Circle of Death (27 page)

A pang of grief seizes me at the very thought of my sister’s name. I glance up at the back wall of the bar as we approach, resting my eyes on the three pictures we hung there in memory of our fallen friends. The smiling faces of Packer, Juliet, and Otis watch over us as we do our best to soldier on. We gave Otis a proper Circle of Death memorial, attended by every chapter in driving distance. He was the last original member of the MC, his passing marked a new era of this club’s history. A new generation has taken up the reins, and leading the charge is none other than Devlin Vile. My man.

The memorial we held we Packer and Juliet was a smaller, more intimate affair. We never recovered their bodies from the burnt-out club that became their tomb. There was no way we could ever return to that rock to search for them after our escape. But though we have no physical proof of their passing, we all know in our hearts that they’re gone. For a couple of weeks after the fire, we all harbored the unspoken hope that the pair would surface somewhere, having escaped on their own. But those hopes dissipated as the weeks passed. We had a tiny service for them on the dock here at headquarters, just me and the six surviving members of the Circle of Death. I didn’t bother letting my parents know about the event. To them, Juliet’s been dead for years.

“Drink, boys?” asks Xan behind the bar.

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” the lean Lobo replies, settling down at the bar beside Leon.

“Let’s have a round on the house, Xan,” Devlin says, rallying the MC members, sweet butts, and a handful of regular hang-arounds.

The motley crew of survivors and friends gather along the bar to claim their glasses. Devlin slips his arm around my waist as he raises his glass to the congregation of outlaws.

“I want to take a moment to acknowledge what day it is,” Devlin begins, glancing up at the three portraits hanging over the bar. “Today marks three months since we lost our brothers and sister—Packer, Otis, and Juliet. The last link to our club’s past, and two of the champions of its future were stolen from us. But with your help, and determination, and support, the Circle of Death is finding new ways forward. We’ll rebuild. We’ll grow. We’ll be stronger than ever. The three members we lost would be so proud of us, the way we’re carrying on. They’d want us to forge ahead, make this club even more of a force to be reckoned with. And let’s be honest, they’d want us to have a good time even as we honor their memories.

So let’s raise our glasses to those we’ve lost and keep on raising them. Crank up the music, roll out some joints, and let’s have a little fun around here. For them.”

“For them,” the assembled group repeats, draining their glasses with vigor. Hollering voices fill the bar as smiles spread across the faces all around me. We’re facing down heartache and hardship, but we might as well do it with grins on our faces and whiskey in our bellies.

Someone throws some hard rock on the juke box, and Xan keeps the drinks coming as our de facto bartender. The mood in the bar is lighter than it’s been in three months. Losing Packer, Juliet, and Otis all at once has bound us all together more tightly than ever. I don’t know how I could even begin to imagine weathering this loss without my newfound family by my side. Especially the new, exciting, incomparable man in my life.

I slide over to where Devlin is holding forth at the bar, settling onto his lap. His strong arms encircle me as we look out across the raucous bar together. Dean and Brutus are locked in a masterful game of pool with Chip taking bets. Lobo and Leon each have sweet butts on both arms as they recount the heroic escape we made from The Club three months ago. Xan slides another couple of beers across the bar to me and Devlin, which we happily snatch up.

“Still glad you came back with me?” Devlin asks, running a hand down my arm. I’ve wrapped my flannel around my waist, leaving my lean limbs bare.

“More than ever,” I assure him, taking a swig of beer. “Still happy I came along?”

“Nothing’s ever made me happier,” he smiles back, pulling me close.

“Me either,” I tell him honestly. Even with everything we’ve been working through these past three months, I’ve never felt like I belonged anywhere more than here. I spent so much of my childhood and adolescence feeling like I wasn’t good enough, that I had nothing to look forward to. Devlin Vile and the Circle of Death changed all of that. They took me in when I would have had nowhere else to go, just like they did for Juliet all those years ago. I guess my sister and I are more alike than we ever suspected. I’ll always regret not having had more time to get to know Jules. But being here with the Circle of Death, I feel like I’m still close to her. Still honoring her legacy, in a way.

