Page 59 of Depraved

It was just past midnight when I walked up the stairs, beer still in hand. The guys were riled up, and rightfully so. We weren’t part of a club just for shits and giggles. We were a club because we loved the thrill. We loved the adrenaline, and most of all, we were a family. And when you fucked with anyone in this family, you got burned. And that was what the Pythons did. They fucked with our family when they killed our men, all because they wanted our business with the Sixes, a business my father spent years building. Did they really think that was something we’d surrender to them so easily? Motherfuckers.

On my way down the hall, I passed her bedroom. For a second, I stilled by the door, a part of me wanting to go inside. I wanted to check if she was sleeping, then sit in the fucking dark like a psycho and watch her body move with her rhythmic breathing while she slept. It was like fucking Xanax to me, soothed and calmed me. Sort of like watching waves when they eased onto the shore.

I leaned with my shoulder against the door, thinking about the soft little moans she would make in her sleep every now and then. It was the most beautiful sound in the world.

I chugged down the last of my beer and pushed myself off the door before walking past. Not tonight. My fucking mind was all over the place, and I could feel my control hanging by a thread. Being close to her now would’ve tipped me over the edge, and I’d end up doing something she really wasn’t ready for yet.

A psychopath with a conscience. Imagine that.

My room was a little farther from the others. It was through the kitchen, out the back door, to the right. I liked my privacy, so I had the room where you couldn’t hear people talk through the walls or hear wall-bang-fucking at two in the morning.

I walked in and shut the door, not bothering to lock it. If there was a dumb enough asshole who dared to come in here uninvited, he deserved a bullet in his chest.

The first thing I did was take out my gun, placing it on a table a few feet away from the door. Then my watch. The two knives I had hidden in my pockets, and then I placed my cut over it.

My man cave had minimal shit in it. One couch. One bed. One fridge. And a shitload of beer. What more did a man want or need?

I fell down on my couch, leaning my head back and letting out a breath when someone knocked on the door. Three knocks, light and leisurely. I knew exactly who it was and didn’t have the strength.

Sighing, I got up and opened the door, met by a dark brown lecherous gaze.

“Hi.” Thick black eyelashes batted at me, red lips pouting.

“Not tonight, Tanit.” I leaned against the door, blocking her way so she got the message that she wasn’t welcome.

Biting her bottom lip, she flipped her long dark hair over her naked shoulder, the leather corset top making it impossible to ignore the big, round tits shoved up for everyone to notice. “I saw you in the bar. You seemed like you needed a little…distraction.” The words dripped from her lips like candle wax. Slow, seductive, and meant to burn.

“I said not tonight.” About to close the door, she shot out her hand, holding it open.

“Granite, what’s going on? It’s been months…you know, since you⁠—”

“Fucked you?” No use beating around the bush.

“Well…yeah.”

I rubbed my forehead. “You knew the deal, Tanit.”

“I know.” She held up her hands, retreating a little. “No strings. I know. I was just wondering, since it’s been so long, if we could,” she licked her cherry red lips, leering eyes raking over me, “help each other out.”

The first day she ended up in my bed, I knew it was a mistake. She was young, didn’t quite fit in, and that made her do stupid things…like get into my bed in the middle of night, naked and already smelling like wet pussy. I might have been the leader, the one who was supposed to know better, but I was also just a man with a dick. So I fucked her. And since she didn’t turn out to be the clingy, talking-out-of-the-bedroom type, I ended up fucking her a few more times after that.

I roughed my palm across my beard, the scratchy sound filling the hollow silence between us. “Listen, Tanit. I’ve been straight with you from the start.”

“I know that. And I accepted your terms.”

“Then you’ll accept my rejection tonight as well.”

Her heel clicked on the floor as she took a step back. “You don’t want me anymore?”

“Jesus, Tanit. It was never about me wanting you or not. You know that.”

She turned her head, facing away from me while nodding. “Okay. Well,” she glanced at the ground, “it was good while it lasted.” She turned and walked away.

Jesus fucking Christ. “Yo, Tanit.” I leaned out the door and looked her way.

She turned.

“You’re a good woman. You’ll find the right guy. That guy just ain’t me.”