: Chapter 21

Diesel laughs so hard at that he has to dab his eyes with a napkin. “I nominate Garrett.” He smirks.

“Fuck off,” the big guy snarls back.

Ryder ignores them all, focusing on his phone like always. I can’t help but watch him, he’s so graceful, so refined…so cold. Like snow. But snow is beautiful, and when it melts…it reveals all that’s hidden underneath.

“Need to piss,” Diesel tells us, before slipping from the booth, and not a moment later, Kenzo slides into his spot next to me.

“He’ll kill you,” I warn him with a shrug, leaning back and meeting Kenzo’s dark eyes. He slicks his hair back, a smile curling those lips, and a flash of heat goes through me, remembering how good they felt against my pussy.

His eyes dilate like he knows what I’m thinking about. “Behave, darling.”

“I am,” I argue, even as my eyes drift back to his lips. We haven’t spoken about what happened, but honestly, I don’t think we need to. We both had aggression we needed to get out. Hell, I still hate them…but I’m tired of fighting this need, the need to have them. To feel that power.

I know I’ve told myself before, but I’m not ever getting free, so why not have some fun on the way? They have a way of dragging you into their world and consuming you with it, and I find myself smack dab in the middle…and I’m loving it.

Kenzo leans closer, his finger going to my chin as he leans down, almost pressing his lips to mine. “Feeling needy, darling? ‘Fraid we can’t fight in here…” He licks my lips before moving away and turning my head. I let him, and my eyes clash with Ryder’s cold ones. He’s watching us carefully, his face empty, but below that frost, I see something.

A spark.

One he’s trying to hide. Kenzo doesn’t care, he runs his lips down my neck and across my thrumming pulse. My lips part on a gasp as I try to shift slightly away, but I bump into Garrett so I shift back, and Kenzo presses closer. The room is filled with chatter, laughter, and the clinking of forks on plates, but all I can hear is my own heart as he teases me.

The asshole.

His hand lands on my thigh under the table and strokes upwards along my leg, getting higher and higher as he nips my neck. Eyes still on Ryder, I shift again, trying to ignore my throbbing pussy. Licking along my neck, he starts to nibble on my ear as he parts my thighs and presses his hand to my wet knickers, the dress giving him full access.

“I can feel how wet you are,” he murmurs darkly, his voice hungry. “I bet if I slipped my fingers into your tight little cunt, you would come for me, wouldn’t you?”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I snap, trying to act tough, but as soon as the words leave my lips, I realise what I’ve done.

Laid down a challenge…to a man who thrives on gambling and bets.

Fuck.

Ryder’s lips turn up slightly, like he knows what’s going to happen. Leaning back in his chair, his phone forgotten on the table, he stares at me. No doubt noting the rise and fall of my chest, my parted lips, and the blush staining my cheeks and creeping down my neck. Arm draped across his chair, legs parted, he sits there waiting, like he’s watching the fucking theater.

And I’m the act.

Kenzo pulls away for a moment, and I glance over at him in surprise. He doesn’t seem like the type to back down, but then he’s there, the glint of a blade flashing under the lights before it presses against my knicker-clad pussy. I freeze, barely breathing, and he laughs in my ear.

“They are in the way,” he growls, before he slices them off. I gasp loudly as cool air blows across my wet center.

I watch him tuck the knife and my underwear in his pocket before his hand is stroking up my thigh again. I can’t help it, I part my legs further for him, hitting Garrett’s huge thigh under the table. My gaze jerks up to his to see him peering down at me. He’s angry, as usual, but I also see a deep hunger there.

I want to move away, I should. He doesn’t like me, or women, or to be touched. But he doesn’t shift away, and neither do I. My leg presses along his as his brother’s hand finally covers my heat.

Diesel arrives at the table then, dropping into Kenzo’s seat. “Asshole,” he mutters, and then looks at me, his eyes lighting up when he takes in my state. “Oh, what are we playing, Little Bird?”

“Yes, Little Bird, tell him,” Kenzo mocks in my ear, as he strokes down my slit, up and down, up and down, teasing me.

