Rise of the Phoenix: Phoenix Skulls Motorcycle Club: (Phoenix Skulls MC Romance Book 1)

by Cooke, Jessie

“Not gonna happen,” Jace said. “You get me or wait until our attorney gets here.”

  Tyler cocked an eyebrow. “And why is that? Your boy got something to hide?”

  “I’m not a boy,” Finn said, “and I don’t have shit to hide.”

  Jace leaned up against the porch railing and when Tyler realized he really wasn’t leaving, he sighed and to Finn he said, “Where were you between 11 p.m. last night and 2 a.m. this morning?”

  “The Highway Club.”

  “Who were you with?”

  “I went there alone.”

  “Did you leave alone?” Finn knew Tyler knew the answers to his questions before he asked them, but Finn wasn’t going to answer anything he wasn’t asked. Jessie took her pickup and Finn followed her home, but technically, he left the bar alone.

  “Yes.”

  With a skeptical look Tyler said, “All alone?”

  “Yes.”

  The detective sighed. “Where did you go when you left?”

  “I followed Jessie Nez to her apartment.”

  “Were you invited to follow her home?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you went inside?”

  “Yes.”

  “What time did you get there?”

  “Around 3 a.m.”

  “And you left...when?”

  “Around 7 a.m.”

  “So you were there for four hours. What did you and Miss Nez do during that time?”

  Finn looked up at Jace then. His president nodded at him and Finn said, “We had sex.”

  “Did you use a condom?”

  “Yes. Two.”

  The detective rolled his eyes at that and said, “And was this sexual activity consensual?”

  Finn frowned. “Of course it was.”

  “How was Miss Nez when you left?”

  Finn smiled. “Satisfied.” That earned him a look from his prez that he didn’t have to turn his head to see and interpret...he could feel it. Tyler looked annoyed.

  “So she was alive and unharmed?”

  “Of course she was,” Finn said. Finn was so irritated with the detective’s intrusive questions that he had to remind himself they were talking about an actual real person. Jessie was a warm, funny, beautiful woman that he’d just spent half the night with, and now she was just gone. “Detective, do you think she’s okay?”

  “I have no idea. She’s missing. Her blood is on the wall in her apartment and your fingerprints and DNA are all over it as well. So, from what I can tell, Mr. McGregor, you were either the last person to see her before she was taken...or the last person to see her at all.”

  “I didn’t hurt her!”

  “Detective, do you have any other questions?” Jace asked.

  “Not yet,” Tyler said, standing up. He looked at Finn again and said, “But I’m sure I will...so don’t leave town.”

  Jace took out his wallet and handed a card to the detective and said, “If you want to talk to him again, call his attorney first and he’ll arrange it.”

  The detective smirked and said, “Only guilty men need an attorney.”

  Finn was on his feet, ready to fight for his own honor. “I’m not guilty of shit. She’s single. I’m single. We hooked up. Whatever happened after that had nothing to do with me.”

  “Finn,” Jace said, in a soft, controlled voice. Finn unclenched his fists. He knew he always seemed to be stumbling into piles of shit, but in this case, he really hadn’t done anything wrong. It pissed him off to be spoken to like he had. He had flashbacks from when he was using drugs and living on the streets. Anything that happened in his vicinity back then brought the police down on him, and the Royal Constables in Ireland had been less than kind most of the time. Detective Tyler smiled at him, almost like he was goading him, tucked the card Jace gave him into his pocket, and stepped down off the porch. Finn watched him walk away and when he was out of earshot Jace said, “I know you didn’t hurt that girl. You know you didn’t hurt that girl. But unless they can find evidence that points in another direction, they’re going to try to find evidence to pin her disappearance on you. If you get defensive and do something stupid like punching out the police, your ass will sit in jail until they figure all of this out and I won’t be able to help you.”

  Finn nodded. “I’m sorry. Thanks for believing in me.”

  “I want you to go into town and talk to the attorney. I’ll call now and tell them you’re on your way. Tell them what you told Tyler and anything else you remember; that way if they do come along and arrest you, they’re prepared.”

