Both were also much smarter than most people realized. Their looks, the way they talked and the fact they were bikers deceived how intelligent they both were. Not necessarily book smart, but street smart, for sure.
She recognized it, though. Another reason she’d been attracted to him for the last few years, even though acting on that attraction wasn’t smart when it came down to who they both were.
She knew it. He knew it. And it was the reason that one moment they had—that slip—was chalked up as a huge mistake.
But she’d never forget that moment, that sliver of time, when they both forgot who they were, what they were and where they were. A door slamming in the distance at the DAMC clubhouse had knocked them both quickly and abruptly back into reality.
“My boss doesn’t know who my real father is. Who my extended family are. Hank and the rest, they only know my mother and stepfather. They believe Paul is my biological father, not Dawg. And, of course, Mom and Paul don’t tell people otherwise.”
Magnum made a sharp noise at the back of his throat. “You embarrassed?”
“Paul and my mother are, but me? No, not embarrassed.” Her eyebrows pinned together as she searched for how she felt. “More like a fear of being judged, or my dad, Emma, my sisters... all being judged harshly for something others don’t quite understand. A lifestyle that’s not easily accepted because of preconceived notions, I guess. I love my father. I love my family. I’ve come to love everyone in the club. The sisterhood, the brotherhood, all the kids... I guess I want to protect them?”
“No, that ain’t it, Cait. You’re afraid that judgement will affect your job and your future.”
She was afraid of that, too. “I’ve been there less than a year, so I’m easily disposable. Most marketing majors would kill for the position I’m in. The job market in general is tough after graduation, especially for someone without experience.”
“Makin’ excuses.”
“They’re valid ones.”
He only grunted.
“Now you’re judging me.”
“Waitin’ to hear why the fuck you’re here, Cait. Why the fuck you searched me out to get your ass outta whatever jam you got yourself into.”
“I need this to be handled delicately because if it’s not, it could screw up my career. I could very well be blackballed from the industry.”
“Jesus fuck, Caitie, you kill someone?”
If only. “No. No, but I... made a major mistake. Put myself in a situation I shouldn’t have. And now it’s haunting me.”
“An’ you need to kill that ghost.”
“No, not kill. If I wanted that, I’d go to my father, Diesel or Mercy and my problem would be solved. I just need to remove the power that ghost has over me right now. At least until I can make a name for myself in marketing or maybe find a job at a different firm.”
“The DAMC’s got plenty of businesses for you to work at. Don’t need to work there.”
She wasn’t surprised by his answer. “This is what I want to do, it’s my passion. I’m not going to settle on something I don’t want because I’m...”
Dawg would love for her to work within the cocoon of one of the DAMC businesses. Her mother? She would be livid and think it was a waste of her education.
“Even if the club offered to set up my own business, I don’t have a reputation yet to make it successful. Plus, the club will want a percentage as they do with all the businesses. I’m not club property, they shouldn’t get a cut of anything I do.”
“Babe, tellin’ you, you’re club property. Might wanna deny it, but the rest of us know it. Might not have those colors inked into your skin, but it’s stamped all the fuck over you. You reek of Dirty Angels.” She opened her mouth, but he stopped her with a large palm and a sharp tilt of his bald head. “Need to rewind. You ain’t gonna settle on doin’ somethin’ you don’t wanna do ‘cause of what?”
Once she answered that, there was no going back. Magnum wouldn’t let her slide. Her fingernails dug into her thighs and her knee began to bounce, which he noticed, and his scowl got even deeper and darker.
“Christ,” he muttered.
“I’m not going to be forced into changing my career path because of being blackmailed.” She wasn’t even sure if it was blackmail.
His massive body jerked and he bellowed, “What the fuck for?” so loudly she cringed.
She dropped her gaze to her lap and rubbed a hand over her forehead. Bile was rising up her throat. “There’s a video...”
She didn’t have to look to see he went wired, because she felt it in the air, shimmering around them both. Every one of her nerves began to tingle from it and not in a good way.
