Chapter 16

Sixteen

LIVIA

Try to show a little affection to a man and all he wants is to take it all the way. I only wanted to thank Max for what he did for me. That’s it. Really. Instead, he tried to turn that into something more.

It doesn’t matter that I want his cock. I know that if I use it, there’ll be no going back. That kiss was enough. Despite him doing a noble thing for me, I still cannot trust him. Not completely. Not in the way royalty from Gnarled Pine should trust a mate. He’s a man... My mother put her faith in my father, and it got her killed. And she was even able to play the perfect wife. She wasn’t damaged like me.

Goes to show you can’t trust anyone to protect you, to not hurt you. Everyone is out for themselves. It’s better to be alone; it’s safer. And I wouldn’t be if I kept kissing Max. At least my heart wouldn’t be. I’d want more.

Maybe I should give in to him and just fuck him once, then be done with it. Could I do that? No, there’s no way. I need to be honest with myself. I can’t let us be together. It would break us both.

We still have to work together to get the rest of the weapons, and I can’t be getting distracted by his perfect dick. Oh, and what a perfect cock it is. Smooth, thick, long, straight, round head… I have no right to be as jealous as I am, but if he heads to the Crimson Angel, I should get with someone else, too. Maybe it’ll help me get over him.

Only a week after the run-in with the grouchy bear in his home gym, winter has set in our city. The biting air mauls my skin, causing my fingers to stiffen when I grip my leather jacket tightly as I maneuver myself out of the Barracuda. Max insisted on driving again. We rode in silence during the entire three-hour journey to our latest meeting spot. Just the two of us, because Derichs is still babysitting Arianna while Jakob recovers.

Poor guy apparently got clipped in the leg during a firefight with Ace’s guys. Ari said it happened while he was trying to sneak something to her from Wyatt under the guise of delivering her bike parts. Their relationship was already causing issues, but our rendezvous at the casino seemed to have some dire consequences. It’s getting more dangerous to walk on the streets.

Stretching my neck with a sigh, I remember my promise to the younger Freidenberg that I would speak with her brother about letting her go to the motorcycle shop. However, now is most definitely not the time. Max and I haven’t spoken in complete sentences to each other since our kiss. Well, “kiss” implies something simple, like mouths combining, but that was something far beyond anything I’d ever experienced. Transformative… and dangerous.

Echoes informed me he went to the Crimson Angel a couple of times. Then snapped her mouth shut, saying she was instructed not to tell me anything further. Just thinking about him with someone else makes me want to vomit. Or kick his shins in.

“You loaded?” Max pops a bullet in his chamber before putting his handgun in his holster. Irritation rings underneath his husky voice, shaking me from my inner thoughts. It’s the first words he’s spoken other than “gas” and “let’s go.” I do the same with my weapon, dramatically jerking the slide with a loud clang.

“Yes,” I say with just as much flatness as he mustered. Without looking at me, he lifts his finger toward an alley of the brick building we pulled up to.

“Move.” I pop my jaw at his brusqueness, but head across the street with him, trying to keep up with his long strides.

Owned by a Mr. Gabriel Sosa, the head of some ring of trafficking, the building is supposed to be an underground sex club. Briefly, I wonder if he’s great friends with Strauss… and what trouble that could cause us.

Lecherton is a grimy metropolis filled with corruption much like home. But they have weapons. Lots of weapons. If we broker a good deal with Sosa, we’ll be set. No more of these day trips to seedy joints. No more quests. Max and I can part ways and our men can do the exchanges without us ever having to interact again.

When we arrive at the solid metal door on the side of the building, it doesn’t matter that we have our handguns. Once again, our weapons are confiscated before we can walk down the stairs. At least I have my trusty blade tucked into my boot. After one large security guy pats down Max, I notice he skips his knife tucked in his waistband.

Another city, another sordid boss. This one, however, is lounging on a purple velvet sofa with three women’s heads knelt before his open pants when we’re shown into a playroom. It’s filled with a large bed, several sofas, and black lava lamps. Not too unlike the Crimson Angel, so Max should feel right at home.

