Fury: Book 2 in the Vengeance MC series (27 page)

“Avery? Goddamn it. Where is she? Avery,” I bellow, wrestling to keep my anger in check so that I don’t scare her any more than she already has been.

“She’s over there asleep, brother,” Deke mutters, pointing toward two couches someone’s pushed together to provide a makeshift bed.

It takes twenty or so long strides to get to her, and with each one I feel my rage begin to dissipate. Knowing that she’s here, safe, that no one touched her aside from the obvious bruising I can see from here, calms my savage beast.

On the three hour ride back to Furnace, I thought about all the ways this could have ended. None of them were good, and it took everything I had to keep my bike level to stop from running off the highway.

Avery’s been through plenty already. She came out the other side of her last ordeal, but my fear was that this might trigger some sort of regression. Not that she’d fold or succumb to the depression I knew she fought hard to keep at bay, but that it’d take months to get her back to where she was before I walked out of her apartment this afternoon.

None of that mattered, though. As long as she was alive, breathing, and still mine, I’d do anything and everything I needed to get her there.

Stopping a foot short, I drop into a crouch and stroke the hair that’s fallen over her face away. Unfortunately, that action reveals the nasty bruise which takes up half the left side of her face and the two-inch gash on her cheekbone.

“She only fell asleep an hour ago. Poor thing was fucking exhausted. She stirred when she heard your voice, but didn’t have it in her to wake up all the way,” Sarge comments from the recliner he’s pulled up to watch over her.

“How the fuck does something like that happen right under our noses?” I mutter, continuing to stroke Avery’s hair soothingly.

“It’s the way of the world, boy. Shit happens and then you die. If you’re lucky, before you do, you find a good woman, make beautiful babies, and live life to the fullest,” he returns sagely. “Avery’s strong, Fury. Stronger than a lot of women out there. She and Blaine came tearing into the forecourt like a bat out of hell, but neither of them was shaking or crying. Rock solid, they were. There’s a lot to be grateful, boy, and that girl in front of you is one of those things.”

“I know that, and I am. Fucking trust me, I am.”

“Well, then what are you doing here talking to an old man like me? Pick her up and get her to bed. She deserves a good night sleep, and after the four shots of tequila we gave her she should get it,” Sarge suggests.

Taking his advice, I lean down and gather Avery gently into my arms, cradling her like the precious cargo she is. She mumbles softly into the skin of my neck but doesn’t wake up. It isn’t until I’ve removed her jeans, leaving her in her panties, bra, and shirt that Avery cracks her eyes open and sighs,

“Tanner.”

As quickly as I can, I shuck my jeans, boots, and socks, my cut followed by my tee, keeping my boxer briefs on. Sliding into bed beside her, I pull her into my arms and revel in the fact she comes willingly.

Avery snuggles into my side, resting her head in the crook of my arm, her breath fanning across my chest.

“How you doing, baby? You hurting?”

“It’s not so bad, Tanner. Like I told Deke, it looks worse than it is,” she murmurs quietly, placing a kiss just above my nipple.

“It’ll hurt like a bitch tomorrow if it isn’t already,” I tell her. “Sarge said he plied you with tequila so you’ll be good for tonight, but come morning, you’re gonna need painkillers, baby. I want to get you to the hospital to have you checked out too.”

“Mm,” she hums.

“Scared the shit out of me getting that phone call, baby,” I admit into her hair. “I know why you thought it was for the best to keep it from me, but I’m telling you now; don’t do it again. You’re more important to me than anything else, Avery, and just knowing you were here, hurt fucking kills me. You should have let me be here for you to take care of you.”

Before I can go on, she sighs,

“You are. You’re right here, Tanner.”

With nothing else to say, I reply,

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.” Placing a kiss on her forehead, and then one on her lips, I tighten my grip on her hip where my hand is resting. “Go to sleep, baby. We’ll talk tomorrow. For tonight, just let me hold you.”

I don’t get a response because she’s already drifted off again. I wish I could say I did the same. Instead, I lay awake most of the night watching her sleep. I was grateful for every breath she took. Every murmured sigh. And every moan that left her beautiful mouth.

Thinking about Lawson and what I wanted to do to him didn’t consume me the way I thought it would. If anything, the feeling was fleeting. It came and left just as quickly. The old me would have been out for blood. I would have waited for Avery to fall asleep and then gone out hunting for him with my brothers.

Now, I have different priorities. The woman in my arms being at the top of that list. Because my place is here with her, I won’t do what the darker side of myself is demanding, regardless of how much I want to give in to it.

Life is about learning from our mistakes. And of the mistakes I’ve made, leaving Avery unprotected is the biggest. If it takes forever, I intend to make it up to her whether she says there’s a need to or not. I know what she’ll say; that it isn’t my fault, but part of me disagrees. If I hadn’t been hell-bent on meeting out justice to the bastards who hurt her the first time, I would have been here. This wouldn’t have happened.

But things change, and so do people. Or, at least, I know I have. It might only be a recent development, but there’s no going back for me. Avery will have to put up with me being obsessive over her safety for the time being, or for as long as it takes for me to forget how vulnerable she looks lying in my arms tonight.

The way I see it, there was one positive that came from this. I know now without a doubt that Avery is my one. And as such, I’ll break my back making sure I give her everything she wants and needs. Along with a few things she doesn’t know she wants or needs yet.

