by Kasey Krane
Just then the door opened, and Bolt stepped back in. I nearly gasped when I saw him. I was afraid he’d be able to see it in my eyes—that I’d been thinking about him in a way I shouldn’t have been.
I gulped while he watched me silently.
I decided I needed to change my tactic. Me attacking him and threatening his Club wasn’t going to work. It hadn’t worked yet. It just ended up with my phone being taken away and me being locked up.
“Look, Bolt, I realize I should probably thank you for telling me all that stuff about Chip,” I began. I remained on the chair, hoping he’d be able to see how obedient I was capable of being.
Bolt still hadn’t said anything, just watched me carefully with his eyes narrowed at me. I so desperately wanted this to work.
“I mean…I had no idea Chip was involved in all this. That he would pull a stunt like that. If you let me see him, I could talk some sense into him. Maybe he could even help you guys. You know? Get the money back.”
Bolt clenched his jaws. I was still hopeful. My heart was thudding in my chest. Maybe this could work.
“I’m sure he regrets his actions. And if you let us talk, I can help him see that. I’ll tell him whatever you want me to.”
Bolt came toward me. Those deep blue eyes sparkled—was it with hatred for me? Or did he find me amusing?
“It’s not going to work,” he said.
“Give me a chance to talk to him. I’ll make it work.”
“Your little act isn’t going to work. I can see right through it. You think you can say a few nice things and I’ll fall for it?” There was a smile tugging the corners of Bolt’s mouth. He was so fucking hot! And I was so fucking mad at him!
I stood up from the chair with a jerk.
“I’m trying to make this relationship work here. Maybe we can both gain something from this situation,” I snapped.
Bolt sighed, like he was tired of me.
“The only way this relationship is going to work is if you do exactly what I tell you to do. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“So you want me to be some sort of captive slave? Follow your every command?” I screamed. The grin faded from his face. He didn’t appreciate me screaming at him.
“Your brother stole from us, and you threatened us with the cops. So yeah, I’m not about to just let you walk out of here based on good faith,” he growled.
“So what are you going to do to me?”
Bolt answered that question by pulling me into his arms and swinging me over his shoulder. I squealed and kicked, clutching his muscular arm at the same time. He had me hanging over his shoulder, upside down. My butt was in the air, my hair tumbling down over my eyes as I tried to look around.
“Just keep your mouth shut so you don’t get yourself in more trouble than you are already,” he said.
I wished I could just be calm and do as I was told. Maybe that would’ve helped matters for me—but I couldn’t. I kicked and screamed. Ordered him to put me down, but Bolt wasn’t letting me go.
He unlocked the door and we finally stepped out of the room.
“Where are you taking me? Put me down!” I screamed.
The world was upside-down now. He was walking down a corridor and back into the main room again. This was where I’d last seen Chip.
“Chip! Chip!” I screamed his name. Maybe he was still here.
I couldn’t quite see clearly through my hair and being upside-down like this, but I could see other faces staring at me. Burly muscular men with tattoos. Dangerous-looking. Or maybe they just looked at me like that—like they could eat me alive. Like they hated me.
There were women in that room too, ones I hadn’t noticed before, all skimpily clad. Fishnet stockings and big bleached hair. Who were they? Groupies? Girlfriends? They were staring at me too with big smiles, like they approved of the way Bolt was treating me. Like I deserved what I was getting.
“Let me go!” I kicked as hard as I could, but barely made a dent on Bolt. His fingers were tightly digging into the flesh of my thighs as he held me. He wasn’t about to let go.
Now we were climbing up a flight of stairs. That room and those people were left far behind.
“I want to talk to your boss. I want to see someone in charge!” I continued.
Bolt was unlocking another door now.
“I am in charge,” he replied in a low, smooth voice.
“Right, you’re the Sergeant in Arms or whatever that means. Let me go!”
