Brutal (A Real Man, 11) Read online

  I led her away from the crowd, into the back room, and shut the door.

  Once the door was shut behind us, I embraced her, had my hand on her hair, holding her close, keeping her head right over my heart. God, I loved her, would die for her, kill for her.

  “You feeling okay?”

  She nodded, her hands around my waist, her warm breath skating along my bare chest. I was sweaty, but it was clear she didn’t care. I didn’t either. I wanted my scent on her, marking her, like I was some kind of fucking animal.

  I pulled back and dropped to my knees, cupping her rounded belly, feeling our son kick. I looked up, grinning. I had the whole fucking world in the palm of my hands.

  “I love you,” I said and leaned in to kiss her. “I love you so much my heart hurts, my blood rushes through my veins, and the very earth quakes beneath me every time you’re near.” I felt her hands in my hair, pulling lightly at the strands. I tipped my head back, seeing the smile on her face, the same one that always stopped me in my tracks.

  “I love you.”

  I stood, embraced her, and just let everything sink in.

  I was kind of crazy, a whole lot brutal in the ring, but when it came to the one I loved, my best friend, my wife and soul mate, and the future mother of my children, she was my queen.

  For her I’d level the world just so she had a clear path. That’s how it would always be.

  Axel

  Five years later

  My world.

  Everything in this room was what I’d die for.

  Madden, our son, called out for me, and I smiled, scooping him in my arms when he ran to me.

  “Come on, honey,” Roxie said, taking Madden from me. “Bedtime, big boy.”

  “We’ll play trains or trucks or whatever you want tomorrow, buddy,” I said and ruffled his blond hair.

  Leena, our two-year-old daughter, started crying, and I got up and went to her room. She sat up in her toddler bed, her darker hair mussed, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “What’s wrong, princess?”

  “Dweam,” she whispered.

  I scooped her up, cradling her little body to mine, and took her out to the living room. I sat on the couch with her, listening to her little voice replay her dream despite the fact I wasn’t sure of half the stuff she was saying.

  Madden came barreling out of the hallway, this grin on his face as he jumped on the couch.

  “Tell us a story, Daddy.”

  I glanced over at Roxie, who leaned against the wall, a smile on her face.

  I wanted my wife with me. I wanted her close. Holding my hand out, I gestured her over.

  “Okay, one story but then it’s bedtime.”

  Leena and Madden both nodded.

  I pulled Roxie in close to me, smelling the sweet scent that always surrounded her and feeling at home. In five years much had changed. Roxie worked part-time at a firm handling business contracts. And I now trained other boxers at the gym where I used to fight.

  But what hadn’t changed was my love for her.

  I smiled at my wife, feeling like I was the luckiest bastard in the world.

  There was nothing more important to me than my wife and our children.

  And I’d make sure that there was so much love in this house we suffocated from it.

  I’d make sure there was never a day where they questioned that.

  The End

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  Coming April 2017

  Book 12 in the Real Man Series!

  You can add to your TBR shelf HERE

  Excerpt: Taking Her Hard (Death’s Door MC, 2)

  Lizzy was back at the MC, the place she’d left because the violence, depravity, and overall fear that one day something bad would come of it all had filled her so thoroughly. It had been too long that she’d let her fear of the unknown consume her. What she’d never told him—or anyone, for that matter—was that she’d regretted leaving. Despite the fact she might not have seen her brother in far too long, she’d tried to keep in contact with him. Their monthly phone calls helped to make her feel less shitty about leaving.

  Although she could say she’d done it to better herself, that she’d set out to get her associates degree, that she’d accomplished something, Lizzy felt like shit. She missed her brother, the only family she had left. School had kept her busy, made actually driving the couple hours up north to see him hard, but they’d always spoken, always kept in contact.

  And now she was back.

  She pulled her car up to the gate that surrounded the MC. A man stood on the other side, one she hadn’t seen before. He opened the gate for her right away. Clearly he knew who she was, had been expecting her. As she pulled her car up the driveway, she saw Ace step out of the front doors. He looked exactly the same: longer dark hair, big body covered in denim and leather, his tattoos visible underneath it all. Once her car was parked and the engine was cut, she sat there for a second, listening to the sound of the vehicle cooling. Her luck these past couple of weeks had been hell, utterly disastrous. She’d expected her car to break down halfway through the trip, because that would have been the cherry on this shit sundae.

  Before she could get out of the car, Ace was opening the driver’s side door and helping her out. The way he looked at her told Lizzy he’d missed her. God, she’d missed him too. Ace pulled her into a big hug, his huge body smelling of leather, dark spice, and a hint of weed. She couldn’t help but smile at that. Being here had all these memories washing through her. Ace had always been the best big brother she could have ever asked for. Strong and loyal, protective and supportive, he’d let her go on her way, let her run.

  Which was exactly what she’d done.

  “You’re okay?” Ace asked.

  She pulled back and looked into his face. “I’ve been better, but overall I’m good.” Even with everything that had happened—losing her job, her house—she was at least glad she had someone she could count on.