Gabriel is attractive. From what I can tell under his black dress shirt, his body is cut, and he doesn’t look terribly old, probably in his late thirties. His dick must be big because the three girls each have a piece in their mouths. Leaning my head to the side, I make out that one has one ball, one has the other, and one has the shaft. It’s economical, the way they have it divided up, and I nod my approval as Max stares at the situation with an unamused expression.

“Come in, come in, baby.” Gabriel motions us inside with just his fingers, each filled with gold and black rings. With the top of his black-haired head, he points to a sofa next to his as he brings a palm up to stroke his goatee, his dark eyes continuing to watch the show between his knees. We sit, Max with his legs wide apart, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his thighs, his eyes never leaving the girls at their work. But instead of lust or longing on his face, he seems disgusted. I drop to the seat beside him, feeling Gabriel’s gaze scan my chest, my waist, my hips, my thighs. As my eyes meet his, his long, black lashes flutter at me longingly while petting two of the women’s heads as if they are dogs.

“You want?” Gabriel asks with a glance at Max. He pulls one girl off his sack, snatching her head by the hair and holding it back so Max can get a look at her gaping mouth. Like she’s property. Max shakes his head, a slight frown meeting the corners of his lips. Gabriel settles her back to her job.

Thrusting his hips up, he obviously finishes down the middle woman’s throat while the other two moan in pleasure, suckling his testicles. Gabriel’s head is thrown back for a moment in ecstasy before he slides back into his seat to relax. “Fuck. Clean me up, dear. Share some with the others.” The girls swap the semen between one another’s mouths dramatically, allowing strands of white jizz to string between their chins and lips while seemingly eyeing him for approval. My stomach rolls at the sight of it.

Gabriel tucks himself back into his pants and zips up. When the women stand, he swats two on their asses and smiles. “That’s my good girls.” Stretching his arms across the back of the sofa, he asks, “Now, what can I do for you?”

Gabriel’s post-ecstasy face and dark brown eyes stare right at me, so I take the lead. “We’re here for weapons. I think Nick spoke with you⁠—”

“Yes, sweetheart. I understand. I can get you all the weapons you need.” His head rests lazily against the sofa as he lulls in a monotone voice. Like it’s a Tuesday. “Grenades? Flamethrowers? Shotguns? Automatics? A tank? What do you want?”

He’s oozing with confidence and seems laid back. With his boldness, it makes me feel more at ease until I let out a small chuckle. “Um, all of it.”

Gabriel smiles broadly, causing his face to change from attractive to quite handsome. Max’s shoulders stiffen beside me as I answer, but I’m not sure why. He just got a good show. As a frequenter of sex clubs, I’m sure this is nothing new for him.

“I’d be thrilled to give them to you.” His smile falters as his black eyes turn to onyx with some level of foreboding, causing me to feel like I forgot to study for a test I didn’t know we were having. “You really are beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I glance at Max, who’s staring down Gabriel, like he’s ready to pounce at any moment. The guy is a bit smarmy, but he seems like he will work with us. “So, what do you want in exchange?”

“I want to fuck you.”

My breath catches with my open-mouthed gasp. I didn’t expect that. “Uh⁠—”

“Absolutely not,” Max interrupts, his voice ringing out with finality while his paws clench so tightly the knuckles turn his olive skin white.

Gabriel relaxes back farther and sighs, as if he has won a game. “Oh? One little fuck and you can have everything you want. Does she belong to you?” He looks at Max. Max turns his eyes down briefly to glance at me, then slowly shakes his head like when he would lose a match in the ring. “Okay, then.”

“I’ll do it,” I say with assuredness. Fake it till I make it, right?

“No, you won’t.” Max’s eyes flare when he whips his head to me. I’ve never seen him look so tense. His piercing stare gashes my self-control, and all the irritation I’ve had over the last week spews up and out at him.