This time, I got what I wanted. We were inside the room now and Bolt released me. I toppled backwards when my feet hit the floor and I couldn’t find my balance. I fell back and was on a bed. A big king-sized bed in the middle of the room.
What the Hell was this place? I sat up on the bed with a jolt.
“Where have you brought me? Where am I? Where is Chip?” I howled.
Bolt locked the door behind him and then turned on a few lights.
“Someone else in your position would be grateful for being in a room with a big soft bed. For the warmth.”
“I don’t even know what I’m doing here!” I yelled at him.
Bolt waited a moment and then he let out a big sigh.
“You need to fuckin’ see what’s going on here, Cassie. Wake the fuck up. I am not about to let you get out of my sight because you threatened to go to the cops. Because your brother stole from us. You are in big fuckin’ trouble. Both of you. You get it now?”
There was something about the way he said those words this time. There was no humor in them. He wasn’t kidding around. And he shut me up. I had nothing to say. I stared at him and he stared back. What was I supposed to do now? Be grateful to him for this bed, like he said? For the warmth? No. Fuck that.
After his little outburst, Bolt barely spoke to me. He said he was going to take a shower and then disappeared into the en suite for some time. I was left alone in the bedroom, sitting on the bed, more lost than I’d ever felt before.
I heard the sound of the shower come on so I knew he wasn’t coming out here for a while, but it didn’t mean I could actually do anything. This room was just as bare as the office previously.
It had to have been done up by a man. It literally had nothing more than this bed, linens, and a wardrobe. I walked over to it and peeked inside to find a few jackets, shirts and jeans. All men’s clothing. Were they Bolt’s? Was this his room? Did he live in the Clubhouse? I was confused and curious, but the last thing I wanted to do was make small talk.
A few minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom. This time only in jeans.
I felt like someone had just punched the breath out of me. I saw his muscular naked torso, covered in tattoos. His arms were chiseled and muscular, his neck thick and strong. I knew exactly how powerful he was. How easily he’d lifted me off the floor and hung me over his shoulder like he was hanging me out to dry.
And now he was deliciously naked, and I couldn’t look anywhere else but straight at him. Did it matter that I was staring? I gulped because my throat was dry. Because I could feel that tugging desire between my legs again.
Why was this happening to me? I was supposed to feel angry. Anger and hatred. But I wanted him. This man was responsible for what was happening to my brother.
The thought of Chip forced me to snap out of it.
I realized Bolt was staring at me too. He was using a small towel to dry his hair as he stood at the door of the bathroom.
“You’re welcome to use the shower, or freshen up or whatever you want.”
I raised my chin, hoping he’d see the defiance in my eyes again.
“I don’t have to ask you for permission?”
Bolt walked over to the other side of the bed.
“I’m trying to make you comfortable. You don’t have to take me up on my offers if you don’t want to.”
“If you really want to help me, you’ll let me see my brother. You’ll let me out.”
“I didn’t say I was trying to help. I said I’m tryi
ng to make you comfortable. Make the best of a bad situation.”
He sat on the edge of the bed. What was this supposed to mean? Was he trying to say something by sitting on the bed?
“I am not going to sleep with you,” I stated. As firmly as possible. Bolt searched my eyes and then grinned.
“If that’s a threat, it’s not working,” he replied.
Then he stood up again and pulled a set of keys out of the pocket of his jeans. I watched as he pushed it down the front. I could see the fabric bulge where his cock was. My chest was heaving. I wanted to burst with anger. Of all the places to put the keys, he put them there because he knew it would piss me off.
“I am going to sleep, and you should too, and if you go anywhere near my cock, you’re going to wake me up. Besides, you already admitted you aren’t interested in it, right?”
Bolt was grinning. I wanted to slap that smirk off his face. But at the same time, I wanted to pull those goddamn jeans off so I could see how big he was. How big was his cock? Would he fill me up? I tightened my legs again.