*****

Three months later…

Walking in the door, Avery attacks me. Undoing my jeans, she peels them down my legs along with my boxers – which I don’t usually wear and I’m cursing right about now – and wraps her hot, wet mouth around the head of my cock. I’m not sure what I did to deserve this, but whatever it was I hope she’ll tell me so I can do it again. Preferably every day.

Licking up and down my shaft like it’s her favorite flavor of lollipop, Avery uses her tongue to tease the notch on the underside of my cock where it meets the head. She fucking knows that shit drives me crazy, which I prove, spearing my hands into her hair, guiding the movement of her head as I fuck her face.

Avery moans, her mouth full of me, sending ripples of pleasure down my shaft. I won’t be able to hold back for long if she keeps this up. In an effort to delay the inevitable, I reach down and grip the base of my cock tightly in my hand, staving off my orgasm so that I can draw this out.

Avery peers up at me from underneath her dark, thick eyelashes with a grin tipping her beautiful mouth, telling me all I need to know. She wants me to lose control. She wants me to come in her mouth. And she wants me to do it now. As long as Avery realizes what’s she’s in for, as far as I’m concerned, she can do whatever the fuck she wants.

Increasing the pressure of her tongue, Avery strokes her hand in a downward motion as her mouth eases its way up. It feels so fucking good. Her lips, the heat of her mouth, the gentle pressure of her hand; fucking phenomenal.

Releasing the base of my shaft, Avery grips my ass, running her fingers across it until one of her fingers finds its way to my asshole. Tensing, I consider pulling back and asking her what the fuck she’s doing, but as she begins to stroke the sensitive flesh I can’t help but admit it feels fucking amazing.

Avery doesn’t need any more incentive to increase the pressure there, her finger slipping past the tight ring of muscle until it’s buried to the first knuckle. Tentatively stroking in and out, Avery takes her cues from me as I coerce her to take my cock further into the back of her throat.

The suction of her mouth becomes too much, but as I’m about to bend down, scoop her up and head for our bedroom, Avery thrust her finger into my ass to the last knuckle, grazing the tip over a hidden bundle of nerves I never knew I had.

Instantaneously, I come harder than I’ve ever come before. Spurt after spurt of my come fires from my cock which is still buried in Avery’s throat. Swallowing everything I’ve got to give her, not wasting a drop, Avery continues to caress my ass, slowly removing her finger when she knows she’s milked me dry.

When I’ve managed to catch my breath, I ask,

“What the fuck was that?”

Looking altogether proud of herself – she fucking should be, that was out of this world – Avery grins at me.

“I was reading something in one of my books today, so I thought who better to try it out on than you? Why, was it not okay?” She asks, looking worried now.

Taking her hand, I pull her up off her knees and into my chest.

“It was fucking amazing, baby. Just took me by surprise that’s all. I didn’t know you were interested in playing, but now I do you can bet your ass we’ll be trying out a few things I’ve wanted to do to you for a while now.”

Deciding now is as good a time as any, I scoop Avery into my arms and make my way to our bedroom. Tossing her onto the bed, I don’t waste any time ridding both of us of our clothes because if she thinks after a blowjob like that I’m going to be able to go slow and easy, she’s got another thing coming.

Diving on top of her like a starving man does his first meal in months, I take in every inch of velvet-soft skin I’ve uncovered. Avery still can’t see herself the way I do, but we’re working on it.

To her, she’s flawed; but to me, she’s nothing shy of perfection. It will take time but we’ll get there. And trust me, proving it to her is turning out to be more fun than I thought it would be. As far as I’m concerned, she can take as long as she likes to come to terms with it.

Working my fingers between her legs, I growl,

“Wrap your legs around my waist, baby.”

My mouth instantly goes to the sweet spot behind her ear until she’s bucking beneath me. Moving downward, I suck one of her nipples deep into the cavern of my mouth, tugging at it with my teeth until it’s teased into a stiff, hard point. The blush of her arousal is quickly spreading down her neck and across her chest, telling me Avery’s close already.

Lining myself up at the entrance to her pussy, I’m inside of her in one deep thrust. It’s taken weeks to get her to the stage she can take me all at once, but now that she can, I don’t have to worry about hurting her as much which is a huge weight off my mind.

Since both of us are primed and ready, it only takes a few more thrusts before my rhythm falters and I start slamming into her. Roughly squeezing Avery’s breast, her breath hitches in her throat as she rubs herself frantically against reaching for release.

Tilting my hips slightly, the sensation of the hair at the base of my cock gives Avery just enough friction to have her mouth flying open in a soundless scream, and the walls of her pussy clamp down hard around my cock.

Knowing exactly how to make my woman purr, I slide my hand between us to where we’re joined and pinch her clit. It only takes once, but when I do, Avery screams my name so loudly she almost shatters my eardrums.

“Oh, my God, Tanner. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” she chants. “So good.”

Gliding in and out of her, slowing my thrusts to stave off both of our orgasms, I listen to her breathy pleas which are making it harder than she can imagine to follow through with what I had planned for her.

Originally, after Avery took care of me in the hall, I was going to draw this out. I wanted to have her hot, wet, and begging for me. I’d take her to the edge but I wouldn’t let her fall over the side until I was right there with her. That, however, is a thing of the past.