“You went to the Crimson Angel. I’m going to fuck Gabriel for weapons. No big deal.” The words snap out of my mouth like a whip, hoping they cut into his icy exterior.

“The fuck? Try me, foxy. Try me and see what happens.” If he were a bear, his haunches would be all the way up. I’m sure Max has had his recent fill of women. Why is he so concerned? This could give us both the distance we need from each other. If I have sex with Sosa, maybe I won’t be so attached, and Max could get over trying to own me.

Snubbing him, I turn to Sosa and ask, “Just one fuck, and then we can have the weapons?”

Gabriel chortles, a loud, boisterous sound, as if we were just put on a comedy show for him. “Yes, just one time where I get inside you. That’s all I want, beautiful. Well, all I wanted. Now, I really want him to watch us.” He points at Max, who glares at him, his nostrils puffing out with his exhales. This only makes Sosa roar with laughter.

Max grips my thigh with his large palm. “I’m telling you, Livia. Do not do this.”

Lowering my voice, I speak through gritted teeth. “And I’m telling you, I’m fucking this guy. We need those weapons.”

“No, we don’t, little fox. We have plenty now. We’ll make do. Let’s go.” Pulling on my leg, he attempts to make me move, but I hold firm.

“All this arguing between you lovers is getting me hard again.” Gabriel chuckles and grabs his dick that is firming against his thigh. “I think I’m going to last a while with you, sweetheart.” He holds out a hand to me. Watching Max’s rage rise in his flaming cheeks, I gracefully stand from my seat and stroll over to take the man’s outstretched palm. It’s soft and warm.

There’s comfort in fucking someone you don’t care about. Intoxicating power. Like I can get away with something bad without feeling guilt or shame. It feels safe in a way. Sex with Max could cause a pain I’d never be rid of.

Sure, yes, most of me wants to get back at Max for going to the Crimson Angel. For giving up on me so quickly when I wouldn’t give it up to him. Making me feel like a cheap plastic toy he would throw away once he played with it. Now, he’s just trying to claim what isn’t his. It’s not like he really cares about me, just the idea of me or what he can’t have. His legacy, his heirs… all that Gnarled Pine Hollow poison ingrained in him.

Max jumps up and snatches my loose hand before I sit. There’s a desperation in his eyes I’ve never seen before, a vulnerability there I didn’t know was possible. “Foxy.” His voice is soothing. “Please, don’t. Please.”

My tug breaks our contact. If my right hand wasn’t still in Gabriel’s, I’d rub my lucky charm. Instead, I sit on the boss’s lap. “It’s just one fuck, Max,” I say, fluttering my lashes as if I’m trying a new style of fries at a fast-food restaurant.

Gabriel nuzzles my neck. Into my hair, he commands Max, “You can sit there and observe, or the chair in the corner. Whichever you prefer.”

I slide off his legs as he stands, then guides me by the waist to the bed at the back of the room. Max’s figure looks like a gargoyle in front of the sofa, his shoulders still tensed up to his ears, still and foreboding.

Gabriel pulls me into his taut body, wrapping his hands around my head while he kisses me with his large, plush lips. A taste of stale cigars blows into my mouth, so I lean back, breaking his grasp to get away from it. When I open my eyes, Max is staring down Gabriel’s back from his guarded position, fire flaming from his countenance.

Ignoring the bear, I undo Gabriel’s buttons as he helps me undress. His hands immediately grasp my breasts and twist my nipple bars like he’s never seen them, while he huffs an excited bitter smelling breath in my face. When Gabriel’s tongue moves to lick my rings, Max stalks to the corner chair for a closer inspection. His gaze remains dark and intense, the rage radiating off his body causing the temperature to rise within the room.

Moaning loudly, I let my head fall back and stroke Gabriel’s dark, short hair. With a scoff, Max removes his dress coat, then unbuttons his shirt, letting it gape open at the top. Gabriel lifts me up and tosses me onto the bed, the pillows greeting my head when I land. He crawls between my knees and slaps them apart with an open palm, the sting causing me to jolt with shock. Giving a cursory smirk at Max, he dips his head between my thighs and laps his tongue straight up my center. He’s not skilled, but it’s getting the job done.

