After navigating the winding roads around the Infernal property, I parked at the clubhouse and rolled my shoulders to alleviate the tension. Standing, I adjusted my aching dick. The bike’s vibrations, my overactive brain and the fact that I hadn’t touched a woman in seven goddamn years all but promised the fucking thing wouldn’t go away.

  The guys didn’t bother looking at me, too busy with whatever they were doing to care, but I got a couple chin-juts of acknowledgment.

  I made my way into the bar, where the people I knew were hiding out.

  “Hey, man.” Jon’s voice drew my eye.

  Jon was another member, not one of the prospects that clung to the club in hopes of making it one day. He’d been in the club as long as I had, right out of high school.

  Average height, black hair cut short, a beard on his square jaw and eyes that bordered on black, if the guy wasn’t smiling, he looked like a wild dog about to rip someone’s throat out. His brother Griff, too. The pair were identical twins, both members of the club, and the only way I could tell them apart after I got released was Jon had gotten his neck tattoo before I’d gone away. Otherwise, I would’ve been fucked.

  Good guys, though.

  Jon looked me up and down, a smirk tugging at his lips. “You look like dog shit.”

  The corner of my eye twitched. It seemed to be all he needed to start laughing.

  “I told you not to go see her, man,” he said. “Bad idea digging that shit back up.”

  I didn’t respond, sliding onto the nearest stool to sit.

  “Kind of surprised you had the balls to go back around her after the way things went down.”

  There was no more keeping my mouth shut. “The fuck was I supposed to do, let her wait for me? I was sentenced to a decade.”

  Jon shrugged. To my mind, I’d done the right thing. Might’ve been a little harsh in the way I’d done it, but the fact remained. I had been sentenced to ten years for felony assault, and as much as I loved her, I wasn’t going to let her take a chunk that big out of her life, too. I might have been a piece of shit, but I wasn’t an asshole.

  “Anyway,” he said, “you figured out what you’re gonna do yet?”

  Running my hand over my buzzed hair, I shook my head. I hadn’t been out two days at that point, still so new to the outside world that I couldn’t sleep without the constant noise of a prison block.

  “No,” I said. “I need to talk to my PO today, find a job and somewhere to stay. Fucking halfway houses, man.”

  “You sure you just don’t want a job here?”

  I scoffed. It would’ve been easier to go right back to driving a tow truck or fixing up cars, but it would’ve been impossible.

  “I’m not even supposed to be here. One of the rules.”

  “Right,” Jon said with a chuckle. “No associating with convicted felons.” I nodded. “How long’s your probation?”

  I did some quick math. Sentenced to ten years in prison, I’d served seven years and nine months. Probation would cover the rest of my sentence.

  “Two years, three months,” I said.

  “That isn’t too bad.”

  I shrugged a shoulder. I could do it standing on my head, if it weren’t for the lack of the club. They were my family, and ignoring them was going to be hard. So hard, in fact, that I just wasn’t going to do it.

  “Y’know, I’m pretty sure Old Man Hardwick’s still looking for help,” he said.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Mm-hmm. He’s had that sign up in his window for a while. You can probably get something there.”

  I thought about it for a moment. Hardwick owned a hardware store, the kind of place that looked like it belonged in every small town, where the customers were on a first name basis with the staff, and it had that homey feel. I would probably go crazy working somewhere that slow for too long, but I couldn’t leave the halfway house until I had a few weeks of employment under my belt.

  Christ, getting back on my feet was going to be a pain in the ass, and all I wanted to do was go back to see Rocky.

  * * * *

  My probation officer, Kyle Greene, sat behind an aged desk, the surface etched with deep gouges and cigarette burns. It looked like the kind of desk they used in schools, the ones with sheet metal plates to hide a person’s legs and one big-ass cubby for a few books. Point was, it didn’t look like anyone gave a shit about Greene and his office.

