CHAPTER 30
Ember
We arrived back at the clubhouse and things seemed almost normal, which was weird. Things shouldn’t be normal at all. I wasn’t sure how things should be, but normal wasn’t it. I looked around the common room and noticed most, if not all, eyes were on Dash and I as we entered the room. I leaned in close to him and whispered, “Why are they all staring at us?”
He grinned and whisper yelled, “Because I’m holding your hand and they want to know why.” He raised our joined hands in the air and announced, “She’s mine! With Phoenix’s blessing.” The roar of cheers and applause that immediately followed was almost deafening. I was hugged, squeezed, patted, and had my hand shook more in the 30 minutes that followed than my whole life put together.
Everyone seemed genuinely happy for us, except for one person. The one person I thought for sure would be happy for me. Reese.
“Congratulations,” she said in her monotone robot voice. “I’m so happy for you two.”
There were a couple of ways I could have handled her response. I could have gotten mad and yelled at her. I could have cried and said she hurt my feelings. I could have ignored it and accepted her fake congratulations. I chose none of those. I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes, “What. Is. Wrong. With. You?” I punctuated each word with a gentle shake of her shoulders.
She jerked back from me and ran from the room. I went after her, but a large arm wrapped around my waist and stopped me from going any farther. “Let her be,” Carbon quietly rumbled near my ear.
“Get your fucking hands off my old lady!” Dash roared from the other side of the room. The crowd parted, creating a clear path for the raging bull, otherwise known as Dash, to come charging toward Carbon.
Carbon immediately released me and put his hands up. “No disrespect, brother. I was only looking out for my sister. She’s having a tough time right now and I was telling Ember to let her be.”
“Still doesn’t explain why you had your hands on her. You can talk to her without touching her,” Dash spat.
“Reese can lash out, verbally and physically, when she feels cornered or threatened. Didn’t want her doing that to Ember. That’s the only reason I used my hands to stop her,” Carbon explained, his eyes full of honesty and a deep sadness I guessed was put there by his sister.
“Fine. Just keep your hands off next time. Feel me?” Dash grumbled.
“No problem, brother. Again, didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“Come on, Ember, I need a shower and then I have a few things your father asked me to take care of today.” Upset at Reese’s reaction and slightly embarrassed at the show of machismo, I followed Dash to our room without question.
As soon as we crossed the threshold, I started, “Something is going on with Reese. Something major and I am seriously worried about her. Carbon says to let her be, but that is not helping her.”
Dash stalked toward me and captured my lips with his. He mumbled against my mouth, “Don’t want to talk about that right now.”
I pushed back from him, “Dash, I’m worried about my friend and you’re what? Trying to have sex with me right now? Really?”
He sat down on the end of the bed and pulled me to stand between his legs. “I’m sorry, baby. I know you’re worried about your friend. It’s just, well, a lot has happened and it’s been stressful. Sometimes a man needs to relieve that stress, and there’s only one way I want to do that right now.” He rubbed his hands up and down my sides in a gentle caress. He lowered his voice, “Do you think you could help me out with that?” He pulled me closer and nipped at my lower lip. “Give your friend some time to get herself together.” He continued to place little nips from my neck to my ear and back. He squeezed my butt with both hands and growled, “You gonna let me fuck you, baby?”
I could only reply with a soft moan. I really should have been angry with him, but there was no use in fighting it. He had me where he wanted me and he knew it. “It’s going to be hard and fast. If you can’t handle that, say it now,” he warned.
What would happen if I couldn’t handle it? Would he go find what he needed somewhere else? He must have seen something on my face, worry or fear, or complete devastation. “If you don’t think you can, I’ll just go to the gym or get one of the guys to get in the ring with me. After I fuck you,” he winked. “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“It’s okay. I want to. I mean, I want to see if I want to. Ugh, why is this so hard?” I swallowed and took a quick second to organize my thoughts. “I’ll never know if I like it that way or not if I never try it. So, consider this me volunteering to try it.”
I thought I would get a laugh out of him with my ramblings of inexperience, but I was very much mistaken. He squeezed my butt even harder before pushing me away from him. “Strip!” he barked.
I jumped from how loud and stern his voice was. He had never spoken to me like that. It was kind of scary, but a little exciting, too. I jumped again when he roared, “Now!”
Not wasting another second, I moved quickly to do as he bid.
He pointed to the floor in front of him, “Knees.”
I sank to my knees in front of him. I was trying to trust him, to not question him. He knew I had limited experience. Surely he would guide me through the next steps.
He stepped closer to me. Cupping my cheek with one hand and giving me a gentle caress, he unfastened his jeans with his other hand. He shoved his pants and boxers down just far enough to free himself. He stopped caressing my cheek and moved his hand to the back of my head. “Open,” he commanded.
I opened my mouth without hesitation. He took another step closer and slid his cock into my mouth. I instinctively closed my lips around him, but I was unsure of what to do. The next second, I learned that I didn’t have to do anything. He held my head in place and slid himself in and almost all the way out of my mouth over and over. “Ember, baby, that fucking mouth,” he groaned.
His thrusts began to go deeper and deeper until he was hitting the back of my throat. I felt the urge to gag, but he would pull back each time before anything actually happened. I was beginning to wonder how much longer I could keep my mouth open that wide when he pulled me off of him and lifted me to my feet with the hand he had fisted in my hair. “On the bed. Hands and knees,” he barked, turning me and punctuating his demand with a sharp slap to my butt.