Even from this distance, I sense how antsy Max is fidgeting next to the bed. I wish I didn’t. Can’t I just fuck someone else and forget the spell he’s put me under? Just like he did to me?

Gabriel’s careless mouth works me sloppily until I’m wet with his saliva alone. Yet here I am… All I can think of is the man sitting next to me.

Shoving two fingers inside me, he does that thing guys think gets girls hot, but really, it’s just annoying. Grinding his fingers roughly inside, punching my cervix repeatedly. I pull my hips back to show him where it feels good, but he misinterprets my movements. “Yeah, baby. You like that?”

No, I don’t. I want to say it, but now I just want him to finish. Grasping his wrist, I show him where to touch me. Crooking a thick, dark eyebrow, he seems confused that someone would be so forward with him. His dick juts out starkly between his legs when he sits back on his knees. “Be a sport and grab me a condom there, would you?” he asks Max with a snarky smirk.

Max seems to have softened in his expression. Or is it resolve? The eerie calmness replacing his ire is making me even more nervous than before and, for the first time, I reconsider jumping in and agreeing to do this. Casually, Max grabs a condom from a nearby table, then hands it to Gabriel, tucked between two large fingers.

Gabriel rips it open and suits up, then leans over my body. Hopefully, he’s better with his dick than his fingers. “You ready, sweetheart?”

Wrapping my legs around him, I nod. He lines up and shoves in. His hips thrust erratically, without much rhythm. Despite his obvious sexual proclivities, he likely has never had to think about pleasing anyone else. His gyrations make it painfully obvious he’s only here for his own gratification. I could be anyone. Like a pocket pussy. Settling back on the mattress, I will it to be over as soon as possible. At least we’ll get the weapons. And Max will be pissed that I slept with someone else, just like he did.

Gabriel grips my hips and sits up so he’s kneeling while jackhammering into me, and I arch my back, my eyes meeting his squinted ones. He’s not really looking at me, perhaps just imagining a scene in his head. Maybe it’s better if I close my eyes, so I don’t have to remember this. Squeezing my lids tightly shut, I try to think about anything else. Like the mantra of “rifles, flamethrowers, and grenades, oh my” over and over with every annoyingly painful stab of his dick inside me.

After only two more awkward thrusts, the bed dips, and Gabriel lets out a choked grunt. His thumbs dig into the apex of my hips with such force, it feels as if he’s tearing me in two. The biting pain screams through me like two red-hot pokers until a spasm jerks him free. A warm spray hits my face, chest, stomach, and thighs. Who knew he would have so much cum and so quickly, too?

My eyes snap open at a gurgling sound just in time to see Max kneeling behind Gabriel on the bed. A wide, crimson grin erupts from his neck, like a gaping maw that grows deeper as Max draws his knife across the divide. Gabriel’s eyes and mouth are wide with horror, his throat open in a savage smile matching his silent scream while his head flips back at an awkward angle.

Red gushes in spurts, landing in my open mouth, my eyes, my hair… It’s all over me, coating and soaking into every surface. There’s no escape from the scalding tidal wave of life leaving his body. Max shoves the body, and it slumps forward, Gabriel’s forever frozen stare leaning ever closer to my face, but before the dead falls on me, Max pushes it to the side. Gabriel hits the floor with a loud thud.

A panicked shriek rises deep within my belly, clawing its way through my windpipe, but Max lays his naked body on top of mine, causing the air to be knocked from my lungs. His bloodied hand slaps across my mouth, dripping wet hot liquid over my face. Gripping my waist, he pulls me onto his lap until we sit together. As I open my mouth to let the sound escape, Max crashes his lips onto mine. My scream is sucked into his lungs as he plunges his hardness inside me, his thick cock filling me completely as his tongue entwines with mine, muffling my terror and transforming it into something else entirely. His hand clutches the back of my head, steadily holding mine to his, and on impulse, I hold on to his shoulders just as harshly.

