Wrath (15 page)

Emma

“Shut the hell up, and drink your gin rickey.”  I smiled as I said it, but I wanted to smack the crap out of him.

The guy had actually asked for a mix drink.  And then he asked me to sit on his fucking lap.

It took all my ability not to punch him right in the face.  But this wasn’t ol’ Johnny Jagoff.  This guy was two hundred and fifty pounds, almost all of it muscle. 

I didn’t want to piss him off so I joked with him.  Tried to put him at ease, and drink his damn drink.

I just wanted him to forget about me and focus on the dancers.  Preferably without getting too out of hand.  The bouncers were hired for a reason, but I really didn’t want to have to deal with that today.

“I got it.  I got it.”  He was all amusement and enjoying having the upper hand.  “But it would make the liquor go down a little bit better if you just sat on my lap, sugar.”

“Ain’t happening, honey.  Ask someone else.” 

The strippers were practically begging him for a lap dance.  He was packing something they wanted: cash or a cock.  It was probably the former, but I honestly didn’t want to know which. 

So it bothered me that he just kept staring. 

I served him two more orders, hoping he’d take the hint.  He kept his hands to himself at least.  I had my hands full with a constantly circulating list of orders.

Kat blew through the bar and around to the back. 

“Girl, we got a busy ass house tonight.” 

She had her hands full, juggling the girls and the nightly drama.  She put up with all their shit and made sure the customers were happy. 

Sometimes, I seriously wondered where she got the patience.

“Who’s on duty tonight?”  I asked as I reached behind the counter, grabbing a glass and a bottle of Scotch. 

“Tommy, I think.  But your stud will be coming in later.”

I rolled my eyes and served a double to the guy across from me.  All Tommy ever did in the way of help was get lap dances and order free drinks for him and his friends.

He was annoying as hell and largely useless. 

I made sure to add another beer to the love sick puppy that was moping at one end of the bar.  He’d cried into his last one, but still ordered another.  I was tempted to cut him off.  That level of sobbing wasn’t worth the money.  It usually led to puking on the bar top and at least one broken glass.  Also, weepers rarely left good tips unless they were thinking of suicide, and I really didn’t want to have to coax someone down from that tree tonight.

“Hey, Kat?”  I asked before she zipped off.  “You seen Marie?  Got an order that should’ve gone out already.  The ice is starting to melt.”  I looked at the set of cocktails for a small party of men and women and bit my lip.  There was already condensation building on the glasses.

“Yeah, she’s around here somewhere.”  She gestured to the floor of people and then kept walking.

Damn it.  I was going to have to deal with it myself.

I finished refreshing drinks, then grabbed the tray and left the bar.  The door smacked me right on the ass but I was in too big of a hurry to care.  I took off for the small joint bachelor/bachelorette party off in the event room.  I could tell by the fact that the woman was wearing a pink tiara that said “bride” and from the nervousness in all the ladies’ faces that they’d throw a fit over watered down drinks – if only to have some outlet for their anxiety.

They all looked paralyzed by excitement and fear.  Like they couldn’t believe the debauchery they were seeing, but they also couldn’t resist staring.  There were two types of bachelorette crowds: the kind that were green and the kind that went crazy.  These ladies might’ve been crazy at a male strip club, but they were completely baffled on what they should do here.

I was tempted to recommend they try to pole, but that was one of those suggestions that was risky.  If they took it the wrong way… I sighed, too tired for that shit.  They could sit there tied in knots if they wanted.  I wanted to do my job, collect my tips and go home.

I read the list off.  “A mojito, a tequila sunrise, a whiskey sour, and three draft specials.”  Setting the tray of drinks down in front of them, I managed to smile, and was extraordinarily grateful when they let me make a clean dash.

I weaved through the mess of customers, strippers, and tables back to the safety of my oak barrier when a hand reached out and grabbed me, pulling me into a lap.

“See, I told you my drink would be better with you in my lap.”  Gin Ricky grinned at me and held me down against his erection.  For a second, I was caught between shock and terror.  My strength no match for his, and he wasn’t listening to ‘no.’

“Let me go. 
Now
.”  I meant it but my voice shook. 

I was so close to screaming my head off.  I wanted to claw his fucking eyes out.

