Page 23 of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

“Be up in a second. Don’t open the door ’till you hear my voice.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” he repeats.

“Gage?”

“Yeah?” he asks.

“Love you.” Right after I speak, he disconnects.

Mere minutes later, so I know he had to have run to catch the elevator and then head down my hallway, there’s a knock—well, actually, several hard raps on my door followed by, “Liv, baby.”

Even knowing it’s him, knowing his voice, I leave the long latch closed so if by some chance it isn’t Gage, Michael or whoever couldn’t push his way in.

When his shimmering blue eyes catch mine, and he smiles, I know I made the right move. Only then do I unlatch the long latch and open the door for my man.

Strong, warm, familiar arms wrap around me in a firm, unwavering embrace as I’m pushed back from the doorway, allowing him to enter.

In one swift move, he uses the heel of his boot to shut the door and falls back against it. I stumble into his body. His embrace shifts and tightens, even as he rests his forehead against mine.

“Gage,” I whimper, unsure of what else to say, which is fine when he quiets me.

“Shh…” he orders. “Just let me feel you.”

“Oh look, it’s the Brimstone whore,” Chunk, our vice president Tag’s stupid son, taunts me. “Oh wait—that was your mom.” He grabs a hold of my arm to drag my protesting body against him. “Let’s see if it’s like mother, like daughter. Bet that pussy is sweet.”

“No,” I shriek, struggling to get out of his meaty grip. I’ve never had sex before. I certainly don’t want to lose my v-card to a lunk-head like Chunk.

He shuts down my ‘no’ by slamming his lips down on mine in a sloppy kiss. I might not have had sex before, but I’ve been kissed plenty, and this sloppy kiss is terrible—the worst kiss of my life.

Then it gets worse when he tears at my underwear under my skirt.Holy shit. This is going tohappen.

“No,” I shriek again.

“You want this,” he says, or more like grunts against my mouth, smearing his gross, wet lips against my skin.

“No,” I insist choking back a sob, one last act of defiance while the tears fill my eyes, blurring my vision, and flow like a river down my cheeks.

Right as I feel his hand where I don’t want it, there’s a commotion and Chunk is ripped from me. There are grunts and slushing sounds—which, coming from a biker club, I’m all too aware means someone is bleeding.

Then Chunk is on the ground with Gage standing over him, he kicks Chunk in the ass, one last humiliation to put him in his place.

“You made a big mistake, motherfucker,” Chunk threatens Gage with garbled words. “How dare you attack a Lord?”

“You’re not a Lord yet. And what do you think your dad will say when he finds out you tried to rape Ripper’s daughter?”

“You’re dead,” he threatens again, grunting and huffing as he pushes his beefy body up off the cement to run away.

“I got Raif on my side. I like my chances,” Gage calls after his retreating form.

“Gage,” I whisper, tears streaking down my cheeks.

“Shh…” he orders. As he brings his forehead down to rest against mine. As he holds me tight.

“Liv?”

I blink.

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