As we descended the steps, all eyes were on me. I felt my cheeks flush with the attention. Colton left his game of pool and met us at the bottom of the stairs. “Here are my two favorite ladies,” he said, putting an arm around each of us. “Glad to see you up and about kiddo.” Colton gave me a brotherly squeeze and a kiss on my forehead, as he led us over to a large table where a couple of brothers were eating.
“Brothers.” Colton got all of their attention. “I would like to introduce to you my baby sister, Dylan.” A round of hellos went out as Colton pulled out seats for Logan and me.
“Thank God you are here.” I turned to see another woman approaching us with a beast of a man walking behind her. His eyes the darkest I had ever seen, like you could stare into them for a lifetime and never see light.
“Hi I’m Campbell, Logan’s sister,” the cute strawberry blonde said, introducing herself. “And this is Tank.” He gave me a nod, before turning his eyes to her. Those hard eyes instantly softened, showing the faintest hint of light around the edges. Interesting. Tank was obviously head over heels in love with this bubble of energy who apparently had not stopped talking the entire time I was watching Tank and her.
“So yeah, the Hellhounds are a bunch of assholes.”
“Cam. Language please,” Logan scolded, but I could tell that it was an old lesson that Logan was never going to succeed on with Campbell.
“Anyway,” drew out Campbell.
“So they took you too?”
“Yep. Me and Logan. And then me again when Tank and I were trying to get back here.”
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed.
“Exactly.” Campbell, Logan, and I were all shaking our heads in agreement.
“Although I would love to rehash the most chaotic month of my life, between what has happened to the three of you, I think I am going to pass and go get some food,” Colton said.
“Ditto brother,” came a voice so deep I could have sworn the floor shook from the bass of it. I looked to see Tank frowning down at us, but then Campbell turned to him and a grin split his serious expression.
“Grab me a banana, or apple, or whatever is right there . . . please.” Her grin was infectious. Campbell was really cute.
“Sure Sunshine.”
“Beautiful, want anything?” Colton had his hand on Logan’s shoulder.
“Just a bottle of water.” He nodded to confirm at the same time he said, “Sis?” I did not realize Colton was talking to me until the entire group fell silent. Startled, I looked to him to find him intently staring at me.
“I’m good,” I stumbled.
“Ok,” he responded before turning to follow Tank to a door that I was assuming led to the kitchen.
“Wow,” I said in awe of how amazing it felt to hear him call me sis.
“I know right?” I laughed at Campbell’s response and Logan’s expression as she followed my brother with her eyes, because they both took what I said as something else. These girls were both so in love with the men who just walked away.
“Liking my big brother, huh?”
“More like madly in love,” Campbell replied, confirming what I thought.
“Something like that,” Logan tried to shrug it off, but you could tell she did really love my brother.
“How did you guys met?” From the smile that lit her face I knew it was a good story.
“Cam and I moved into one of the Soul Reapers’ properties, which happened to be next door to Colt. We hung out for a while . . .”
Cam interrupted, “Meaning they had a lot of hot sex.”
“Campbell Eleanor.”
“What? It’s true.” I laughed again at their sisterly exchange.
“Sooooo. We hung out and were getting pretty serious, when a group called the Iron Knights took Cam and I. They had been hired by the Hellhounds and Soul Reapers to find our dad, but he went to ground and no one could find him. They found us instead. Wesson had been trying to follow some leads so he wasn’t really around when Colt and I first started hanging out, so when he agreed with Crazy Z to have the Iron Knights pull us in, he had no idea.”
“Wow.” Just wow.
“I know. It gets even better. The Iron Knights put us in separate tents and let each of the Presidents come in and check out merchandise. I had Crazy Z first.”
“The fucking insane glass-eye devil himself,” Cam interrupted.
“Yeah I got to know him pretty well while I was with the Hellhounds,” I commented.
“I bet,” Campbell and Logan said at the same time.
“Jinx,” they called out and pointed at each other. I found myself laughing at them again. I like these two . . . A LOT.
“And then . . .” I continued, trying to bring Logan back to her story.
“Yeah, so when Wesson came in I knew instantly that he was related to Colt, because of their eyes . . . well yours too. We talked and next thing I know Colt is there. Tank took Cam away from the craziness. I got home with Colt, but the Hellhounds went after Cam again, because it was just the two of them. But Tank saved her. Then Z reached out to me letting us know they had our dad. When the brothers saved dad, they saved you too.”
That sparked the memory that they just recently lost their dad. “Sorry about your dad.” And I was. No one should lose a family member to violence, no matter what brought it on.
“Thank you,” said Logan, as Cam nodded at the same time.
“So enough about us. Your turn.”
“Ummm. Well. Nothing much to tell here.” Shit! I could not tell these two women that I willingly went with the Hellhounds to then be dropped off with the Soul Reapers to spy on them and report back to the Night Demons. But I did not want to lie either. So I stuck to the truth.
“I’m from a small town. My mom is a bitch.” Both laughed at that. “We worked at a bar together. She was the manager, but before that she was a stripper. I was a bartender who stripped when someone was sick or there was time that needed filling.”
“You’re a STRIPPER?!”
