Twisted Asphalt (Asphalt Outlaw Series Book 1) (11 page)

“I was given to him as a gift for the night, sweetie.”
Tasha’s eyes roamed hungrily over Mace, “And I plan on making it worth my
while.” Her eyes flicked back to Amy with a smirk. “And by what I felt between
my thighs, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.”

Watching Amy take control of the situation was a total turn
on. He knew the complications of what Amy was dealing with and what she was
facing. If she stepped forward, she was going to have to declare herself his
property. It was the rules. He was available for any of the pass arounds, if he
wanted them. Technically, they could have any man, at any time, it was the
Ol’Ladies that were to be respected at all times.

“He won’t be accepting gifts … from you or any other
female.” Amy spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

Tasha snorted and rolled her eyes, moving back over to
Mace’s side, slipping her arm through his. “You can’t do shit about it,
sweetheart. I was given to him, only he can refuse it, and gauging by his
reaction when I kissed him…” Tasha reached down with her free hand and grabbed
his junk, letting her sentence trail off.

Mace nearly jumped out of his skin when she grabbed him.
These women had some balls. His hand jerked down to remove her clutch on his
junk, then he stepped away from her.

Amy grabbed Tasha by her hair and yanked her away from Mace,
her face pure fury.

It was time to break it up. It was great Amy was making a
stand, but there was no need for her to knock the girl out for doing what she
was told to do.

Before he could stop her, Amy had Tasha’s head pulled back
at a dangerous angle and was whispering something that obviously terrified
Tasha, since she turned whiter than her hair. Once Amy let her go, Tasha ran
away from the group with tears in her eyes.

“I am afraid to even ask.” Mace looked at Amy in total awe.
She could handle her own, but this was a different breed here.

“Good.” Amy looked up at him with a devious smile.

Mace couldn’t help but laugh at her antics. He reached out
and pulled her close, hugging her petite form against his. Lips brushed the top
of her head, lifting his eyes to glance around the room. He paused, seeing
Demon ignoring Maggie, his face dark with hatred while he stared at Mace and
Amy.

CHAPTER 16

Safe.

That was what Amy felt when she was in Mace’s arms. Safe.
She felt like she could take on the world and make it her bitch when he held
her like this. She made gasping noises when his arms grew tighter around her,
and gave him a squeeze back. “Mind loosening your hold there, stud-muffin?” She
leaned back in his embrace, looking up at him. “What’s wrong?”

He frowned, looked at something behind her. “Nothing. Let’s
go eat. I’m starved.” Mace lowered glacier colored eyes to look at her with a grin,
dimples and all.

“I like the sound of that.” She took ahold of his hand and
led him over to the buffet line, grabbing them both a plate. “I’ll hold the
plates, you shovel the food?”

Once they had food and Mace grabbed drinks, they found a
table off to the side but still among the festivities. Amy couldn’t help but
smile when he pulled out her chair for her and let her sit first. He might have
been an ass, but he was still a gentleman.

Amy couldn’t help but mentally scold herself for going a bit
overboard when Tasha threw herself at Mace. Jealousy had reared its ugly head
and she wanted to tear Tasha to shreds. Maggie’s snide remarks urging her to
didn’t help either. Amy had placed herself between a rock and a hard spot when
she told Tasha to back off. She laid claim over Mace, and it was either put up
or shut up.

She wanted Mace, so there was no other decision. She let
everyone in the room know she was his property by teaching Tasha a lesson. She
had the right to tell a pass-around to back the hell off. Some Ol’Ladies didn’t
want to see their men with the other women, but didn’t care if it happened when
they weren’t around. Amy didn’t play well with others and she’d be damned if
she was going to let another woman hang on, let alone kiss, a man she was falling
for.

“Okay, I have to know. What the hell did you say to Tasha?”
Mace bit into his hamburger, looking at her expectantly.

Amy snickered and shook her head, “You don’t want to know.
Trust me.” Yeah, there was no way in hell that she was going to tell him she
told Tasha  all she was in the club world was sloppy seconds. She also
explained to the girl she had better quit trying to hone in on the single men
and begging to become an Ol’Lady, or she’d turn the women loose on her.
Instead, she explained something a bit simpler. “I told her that I would let
everyone know about her STD’s and let the wives’ seek their own special
vengeance on her.”

The women in the club fought dirty. They handled their own,
not allowing the men to get involved. It was a privilege to wear a property cut
or to be collared by a patch holder, and the women weren’t going to have it
ripped away by club whores. The men didn’t interfere in the women’s business,
unless it affected the club. If it did, one of the officers would have a conversation
with the patch holder and tell him to get his bitch in check. If he couldn’t,
his bottom rocker could get pulled and he could be put on probation. If she
kept it up, he would either have his ass kicked, or he would be told to leave
the luggage behind or get the fuck out of the club.