But I was the bartender.  And it was my job to deal with these mother-fucking assholes when they got drunk.

I took a deep breath.  I needed to keep my cool.

“Aw, come on, sugar.  Just give me a little bit.  I wanna see those titties jiggle.” 

Titties
?  What was he?  Five years old? 

He didn’t seem to think so.  He grabbed my shirt and started to pull it up. 

I was not okay with this. 

But just as I reached back my hand to give him a hard slap, someone stopped me.  That hand wrapped around my wrist like a vice clamp and dragged me right out of dear ol’ Ricky’s lap.

“You don’t fucking touch my girl.” 

I knew that voice, but I’d never heard it like that before.

Aidan sounded feral.

He pushed me away with a jolt and to my shock, he grabbed that man right off his stool, all two fifty of him.  Without a word, he slammed Ricky’s head against the bar.  Once, twice.  Then he dragged him around, throwing his weight so hard that glasses fell with a crash behind the trough. 

The patrons immediately cleared a space, getting out of the way of what was about to become a bloodbath.  They didn’t leave though.  No, they wanted to watch.

Aidan slammed his fist into the guy’s face, the blunt force of it making Ricky wheeze.  Those big fists collided with Ricky’s jaw, his ear, the back of his head.  They weren’t the wild swings men threw when they wanted to strut.  No, these were sharp, brutally efficient blows, one after the other.  The longer he was at it, the harder the hits became.

I had no doubt that Aidan could keep that up for a while.  Apparently, Ricky realized this, too.

Within sixty seconds, the man who’d acted so tough when he had been manhandling me actually begged Wrath to let him go.

“Please.  I won’t –”

Slam
. 

Ricky’s head jerked back and collided with the edge of the counter.  Aidan wasn’t listening.  “The lady told you to leave her alone,” he grunted, his blood pumping hard but his voice eerily calm.  “You leave her alone.”  Another blow, this time to the other ear.  He grabbed the man’s hair, dragging his head back to get Ricky’s attention.  “She tells you no.”  He jerked Ricky’s head around.  “You respect that.  You got me?” 

Ricky hit the floor, well and truly shut down.

That was when it went from bad to frightening.

Aidan kicked him while he was down.  He braced on his prosthetic and kicked Ricky in the stomach.  He kicked him in the chest.  He kicked him in the head. 

His eyes had gone so cold.  Dark but passionless. 

I knew that if he kept this up, the cops were going to be hauling a body out of here tonight.  Aidan would be in some deep shit.  But he didn’t seem to understand that.

I broke out of my temporary paralysis, calling out for him.

“Aidan! Aidan, enough! Stop! I need you to stop!”  I was close enough to him that I didn’t dare touch him.  He wasn’t himself. 

It was horrifying to realize I wasn’t sure if he would recognize me. 

Luckily, my voice was enough to bring him back.

He pulled up and gave that asshole one last punch before stepping off of him.  He rose into a position that I could only describe as “at attention.” 

Ricky was a bloody mess, but Aidan?  Aidan wasn’t even out of breath.  He looked me over, his eyes still glassy.  So cold...

“Aidan.  It’s all right.  I’m all right now.  You – you need to stop.”  I reached out, almost afraid to touch him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered automatically.

Then he blinked and, just like that, life flooded back into his eyes. 

It was almost as though he had left his body, as if something else had taken over and he was returning to reclaim it. 

When he recognized where he was, he assessed the situation and looked over it all.  Ricky was unconscious but he was breathing.   There was the chance of broken ribs and potential brain damage, but only a doctor would have be able to figure that out, and I for one wasn’t about to call one.

I wasn’t too worried, either.  If Ricky chose to press charges, he would have a hard time of it.  Kat had once told me that the Chief of Police had family in Fire and Steel.  Connections like that could make a lot of bad things go away – as long as there were no dead bodies.  Dead bodies complicated matters.

Lucky then that Ricky was still breathing.

“You ready to go, darlin’?”  he asked.

I turned to answer him and what I saw surprised even me.

There was a hint of shame lurking in his eyes.  It was the kind of fear I’d seen in my own so many times growing up.  It was the certainty that – now that the truth was out there – everyone and everything good would go away.

Aidan was scared.

“Yeah, baby,” I whispered, hearing my voice as if from far away.  “I’m ready.” 