“Jesus Cam, lower your voice. Sorry about that,” apologized Logan.
“No apologies necessary. I would not say I was a stripper, but I have stripped before. The money is good and I mostly did it when the bar was in a bind or if a party,” . . . AKA the Night Demons or Samael . . . “requested me specifically.”
“You gotta teach me. Please,” Cam pleaded. “I wanna learn your moves,” she said as she shimmied in her seat. Logan joined me this time as we both laughed at her.
“Can I watch?” The question had all of us looking over to the rest of the table to find all eyes on us.
“Shut up Trigger,” Campbell said at the same time Colton asked, “Watch what?”
An evil spark gleamed in the man named Trigger’s eyes as he looked to Colton and said, “Oh you didn’t know. Your sister here is a stripper and offering lessons and I was just asking if I could watch.” Oh shit.
As if everything moved in slow motion, I saw Colton reach back and then extend his arm which landed perfectly in Trigger’s face. The smack of Colton’s fist on Trigger’s cheek brought everything to real time. Brothers were jumping up and into the fray as they pulled Colton away from Trigger. Plates and food flew across the table and onto the floor in their haste. Tank jumped between Colton and us, shielding us from any wayward action, while Logan and Campbell both screamed and got up to move out of the way.
Me. I just sat there and laughed. Stupid men. Another case in point. The cut did not matter. They were all stupid, angry, brooding men. Working in a bar, I was so used to this elaborate show of testosterone, that it did not even affect me anymore.
The brothers eventually pushed Colton outside, while a few others helped Trigger into the kitchen. Tank double checked that we were alright before going to check on Colton.
“Never a dull moment,” Logan finally said.
“Ready for those lessons?” I looked to Cam and Logan.
“Hell yeah,” Cam immediately answered. “Let’s do
this.”
“You in?” I was now just looking at Logan.
“It can’t hurt.” Her answer surprised me and I could tell it surprised her as well.
“Let me grab Emma.” Logan turned and ran up the stairs, while Cam linked her arm in mine leading me down a hallway.
“There is a smaller room back here that we cleared out a while back. We usually do work out tapes or something since we can’t really get out while all the crazy shit is going on.”
“No one leaves?” That was crazy.
“Emma leaves for her shift at the hospital, and a few others to run errands and do other stuff. But a brother is always with them.”
“That is kind of crazy.”
“We live in a crazy time.”
Amen sister.
CHAPTER TEN
Knox
“So what happened this afternoon?” I asked Tank as we sat at the bar watching brothers roll in from the text that went out saying church was in fifteen minutes.
“Trigger starting shit as always,” Tank replied. He tipped his beer up, gulping down the dark amber liquid.
“Damn, that brother does not know when to keep his mouth shut. Let me guess, Trigger ran his mouth and got a fistful from Colton.”
“Pretty much,” laughed Tank.
“What were they fighting about this time?” It was getting old how much those two fought.
“Your princess.” What?
“Dylan?” What the hell? “How was she even a topic of conversation?”
“Doc cleared her so she came down with Logan this afternoon. I guess the girls were chatting while Colton and I grabbed some food. Trigger overheard, said something shitty, and got punched in the face.”
“To Dylan?” Trigger was about to go round two with me.
“Nah, even he knows better. He said it to Colton.” Tanked finished off his beer and stood, right as Trigger came down the steps. He looked right at me when he reached the bottom. I knew from the look he wore he was coming to start shit with me.
“I can’t wait until the next party,” he started. “Prospect! Beer me.”
“And why is that Trig?” I was not in the mood to deal with his shit, when all I really wanted to do was run upstairs to check on Dylan to see how she was feeling from her little adventure this afternoon.
“To see your girl in action.” He was talking to me like I was stupid or missing something.
“What are you talking about?” The shit-stirring grin that Trigger wore was starting to rub me the wrong way.
“It’s time brothers,” Wesson called out as he walked out of his office and down the hallway.
Even though Trigger started this, I planned to end it as soon as church was over. I was going to skip Trigger and his bullshit altogether and go straight to the source. As I followed Trigger and Tank down the hallway I could hear music from one of the backrooms. A couple of the brothers were loitering right outside the door, whispering and pushing on each other in a too excited way that had the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
I bypassed the double doors to our meeting space and walked down to join Lefty, Woods, and Tru. Uptown Funk grew louder as I got closer until I was finally standing behind them. It took me a minute to process what I was seeing, and what I found both pissed me off and made me the horniest I could ever remember being since I discovered what girls were for at age fourteen. Emma, Amber, Logan, Campbell, and Heart were all facing Dylan at the front of the room, who was showing them moves that were better left to my bedroom. She would do a couple of moves and then the women would mimic her to the best of their ability. All the while shaking their asses and touching themselves in ways that their men wished they could see right now.
But my eyes were only on the beauty at the front of the room. Each sway of her hips or thrust of her pelvis had my heart pumping blood straight to my cock. Hot Damn! You said it right Bruno Mars.
“Brothers.” The President’s stern voice had all of us turning our heads. “Anytime now.”
A few grumbled apologizes and cock adjustments were made as we filed into church.