Mace offered her a chip. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

She leaned in and took the chip from him with her mouth,
giving him a solicitous wink. “You’re right.”

“Seems I’m right a lot with you.”

Amy giggled, swatting his leg in a flirtatious manner.
“Count your lucky stars.”

“Speaking of lucky stars,” Mace took a long sip of his beer.
Setting the bottle aside, he looked at her. “Why does Demon act like he does
toward you?”

Amy’s stomach sank and she immediately lost her appetite.
She stared at her plate, not wanting to look at Mace in case he would see the
fear. She knew one day she would have to explain it to him, Amy wasn’t
expecting to have to do it so soon. “He wasn’t always like this.” She finally
got her emotions under control enough to look up at his inquiring eyes. Head
tilted into his hand, he brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. “He’s
around five years older than me, and I’ve known him for as long as I can
remember. He’s been Zen’s best friend since they were in diapers. He was always
around, kind of like Maggie.

“One day, I guess I woke up and decided I had a crush on
him. I was twelve or thirteen. I was the little sister who always got in the
way. Nosy as hell too.” Amy half laughed, leaning back in her chair, bringing
her coke with her. Taking a sip, she let out a breath. “So nosy that when I was
fifteen, I heard noises in one of the back rooms. I went to go find out what it
was and saw Demon and one of the girls. They had just finished having sex I
guess, and she had to say something to piss him off. He hit her. Several times.

“He never knew I saw it. I never forgot it. I grew up and
quit paying attention to him. He decided then he wanted me. I think it was the
whole ‘want what you can’t have’ thing. Every time I’d be interested in a guy,
he’d run them off.” She shrugged, taking a drink, chancing a look at Mace. “He
kept asking me out, I kept turning him down. When I moved, he kept telling
everyone I was his property. He was delusional about it. And then he started
talking to Maggie a lot and she’s had a crush on him since high school.”

“So him calling you his property must put a damper on things
between you two?” Mace quirked an eyebrow.

“You could say that. I think he beats her. I’m afraid he’s
going to hurt her bad one day. She won’t listen to me. They say love is blind,
but screw that. She thinks she can’t do any better because she’s a thick girl,
has some extra weight on her.”

“That’s ridiculous. She’s a beautiful woman. I bet we could
find her someone better.” Mace tilted his head as he looked around the room.
“But knowing Demon’s kind, he won’t let her go so easily.”

“No, he won’t. The only other reason he even keeps this idea
of having me alive, is because he wants to be vice president or even hold the
president seat one day and thinks if he collars me, it’ll be a shoe in. He
doesn’t realize he would run this club into the ground if he got ahold of it.”

“How about we talk about something else?” Mace nudged her
gently with his shoulder.

She noticed him wince, and wanted to ask why, but knew
better. She wasn’t dumb, she knew what went on behind closed doors. All the men
had the same so called injury when they got patched in. Maybe that was what the
mezcal was for, to dull the pain?

“How about we talk about your birthday present?”

Mace’s jaw hung open as he stared at her in total disbelief.
Just the reaction she wanted. She wanted to surprise him and it looked like she
succeeded and that made her swell with pride.

“How the hell did you know it was my birthday?”

Amy wiggled her brows, “You mentioned it when we first ran
into each other. I put it to memory, I’m good like that.”

“I’d say so. What else are you good at?”

“How about we ditch the party and I’ll show you…” she
paused, tilting her head toward him, keeping her lips just far enough from his
that they didn’t touch. “Your present.”

Mace groaned in protest. “You’re going to be the death of
me.”

* * * *

She had to help him remove his cut to get into the Jeep. Not
like she minded. It was just another excuse to touch him. Climbing in beside
him, she pulled out of the parking lot and hit the road back to the ranch.

Once they got there, she grabbed his hand and led him into
the barn, rather excited to give him his gift. Stopping just inside the door, she
turned and faced him, preventing him from going in any further. “Stay put.”

His brows shot up at her demand. “Okay?”

“Trust me.” She bolted for the house and ran up to her room.
She found what she was looking for and ran back to the barn, almost out of
breath. Mace stood in the exact spot she had left him in.

“I don’t like that grin.” Mace twisted his head slightly to
the side, looking at her like she had something up her sleeve.

“You shouldn’t.” Amy pulled out the solid black scarf from
the back pocket of her shorts. Hands snapped it taut, then wrung it around her
hands while she circled him. Not giving him a chance to say anything, she
lifted the scarf over his head, pressing her chest into his back as she placed
the fabric over his eyes. Amy felt him tense against her.

“You’re playing a dangerous game here, Amy.” His voice was
thick when he spoke, and reached back to run his hand along her bare thigh.

