Chapter Nine

Sky

I have dreamed of this moment all my life.

The moment I would tour the college of my dreams, walking around campus along with a bunch of other bright-eyed students as some enthusiastic kid shows us around the school grounds. The labs are everything I ever dreamed of and more.

My classes officially start next week, and the thought of finally living the dream Nana and I always talked about sends my head spinning with excitement.

A smile is splitting my face when the tour ends and the freshmen start dispersing. I told Priest he could pick me up at four, so I figure I still have an hour left to walk around and get acquainted with the space where I'm going to spend the next four years.

My first stop is the library, and it's a far cry from the public library back in Marfa. The shelves stretch endlessly, filled with books of all shapes and sizes. I lose myself in the scent of old pages and the comforting atmosphere. There are students scattered around, some reading and others with their fingers dancing across keyboards.

A light tap on the shoulder has me turning around, and I come face to face with an older lady with glasses perched on her nose. "Can I help you find anything, sweetheart?"

My lips stretch in an even bigger smile as I shake my head. "No, thank you. I'm new so I'm just looking around."

"Then look your fill, honey. I can tell you're going to be a regular."

The smile stays as I walk to the science section. I ignore the few looks I get from the male students, too excited by the library to focus on anything else.

I must lose myself because when I next check the time, I have only five minutes before Priest arrives. I give the books in the section a loving pat before rushing out of the library. It takes me longer than I'd like to admit to find the exit, but I arrive there before Priest does.

I catch the sound of the bike before I see him, and I turn to look with a smile. I spot Priest riding down the street toward me, and I entirely miss the van pulling up in front of me until I am being shoved into it.

The arms that grab me take me by surprise, and I don't have a chance to react until I am practically in the back of an SUV, kicking my feet at the man holding me.

Oh my God!

I have no idea what's happening, but fear rocks my chest like nothing I've felt before. No, that can't be true. I have been in this very situation before, and I felt this scared—helpless when the men grabbed me from the police car.

Wait . . .

Are these the same men who kidnapped me before? They can't be, can they? Perhaps they showed up to avenge their friends, and now they're going to . . . what?

Kill me?

Realizing that Priest saw the entire thing happen has my heart clenching with pain. Even when my eyes grow heavy and my breathing slower as I feel myself slowly lose consciousness, all I can think of is the man who's given me the world in such a short time.

It's okay if that's all I get in this lifetime. I won't get to have the full college experience I have craved for years, but it's fine because I got to have a taste of it, even if just for half a day.

It's okay if this is the end.

At least I got to meet the love of my life when I did.

***

I wake up to the sound of glass shattering, my eyes snapping open as I frantically look around in search of the source.

I spot a shattered bottle a few steps from where I am lying and two men pacing the floor around it, clearly anxious about something.

What happened?

Who are these men?

A skull-splitting headache has me slowly lowering my head back to the cool floor and closing my eyes in an attempt to ward it off. My brain is foggy, but I try as hard as I can to clear it. The last thing I remember is walking around the school library and the kind librarian's smile.

Priest.

My boyfriend was going to pick me up at the library entrance, but . . .

Kidnapped!

I whimper in pain as a harsh throb follows the memory, causing me to curl into myself. I can't help but question if the men hit me on the head or something, but my last memory is of one of them placing a smelly cloth over my nose and mouth.

Right, they must've drugged me. I read somewhere that it can cause headaches and nausea, but I could have done without finding out firsthand just how terrible it is.

"What the fuck do we do with her?" a voice draws me from my pity party. I figure we must be in some kind of warehouse from the way his voice echoes in the space and the concrete floor beneath me.

"I don't know! What was Prez thinking telling us to grab this girl? Do you know what he'll do to us if Priests finds out where we took his little whore?" another speaks. "The Broken Chains are no match for the Steel Order. We're fucked! We should be glad no one saw us grab her."

Oh, they're dead wrong about that, but since they gave me a migraine, I'm not exactly feeling generous with information.

Even so, I have no idea why they would take me.

Revenge against Priest for taking their friends? How the hell did they even find out about me and Priest?

I have so many questions, but I don't exactly have the energy to voice them. Fortunately, I don't have to wait long to find out.

"What do you think you assholes are doing?" a new voice barks through the cavernous space. I peek my eyes open and see a short, bulky man with a long unkempt beard and thick eyebrows. He spits on the floor as he approaches the other two men, and I notice the patch on his leather vest is the same as the one the men who'd kidnapped me the first time wore.

"Prez, what are we supposed to do with her?"

"I told you to kill her. That piece of shit, Priest, beat the hell out of my nephew. I can't let that stand. Those Steel Order motherfuckers need to stay the fuck out our business. Those girls were going to bring us so much money, and they ruined everything. We can't even try to get new girls because the police are onto us now!"

"What's their problem anyway?" one of the other men asks. "It's not like they don't move drugs and weapons either. What's it matter if we take a couple of girls no one cares about?"

The lack of remorse in their voices makes me want to climb to my feet and punch the men in their noses, but with my feet and hands bound and my head still swimming, I can't exactly leave the floor.

"Ever since Priest took over, they've been going more and more legit. Now, those fuckers are always meddling in—"

My head whips up when I catch the distant rumble of motorcycles growing louder and louder by the second. The sound reverberates through the walls of the warehouse, sending shivers down my spine.

"Fuck!" one of the men curses. "Do you think that's our crew?" His voice is shaky, indicating he doesn't believe that himself.

I can feel their anxiety build as the noise intensifies then cuts off completely. The sudden silence is deafening, and the men don't move. Finally, the one they'd called Prez walks toward the front windows, but he doesn't make it far before the doors burst open and a bunch of armed men storm in, guns ready to fire. My jaw drops to the floor at the scene, completely forgetting my headache. The pounding intensifies in my heart instead when I notice the patches on their vests.

