Page 34 of Inferno

“Don’t make me have to kill you before you make a fully patched member, kid. I will totally dump your body in the river, then cry at your funeral.”

Zero just shrugged. “Hey. You don’t want brothers throwin’ their hat in the ring, give her your patch, man.” Zero winked at me before slinging one long leg over the back of his bike to wait on Tiny.

Inferno actually growled at the younger man, but I laughed and shoved him toward his own bike. “Come on, Romeo.” I chuckled as I put on the helmet he gave me and climbed onto the bike. He followed suit, still glaring daggers at Zero, so I raised my visor before leaning up and whispering in his ear. “How about you start this bad boy, get it rumbling between my thighs, and ride me until I beg you to stop and… ride me.” If the way I felt his body shudder where my legs framed his hips and my breasts pressed intimately against his back was any indication, those words had done the trick.

Next stop, anywhere away from Brett Calloway.

Inferno revved the engine just like I’d hoped. I slid my arms around his waist, then just to drive my point home, gave his cock a hard squeeze before he took off.

We rolled through the city with purpose. Nashville’s sprawl faded in the mirrors behind us and the landscape shifted from potholes and billboards to squat barns and pastures cut by wire fence. The bike ran smooth, engine heat and his body heat keeping me warm and engaged as the motor vibrated through me. It struck me how a welcome calm settled over me, as though nothing else mattered but the moment and the man in my arms. My body started to let go for the first time since -- honestly? Since before Brett ever entered my life.

The ride east up Highway 70 was the best medicine I’d had in months. Nobody texted or called. Inferno and I didn’t speak, obviously. I had my visor up just enough to let in the crisp, autumn air. The throb of the engine and the man in control of it all was hard and steady right in front of me. Out here, nothing mattered but the wild hum of steel under us and the long ribbon of highway in front of us.

A stretch of two-lane blacktop curved up and around, through trees thick enough to swallow the road. The air up here smelled different. Sure, the scents and sounds of civilization still filtered through nature, but every time I left the city and came to scenic places in the mountains, it always amazed me how much fresher the air was, how much bluer the sky seemed, and how so very peaceful the whole place felt.

After a steady climb up the long mountain highway, we stopped at an overlook. He pulled up to the guardrail on a wide shoulder observers often used to catch a view or a picnic. Inferno killed the bike and swung his leg over, offering me a hand before he climbed off himself. The man always did that, never assuming I wanted help, just offering if I wanted. I always took his hand.

Silence washed over me like a soothing blanket. The city was gone to nothing but a faint haze in the low spots of the valley. The sun was past its peak, throwing shadows across the valley and turning the river to a winding, glistening silver road. I braced my hands on the edge of the rail and looked out, just breathing and taking in the view.

Inferno stood beside me, one arm wrapped around my waist but didn’t speak for the longest time as we gazed out over the tree below us. When he did, it wasn’t what I expected. “You want the truth of what happened? For me to go to prison.” His tone was casual and conversational, but quiet.

“Only if you want to tell me. It’s not going to change my feelings for you.”

“All right.” He didn’t look away from the valley. “My sister’s name is Avery. She got involved with a guy. Real piece of shit. Nobody caught it at first because she’s tough, and smart. She hid the signs from all of us and pretended to have a normal life. He finally put her in the hospital before it all came out.” He paused, jaw working. “I went to see him after I saw her. I broke his face and put him in a coma. He never woke up.” Silence. Not the heavy kind. Just a fact, sitting in the open. “They gave me ten years for aggravated assault and I served six. I lost my job and the career I’d built with it. My wife left the day I was arrested, using the surrounding chaos to get a divorce pushed through. Looking back, she probably only stayed for the status it gave her in the community.” He looked over at me, finally. “That’s the whole story, Juniper. I beat a guy to death for abusing my sister.”

“What happened to your sister?” My voice was weird. It came out rougher than I meant.

“She runs a bar in Louisville now. Married a decent guy and has two kids. She’s good.” He smiled and I could see he loved his sister and her children.

We stared at the sky and the expanse of green and gold and red spread out in the valley below. As the sun sank lower, the golden light seemed to illuminate the mountain tops in the distance.

“God. In the shop. I told you what would happen if you killed him, like I was explaining something.” I looked up at him. “I’m so sorry. That was an insensitive remark.”

“You only said it because you were worried about me.”

I reached for his hand. It was bigger than mine, callused and warm. I laced my fingers through his. My breath came easier, suddenly. I’d made my choice, and it felt so right to choose Inferno. We stood like that, both of us looking out over the valley, clinging to each other, as the wind picked up along the ridge. There was nobody around for miles. Not a house in sight, and the road behind us had little to no traffic at present. We could do whatever the hell we wanted, and nobody would care. That might’ve been the point.

Inferno turned, pulling me toward the patch of grass near the edge of a clearing at the roadside park before the ridgeline fell away from the overlook. We were well away from prying eyes, even if there had been anyone around.

Once we were enveloped in the foliage of the surrounding trees, I stepped into his embrace, leaning up to kiss him. He lifted his hands to frame my face as we kissed, fingers warm against the cold rise of my jaw, and he tasted like the wind and coffee and mint. And home.

I sighed into the kiss, and he responded with a low hum, deep in his chest. The sound vibrated through him into me, and I pressed closer, my breasts mashed tightly against him through our clothes.

He caught my lower lip in his teeth, a gentle challenge on who exactly was in charge here. Then he pulled back slightly. “If you don’t want me to fuck you right here, you better say so now. Otherwise, I’m going to make you scream.”

I laughed, half feral. “I started this, didn’t I?”

He grinned and slid his hands down to my hips, thumbs hooked just under the hem of my shirt. There was nothing tentative in the way he touched. He squeezed my breasts, kneading the small mounds before tugging at my nipples. The idea of saying no never even crossed my mind.

I popped the button on my jeans and shimmied them down my hips, not all the way off, but enough he could get to my pussy. The ground was uneven, so I nearly toppled over, but he caught me around the waist and held me there. Goose bumps rippled along my arms. He ran his hands over them, slowly, then down to my ass, cupping and squeezing. Looping an arm around my waist, he slid his other hand into my panties to find my clit.

“Fuck!” I gasped before screaming. The sound was cut short by Inferno’s hand over my mouth.

“Hush,” he growled, his mouth at my ear making me shiver. “Not a sound or I stop.”

The wind whipped my hair around my face. I tried to stay quiet, tried to remember how to breathe. He worked my jeans and panties down to mid-thigh. “You want to do this out here?” His hand slid between my legs, two fingers tracing my slit between my pussy lips.

“Where else would we do it?” I tried to sound casual, but my voice came out ragged. “Because I want to do it, no matter where we are.”