We pushed and pulled and rolled around the bed, at one point almost hitting the floor until Cody caught us, using one arm to push us back up. He bit me and I bit him, our bodies red and sweaty by the time we’d stripped our bottom halves.

“Brace your hands on the wall,” he ordered as he knelt above me, his chest heaving. Without thought, I followed his direction, placing my hands on the cold concrete above my head.

“Brace ’em, Ladybug,” he repeated.

As soon as I’d locked my elbows, he pulled my hips from the bed and slammed inside me. My head flew back, the tendons in my neck straining as I held back my cry. I was still conscious of the people outside his room, but I wouldn’t be for long.

His fingers dug into my hips, pulling me toward him as he snapped his hips forward again and again, and soon I was moaning with every thrust. Then he let go of one of my hips and ran his fingers down the length of my chest, from my neck to my belly button. He wiped away the sweat that had been beading on my skin, and my entire body clenched as he lifted his fingers to his lips and licked them clean.

“Tastes good,” he rasped.

He pounded in again before pulling out with a muffled curse, then flipped one of my legs over the other so I was lying with my bottom half twisted sideways.

“Keep those arms up,” he reminded me as he pushed the top leg until my thigh was resting against my chest.

Without any warning, he pushed slowly back inside me. The change in angle and the tight feeling of his entry had me gasping, the sweat on my hands making them slip against the wall. He leaned down so one of his forearms was braced beside me—his fingers wrapped gently around my upraised arm—and rested his chest against my torso, bringing the other hand up to rub up and down my bent leg, keeping it in place.

“Oh my God.” I groaned, clenching my teeth as he started to move faster.

He made a noise against my collarbone as he grasped behind my knee and rotated his hips just a fraction. I was so immersed in him—the way he smelled, the taste of his skin, the sound of his voice in my ear—that by the time he let go of my thigh to reach down and pinch my clit, hidden under my drawn-up thigh, I was so close to orgasm I detonated on contact.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered in my ear. “I take care of you, don’t I?”

I moaned high in my throat as the orgasm went on and on until finally my body relaxed. As soon as it was finished, his hand slipped away from where we connected and grabbed the opposite arm. Without slowing his thrusts, he turned me fully onto my side. When I was exactly how he wanted me, he leaned down to tenderly kiss my lips, and then used my hair to jerk my face away from him.

Breathing heavily, he came, biting down on the back of my neck.

He summarized his point by once again covering Echo’s mark with his own.

Son of a bitch. I was too tired to argue anymore.

Chapter 20

Farrah

The first few days at the club actually weren’t that bad. People seemed to give me a wide berth, which suited me just fine. I wasn’t there to make friends, and if it had been up to me, I wouldn’t have been there at all. I was pretty small potatoes when it came to club politics, and I doubted anyone would have even connected me to the Aces, but Cody was adamant that it wasn’t safe for me outside the barbed wire fence that surrounded the grounds.

I didn’t fight him on it. I’d felt like shit when I had to call in to work, but when I’d told the owner that I had a family emergency, he’d been super cool about it. At least I didn’t have to worry about losing my job. I could live with being cooped up with a bunch of people I didn’t know as long as my family was around.

I spent most of my time hanging outside with Callie, Will, and occasionally Cameron. Gram had found her way into the kitchen and was schooling all the other women on how to feed an army, and Cody was mostly off doing shit for the guys in the club, so I didn’t see them as much.

After the first day, the adults had realized that it was insane to try to keep the kids locked inside, so they set up some water games and yard toys in the field behind the building. The old ladies were comfortable with each other, and they took shifts slathering the kids in sunscreen and watching them run wild, but none of them ever made their way into our little group.

I felt bad that I seemed to be alienating Callie from the women she had so much in common with, but it really couldn’t be helped. They didn’t want anything to do with me—my reputation must have preceded me—so even if I’d smiled at them and tried to play nice, they wouldn’t have given us the time of day. We were interlopers, and by the strain on Callie’s face by the end of each day, I knew it was weighing on her.

By the fifth day of confinement, I made myself cut her loose. I knew that while I was around she wouldn’t make any of the friends that she quite obviously wanted, so instead of following the crowd outside after breakfast, I told her I wanted to spend the day reading in Cody’s room. It was a bit disturbing the way her eyes lit up before she deliberately gave me a disappointed look, but I let it go. I understood, as much as it irritated me.

If I’d known what I was getting myself into, I would have gladly tagged along with Callie and kept her friendless.

I’d been in Cody’s room for about an hour when there was a soft knock on the door. Thinking it was Gram or Callie, I climbed off the bed and swung the door open, immediately wishing I could slam it closed again.

“Hi,” she said nervously, her voice rough and deep. “I’m Vera. Slider’s wife?”