“I can’t sleep knowing my brother’s life is in danger,” I said.
He shrugged his shoulders.
“Suit yourself. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do,” he replied.
I watched in silence as he lay down on his side of the bed. He reached over to turn off the lamp. The room was shrouded in darkness now, and surprisingly, it was way too quiet as well. I couldn’t hear anything outside even though there were other people in the building. Chip was most likely somewhere here too.
I remained sitting on the edge of the bed for some more time. Could I sneak out? Could I get to the keys without him knowing? Maybe I could pick the lock?
But I was exhausted now, could feel the muscles aching in my body, and was slowly beginning to submit to the truth—there was no way I was getting out of this room tonight. Not while Bolt was here, not while he had the keys down the front of his pants.
The truth was, I couldn’t do anything to help my brother tonight. The only thing I could do was sleep and hope the morning brought better luck.
I curled up in a ball on that edge of the bed, as far away from Bolt as possible, and hoped sleep would come soon. Something told me I’d be having strange dreams tonight.
7
Bolt
Strangely enough, I spent the rest of the night in deep sleep. Whatever little was left of that night. I didn’t think I would be able to sleep with Cassie this close to me—although she’d made it a point to sleep as far away from me as possible.
When I woke up in the morning, I found her right next to me. And I wasn’t the one who moved. It was her. In her sleep, she’d found her way right next to me. She was on her side facing me, the tip of her nose brushing my bare chest.
She looked so peaceful and calm then. Like a sleeping, harmless angel. Her golden hair was spread around her face like a halo, her cheeks pink from the warmth between us. Her eyelids softly fluttered while she dreamed.
She didn’t have any covers on her so I could see her body gently rise and fall as she slept. Her curves. The suppleness of her meaty body. I wanted to pull her into my arms, taste her lips and run my tongue down that delicate-looking neck. I wanted to suck those big juicy tits.
I couldn’t believe I’d spent the whole night sleeping next to this sizzling beauty and hadn’t so much as touched her. Before I could stop myself, I reached for her face now. I shouldn’t have done it, but my fingers gently grazed her cheeks. So soft. Like juicy apples. I wanted to sink my teeth into her skin, taste her, possess her.
I thought she would wake up because her eyelids fluttered. A soft moan escaped her parted pink lips, but instead of waking up, she curled up further into me, snuggled me, her legs tangling up with mine, her hands finding my chest. It brought a smile to my face. I wanted to kiss her. I couldn’t help but think about what it would be like if I woke up next to her every morning.
Impossible.
Cassie woke up. Just when I was picturing a relationship with her. It was a fucked-up thought. I didn’t do relationships.
She gasped and rolled away hurriedly. I grinned because she knew what she’d done. She was the one who’d rolled over to me. I’d remained exactly where I was from the start.
“Did you sleep well?” I asked, and she sat up in bed with a jerk.
“Barely slept,” she replied. That made me want to laugh aloud, but I didn’t want to embarrass her.
I got out of bed and went to the wardrobe for a fresh shirt. I could feel her eyes on me. The thing was, I didn’t have a plan for the day. I had no idea what I was going to do with her for the rest of the day. We couldn’t stay cooped up in here all day. We’d drive each other nuts.
“I have to go to work. You have to let me out of here. Even if you don’t want to let me see my brother.”
I turned to her as I buttoned up my shirt. She was weaving fingers through her tousled golden hair.
“Where do you work?”
“I have a business to run. A coffee shop.”
“You run it?”
“Yeah, I own it. It’s my responsibility to go open it up. My regulars will be waiting outside the doors. My staff will know something is wrong if I don’t open up on time.”
Her bright green eyes sparkled as she spoke. Was she just making up excuses or telling the truth? If her staff worried about her, they might go looking for her. What if they went to the cops and they came looking, trying to trace her whereabouts. The last thing we needed was for Cassie to be reported as a missing person.
“Fine, you can go to the cafe, go about the day as usual.”