“Now that we are all here,” Wesson muttered as he banged the gavel. “Whistler, update.”
“Well it looks like we have a visitor in town. The sheriff department called to let us know that an unknown biker showed up last night and is staying at the motel at the edge of town. He has kept mainly to himself, but has been seen throughout town today.”
“Any clue?” asked Prez.
“Was going to check it out tonight.”
“Take Woods with you,” Prez ordered and Whistler nodded. He looked to Colton and said, “Update.”
“Lefty and Woods have given us the rough layout of the Hellhounds’ compound. We know all the ins and outs of every building. There is one main building, with two small buildings. One is the living quarters, and the other looks to be their garage.” Colton paused as he looked around the table. “My first proposal is we hit them in one week’s time. It gives us time to work out teams and a game plan. Gunner assures me we have all the firepower we need.”
“Ok. Let’s vote on that. All in for doing this in one week?” Everyone, even Whistler, raised their hand. “Continue,” ordered Prez.
“Next we need to decide who goes and who stays. I propose four teams. Team One stays and the other three go. Team Two and Three would be for front and back entrances, while Team Four is the break-and-enter. Team Four would be responsible for taking the most hits while working to get into the clubhouse. Team Two would act as the diversion and Team Three would cover Team Four.”
“Another vote brothers.” All hands went up.
Colton nodded and continued. “My four teams are written out here.” He then handed a stack of papers to Tank next to him who then took one and passed it on. When it came to me, I grabbed the paper and looked for my name. Team Four, exactly where I wanted to be, but knew that was not an option. Prez beat me to it when he said, “Knox stays. Switch him and Trigger.” A look passed between Colton and Prez. “Done,” Colton consented.
I was relieved that the decision was taken out of my hands, but felt an uneasiness that I would not be there to cover my brothers’ backs. “Each team leader is noted with an asterisk next to their name. So the four team leads are Tru for Team One, Whistler for Team Two, Gunner for Team Three and myself for Team Four.”
“Vote,” Prez commanded. All hands went up. “All team leads get with your teams over the next twenty four hours after you have come up with your own plan of action. We meet back here in two days to discuss. Meeting adjourned.” An eerie silence followed the sound of the gavel. We filed out without a word. Every brother headed straight to the bar. Ax and Rabbit must have read the dire looks on our faces, because shot glasses were immediately placed on the bar and the Jack flowed, as we were all handed a beer.
A couple of shots and two beers later, the ladies finally walked out of the back hallway looking sweaty and pleased with themselves. I pulled my ass up and walked straight to my princess when I saw her walk out last. I just needed her in that moment, and the sight of her with flushed cheeks and a little sweaty, had my cock standing at attention. I wanted to see her like that under me, but would have to settle with just feeling her body against mine.
Dylan
I was barely into the main room when Knox took me in his arms in front of everyone, and although I felt their eyes burning a hole in my back, I lingered in his arms. He buried his nose into my sweaty hairline and took a deep breath. Goose bumps broke out all over my skin. Damn the way this man affected me!
“You smell amazing,” he murmured against my neck. “Like the ocean, salty and wet.”
“And you smell like whisky and a good time,” I joked back as I pushed his chest, needing space and a chance to get my bearings. His presence alone sparked a deep desire within me.
“I am a good time.” His husky voice fanned the flame of that desire.
“I bet you are.” I hated the tremor in my voice, giving him
all the ammunition he needed to know he affected me. A shit-eating grin appeared on his face. Knox gave me the space I needed to breathe as he led me over to a smaller group of people at the bar. I was thankful that I knew most of them. As if reading my mind, Knox introduced me to the man with Emma.
“Dylan, this is Tru.”
“My husband,” Emma finished.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking the hand he offered.
“Same here,” said Tru.
Everyone seemed pretty somber as subdued conversations happened all around.
“Is everything ok?” I looked to Knox.
“It will be,” was all he said as he placed a kiss on my forehead.
“What happened this afternoon?” The change in topic threw me, as did the space he kept between us.
“What do you mean?”
“With Colton,” he explained.
“Oh. Colton was mad at a brother for talking shit.” Which Trigger did!
“About what?” His multicolored eyes bore into mine.
“I figured you would have heard by now.”
“Indulge me, please.” Although he added the please, I took it for the demand that it was.
“Me,” I whispered.
“Why?” His words warm against my cheek as he hovered next to me, close enough to touch, but keeping his distance.
“Because I was telling Cam and Logan about myself and the fact that I worked at a bar and occasionally stripped was made known to a table full of brothers. Trigger ran his mouth to my big brother and has a shiner to prove it.”
Knox laughed. The tension eased from my body at the sound. Was I really nervous he would reject me because I stripped?
“Hence the dance lessons today.”
It was my turn to laugh. “You saw that.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it.” We both laughed. At that moment someone turned up the music. Hozier’s Take Me to Church filled the room, drowning out the conversations around us. It felt like we were in our own bubble as everything faded away. We stayed in that spot as we just stared at each other.
“Tell me something about yourself that no one else knows.” It was my turn to throw a curve ball into the conversation.
Dylan's Reaper: Soul Reapers #3 Page 6
