He stepped back but kept his eyes connected to mine. “You’re not going anywhere without me, Mitzy.”
“Well, I mean, if you want to take my Uber with me, you can, but how are you going to get your bike home?”
“You’re coming home with me, and you can cancel your Uber.”
I pursed my lips and tipped my chin up. “I’m gonna give you a little clue, Monk. I’m not into someone telling me what I’m going to do. Especially someone who doesn’t even know me.”
“I know you, Mitzy,” he countered.
He knew what I wanted him to know about me.
Rough, smart-mouthed, and a bitch. That was what he and everyone else knew. There was a fuck-ton more to me than that, but no one was ever going to get that part of me. I had shared it before, and it literally got shoved back in my face and beaten away.
“Oh, you’re still here.”
I turned and saw the nurse who had been taking care of me this morning.
“Not for long. I’m on my way out.” Just as soon as Monk got the hell out of my way.
“Uh, are you planning on leaving in an Uber?” she asked.
“No,” Monk thundered.
“Yes,” I said over him.
The nurse cringed. “Uh, well, I thought you had already left.”
I tipped my head to the side. “I’m still here,” I growled. I was standing right in front of her.
“The front desk called and told me someone was here to pick you up. I told them you were already gone.”
I dropped my chin to my chest. “Please tell me you didn’t send my Uber away.”
She tipped her head to the side and squinted at me. “I mean, yes.”
Son of a bitch.
“Good. That means you’re riding home with me.” Monk grabbed his cut off the back of his chair and shrugged it on.
“No,” I growled. “I can get another Uber.”
I pulled out my phone out from my pocket, and Monk snatched it out of my hand.
“Stop fucking fighting me on this, Mitzy. I’m giving you a ride home, and that’s the end of the fucking story.”
“I don’t need you to do anything for me, Monk. I’m fine.” I was. The doctor had said I was lucky, but I was fine. It could have been a lot worse, but it wasn’t.
“Someone out there tried to kill you, Mitzy. You are not fucking fine right now.”
The nurse cleared her throat. “I’ll just leave you two alone.” She closed the door behind her.
“No one tried to kill me, Monk. I took the wrong pills. It was my stupid mistake.” He had tried to tell me earlier that someone had tried to hurt me, but I had brushed it off. He obviously really believed that someone had drugged me.
“How can you say that? I literally breathed oxygen into your lungs and sat in the waiting room while they pumped your stomach. Then sat at your bedside all night making sure you kept breathing”
“And you didn’t need to do any of that. I was fine then and I’m fine now.” I tried to push past him, but he wrapped his fingers around my wrist.
“You’re far from fine, Mitzy. A fucking blind person could see you’re fucked up.”
I stepped toward him. “Let me go.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not letting you go. You and I both know I would never in a million years hurt you, so you can drop the shit about being scared of me.”
“You’re gonna tell me how I feel now?” I snapped. I was not in the mood to go toe-to-toe with Monk. I wanted to get out of this dank hospital and back to my house. Monk was standing directly in my way of making that happen.
“Can you just stop acting like I’m your asshole of an ex and take a damn breath? I’m trying to fucking help you, and all you keep doing is throwing it back in my face.”
“If I’m being such a bitch, Monk, then maybe you should leave. That will solve the problem for you.” I held out my hand. “Give me my phone, and you can go back to your little clubhouse.” My house was only ten miles away. I would fucking hitchhike if I had to.
He shook his head. “You can try and push me away all you want, Mitzy. Ain’t gonna fucking work on me. I’m not going anywhere until we figure out what in the hell happened to you last night.”
“You’re not staying at my house, Monk. Your sense of duty is misplaced on me. I’m a big girl who can more than take care of myself, and the other night was a fluke.”
He growled deep. “I’m taking you home, and that’s that. I don’t plan on sleeping in your house.”
I eyed him warily. “Why are you doing this?” People only hung around and tried to help when they wanted something in return. I didn’t have anything Monk would want, so I didn’t understand his motives.
“Because you’re connected to the club, so that makes you my responsibility,” he stated flatly.
I scoffed. “So you’re telling me you would do this for any of the girls who work at the club? Even Constance, who cleans the club when we close?” If that were the case, and if the girls found out, Monk would have a flock of girls surrounding him in an instant.
Monk shook his head. “Not a fucking chance in hell. I’m only concerned with you. Now, grab your shit, and let’s go, Mitzy.”
And just why was he concerned about me? It was a mistake. Granted, it had some pretty crazy consequences, but it was still a mistake. I was still alive, and I would just have to be a little more careful of what pills I grabbed from the dressing room from now on.
All I had was the clothes on my back and my phone, which Monk still refused to return. I held out my hands in front of me. “I’m ready.”
Riding on the back of Monk’s bike was going to be the quickest way I could get home. Right now, I just wanted to get the hell out of this hospital.
“I don’t know what the hell made you change your mind. Let’s fucking ride, Mitz.” Monk threaded his fingers through mine and pulled me out of the room. He stalked down the hallway and right out the front doors of the hospital with me trailing behind him.
