Page 10 of Blaze

I wrap an arm around her, dropping my hand to her waist and squeezing.

“Is that right?” I’m forcing myself not to compare the feel of her to the brief handful I got of Claire earlier.

Esme reaches for my hand with the beer and guides it to her red-painted lips. She holds my gaze as she makes me tilt it up and she wraps her lips around its long neck, the message clear. When she lowers my hand, she lets a little beer dribble down over her chin and it lands on her tits.

“Oops,” she says without a hint of regret and her twin laughs behind her. I look up to see Yasmine eyeing us like she wants to watch. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d fucked someone in the same room as Chainz. Then a flash of brown amid a sea of bright dresses catches my eye.

Fucking hell. Claire is here.

My cock roars to life and Esme feels it. She grips me tighter to her and then her lips are on my bare chest where my leather cut hangs open. Claire stands next to Sydney and Lacy on the other side of the courtyard, wearing a dress that’s as cute as she is and more modest than any other single chick here. Reaper’s words go right out of my head because all I can focus on is how the desert breeze makes the hem of her dress lift up enough to tease. Her coal black hair is down, and I want to bury my hands in those natural waves.

She looks in my direction, her whole body jerking when our eyes meet. Hunger runs through me, visceral and desperate. I swear it’s reflected in those whiskey-honey eyes of hers. Her gaze lowers and her face goes blank, any sign of desire disappearing when she sees Esme licking my chest like she’s a damn cat and I’m her favorite bowl of cream.

“Fuck,” I grunt, then push Esme off of me and back towards Chainz.

“What the fuck?” Esme demands, her face pissy.

I don’t give an explanation, shoving past the three of them and marching across the party, intent on seeing that hungry look on Claire’s face again. Chainz yells something, and I flip him off over my head.

Cinder walks up to Lacy, a blue plastic cup in one hand that she takes excitedly. His ol’ lady is about to pop any day, and it’s fucking comical to see them next to each other. Cinder’s a giant compared to her, with broad shoulders and a face like granite. He’s wearing a black tee under his cut, and his black hair is buzzed close to his scalp. One of his arms is covered in ragged scar tissue. I don’t need to see him naked to know the burns cover most of the left side of his body. His eyes are blazing green, and he’s an intimidating motherfucker who is absolutely wrapped around the human equivalent of a cupcake.

Still can’t believe how hard he fell. Lacy’s a sweetheart, though. When her ex came to town, Cinder and the rest of us were there to help her out. He hasn’t left her side since.

Cinder looks at me over the heads of the chicks, lifting his chin in greeting as he perches his ass on the table behind him, looping an arm possessively around Lacy.

Lacy looks over, which has Sydney’s and Claire’s heads swiveling. Claire’s face is poised, like the girl next door she looks like, but I see her eyes go past me to where I left Esme behind.

Sydney eyes me, a sly look in her dark eyes. She’s already got a beer in hand, one of the demon brews, but the woman might as well be one of us for all the iron and spite in her. “The hero of the day,” she drawls, nudging Claire with her elbow. Claire gives her a smile before Sydney continues, one I’d think was real if I didn’t have a second nature for secrets and deception. “Next time warn a girl before you go offering up her guest room.”

Claire’s brows dip inward as she turns back to the prickly bar owner. “If it’s really an issue, I honestly don’t mind going to the hotel.”

“Oh, please,” Lacy says with exaggerated exasperation and nudges Cinder over so she can climb up onto his knee. Sydney and Claire shift closer towards the couple, leaving me enough room at the end of the table to join them without crowding Claire, though if I had it my way, I’d crowd Claire until that ass of hers was pressed up against my stiff cock. “Sydney, you know you’d already decided to offer that room the moment you saw her trailing behind Blaze.”

Sydney scowls and I grin, shoving my hands in my front pockets. Leaning over to Claire, I mock whisper, “Sydney’s all bark and no bite.”

“Screw you, fire boy,” the woman in question snaps back. “Just ask that president of yours how bad my bite is.”

Lacy giggles, snorting and hiding her mouth behind her hand. “When are you going to accept that Reaper wants to eat you alive and finally screw it out?”

Sydney rolls her eyes. “When are you going to accept that you’re just seeing what you want to? Sometimes when people can’t stand each other, it’s because, shockingly enough, they can’t fucking stand each other.”

“Mmmhmm,” Lacy hums while taking a drink of whatever alcohol-free drink Cinder got her.

In the drop of conversation, I get Claire’s attention. “Want a drink?” She doesn’t have one and it’s the only thing I can think of. Well, other than asking if she’d let me have a taste of her. Mouth or cunt, I’d take either.

She hesitates and Sydney elbows her again, adding, “You’re only here for a night, live a little. Plus, your car won’t be fixed in the morning, which means you don’t have to worry about a hangover.”

After another second, Claire shrugs and looks up at me. “Fine, I’ll have one drink. What are the options?”

I jerk my head back towards the far wall where double doors are thrown open and bikers and partiers are flowing through. “Come on, I’ll let ya pick.” When she walks past me, I fall beside her, draping an arm over her shoulders. She stiffens, but I tug her closer until she’s pressed up against my side. She’s a tiny thing, but damn, she fits nice with me. “Relax,” I tell her, giving two bikers a cold stare when they leer over Claire as they walk by. “Here, if you don’t have a man claiming you, you’re free game.”

She scoffs but doesn’t pull away. “No chivalry among knights, then?”

“Chivalry is about the battlefield.” I steer her around one of the huge leather couches that dominate the open floor plan. “It’s a modern idea that chivalry has anything to do with opening doors and being a gentleman. As for the religious aspect, we certainly don’t do that shit.”

We’ve kept the foundations of the adobe estate, but when we took it over we knocked out a couple walls until we had a room large enough for club meetings. The ceilings are high with exposed wood beams stained dark from time. The rough-hewn walls are mostly bare, except we’ve got a few framed photos up, the biggest being a club photo from when we first formed the Knights of Hades. It’s got all six of us plus our brand new bikes. Next to that one is another group photo but with a few new faces. It’d been taken in this very room after we officially launched Cerberus Security, a step that turned us legit even though we work in the gray areas the good guys can’t.

Large, worn-out black leather couches are angled towards each other and a large, wall-hung flat screen TV- currently playing some pole dancer show. The sound’s off, probably because everything is being drowned out by the rock music coming in from outside. In one corner of the room there’s a pool table game in progress with a handful of chicks and riders hovered ‘round watching. The other side has a well-stocked bar and a long-ass wooden table with beat-up chairs. That’s where I guide Claire. With her under my arm, she doesn’t have a chance to hesitate stepping back behind the bar even when I feel the hitch in her step.

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