  Finn felt sick to his stomach at the prospect of being arrested. He’d spent plenty of time in a holding cell or drunk tank...but he’d never done any real time. He came to Arizona with the idea that despite all his fuck-ups, his young life was finally beginning, but now it looked like he might have stepped out of the frying pan just in time to step into the fire.

  * * *

  Jessie lay quietly for a long time after the man left, listening. She couldn’t hear a thing so she wasn’t sure if that meant he was still in the house or not. She knew, however, that she didn’t want to wait around to see why he took her. Her family didn’t have a pot to piss in and she already lived above her means, depending on her good tips to pay her bills. Jessie had always been quiet and shy growing up. She was ignored at home, made fun of at school for being dirty and in rags most of the time, and the only refuge she ever found were the books she got from the library every week. Once she was finally out on her own, however, she had to learn quickly how to deal with people. Her first job was at a diner where mostly truck drivers stopped to eat. She took a lot of razzing from them about being so quiet and as time went on, she learned how to smile more and flirt a little...and then a lot...and the more she smiled and flirted, the more they tipped. Occasionally at the bar, when she was short on cash, she’d wear something ultra-low-cut and lean in toward the super drunk men...a lot. It made her feel cheap and sleazy sometimes, but a girl had to do what she had to do. She didn’t sleep with them, at least not for cash. She lusted after some, like Tommy, who finally worked up his nerve to ask her out and then acted like a fool and got himself arrested. Then there was the hot Irish biker, Finn. He was hitting on her from the moment he walked in, and she’d been lonely and horny, and the night had been amazing. Too bad he left when he did. Maybe if he’d stuck around until it was time for her to leave, this crazy man wouldn’t have been able to take her.

  She was lying on her side and she rolled onto her back...or at least she tried. The way he had her ankles taped and her hands out in front of her set her body off balance and she kept rolling from one side to the other. When she was finally on her back, she lifted her head and tried to get her mouth to the tape on her wrists. She was able to see then why he’d had her hold them out so far. He’d taped from her wrists to her forearms, and pulling them up to her mouth was going to be next to impossible.

  She lay there with tears of frustration rolling down her cheeks, surveying the room and trying hard to think of something else. He hadn’t left anything, at least not out in the open. There was a dresser but no mirror, and the bed, and that was it. She looked at the footboard on the bed. It was wooden and rounded, not sharp at all. But maybe with enough pressure...She wiggled her body around, almost falling off the bed a couple of times before she was at last facing the headboard. She made several attempts to get her hands up over her head and around the footboard, but without success. She was breathing hard and her face was soaked with tears before she finally gave that up and rolled herself over onto her belly. Slithering close to the footboard like a snake, she got her arms where they straddled the bedpost and she began to yank against the tape as hard as she could. Her arms and shoulders ached, but still she yanked and pulled. It was only when she couldn’t move her arms any longer and she had to take a break that she admitted to herself it wasn’t working. The tape had folded back, slightly, but it still covered half of her forearm and her wrists.

  She lay
there for a while, feeling sorry for herself and crying. She didn’t know how much time passed, but finally she mentally kicked herself in the ass and decided she had to try something else. She looked at the door, which had only seemed a few steps from the bed when the man carried her in and laid her down on it. Now, it looked like it was looming in the distance, miles away. She doubted he’d been stupid enough to leave it unlocked...but maybe he was just arrogant enough to believe she wouldn’t try to escape.

  She wiggled to the edge of the bed and looked down at the floor. It was wooden and it seemed like it was six feet down. She rolled away from it, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and then without giving it any more thought, she rolled, quickly, and landed on the floor with a thud. Hopefully he was gone, because she let out a cry that if he was anywhere in the house, he would have heard. She lay there for a while, fighting through the pain in her arm and side before she began her roll toward the door. It was awkward and each time she rolled onto the arm she’d just landed on, she winced and whimpered. She thought she might have broken something, but it would be a small price to pay if she got out of there alive.