“Nuh uh.” Amy smacked his hand playfully, then pushed it off
her. She tied the scarf and stepped around him, waving a hand in front of his
face.

“No, I can’t see. I can feel you waving your hand in front
of my face though.”

Amy stuck out her tongue, knowing he couldn’t see her do it.
“Take my hand.” She held out her hand when he lifted his up, allowing him to
clasp it as his fingertips grazed the top of her hand. She couldn’t stop the
tiniest of shivers from racing down her spine while she led him toward a stall.

“Where are you taking me? There better not be some secret
dungeon in this bitch and I’m just now finding out about it.” Mace grumbled.

“Nope, but that is a pretty good idea. I’ll need to remember
to ask Dad to build me one.” Amy snickered, finally coming to a stop outside a
stall. She let go of his hand, allowing him to remove the scarf from his eyes.
“Surprise. Happy birthday.”

Mace blinked a couple of times, allowing his eyes to get
accustomed to the lack of lighting.

Amy clucked her tongue and reached into the stall, lifting
the head of Phaedra’s colt. “He’s yours.” She knew how much Mace had fallen in
love with the horse over the past couple of weeks and it was the best gift she
could give him.

His eyes grew wide as he repeatedly shook his head. “No,
Amy. That’s too much. I won’t take him. He’s your best foal of the season.”

“I’m not taking no for an answer, Mace. I know how much
you’ve come to love him. It’s not every day you come across coloring like
this.”

He stared at her like she had lost her mind. “Exactly, It’s
too much, Ames. I can’t take him.”

He was right on that account. He was expensive. He was a
fifty thousand dollar horse from champion bloodlines, but there was no money
that could match the reason she wanted him to have the colt. “It’s settled.
He’ll stay here, we’ll train him together, but he belongs to you. Period.”

“You’re fucking insane, Amethyst.”

“Don’t change the subject, Mason. You knew that when I
knocked your ass to the floor.” She won that little squabble. He didn’t put up
much of a fight, which was fine with her.

“I’d like to see you try it again.” Mace outright challenged
her.

Amy loved a good challenge and she was going to accept it.
“Challenge accepted, Mason Younger.” She reached up and grabbed the ends of the
scarf around his neck. Head tilted back enough to look deep into his pale blue
eyes, she saw so many questions there and something else she couldn’t put her
finger on, but it almost looked like hurt. “Are you sure you want to go there?”

His voice was barely audible, feral and low. “I think I do.”

“I don’t.” She jumped away from him with a half snort, half
giggle. She wasn’t going to give in so easily; he was going to work for it.

He grabbed for her.

She jumped back, “That’s not fair!” Darting out of reach,
she yelped when he gave chase after her.  Squeaking in surprise when she felt
her arm in a vice lock, he whirled her around to face him. His eyes were lit
with unspoken desire, causing her breath to catch. He forced her back with slow
steps, a grin forming on his kissable lips. When they came to a stop, his head
bent, the very tip of his nose caressing her cheek while he made his way to her
earlobe.

“Don’t move.” The order was a breath against her ear, her
stomach turning somersaults at the throaty growl. He stepped back.

She wanted to squirm under his gaze while it slowly roamed
over her. It was pure, exquisite torture. He wasn’t even touching her and she
felt her body tightening from his hooded gaze.

Mace pulled the scarf from around his neck, a secret smile
forming as he stepped toward her. Dear God, was he about to do what she thought
he was going to? Her heart skipped a beat when he placed the scarf over her
eyes, tying it securely at the base of her skull. “Mace?”

She couldn’t hide the uncertainty in her voice. This was new
and exciting territory for her. She reached back, the flat of her palms hitting
the prickly wall, catching her off guard.  Her breath hitched when Mace pushed
her fully against it.

“Do you trust me, Amethyst?”

His breath tickled the tiny hairs at her temple, eyes
closing at the sound of his voice so close to her, and yet it wrapped around
her like a warm blanket. “Yes.” It may have been only a one word answer, but it
spoke volumes.

She heard movement, then a loud
click
from something
metal. She tensed, she couldn’t help it. Lips parted in a quick inhale, nails
dug into the wood, unsure what was in store for her. Feeling the bottom of her
shirt being grabbed and pulled out, head canted just enough in question. That
was when she felt cold metal against her belly.

Before she could utter any protest, the fabric of her shirt
tore. Feeling it tug against her body, she cried out in a mixture of surprise
and delight. Her hands flew up to cover her exposed bikini top, but he caught
them before she could hide herself from view.

“Amy, you said you trusted me.”

She licked her lips, biting her bottom tier with a nod of
her head. “I do, I promise.”

“Then let me have control.”

Those five words were whispered against her lips, warm
against her slick mouth. Amy bent her head forward, trying to find his lips
with her own, but he wasn’t there. Letting her head fall back against the wall,
she lowered her arms.