So Hot MC Boxset

by Blair Grey

  “They’re gone. I just wanted to know if you still had your hostage. The FBI hasn’t bothered any of our businesses since you took her. And all of a sudden, they come swooping in, going through everything. This place is a wreck. I’ve got messes everywhere to clean up. But there wasn’t anything to find, so they had to leave without taking anyone into custody. And boy did your daughter give them hell.”

  “Sarah had words with the FBI?” I shook my head as I thought about how dangerous that was for her to do. “And you didn’t stop her?”

  “Boss, you know damn good and well that you can’t make that female shut the hell up.” He chuckled. “But she did put them in their place, that’s for sure. If they ever come back here without a search warrant in their hands, she’ll have the cops come to take them away in handcuffs. And I bet you a million bucks she’d make that happen too.”

  “Sarah’s a spitfire, I can tell you that much.” I ran my hand through Britt’s dark hair. “And I’ve still got the hostage. Only the Irish Reapers think they’ve killed her.”

  “They what?” Axel sounded astonished. “Baby, you won’t believe this shit. Sarah, come here. Listen to this. I’m putting you on speaker, boss.”

  “Hey, Sarah.” With her pregnancy, I had to wonder if all the commotion had upset her. “How’s my grandbaby doing with all this ruckus?”

  “Fine. I haven’t been feeling any pains or anything.” Sarah relieved my worries. “So, what else is going on?”

  “About an hour ago I got a call from Johnny letting me know that his vacation house was on fire. It was burnt to the ground. His neighbor heard the sound of a Harley and the next thing he knew he smelled smoke.” I couldn’t help but notice the tired look in Britt’s eyes. What she must’ve felt was a thing I couldn’t wrap my brain around.

  “And where was Brittany?” Sarah asked. “Is she okay?”

  “I have her at your townhouse. I know I’d told you that I would most likely wait until morning to bring her over here, but something got into me and I went over there about ten and took her then.” And boy was I glad that I had done that.

  Sarah’s voice went quiet. “So, her father thinks she’s dead. How’s she doing with that?”

  Britt’s lower lip began to quiver, then tears poured down her cheeks in thick rivers. “Not good at all. I’ll call you guys back. I’ve gotta see to Britt right now. But don’t tell anyone a thing about what I’ve just told you. I want her father to think she’s no longer with us for as long as possible.”

  “K, Dad. Bye.”

  Taking Britt into my arms, I just let her cry. Now, this is the mentally healthy reaction she needed to have.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Brittany

  My head swam with what the right thing to do was. Carl had a family to live for. His MC brothers had real loved ones to live for too. I had to help end my father’s cruel reign. Pulling myself together, I stopped crying. Crying was a useless activity that got people nowhere. There wasn’t time for that kind of stuff anyway.

  Sniffling, I took a deep breath to steady myself. “Okay, my father is at the pinnacle of this whole thing. I know his MC brothers are all corrupt and bloodthirsty, but not all of them care for my father’s agenda to rid the world of the Iron Cobras. I’ve heard mutterings about Arthur’s insanity for some time now.”

  “So, he’s not actively followed by all of his MC brothers?” Carl nodded. “Yeah, I can see that occurring.”

  There was the delicate matter of the no vote that he’d gotten from his council, making it impossible for Carl to kill my father. But nothing was stopping me from being able to do it. “I believe with everything in me that if Arthur Kelly is no more, then this idea of ruining and ending your MC will disappear.”

  Carl’s vague expression told me he didn’t think the same way I did. “I don’t know about that, Britt. Those men in that MC are all pretty much as crazy as the next one of them. I don’t think I could get all the members of my council to agree about that idea. Getting rid of Arthur will help with this current situation where your safety is concerned, but not much else.”

  I had to know what he thought his MC would allow him to do thus far. “At this point, with what’s happened recently, what do you think the line of action will be that your club takes?”

