I’d never been more thankful to wear Aurora’s skin than I was that night. Yeah, I hadn’t put my contacts in, but even with the glasses, I was confident in my bodysuit and cut-offs. My tights were ripped from where Jericho had fucked me earlier, and with the taste of him still in the back of my mouth, I shook hands with his ex and pretended like she wasn’t a million percent prettier than me. Even six months pregnant.
“Nikki,” she said, rubbing a hand over her enormous belly. Was Jericho sure the baby wasn’t his? Because the way she looked at me wasn’t the way someone looked at the new girl of an ex they’d gotten over.
“And this is Ru,” Selene said, pointing to another girl around the same age as us. “The VP’s daughter.”
So many people. So many names. Luckily, the members of the club had theirs on their cuts, so it was easier to remember for me. But this girl? Ru? She reminded me of someone else, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Something about her eyes, her nose, and her curly brown hair.
“How’d you meet KC?” Ru asked, taking a swig of her beer.
“At a party.” I took a drink of mine after Selene set it down in front of me, swallowing the bitterness and telling myself it had nothing to do with Nikki’s stare.
“Oh, right,” Nikki said. “You’re the girl he abandoned Trojan for.”
“He didn’t abandon Trojan,” Selene said. “Trojan was fine on his own.”
“Must have been some prime pussy,” Nikki said.
I cleared my throat, wondering what I should do. I didn’t buy into the whole territorial feminine rage thing. She owned a piece of Jericho I’d never have, and I recognized that. We both had people who loved us before, and if Nikki could respect my new place in his life, I’d respect her old. It didn’t have to be like this.
“Looks like the knockoff version of me,” she said.
Apparently, Nikki didn’t feel the same way.
“Or maybe you were just the prequel version of me,” I said. “You know, the shorter, shittier lead-up to the main event?”
Selene and Ru gasped, but Nikki glared at me, almost like she was trying to figure out if I’d really said that to her.
“Besides, why do you care?” I sipped my drink. “Didn’t you like… fuck the entire club or something?” Nikki’s mouth fell open. “Not that I’m slut shaming you, but maybe you should have broken up with your boyfriend before you did.”
Ru burst out laughing, and Selene’s grin widened.
“What are you ladies giggling at?” another guy said, coming up to stand next to Ru. He threw an arm over her shoulders and tipped his beer over his lips.
His name tag read Saint.
“Nikki’s trying to intimidate KC’s new girl, and New Girl is showing us why KC’s a fan of that mouth,” Ru said. “Alba, this is Saint, my dad’s annoying best friend. Saint, this is KC’s new girl, Alba.”
Saint smiled. “KC’s new girl, huh?” Then he looked at Nikki, who snapped her jaw shut. She pushed to her feet and waddled away in the slow rhythmic pace of someone in the last few months of pregnancy.
“Aw, c’mon,” Selene said. “You can dish it out, but you can’t take it?”
Nikki gave her the finger over her shoulder and slumped down on the couch next to a tall, bearded guy with a bald head. Pie. Her husband. The brother she’d cheated on Jericho with.
“Don’t mind her,” Selene said, rolling her eyes. “The pregnancy hormones made her skin thin as shit. Once upon a time, she might have kissed you for talking to her like that.”
I snorted. “Really?”
“Yeah, or punched you in the face. Either would have been entertaining.” Selene shrugged like getting punched in the face was no big deal, and then she topped off my beer with the tap. She crossed her arms over the bar and leaned toward me, narrowing her eyes like she was peeling me back layer by layer. “So what do you do, Alba?”
I tried not to squirm at her scrutiny, knowing I couldn’t be honest. Jericho and I had agreed to keep it a secret, and the MC was the last place he wanted anyone finding out about our videos.
“I’m a librarian.”
Saint laughed and Ru elbowed him in the gut, whispering a hushed, “Stop it.”
Selene narrowed her eyes even more. “A librarian?”