  “Well, let’s get you inside. We’ll get you a room and talk about what all’s going down.” Ace started leading them toward the clubhouse. She knew he probably thought there was more going on than she’d told him, but truth was she hadn’t been with any guys sexually, so there was no complication there. She’d gone to school, tried to make a life for herself away from the MC, but here she was again, back “home.” It wasn’t that she didn’t like the MC. She did, cared for the Patches within it too. They were like family, albeit a very hard-core, filthy-talking, dangerous one.

  And it was the latter that had made her go.

  And here I am, not sure where else to go. Not having any other place to go.

  Once they were in the back office, she shut the door and stared at her brother’s back. Ace turned around, his focus on her, the worry clear on his face.

  “Before you say anything, I’m fine, and me coming back really had nothing to do with serious trouble.” She knew he would be wondering about that anyway, trying to see if she’d been from him.

  He stayed silent, maybe reading her, trying to see if she was lying. The thing with the MC was they always thought the worst, always figured something else was going down if a person needed help. And although she needed help, it wasn’t that kind of trouble she was in.

  Ace turned around and walked over to the window. His cut had the MC patch sewn on the back, the leather worn, showing age. Death’s Door MC was a known hard-core MC. They didn’t take shit from anyone, and unless someone was a fucking idiot, they didn’t mess with the club. Her mother and father had been affiliated with the MC but hadn’t actually been in it. And when the drug addicts Ace and Lizzy had called Mom and Dad skipped town, it was the club who had looked after them. It had been Ace—being much older—who had watched over her. That had been a long time ago, far longer than she even wanted to remember.

  She didn’t say anythin
g, because she didn’t know what to say at the moment. Would Ace feel some resentment that she’d left in the first place? He hadn’t been happy about it, wanting to protect her, keep her close. But this had been about her and where she wanted to go in life.

  “You’re sure you’re good; no really bad shit going down?” he finally asked, turning around to face her and giving her this worried look.

  “Aside from my luck being shit, I’m okay.” And she was.

  He exhaled and nodded. “I won’t lie and say it isn’t damn good to have you back.” She couldn’t help but smile at his words. “You’re my baby sister, and having you back in the club, even if it’s only until you get back on your feet, is exactly where I want you to be.”

  She nodded but dropped her gaze to the floor. “I don’t know how long I’ll have to stay, but eventually I’ll keep moving on. I want to finish school, get a job away from this town.” She lifted her head, and the warm smile Ace gave her went against the physical appearance of this hardened biker.

  “Well, you’re welcome here for as long as you want, but I know you want to be free, and I support whatever you decide in the end.” He embraced her, his huge body making her feel small. He was a big brother in every sense of the word, and although he was rough, raw, and did dangerous and violent things that made her cringe, he was a good man at heart.

  “Come on, I’ll show you were you can stay without any of these drunk fuckers trying to bug you tonight.” Ace grinned down at her. “Although I’m sure a lot of the guys want to see you at some point, catch up.” He ruffled her hair like he used to do when she was younger.

  Once she was in the spare room and Ace had left her to get settled and rest, Lizzy breathed out. She was exhausted, and her mind was running a mile a minute. After she lay back on the bed, she closed her eyes and tried to clear her head. Truth was, even though she felt like crap because of her circumstances, all she could think about was Vain.

  Lizzy thought about her reaction when she’d seen Vain, the emotions in her that had been so intense, so powerful. She cared about him, although she’d never admitted it to anyone. Even after she’d been gone, Lizzy had thought about Vain and wondered how her life would have been if she’d told him how she felt, that she actually loved him. But knowing he lived a dangerous life in the MC had always had her keeping her mouth shut.

  But she could have sworn when he looked at her, saw her standing there, something had flickered across his face. Or maybe Lizzy had just made herself see what she wanted? It wasn’t like Vain had ever shown her that he wanted her. He was older, undoubtedly experienced in being with a woman, and here she was an inexperienced virgin.

  She closed her eyes and tried to get some rest. She didn’t know what the future held, but it was nearly impossible to not want to tell Vain how she felt, especially with him being under the same roof.

  Lizzy was here, so close to Vain that he could have walked the few steps it would have taken to get to her and embrace her. Fuck, he wanted to do that. He wanted to pull her into his arms, hold her tight, and admit that he’d always wanted her. He wanted to tell her she’d been the only one he wanted … would ever desire.

  It didn’t matter if he’d never actually said anything to her, never told her what he wanted. She was his girl. Vain would be lying if he didn’t admit he wanted to just walk up to her and throw her over his shoulder before carrying off to his room.

  Man, he’d fuck her so good and hard, and claim her so thoroughly she knew who she belonged to.

  Fuck, he was a possessive bastard when it came to her, and she had no clue about any of it.