Not like when they had kissed. That had stolen her breath. This was just making her sick to her stomach.
She finally lifted her face and dared to peek at him.
When she did, he repeated in a soft, but dangerous sounding growl, “You took a video.”
“Not me.”
“Of what?” That question held such a deadly undertone, a shiver sliced through her.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She didn’t want to tell him. Not him. She didn’t want to tell anyone. But she had no choice because the evidence was in living color. And she had no idea what that person was going to do with it.
“Of what, Cait?” he once again yelled so loudly her ears rang. “Better be of you committin’ some fuckin’ crime, like murder, an’ not what I’m thinkin’ it is. It fuckin’ better be. Just sayin’... Fuck.”
Cait tried to force down the lump in her throat by swallowing, but it wasn’t going anywhere. She reached out and grabbed the bottle he held in a death grip within his fingers. After a slight struggle, he let it go and she let the beer slide down her throat, hoping that wedge would loosen.
It didn’t.
But at least he wasn’t holding it anymore, which lessened the chance he’d throw it against a wall with what was coming next. “I didn’t know.”
She said it so softly, he barked, “What?”
She set her jaw and tried to meet his blazing eyes. “I didn’t know.” Heat flicked up her throat and into her cheeks.
This was not a good idea, coming to him. This was a mistake. This would be just as bad as telling her father and could turn into a total and complete disaster. For her, for him, for everyone involved.
She began to get to her feet, but he stopped her with a loud, “Don’t you fuckin’ move.”
She plopped back down. He stood between her and the door, and he wouldn’t just let her walk away. Not now that she’d dropped that bombshell.
“Didn’t know you were bein’ recorded,” he prodded.
“No. I didn’t know what happened until I saw it.”
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“I don’t remember anything that happened that night,” she whispered. God, she was stupid, stupid, stupid.
Magnum let out a noise that instantly made every inch of her skin break out in goosebumps. Because she had her eyes focused on his boots, she knew the exact moment he stepped back and turned to give her his back.
She lifted her gaze to stare at his insanely broad back and the colors he displayed on it. He abruptly spun on her, making her start. “Who the fuck was it? Gonna fuckin’ kill ‘im.” She opened her mouth, but he cut her off. “Need a fuckin’ name. Fucker’s gonna die.”
Her heart leapt in her chest. “No! That’s the exact reason I’m coming to you. I need help but that’s not the help I need.”
His eyes went wide, then narrowed quickly. “Better start explainin’ then, ‘cause the little you just fuckin’ told me means a bullet between the eyes.”
“He—”
“Who the fuck is he?” he bellowed, fury lining his face.
“Let me... Mag, this is hard. Fuck... Please.”
His body stiff, Magnum shut his eyes and his fingers curled tightly into fists against his outer thighs. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and pinned them on her. She could
see his struggle not to go ape shit. The exact fear she had if she had told anyone in the Angels.
“Okay,” he forced out. “Okay. Okay... Gonna... just... just... Fuck. Just say it. Gonna stand here an’ listen. Gonna just listen...” He wasn’t talking to her, he was talking to himself.
She removed the fingers she had nervously pressed to her mouth. “I’m going to tell you and will just keep talking, even if you interrupt me. Because I’m telling you this once and once only. I just can’t...” She sucked in a shaky breath. “I just can’t. So, yes, just listen.”
He gave her a sharp nod and said nothing. Though, that effort made him look like a freshly shaken two-liter bottle of pop. She needed to hurry before that cap exploded and shot across the room.
She spoke quickly. “My boss, Hank, has three children. All adults, who all work at the firm.” Deep breath. “Because he wants us all to be a close-knit ‘family’ he invites us to after work activities, like dinners, drinks, bowling, whatever. Even retreats up at a place in Lake George. While it’s by invitation, it’s strongly encouraged we go. Which means, if you want to make a name in this business, if you want to be considered for a promotion within the agency, then you become a team player. Part of that includes attending these social gatherings. He’s very generous and a great man from what I’ve learned about him in the last ten months.” Deep breath. “Like I said, his kids all work there and hold high positions, of course. One of them being his youngest son.”
