ve gone back, Izzi.’

‘No.’ I shake my head again and fold my arms back across myself. ‘No, I couldn’t. Mack doesn’t need me…’

‘He does. You think he can do any other kind of life, outside of this world he’s grown up in, on his own? He can’t. And he knows that,
you
know that…’

‘And I can’t help him, Sam. I can’t hold his hand and babysit him, I can’t. What he wants, it isn’t going to happen, and I’m not going to be a part of it, it’s too late.’

He drops his gaze again, for a couple of beats, before his eyes once more meet mine. ‘What he’s doing, it’s dangerous. I know Zeb better than anyone, I know how he feels about you, and I know what he’d do if he had any idea of Mack’s real reason for handing him the President’s patch. He’d shoot him dead and feel not one ounce of guilt.’

I narrow my eyes as I look at Sam, because I don’t know where this is going.

‘But I can help you, Izzi. I can help you and Mack get away…’

‘Didn’t you hear me, Sam? Am I talking to my fucking self here? I don’t want to go anywhere with Mack. I don’t want to be with him anymore, I want to be with Zeb… Jesus!’

Sam says nothing for what feels like the longest of minutes, and I’m so angry now I can feel my skin start to prickle. But I’m also scared. I just don’t know why. I don’t even know who I’m scared for – me, or Mack. Maybe I should be scared for the both of us.

‘I can help you, Izzi.’

And then he turns and walks away, and again I feel my skin prickle and a stirring in the pit of my stomach I don’t want and I don’t welcome. Damn Mack Slayer! I still care for him, of course I do. But I love Zeb. I don’t love Mack anymore. If I ever really loved him at all…

Chapter Ten

Zeb

I knew he wasn’t up to the job and, man, being right, that makes me fucking hard, every time.

I pull off my T-shirt and splash my face with water, looking up into the mirror, and I smile ‘cause, yeah. I’m one lucky son-of-a-fucking-bitch. I got the girl, now I got the job. I got everything he fucking wanted, and now what’s he left with? He didn’t even want to be my V.P., he’s just an ordinary Soldier now. Just another brother. And that makes me kinda suspicious, that a man like Mack Slayer is willing to give up everything for nothing. Why’d he do that, huh? I know exactly why. And the second I see him put one foot outta fucking line, I’ll end him, and any plans he’s got to leave here with Izzi, ‘cause I know. I fucking know what he wants, what he’s planning, what he thinks is gonna happen. I know.

I hear the door open and I turn my head slightly as Izzi comes in, shedding her clothes as she walks, but I don’t turn around. I stay facing the mirror, watching the reflection as she kicks her panties away and moves up behind me, naked bar her spike-heeled boots, and my cock jumps to attention the second her warm skin connects with mine. Mack Slayer wants her but the only way he’s gonna get her is over my cold, dead body. And that ain’t happening any time soon. He wants a fight, he got one. But I ain’t starting it.

‘Hey, Mr. President,’ she murmurs, her lips pressed against my shoulder as she speaks, her hands splayed out over my stomach.

‘You OK with this, princess?’

It don’t really matter whether she is or not, this is what I wanted. I’m President of the Soldiers of Darkness New Mexico chapter, and there ain’t nobody taking that from me now, not even her. She don’t like it, she just gonna have to get used to it.

‘I don’t have much choice, do I?’

I cover her hand with mine, stroking her fingers. ‘This’ll be good for us, baby.’

‘Will it?’

‘I won’t let anything happen to you, Izzi. I promise.’

I feel her lips against my skin again and I close my eyes and squeeze her hand as she unzips me, Jesus, I fucking love this woman!

‘Everyone’s outside in the clubhouse, waiting for their new President,’ she says quietly, but that party can fucking wait. I got my own private one happening right here. ‘I just wanted to congratulate him myself first.’

I take hold of her hand and swing her around, lifting her up onto the edge of the wash basin, the kiss she gives me rough and harsh as my cock rams into her, slamming her into the porcelain, her cries vibrating through me. And she lifts her legs high, wrapping them around me, and those heels, man, they’re digging into my back, and she’s on such an angle that I’m falling into her, so far I’m in up to my balls, and she’s crying out, and it’s freakin’ incredible! I reach back and take hold of her ankles, unwrapping her legs from around me and spreading them as wide as they’ll go, shit! I can see fucking everything, and I watch my cock pull out of her completely and then slam back into her, and it’s fucking beautiful.

We’re done in minutes, it’s over, and she wraps her legs back around my hips and falls against me, and I’m swamped by an all-consuming, powerful urge to protect this woman. It sweeps over me so rapidly, its force sudden and overwhelming and I instinctively fold my arms around her because I need to feel her against me. And she may think she don’t need protecting, but she does. For a while she became someone else, Jesus,
I
turned her into someone else. But she ain’t that girl no more. I can see it in her eyes, she’s different.

I lift her up and carry her into the bedroom, and I lay her down on the bed and lie beside her, facing her, and she smiles at me and one day soon, man, I’m gonna put a baby in that girl’s belly and give us a reason to make all this shit work. Mack Slayer’s gonna be history soon. Ain’t nothing gonna be standing in my way no more…

Izzi

He takes me again, slower this time, and I stretch out beneath him and draw my knees to my chest, pulling him in deeper, and I moan quietly as I feel him fall into me. His fingers intertwine with mine, his breath almost burning my skin and when he comes it tips me over the edge too, and we’re coming together, and I don’t want to feel that fear swamp me again, but it’s there. It’s happening. And tears start to stream down my face and he leans over to kiss them away, an action that delivers a punch to my heart that takes my breath away. I love this man so much now, and it’s still a crazy, almost wrong kind of love but it’s there. It’s real. And I am terrified of losing him now, because I need him. Mack’s right, I’m not the same girl Zeb and Sam turned me into. They made me that way for a reason, but I don’t need to be that way anymore. I don’t need to be
her
, anymore. But I don’t want to be weak, either. So I suck it up and take a deep breath and when he pulls out of me I get up straight away and head into the bathroom to wash my face. That was a moment of vulnerability. It isn’t going to happen again.

