by Elle Boon
A second ticked by, her arm tightened around his waist, and then a couple more seconds passed. “I’d like to eat here. Well not here as in the bed, but your place.”
He patted her arm. With the room having no windows, he couldn’t see her clearly and neither could she make out his features. Cosmo intended to rectify that right quick. “I’m gonna turn the light on.” He stretched, touching the lamp on his end table.
Tai closed her eyes, even though the light wasn’t necessarily bright. Cosmo blinked a few times until he was used to it. His shirt she wore had ridden up, exposing a swath of creamy skin. His hand itched to trace more of her, need making his cock jerk in his jeans.
“What do you want to eat?” he asked before he could do something stupid like follow through on his desires.
A short time later, they were up and finishing eating what one of the prospects had delivered. He waffled on whether to take her with him to the bar area while he attended Church or leave her in his rooms.
Shit, before he’d have told a woman to chill at the bar, and if another brother or prospect found her to his liking, he’d have said good riddance. Now though, he found he didn’t want any other man, brother or not, looking at her with interest. Damn, he’d made fun of King and his overbearing ways with Ayesha not long ago. Eating crow wasn’t a strong suit of his.
“You want to stay here, or hang out with the ole ladies in the clubhouse?” Giving her the choice took the burden off his shoulders.
Tai looked at her outfit, then at him, biting her lip, which gave him and his dick dirty thoughts. Fucking hell, didn’t she realize what she was doing made his dick want to feel those little teeth sink into his flesh as well?
“Will everyone stare at me?”
“If you’re worried they’ll all be looking at you like you’re the sexiest piece of ass, then yeah. However, I’ll make sure everyone knows you are off limits.” He’d make sure they knew she was his property if he had to beat every last motherfucker within an inch of his life.
“I don’t want you to get into trouble or hurt because of me.” Tai didn’t look at him as she said the words.
He didn’t have to see her to know she was afraid. For him. He’d be a lying motherfucker if he didn’t say it felt amazing to have a woman worried for him. The last one to feel that way had been his mama, God rest her soul. “Come on, I don’t want to be late for this meeting. I’ll see if Ayesha has some clothing you can borrow until your clothes get here.” While he’d been searching the web for his quarry, he’d also been busy getting some things for Tai, things he thought she’d need and like.
She nodded at his announcement like she hadn’t really heard him, which served him well. He had a feeling she’d fight him on his heavy handedness. Fight she may, but she wouldn’t win.
As soon as they stepped out of his rooms, tension filled every inch of her body. He could see it in every line of her body as he looked down at her when he turned to grab her hand. “Everything is going to be fine, don’t worry. I got you, and my brothers got our backs. When it comes to the Royal MC, we are closer than family. With blooded family you’re, related by birth. Within a club, you’re together by choice, by the blood you’ve spilled, the sweat you’ve worked up doing shit for one another, and even tears. Trust me when I say every man who wears one of these”—he indicated his cut, wanting her to understand and see what he meant—"every single brother who wears one of these has fought for his place. We don’t just sign a piece of paper and bam, we’re a brother. When one of us needs something, we all got his back, and their women as well.”
Tai’s throat worked as she swallowed. It was a bad time for him to think of the things he was, but damn if he wasn’t thinking of the dirty shit his mind couldn’t help but conjure up.
They entered the clubhouse, which was already filled with several brothers and prospects, along with some ole ladies. He gazed around, looking for Rosco and Hawk. From what his security firm had sent him, King wasn’t going to like what he had to show about one of his trusted men. Normally at ten in the morning, the place would be pretty empty, but since King had called Church, it appeared as though he’d made a few of the brothers come in, or in some cases, they stuck around.
“Ayesha and her sister are sitting over there in the corner. Nobody will fuck with you ladies, trust me. I’ll take you over there and get you a drink, then I need to go in with the others. You cool with that?” Ah shit, here he was again, sounding like a whipped pup.
She stared up at him like he hung the damn moon, making his heart trip double time. Her little smile sealing his fate.