Magnum’s jaw was working, and Cait could practically hear his teeth grinding. The veins on his forearms protruded like underground mole tunnels as he continued to press his fists against his thighs. The corded muscles in his neck were visibly strained and looked ready to detonate. His full lips were pinned together so hard, his mouth had become only a thin slit.
She pushed on anyway, though she worried he would just implode. “One of the senior marketing managers nailed a huge client. I mean huge. So, Hank invited all of us, even us entry level employees, to not only celebrate but to show us where we could be in a few years if we worked just as hard. Was it motivating? Yes. Of course, I went after work like I normally did and I... I need to circle back for a second...” Just breathe. Breathe. “Hank’s youngest son, Nate, has been... Had been...”
Again, she heard a noise at the back of his throat, not loud this time, but enough to catch her attention. Enough to worry her.
“Nate was really nice at first. Said all the right things. Compliments, both personal and business-related. Told me I was great at my job, an asset to the company. I liked the attention, until he began to ask me out.”
Another noise. Possibly a gurgle.
She ignored it and powered on. “At first I considered it. He was smart and nice... But sometimes you just get that feeling something is off. And something was off with him, and not just in the way he pursued me. He became pushier, not physically, but by insisting we go out together, insisting he could help me get ahead in my career. A promotion, a raise, things like that.”
Magnum took a step toward her but managed to say nothing. It was probably killing him to remain silent, as much it was killing her to get out what needed said.
“I said no. He asked so many times it was to the point of harassment. And normally an employee could go to HR about it, but he was... is head of Human Resources. The director, in fact. And Hank thinks the sun rises and sets on his kids, especially Nate... So, I kept carefully saying no. Told him I wasn’t interested. I even told him I had a boyfriend. None of that discouraged him.”
She steepled her hands together, pressed them over her mouth and nose and simply breathed. In. Out. Deep, slow breaths to soothe her rattled nerves.
When Magnum took another step forward, almost close enough to where his jeans touched hers, she realized she needed to hurry up and finish.
She dropped her hands. “When we were around other people, like that night a couple weeks ago at the private club Hank belonged to, he was like everyone else. Friendly, happy, chatty. Treated me like anyone else at the firm. But I screwed up that night. I did something I never should’ve done because I was surrounded by people I thought I could trust.” She glanced up at him and whispered, “Unfortunately, I was wrong.”
His nostrils flared wide and right before her eyes his body seemed to expand, to swell larger than life with barely contained rage.
Coming to the man before her wasn’t a good choice. It wasn’t. Just like leaving her drink unattended while she used the bathroom. She should’ve known better. She should have known not to trust any man around her drink, even her boss’s son. She had been among peers, among the firm’s “family,” who she should be able to trust.
She had been so wrong.
So fucking wrong.
Her voice shook as she whispered, “I didn’t know what happened. I wasn’t feeling well after only having one drink. Nate assured everyone he’d get me home safely. And they looked at him like he was such a fucking hero. A goddamn hero.” Her dry throat convulsed. “The next morning...” Breathe. “The next morning I woke up in a motel room, my head pounding, sick to my stomach and no memory of what happened. But I knew.” She squeezed her eyes shut, reliving that dread, that panic. “I knew, I knew, I knew.”
Even with a fuzzy head, she’d never forget the sick feeling waking up naked in a motel room. Her purse sat nearby untouched with her car keys in it. Her clothes were found neatly folded on a chair. A “note” had even been left behind. A large heart had been drawn on a piece of the motel’s stationary with the lipstick she carried in her purse. It also included two words: “Thank you.”
Like she had been a willing participant in whatever had gone down.
She began to question herself. Had she wanted whatever happened? Had she been willing? Had she said yes?
Had Nate taken her home like he said he would, and she’d gone back out and hooked up with someone else?
