I recognized one of the guys as Gunther. He wasn’t very high up in the Sons of Satan before, but it was possible that he’d been promoted to VP now after some of their top men had been killed last night. The other one I didn’t know.
Lynch was doing his usual thing. Smoking a cigar, which was now lit between his fingers. He threw his arms open as we drew closer to him. Like he was greeting three long lost friends.
“Grimm!” he exclaimed, and I could feel every last muscle in my body tense up. I did not trust this man. What I felt for him was the exact opposite of trust. I felt wrath and anger towards him. He’d already caused a lot of damage to our club and I was predicting he had more damage planned before he was going to even come close to being subdued.
We came to a stop a few feet in front of him. He still had his arms thrown open. Was he expecting an actual hug from us? Grimm thankfully only extended a hand and they shook.
“I’m glad you decided to set this up, my man,” Lynch said, smoothening the lapels of his silvery-gray jacket. The smile on his face was wide, like this meeting was nothing to worry about. Was he even going to make a reference to the previous night? To the loss of his men? Completely avoiding that subject was what made me even more suspicious now. The only reason why he wouldn’t want to talk about something like that was if he was planning a retaliation.
My only hope was that Grimm saw through this pretense.
“I’m sure we’ve all had enough of the violence,” Grimm said in response to Lynch, who was now nodding his head.
“Yes, exactly, a hundred percent. Why should we keep killing each other when we can peacefully talk it out amongst ourselves like grown men?!”
Lynch was literally saying everything that Grimm wanted to hear and that was not a good thing. Grimm, who liked to believe and see the ‘good in people’, was going to fall for this bullshit! I could feel it in my bones. Now was not the time for him to feel charitable. He needed to think of his own men. His own club! But I could see Lynch dragging him under a bus in front of my own eyes.
I wished Cash was here to support me on this. He would see right through this fuckin’ facade, wouldn’t he? But now Cash had his own family to think about, so I wasn’t sure I could rely on him to see it either.
We were walking in.
For now, it seemed like the Sons of Satan didn’t have any tricks up their sleeves. Not from what I could see. They’d stuck to our agreement of bringing no more than two guys with them to the meeting. Just like we had. And the premises of the building we had just entered seemed to be empty too.
Gunther was leading the way and he took us down a winding set of broken downstairs into what looked like a cellar. When he opened the door, we found that this room wasn’t as run-down as the rest of the building. It was properly but dimly lit and there was fresh paint on the walls and the ceiling., The room wasn’t as damp as the rest of the place and there was actually some furniture here too.
This seemed to be an ideal location for a secret meeting which could also be held in some comfort. There was a small, private bar in one corner of the room, illuminated by one low hanging light from the ceiling.
A girl was standing behind the counter, her head hung over the glasses she was busy polishing.
“I know we agreed on not bringing more than two men, but I figured one woman wouldn’t hurt us. Someone to serve us our drinks!” Lynch was pleased with himself as he said this. Grimm didn’t seem to have a problem with it either.
I looked away from the bar. The girl was the least of my problems. While Lynch and Grimm talked, and Bones remained firmly next to them, I walked around the room. Other than what I could plainly see around me, there didn’t seem to be anything else that could possibly raise any suspicions. Everything looked in order.
There was only one window, more like a skylight, at the top of a wall, but it seemed to be blocked out. So nobody was going to be looking in, just like we couldn’t be looking out.
Lynch and Grimm were shaking hands again, and now they were sitting down. The others all remained standing. Bones and I weren’t about to sit down either. We needed to be prepared to attack on a moment’s notice if we had to and we weren’t going to be able to do that if we got comfortable.
I breathed deeply, beginning to wonder now if I had overreacted. Maybe I was wrong, and Grimm was right after all. Maybe the Sons of Satan did want to come to a peaceful agreement with us. Maybe they had enough, just like we did, and they wanted a resolution to this war which they started. I decided to give them a chance, give Lynch a chance to explain himself.
As I started to walk back towards the group again, Lynch raised a hand and clicked his fingers in the direction of the bar.
“Whiskies!” he thundered, glaring at her and I turned to glance at where she was standing. She’d looked up too when she heard Lynch’s voice and I met her eyes.
I couldn’t believe who I was seeing standing there.
Samantha Denton. In all her glory.
Or was my mind playing tricks on me? Why was I imagining her standing there?
It couldn’t be her!
In this place? With Lynch? With the Sons of Satan? How was that even possible?
And yet, it was those same green eyes that had looked into mine and asked me why I was following her to school. The same plump lips that stretched in a smile when I told her I just wanted to make sure she was safe.
Her red curls looked thicker. They were tied messily in a haphazard knot at the top of her head, so they fell all around her face. It looked like she hadn’t taken any time with her hair, not like she used to back when I used to watch her every day.
Her clothes were different too. She wasn’t in a proper knee-length plaid skirt with a conservative blouse. She was in a short black leather skirt and a crop top that showed off her toned narrow waist and belly. Her arms were long and bare, just like her legs. She had a ton of necklaces that looked tangled up around her neck, just like the assortment of bangles she was wearing.
