Cruz (Dark and Dirty Sinners' MC #5) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,19

“Clean it up.” Then I forced her face toward the saliva that was dripping down my chest.

At first, I wasn't sure she’d obey, thought she’d bite me, then, I felt the flat of her tongue against my skin, and even as I gritted my teeth at the sensation, I let her carry on. Moving further down until it was all cleaned up.

Then, when she was done, I hauled her up, higher so that she was leaning into me, no longer on her knees, and dragged her over me so that she covered me. She started struggling, but I held her tight, drawing one of my thighs over hers, binding her in place, and in her ear, I rasped, “You want to cry? You cry. You want to scream? You scream. You want to rail at the fucking world? You rail at the fucking world. But you do it in front of me. All of it. I want it all.”

She tensed, then muttered thickly, “Fuck you, Cruz. Fuck off. I don’t want you.”

“Bullshit. Your pussy juices are still around my mouth, Indy. You want me as much as I want you.” A hiss escaped her, but her struggles slowed.

“Now, go to sleep.”

“What?! I can’t—”

I growled, “Go. To. Fucking. Sleep.”

This time, the hiss morphed into a shocked breath, and I knew her thoughts were scattered to the wind. I tugged on her hair once before I let go of it, and then I relinquished my grasp on her wrists, prepared for her to dive off and run for the bed. But she didn’t.

Nor did she relax.

She lay there, her breathing heavy, panting like she’d run a race, until finally she wasn’t.

Until, finally, I recognized the hard truth—she’d obeyed.

She’d fallen asleep.

“Hypothesis proved,” I whispered to myself, knowing, full well now, that I could give her what she craved.

Me, and only me.

And even if it took a fucking lifetime to make her see that, unless Lodestar decided to kill me—which she hadn’t attempted to do thus far—I intended on giving her that.

All of me.

But only if she gave me all of her in return.

Four

Indy

A week later

The shadows on the wall moved.

That might not mean anything to anyone else, but in the deep of night, when everyone was asleep, nothing should have moved at all. Especially not when Nyx was with Caleb. The black Labrador was always glued to his side, had been ever since my baby brother had been born. We figured it was down to Nyx being hyperaware of how ill Caleb had been since he was a baby. Whenever his health was bad, Nyx was there. Like glue.

But with our dog tucked away, fast asleep on my brother’s bed, the shadows definitely shouldn’t have been moving.

There was no light outside, no light in the house.

It was too late at night for that.

But the door still swept open.

And my heart began to pound.

A couple months ago, I’d never have been awake at this time. But now? I knew to fear the dark. I knew to fear what the stillness of my home represented.

Opportunity.

I gulped when the floorboards squeaked as the door swept back, closing, and my bottom lip trembled when the faintest noises echoed around the growing silence.

The soft steps moved in time to the rush of blood in my ears and I huddled even tighter in my ‘Hello, Kitty’ comforter, wanting this to be a nightmare, but knowing it wasn’t.

The bed jostled as he took a seat at the side of me.

His smell was so strong. Like nothing I’d ever forget.

A strange pine scent that reminded me of the forest but that I knew came from his aftershave. That odd smell that my eldest brother stank of after gym class, and that he called B.O. There was a tang of sweat, too, and it seemed to overwhelm the flowery essence that my mom washed my comforter in.

His hand went to my hip and he murmured, “Hey there, Indy. Did you miss me?”

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. “U-Uncle Kevin, I only just saw you at dinner.”

“Well, that’s a long time ago,” he teased, and his hand traced over my chest and up to my hair. As his fingers tangled with the dark strands, he murmured, “And it’s been at least four weeks since I was last here. I’ve been without my best girl since then.” He tugged on my hair. Gently. “Were you good?” He stopped tugging, tucked the lock behind my ear before he tenderly flicked my