I haven’t given my parents any new details about my life and whereabouts. Better to let them keep on thinking I’m gathering material for some article or other. I’m certainly gathering experience here, though it’s not the kind you write down for the masses. The only other person from my old life that I had to say goodbye to was Emma. Free spirit that she is, she understood why I needed to stay with Dev. My whole former life is in the rearview mirror, now. I’ve kicked around the idea of sharing what I’ve learned—from the fact that there are professors selling out their students’ information back in Boston, to the employment of young women as bait by the likes of Leviathan. But that corporation is not to be fucked with lightly. I have to pick the right moment to strike back. For now, recovery is the name of the game. Recovery, and reveling in my new life at Devlin Vile’s side.

By the time midnight rolls around, the Circle of Death clubhouse is bursting with rollicking, wild energy. Drunken voices holler and cry out as old friends and new recount adventures, close calls, and hilarious tales of high jinks and hijackings alike. Booze flows like water, and music pounds through the air. Everyone is so wrapped up in the partying spirit that no one even notices as Devlin lifts me off my feet and all but carries me of the clubhouse.

I draw in huge gulps of salty night air, relishing the chill of it against my flushed skin. Opening my arms to the starry night sky, I feel light and free, unburdened for the first time in months. Devlin’s right. We have to keep on living, keep on growing. It’s what those we lost would have wanted for us.

“Outlaw life looks good on you,” Devlin grins, grabbing hold of my hips from behind.

I give my weight over to him as he wraps his this arms around my waist. His scruffy jaw brushes against my cheek, sending a shiver of delight down my spine. I still can’t quite believe that I have this incredible man to myself, these days.

“I hope you don’t mind leaving the party early,” he goes on, running his strong hands down my sides. “But I couldn’t keep my hands off you for another second.”

“I’m not asking you to,” I murmur, writhing with delight under his touch. I can already feel him growing hard for me. I’ll never stop being amazed and thrilled at how turned on he gets by turning me on. Talk about a win-win.

“Let’s go,” he growls, leading me away from the boisterous bar, up along the rocky shore. There are a handful of bedrooms built into the back of the clubhouse, but the Circle of Death president gets quarters all his own. A small, Cape Cod style cabin sits on a hillside overlooking the compound and sea alike. It’s this place that I’ve come to call home. It’s well-kept and clean, but free of any bells or whistles. The perfect love nest for a couple like us. As we approach the small, stately structure, Devlin scoops me up into his arms like a new bride. He all but kicks down the door, bearing me back safely into our shared home.

In one swift motion, Devlin slams the door behind us and whips me around, pressing me up against the solid wooden door. I laugh delightedly, wrapping my legs around his waist as he pins me there. His full lips find mine, and the taste of him bewitches my senses for the thousandth time. Instead of growing accustomed to our passionate want of each other, the fire of our need is only stoked every time we touch.

I plant my feet on the ground, reaching down to run my hands along Devlin’s long, stiff cock. A groan rises in my throat as I take him in my hands. But before I can rip open his belt buckle, Devlin catches my wrists, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“Get on the bed,” he orders me, “Now.”

I take a step away from him and do as he commands. His eyes rake all along my body as I saunter away from him into the bedroom we’ve come to share. As I reach the edge of the mattress, I lower myself onto my hands and knees. Crawling across the expansive bed sheets, I feel his hands close around my hips once more.

“On your back,” he tells me. I flip over at once, letting my legs fall open as he kneels over me, his staggering body bristling with lust. Devlin lowers himself to me, bringing his lips to the tender skin of my throat. “Stay perfectly still,” he murmurs, “I mean it.”