  The man himself, maybe sixty or so years old, leaned back in his chair, his gut pressed against his shirt. He hadn’t bothered looking up from my file, his reading glasses low on a hooked nose and his pale eyes dragging from side to side. Something told me he wasn’t really bothering to read anything.

  “Felony assault,” he said. “Says here you broke the guy’s jaw, nose and a few ribs.” He finally looked up, peering over the thin rim of his glasses. “Seems a little excessive.” I didn’t reply. “Why’d you do it?”

  I’d been asked the same question a hundred times, and my answer remained the same. Problem was, it wasn’t good.

  “I was drunk,” I said with a shrug. “He started some shit, and I ended it.”

  He shouldn’t have fucking grabbed my girl like that.

  I was used to the guys who hung around the club hitting on Rocky when we were together. That didn’t bug me. She handled her own great, but the asshole that tried assault her right fucking there in front of everyone needed his ass beat.

  Greene lifted a bushy brow, eying me with a scrutinizing stare. “That it?” He shrugged a shoulder, too.

  “I mean, it’s the truth. I could lie and say somethin’ else, but it’s what happened.”

  He gave me a begrudging nod. “Fair enough.” Closing the file, he tossed it and his glasses down on the desk. Interlacing his fingers, he looked at me again. “Got a job lined up?”

  “Going to look at one today.”

  “Got a place?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Plan on getting in trouble?”

  I creased my brow. “Not really.”

  He nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.”

  Narrowing my eyes, I couldn’t help but press. “That’s it?”

  “There anything else you have to say?”

  “N-no,” I muttered. “I just figured there was more.”

  “Look… The truth is, I don’t give a shit what you do day to day, all right? If I find out you’re doing stupid shit, I’ll send you back, but as long as you don’t make waves, I don’t see why we need to see each other more than every other week.”

  I didn’t know what to think. It sounded too perfect to be true, too great. I wasn’t that lucky. Then again, Greene didn’t give the impression of a guy who cared all that much about anything. He looked like he’d been in the game for twenty-plus years and knew what he had to do to get the bare minimum done.

  “That work for you?”

  “Absolutely,” I replied, agreeing before he could take it back, like he was just dangling the perfect scenario in front of my face.

  At least he wouldn’t make me go back to prison just for spending time with my club.

  * * * *

  The hardware store was easy to find. Hardwick had been there since before I was born, and nothing had changed. I’d been worried about the criminal record thing, but it turned out the old guy just needed physical labor. I guess he had trouble lifting bulk orders and equipment, so the fact that I was a new release didn’t seem to weigh too heavily on his mind.

  I didn’t know what the hell had happened in Pleasant Pointe since I’d left, but shit was moving too easy since release. My PO didn’t give a shit about what I did, and I got a job without a problem? The other shoe was going to drop soon, and it was going to kick me right in the gut.

  “Good, good,” Hardwick said, taking a final look over my resume that held jack shit in regards to an actual employment history. “Now, when she gets here, I’ll have Raquel show you around.”

  I was wrong. The shoe hit me square in the balls—and it was a steel-toed boot.

  Before I finished opening my mouth to speak, the words were ripped right out of my mouth before I had the chance.

  “No. Fucking. Way.”

  Our gazes drifted down the aisle that led to the back, and standing in the center of it was Rocky.

  “Raquel, good.” Hardwick seemed utterly unbothered by the rage seeping into her features. “Show Ray around while I finish his paperwork.”

  “Show him… What?”

  Hardwick retrieved my resume and headed toward the office door just to the left of the backroom, passing her in the process.

  “He’s our new hire.”

  Then he was gone, disappearing like he’d never been there.

  My insides were roiling, churning, bubbling and everything in between, but I refused to let her see it. Instead, I plastered a smile across my lips. She glared back.

  “I didn’t realize you’d turned into a fucking stalker,” she said.

  “I honestly had no idea you worked here.”

  “Well, now you do, so you need to find somewhere else.”

