“How’s that, baby?” he asked, thumb starting to work my clit again. “Feel good being turned on by a Devil’s Jack?”

It felt f**king fantastic, but I’d be damned if I’d acknowledge the point. Apparently I didn’t need to, because he slid lower, tugging down my jeans and panties enough for his mouth to reach my cleft. He breathed softly on it for a second, then flicked his tongue over my most sensitive spot.

I squealed, my hips bucking. Liam laughed again.

“Tell you what,” he said. “You say the word, I’ll pull off those pants and throw your legs over my shoulders, show you just how much you’ve been missing.”

I stayed silent. He licked me again, pausing to tug on my clit with gentle suction.

“I hate you,” I said, but it came out as less of a declaration and more of a plea.

“Everyone hates me. But not everyone tastes as good as you, sweetheart. What’ll it be? We doing this or not?”

I wanted to tell him to f**k off. But a traitorous little voice in my head pointed out that the damage was already done . . . Why not enjoy it? I’d already made a fool of myself and nothing would change that.

“No sex,” I said.

“Define ‘sex,’” he replied, kissing my mound almost tenderly.

“No sticking your penis inside me.”

“I can work with that.”

Seconds later my pants were gone. Liam’s lips covered my pu**y and then I lost track of time. I’d had one other guy go down on me and I’d enjoyed it, but it was nothing compared to this devil’s tongue. He alternated between my clit and my lower lips, fingers deep inside me, playing me until I couldn’t even breathe, let alone talk. The first orgasm hit me hard and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming.

That’s where I expected it to end, but he just kept going until I couldn’t tell how much time had passed or even remember how many times I came. Heaven and hell, all rolled together and tied with a bow.

Make that a handcuff.

Then he pulled away with a groan to kneel over me, eyes feral with hunger.

“Roll over.”

HUNTER

Em surrounded me . . . Her taste, her smell, those little noises she made when she came. All of it washed through me, driving me crazy. I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life than I wanted to shove my c**k deep into her cunt. Ride her. Own her.

I couldn’t do it, though.

Not that I had any illusions—if I survived this little adventure, she’d never talk to me again. But I’d be damned if her first shot at real sex would come handcuffed to a bed in the middle of a club standoff.

But I’m no saint.

Staring down at Em’s heart-shaped ass, I knew I’d be pretty happy up inside there, too. Also not gonna happen. Those cheeks, though . . . I could make them work for me. I grabbed her hips and pulled her up onto her knees. She wavered unsteadily, so I grabbed a pillow and shoved it under her stomach. Then I ran my c**k along the crack of her rear, savoring the heat.

“No,” she said quickly, her voice panicked.

“Relax, babe,” I said. “No dick inside, remember? I promised.”

She stayed tense, though, as I pushed her ass cheeks together, cradling my c**k between them. When she tensed her muscles, they got even tighter, so I wasn’t about to complain.

Slowly I started sliding my c**k in and out, precome seeping from the head and smoothing my way perfectly.

“That feels incredible,” I muttered. She gave a little grunt, like she’d protest if she had the energy. Fortunately, I’d pretty much wiped her out already.

I picked up speed with each stroke, her tight heat making my dick impossibly harder. I stopped thinking, eyes focused on that Chinese squirrel symbol. Fuckin’ crazy girl. I felt my balls tighten and knew I was close.

Shit, this was like every  p**n  fantasy I’d ever had coming true.

Well, not quite true. Ideally I’d be inside her, but honestly . . . Her ass cheeks cradling my c**k felt better than any pu**y I’d ever f**ked. I guess that’s what happens when you find the perfect woman.

“Shit, babe,” I whispered. It pulled inside me, the terrible desire. Her slick heat surrounded me, her legs quivering beneath me. I felt all powerful and consumed with need.

Then it hit.

My head exploded into lights as my c**k blew out. I let her cheeks go and watched in utter fascination as my come covered her tattoo.

Christ, Em was a good lay.

