by Oakes, Tara
Vince sits back again, his forehead furrowed.
“You really think you can get this guy to talk?”
That was oddly easy….
I nod. “Yes. I’m positive. He’s a bit creepy sometimes but he’s not a drug dealer, he’s not a bad guy.”
“Okay. Let’s try it your way. See if we can get him to talk.”
I’m stupefied. He actually listened to me. He actually agreed. Maybe I’ve misjudged him this whole time.
~*~
CLINK
“Over my dead fucking body!” I jump up and send my chair flying back.
Vince holds his hand up. “Hold on, Clink. You didn’t let me finish.”
It doesn’t matter. I don’t care what he has left to say. It ain’t happening.
“This douchebag shows up at her place at seven. We know where he’s gonna be. He’s expecting her, but instead… he gets us. We nab him, make him talk and then finish this shit,” he proposes.
“She’s nowhere near the house? She never sets foot inside the same goddamned room as his ever again?” I ask, just to make sure.
He nods. “You really think I would ever let my daughter get close a sick sonuva bitch like that?”
Jay nods to me, seemingly accepting the plan. He may not have known Charlie his entire life like Tiny has known Lil’s, but I know he feels just as strongly about his own sister as that brother feels for his own. If he’s Okay with this, as well as her own pop, then I don’t think we have any other choice.
“Well, it’s six forty. We best be getting a move on. You know she’s gonna hate you for this right?” I ask our Prez.
He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “That girl’s got a fire in her lit up so bad to hate me, I don’t see it changing anytime soon. But she’s gonna be alive and safe to do all that hatin’.”
T.J. is the first to open the set of double doors and exit, meaning we’ll have to follow behind and break the news to Sugar. She ain’t leaving this place until that walking dead man is gone for good.
I can already see her standing ready for us to include her in our plans, although she has a very different idea of what they’ll be.
Her phone rings and she reaches it while keeping eye contact with me.
“Dana?” I can see her mouth the words.
Her eyes change, her mouth drops open. “Leave-- you leave her alone you sick asshole!”
I run, pushing passed some of the other brothers in my way to reach her. She’s shaking by the time I get to her.
“Don’t touch her! She has nothing to do with this!” Her lips tremble. “Hello? Hello?”
She drops the phone onto the floor.
“What?” I have to shake her to get her to speak. “Sugar, what’s wrong? Where’s Dana?”
“He-- he’s got her. Harris. He has her. He says I need to go, to go alone, otherwise he’ll take her instead.” Charlie drops to her knees. “I can’t let him hurt her. She’s here because of me. She’s my baby sister!”
T.J. springs to life behind me. “I’ll go. I’ll kill the bastard myself.”
“Whoa, now!” We all turn to the new voice, the leader of the group who’s just entered the clubhouse. “You boys lookin’ to start the party before we even have a drink?”
Dawson.
He walks in nonchalantly as if he doesn’t have a care in the fucking world, with about eight of his guys behind him and a shit-eating grin on his smug face. “Who we killin’?”
I reach down and help Sugar to her feet. She buries her chin in my chest and I hold her tight.
Vince steps forward, looking to take charge of the situation before these Slayers look to make themselves any more at home in our place. We may have a truce with them right now, but there’s a thing called respect.
“There’s been a new development,” Vince clues in his counterpart.
Dawson snaps his fingers to the prospect behind the bar, signaling a round of drinks for all his men. “Well, skip the foreplay, Papa. I’m a ‘get it in before it’s fully wet’ kinda guy.”
“He’s got Dana,” Charlie whispers.
I smooth her hair. “I know. Baby, I know. Don’t worry. We’ll get her back.”
I watch Vince hash the shit out with Dawson as I hold a crying Charlie.
~*~
CHARLIE
“Please, don’t hate me,” I beg.
He’s asked, pleaded for me to stay, to reconsider. I can’t do it, though. I can’t leave Dana in that guy’s clutches. I was all wrong about him. I thought I could get him to see things clearly, to volunteer to help us with all this, knowing how bad it could get for himself if he didn’t.