I thought I saw relief on her face. She brightened up immediately. She jumped off the bed.
“I promise I won’t do anything to piss you off. I’ll wait for Chip to come home. I won’t go to the cops.”
I shook my head.
“You’re not going to be alone. I’ll be there to make sure you don’t go to the cops or do anything you’ll regret later.”
“You want to be in the cafe with me?”
I brushed a hand through my hair.
“Did you really think I’d just let you go about your day without supervision?”
“I’m not going to do anything. Why can’t you trust me?” she shrieked. It was so early in the morning and Cassie was already losing her calm.
“I don’t trust you because I don’t know you, and since we first met, all you’ve done is fight and scream and threaten.”
Her shoulders heaved, her nostrils flared. She looked very different now than when she was fast asleep just a few minutes ago. There was a different kind of beauty to her now. She was still sexy.
“You can’t come to the cafe with me. You’ll scare all my customers away,” she declared.
“I really don’t care how successful you are at your business today. I just want you to keep up normal appearances,” I replied. “I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
She stood there with her fists clenched. I knew she had a million things on her mind which she wanted to blurt out, but she was trying to keep calm. Keep herself in check.
When she didn’t move or say a word, I went up to her, holding her gaze. “This is the best I can do for you today, take it or leave it. Alternatively, if you don’t want me hanging around your cafe, we can stay all day in here instead. Your choice.”
For a second, I thought she was going to burst out crying, but she didn’t.
I thought about keeping one hand on Cassie the whole time, just to keep her in place but then decided against it. Maybe that would be pushing it too far. She deserved a little bit of freedom at the very least.
Once she said she was ready to go, I led her back down to the Club room where the others were. From the looks of it, most of them had slept on the premises just like I did. Drax wasn’t up yet, but Flash, Spike and Ghost were.
They all glared at us when we walked in. Maybe they thought I was wasting too much time on Cassie. If i
t were up to them, they would’ve handled her another way. Maybe if she’d been a different girl, I would have handled her differently too.
“Sleep well, you two?” Spike asked, grinning, when I walked toward him. Cassie lingered by my side. This morning, she wasn’t shrieking or kicking up a fuss. Maybe she considered herself lucky that I was letting her go to work.
“I need someone to drive her car up to a cafe in town,” I told Spike. He eyed Cassie and then put a hand on my shoulder to lead me aside.
“Hey, you, watch her!” he yelled at a prospect standing nearby. I glanced at Cassie and saw fear in her eyes. I wanted to reassure her and tell her nothing would happen on my watch. But that would mean crossing a line with her. It wasn’t my job to make her feel safe and warm.
Spike took me aside. “Did you bang her?” he asked.
“No. Nothing happened. I’m trying to keep this professional. She’s Chip’s sister.”
“Yeah, the sister of a guy who fuckin’ sold us out!” he growled.
“We run this Club with integrity, remember?”
Spike rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, fuck that, whatever, we need to figure out what we’re doing with her. Chip is being handled. She needs to be handled too.”
“We don’t need to put her through anything. She’s already scared,” I replied.
“And you know this because she’s opened herself up to you?” Skip asked.
“What is she still doing here? Why haven’t you dealt with her yet?” It was Flash. He interrupted us now. I ran a hand frustratedly through my hair.
“Okay, the two of you need to back the fuck off, okay? I got the green light from Drax. He’s given me full authority on dealing with her. This is the way I want to do it.”
“By holding her hand every step of the way? I mean, I can see she’s sexy as fuck, but what’s gotten into you? She’s just a chick.” Flash sounded angry now. So was I.
“What I need from the two of you is some level of trust here. Can I have that, or not?” I growled. They were driving me up the wall. I knew my dealing with Cassie was a little unconventional. Maybe I was giving her too many liberties. Maybe I needed to be harsher with her, but I couldn’t do it. Not when she looked at me the way she did.