I stayed there, running my hands up and down along her sides, soothing her for long moments. I heard a sniffle, and wondered if she was crying. Probably.

Then it was time.

I pulled away from her slowly, carefully, treasuring the sight of her lying there. I stood back and pulled on my jeans. Then I dug through the pocket to find my cell phone.

Damn . . .

I don’t know what was worse—what I was about to do, or how much I was looking forward to it. I turned it on and opened the camera app, coming up behind her and taking three great shots of her jizz-soaked ass.

“What’re you doing?” she murmured softly, stretching. I took action shots the whole time, wishing she’d roll over so I could get those tits.

“Saving the moment,” I told her absently. “Want something to show the boys back home. You look like a f**kin’  p**n  star. Think Daddy’ll want one of these?”

She tried to sit up but the cuffs caught her. Instead she fell heavily to the side—facing me, thank f**k—and I started taking pics of her tits and that sweet pu**y I could just see peeking out between her legs.

Her eyes met mine, full of sudden, horrific comprehension. This has to happen, I reminded myself.

Em screamed in wordless rage. Then she raised her legs and kicked the wall, the force of her anger driving the bed a good six inches across the floor. A mirror mounted over the dresser fell to the floor with the crash of shattering glass.

“You cocksucking bastard!” she shrieked.

I took one last shot, then turned off my camera. That should do it.

“Consider this a lesson why you shouldn’t trust strangers you meet on the Internet,” I told her, offering a nasty smile. “I’m gonna go get something to clean up the glass. Be a good girl while I’m gone—unless you want another lesson? I can do worse than pictures, you know.”

I opened the door and stepped out quietly. She screamed at me again, the sound tearing through me as I jogged down the stairs.

Skid looked up from the couch and cocked a brow.

“Do I wanna know?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Naw, just took your advice,” I replied. “I hurt her bad. Should be enough to do the trick.”

“Right thing to do, brother.”

I shrugged.

“Guess so. Fuckin’ sucks.”

“Yeah, that’s why I don’t usually follow my own advice,” Skid muttered. “Glad you did it, though. Frees her up to find someone else. Get her out of this game.”

“Every once in a while, I wonder what life would be like outside the club,” I admitted, rubbing a hand through my hair. “You know, if we didn’t have all this shit to deal with? If we could just live like normal people.”

“Never gonna happen, so might as well forget it,” Skid replied. “Hell, you’d be bored off your ass. Can you imagine holding down a regular job? Fuck, what would you even do? I know you’re f**kin’ great at hunting people down, taking them out—”

“Don’t say shit like that, bro.”

Skid laughed.

“My bad. You’re f**kin’ great at whatever it is you do for Burke,” he said. “Probably fetching coffee, delivering flowers. Shit like that. But a regular job? You’d be f**ked, man. It is what it is.”

“Sometimes I hate this.”

“Yeah, me, too. But you know what? Sometimes it f**kin’ kicks ass, so let’s focus on getting through the next day or two. Then we’ll head back home and get you laid. She’s not the only pu**y in the world.”

“Don’t talk about her like that.”

Skid snorted.

“Fuckin’ pussy.”

“I said don’t talk about her like that.”

“I was talkin’ about you, ass**le. Biggest damned pu**y in the house.”

This time I decided tackling him was worth the effort.

EM

I refused to speak when Hunter finally returned, focusing my gaze exactly two inches above his right shoulder. After a few minutes of one-sided conversation, he gave a frustrated sigh and walked me over to Sophie’s room.

She’d been cuffed to a bed just like me, and even in sleep she looked as rough as I felt. Shit. I hoped to hell Skid hadn’t decided to teach her the same kind of “lesson” Liam gave me.

“You okay?” I asked, sitting down on the side of the bed. She opened her eyes slowly, face twisting.

“I need the bathroom,” she whispered.

I looked over at Liam—no, Hunter. I needed to remember that. Liam was the imaginary nice guy. Hunter was the giant douche who’d taken dirty pictures of me.