‘You spoke to Mack today.’

I know he’s standing in the doorway but I don’t turn around. ‘I don’t understand what he’s doing, Zeb. Giving up the President’s patch…’

‘You
know
, Izzi. You know exactly what he’s doing. You might not understand it, hell, I ain’t even sure
he
understands exactly what he’s doing. But you know, why he did it.’

I drop my head and stare down into the empty wash basin, and I feel a knot twist up in my gut so tight I have to swallow hard to get the next breath out. And then he touches my hip and I flinch slightly, and he touches me again, his hand pressing a little harder against my skin as he leans in to me, his mouth brushing the side of my neck.

‘I’m letting this one slide, princess. ‘Cause it’s been a weird kinda day. But he knows the rules now, and so do you.’

He turns me around and his hand rests against my cheek, making me look at him, right into his eyes.

‘I know what he wants and I know he ain’t gonna stop ‘til he’s tried his fucking hardest to win. But he
won’t
win.’

‘He’s wasting his time, Zeb.’

‘Oh, I know that, darlin’. He’s just thrown it all away for nothing, and I think there’s a part of him that knows that. He just don’t wanna accept it.’

‘I told him…’

He puts his fingers to my mouth and shakes his head. ‘That ain’t important, princess. You and me,
we
got this place now. It’s ours. We run the whole fucking show, he ain’t got no power no more. He’s fucking worthless around here.’

I feel that knot in my stomach tighten. I might not want to be with Mack anymore but I wasn’t lying when I said I still care about him. I do. And I don’t want to hear Zeb talk about him like this, but I really don’t have much choice. I love Zeb, and my loyalty has to be with him, but Mack doesn’t deserve to be treat like he’s nothing. Like he’s
worth
nothing.

‘He’ll be gone soon, Izzi. And he’ll be leaving without
you
. Because I’ll make damn sure he understands that.’ He kisses me, his hand still resting against my cheek, and it’s a powerful kiss; a proprietorial kiss. ‘Now, we’re gonna go out there and act like the king and queen of this compound, ‘cause that’s what we are now. OK?’

I nod, and he kisses me again but it’s a different kind of kiss now, a gentler, much softer kiss and I feel that knot in my gut slowly start to unravel.

Mack Slayer was never meant to be my future…

Mack

‘Hey, Cora.’

‘Hey, Mack.’ She takes a sip of her drink, her eyes never leaving mine. ‘So, it’s true, huh? You really have let go of that President’s patch. Again.’

I laugh quietly, ‘cause she’s right. This is the second time in a matter of months that I’ve given that patch away, walked away from those responsibilities; something that’s defined my whole fucking life. And I’m just tossing it aside like it means nothing. ‘I guess I’ve been kinda careless, huh?’

She takes another drink, and her stare don’t even waver. She’s a beautiful woman is Cora. One of our more experienced dancers, which technically means she’s older than most of the girls we hire, but she can still pull ‘em in and make ‘em hard and she’s one of the best. That’s why I wanted her here, at
Six
. She know what works, what these brothers of mine want. She knows. And the other girls, they look up to her. She can teach them all those tricks of hers, and that ain’t no bad thing.

‘I hear you and Izzi are pretty close now.’

She smiles a slow smile. ‘Oh, we’re
really
close, honey.’

I return her smile. ‘You and her…?’

‘Not without her old man’s consent, darlin’. And he gave it, so we got down to it. Even got
him
to join in.’

Is she kidding me here?

‘You, Izzi, and Zeb?’

She leans in to me, her mouth close to my ear. ‘I fucked her pussy, he fucked her ass.’

Jesus Christ!
‘She went for that?’

‘She
asked
for that.’

My head turns in an almost reflex action, and I watch as Izzi and Zeb appear from the back of the clubhouse. She’s holding his hand so tight, I can see her fingers gripping his, and she looks beautiful and young and almost innocent in a short black strapless dress and spike heeled boots, and my cock has a moment as I take that innocence and then imagine her being fucked all kindsa ways. And then I stop myself, I have to.

‘You still want her, don’t you?’

Cora’s voice thankfully pulls me back from something I shouldn’t be thinking about here, in the middle of a crowded clubhouse. ‘Huh?’

‘Izzi. You still want her. That’s why you’ve done all of this, isn’t it? Mack Slayer trying to go clean, that ain’t you, darlin’. It never was, not until that girl walked into your world. So everything you’re doing now, you’re doing for her. Right?’

‘Has she said anything to you?’

She just looks at me, and I ain’t into playing games.

‘Jesus Christ…’

I rake a hand through my hair and look back over at Izzi and Zeb, and she turns her head and her eyes meet mine and she whips her head back around like she just seen a fucking ghost,
shit!
That fucker’s got to her, and while I got no regrets handing my club over to him, I got no intention of letting him keep Izzi, too. That was never my plan, to let him have everything. He might think he has. I’m in no doubt that my cousin thinks he’s won, that he’s got me on the back foot, but I ain’t stupid. And he ain’t having it all…