I hear the rumbling of a Harley outside, faint at first, but growing unmistakably louder.
“My man’s come back now,” I say with a wide grin on my face. “I gotta go. But I’ll call you back soon.”
“OK,” she says and something else which I don’t hear because I’ve already hung up as I rush to open the door.
Colt’s changed his mind about leaving me all alone here. Good. It was about time.
I was gonna tell him that to his face, but the words die on my tongue as I open the door. And come face to face with Monarch. His dark brown eyes are hard as steel and the grey in his beard and along his temples is more pronounced than I remember it. His face is angrier and scarier than I’ve ever seen it.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding, princess,” he says, the softness of his voice the complete opposite of the hate in his eyes.
Three of his men are sitting on their bikes behind him, cutting off all avenues of escape. The dark shades they’re wearing makes it seem like they have no eyes.
“You still look fine, though,” Monarch says. “A little wild and unkempt, but quality like yours doesn’t fade.”
I open my mouth to speak, figuring the best way to handle this is the way I’ve always handled him. With sweet lies and big smiles.
His arm shoots out. I’m expecting a slap, but he grips my throat in his fist instead, pushing me backward into the room and kicking the door shut behind him. I can’t breathe and fat black spots are swimming before my eyes before he finally releases my throat and pushes me back on the bed.
“Now tell me, what have you done with my little cousin Josh before you whored yourself out to another club?” he says.
Before he spoke, I was sure he was just getting ready to fuck me, since most of our previous sexual encounters started with him choking me to near passing out. Or slapping me. Or otherwise making sure there was mostly pain in it for me.
His question takes my breath away better and more completely than his fist around my throat ever did.
I’m dead if I tell him the truth. The black hardness in his eyes is telling me that more plainly than words ever could.
A lie is all I have. But it’ll have to be the most convincing one I ever told.
“Six months ago, he sold me to the Roadside Sinners MC clubhouse,” I say. “Or lost me in a game of poker, more like. Thank god you’ve found me.”
I’m looking at him with wide eyes leaning forward willing him to believe me with all that I am.
“Shut your lying mouth, bitch,” he snaps. “I know he’s dead. I just don’t know why and you’re gonna tell me. Get dressed. You’re coming with me.”
He grabs a fistful of my hair and pulls me to my feet, tears that have nothing to do with pain filling my eyes.
“And pack up your shit, too,” he adds. “We don’t want anyone thinking you didn’t leave on your own.”
Fuck my rotten luck! Even in the highest of highs, it never fails to drag me back down to the filth I belong in. How the fuck did Monarch even find me?
20
Colt
I wasn’t surprised to find Blaze waiting for me in the shade of the tarp where we park our bikes. The sun is nearly set, the horizon like a bright fire blazing, but not as hot as his eyes.
“Are you ever gonna learn how to control your dick?” he asks savagely. “You were supposed to go and show her the photos and come right back. Cross ain’t pleased.”
I shrug and pull out the two tightly packed manila envelopes from my saddlebags. “Couldn’t be helped. But she was very thorough once I finally got her to look at the photos.”
I start walking toward the entrance to the bunker. The day’s heat is radiating off the concrete walls of it, so it’s more or less like walking through a sauna.
“I’d lead with that,” Blaze says, and I don’t even bother replying.
It’s wonderfully cooler inside, but I’m still sweating by the time we reach the conference room. Hawk and Cross are already there, checking out the photos and talking quietly.
“About time,” Hawk says as I walk in. “Did you get it?”
I nod and walk over to him to hand him the envelopes. “And more besides. She gave me the names of everyone in the photos, including the women. A couple are missing from the photos and she told me about those too. It’s all written down on the back.”
Hawk opens the first envelope and pulls out the photos, whistling appreciatively. “She’s real through and observant, this girlfriend of yours. I could use an assistant like her.”
He starts sorting the photos on the tables.
“Did it have to take all day?” Cross asks pointedly, piercing me with his black gaze. Sweat erupts on my forehead that has nothing to do with the heat.
“Kinda,” I say. “She was pissed at being all alone at the motel for days on end, and wouldn’t cooperate until I took her to lunch.”
“Women,” Blaze puts in sarcastically, trying to help.
“She came through very nicely, though,” Hawk says. “Don’t be too hard on him, Cross.”
Cross’ gaze grows even blacker before he shrugs and grins. “It’s like this club is all about women first these days. But at least yours saves us days of work. I guess I can let half a day wasted for it slide. This once.”
“Are we moving against them tonight?” I ask, earning another unforgiving look from Cross.
“We’ll make a plan first,” Cross says.
“I was thinking,” I say, interrupted for a moment by a very pointed warning look from Blaze, but whatever, I have an idea. It’s been on my mind since I spent two nights watching the sleeping town. “They think the place is haunted. We go in as ghosts, in the middle of the night. Two per house, in and out, fast and silent.”
Cross nods, I think despite himself. “I’ll consider it. Now leave.”
It wasn’t a harsh order or meant to shut me up. I think. I hope. But I heed it straight away, with Blaze on my heels. I can feel his blazing hot look on my back, but what he still doesn’t seem to understand is that in this world, it’s always, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I don’t plan to be a nobody enforcer for this MC until I’m too old to be useful. And I plan on taking him with me all the way, so I don’t know what he’s being so pissy about.
I headed to the bedroom I share with Blaze, thinking only to get away from his accusations and dire warnings, but I promptly fell I sleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.
As a result, I was groggy and disoriented when Blaze came to wake me at just before nine PM.
“There’s a meeting. Cross wants you there,” he said, and I banged my head against the top bunk in my haste to get up.
The throbbing pain in my head doesn’t help my disoriented state as I follow Blaze down the corridor and to the main room. A couple of our brothers are sitting on the crates lining the walls of the main room, talking quietly, and I can hear yet more outside, their words carried inside on the plumes of smoke from their cigarettes and evening wind.
Whatever’s happening is happening soon. We’re moving tonight, it seems. Cold nervousness floods my stomach as soon as I realize the entirety of what that means. We’re riding to deal out death once again. I’m not ready. I never am. Not until I’m standing with my knife or my gun before the man I’m supposed to dispatch. Then I do what I must. As always, I’m gonna trust that and not think about anything ahead of time.