I couldn’t have underestimated him any more than I did.
Clink breathes deep. “I don’t hate you, Sugar. I could never hate you. I just… I need for you to listen to every word I’ve said. You have to do everything just as we’ve said to. Otherwise, I’m coming in there, guns blazing.”
I nod, gulping loudly. I know he’s scared for me. I’m more scared, though.
“Ready?” Leo asks, straightening out my necklace that he’s hidden a transmitter, a wire. They’ll be able to hear and see everything that happens once I’m out of view and in the house.
Honestly, though, who’s ever ready for shit like this?
I nod my head in agreement anyway.
“Okay. We’ll be right here. I can hear you, I can see you. You’ll be perfectly safe. You remember the code word?”
Oh shit! I know that I know it, but I’m drawing a blank right now. My mind is racing a mile a minute on so many things that I can’t remember the most important one.
“Um… Spaniards? Conquerors?”
Clink takes me by the shoulders, his eyes lock onto mine. “Conquistadors. Say it with me, baby.”
“Conquistadors,” I repeat, in unison with him.
He nods. “You got this. Quick. Simple.”
Nothing about this is going to be quick or simple.
I know we have about two dozen pairs of eyes on us right now, including Vince and my brother, but Clink grabs me and kisses me so deep that it causes these stone-cold bikers to blush.
I hold on to him, fearing that it’ll be the last time I feel him, taste him, connect with him. I can’t let myself think this way, otherwise I’ll never leave his arms.
I pull away, my lips still throbbing from the intensity of it, my tongue sore.
Dana. I’ve got to think of Dana.
Jay moves in to give me a hug, “Don’t you go tryin’ anything brave, now. You hear me?”
I laugh nervously. “I hear you, big brother.”
I lock eyes with each of the Kingsmen and they nod. I even catch this new guy Dawson staring at me curiously. He’s got some of the most intense eyes I’ve ever seen. They’re like a wolf’s. Waiting, stalking. It makes me a little uneasy.
“You listen to everything we told you.” I turn to face Vince, as he continues “I want you out in the same condition I’m sending you in.”
I don’t know what’s come over me, but I take a deep breath and lean forward to give him the lightest peck on the cheek. It’s stunned him, his body freezes. Hell, it stunned me even more.
I don’t give anyone a chance to say anything about it. I turn on my heel and walk down the block to my front door. I rehearse and review the plan over and over in my head.
I’ll knock on the door, get him to release Dana and then walk over in front of the main window so they can get a clear fix on him from their scopes. Then as soon as I’m ten feet away, I say the code word, conquistador, and drop to my knees as they shoot.
Again. I go over the plan again, all the way until I’ve reached the front door.
I fulfill the first step of the scheme and knock.
The door opens and Dana steps aside. “I wish you didn’t come, Charlie.”
I walk inside, slowly.
“Of course she came for you, Dana. She’s your big sister. She doesn’t want your blood on her hands.” Harris is co
ld, indifferent, completely unlike the Harris I’ve known.
“We had a deal. Let her go,” I shout.
He laughs. Like a sick sadistic asshole, he laughs. I reach for Dana’s hand and hold it tight, squeezing.
“But two for the price of one is so tempting.” He’s practically maniacal.
I call his bluff. “Well, then you’ll have none because you’ll have to shoot us both. I’m not playing your game, Harris. I’m not afraid of you.”
I lie. I’m very, very afraid of him. I just hope I’m convincing enough that I’m not.
He bites his lip, sizing me up. “Get out of here, he waves the gun at Dana.”
“No! No, I won’t leave you alone with her!” Dana protests both verbally and physically as I push her out the front door and lock it behind her.
She bangs on the door, begging me to open it. Every syllable, every word cuts deep. Eventually she stops, and I can only assume that T.J.’s come and taken her to safety.