“Can she go to the f**king bathroom?” I asked, not bothering to hide my hatred.

“Yeah,” he replied, his face blank. He walked toward us and I scooted out of the way, glaring at him while he unlocked Sophie’s cuffed arm. “C’mon. Both of you.”

I grabbed Sophie’s hand and pulled her across the hallway and into the bathroom.

“I can’t believe how stupid I was,” I told her, feeling sick. “I actually invited him to come and meet me. I made it so easy. Idiot.”

Sophie used the toilet and then washed up, cupping her hands to get a drink. She seemed so quiet, so subdued. I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t more pissed. Hell, she should be pissed—at me. I got her into this shit.

“Do you have any idea what’s going to happen to us?” she asked. “Skid scares the crap out of me.”

“Did he hurt you?” I demanded, feeling my blood pressure rise.

“No.”

“That’s good,” I muttered. “This is a pretty f**ked-up situation. Toke—he’s the one who cut me at the party—he’s gone off his rocker. This shooting thing makes no sense to me at all, but if it really happened, we’re screwed. Nobody knows where Toke is, not even Deke, and he’s Toke’s president. They’ve all been looking for him since the party. Cutting me was not okay, and Dad wants to make sure he pays for it.”

“Shit,” she said, eyes wide. “So your dad couldn’t give them this Toke guy, even if he wanted to?”

“I don’t think so,” I said slowly, wishing I could fix things—for her, if not for me. Hell, Sophie was a mother. What would her little boy do without her? “I mean, he’s really protective of me. When Toke hurt me like that, Dad lost it. If Dad could find him, he’d be found already. We’re pretty f**ked here, Sophie.”

“Do you think they’ll hurt us?” she asked, her face pale.

I thought about my answer carefully. I didn’t want to freak her out, but I wanted to be honest.

“Liam won’t,” I said, and for some reason I believed it. Maybe because he hadn’t raped me? “I mean, he won’t hurt me. I don’t think he’ll hurt you, either.”

She cocked her head at me.

“You do realize he was lying all along, right?” she asked. “Just because you liked him doesn’t mean you can trust him.”

I almost started laughing, because that was rich.

“Oh, I know that. Believe me, I’m well aware that I’m the f**kwit that got us into this.”

“You’re not a f**kwit,” she said forcefully. “He’s a liar and he’s good at it. Not your fault that he targeted you.”

“You guys okay in there?” Hunter called through the door.

“We’re fine,” I snapped. “Give us a f**king minute, ass**le!”

Christ, I wanted to kill him.

Sophie’s eyes widened.

“That was pretty bitchy,” she hissed. “Do you think that’s smart? Maybe I’m reading the situation wrong here, but don’t we want him in a good mood?”

I snorted, thinking about those pictures.

Hunter was such a prick.

“Fuck that. I’m a Reaper and I’ll be damned if I’ll suck up to some Devil’s Jack dickwad.”

“Well, I’m not a Reaper,” Sophie said, her voice quiet but hard. I looked at her, startled—this was the first real emotion she’d shown. “And I’d just as soon not die here and leave Noah an orphan, so don’t piss him off.”

That took the wind out of me. Shit, I needed to be thinking. I knew it was up to me to get us out of this, and to pull it off I’d need to use my head. Damn. We finished up and left the bathroom. Hunter jerked his head toward Sophie’s bedroom. It took everything I had to obey him quietly, but I kept picturing Sophie’s boy and reminded myself I had to be smart about this.

“Go lie down on the bed.”

We did what he said. Thankfully, he only cuffed one hand each, which was far more comfortable than having both stuck up over my head. I tried to ignore him as he leaned over me, tracing a finger across my cheek.

“I’ll bring you some food,” he murmured.

“I’m gonna buy a bright red dress to wear to your funeral, Liam,” I hissed. Shit. I needed to control my tongue . . .

“Yeah?” he asked. “Make sure it’s short and shows off your tits.”

“I hate you.”