The Devil's Due by Vivian Lux Page A

buttocks. His hair was knotted at the end, the tawny gold strands tousled with sleep. I ached to run my fingers through them and smooth the tangles.
    I was just reaching for him to do that very thing when a thunderous banging shook the flimsy door to our room.
    Cade moved like lightning, swiftly pressing his back to the wall. With the slightest of movements he lifted the ugly curtains and peered outside, letting in the watery-blue, pre-dawn light.
    I pulled the sheets up to my chin and my knees up under myself. I was poised to leap for the bathroom if necessary. But when Cade got a view of who was at the door, his shoulders relaxed.
    I sat up and watched him curiously as he grabbed his jeans from where they lay in a puddle on the floor. He hitched them over his narrow hips, not even bothering with the boxers that lay bunched and wadded in the corner. When he put his hand on the doorknob and unlocked the bolt, I wrapped the sheet around my bare breasts.
    I was grateful to be covered when Wyatt entered the room. The sight of his smirking face sent a wave of shame through me. He let his eyes wander lasciviously up and down my body and I found myself both grateful for the sheet and painfully aware that it left very little to the imagination.
    “Can’t get enough of the Devils, can you, girl?” His smile was wide and evil. I remembered that mocking voice in my ear, laughing as he thrust himself roughly inside of me.
    My pussy clenched at the memory too, reluctant wetness that made me suddenly angry. I didn’t want to like what he had done to me. With a sudden boldness, I lifted my chin at him.
    “ I just needed a real man inside of me after that piss-poor fucking you gave me,” I spat recklessly.
    Cade sucked in his breath. Wyatt’s eyes darkened in fury and my sudden boldness fizzled as I spied the dangerous vein bulging from his forehead.
    “Mouthy bitch, ain’t you?” He moved towards me and his hands were already at the zipper of his jeans. “Maybe I’d better find some way to shut you up, huh?”
    I panicked and made a desperate gamble. With a carefree smile, I tossed my hair and mimicked his rough way of speaking,
    “Ain’t no cock big enough in the world can shut me up!” I sang out gaily, letting the sheet fall lower on my chest to treat him to a view of my naked cleavage.
    He froze as if I had slapped him. Slowly, the broad, twisted grin returned to his face. He stood back up off of the bed and barked out a loud, hyena-like laugh.
    “You got balls, girl,” he said as he shook his head at me. “We gonna have to teach you some respect .”
    Cade made a low warning noise and Wyatt turned away from leering at me to face him. Cade’s mouth was pressed into a thin line of disapproval, but his eyes twinkled in amusement.
    “I’ll be doing the teaching, Wyatt,” he rumbled sternly.
    Wyatt’s shaved head gave me a clear view of his temple as he clenched his jaw. He was almost as tall as Cade, but he was thin and wiry with muscles like coiled springs. He was no match for Cade’s massive, cut-from-marble physique, and you could tell by the tense fury in his eyes that he was weighing his options.
    “She ain’t your old lady yet, big guy,” he sneered, voice dripping with menace. He was turned away from me, giving me a perfect view of the grinning skull tattoo that covered his bald scalp like a hood. “She’s still just some slut wanna play with bikes.”
    Cade took a quick step forward, startling Wyatt and forcing him back on his heels. “Get the fuck out,” he snarled, drawing up to his full imposing height.
    Please leave, please leave, please leave, I chanted silently. If one of the men threw a punch right now, there was nothing I could do to stop it. I wished fervently that I’d kept my mouth shut. The need to mouth off was what always got me in trouble with Darryl, too.
    But Wyatt didn’t look like he would be content with stopping after landing one blow. He looked like he could kill me if I