Ryan Michele - Ravage Me

“Cooper!” I called from the main room. Ma had him back in the kitchen helping her make sandwiches for everyone. He loved helping.

Cooper ran out of the kitchen, but instead of running to Mel or me, he veered towards Princess sitting at the bar laughing. “Pin… ess!” he screamed, holding his hands up in the air for her to pick him up, which she did without hesitation.

“Hey, Bud. How’s it going?” Her beautiful smile illuminated the entire fucking room, and it looked like Cooper was entranced with her.

“Good. I cookin’!”

“You are? Whatcha makin’?” she asked, just as their conversation was rudely interrupted by a very pissed off Mel. Personally, I had forgotten she was even in the fucking room.

Mel stormed over to where Princess was holding Cooper. “Give me my boy!”

Cooper clung to Princess, holding on as if she was his lifeline, and it was scaring the shit out of me. I’d known things weren’t perfect with Mel by any means, but seeing this really made me think.

Approaching them, I demanded, “What the fuck is going on?” Holding out my arms, I expected Cooper to jump into them, but he seemed to like where he was. I couldn’t blame him a damn bit.

“This woman won’t give me my boy.” Mel huffed, but honestly I thought she was more pissed off about the scene in front of everyone than Coop not wanting her.

“He doesn’t want you, if you can’t tell,” Princess clipped as she clutched Cooper tightly, this setting Mel off even more.

“You bitch. Give me my fucking kid, now!” Mel grabbed Cooper’s arm and began pulling him as he screamed. Wrapping my hand around Mel’s throat, I pulled her away from my boy and Princess. Her gasps for air didn’t register through the anger radiating through me.

“You never fucking touch him like that,” I barked out, my hands wanting to teach this fucking woman a lesson. But one thing I didn’t do, what most of us guys here at the club didn’t do, was hit women, but this needed to be hands on. “You leave here, now. Don’t fucking think of coming back.”

“I will not leave my boy here,” she had the audacity to argue.

I involuntarily began gripping her throat harder, pulling her against the wall. Her eyes widened; my voice turned menacing with the anger dripping off of me. “You will stay the fuck away from him, and if you don’t I’ll fucking kill you myself.” I needed her to understand that I wouldn’t tolerate her hands on my boy another minute.

Her words were lost. She couldn’t speak and when she did, all thoughts of not beating the shit out of her intensified. “What about the money you send me?” What the fuck? Money?

“Are you fucking kidding me right now, you stupid bitch? You’re worried about the fucking money!” My other fist made contact with the wall, crushing the drywall next to Mel’s head, causing her to gasp. “Get the fuck out of here! Now!”

Letting go of her throat, she began rubbing it over and over again, but didn’t say a word as she walked out the door. I never wanted to take Cooper away from his momma, and I sure as shit knew he’d never know the pain of not having a daddy around. But fuck it, she was toxic, and I’d be damned if I ever saw her lay a hand on my boy again.

Anger pulsated through me. I really needed to fucking punch something.

“Cruz?” Princess’s voice fell over me as I continued heaving.

“Yeah…” I clipped at her knowing it wasn’t her fault, but it was just a really bad time.

“I’m gonna take Cooper to the playroom, yeah?” Looking at Cooper curled up with Princess; my damn heart fell as the anger subsided a small bit. Shit. I didn’t want him to see me like this.

“Yeah, thanks.” I stalked off to the gym needing a release.

* * *

The afternoon went by quickly with more guys, and their families coming in and out of the clubhouse. Diamond set up the basement into several small rooms about a year and a half ago to accommodate all the people that came in and out. He also created a kid’s playroom. Thank God for that; at least everyone would be comfortable during this lockdown.

“Church!” Diamond yelled out with his arms crossed standing by the chapel doors.

As we took our seats, and the door shut, it was standing room only for all the chapter men that came. The large, rectangular oak table in the middle of the room housed several chairs where we spent many hours talking about business. Diamond sat at the head with the gavel. Pops was to his left, Dagger to his right. G.T. and Becs sat next to Pops, and Rhys and Zed next to Dagger. My spot was at the other end of the table facing Diamond.

One wall was covered in pictures of the brothers; anything from party shots to mug shots lined the wall. The other was the Ravage MC name with our symbol, a skull with fire coming out of the top, which was also on the back of each of our rags.

Diamond slammed the gavel down on the table. “Look. We know that it was Rabbit who shot up Pops place, and we just found out why.” Diamond’s stare turned deadly, “Princess.”

The words made my blood run cold even though my anger spiked. “What about her?” I asked, as all eyes around the table turned to me. “What? She’s mine, and I will protect her.”

“Not what she said this morning,” G.T.’s deep grumbled voice spat at me, but before I could answer, Diamond did.

“Son, she’s all of ours,” Diamond said, eyeing me. “Apparently, Rabbit has taken a liking to Babs. For those of you who don’t know, Babs was instrumental in getting our Princess locked up. She disappeared off the radar about a year ago and now has popped back up, with protection this time. They were sending us a message.”

“I’ve got a fucking message for them; I’ll fucking kill ‘em.” My pulse was racing to the point where I thought steam would come out of my ears. No one would take this woman away from me. Ever.

“There’re no worries there son; he’s already dead for hitting up Pops’ place. But his crew has grown over the years, and it won’t be pretty. We also have an issue with runs through his territory. We’ll need to find a different route for the time being.”

“We can’t let him dictate where we go!” I yelled, not even trying to control it.