The sheets of blood coating our bodies cause them to slicken against each other. Our thighs slap with each punch of his hips, spurts of droplets spraying out when we meet. The urge to yell subsides with every stroke of his dick, soothing and comforting me with inconceivable safety. Instead of a scream, a whimper erupts from my chest, oozing out pleasure and shock.

Max pulls his lips back just enough to growl in a commanding voice, “I told you not to fucking test me, Livia. Look at me. Look. At. Me.” He gathers my hair and pulls my face back, our eyes locking with a searing gaze. “You’re fucking mine. Do you hear me? Mine. Mine. Mine.” He accentuates his point with each stab of his cock. “No one else’s. No one else. You and me. We’re together.”

Gripping him tightly, I grind my hips down every time he thrusts deeper. My fingers beg to grasp more surface of him, slippery with the blood of our enemy, the smell, the metallic taste of the liquid invading our lovemaking.

“You see this? This is us as one. You and me are one now. That’s it. You hear me, little fox?” Gripping my chin between a finger and his large thumb, he asks as my vision blurs with the tears that gather there, which spill over to mix with the red smears, cooling the pink of my flaming cheeks.

I’m crying because I need him. Because I’ve wanted him. Because I never allowed myself to indulge in this, and now, we’re here. I cry because I fear I’ll never feel this fulfilled again. That he’ll love me and then leave. That he’ll kill me… He may even kill me now.

Laying me back against the pillows, he remains inside me, but cups my face with his large hands. His thumbs stroke the tears from my cheeks as he pushes inside me slowly, repeatedly, arduously, like we have all the time in the world and he’s going to take longer than that. He’s now covered in all the blood that was on me. Our perspiration has combined, leaving us a sticky mess, glued together everywhere.

“Shh, shh, foxy. Don’t cry. I told you, you’re mine. Do you understand?” The soothing sounds he makes have me wrapping my fingers through his black waves, wet with sweat and serum.

Nodding my reply, he scoops my lips into his again. Tingles erupt from my core, twinkling around my spine, and shoot through my legs and into my arms. Wrapping myself fully around him like moss on a tree, his cock works deep within me until there’s no inch to spare. He was made for me.

Moving my hips in rhythm with his, I hump him as much as he writhes against me. With one last shove, my being unravels, the elation trickling from my soul as the squeal I dampened earlier comes out like a raging beast. No thoughts stream through my mind; all I know is ecstasy.

Returning from the throes of pleasure, my fingers sense the thick strands on his head, his warm skin and my pussy clutched onto him, holding him down as if his cock is the flying buttress of support for the cathedral of my body. If he leaves, I’ll collapse into rubble. “Fuck! You have a grip on me, foxy. I can’t pull out. I’m going to come inside you.”

His hot seed spews until I feel so full my womb could explode. My legs tremble around his waist, nails still stuck like pins into his back. Strong boulder biceps surround me, squeezing me, before he drops his head onto the pillow next to mine. Between gasps for air, a muffled moan breaks through his mouth, barely audible, covered by the layers of fabric.

A minute passes, and he lifts his head to give me a dazed look that returns to laser focus as his chest stops huffing breaths. “We need to get the fuck out of here,” he says, as if suddenly realizing the danger we just put ourselves in.

I make some type of affirmative sound. Max leaps off the bed and tosses me my clothes while quickly dressing, and I do the same. Both of us look guilty as fuck, covered in Gabriel’s blood from head to toe. At least our clothes only have a few spots. Max shoves his knife back in his waistband and grabs a pistol from Gabriel’s pants lying on the floor. Gripping my hand, he leads us into the hall, putting his body in front of mine.

Wails of pleasure and pain echo throughout the building as we hasten to the exit. Before I know what’s happening, Max pulls my body tight to his chest, his arm engulfing me as his sports coat surrounds my face. He turns us sideways while raising the gun, firing two shots into the guards on either side of the entrance, dead between their eyes. Burying my face into his corded chest, muffled screams greet my ears and resound off the walls in the reception area. As I peek up from his protective embrace, I watch several patrons scramble in panicked chaos around the room.