  “It’s hard to say for sure without meeting with the other men to get their take on things. I’m biased because of my feelings for you. It’s certain that at least one of my council members will point that out.” Looking grim, he got up and began pacing at the foot of the bed. “I want Artur Kelly dead. I want it done sooner rather than later. And I want it done that way to keep you safe and live.”

  It seemed that Carl held my life more precious than even I did. He needed to know some important things about me before he could make such presumptions. “Carl, you should sit down. I think you need to know some cold hard facts about me.”

  Sitting at the end of the bed, he gave me his undivided attention. “Good. Open up to me, Britt. I’m here for you in every way you can imagine.”

  “Yeah, I’m beginning to sense that about you.” I shook my head because I didn’t think he knew enough about me to be so completely there for me. “Let’s begin with my idea of my personal future. I am thirty-five. Not some old woman by any means but not a spring chicken either. I know that physically I haven’t missed the boat on being some kid’s mommy, but on a mental level, I have.”

  Nodding, he seemed to understand that. “I hear what you’re saying, baby. You don’t want to have kids. I understand that better than you think.”

  He didn’t seem to really get what I was saying, so I added, “Carl, I don’t want to have your babies. I don’t want to have anyone’s babies. I don’t even want to have step-kids. I have a lot of fears about how I was raised making me do things that aren’t nice to kids. Not that I would physically hurt them, but I might mentally hurt them.”

  The way his brow furrowed made me think that he was coming to terms with the person I really was. “So, you’re afraid you might neglect a kid or be cold and push them away?”

  Nodding, I see he did understand. “Exactly. You don’t have any little kids, but you’ve got a grandkid coming and probably more after that one. I wouldn’t be a good role model or influence on any of them.”

  “That’s your asshole of a father talking, baby. You can be a good person. Yes, you’ve got some work to do, but you’re not evil like he is. And I highly doubt that you could push a little baby away. You’ve never been around one, have you?”

  “I have not.” I hadn’t had the opportunity to be around a baby since my brother had been taken away. “I was too little when my brother was born to have learned a thing about babies. And I wasn’t as screwed up as I am now either. But I can promise you that I don’t trust myself where babies or kids are concerned.”

  “Noted.” He nodded. “So, you don’t want to take care of babies nor kids. Got it. I won’t ask you to do that then. I won’t ask you to have my babies. I won’t ask you to take care of my grandchildren. I don’t know why you thought that would be a problem for me. It’s not.”

  “Carl, I care about you more than I’ve ever cared about anyone. And look how I’ve treated you. I can try not to do mean things to you, but chances are that I will do things to you again that are hurtful.” I didn’t want to hurt him again.

  “I’m not some fragile thing, baby. If you start acting badly, I will rein your ass in. You can count on that.” He smiled at me as he wagged his finger in my direction. “I know you’re capable of becoming a better person. Once you learn that you can actually trust me, you will start coming around more and more. And with therapy, it will happen sooner than you even think.”

  “As right as you might be, you’re wrong about me. You’re wrong about me becoming anything close to a good woman. I don’t know how to be one. I’ve never had even one good female role model to pattern myself after. I don’t know a thing about anyone I am blood-related to, except my father.
” There was no way Carl knew what I was capable of when I didn’t even know.

  “So what?” Getting up off the bed, he came to sit next to me, running his hand over my bare shoulder. “I don’t think people have to have good role models to turn into good people. I don’t think that people have to know everyone in the families to be good people. You will be fine. You will have hard times and you will have easy times. Good and bad go hand in hand in all lives. You’ve had a shit-ton of bad, my bets are on you having the same amount of good coming your way. You just have to accept it is all.”

  He needed to accept some things as well. “My father is Arthur Kelly. My father belongs to an MC full of men who will kill a person without batting an eye. They will walk away from a murder they’ve just committed and have a laugh and a big meal without ever thinking twice about what they’ve just done. I can do a little bit to help end this thing.”