  OUT NOW

  Excerpt: Blacksmith (A Real Man, 11)

  Deacon

  I pulled to a stop in front of her house, turned and looked at Maddie, and could see how nervous she was. Good. Her being on edge turned me the fuck on. Her clothes were soaked clean through, her hair matted to her head and face. I wanted to reach out with my calloused, dirty hands and push the strands away. I wanted to grab a chunk of the locks and yank her head back, exposing her throat, then lean forward and lick and suck at her pale flesh. I lowered my gaze, taking in the fact her shirt molded to her breasts, the mounds large, well more than a handful. Her nipples were hard, the twin protrusions making my cock harden. I could see her bra through the white material, the lacy blue undergarment needing to be torn away so I could get a nice long look at her tits.

  “Thanks for the ride,” she said and reached for the handle.

  I was a second away from keeping her in this car, pulling her on top of me, and sucking on her breasts, making her nipples harder through her top. I didn’t even know this girl, not really, but I would soon enough.

  She glanced over her shoulder at me, her pupils dilated, her mouth parted. I affected her, maybe not in a way she was comfortable with, but in a way nonetheless.

  I nodded, because saying anything would have come out in a desperate groan. And then I watched her leave the car, walk up to the front door, and disappear behind it.

  I’d claim her soon enough, and once I did, I wasn’t letting go. Because once I saw something I wanted…it was mine.

  Maddie

  It had only been a few days since Deacon had driven me home, the weekend making it so I didn’t have a legitimate reason to walk by his shop on my way to classes. It might have only been a short time since I’d been close enough to him that I’d felt how virile he was, how potent and masculine he was, but it seemed like a lifetime.

  “You okay?” my roommate, Robin, asked, her mouth full of cereal, her gaze locked on me.

  I nodded, transfixed at the milk that dripped off her spoon and back into the bowl.

  “Really? Because you seem out of it.” She took another bite of cereal, her brows knitted.

  I was a shit liar, and I sure as hell didn’t know how to talk to her about this. It wasn’t like we were best friends. We roomed together, split the bills, and did our own thing.

  “I’m fine,” I lied. “I have school shit I’m dealing with.” As if that answered everything, she looked back at her phone, her concern for me gone. I stared down at my cup of tea, the liquid having long since gone cold. I wanted to talk to Deacon, to see him again, but I also didn’t want to come across as being one of those people who thought something could be there when it wasn’t.

  The buzzer on the door went off, and Robin got up to answer it. My thoughts were consuming me as I sat there, trying to think about what in the hell I was going to do with the Deacon situation. When I felt someone watching me, I lifted my head to see Robin standing there with this strange look on her face.

  “What?” I asked, feeling my brows pull down as confusion filled me. She didn’t answer right away, but I saw the way her throat worked as she swallowed, her nervousness tangible. “What is it?”

  “Someone’s here to see you.”

  Okay. I didn’t know why she was acting so weird about it. I had study groups here, was even expecting a couple of people, albeit not until later. I got up and walked over to her. I knew the conflict was clear on my face—hell, I felt it all the way into my bones. I rounded the corner and saw who stood in the foyer by the front door.

  Deacon.

  He looked so big, his body almost blocking out the front door, his strength and masculinity filling the small space.

  “Hi,” I managed to say, proud of myself for actually being able to form a coherent word. I moved closer to him, feeling his body heat instantly, smelling the cologne he wore, or maybe that was just his natural scent. Either way it was so damn attractive. When I was right in front of him, I craned my neck to look into his face. “What are you doing here?” My palms were sweaty, my heart was racing, and the expression on his face had these weird emotions filling me. Standing next to him made me feel like I was on this tightrope, the abyss beneath me, and the very real threat of falling hanging over me.

  “I wanted to see you,” he said so matter-of-factly that I knew this man didn’t use any filters when he spo
ke. He said what he meant, holding nothing back, and giving no fucks about what others thought.

  “You wanted to see me?” I repeated, my entire body buzzing with his close proximity. I suppose that could have meant anything, but I knew what I’d like it to mean.

  He took a step toward me, and I found myself moving one back. I glanced over my shoulder at Robin and saw she was watching us. She ducked back into the kitchen before I could say anything to her. When I was staring at Deacon again, I felt sweat start to bloom between my breasts. God, he was so close.

  “I wanted to see you,” he stated again, not showing any emotion.

  “Why?” I could have slapped my hand over my mouth for saying that. He smirked, though, the corner of his mouth rising, this flash of amusement covering his face for just a second.

  “Because I want to take you out. I want to spend time with you.”

  Oh good God.

  Was this really happening? I felt like maybe I was dreaming, or maybe I’d fallen into some alternate dimension where fantasies come to life. I opened my mouth, not sure what to say, or if I could say anything at all. I found myself moving another step back, as if on instinct. It was like my body knew the power this man had over me, making me feel unstable, like a bowl filled with warm pudding.

  Still he moved closer. The wall stopping my retreat, not that I wanted to escape, but my body sensing this man was…everything. It was clear he didn’t care that Robin was just in the other room, barely anything separating us.

  He placed his hands beside my head and leaned in. He smelled good, like clean man, but one who’d been working all day. It was this contradictory aroma that made me feel tingly in all the right places.

  “You’ve watched me, the same as I’ve watched you,” he said in a low, husky voice. “But I’m done waiting to see what you’ll do, to see if you’ll come to me.”