“Yeah. I mean”—I shifted uncomfortably, taking another sip of beer—“my mom’s been sick, so I haven’t worked in a while. But back when I did.” I cleared my throat, looking between the three of them. “I ran the program for teenagers.”
“What’s wrong with your mom?” Selene straightened, her gaze turning more serious. “If you don’t mind me asking. If it’s too personal—”
“Selene used to be a surgeon,” Ru added.
Selene rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I never finished my rotation.”
“You graduated medical school. That’s all that counts.”
Saint leaned down to whisper something in her ear that made her giggle and stare up at him with adoration in her eyes. She’d introduced him as her father’s annoying friend, and he definitely was too old for her, but the way they looked at each other hinted at something deeper and more intimate.
“So?” Selene brought my attention back to her.
“Cancer,” I said. “Terminal.”
“Oh, damn.” She winced. “Sorry to hear that.”
“Thank you.”
She smiled and clinked her beer with mine. “Cheers to parents gone too soon.”
Ignoring the rising tide of sadness, I blinked back tears and saluted with her. And that made me love his sister, right then and there.
“I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” Ru said, pushing to her feet. “Nice meeting you, Alba.” Then she headed toward the back of the club.
Saint looked between us and took a drink of his beer before nodding and backing away. He lingered for a moment, but then casually made his way after Ru.
“Are they…” I didn’t finish, deciding it was none of my business.
Selene sighed and shook her head, her eyes filling with a desperation, or maybe pity. “You sure you wanna get involved with a Rose?”
I furrowed my eyebrows. What is that supposed to mean?
“We’re all a bunch of fucked-up monsters.” She gave me a sad smile before turning to walk away, leaving me alone at the bar.
A bunch of fucked-up monsters.
I looked around. Jericho sat with a few other leather-clad tattooed dudes across the garage. To the right, a group of girls danced with other guys. Some older. Some younger. Behind me, women whispered sweet nothings into the ears of men wearing the Steel Roses colors. The entire place was made for catering to their hedonistic fantasies. Everything about it stank of iniquity, a house of Sodom, and I loved it.
Deciding I had to pee, I made my way to the bathroom and did my business, checking my makeup in the mirror after I washed my hands. Despite Jericho being so rough with me earlier, I still looked hot. I smiled and turned to head back into the hall, but someone coming down the corridor blocked my way.
“Hi there, gorgeous.” A man about twenty years older winked and tossed back a shot, holding out an arm to block me. “Do I know you?”
“No.” I gave him a small smile and tried to duck around his body.
“Are you sure?” He narrowed his dark eyes, and I looked at the SRMC-BOS patch on his cut. A brother from another chapter. Boston, I guessed. His name tag read Brutus.
“Aurora,” I lied. I didn’t like the way this guy looked at me, so I tried to get around him again.
“Aurora,” he repeated, grabbing my wrist to stop me. “That’s a pretty name. You from around here?”
My heart kicked in my chest, and the man’s piercing stare terrified me. It was as if he didn’t see me as a person. He only saw me as a toy, something he could use. Is that how he viewed the other women here? Is that how they viewed themselves? Selene and Ru seemed like self-assured powerhouses. Hell, Nikki and I had a disagreement, but even I could admit, she seemed tough.
“Yep,” I said, trying to yank my arm away. “I have to go—”
“I remember you. You look like someone. Do you know Alessandra Cap—”
“Get off me,” I said again, this time louder, yanking harder.
“What’s your problem? I’m just trying to talk.” The man tugged me close, hissing in my face, and I struggled against him until he finally loosened his hold and I stumbled back, landing hard on my palms and butt.
Jericho pushed the guy against the wall with one hand, pounding into his face with the other.
“Get off me means get your fucking hands off her,” Jericho shouted. “You understand?”
“KC!” Thor shouted, yanking him off my assailant. “KC, enough! He got the point.”
Jericho took a few steps back, and the guy sank to the floor, blood dripping down his chin from his broken nose. A few of his brothers came to help him, but I focused my attention on Jericho, who ran bloody hands through his hair before grabbing my arm and tugging me to my feet.