  His silver hair moved in waves over his broad shoulders as he shook his head. “You don’t have to do a thing. I will take care of things.”

  “I can do that too.” Only I could do it a hell of a lot easier and take more Irish Reapers out than he ever could. “They think I’m dead, Carl. At the very least, they think I’m no longer your hostage. I can catch them off guard in ways you can’t.”

  “You?” He looked up at the ceiling. “Can someone up there talk some sense into this woman? Her mother perhaps?”

  He’d made me laugh, but not change my mind. “Come on. I can get inside of wherever my father and his council are. If I can take them all out at one time, the club will be left reeling with the loss. It will disband them – at least for a while.”

  His mouth hung ajar as his eyes glazed over. “What the fuck are you thinking, Britt? You couldn’t do that and remain alive. No one could.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I sat there, not saying a word as I let that sink into his head.

  Two minutes went by before he said, “No. I won’t let you do that. This has to be one of the mind games that your father taught you. Well, here’s the deal, Britt. I won’t let you kill yourself for me or anyone else.”

  “Even if you manage to kill my father, there might be other members of his council who will want to see me dead. They will still fear that you will be able to get things out of me about what they’ve done.” I knew I had a valid point.

  “Baby, we’ve all done bad shit in our time in these MCs. There ain’t a one of us with a clean record. There’s not much that you can hold over our heads. And the same goes for the men in the Irish Reapers. We all keep our mouths shut most of the time.”

  “Well, what about now? My father has the FBI all up in your Kool-Aid, Carl. So, why wouldn’t his council think your club would do the same to them, using what they think I might know about them?” I crossed my arms over my chest as I cocked my head to one side, knowing I was right.

  But Carl wasn’t going to fall into things, and I saw that clearly as he grinned at me. “Somewhere inside that pretty head of yours, you believe that I would let you do this. You think you’re worthless. You think you’re disposable. And to your father, you certainly are. He’s proven that to everyone and now he’s proven that to you. And it’s eating you up inside that he ordered your murder. So, you think this will show him. You will do a kamikaze attack on him and his most trusted men and you think that will show them all.”

  I hadn’t thought about it that way. “At least no one in your club would die. That’s what I’m trying to stop from happening. I don’t want any of you to even get hurt over this. I know it was you who started it all by kidnapping me, but I don’t want you or anyone else to get hurt. My father and his council are the only people I want to see end. I’m more than happy to lose myself along with them.”

  “You aren’t more than happy. One day you will find out what true happiness is. I’m going to make sure of that. And I’m not so sure that Arthur’s council will give two-shits about punishing you for getting kidnapped the way your father is set on doing.”

  He might’ve been right. But who wouldn’t want more of the fuckers dead? “Carl, if I’m going to take one of them out, why not take more if I can?”

  “Well, let’s start with the fact that you are not taking any of them out. Not even your father. And it’s not right to kill people just to kill them. If any of the men in your father’s club come after you, then they will be dealt with. If they decide to leave you alone, then why kill them?” He sighed heavily as he ran his hand over my cheek. “It’s brave of you to want to take this whole thing on, but it’s not necessary and I will never allow it. So, you need to know that you will have to kill me first, walk over my dead body and try to get the doors of this house to open without knowing the security code to get to try to make your death-plan work.”

  “So, I am to let you put yourself in harm’s way, but you won’t let me?” I thought that a bit unfair.

  “You aren’t just putting yourself in harm’s way, now are ya?” He grinned at me. “You’re talking about going into the lions’ den to start shooting or have a bomb strapped to your body if you’re talking about taking out the whole council. I don’t work that way. I take precautions. So, let me handle this. And you can sit back, relax, and enjoy watching the man who has made your life a living hell meet his maker. I’m pretty fucking sure he wasn’t one of God’s creations. The devil’s hand shows to have been a lot heavier on that man than anyone else’s.”

