Page 68 of Cross To Bear

“I am, Pippi Longstocking.” I grabbed one of his braids and gave it a tug, forcing him to jerk away. “Bjorn had Maddie today. You two chuckle fucks had her last night.” I stared at the closed door, just about able to imagine our girl stripping down and getting dressed. “I need to spend a little time with her one on one tonight.”

“At the bar?” Hawk’s brows creased. “Is that where you really want to take her?”

“Not really. I figure we’ll pregame there for a bit and then I’ll take her on a ride up to one of the lookouts,” I replied.

“Not on your bike,” Bjorn said. “The tattoo, it’s on her inner thigh. It’ll hurt if you put her on the back of your bike.”

“By your words, the tattoo is real small, so not likely to hurt much, but also…” I couldn’t look away from the door. “I want her being reminded of it. Our mark on her skin, making clear who she belongs to.” I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think Maddie needs to keep that in the forefront of her mind. No more pulling away. No more running.”

That vow hung around me, clouding my mind or making me see things real fucking clearly as she opened the door and walked out.

“Damn…” I let all of the admiration I felt, the way my dick twitched and my heart ached, into my voice as I looked her up and down. A little black skirt and these cute little bootie things on her feet, but this time she had a stretchy black top on that was cut so damn low it’d only take a little tug to expose her breasts. My mouth watered as my fingers turned into claws, drumming on my thigh as she came closer.

“See something you like?” she asked me bold as brass, and I fucking loved that, wrapping my arm around her neck and tugging her close.

“Every damn day I see you,” I replied, kissing her far more briefly than my body demanded. “Now, let’s leave these losers behind and go for a ride on my bike.”

It was early evening when we appeared out the front of the bar, but the place was already packed and noisy as fuck.

“Oh fuck…” Maddie hissed when she slid off the bike, walking a little bow legged.

“Something the matter?” I asked lazily, knowing exactly what the problem was but willing to play dumb.

“I got…” She looked up at me as she pulled the helmet off and left it sitting on my bike seat. “Bjorn tattooed me on my inner thigh. I didn’t think it’d hurt riding on the bike, but…”

I watched her pupils expand and her breath suck in as I shoved a hand between her legs, letting my palm rest where I suspected the tattoo was.

“Right here?” My voice was too low, husky even. She nodded sharply, so my thumb swept over the spot. “If it hurts too much, I can take you into the office and kiss it until it feels better.” I smiled. “Or you do.”

“So you brought me here to have your wicked way with me?” She put a hand on her hip. “And here I was thinking you were going to take me on an actual date.”

“I am.” The smile faded, because I couldn’t say this with the mask in place. I stared out at her, not the persona of Razor. “I’m not fucking you, Maddie.” Was that disappointment in her eyes? By the fading of her smile, I was willing to bet it was. “Not until you’re ready.”

“The day I’ve had, I’m ready.” She let her eyes trail down my body, and I hoped then she saw me in the shower, how I’d looked, hard and wanting her. “Beyond ready. And riding a motorbike.” She shifted restlessly. “Sometimes it feels like I’m riding a really big vibrator.”

I chuckled, tugging her close and putting my lips to her ears.

“You didn’t let me finish. Not until you’re ready to become mine. When you know in your heart that you don’t want any other men than me and mine, that’s when I’ll fuck you, and not a moment before.”

I wanted to watch her react, read her expression, just like I did everyone else’s, though there was no point in doing that. If she wasn’t ready to say it, I couldn’t do anything about it but wait, so I steered her inside, nodding to the bouncers on the door as we came inside. The place was fucking chaos as per usual, the patrons drinking, shouting, fighting and fucking, though people got the hell out of our way as I led us up to the bar.

“Tequila?” Roxy said, appearing before us and pointing to me before turning to Maddie. “G&T?”

“Beer for me,” I said, not wanting to drink too much. I didn’t need to, not when I was with my girl. “Maddie?”

“I’d love a G&T, thanks, Roxy.” When she went to get her wallet out, I shook my head.

“You know your money is no good here.” Before she could protest, I saw a flurry of people climbing the small stage we had set up at one end of the bar. “Hunter’s playing tonight?”

“I figured I’d give him another go.” I grinned at Roxy’s overly nonchalant shrug. Hunter was an extremely talented guitarist. He was also a fox shifter, something Roxy tried to scrupulously avoid. “I promise he won’t steal the silver or anything, Boss.”

I only got Boss when she was feeling on edge, so I took a sip from my beer when she set it down before me.

“You know we’ve never held to that species bullshit here.” I cast an eye over the bar. “And if I was worried about thieves, most of these fuckers wouldn’t get ten feet from the door.” The sharp whine of an amplifier being plugged in jerked our heads up, followed by a few notes from the guitar, before Hunter looked over at his crew, telling them something about the sound that we couldn’t hear. “And last time he played we made twice the amount we usually do on a Saturday night. Be good if we could make him a regular.”

Roxy just sniffed at that, wiping down an already spotless bar.

“Yeah, maybe.”

---