I knew he needed me to stay calm.  Judging him would drive us apart.  So would justifying what he had done.  Better to just accept what had happened and keep moving.

It wasn’t hard. 

What was difficult was understanding where the hell the tingling in my body was coming from.  I was scared, but I was also… aroused.  I wanted him.  I wanted to drag him up to Kat’s office – anywhere really – and fuck him. 

It was nuts, but it was also very real. 

Aidan

I wasn’t sure how we made it back to Fire and Steel.  I was barely aware of the drive. 

Hell, if I was a different man we never would have made it to my room.  I would’ve taken her right there on one of the old tables in the bar. 

Instead we stumbled to my room.  It was the first one on the left, and I was damn glad it was close.

I pushed her against the door, fumbled with the knob and half-caught, half-pushed her as we fell through into room. 

Slamming the door shut behind me, I reached for her.  She dragged my shirt over my head, letting me yank it away where it became caught.  Then I lifted her up, hands under her ass, and she wrapped her legs around my hips.

I devoured her, plunging my tongue into her mouth before our lips had even met – and she swallowed me whole, dragging me closer by my belt as we tumbled back against the wall. 

I pulled her clothing off, making quick work of it, needing to see her completely naked.  Beautiful before me.

I couldn’t back off enough to see her though.  The feel of her hot flesh under my hands was intoxicating.  Then she blew my mind.

Throwing all of her weight, she used my body as an anchor, driving me back with her hips.  I had to grab the adjacent wall to stay upright.  It was worth it to see her there, that gorgeous body bared of all but her panties as she braced herself against the wall with my body.  A wicked light danced in her eyes. 

My gaze raked down her, following the line of her throat down her belly to where our hips met.

Actual pain lanced through my cock as it strained against my jeans.

She felt the surge of blood and that wickedness travelled from her eyes to and through her lips. 

My little tease.

“You are so fuckin’ hot,” I grunted, running my hands through her windswept hair.  

“Uh-huh,” was all she said as she pulled me into her kiss, that familiar taste pushing everything else out of my head.

I steadily pushed her flush against the wall, using the force to press us together.  I wanted to feel her as close to me as possible without actually being up against her skin.  We had been at this enough now, I knew I could dare her.  I knew I could drive her wild.  And I knew exactly how to get there without ever doing the same thing twice. 

When I pulled back, she bared her teeth at me, her eyes fierce with the ecstasy of it all.

This anticipation, the taunting and teasing, was all part of getting lost in her.

I knew I was no good for her, but that didn’t keep me from coming back to her time and time again.  I ached for her burning touch.  My body actually hurt with the need to be inside her. 

She was mine and – fucking hell – I was hers, even if neither one of us were ready to say it aloud. 

Anyone who so much as touched her was going to pay. 

I knew I was shit for it, but I wasn’t even worried about the bastard who’d manhandled her at the bar.  If I saw him again, I would beat him to a pulp and break his neck. 

Remembering Emma’s face, the horror and dread in it as another man’s arms pinned her down filled me with a wave of anger so overpowering I growled into her hair, driving myself against her.  The rage had to go somewhere. 

I struggled to rein it in. 

She had never been afraid of me.  I never wanted to see that look in her eyes while she was in my arms.

I needed her to trust me.  Only when she trusted me could she do this.  Only her belief that I would not reject or hurt her could have allowed this woman to be so brazen. 

I needed her to keep toying with me, to keep doing this to me.

I held onto her and kissed her ear, her cheek, her lips and jaw, and down her throat.

I helped her grapple free of her shirt and scooped her up to lick between her breasts.

Pressing my lips against that incredible, flushed skin, I looked up at her and caught the desire and awe in her face. 

Those eyes kept me alive.  Her skin was what kept me present.

She was the only escape from the roiling rage inside me, my hatred of my own limitations, my humiliation that I could not overcome every challenge every time.  I would fight for the rest of my life to be a man who overcame all the shit life could throw.  But I wouldn’t always succeed.  Sometimes I would fail myself.  Sometimes I would fail others.  And it drove me insane.  If I had known how, I might have howled with grief, but it never occurred to me that all my wrath had a source. 