We made it to his bike, and he grabbed the helmet hanging from the handlebars. He dropped my hand, plopped the helmet on my head, snapped the strap under my chin, and frowned.
“What’s wrong now?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing.” He threw his leg over the bike and motioned for me to get on behind him.
“Do you know where I live?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“How do you know where I live?”
He turned and leveled his gaze on me. “Because it’s my fucking business to know where you live, Mitzy, and I also sign your fucking checks. Your check stub has your fucking address on it.”
Well. I guess that made sense. Though why would he take note of that? I handed out all of the girl’s checks, and I couldn’t tell you where one of them lived.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to hear whatever shit you want to say, Mitzy. Get your ass on the bike.”
I glared at him but didn’t say anything. The quicker I got on the bike, the quicker I would be off it and in my house. Alone. “I’m only getting on because I just want to be home,” I clarified.
“Fair enough,” he grunted.
I slid on behind him and laid my hands on my thighs. He reached behind, grabbed my wrist, and pulled my hand on his waist. “Hold the hell on, Mitz.”
I rolled my eyes but placed my other hand on his waist.
He cranked up the bike, knocked up the kickstand, and peeled out of the hospital parking lot.
Ten minutes later, we turned and roared up my dirt driveway.
As soon as the bike stopped, I slipped off and unbuckled the helmet. I wasn’t anywhere near being able to think about the fact that it had felt nice to be on the back of Monk’s bike. I had been on the back of Barracuda’s bike before, and a few random times Rebel had given me a ride home, but none of those times had been like riding with Monk.
I thrust the helmet into his hands. “Thanks for the ride. See you around.” I jogged to the step
s and skipped up them. After I scooped up the key from under the front mat, I shoved it into the lock and pushed open the door. It took everything in me to act like I wasn’t sore and achy from my little stint in the hospital.
A quick glance over my shoulder proved Monk was still on his bike, just watching me. I slammed the door and pressed my back against it. I was tired as hell. It had been a miracle I had been able to make it to the front door without stumbling.
I slid down the door and pulled my knees to my chest.
I had no idea what the hell had happened last night or what was going to happen from here on out. All I knew was I needed to sleep, and I would worry about everything else later.
My forehead dropped to my knees, and I promptly passed out.
*
Chapter Three
The duffle bag…
Monk
“You got that duffle bag I lent you?”
Jinx looked up from the bowl of cereal in front of him. “Huh?”
I rolled my eyes and sat on the chair next to him. “I need my duffle bag back, Jinx. Where did you put it?”
“I think I lent it to Tank. He needed it to get all of his shit from Rain’s place.”
Fucking hell. I just needed the bag to pack a few clothes, and I was on a wild goose chase for it. “So where is Tank?” And my fucking duffle bag.
Jinx shrugged and looked back down at his cereal. “I haven’t seen him for a couple of days. Last I saw of him was when he grabbed the duffle bag from me.”
I tipped my head to the side. “What do you mean you haven’t seen him in a couple of days?”
Jinx shrugged. “I’m just saying I haven’t seen him. I’m sure one of the other guys has.”
I stood and looked around the clubhouse. All the guys were hanging around, except for Tank. “Yo,” I called. “Anyone know where Tank is?”
“Saw him two days ago with a duffle bag,” Jinx called.
I glared at him. “Yeah, I got that, dumbass.”
He shrugged. “Just thought I would say it again.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Anyone else besides Jinx see Tank lately?” I clarified.
“I saw him at Skinz on Saturday night. He didn’t look very happy,” Jet shouted from behind the bar.
Six-Gun sat down next to Jinx. “Mitzy asked to talk to him last night, but I couldn’t find him. I texted him, but he never replied.”
“Rebel,” I called. “You seen him?”
Rebel shook his head. “Not for a few days. Fucking Rain was messing with his head, and I told him to fucking drop that rancid pussy. He got pissed and stopped talking to me.” Rebel shrugged. “She got her hooks sunk deep in him.”
“I thought he was cutting her loose?” Playboy asked.
“He was,” Jinx replied. “He said he was going to get all of his shit from her place because they were over.”
Jesus Christ. I did not need to deal with this on top of everything else that the club was handling. “Call him,” I told Jinx. “Put it on speaker.”
Jinx pulled out his phone and laid it on the table with the speakerphone on. It rang five times, and then the voicemail kicked on.
“Yo,” I called when it beeped. “Where the fuck are you, Tank? Give me a call when you get this. Hell, call any of us. Don’t fucking care who you call, just call.” I nodded to Jinx, and he ended the call.
“We thinking something happened to him?” Mace asked.
I scrubbed my hand down my face. “He probably went on a bender and is sleeping it off somewhere.”
“And what if he’s not?” Rebel asked. “I think we should track down Rain and see when the last time she saw him was.”
“Fine by me. Two of you go and see what you can figure out.” I nodded to Rebel.
“She was at the club last night. At least when I was there with Memphis.” Six-Gun pointed the remote at the TV and turned it off. “I can go with you.”
Rebel nodded. “Thanks, brother.”
“Let me know what you find out,” I instructed. “And make sure when you find him, he has my fucking duffle bag.”