“You go on and don’t worry about me, Cosmo. I’ve survived for the last twenty-four years just fine without a protector. I think I can make it another hour or so.”
He pinched her chin between two fingers, keeping his touch light. “Yeah but you wouldn’t be here right now if me and Duke hadn’t been there last night, Baby Girl. Don’t get too big for your britches,” he reminded her with a grin as he looked down at her in his sweats.
Her chin dipped down, then her head came back up. “I’m wearing your britches. I have a lot of growing to do.”
Son-of-a-bitch. In that moment, something was growing in his own damn britches. If he didn’t turn and walk away, he was going to be sporting a hard-on that would be hard to hide. “Get your sexy little ass over there with the other women, vixen.”
Her breath hitched at the nickname, making him curse inwardly. He’d gone from calling her Baby Girl to Vixen in a span of twenty-four hours. Cosmo needed to get away from Tai so he could get his shit together, or he’d be down on one knee and spouting off ‘Will you marry me?’ or some shit. “Be good,” he said, turning away from her and the other women.
T-Rex stood by the door, manning his station like the big bastard he was. “Fuck man, you gotta bring your...pet with you?” Cosmo asked, staring at the lizard the other man was stroking like a damn lover.
“You got a problem with Koko?” T-Rex narrowed his eyes as the damn Komodo dragon hissed, the forked tongue coming way too close to Cosmo for his liking.
“You’re sitting there with a prehistoric pet, stroking it like a lover, yet you’re asking me if I got a problem. Brother, you need to get laid.” Cosmo shook his head, then jumped back as the fucking lizard hissed at him.
“Koko don’t like you.” T-Rex pulled the thing back against his chest. While Cosmo was big at six-foot-three, T was an inch or so taller and at least thirty pounds of solid muscle more. He was the one that usually watched the door and made sure shit didn’t get out of hand. Like now, he might be all relaxed looking holding his pet, but if shit went sideways, the big bastard would be up and in action faster than most of the smaller guys.
“My girl is over with King’s ole lady. Can you make sure nobody fucks with any of them? I mean, nobody.” He didn’t want to tell T-Rex to keep all the other brothers away from the booth, but it was damn hard for him to let Tai out of his sight.
T-Rex got up, putting Koko in a cage he kept behind the entry way podium. “I got you. No brothers other than the ones the ladies belong to will get within ten feet of them. Anyone tries, they’ll meet Koko.”
Cosmo lifted his hand, pulling T-Rex in for a back slap that he returned. “Thanks, brother.”
When he walked into Church, the room was already filled with so much testosterone one could cut it with a knife.
Two hours later, he and the others sat around the table, staring at the door that Keys had just left through. Fuck! It looked like he wouldn’t need to worry about where he would be taking Tai. “Holy shit, man. I knew Keys had secrets, but—” he trailed off, still staring at the door.
“Why the hell does he trust you with his dogs over me?” Duke muttered.
“Shut up.” King pointed at the monitor and the sight of Rosco and Hawk walking in. They were supposed to have been there hours ago, but the boys in blue had paid the club a visit on the pretense of looking for some chick whose brother had reported her
missing. Since there was no real missing person to go with their claim, they didn’t have any real right to search their club. King and the rest of them had learned it was easier to go along with the cops since they didn’t want to tangle with them, allowing them to walk through the place when they knew full well there wasn’t anything they’d find.
A hard rap on the door heralded their presence. King gave a nod. Traeger got up and pulled the heavy thing open, staring Hawk, and then Rosco down. The Sergeant at Arms was one big, tough man you most assuredly wanted on your side.
“What’s up, Traeger?” Rosco bumped knuckles with him. Traeger nodded toward a seat on the other side of the table.
Hawk gave a jerk of his head, taking a seat while Rosco went around to the other side of the long table. The huge wooden thing had seen a lot of meetings, felt the backs of a lot of brothers as fights had broken out, a few bullets, and a shitton of knives had found their way into the scarred surface. However, no matter what happened, the huge chunk of wood that had been carved out of an old sequoia tree had stood the test of time. Like now, it was going to see the betrayal of a brother.