“I’m here. Just like I said. What do you want, Harris? How can we end this?”
He breathes deep. “What do I want? Come over here and sit on my lap and I’ll tell you.”
My eyes dart to the main window. We’re nowhere close enough.
“How ‘bout we sit on the couch instead?” I suggest.
“I said, get your ass over here!” His face turns red. He’s crazy. He’s certifiable.
I hear the gun click, and realize he’s engaged a bullet.
I move close, slowly, but he pulls me in as soon as he can, pushing me down on his lap. I feel a raging hard-on under my legs.
Oh God! I try not to panic, to stay calm.
“Why don’t you tell me what you think I want to do, Nurse Griffiths? How ‘bout we play doctor?”
“Why are you doing this? We can help you. You don’t need to get wrapped up in all of this, Harris.”
He points the tip of the barrel of the gun to my chest, using it to move the fabric of my shirt away until the cold hard steel is playing with the tip of my breast.
“You like that, Charlie? You seem to like it. I’ll bet you’re the kind of girl who likes it rough. Is that why you’re with that greased-up biker? He give it to you rough? I’ll best I can give it to you rougher.”
He continues to swirl the gun around my exposed nipple. I cry out, knowing that the weapon is inches away from my heart. He mentioned Clink. He knows about him. I try to turn the tables a bit.
“If you knew about the biker, then why did you pursue me?” I try to distract him, to buy some time.
“You stupid bitch. I didn’t know about the biker. Not at first, anyway. You were just some piece of ass that I wanted to tap. When you kept turning me down, let’s just say it made it more of a challenge. Then I find out your dad is the leader of the strongest biker gang around these parts and you become a whole lot more appealing to me. I could’ve done some pretty lucrative business with your dad’s crew. Could’ve made us all a lot of money. You could have been my way in.”
He’s finally beginning to talk. I need to keep it going.
“Maybe we can still do business. What kind? Drugs?”
Harris moves the gun down, tracing down my middle. “Don’t pacify, me bitch. I’ve looked into it. Once I found out about your dad, I did some research on the Kingsmen. No drugs. Pity.”
“If you knew the Kingsmen didn’t allow drugs then why did you even start this shit?”
He’s beginning to lose patience with me. “Supply and demand. This is one of the only towns that doesn’t have an active drug market going on. Now, knowing what I do about the Kingsmen, I can see why, but back then it just looked like a golden opportunity. No competition. Pure profits. My associates thought it was too risky, but I told them I’d prove them wrong.”
The gun is now pressing in between my thighs, pushing its way in. I know if I resist him, he’ll have to push harder and could accidentally squeeze the trigger, so I don’t fight it.
“You don’t sound like a doctor, Harris. You sound like a drug lord.”
“Let’s just say I didn’t get through medical school by taking out loans. I met a lot of people. People who could get me what I need, like the little pills you needed. There’s a demand for it. I can open the channels to supply them. It’s a gold mine. Just like this little gold mine right here….”
He’s rubbing his weapon back and forth over me.
“So if you know the Kingsmen won’t allow it, then what are you doing, Harris? You’re digging yourself in deeper. There won’t be a way out, soon.”
The gun presses into me, right over the patch of fabric that covers the tense nub of nerves that are screaming silently in disgust at the foreign touch.
“The only thing I’m going to be digging, is my cock deep in your pussy, baby.” He licks my neck like a lollipop. “Maybe we’ll even play with the gun a little since it turns you on so much. And when I’m done with you, I’m gonna turn you over to my business associates to use as collateral to make sure your dad plays nice and doesn’t interfere in the new business ventures I’ll have convinced them are worth starting here in Chisolm.”
I try to wiggle free, fully aware now of his intentions.
“Wait!” I plead. “Not here. Please. My man has some kind of nanny-cam thing in the living room. Surveillance, for protection. He’ll hear. Please. I can’t do that to him.”
Harris laughs. “Oh, good. He’s been listening this whole time, he know’s what I’m about to do to his little Ol’ lady. Well, now he can see it, too. Get on the couch.”