“I—erm, nothing,” I sputter, as I reach for my water and take a sip, trying to stop myself from pushing into Kenzo’s touch. I’ve just taken a mouthful when he parts my lips and flicks my clit. Choking on the water, I slam the glass down onto the table, and he laughs in my ear as I splutter out the water and wipe my weeping eyes. This motherfucker—

A moan slips from my lips as he does it again before circling it with his thumb and pressing down, rubbing me. He licks my ear as my eyes dart between Diesel’s smirking gaze and Ryder’s cold one. They all watch me. I’m the center of attention as Kenzo plays me perfectly.

His friend could come back at any moment, anyone could look up and spot us. The thought only makes me wetter, and he uses my cream to sink a finger into me. Moaning, I bite down on my lip to stop myself from getting louder as I lean back in the booth, opening myself further to him, letting him sink deeper.

If you can’t beat them, join them.

My eyes close as I rest my head against the booth, just feeling him. He curls his finger inside me, stroking me, his thumb still rubbing maddening circles on my clit until I’m so close. Their eyes on my body and the feel of Kenzo pressed against me is too much.

“Eyes open, darling, see what you do to them,” he murmurs in my ear, and my eyes shoot open.

I look at Diesel first, the crazy bastard, who has his cock out. I groan as I watch him circle his length, uncaring about being in public. His trousers are undone, his eyes on me as Kenzo fingers me.

My mouth waters at the sight of him. He’s thick, so fucking thick, and across his cock is black ink. He got his dick tattooed. It doesn’t even surprise me, nor the piercing at the end—he probably got off on it. Except I can’t help but wonder what it would feel like inside me, that piercing dragging along my walls…

Kenzo adds another finger, making me moan loudly as I unashamedly tilt my hips to meet the thrust of his hand. “Look at my brother, see his eyes? They’re on fire, melting for you. He tries to fight it, hates that he can’t control you or his reaction to you, but look.”

I follow his bidding and gaze at Ryder. I meet his eyes first, and see what Kenzo is talking about—they are melting. A fire wars with ice there as his face tightens. Running my eyes across his body, I note his chest is heaving slightly, his hands are clenched into fists on his thighs, and his trousers are…stretched across his hard cock.

He wants me.

It shocks me, and I groan loudly as Kenzo speeds up his fingers, fucking me for real now. I lose myself in it, in the pleasure coursing through me at being watched, and being in the middle of all these powerful men and making them weak. Putty.

Raising my hips, I shamelessly ride his fingers, chasing release as he whispers dirty words in my ear. He bites on my earlobe. “I bet if you reach over between Garrett’s legs, you’ll find him hard too.”

Swallowing, I glance over at the big guy, who’s trying his hardest not to look at me. His face is locked in a scowl, his body tight and leaning away like he can’t bear to touch me anymore. His hands…they are balled into fists, the tattoos stretching across his scarred skin, but they are shaking slightly.

My gaze slides down his wide chest to his lap, which I can spot just below the table. Kenzo is right. He’s hard.

Fuck.

Kenzo chuckles in my ear. “So am I, remembering the way you writhed beneath me, how tight your cunt was around my cock, milking me. How fucking beautiful you looked under me. I bet D is recalling as well. Ryder…Ryder is imagining it, wishing he was there. Wishing he was me, feeling your wet little pussy wrapped around his fingers right now. Feeling how close you are to coming from my touch and their eyes.”

Moans leave my lips unchecked, his dirty words making me hot until I want to tear off my clothes and just mount him like a fucking animal. To ride his dick right here, right now. He groans in my ear like he knows what I’m thinking, his fingers stretching me as he rubs my clit.

“I want them to see you come, to hear you moan. For everyone in here to know whom you belong to, who brings you pleasure that no one else ever will,” Kenzo growls.

Panting, I shake my head, trying to fight it, but it’s too late. My orgasm surges through me. As it takes hold, my eyes clash with Ryder’s, and for a moment, I see the inferno raging in his gaze before my eyelids close, a low scream leaving my lips as I come.

Fireworks explode as he fucks me through it, his fingers struggling through my tight channel, his thumb rubbing my over sensitive clit, making a groan leave my lips as I try to pull away, but I’m weak and spent.