Her boots were tall and high-heeled.
Nothing about this woman I saw behind the bar now was the same as the well-mannered popular ace girl I used to know from my neighborhood.
She stared at me too, stared right back at me.
“What’s the fuckin’ hold up?” Grimm’s voice interrupted my thoughts. He jerked her out of her thoughts too and she looked away from me. But the way she had glanced at me, the mixture of relief and surprise and recognition I saw on her face in that instance was enough for me to know it had to be her.
I wasn’t mistaken.
This was definitely Samantha. I just couldn’t figure out what she was doing in a place like this.
I watched her for a moment longer as she started pouring shots of whiskies in glasses. Topping them off with ice.
Grimm and Lynch were continuing to talk, and I knew I had a duty to return to. I was here on a job. Grimm needed to be watched. I had no choice right now but to pay attention to what was being discussed while Samantha worked behind the bar.
Eventually, she had arranged all the glasses on a tray, and she was carrying it in our direction, coming closer and closer to me and, once again, a wave of nostalgia and desire washed over me.
She caught my eye again but looked away immediately. I could see the way her cheeks flushed to a bright red now. She was embarrassed. Was she embarrassed because I’d caught her here? In a place like this? So obviously under the control of a man like Lynch?
Her hands seemed unsteady as she proceeded to put the tray down on the table between Grimm and Lynch. The glasses tinkled together, and it seemed to annoy Lynch.
“What the fuck has gotten into you?” he growled, shoving his face at hers when she bent down to put the tray on the table. In the next instance, he had one hand on her breasts. The breasts that were popping out over her tight top with the low-cut neck. Her milky-white soft cleavage was there for his taking and Lynch did exactly that. He rubbed his hand over her cleavage like she was a plush stu
ffed toy and I saw her flinch.
I could feel the rage pulsating under my skin. Seeing someone touch her like that. Another man. A man like Lynch. Seeing the way she flinched when he touched her—it got me going. I saw red. I clenched my fists on my sides. I was going to punch out.
But if I did anything, if I made so much as one small move in Lynch’s direction, it would start a fight. One or all of us were going to end up mortally wounded in a small room like this.
As much as I wanted to ram the barrel of my gun into Lynch’s jaw, I knew I needed to hold back. For Grimm’s sake and for the sake of our club.
Samantha seemed destabilized for a moment, but then she turned and walked away from the table without a word. Was she accustomed to this kind of behavior? How long had she been with the Sons of Satan? How long had Lynch been using her and in what way?
Whisky glasses were passed around. Grimm and Lynch tapped theirs together in a form of toast before we all took a shot.
“Good, now we can start talking,” Lynch said and folded his arms on the table. Grimm was sitting back. Bones and I were standing behind him, keeping an eye on Gunther and the other guy.
“Yes, we should. You have some explaining to do.”
Lynch laughed at that like Grimm had said a joke.
“It isn’t exactly funny. You kidnapped my daughter. You kidnapped me.” Grimm was keeping calm, but it seemed like he’d already prepared what he was going to say. I wasn’t expecting him to charge ahead, guns-blazing, like this. Lynch continued to smirk. He still thought it was funny.
“All’s fair in love and war.”
“You started this war.”
“And now we’re here to end it, no?” Lynch said, smacking his lips like he’d just eaten something tasty.
I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t stop myself from looking over in the direction of the bar where Samantha was still standing. But she wasn’t looking at me anymore. She was looking firmly away.
2
Samantha
I kept my head down behind the bar because that was the best way for me to not attract any attention to myself. I did what Lynch asked me to do, what the rest of the members of the Sons of Satan expected me to do. I had no other choice. I was starkly aware that my life was constantly in danger, no matter how badly I wanted to get away from all this.
This life was a mistake. One I had rebelliously made because I was too young and too foolish to be making my own decisions. And now I was stuck here. Stuck in this. I didn’t know if I could ever get out of it. The only thing I could realistically do was keep my head down and comply.
I had been forced into submission. Forced into being obedient and following orders. I dressed the way Lynch and the other guys liked seeing me. I remained meek and docile, no matter how badly I wanted to lash out, to scratch their eyes out with my nails! But I had no other choice. I was weak and useless against them. They had me completely in their power.
So, I had no choice but to come here and serve drinks at this meeting tonight—I did as I was told. On our way over, Lynch had made it very clear to me to keep the drinks flowing. I was to dress in the most alluring way, I was to walk and talk seductively and keep serving drinks to Grimm, the President of the Black Cobras, and his men.
Lynch had said he wanted to make a good impression. He wanted to please the Black Cobras and he’d laughed at the end of that speech. I had my doubts about his sincerity. I was never going to trust Lynch. Not after the way he had broken me. Not after the way he had trapped me. Nonetheless, I did as I was told.
I chose the shortest skirt to wear, a top that forced my breasts to spill out over the top. I wore high-heeled boots, which I knew would make my hips sway in that particular way that drove men crazy. I made sure my red lipstick plumped up my lips and the glittery eyeshadow brightened my green eyes. This was not my taste. It wasn’t how I really wanted to dress, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. I was here to please Lynch and his men, my own preferences be damned.