I get up, moving in the direction of the living room, to my only hope right now. One step, two step, three step.
“CONQUISTADOR!” I yell and drop to the floor.
The bullets begin to spray into the house, and I scream out as I cover my ears and huddle in the fetal position, clenching my eyes tight. I feel bits of flying debris settling on me, as the bullets slow their pace before ending all together.
I keep my eyes shut tight, not risking opening them and seeing the carnage around me. I wait in agony for what seems like forever, my ears ringing violently from the barrage of deafening gunfire.
I begin to rock, back and forth, repeating to myself
It’s over. It’s over.
And then I feel it. The strong hands, arms reaching around me and lifting me, carrying me. I can’t talk, I can’t cry, I can’t do anything right now except reach my arms around his neck and hold on tight.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THREE WEEKS LATER
“A little to the right. No, left. Perfect! Right there,” I yell out through cupped hands at the men standing on ladders.
“Hey, Clink! Is she this bossy in bed?” Blue’s struggling to hold the giant cupcake sign still as Dewey works the fastners.
“Every fucking night, brother. Jealous?” My man walks by, carrying a plastic five-gallon tub of paint. He playfully bites at my neck.
Dana follows him, carrying an armful of brushes and rollers staring at the new bakery sign. “What do you think?” I ask her.
She eyes the sign. “It’s very big.”
Blue can’t resist that one either. “Hey, T.J.! Is that what she says to you in bed?”
I take a paintbrush from Dana’s arms and throw it full-force at Blue, nearly causing him to lose his balance.
“Every fucking night, brother. Jealous?” T.J. shouts back, rummaging through the pile of supplies in the back of the pickup truck.
Dana rolls her eyes, “Blue has no idea…”
I playfully swat her. “Gross!”
She laughs as she walks carefully into the building. The two men on ladders seem to be struggling.
“Is this a job for three people?” I shout. “I mean it looks like this calls for three people.”
Blue stares at me. “Oh shit, you did not just hand me that on a silver platter. Hey, Clink! Is that what she says to you in-”
“Do not even think about finishing that sentence!”
Vince lif
ts his sunglasses in passing, glaring at the smart-ass he’s just reprimanded. He turns to me and winks before lowering his shades and disappearing into the workspace.
I smile. We’re nowhere near where most fathers and daughters are, but it’s damn nice not having a shouting match with him every time we’re together.
I grab the pile of drop cloths I’d been carrying earlier before getting distracted by the sign and finish the journey to where people are waiting for them.
The sound of electric screwdrivers and saws fills the rooms as the new cabinets and display case are being installed. Every Kingsman brother who’s not locked up is here today, getting everything ready for the grand opening in two weeks.
Jean is applying the custom decal over the back wall.
HAVE A LIL’ CUPCAKE.
Ha! Cute name. Every time I see it, I laugh. It’s perfect. A little bit of Lil’s and a little bit of Dana.
“Here you go,” I drop the pile of cloths at Leo’s feet. “These floors are brand new.” I point to the shiny wood. “Please don’t get paint on them.”
“Hey, Dana! Looks like you got your first customer! A little early, though.” Trojan points out the window to the black Mercedes that carefully pulls into the lot.
Oh. Fuck.
I step closer to get a better view, although Dana’s beaten me to it. “That’s not a customer. That’s my mother!”
Every hammer, every paintbrush, every screw gun stops, with each pair of eyes darting to the woman dressed in a perfectly tailored pair of dress slacks and a matching cardigan set who exits the car.
Her designer shades hide her eyes, but I know her well enough to guess exactly what those eyes look like right now.
“Sugar, what color did you say Dana wanted the kitchen?” Clink enters the room holding a pair of color swatches, completely shirtless, bearing every single tattoo from the waist up. “What’s going on?” he continues, taking in the work stoppage.
The sudden quiet and stillness alerts him that something is off.