  “And if something happens to you, then what am I to do?” He’d thought of a lot, but not that. I was nothing to no one, except maybe to Carl Davis. If I lost him, I lost the only thing I had. If I truly had him. The man hadn’t made me his yet.

  I was still only his hostage. I was still just a female he’d fucked a few times. I wasn’t anything else to the man. Yet, he thought to put his life on the line for me was a smart thing to do.

  If I lose him, I lose everything. I’d rather lose my life than his.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Carl

  Gazing at the beauty who sat on the bed in front of me with the worst idea in the history of ideas at the forefront of her mine, I saw something in her that I hadn’t seen before. “You wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if I wasn’t here?” The woman was allowing herself to need someone else. That was pretty huge when you were talking about someone with tremendous trust issues.

  Looking down, she blinked a few times as she chewed on her lower lip. “I’ve grown accustomed to your presence I suppose. Even with the amounts of time that have passed with you being mad at me and staying away from me, I knew you were still there in a way. You were alive is what I’m trying to say. If you go after my father, then you might not make it out alive. Many have lost their lives that way.”

  “Yet, you would gladly take that penalty is what you’re saying.” I didn’t believe her even a little. “Britt, I know your life hasn’t been good at all. But we’re on the cusp of something here.”

  She interrupted, “Yeah, we are. And here you are, wanting to go put yourself in danger. So, why not let me do that instead of you doing it? You’ve got so much at stake and I – well, I have nothing.”

  “That’s right. You have nothing and no one.” I gathered her hands in mine, pulling them up to my lips then kissing each finger – one at a time. “Or do you?”

  Sighing, she still didn’t get what I was trying to convey to her. “I have no one, Carl. It’s been that way my entire life. I’m used to it. The only thing I regret now is not thinking about taking them all out sooner. Maybe it’s my Irish blood talking but I see no reason to let any of them live. I’ll take out as many as I can. I think the bomb strapped to my body would be great for accomplishing that.”

  “Man, you are really something, Brittany Kelly.” This woman was either really crazy – really dense - or really so sure that no man would ever want to make her his that she wouldn’t allow herself to believe that I was asking her to be mine. I banked on the latter. “I’m not sure if it’s bravery you’re showing or a sen
se of worthlessness so grand that it encompasses bravery. Whatever it is, it’s not going to last long. I won’t let it. See, I’m done letting you think that no one wants you.”

  “I don’t see how you can change that. It’s a fact, Carl.” Still, she thought that way with me sitting right there in her face.

  “It’s not a fact. It might’ve been a fact, but it’s not one anymore and it will never be a fact again.” Letting her hands go, I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her tightly. “You’ve got someone now. You’ve got me, Britt. And I’ve got you. I’ve said this more than once, but you don’t seem to be picking up what I’m putting down. I want you.”

  “But for how long?” Her question bothered me. I wasn’t some flighty man who took commitment with a grain of salt. I meant it when I committed to a person. And I meant it now.

  “For however long you’ll have me, I guess.” My lips pressed against the top of her head. “I want you to be mine. I want you to be my old lady. I want you on the back of my bike with me. I want you in my bed each night and my arms each morning when I wake up.”

  “So, what you’re saying is that you want me and you to be an us?” Finally, she was getting it.

  “Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m saying.” I let her go, taking her chin in my hand to make her look at me as her eyes were everywhere, but on me. “Will you be an us with me, baby?”

  “An us?” The wariness in her dark eyes told me she didn’t quite know how to take this. “When someone asks me what I’m doing for dinner, I would have to say that I didn’t know what we were doing. I would have to ask my old man to see if he’d made us any plans.”

  “Uh, huh.” My lips barely touched hers, grazing them as I whispered, “And if anything ever happens to me, my MC brothers will always take care of you the same way I will. You’ll never be alone if you say yes to being mine.” She needed to know that this was big. She would never be alone again.