“Calm your ass down,” Pops said, slamming his hand on the table catching everyone off guard. He’s normally the calm one when situations arise. This one must cut too close to home. “He’s not. We need to think about this short term and long term. Right now, no one else is in danger but Princess. She’s gonna be pissed, and we all know what she’s like when she’s pissed.” Groans echoed throughout the room.

Diamond cut in. “We’re gonna go on soft lockdown for everyone except for Ma and Princess. They must stay here unless escorted by a brother.”

“She’s gonna be pissed,” G.T. said, rubbing his face up and down.

“Yep. But she’s a good woman. She’ll do what’s right.” Diamond eyed me. “She your girl?”

“Yes, sir,” I said not skipping a beat. But G.T had more to say.

“She ain’t your fucking girl!” G.T. jumped up from his seat sending it flying to the floor behind him.

Standing from my seat, I met him stare for stare, his outrage dripping off his body. I’ve never wanted to punch my brother more than this moment. I wanted to beat the living shit out of him. “Shut the fuck up!”

“Stop it, now!” Diamond’s stern voice had us both sitting back in our seats. “Then… you keep her here. If she goes out, you make sure someone is with her. She’s your responsibility.” He smiled as the rest of the room chuckled. Damn, I knew I had my work cut out for me, and I sure as shit didn’t need any lip from my brothers.

“She ain’t gonna let you five feet in front of her. Good fucking luck!” Irritation seeped through my pores, but I knew it wouldn’t help a damn thing right now to react. And I knew I had my work cut out for me. G.T. was probably right, not that I’d let that stop me.

Ma banged on the church doors in a panic screaming, “Pops get out here, now! Princess!”

Jumping out of my seat, I rushed to the clubhouse taking in the scene, in front of me. Princess swung a pool stick at a blonde-haired woman’s face, hitting her hard against her nose sending blood flying everywhere as she screamed. Danny, a patch member from the Clayton chapter, was getting ready to charge Princess when my voice boomed. “Danny, stop!”

Danny looked at me, “You gonna let this bitch beat up my ol’ lady?”

Narrowing my eyes, I thundered, “This bitch is my ol’ lady. There must be a fucking reason she wants to rip your girl’s head off right now.” Moving closer to her I called out, “Princess, you okay?”

“I’m fucking fine. And I’m not your fucking ol’ lady. ” Her voice was cold, icy, and detached, not really something I enjoyed.

“Danny back off!” Pops boomed. “Princess, what’s going on out here?” His voice calmed as he talked to her, the gentleness of a father taking over.

“You remember that whole two year in jail thing,” she said sarcastically, gripping the pole in her hand so tight you could see the wood bend. “Well, this bitch here… is part of Babs’s, crew. She was part of it.”

“Shit,” was heard collectively throughout the room.

“Brother, I suggest you get her out of here if you want her whole,” Pops clipped to Danny.

“Oh, Pops,” Princess’s sarcasm coming back, “I think this bitch needs a lesson before she goes.”

“Not here. Not under this roof,” Pops growled as Princess turned to him, her hands clenched into fists. Nodding her head, she backed away from them, throwing down the pole crashing it to the floor, but the fury was emanating off of her body.

“Brother, she doesn’t hang out with her anymore. Babs is part of Rabbit’s crew.” Shit. Damn Danny, you just couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut.

Princess stopped in her tracks, coming around to stand beside me, not quite making it to Pops. “What?” she asked, covering her mouth as if she didn’t mean to say the words aloud.

“Mindy’s not part of Babs’s crew anymore. Babs is Rabbit’s ol’ lady.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Princess growled under her breath walking over to Pops. “That’s who shot Ma. I’m the reason why.” Damn this girl was smart and caught on way too quick for her own good. And dammit, it made my dick hard as steel.

Pops rested his hands on her shoulders, “Princess, the club will handle it.”

From the stiffness in Princess’s body, I knew she wanted to argue, but all she did was nod and walk away. She didn’t stop to look at me. She brushed past me as quick as she could, heading towards the hallway. Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit. What the fuck was I thinking going out to the main room. Not only was that bitch Mindy there, but fucking Cruz. Why in the hell does he have this magnetic force about him that just pulls me to him, making him hard to resist.

I couldn’t have him. It’d just turn into the same shit I’ve seen a thousand times over and over again in here. A brother starts seeing a woman, fucks her a thousand ways to Sunday, gets tired of her, and then passes her on to the brothers. I won’t be that girl. I may spread my legs, but not to these guys… at least until Cruz. What the fuck was I thinking?

I knew… I was horny. Plain and fucking simple. Why does he have to be… well, Cruz? Power just emanates off of him, beckoning me, engulfing me. I swear that man short circuits every brain cell in my head just by his smell. Then, being in the same fucking room with him, my body throbbed craving his. This didn’t happen with the brothers, never. It had to be just because of my two year dry spell.

If it weren’t for this fucking lockdown, I’d get the hell out of here and wipe my memories of Cruz… or at least I would try to.

Fuck. Throwing open the door to Pops’ room; I found Casey sitting on the bed. “Where the fuck have you been?” I barked. She didn’t look at me but fidgeted with her hands.

“I slept in the spare room downstairs.” Casey turned towards me. “So one night and you’re someone’s ol’ lady. What the hell happened?”

Sitting on the bed, I explained, “I’m not…” Running my fingers through my long dark hair, I shook my head. The last day had been a rollercoaster ride. I knew coming back to this life would make things interesting; I just didn’t realize how much.

“Thought we didn’t fuck brothers,” she said twirling her hands in her lap.

“I know. He’s just so damn overwhelming, and I couldn’t say no, I didn’t want to say no.”

“Is this an ‘I needed a dick thing,’ or is it real?” she asked, puzzled.