“How’s the ole lady, Hawk? We ain’t seen her in a while.” King asked, staring at the other man with his intense gaze never wavering.
Hawk shrugged. “She’s good. Got kids in school, making it hard for her to come and hang out like she used to.”
King grunted. His pointer finger tapping the table.
Cosmo sat back, folding his hands over his stomach. He loved watching King fuck with others. It was like poetry in motion.
“Rosco, things good with you, brother? You got anything you want to talk about?”
Sweat popped out on Rosco’s forehead as if it wasn’t a cool 67 degrees in the room.
“Nah, not much going on. Work and work some more.” His words rushed out of him like he had to say them quickly, or he’d mess up.
Traeger turned the lock on the door. The click of it engaging was like a bomb going off if the way Rosco and Hawk jumped was any indication.
“What’s going on, King? Shit went down at the club. I handled it like always. Just as I was told from the jump. What’s the problem?” Hawk asked sitting back like he hadn’t a care in the world.
King jerked his chin toward Traeger. “Care to turn the video on for me, brother. I ain’t in the mood for chit chat. I’m feeling a little stabby.”
Cosmo noticed King had his favorite knife in front of him, spinning it in circles one way, then stopping and spinning it the other way.
“Should I dim the lights and pop some popcorn too, Prez?”
King lifted his right hand, knife held between his fist, middle finger extended. “Fuck off and do what you were asked, asshole.”
Traeger chuckled, clearly not scared in the least.
Cosmo hadn’t seen whatever it was they were about to view. Although he could’ve if he’d wanted, the power of hacking was a wonderful thing. He already had an inkling what was coming, but hell, he was ready for some entertainment that wasn’t at his expense.
He watched as a tall man walked into the club, looking around before he walked back out. That in and of itself wouldn’t be odd, except the time was early afternoon, and Rosco should’ve had the doors locked. A short time later, the same man returned with a female, his female.
“Rosco, you recognize that man?” King asked, pointing at the screen with his knife.
“Ah, yeah, he’s a boyfriend of one of the dancers. She skipped out last night after the shit went down.” Rosco took a bandana out of his pocket and wiped his brow.
Cosmo knew the fucker was lying since the dancer in question was Tai, and she most definitely wasn’t seeing the bastard, he was her Handler, and he was now dead. Nobody stopped Roscoe from digging his grave, they waited to see how King handled the situation.
“Why was he allowed to accompany one of our dancers, and why wasn’t she checked out like the rest of our girls through Keys?”
“King, I’ll take some of the blame. You know I’m in charge of The Club. I thought all the T’s had been crossed. I should’ve made sure before she stepped on the stage. I also hadn’t been aware there was a man standing backstage when any of the girls were dancing. Nobody ever complained, and well, I fucking dropped the ball, brother.” Hawk hung his head.
“We’ll get to that in a minute. Right now, I want to know why Rosco didn’t go through the proper channels when he hired that girl on the screen, and then allowed her to work for us. Which is strike one. Why he then allowed a man we didn’t know, much less trust, access to women who look to us for protection? Strike two.” King’s tone went low, anger burning with each syllable.
“None of the other dancers were ever in any danger,” Rosco swore.
“Are you kidding? How the fuck can you guarantee that? Do you know him, or who he works for?” Traeger asked, moving around the table.
The bandana went back to the brother’s forehead. “He said he was just there to ensure she worked and came back with him. He allowed her to...to go in the back with certain clients, but he was in charge of the money. I made sure she was good at everything before I allowed her to work for us.”
Cosmo jumped to his feet; his fists clenched as a roar of anger burst from his throat. If King hadn’t grabbed him, he was sure he’d have killed the fucker. “You made sure she was good? What the fuck does that mean, asshole? You rape her?”
“No. She did it willingly.”