“Are you okay?” He ran his eyes over the length of me, checking for damage.
I hissed in a breath as a sharp pain echoed up my arm, and I held up my hand, where a piece of wood stuck out of my palm. I’d gotten a splinter from the floor, and Jesus Christ, as much as it hurt, it looked a million times worse.
“C’mon,” Jer said. “I can fix that.” He grabbed my good hand and stalked to the back, leading me along behind him.
* * *
I sat on a bed in a room at the far end of the clubhouse while Jericho nursed and dressed the wound. Once the wood was out, the cut wasn’t that bad, even if it hurt like hell. He wrapped a bandage around it and pressed a kiss to the center of my hand before winking and rising to clean up.
“Wait,” I said. He paused and turned to me. “Come here.”
He sat back down, and I grabbed the peroxide, pouring it on a piece of gauze before rubbing it over his knuckles. He winced and hissed, but let me take care of him.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I whispered.
“Do what?”
“Pounce on that guy like that.”
“Yeah, I did.” He shook his head and looked at the ground, giving me a coy smile. “If I didn’t, everyone in that room would have thought it was okay to handle you like that. Now, they know it’s not.”
I acted like that didn’t thrill me to death.
“No one touches any woman who says let go.” His hand jerked when I went over a particularly sensitive area. “Especially not someone that’s min—”
My fingers froze and I straightened, snapping my gaze to his. That bordered a little too close on something we weren’t supposed to feel for each other. This wasn’t permanent. This was only until my mother died. Only until I got the hell out of here. Only until I couldn’t run anymore. But I had to admit hearing him call me his made my heart pound in my chest. I wanted to be his. I had wanted that maybe since I met him.
Don’t fall in love with him, came my mother’s voice. He’ll never choose you over the club.
He must’ve sensed my hesitation because he made an awkward laughing noise and rubbed at the back of his head. “Someone I’m fucking. We’re exclusive. Remember?”
“Right,” I said, going back to cleaning him up.
“I won’t stand for anyone hurting you.” He pulled out of my grip and cupped my jaw, tilting my head up so I had to look at him. “Ever. You fucking get me? No one hurts you. Not me. Not anyone.”
“I know.” And I did. I believed that might have been one of the most honest things he’d ever said to me.
“Now it’s time for your punishment.”
“My what?”
“Oh, you didn’t think I’d let that friends comment go, did you?”
I moved my eyes back and forth between his. “Friends?”
“When Hollywood asked what we were and you said… friends.”
“We are friends.”
“Uh-huh.” He stood, walking over to the door so he could flip the lock closed. The sound reverberated through the room, kicking my heart into overdrive. I knew this look in his eye. This wasn’t Jericho. Not anymore. Kaleb had been let out of the cage, and he was here to play.
Fine. He wanted to do this where everyone could hear us? Let’s play.
He turned to face me, his hands linked together at the small of his back. “I still have the taste of your cunt in the back of my mouth. Is that something friends do?”
I swallowed, likewise relishing the taste of him lingering on my tongue, and I leaned back on my good hand, staring up at my devious God of chaos, waiting to see what he would make of this impudent mortal.
“Your lipstick is still on my cock.” He took another step closer. “Is that something friends do?”
My pulse echoed in my clit, and my pussy throbbed. God, I wanted to touch myself. But I knew if I did, it would piss him off. I’d never seen him this commanding, and it both exhilarated and terrified me. I needed to tread carefully. I danced with the devil tonight.
“I know how it feels when your ass comes around my dick.” He put his hands on either side of my hips, leaning down to bring his face millimeters from mine. I tasted his breath, which smelled like me and beer and cigarettes. And him. So deliciously him.
God, I wanted to kiss him.
I wanted to tunnel my fingers into his hair and devour that mouth until it melted for me. I stared at his lips, licking my own and drawing his attention down to them.