To be fair, I wasn’t really thinking in that moment.  I was feeling and knowing and wanting, and I was willing to do just about anything I had to in order to bury myself inside this incredible woman who I couldn’t be without.  Her body was everything I needed, so full and ripe and strong.

I was so in it, it took a moment for me to realize she was speaking.  “I should be punishing you for that stunt tonight.”

“Then punish me.” 

I was happy to let her try.  We both knew I wasn’t about to be whipped.  We’d just have a hell of a good time while she worked to ‘make me suffer.’ She was good at that.

But she was serious.  “You could’ve fucked that guy up, Aidan.  I could handle it.”

And stubborn.

“I love you, woman, but shut up and kiss me.” 

I grabbed her by the back of her hair and pushed her mouth into mine.  She didn’t push back.  She deepened it, her teeth scraping against my lip as she ran her tongue along my upper palate.  I couldn’t get enough of the way she tasted.

I pulled back, this time deliberately.  I breathed her in.  She wanted me.  I could tell by the taste of her breath.  The feel of her body against mine.

I threw her down onto my bed and pulled my own shirt off, shucking off my jeans and boxers, and dove between her legs.  I couldn’t wait this time, but I wanted to plunder both sets of lips with my tongue, to lap up the ambrosia soaking her pussy before I rose and pushed inside her.

She rose up, grabbing the back of my neck, bending my cock inside her body with the moment, and I shouted out. 

She consumed my every thought, and got under my skin.  I could never have enough of her, and I knew that this was a need that couldn’t be stopped.  As impossible as it seemed, I knew I would never stop wanting this woman.

I pulled out, trying not to explode, burying my forehead against her belly until I could breathe again.

Then I kissed her, ran my hands over her hips as I slid back between her legs.  My hips fit perfectly, and my thighs ached between her warm thighs.  She was so wet, gripping me tight, her desire a fiery warmth that scorched me, driving me into a frenzy.

I couldn’t go slow this time.  I wasn’t gentle.   This time I took what I wanted, slamming myself into her, our bodies rocking back and forth together until we were both panting hard, sweat trickling down our bodies. 

I wanted to melt into her and stay there forever, never letting her go.  I plowed harder and harder between her legs, pumping myself until the writhing woman below me was screaming out, crying for more.

My ears were hungry for those cries.

As she screamed out, “Fuck! Yes! Please, Aidan! Please!” the world was mine.

Her brazen desire drove me wild, because I knew I had earned it.  I had earned her trust.  I had earned those fucking screams.  She wanted me, needed me as badly as I needed her.  And as she called out to me, I grabbed her by her hair and dove to swallow every word, pushing my cock deep.

We were tangled together, our kisses frenzied.

“Please, baby.  Please, I’m almost –” She ground out each word until she was mewling, her cries unintelligible.

In one last burst, I quickened my speed.  When her back suddenly arched, she screamed so loud I swear she echoed against my walls.

The feeling of her pussy clamping down on me as she orgasmed sent me into shock.

I came in her then, my body shaking.  I hunched over her, slowly finding my way onto my back, my entire body aching and wrung out.

I couldn’t breathe and I loved it, gasping a laugh.  I turned to look at her.  Her lips were swollen, her hair and eyes wild and enthralled.

What we had just done…

She scooted towards me, and one long deep kiss was all she needed.  I became putty in her hands.  After that?  She could mold me however she wanted.

I groaned happily, and pulled her close. 

“Mmm,” she murmured.

“Mm-hm,” I agreed.

I took a deep breath, burying my nose in the warmth of her hair.  I loved the way she smelled, the scents of herbal perfume, and smoke, and alcohol from the bar swirling around her like veil, revealing more than it hid as the smell of her skin bled through. 

It was a beautiful mixture.  The kind that had me half-hard even after I just came.

“You’re beautiful.”  She smiled at me as she said it, those bright eyes alight. 

I blinked.  What the hell did she mean beautiful?  I was anything but.

“You sure you’re not drunk?”  I chuckled.

“No, baby, but I am tired.”  Emma snuggled into my side and closed her eyes, clinging to me.  The feel of her pressed against me, her body still bare and her blood pulsing in time with my own filled me with a deep sense of being where I belonged.

I didn’t want to fall asleep, but we had well and truly worn each other out. 

I didn’t want to let her go.

She was mine.

And I was hers.