  Once she hit the door, she took another break before struggling up to sit on her butt. Her feet, anchored at the ankles, were in front of her and keeping her too far back from the door to pull herself up. She lay down, rolled over, wiggled herself around, and then sat up again, this time on her knees. Sweating and grunting she swung her arms up and forward three times before catching the door handle. That made another loud noise and she breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t hear any approaching footsteps. Once again, fighting the pain that was radiating down her arm, she turned her hands. Jessie had never thought that God was on her side...but when that knob turned she became a believer. She wasn’t home free...but she’d just graduated from victim to active participant in whatever twisted little game this man was playing.

  18

  “Did you see this?” Jace had just finally sat down for the first time all day. After Detective Tyler left and he got Finn sent off to see the attorney, he had helped the guys work in the shop for a few hours. That was the most relaxing thing he’d done all week; even listening to Bubba’s incessant talking was better than dealing with the kind of shit he’d been dealing with.

  When Wolf came back from town it was with good news. He’d rented an old used car lot on a corner in south Phoenix. It would be a little bit of a drive for Jace and the guys, but it had a big shop and would hold all of their equipment as well as the bikes they were working on. If they stayed there long, it was even big enough to put a parts counter in front. Jace thanked Wolf profusely but the other biker just waved him off and told him it was what brothers did for each other. Wolf and his crew left for Vegas not long after that and as much as Jace enjoyed seeing them all, he was glad to see Bruf go...and a little ashamed of himself in the process. He picked up the local newspaper that Beck had just laid down in front of him and looked at the headline:

  Two bodies found near Navajo Reservation identified as missing women, Bobbie Mitchell, 22 and Lisa Miller, 23. He sighed, not wanting to read the rest, but compelled to at the same time. He knew they were real people, but once faces were put to the mass of bone and flesh he’d seen, he was afraid his nightmares would only get worse. Bobbie Mitchell lived in Phoenix and worked at Ginger’s Palace as an exotic dancer. She was reported missing on July 27th after leaving work and failing to return home. Lisa Miller was also a resident of Phoenix. Her occupation is listed as unknown, but Miss Miller had a history of several arrests over the years for solicitation, prostitution, and various drug charges. Lisa Miller was reported missing by her roommate on August 19th. The women were found buried together in a shallow grave. Both, according to the M.E.’s reports, appeared to have died from lacerations to the neck and exsanguination. It’s unclear if the women had experienced sexual assault but according to the ME report it did appear that both women had been held in restraints for an extended period of time.

  “Jesus,” Jace groaned, running a hand through his hair.

  “Twisted bastard,” Beck said. “If you read on it says that neither woman had any close family. Looks like the sick son of a bitch intentionally targets women that work in the sex industry and don’t have anyone who’s going to push the police too hard to look for them. The first one went missing over two months ago. Poor thing.”

  Jace nodded. “Horrible,” he said. “Damn, I’d love to get my hands on this son of a bitch.” Beck set a piece of pizza on the plate in front of Jace and said:

  “I’m glad we share everything, baby, because I’m going to help you kick this guy’s ass.”

  Jace reached up and pulled her down into his lap. He kissed her lips and said, “Damn, I love having you on my team.”

  “We are the team, baby, and we’re going to get through all of this shit and come out stronger.”

  Jace nodded. “When you say it, I believe it.”

  “You better.” She kissed him again. “Your pizza is going to get cold.”

  “I’m not hungry...for pizza.”

  He leaned in and pressed his lips to her neck. “Mm...what are you hungry for, baby?”

  With his lips still pressed into her neck he said, “You, baby...I’m always hungry for you.”

  “Eat up.”

  Jace grinned and slid her off his lap and onto her feet. She kept her hands at her sides while he unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down. He grinned again. “I fucking love how you wear sexy underwear underneath everything.” She just smiled at him. God, he loved that smile. He loved those eyes...and he loved that body. Nothing in the world could keep him down as long as he had her.

  He pushed her jeans to her feet and she stepped out of them and then he slid her vest down her arms and she shook it off. Next he peeled off her t-shirt. With her bright yellow, silk thong still in place, he put his big hands on her waist and lifted her up on the table in front of him. She squealed when the bare cheeks of her butt touched the cold table. Jace wrapped his arms around her, pressed his big hands against her back, and pulled her forward so he could take one of her big, beautiful, red nipples into his mouth.