“Tell me we’re friends again,” he snarled. It held more bite than I’d ever heard him use with me. Was it the jealousy of seeing another man put his hands on me? Or was it because he’d told himself this was professional, and after only a week, it felt so far removed from that? Like Jericho and I had been made for each other. Literally.
“Say it.”
My throat felt dry and hoarse as I muttered, “We’re friends.”
“Do friends fuck each other’s faces?” He fisted my hair and unzipped his jeans, yanking my head toward his cock. Instinctually, I put it in my mouth, sucking it how he liked to get him hard as a rock. “Do friends take their fucking like good little sluts?”
He pulled me away from him, the sting in my hair matched by the anticipation burning in my gut. I turned around and bent over the twin-sized bed, the smell of dust and old sweat hitting me in the face. But I didn’t focus on that because Jericho wrenched my shorts down to my ankles and unclipped my bodysuit. He wasted no time preparing me, and honestly, I didn’t need it. I’d been wet since he went down on me at the overlook.
He pressed one hand into my shoulder blades and the other to the side of my head, pinning me down while he slipped all the way inside me.
The first thrust always hurt. He was so big, and I was so tight. Until I got used to him, I took pleasure in the agony. It tumbled together in my head, the pain and euphoria.
“Do you get so fucking wet for your other friends?” He growled next to my ear, his massive body covering me as he nipped at my shoulder and neck. It sent shivers down that whole side of my body, and I curled my fists into the blankets, struggling to maintain my balance against his punishing thrusts. In. Out. In. Out. So fucking deep. So fucking hard.
And it hit just the right spots every time.
I tried to put one hand between my legs to massage my clit, but he grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm behind my back.
“Oh no, friends don’t get to touch. This pussy is mine, and I told you I didn’t share. Not with my… friends.”
He slowed his pace, bringing me back down to torture me.
I kicked my feet out, frustration raging from my throat in an angry growl. “What do you want from me?”
“What do I want?” He paused, slowly dragging himself out of me, inch by agonizing inch. “God, what the fuck do I want? So many things.”
“Why aren’t we friends, Jericho?” I murmured. “Do you want more?”
“Yes,” he snarled, sinking his fingers into my wrists so hard that his nails would leave imprints. I didn’t care. “I want all of you. All the time. Every day. Every night.”
Yes. Yes. Yes.
God, I wanted that, too. A great terrible knowing toppled on the brink of shattering over my head. I knew what it was, but I didn’t want to face it yet.
Not yet. It’ll be too much.
My heart pounded against my ribs. Every nerve in my body had come to life, reminding me to live in the present with him.
“You have it.” I rolled my pelvis against him, moving him inside me and making him hiss in a breath through his teeth. “You have me, Jericho.”
He pressed his forehead against the back of my head and fucked me hard again, so rough that our thighs slapped together in a loud, punishing rhythm. I almost didn’t hear him mutter, “But I want you forever.”
It broke something inside me, something I hadn’t even known I’d built around my heart. There was a part of me, a part of both Alba and Aurora, that wanted to keep him forever, too. I came with tears on my cheeks, and when he finished deep inside me, I expected him to step away and wipe me down with a towel like he always did.
Instead, he knelt to the ground behind me and kissed the insides of my thighs.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Another kiss right on my abused clit. I jumped and fell forward, but he wrapped his arms around my thighs to hold me upright. “I won’t ever hurt you.” He flicked his tongue over my swollen flesh, angry and fiery from his cock. But the soothing heat of his mouth made me spread my legs wider for him. I moaned.
He seized on the opportunity, sucking my clit and working his fingers inside me. I came again, and this time, I couldn’t hold myself upright. By the end of it, I was slumped in his lap on the ground, my head back against his shoulder and his arms wrapped around me from behind.
“Now that was a fucking sex scene,” Jericho said.
I gave a half-hearted chuckle before rubbing my hands over my face. My nerves vibrated with the knowledge echoing in my bones. I was pretty sure I was falling in love with Jericho. Or perhaps I’d been in love with him all this time and only now started to realize it. Either was bad news.