I will myself not to grab hold of Devlin as his lips skirt across my bare skin. His kisses trail across my collarbone, down to my breasts, until finally he closes his teeth around the neckline of my thin cotton tank top, pulling it down and away. He tears at the layers of my clothes with his teeth, until my breasts are bare and heaving before him. Devlin sucks and bites at my nipples as he pushes up my denim skirt. My entire body is trembling, trying to keep from clutching onto him.

He trails down the length of my ready, supple body, and I feel him tear down my panties with those ravenous teeth of his. The primal urgency of his every action has me wet and eager between my legs. I moan as I feel Devlin’s tongue tracing along the length of my slit, parting my pink lips with every stroke. He glances against my throbbing clit, and a deep pulsing pressure goes off like a rocket in my core.

“You’re being so good,” he grins, lifting his eyes to mine.

“You know how to drive me wild, Dev,” I gasp.

“Go ahead. Take it all off,” he says, “You have my permission.”

I rip the remaining clothes off my body as Devlin shucks off his jeans and tee. We take each other in for the briefest of moments before coming together once again. He pins me to the wide mattress as I wrap my arms around his broad shoulders. We cry out as one as he drives his cock up into me, filling every inch with that gorgeous, pulsating length. I hold on for dear life as Devlin thrusts into me, driving deeper and deeper with every pass. My head falls back against the mattress as his cock collides with that sweet spot inside of me, over and over again.

As we speed on toward unimaginable heights of bliss, it’s like we’re the only two people in the entire world. The danger and violence that lies in wait, all of the things that go bump in the night, they don’t mean a thing to us now. All that matters is each other. I gaze up at Devlin in wonder as pleasure mounts deliciously in my core. His ripped, staggering body rocks above me, the inky lines of his tattoos and defined cuts of his muscles an elaborate tapestry that only I know by heart. Unable to contain myself, I catch his face in my hands and kiss him, hard and deep.

It’s that one kiss that does it.

We topple over the edge together, coming hard and strong. Devlin fills me up with his surging bliss as sensation radiates to the very edges of my body. We fold into each other, spent and sated—at least for tonight, that is. He pulls me to him, my back pressing against his chest. Little by little, our breathing evens out. We manage to come to our senses once again as sleep creeps in to claim us for a few hours.

It’s so quiet out here, away from the bustling city I left behind. The only sound beyond our walls is the crashing of waves against the shore. I never knew I could be content with such a rugged, renegade life. But then, I never counted on meeting anyone like Devlin Vile.

“I just...I wanted to say thank you, Dev,” I whisper, lacing my fingers with his.

“For what?” he asks, his breath warm against my throat.

“For...all of this,” I say wondrously, “For letting me into your life. For seeing me, accepting me for who I really am. And for still wanting me to stick around.”

“You don’t have to thank me for any of that,” he says, turning my face toward his. “It could never have been any other way, once we’d met. We’re built for each other. Nothing could keep us away. And nothing could ever change what we have.”

“Well, still,” I smile, tracing the lines of his Diabolus tattoo with the tip of my finger. “I still feel pretty lucky to have run into you, you crazy sonofabitch.”

“I know it’s a crazy thing to say, with everything we’ve gone through already,” he says, suddenly serious. “But you’ve made me happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I hope you know that, Logan.”

“I do,” I tell him, it’s the truth. “I feel the same way. It doesn’t make any sense, but I’m not planning on asking too many questions about it.

“I don’t know where this is going, you and me,” he continues. “I’ve never felt like this before, with anyone. But I’m willing to figure it out as we go.”

“That’s all I want,” I assure him. “You’re all I want.”

“Well good,” he grins, nipping playfully at my ear. “Because it’s mutual, babe. And I always get what I want.”

I chuckle sleepily as Devlin wraps me up in his arms. Ours may not be the most conventional pillow talk, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I wouldn’t trade this life for anything. It may be an uncertain, and dangerous, and unpredictable path, but it’s certainly one hell of a ride. Especially with Devlin Vile doing the driving.

THE END