“Move, foxy.” Reaching into my pocket, I rub my charm three times, counting while running out the door with Max, his warm hand still intertwined with mine.

Once we reach the Barracuda, Max throws me over his shoulder, and tosses me into the passenger seat before sliding across the car’s hood on one hip like a vigilante. He swiftly jumps in and takes off with a full press on the gas, and as we motor away, he punches the ceiling of the car. “Fuck yeah! Woo!”

The intensity we just had breaks, and I smile with a small laugh at his exhilaration. “Great shots. Fantastic aim.”

Grasping my hand under his, he uses our laced fingers to shift gears. “Yeah, glad I went to the range.” His eyes scan the rearview mirror, checking for any followers. Turning, I watch behind us to keep an eye out for any danger. No one’s there.

“We could be in real trouble, Max. They know us.”

His Adam’s apple bobs. “I know.” Lifting our hands, he kisses my knuckles, then lowers them to the gear stick and shifts into fifth. “He wasn’t going to take what was mine. And you are, Livia. You’re mine. Tell me you understand that now.”

“I do.” And I do. I am his. Probably always have been, and I know that. The problem is, being his doesn’t mean I’m safe. It doesn’t mean I can trust him. And once he finds out how damaged I am…he’ll probably toss me away or kill me.

Lifting a corner of his lips, he smirks while monitoring the road. “I told you I’d take it.”

I purse my lips at his arrogance, but still can’t help the grin threatening to escape. “You did.”

Max points us to the highway. “Uh, do you think…” His deep-set eyes glance toward my abdomen.

“What?”

“Is there a chance you could get pregnant?” There’s that look again that he got in the hotel room. Almost as if he’d win a second round tonight if I answered him affirmatively.

“No.”

His brow furrows as he turns to me with something like disappointment. “I thought you said you weren’t on birth control!”

“No, I didn’t answer, and you just assumed I wasn’t.”

“Oh.” Max focuses on the road, going quiet.

I try to pull my hand back, but he won’t loosen his grip. “Sooo sorry you won’t get your precious heir from me.” Letting the sarcasm fly heavily, I swivel my hips away from him in my seat.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

Jutting my chin out, I crack out the words I’ve wanted to say for a long time. “Is that what you thought? Thought you’d impregnate me for your legacy? I’m worth⁠—”

“Let’s get one thing straight, foxy. I want you. Let me rephrase. I want you. I have since we were kids. Fuck! How could you not see that? I mean, yeah, I’d love to knock you up, get an heir, but that’s not why I want to be with you.” Squeezing my fingers tighter, he shakes his head. “You’re fucking ferocious, you know that? You’re more a bear than me. No one else could… I think we make an amazing team, and I want you on my side. Not kicking my shins in.”

Snorting, I huff a loud breath. “How was the Crimson Angel?” All the talk about being his. What a crock of shit.

Max drops his head against the back of the seat. “Echoes tell you I was there?”

“Does it matter?”

“I thought you weren’t mine, huh? Isn’t that what you said? Livia, you just fucked some rando to piss me off.”

A deep sigh leaves my lungs as I purpose my gaze out the passenger window into the dark night. Max finally drops my hand, only to put a finger under my chin and force me to turn to him. “I didn’t fuck anyone else. As much as I wanted to cut every inch of your infection out of my skin, I couldn’t do it. You’re my brand of poison. And I only drink what’s bad for me.”

That emotion of being together in the room returns and my throat clenches with relief. His confession fills me with that never-ending ache and longing for him all over again. Maybe, for once, my hope isn’t a bad thing. What if we could actually work?

Gathering his hand off my face, I press my lips to his fingertips one at a time. “I’m your poison, huh?”

Max relaxes in his seat and smiles while looking back at the road. “Yeah.”

“You’re mine, too.”

Lacing our fingers back together, he says, “Yep. I am. Always have been.”