She couldn’t remember anything other than leaving the private club. Nothing. It was all a blank.
“I didn’t know what to do, so I sort of panicked. I scrubbed myself down in the shower, gathered my things and got a car service home. I was scared to accuse someone of doing something I had no recollection of happening.” Whoever it was had apparently worn a condom but had taken it with him.
When Magnum’s deep, rage-filled voice filled the space, she jumped almost as if she had forgotten he was there for a moment. “Want details. His fuckin’ name, where to find him. What he drives. Where he fuckin’ eats. Fucker’s gonna get what’s comin’ to ‘im.”
And there was one of the issues. “I don’t know for sure it was him. If it wasn’t for the video sent to me at work a few days ago...” Her brain hit auto-play and she began to see it all over again, like it had hundreds of times. Over and over in her head. Each time it didn’t get any easier. “Even with that, I still can’t prove it was him. I don’t have any proof. There’s a video, yes, but not of the man’s face. Just... Just everything else. Nate doesn’t act any differently. When I asked him what happened after we left the club, he said he took me home, helped me into my apartment, then he went home. He acts surprised I don’t remember anything. He still asks me out and I tell him no. Nothing else has changed. I even called the motel to ask who rented the room and they wouldn’t tell me, saying they couldn’t give out that information.
“So, I can’t accuse my boss’s son of drugging me and.... and worse... and it be false, because it was someone else. I’ll lose my job and my career will be screwed. I’ll be considered an HR nightmare and no one in the industry will want to hire me.
“I can’t throw everything away, Magnum, I can’t. I want to forget about it, but I can’t do that, either. Whoever it is has that video and I don’t know what he’s going to do with it. My only guess is for blackmail, but I don’t know why or even what I have that someone would want to blackmail me for. None of it makes sense.”
She lifted her gaze and found his normally dark face even darker. She didn’
t even think that was possible. Now she knew it was. And it was not knowledge she ever wanted to have.
She opened her mouth to voice her concern and shut it when he simply shook his head. After a very loud explosion of breath, he growled, “Wanna get this straight. Some fuckin’ fucknut spiked your goddamn drink at a work function, took your ass to a motel, raped you,” his voice was getting louder and tighter as he talked, “recorded it, left you there passed out, then sent you a video. And you won’t go to Dawg, Diesel or Mercy for this ‘cause you’re afraid that fucker’s gonna die? Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?”
“I—”
“Expected me to handle this better?” He was now shouting loud enough to make her wince. His barely restrained anger was beginning to bubble over. “Expect me not to kill that motherfucker? ‘Cause if that’s what you fuckin’ expected, you’re dead fuckin’ wrong. If you didn’t want this Nate motherfucker to die, then you never shoulda come to me, Cait. Never. ‘Cause to think that...” His whole body surged forward even though his feet didn’t move. “That... Christ! Motherfucker! Goddamn... Fuck!” he exploded with his face twisted into a mask of fury.
Then he turned on his boot heel, stomped out the door and slammed it shut so hard the wall shook.
She heard a loud, hair-raising roar outside which shot a shiver down her spine.
She froze, not sure what to do. Not sure if he’d only gone outside to blow off some steam.
Her heart raced and so did her thoughts. He never agreed to help. And now she feared he’d go to Diesel. Or worse, confront Nate, assuming he was the one in the video.
She had no proof it was him. Suspicions, yes. Proof, no.
Was Magnum going to do exactly what she didn’t want? Fuck!
She needed his help but not like that. Had she ripped herself open for nothing?
Should she stay? Should she go?
She had no idea what to do, with not only her current situation but also the one she came to him about. Things were now more fucked up than ever and could even get worse. Once again, it was all her fault.
She waited ten more minutes, her nerves a tangled mess, her stomach in tight knots, and when she realized he wasn’t coming back, she had no choice but to leave.
Magnum: A Dark Knights MC/Dirty Angels MC Crossover Page 3