Just like any other night, I was going to have to get through this without complaint, and that was exactly what I was trying to do until I saw him.
I saw Patch. The boy who used to live across from my parents’ house. The boy who used to follow me to school, who got me in trouble with my parents. The boy who I always had a crush on.
I couldn’t believe he was actually here.
Patch looked different now, so much more grown up, so sexy—but I was sure it was him. I couldn’t even remember when I last saw him. I knew the incident with him in the night in our backyard was at least a decade ago. Him and his family still continued living across the road from us for a while after that, and then they were just gone. I had no idea where. I knew he’d stopped watching me and my heart hurt because I never got a chance with him.
Just like everything else in my life, who I dated had been decided for me too.
And now he was standing right there across this room. He was clearly one of the guys from the Black Cobras who accompanied Grimm to this meeting. He had to be high-up the food chain.
His dark hair was longer now, slick and neatly brushed back over his forehead. His blue eyes looked darker, more dangerous. He was staring straight at me, glaring at me rather, like he was pissed he’d found me here.
Had he grown taller?
Or was he just way bigger now? A hulk of muscle and tattoos.
He was wearing a leather jacket, but this was different from the ones he used to wear as a teenager. This was patched with the logo of the Black Cobras.
I had to force myself to look away from him when Lynch spoke to me. He ordered a round of whiskies for everybody. Seeing Patch there had distracted me, and I knew I had to stay on top of my job if I wanted some peace tonight. Thinking about Patch would have to wait.
So, I went about my business. I served up the whiskies on a tray, my hands shaking a little as I came closer to Patch again. Lynch made a grab for my breasts, which wasn’t something out of the ordinary, but I was embarrassed at being treated this way in front of Patch. Someone from my past. Someone who knew exactly the kind of girl I was when I was growing up. The environment I’d been reared in.
And now this!
Of course, I was embarrassed by it. It nearly brought tears to my eyes.
I didn’t want anyone to know how I was being treated here. How my life had eventually turned out to be. How I was stuck and there was no escape.
I scurried back to the safety of being behind the bar when I had a chance. Lynch and Grimm had fallen back into conversation, so the attention was diverted from me thankfully.
But as much as I tried not to look, I couldn’t help but glance at Patch. He was glancing at me too. A few minutes went by. I kept my head down and then, when I looked up to look at him again, I saw him walking towards me. Nobody else was paying attention to this. They probably just thought he wanted another drink. But I knew what Patch wanted. He wanted to speak to me.
I didn’t know if I wanted to speak to him.
I didn’t know if I was capable of speaking to him without breaking down.
Patch walked up to the bar counter and put down his empty glass of whisky.
“Same?” I asked in a low voice and all he did was nod.
So much had changed about him in these last ten years, and yet the feelings I felt when he walked up to me were the same as back then. He still made me giddy. I still felt my mouth water as I imagined his naked muscular torso and his tight butt.
I looked away from him as I poured more whisky in his glass, reaching for the ice bucket next. I could sense his eyes on me, watching me closely.
“Samantha,” he said my name like he was hissing it. “Do you still go by Samantha?”
My throat had gone dry. How would Lynch react if he saw us talking now? If he found out that I used to know Patch from my past life. But he was deep in conversation with Grimm at the moment. Gunther and Job were watching him like a hawk. Lynch was hell-bent on proving himself to the Black Cobra
s and had no time for me.
“Yes, that’s my name,” I replied as I added ice to Patch’s glass. Slowly, I pushed it towards him on the counter and looked up to meet his deep blue eyes. He was studying my face. What did he think of me now? What was he going to do about my safety?
It was cute that he used to walk me to school back then. That he wanted me to be safe while I walked alone, but now everything was different.
“I’m not going to ask you the obvious question of what you’re doing here. You’re clearly with these guys,” he continued as he took one small sip from his glass. My heart was thudding against my chest as he spoke. I could feel my knees beginning to go weak.
That electric connection I’d always felt for him, even as a teenager back then, was what I was experiencing now too. That hadn’t changed at all. Patch was still the bad-boy sweet guy I wanted to give myself to. Only thing was, I didn’t know if he still wanted me. He may have wanted me back then when we were teenagers, but I was a very different girl then.
I nodded at him now. I was with the Sons of Satan, and he leaned over the counter towards me a little. What was he doing? This could get us in shit!
“I just want to know if you’re alright,” he said, looking straight into my eyes. I licked my lips nervously. What was I supposed to say? How much of the truth could I actually tell him right now?
“Yes, I’m fine,” I told him, and I looked away.
It didn’t seem like Patch was going to be satisfied with that response. He continued to linger by the bar, and I kept shooting looks in Lynch’s direction. He hadn’t caught us talking yet. Couldn’t Patch see the look of horror on my face? Didn’t he know what could happen to both of us if we were caught interacting?
Patch (The Black Cobras MC Book 3) Page 3