  A bolt of pain pierced me dead center, but I was a pro at keeping it hidden, and I’d somehow managed to keep it all in, despite the fact that she genuinely meant for me to fuck off.

  “No,” I said.

  Her delicate brow furrowed and just a little of her bravado wavered. “What?”

  “I said no. I need a job, and he was hiring. So…I’m staying.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, her lips parting, and all I could think about was shoving my tongue down her throat. Or something else.

  My dick twitched in response with the memory of how she felt. Her cries of pleasure echoed in the back of my head, distant and growing farther and farther away.

  I almost said something, too. I almost showed my hand, but I somehow kept it inside until I could find the right thing to say.

  Rocky chewed on her bottom lip in frustration, rolling it between her teeth while she looked away. I knew there was nothing sexual about it, but my mind just made it dirty.

  “Fuck,” she sighed. “Come on, then. I guess we might as well get you an apron.”

  Rocky turned and headed toward the back room with me right behind her. I’d been given a quick glimpse of it earlier with Hardwick, but honestly wasn’t paying too much attention. I didn’t think he’d give me the job.

  The back room couldn’t have been more than fifteen by fifteen feet wide. Giant shelving units lined the walls with excess stock in boxes and tubs. There was a restroom in the back corner, a clock-in thing bolted to the wall, a couple of vending machines and a table where two people could sit and take a break. It wasn’t much, but it was private.

  Rocky opened a locker I hadn’t noticed and pulled out an apron. She flapped it a few times to unfold it and offered it to me. When I grabbed it, I touched her hand and she recoiled, but not in disgust.

  Seeing the pink filter into her cheeks gave me confidence.

  I stepped closer, and she pretended not to notice, but her whole body went tight.

  “You all right?” I laced my voice with the growl that made her tremble.

  “Stop it,” she muttered.

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  “Bullshit.” She looked up and met my stare. Her eyes glittered in the light, filled to the brim with conflict, and I was responsible for it. She frowned. “What are you doing here, Ray? Seriously. Did you just come back to fuck with me?” My stomach sank. “For Christ’s sake, it would’ve been better if you just left me alone.”

  Rocky turned her back on me and headed for the door, putting an end to the whole thing. There was a finality that scared the shit out of me and forced me to act.

  The door was barely opened when I planted my hand on it, slamming it shut.

  She jumped and let out a small gasp.

  I was so close to her, almost touching. The scent of her hair, her skin and her clothes drifted into my nose. A shiver rippled down my spine, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes.

  Everything about that woman drove me insane.

  I kept one hand on the door, ensuring it’d stay shut while wrapping the other around her waist.

  “I’m not fucking with you.” I let out a heavy sigh, resting my forehead on her crown. A slight tremble vibrated beneath my touch. “I’ve missed you, baby,” I whispered. “Missed your smile, the way you smell…”

  My dick took control of my mouth and everything in between. The hand on her waist glided along her stomach, my fingers splayed so I could touch almost all of it. She let out a stuttered breath, and I found it encouraging.

  “Missed the way you feel.” I brushed the underside of her breasts, but just like before, my hand preferred the southern route.

  Years of practice made it easy for me to undo her jean’s buttons and the zipper with one hand. The denim had scuffed the shit out of my knuckles last time. I was going to avoid it.

  I dipped my hand into her panties and shivered when I found her still wet. I was glad I wasn’t the only one excited about what was happening.

  The second I grazed her clit, she gasped. Her hips bucked, shoving her perfect ass right into my hardening dick. There was no fighting the groan that rose in my throat, so I didn’t bother trying.

  I didn’t hesitate to pick up right where we’d left off at her place, teasing her with a soft touch. It might’ve been mean, but the truth was we both loved the build-up.

  At first I was slow, deliberate with each flick of my finger. I explored her sex while giving her little bursts of pleasure that sped up her short breaths. I loved the sound of it and the way she started leaning against me.