“Ah, fuck, Traeger. I’m gonna need some help,” King yelled.
He didn’t hear whatever the other said. All he saw was his mother on her knees, doing as his father demanded, only this time it was tiny Tai being forced to perform. The large table that had seen so much damage was now the place he held Rosco down, his fists reigning down, blow after blow. The gashes from the broken glass had his fists bleeding, but he felt no pain as Rosco tried to stop him. Hell, he felt others reach for his arms, but he couldn’t allow them to pull him off.
“Cosmo, stop. He’s done fighting you,” King yelled in his ear.
Traeger and King held him against the wall. He fought them until the haze of pure unadulterated anger fled him. Several deep breaths later and the fog lifted, showing him a bloodied mess of a man lying unconscious on the table. “Is he dead?” he asked dispassionately.
Hawk shook his head. “Not yet.”
“How many other women had he...he allowed to come through our club like that?” Cosmo glared at Hawk.
“None that I know of. My ole lady’s been sick. She...we lost our baby. She was six months along. Fuck,” Hawk growled, running his hand through his hair. “I’ve been trying to be there for her and let Rosco be in charge more. Motherfucker.” He lifted Rosco’s beaten face and spat in it.
“His account showed a fifty-grand deposit for the last few months. Obviously, Rosco decided he needed a little influx of cash.” Traeger kicked the chair he’d been sitting in.
“I’ll take care of him,” Cosmo said, shaking his fists out.
King put his arm out. “We got this. You’re gonna take Keys up on his offer and go chill at his place and take care of his pups. We need to figure out if whoever is running this trafficking ring is gonna be looking for your girl. If there’s gonna be some blowback coming our way, I need to know.”
“I can get her and me gone, and never be found, King.” He had more money than all of them combined, more than their entire club could probably ever use in their lifetimes.
“Cosmo, did you see the tattoo on her Handler’s neck?” Traeger asked.
Had he fucked up? He’d been more focused on Tai, he hadn’t paid close enough attention to the man.
“Hawk, you clearly got a lot going on and that sucks man. You shoulda come to me. As your Prez, I coulda helped you out. We’re a brotherhood. You know we got one another’s backs, that includes our ole ladies. I’m really fucking sorry about your kid. While I wish like fuck none of this happened, it looks like Cosmo found his woman, but there’s also a
load of shit that’s come to our door. What we do is play the cards we’re dealt, that means I’m sending in a guy to take your place, while you handle your house. Don’t fucking look at me like that. Your ole lady needs you and you need to get your head in the right place. Hollywood will be good for The Club, and you’ll still be there. What you won’t be, is the only one wearing the crown, until I feel you’re ready to do it without fucking up.” King sat back down.
They all ignored the bleeding fucker who had betrayed them. Rosco took a few shallow breaths as if even that hurt, stupid fuck had no clue his hours were numbered.
“Roll the video back to the beginning when the Handler comes in by himself. He stops and looks around. I saw the tattoo clearly then.” King began his tapping again, only this time he used his knife.
They watched, and then he saw what the others had been talking about. The very distinctive stylized dragon peeking out from the collar of his suit jacket was very obvious.
“Damn, is that what I think it is?” Traeger asked.
Cosmo moved to the screen as if on automaton. His little Tai was mixed up with more than sex trafficking. A fucking Chinese gang that was deadly as fuck. “Fuck, this shit just got a whole lot more complicated.” He punched in a message on his cell, alerting his team. They’d neutralize the threat, one way, or another.
“Think dumbfuck there was getting anything more than fifty grand a month?” King stabbed his knife into the scarred wood.
“I’ll find out. Come on, Hawk, let’s take him out through the back and see if he’ll talk.” Traeger jerked the bastard up by the front of his shirt.
Cosmo didn’t look at the other man. In his head, Rosco was dead to him.
“What did you find out?” King asked once the door shut, leaving Cosmo in the room with only Duke and King.
“Pretty much what we found out on that camera,” he told King, meeting his steely-eyed stare with one of his own.
