Page 13 of Desert Rose

I pick up his hand, boldly placing it on me. “He was the monster. You are the light chasing him away.”

He picks me up, blood rushes in my ears as he kicks open doors until he finds a bedroom to his liking. He gently places me down on the bed. With shaking hands, he unzips his jeans and shucks of his boots. His cock is thick and long, his skin golden, his body jacked with layers of hard muscle. He lowers his head to kiss me. And just like that one summer night, butterflies dance and his hands feel like lightning shocking me. His tongue is gently as he kisses me. But I want more. Need more. I drag his hand down to the apex between my legs. He sighs into our kiss as he gently touches me.

I groan, feeling slick, feeling that same pound of need thrum through me. But this time it doesn’t repulse me. This time I need him to ease the ache. He kisses his way down my body. My neck, shoulders, before finding my small breasts. “Mandy, girl.” He breathes against my skin. I’m so far gone I almost don’t care. I guess he needs me to be someone too. He needs me to be his salvation, even if I’m a stand-in. It stings, but I can’t handle one more emotion after what I’ve been through. In the dark, I’m what he needs and he’s what I need. I feel all women, as he makes love to me. His fingers rub round and round then inch inside me. He fucks me with his hands and my hips buck into them. “You sure, sugar.”

I nod, kissing his head and sigh as at long last I feel him enter me. It burns but the thick head of his cock finds some secret place deep inside me, that makes my nerve endings sing and soon, I’m soaring across the sky, crying with joy and triumph instead of fear and pain. He moves in and out, his hoarse moan leads to a sweaty kiss then he stills, shaking as he pulls out before his own tumultuous release.

“Thank you,” I whisper, kissing him as he falls against me. His head cradled to my chest, I run my fingers through the silky strands, he groans as they find a huge bump at the base of his skull. I’m careful to avoid it and in the stillness of morning, I find peace. I find my answered prayers. I find redemption and glory. For I am no longer the girl without a future, a girl who a man threatened to take everything from me. I chose who and when. I took what I wanted and found power in that.

EDGE

6

She’s sound asleep. Beautiful. Strong. The hit I took last night before heading out has worn off. I feel dirty. Corrupted. I corrupted her. I saw the stain of her blood mixed with my seed. I pulled the covers over her and headed to the bathroom. The pounding cold water feels good on the back of my head.

I was high with a concussion. Tate made me take the drugs. Said the speed would keep me awake. It did. I felt like superman for a while. Even in my sorry as state I knew I shouldn’t have touched the girl. But I was fucked up. She smelled like my girl, looked like her. In a fit of rage, I wanted to burn the world to save just her. But she saved herself and damn I felt such pride well up when she did. How could I say no? She felt like the star that was just out of reach until it fell to the Earth. She felt so smooth, was so into me and when I entered her, I almost did pass out for how good it felt. For one brief moment the world fell away. It was just the two of us. I knew she wasn’t Mandy but some kind of other-worldly twin. When I was high, I imagined she fell from a parallel; universe, came for just me. That I could have this one perfect version of my girl.

My eyes focus on the water swirling down the drain. For a moment I ponder keeping her. I’d take her back to the Clubhouse and keep her safe. No one fucks with the Scorpions and my men will protect her if she’s mine. Suarez wanted her for himself, but I’ll take her for my own instead. I’d cherish her and give her what’s left of my tattered heart. Maybe in time will heal the butcher job Mandy did on it.

After the shower attempts to clear my head, I check in on the sleeping angel more determined than ever to take the girl as my own. After all the fucked-up shit in my life, I deserve something for myself. Something good. My eyes narrow as Tate’s truck ambles down the dirt lane. Rage is on a bike not far behind. The two of them practically run up to the cabin.

I hold the door opening signaling to be quiet. “The girl…” Tate rasps. “She belongs to the Royal Bastards.”

My heart stops beating. Not again. “Not anymore. She’s mine. I’m taking her as my own.”

“You can’t. We are in some shit with the Cartel, I’m on your side you helped us track them down and we got Amanda back, too. But a war on two fronts in unwinnable, brother. Tarak’s on his way. Amanda told us everything. The girl is a Royal Bastard. I couldn’t force more words out of Amanda in the state she was in. But she said they shared blood. “He won’t budge. He won’t give up his family especially to you.”

Rage puts a hand on my shoulder. “He’s right, bro. You’ve only spent three hours with the girl. Should be easy… of fuck. Tell me you didn’t—”

“I thought she had no one. Let me go and at least tell her goodbye.” I quietly open the door to the bedroom. She’s out cold. I slip the dirty sheet out from under her and crumple it into a ball. What we shared is our secret. Hers to tell only if she chooses. I kiss her softly on the forehead, wishing for a different outcome. I don’t even know her name. But I guess I don’t need to, not when I know her soul. She stirs, mumbling my name. She knows me. My brows, furrow. She knew she was RBMC and that I was a Scorpion and yet she wanted me. Me… to be her savior. I rock back on my heels. How can I walk away from this… from her?

Rage peeks his head around the door. I kiss her ear, angel… you need to shower. You need to face the new day. She murmurs again but slowly wakes up. My index finger draws a heart on her shoulder. “I don’t regret anything.”

“You going to be okay?”

She nods. “Yeah. I will.” I rummage through a few drawers finding an old, flannel shirt for her to put on after her shower. I pick up her jeans and smooth them out before laying them both on the bed.

“Edge! We gotta split, brotha. Tarak is seriously gonna lose his shit if he catches you here. We gotta get back to the clubhouse and fill the Prez in on what went down. Heat with the Cartel and the Bastards could blow back too hard.”

I know he’s right. But just leaving like this seems like such a shitty thing to do. We shared so much and yet so little. I take the thick silver-plated chain necklace that hangs around my neck off, placing it on top the clothes. It’s all I can give her.

“Just take the truck back to the Res. Stay as long as you need. We have a doctor on standby if you need before you head back to your MC.”

“You take care of the mess?”

He nods. “Everyone is safe. We burned it all to erase any prints or DNA. It’ll look like a surprise hit that won’t lead back to us. We have alibis on the res. Shit got a little complicated cause a few teen boys sold the girls out. Lured them away from the bonfire, delivering them to Suarez.”

My jaw clenches. “You handle them.”

He nods. “I will let their elders decide their fate. Their own people will judge them. It won’t end well.”

I breathe in deeply, knowing I need to leave before she comes looking for me. I pick up the fob key to the truck and head out. Rage fires up his bike. I wave him on. “I’ll meet you at the diner in Albuquerque.”

“You sure man.”

“I’m gonna pull over a take a good leak,” I lie.

He takes off and I start the truck. I know I need to clear the drive before the Bastard’s calvary comes.

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