  She gripped my forearm and slid down until she could hold my wrist. I was afraid she was going to make me stop at first, but no. My girl just held on tight while putting her forehead against the arm I had on the door.

  Each pass of my fingers made her hips sway, grinding and scraping against my cock, filling me with even more want. Until that moment, I was pretty sure it would’ve been impossible, but after spending years apart, maybe it was.

  Christ, I craved Rocky. It wasn’t even a want anymore. It was a need, a thing so important to my existence that if I didn’t have her close, I’d cease to be.

  I thrust my fingers inside. Her pussy clamped down, her hot walls holding tight. I groaned into her hair again. I thought I’d imagined how she felt.

  It’s been too fucking long.

  I kept working between her legs while my cock ached with longing. Soft gasps filled my ears with each curl of my digits, her fingernails bit into my skin and I just wanted more.

  Knowing what she liked, I played into it, pressing the heel of my palm to her clit in the process.

  “Come on, baby,” I whispered into her hair. “Let me hear you.”

  Whimpering moans fell from her lips, so I pushed even harder. I’d spent my adolescence and my early twenties studying every inch of her body, devoting myself to knowing how it ticked, so I knew how to make her shake.

  Her breathing became nothing but short pants while I worked, my forearm burning from the muscle tension. Faster and faster I pumped my fingers until she finally let go, unable to keep it at bay.

  Rocky suddenly bit down on my extended arm, digging her teeth in hard while she cried out. She trembled around me, her pussy clamping down and fluttering around my digits while her orgasm washed over her.

  I’d all but stopped breathing, dedicating myself to the moment and keeping her shaking knees from giving out completely.

  Seconds turned to minutes before she managed to pull herself back into the real world. She relaxed with a sigh, but almost as soon as it happened, the air shifted. I’d felt it once that day already and preemptively pulled back.

  “Fuck,” she muttered under her breath, frantically putting her jeans right. I knew in that moment I’d been right. “Fuck!”

  And just like that, she was gone, charging through the back door and slamming it behind her.

  Alone, I peered down at my hand. Tendrils of her excitement stretched from finger to finger, glistening in the light of the backroom. I hadn’t imagined it. I’d made her quiver a few seconds prior, but that didn’t matter anymore.

  My entire body ached to the point breathing was almost impossible and I wasn’t going to survive another minute without some kind of release.

  The urge to taste her, to lick her off my skin had been strong, but I had another idea.

  Undoing my jeans, I pulled my cock out, biting back a pain-filled groan in the process. Christ, the thing felt like burning steel.

  Grasping it tight, I ran my slick hand up and down my shaft. A tingle of relief built in the small of my back, and with each pass, my balls tightened. Keeping my eyes on the prize, my mind swirled with what’d just happened and the sight of my cock glinting with her juices.

  I wanna fuck you again, baby.

  And I did. I wanted to be buried so goddamn deep inside her that there was no chance we could be separated.

  It didn’t take long for my own orgasm to roil up to the surface. Shit, I’d been struggling to keep myself under control for hours, and after feeling her shake against me, I was spoiled for fantasy.

  When I came, I had to bite down on my own noises. I wasn’t a quiet guy, and I didn’t really want to lose my job for jacking off in the back room. Hardwick might’ve been okay with my record, but something told me that was a line.

  Shaking the sex-haze from my brain, I went to the bathroom to clean up. I had no idea how the hell I was going to work in the same building with her, but that thought quickly drifted into the background when I left the break room and spotted Rocky talking to some guy.

  Jealousy sparked inside me.

  Chapter Three

  Raquel

  Still reeling from what’d happened in the back, I didn’t want to deal with another asshole.

  While I sat behind the counter on the stool we kept there, my mind drifted in and out as Alek bitched about something. He wanted to take more of my stuff, but the truth was I hardly cared. There was little I had left to give, and he wasn’t the most important thing in my life.