I slump backwards, panting hard, my eyes flicking open to meet Ryder’s again, but he blinks and the ice is back, like I never saw what I thought I saw. Glancing over, heart slamming in my chest, I see Diesel tucking away his softened cock with a napkin balled into his hand…did he come? Christ.

Kenzo chuckles in my ear, and I shove him away. He leans back, his fingers pulling free from my soaking pussy with an audible squelch. Clenching my thighs together, I cringe at the wetness coating them.

I pant, unable to catch my breath, and my body is still shaking from aftershocks as I watch Kenzo pull his hand out, the one he fucked me with, showing them all my release across his fingers. His eyes meet mine as he raises them to his arrogant mouth and licks them clean.

Fuck.

I can’t take it anymore, I need a moment to regather myself. I feel raw and exposed, and they are all still watching me.

“Can I go clean up?” I murmur.

“No,” Ryder snaps.

“You will sit in your own release, knowing that’s only the first of many today.” Kenzo grins.

Fucking assholes.

Just then, our food arrives, and I can’t meet Red’s and the other server’s eyes, like he knows what just happened. Shit, did he wait until I was finished to bring it over? My cheeks stain red at that. How fucking embarrassing. Even for me.

But then I gather myself. No, fuck that. I refuse to be embarrassed. This is my body, if I wanted to ride all their dicks right here, I would. Swallowing, I raise my head and meet the server’s gaze. His cheeks are pink, and as soon as I meet his eyes, he drops his to the table, quickly handing out the food before running away. Red chuckles and follows after him.

“And they say we’re scary, you should see you. It’s fucking brilliant.” Diesel grins before grabbing his burger and taking a huge bite.

I do the same, starving after the day I’ve had. I don’t bother to eat politely. Fuck them. If they wanted a classy bird, they should have kidnapped one. I eat like me, scarfing down my food only the way a kid can who was always scared they would never have their next meal.

When I’ve eaten as much as I can, I lean back, guilt filling me at the garlic bread I didn’t finish. Another thing I learned from starving, eat everything, because you never know when you will eat again. But I can’t, I’m too full. I try to tell myself it doesn’t matter, I’m not starving anymore, but it’s a hard habit to break.

Ryder leans over the table and gently presses my chin up, his eyes flickering between mine like he can see my internal war. It’s stupid, but panic claws at me. Will he be angry I couldn’t eat it all?

He softens for a moment. “Breathe,” he murmurs, before reaching down and plucking the last piece of food from my plate and eating it with his hands, which is unusual for him. When he’s done, he meets my gaze and wipes his mouth, and I know.

He did it for me.

I sit back, beyond shaken from the day. Honestly, there has been too many emotions to handle. I just sit in silence as they finish eating. Glancing over at Garrett, I realise his plate is sitting in front of him untouched.

I lean closer. “Aren’t you hungry?” I ask.

“Not for food,” he growls, and looks down at me, his eyes dark and his lips tight with lust. I gasp, shivering under that stare. I thought he hated me.

Ryder’s phone rings then, pulling me from our moment, and I glance away, escaping those eyes. Fuck, what are they doing to me? I can’t zone in on Ryder’s conversation, but right after, he flags down a waiter.

“Grab Red for me,” he demands.

Not two minutes later, he’s at our table. “We have to go, thank you for the food, what do we owe you?”

“Fuck that, you know I don’t accept your fucking money, but I have some information for you.” He leans closer then, meeting Ryder’s gaze. “The men are local thugs, easy to deal with, but there is a bounty on your heads, my friends.”

He looks to Garrett. “People are going to start coming for you, it’s a lot of money.”

“I see,” Ryder mutters. “Not much different from normal then.”

“You don’t understand. They’re saying once you’re dead…the city will be in new hands. Better hands. They are planning on wiping out the Vipers and taking over, it’s all over the streets.”

My eyes widen at that. Who would be stupid enough to take on the Vipers? They own everything, everyone. They are powerful and fucking terrifying. But Ryder doesn’t seem shocked, his eyes do tighten slightly though, and he nods.

“Stay safe,” Red adds. “Go out the back.” Then, he’s gone.