  “Mm, baby, I like that.” Beck tangled her fingers in his hair and held him to her breast while he wrapped his tongue and his lips around the hard nub and played with it. He used his teeth to scrape around the outside of it and then he sucked as much of the breast into his mouth as he could take in. He sucked on it hard, the way she liked it, and when she began to squirm around in front of him, he brought his right hand down from her back and pressed two of his fingers into the front of her already soaked panties. Beck took her hands out of his hair and pressed them into the table. Spreading her legs wider, she arched her back and pushed against his hand. Jace moved his mouth over to the other breast and continued to tease her with his fingers until she couldn’t take it any longer. She put one of her own hands down between her legs and pulled the lace out of the way.

  Jace smiled around her breast and slipped a finger under the tiny panties and teased her lips with it. She moaned and writhed and pushed until he finally let one of his fingers slide up inside of her. She growled and dropped her head back further, pushing her hips up so she could work his finger in and out of her pussy. He loved the way her muscles clamped down tight around his finger. He slid another one in with the first one, and she moaned loudly and put her hands back behind her so that she could use them again to push herself up and down and ride his hand. She was so wet that his fingers were soaked and it was beginning to run down his hand. He fingered her for a while, sucking her nipples and tweaking her clit from time to time as he did. He loved how she smelled when she was turned on. It kicked his primal urges into overdrive. He pushed her legs open further and took his fingers out of her. He hooked them in the crotch of the panties and looked up at her face. Her cheeks were flushed and she was biting down on her bottom lip. God, she was sexy and his cock ached to get out of his pants and join the party. She knew what he was askin
g without the words and she nodded. As soon as she did, he ripped her panties off. She never said no, but he just didn’t feel right about ripping off a girl’s panties without asking, even his girl.

  As soon as that lace was out of the way, he buried his face between her legs. He inhaled first, savoring the scent of her. Then at last he let his tongue come out and play. He tasted the very essence of her...God, she tasted good. He licked her from top to bottom and slid his tongue in between her lips and played between her folds. Then he found her clit and sucked it in between his lips and he held it there, swollen and engorged, while he used his tongue to make her squirm and moan. She dug her fingers into his scalp and pressed his face in tighter. Right before she was ready to reach her peak, she wrapped one leg up around his head and tightened the muscle in her thigh so that he was practically suffocating...but what a way to go. He held onto her and felt her muscles tighten just before she cried out. He kept his hold on her and his tongue in her pussy and he felt the orgasm hit her over and over again...and then leave her body quivering all over.

  “Fuck, baby! Fuck!” she yelled. “You’re going to kill me. You’re so fucking good.”

  Jace pulled his head up and looked at her. “It’s because you taste so damned good, and you look so good.” He reached down and unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, just to give himself a little bit of relief. Beck licked her lips and slid down off the table.

  “Your turn,” she said.

  “I thought that was my turn.” Beck put her hand in the front of his jeans and wrapped his cock up in it.

  “Oh yeah? You done then?” She was stroking him and looking up at his face with those incredible eyes.

  “Fuck, baby, that feels so good.”

  “Take this shit off. I’ll make it feel so much better.” Jace didn’t even unlace his boots. He used the toe of one to pull off the other and then kicked the second one off with his foot. Then he pushed off his jeans and underwear and still with a hold on his throbbing cock, Beck dropped to her knees. She didn’t waste any time taking him in her mouth. She put the head between her lips first and sucked on it. Jace felt like electricity was surging through his body when she did that. She opened her lips wider and slid them down the shaft, taking him in slowly and running her tongue around his shaft as she did. Once she had him almost to the back of her throat, she began to suck. As she sucked, she let her tongue play with his head and she squeezed and massaged the base of his shaft with her hand. She was the one who was good...so fucking good. Jace felt the earth move every time she touched him, and vice versa. She was his life force...she was his life...