“Why the hell are you so hung up on your duffle bag?” Rebel laughed.
“I’m gonna be staying over at Mitzy’s until we figure out what the hell happened last night.”
“You really think it was something sinister going on? I mean, it doesn’t really seem like a stretch for one of the other girls to bring in drugs.” Jinx wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’s not like we’ve hired a bunch of angels to strip every night.”
I wasn’t naïve. I knew drugs were moving around Skinz, but this didn’t feel as simple as that. “I don’t know. I just think we need to check out every avenue before chalking it up to a fluke.”
Six-Gun nodded. “Rebel and I are headed to the club when it opens this afternoon. You think Mitzy has a schedule in her office we can use to make sure we talk to everyone who was working last night?”
“I’m sure she’s got something. I can ask her when I go back over to her house.” I glared at Jinx. “As soon as I find a fucking duffel bag.”
Playboy chuckled. “I’ve got one you can use. Just don’t lend it to Jinx, or I’ll never get it back.”
Jinx raised his middle finger in the air.
“You gonna be over there for a while?” Jet asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I figure when she’s at the club, one of you guys will be there to watch her. When she’s at home, I’ll be the one there.” Though it was going to be a couple of days before Mitzy would be back to work. I could tell on the ride back to her house this morning that she was exhausted. With each mile that went by, her body relaxed into me.
“Mitzy basically lives at the club, brother. You’re just going to need a place to sleep and then you’ll be free.” Rebel nodded to me. “I can be the one to keep an eye on her when she’s at the club.”
I tipped my head to the side. Rebel had been into Rain for a while, but was he now into Mitzy? “You guys can rotate through keeping an eye on her when she is working.”
Rebel smirked and eyed me knowingly. “Whatever you say, boss.”
Yeah, Rebel was after Mitzy now. That wasn’t going to fucking happen. “We’ll have church tomorrow morning after you guys talk to the girls, yeah?” I needed to pack up some things and head over to Mitzy’s for the rest of the day.
“I dropped Mitzy’s car off to her house last night. I figured she was going to be needing it eventually,” Jinx called. “Just so you know. I parked it in her garage. You need to tell her she shouldn’t hide her spare key under the front mat. I was in her house without breaking a sweat.”
It was already on my to-do list to move her spare key. She was crazy to hide it there. “Already on it, brother.”
Three hours later, I was back on my bike and headed back to Mitzy’s. The duffel bag Playboy had said he had for me to borrow had disappeared, and it took him two hours to track the fucking thing down.
Maybe I just needed to buy everyone a fucking duffle bag for when we needed to go on a run or something so we would all have one when it came time.
I rolled up the driveway to Mitzy’s and parked in front of the porch.
Mitzy’s house was surprising. It sat outside of town, on a backroad most people didn’t know about, at the end of a gravel driveway. The two-story, white farmhouse had a large porch on the front, a two-car detached garage, and a utility shed that stood behind it.
Not Mitzy at all. At least, not the Mitzy I knew.
I grabbed my duffle bag and slung it over my shoulder. After climbing onto the porch, I knocked on her front door and waited for her to swing it open with some sass pouring out of her mouth.
As crazy as it may have seemed, there was something sexy about Mitzy being a bitch and throwing attitude at me. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I was into it.
It could also be I wanted to be the one who worked that attitude out of her.
She didn’t come to the door, so I grabbe
d the key from out under the front mat. It had been about four hours since I dropped her off, and I figured she had probably passed out.
As much as I wanted to look around and check out her house, I first wanted to get eyes on Mitzy. By the time I made it to the last bedroom, my blood was boiling.
I stalked down the stairs and out to the garage.
“SON OF A BITCH!”
Mitzy was gone, and so was her car.
*
Chapter Four
That man…
Mitzy
“Can I get a bottle of water, Minnie?”
Minnie smiled wide and crouched down in front of the fridge. She grabbed a bottle and set it in front of me. “Are you sure you should be here? You haven’t even been out of the hospital a day.”
I waved my hand at her and twisted off the top of the bottle. “I’m more than fine. I took a two-hour nap when I got home, and now, I’m good to go.”
“I just was surprised to see you walk in because the last I heard was you were taking a couple of days off to rest.”
I rolled my eyes and took a long drink. “Who did you hear that from?” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and twisted the cap back on the bottle.
“Monk called right when I got here to let me know.”
Of course, it had been Monk to make that decision for me. “Well, I’m here and I’ll be here for the rest of the week.” I couldn’t take a couple of days off with no notice. I had taken days off before, but I had done it after making sure someone would cover for me and I had completed anything only I could do.
I had to write up the schedule for next week, and I also needed to take inventory of the bar because I had to place my booze order in the morning.
No one could do either of those things for me.
“Just take it easy, yeah? We don’t want you to land back in the hospital again.”
Minnie was sweet to worry about me, but I was fine.
“I’ll be in my office. Holler if you need anything, yeah?”
Minnie nodded. “Will do, boss lady.”
I rolled my eyes at the lame nickname. One time two years ago, Barracuda had called me “boss lady,” and it had stuck with the girls who still worked here. Minnie was one of them.
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