I would know the Steel Order patch anywhere; I've spent the better part of two days looking through Priest's closet and staring at the steel, scale, and gun patch on most of his jackets.

As it turns out, I am not the only one stunned by their arrival as the three men drop to their knees, yelling for the bikers to not shoot.

"Don't shoot, please!" one of my kidnappers yells, but my attention is not on them. Instead, it's on the giant striding toward me with long, angry steps. He kicks one of the kneeling men on his way to me, and I wince at the pained cry he lets out.

Priest drops to his knee, taking out a knife from a sheath and cutting at the zip ties binding my hands and feet. He then proceeds to run his cold dark eyes over me to make sure I am not hurt.

"What do you want to do with them?" I catch Knight's cold voice from somewhere behind Priest.

"Take them to the Barn," Priest instructs.

"Figured you might say that," Knight responds. "Let's go, boys."

There is a lot of complaining and pleading from the kneeling men, but soon, everyone empties out of the warehouse, leaving Priest and I alone.

"I'm sorry, princess," he grinds out through clenched teeth. "I should have expected they would try to come after you."

"It's not your fault," I whisper, cupping my giant"s face, but he seems set on beating himself up.

"No, it's entirely my fault. I should have sent a prospect along with you for protection. I will assign someone to go along with you—"

A laugh bubbles out of me, cutting off his words. It's not light or airy as it echoes through the empty warehouse with how loud it is.

A few days ago, I never imagined I would be this happy. No one makes me as happy as Priest does.

"Only you, I swear," I say happily, brushing my lips against his firmly set ones. "Only you would get someone to shadow me taking classes." It's ridiculous, but it leaves me giddy that he would do something like that.

"I would do anything for you, princess."

"I see that," I whisper, brushing my lips along his once more, desire pushing out the anxiety that'd rocked me before.

He's here. I'm safe now.

Priest grabs my chin and tips it up as he gives into my need, kissing me and slowly draining the tension from my body. I wrap my arms around his shoulders even as I open up for him, our tongues dragging together in wet friction..

It has to be bad to feel so good. Every moment with this man tops the last in ways I could never have expected.

A sigh escapes my lips as I slip my hand under his vest to feel his chiseled muscles move under my fingers and love every second of it.

"We need to get you out of here, sweetheart," Priest rasps between kisses, but he's already dragging his hand up my skirt, leaving a trail of heat in every spot his fingers graze. "We can't stay in enemy territory for long."

"We'll be fast," I whimper against his lips, pushing up and practically climbing into his lap. My panties are damp with arousal, and the need for him grows by the second. I need to feel him inside me, but more than that . . . I want to reward him for coming to my rescue not once, but twice.

He brought dozens of his men just to rescue me.

My Daddy deserves to be rewarded for keeping his promise to protect me. To be reminded that I am the lucky one.

"Fuck, princess, what are you doing to me?" he hisses when I slip my hand between us and start working on his pants. My breathing grows short when I wrap my hand around his thick length, jerking him even as I tilt my head back when his lips drop to my neck.

I'm whimpering his name when he leans in to drag his tongue over my throat, my sex dripping with need, the feeling growing more intense with every kiss. "Want you, Daddy," I whimper, tugging hard at his swollen cock. He must share the sentiment because he reaches under my skirt and pushes my panties aside.

"I'm going to fuck you, princess. So fucking hard, you'll still be feeling me every time you sit down."

Oh God!

"Yes, Daddy," I sob, scrambling to position myself over him and guiding his thick, swollen cock to my pulsing heat. I'm dripping and needy, my body practically vibrating with the need for him as he fills me with every last inch of his massive shaft. His hand slips under my thigh to my ass as he rolls his hips. I'm already moving over him when he starts rocking into me, slowly at first before he picks up pace, fucking me harder, lifting me with both hands under my thighs and pulling me roughly back down so I'm impaled on his cock over and over again.

"So fucking tight!" he chokes. "How are you still so fucking tight, princess? And choking my cock with your wet little cunt."

My back arches and my head falls back as he drives his manhood into me, sending a rush of heat to my core and a tremble to my heart. It's too much, and yet, not enough.

"Harder, Daddy," I sob, feeling myself draw closer and closer to the edge, craving that free-falling feeling that only he can give me.

Priest gives into my desire, ramming into my sex like a crazed man, and when he molds his mouth with mine to capture my cry, I give in. It's more a touch of skin with our breaths mingling hot against each other than it is a kiss but . . . it's perfect.

Everything about this man is perfect.

"Touch yourself, princess," he growls against my lips. "Do it how Daddy showed you."

I nod frantically, dipping my hand between us to rub at the tight bundles of nerves, the friction of my fingers against my clit sending me over the edge with little warning as the explosion breaks through, sending stars shooting behind my eyes as my sex cinches hard around his wide girth. He's an animal, so feral as he pounds into me until he follows me off the cliff.

"Fuck!" he roars, his muscles bunching a second before I feel him spill his warm seed into my wet heat, rocking his hips faster and harder into me until I am a broken, sobbing mess in his lap. "Fuck, princess. I love you. You're everything to me," he breathes roughly into my ear.

He's everything to me, too.

Before him and the Steel Order MC, I had no one. Just a lost girl wandering a strange city for anyone to take advantage of, and he saved me.

He became my world too, and perhaps if my heart wasn't pounding in my ears and I wasn't gasping for air, I would tell him that. Instead, I settle for wrapping my arms around him, burying my face in his neck, and making a silent wish to the stars for a future with this man.

A happy, loving future with my gentle giant.