Flicking the lighter to life, I threw it down on him and stepped back as his body turned to flame. His screams turned to gurgles as his body gave out on him. I turned to Kirby and Rebel and motioned for them to let him burn. We headed back to our bikes and took off toward the clubhouse.
I felt relief that she was safe, but in the back of my mind, she had no reason to stay with me now. She was safe to return to her apartment. I’d become accustomed to having her with me, to coming home to her, to the companionship. It was how I had always dreamed it would be even back then when I first loved her. I had always wanted her to be here, as my partner, my wife, my everything. I’d come close to that and now I didn’t need to protect her from the threat anymore.
A wave of fear rocked me.
I wasn’t ready.
When we pulled in, I turned to them. “Not a fucking word to anyone.”
Rebel nodded, and then Kirby.
“No one knows about this, especially not Orla.”
“I’m good with that,” Rebel said. Kirby agreed. We headed inside to everyone’s cheers that I was out of jail and drinks all around. Ace had his eye on me, curious as to why Kirby had come back with us when he wasn’t tasked with bringing me back, but he didn’t call for church. He simply stood back with Sheridan at his side. Orla found her way to me and wrapped her arms around me, her mouth claiming mine to another round of hoops and hollers.
“Before you drag me back to the house, how about I beat your ass at a game first?” she asked, swaying those goddamn hips at me as she headed over to the pool table.
“Well, now that you’re finally back in my bed again,” I said, pulling her in close and kissing her neck. “I don’t have to let you win.”
“Uh!” she gasped, shoving me away. “You did not.”
“Yeah, princess, I did,” I laughed, chalking the end of my cue. “But let’s see how you fare this time around. I win and I get to keep you chained to my bed for a week,and if you win, you can do whatever the hell you want to me.”
“Only a week?” she questioned, bending over in front of me to stack the balls in the triangle. “Are you losing interest already?”
Her ass pushed against my rock hard cock, and I wanted to slam her onto the table and take her right here and now.
“Not at all,” I whispered low and dark in her ear. “But after a week, you’d need to eat something other than cock to sustain yourself.”
She groaned as she moved around to face me, her eyes impossibly dark, telling me just how turned on she was. “Wanna make a bet?”
I couldn’t help the smile making its way to my lips as she pushed my buttons, like she always had.
“You can break, then, if you’re so cocky.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” I replied, leaning over to take my shot. I knew exactly what she was going to do before she did it and yet I let her distract me as I took my shot, her hand brushing over my ass and dipping low to cup my balls.
“You wanna play dirty?” I shot back at her. “I can do that.”
She winked at me as she took her shot, and I realised in that moment, I would literally do anything for this woman.
Anything.
EIGHT
Orla
Ijumped when the doors closed behind us, the sound echoing throughout the room. Since when did I get so jumpy?
Viper and Savage had come with me to support Sheridan, and I was sandwiched in between them on the small pew behind the prosecutor’s table. Neal wasn’t here yet, and they’d squirrelled Sheridan away so she could be called out to testify. She’d been in a bad way for days knowing that she was going to have to confront this, and look at her ex-husband. She’d made sure Ace didn’t come, because Neal may not make it out of here if he did.
I’d been there through it all, through their messy divorce, through the bruises and the assaults, through the multiple rapes where she’d told me she was fine. I’d looked after the girls when she couldn’t do it herself.
If he didn’t go away for his crimes to her, let alone his crimes against this town, we were all fucked.
“Relax,” Viper leaned down to give me a pep talk. He may look like a hulking beast and have questionable morals when it came to protecting the club, but I knew how to knock the smile off his face when he needed it.
“Don’t tell a woman to relax, Hoyt Doyle,” I spat at him. “I’ll crunch my fist into your ballsack.”
