“And you undermined me in front of everyone!” she shoots back. “You treated me like I was fragile cargo that needed to be managed by someone else!”
“Youarefragile!” The words rip out of me, born from the terror that’s still clawing at my throat. “Christ, Darla, I watched a man run at you with a gun. Of course I’m going to treat you like you’re fragile!”
Her face softens, just for a second, the anger in her eyes replaced by something else. Something raw. She sees it. She sees the fear behind my rage. Instead of fighting back with more words, she surges forward.
Her mouth crashes into mine in a frantic, desperate collision of anger and something else I can’t name. Her hands fly up, fisting in my cut, pulling me down to her with a strength that surprises me. It’s not a soft kiss; it’s a battle, a desperate attempt to silence me, to communicate the only way she knows how right now.
As I kiss her back, I pour my fury and relief into it. I back her up against the gritty brick wall, my body pinning hers, one hand tangling in her hair, the other sliding down to cup her ass, lifting her against the hard ridge of my cock. A low groan rumbles in my chest as she instinctively grinds down.
Then I break away, panting, my forehead pressed against hers. “You’re trying to distract me,” I rasp, the words an accusation.
She looks up at me with dark and wild eyes, her lips swollen and glistening. A slow, wicked smile spreads across her face. “Is it working?”
“Fuck yes,” I growl, then my mouth is on hers again, but this time it’s different. It’s not a fight. It’s a surrender. She opens for me, a soft, yielding sound in the back of her throat, and I am lost.
An animal sound tears from my throat. I’m not just kissing her; I’m devouring her. My hands go to the button of her jeans, ripping it open, the sound of the metal popping unnaturally loud in the quiet alley. I yank the zipper down, my knuckles scraping against the rough denim.
“Get them off,” I rasp against her mouth.
Her hands are just as frantic, unbuckling my belt, her touch a brand against my skin. It’s a clumsy, desperate fumbling of two people who need to be inside each othernow. She shoves her jeans and panties down, kicking them off one foot, her body stumbling. I catch her, my hands gripping her hips, steadying her as I shove my own jeans down just far enough. The cool night air is a shock against my hot, straining skin.
My cock springs free, thick and hard and aching for her.
I don’t give her time to think. Surging forward, I lift her clean off the ground. Her legs wrap around my waist on instinct, her bare skin searing against the denim still clinging to my thighs. I slam her back against the cold, gritty brick wall, the impact stolen by our bodies.
Her pussy is right there, hot and waiting, slick with a need that matches my own. I position the head of my cock at her entrance, pressing into her wet heat. Seven years. Seven years of watching her, wanting her, of this promise being a wall between us. Now there is nothing.
With a low groan, I slam into her.
The alley swallows her scream. She throws her head back against the brick, her whole body convulsing around me as I fill her completely. It’s not gentle or romantic. It’s raw, primal, and necessary. She feels like home. A home I’ve been fighting my way back to for years. Her tight, wet pussy clenches around me, a hot, velvet fist, and I grit my teeth, fighting for a control I don’t have and don’t want.
“You feel that, Darla?” I growl, my voice a low, brutal rasp against her ear. “That’s me. All of me. You’re mine.”
It’s the adrenaline of the fight, the terror of almost losing her, the desperate need to claim her, all crashing together in a storm of frantic, greedy thrusts. The alley is our witness, the wet, slapping sound of our bodies colliding echoing in the dark. I grip her ass, my fingers digging in, branding her skin, lifting her into each brutal thrust.
“East,” she chokes out, her voice a wrecked, beautiful thing.
I feel her shatter, her inner muscles beginning to pulse and clench around my cock. Her breath comes in short, ragged sobs. The sight of her—completely undone, her face a mask of pure, agonizing pleasure as she screams my name—sends me over the edge. I come with a guttural roar, burying my face in her neck. My body shudders with the force of it, pumping myself empty inside her.
We stay like that for a long minute, both of us panting, our bodies slick with sweat, leaning against the cold, hard reality of the brick wall. The anger is gone. The terror is gone. All that’s left is this. A raw, new, and terrifying intimacy.
I slowly let her slide down my body until her bare feet are back on the ground. Her legs are shaking so badly she has to cling to my cut to stay upright, her face buried in my chest. I wrap my arms around her, holding her up, my chin resting on the top of her head.
My body is still thrumming, my cock just softening. I can feel the frantic, rabbit-fast beat of her heart against my ribs. I pull her head back, my hand cupping her jaw, and kiss her. Not the frantic, angry kiss from before, but a long, hard, possessive kiss. A kiss that brands her. It’s a kiss that says,This happened. You’re mine. This is just the beginning.
When I finally pull back, her lips are swollen and her eyes are dazed. She looks wrecked. And she’s never been more beautiful.
“Fuck,” I whisper, my voice a wrecked, raw thing.
I help her back into her jeans. My hands brush the soft skin of her hips, making my whole body scream to just push her back against the wall and take her again. I help her fasten the button, my knuckles brushing her stomach, before I turn and fix my jeans, the need to be a gentleman at war with the animal that just clawed its way to the surface.
My voice is a wrecked whisper, but the command is clear. “Now. We go back to the clubhouse.”
Chapter 26
Darla
Theridebackfromthe alley is silent, but it’s a different silence now. My body still thrums with the aftershocks of East’s possession, making a deep, satisfied ache settle into my bones. His hand is a warm, heavy weight on my thigh for the entire ride, a silent anchor in the sudden calm. The anger is gone, replaced by a dizzying sense of something new, something terrifying and exhilarating that just happened between us, pressed against a cold brick wall in the dark.