“Aren’t you worried?” I question as soon as he is.

Ryder smirks, but it’s not a nice one, and it sends fire sparking down my spine. “Worried? No. There are always people trying to kill us, to take what we have. When you’re at the top, the most powerful, they all want you to fall. We never will. It’s just time to show them that again, a little lesson to remind them who this city belongs to.” He shrugs and stands, buttoning his jacket before throwing money on the table, ignoring Red’s words. “Let’s get back, we have some things to take care of.”

Diesel whoops at that. “Hell yes, it’s time to play!”

Oh fuck, I don’t like the sound of that. But they all seem excited at the prospect, happy to get their hands bloody. Sometimes, I forget they are murderers, killers, and snakes.

Sometimes, I don’t care.

Garrett slides from the booth, and I slip across his seat. His hand comes out fast and sharp, and I flinch. He freezes and offers it to me slower. I follow it up to his face and see the understanding in his eyes.

He knows.

Accepting it, I let him pull me to my feet, and he lets go straightaway, but it was a nicety I didn’t expect from him.

As we leave the restaurant, my eyes catch on a woman and a man leaning close together. Her dark hair is pulled back tightly, and she’s smiling—she’s beautiful. The guy is blond and leaning into her, whispering in her ear, and from the grin on her lips, I would say it’s something naughty. She catches me staring and nods at me as she stands.

“Where are you going, brat?” the guy calls, and she looks down at him.

“Bathroom, want to join?”

I turn away, smirking to myself. Everyone in this world is a little crazy, so what does that make me?

We had no issues on the way home, but Garrett kept making sure we were not being followed. When we got back to the high-rise, there were guards waiting at the entrance to the underground. They double checked our vehicle for explosives before standing guard behind us as we parked.

There are even two new guards at the entrance to the elevator. They stay there, though, as we ride it up to the penthouse. I can feel the tension, the anger in the bodies of the Vipers surrounding me, so for once, I stay quiet. As soon as we open the apartment door, I notice all the new guards. There are at least five in here. Shit, what do they expect to happen? They are all big, all burly, and terrifying. Their eyes are sharp, and their bodies are tense—they are obviously professionals.

“Stay away from the windows and inside the apartment. We’ll be back later,” Ryder informs me, as he strips off his jacket and heads upstairs. I watch from the bottom as he scans his hand and gets into that locked room. I see rows of guns from down here before it shuts behind him.

The others are equally as serious, strapping weapons on their bodies. All apart from Diesel, who is laughing to himself. His frame looks like a walking armoury, covered in guns and blades. Are they really going to try and kill them all?

Four against over twenty?

Do they have a death wish?

Ryder comes back down wearing holsters across his chest and thighs. He looks more like Kenzo now, his face cold and deadly. His body is a weapon. He steps closer to me, and I realise the others are at the door, waiting. “Behave, love.”

“When do I ever?” I smirk. He turns away, but I catch his arm. “Aren’t you taking any of these guys?”

Ryder looks over his shoulder at me, his lips turned up into a grin. “No, but don’t worry, love, we can handle this. Just another day in the life of a Viper.”

“There are over twenty of them!” I snap.

He laughs, actually laughs, and honestly, it’s a terrifying sound. “Good, they might give us a better fight. They will still lose, but it will be more fun.” Turning, he takes my hand and places a kiss on my knuckles. “Don’t cause too much trouble, and try not to kill any of them.”

“No promises,” I retort with a laugh, and then he’s walking away.

He looks to the guards. “She doesn’t leave, and you don’t touch her,” he orders, before ripping open the front door. They all glance back at me, and I feel so lost, so suddenly alone without them around me. I have gotten used to their presence, and now they are leaving, maybe to their deaths.

Diesel waves at me. “See you soon, Little Bird, I’ll bring you back a present.”

Then, they’re gone and I’m alone.

Looking around, I spot all the guards watching me. They have orders, but I’m not just sitting here twiddling my thumbs while they’re out here. I have to do something, anything…I’m not worried about them, am I?

Nah, fuck that, if they die, I will too. That’s the only reason I care.

“Well then, boys, what are we going to do while they’re gone?” I ask.